The council told the minister on 28 September his intervention is not needed. Its own timetable still opens the Local Plan consultation by Monday 5 October.

West Northamptonshire Council has told the Government its intervention in the Local Plan is not appropriate. It is still getting ready to publish the plan for consultation by Monday 5 October, as the minister ordered.

Council leader Mark Arnull wrote to Matthew Pennycook, the housing and planning minister, on Monday 28 September. That was a day before the Government’s deadline for the council to set out any “exceptional circumstances” against the direction. (West Northamptonshire Council, 29 September 2026)

The council has not published the letter itself. Its summary says the letter argues two things:

  • pushing on with the current draft “could create greater risks and delays” if objections raised in consultation are later upheld at examination
  • the assessment of alternative growth options, and the capacity of the local electricity grid, “need further work” before final decisions on where development goes

“We have responded robustly and constructively to the Government’s request, setting out why we believe intervention is not necessary and why local decision-making should be respected,” Cllr Arnull said.

“Members took the decision to pause the current draft Local Plan because they were not satisfied that important questions around infrastructure, growth and alternative options had been fully resolved.”

The Government will now consider the council’s representations, the council said.

The direction still stands

The minister’s letter of 15 September was explicit that a reply “neither alters nor removes the direction”. Our report on the direction sets out what it requires.

The council is behaving accordingly. Its Local Plan page now says the pre-submission plan “will be published on these pages no later than Monday 5 October, together with the revised LDS”. The LDS is the Local Development Scheme, the council’s official timetable for the plan.

A revised version of that timetable, dated September 2026, has already been uploaded to the council’s website ahead of formal publication. It says it replaces the January 2026 version “in accordance with the direction”. It sets out these milestones:

Stage Date
Publication and consultation (Regulation 19) No later than 5 October 2026
Submission to the Government No later than 31 December 2026
Examination by an inspector April 2027
Adoption November 2027

(Local Development Scheme for West Northamptonshire, September 2026, PDF)

If that holds, West Northamptonshire would adopt its first Local Plan in November 2027. The council was created in April 2021.

Timeline of the West Northamptonshire Local Plan: 14 September 2026 committee rejects the draft; 15 September the minister issues a direction; 24 September report to Full Council; 28 September the council writes to the minister; consultation opens by 5 October; submission by 31 December; examination April 2027; adoption November 2027
The timetable the council is now working to. Sources: MHCLG direction; council report, release and Local Development Scheme. Graphic by The Northampton Wire.
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What the council was told about refusing

A report to Full Council on 24 September, written by the council’s monitoring officer, spelled out what happens if the council does not comply. The minister can take “direct action”. That includes preparing or revising the plan himself and holding the examination directly. The council would have to pay his costs. (Report to Council, 24 September 2026, PDF)

The same report warns against running a second plan alongside the first. It says “all staff are engaged on the emerging Plan”. “Twin tracking” would need extra money and staff, and it is “unknown whether the Minister for Planning and Housing would seek to further intervene”, the report says.

The direct cost of the plan so far, excluding salaries, is about £1.037 million. More will be needed to take it through examination.

Five Northampton sites that will need changes later

The report also reveals a problem the direction has locked in. A late Habitats Regulations Assessment found that several Northampton site allocations need extra wording. The changes were reported to the committee on 14 September. But the direction fixes the plan exactly as it stood in the committee papers, so they cannot go into the consultation version.

The sites are:

  • N9 Cattle Market Road: measures to mitigate impacts on the Special Protection Area
  • N10 Greyfriars: the same
  • N11 Northampton Rail Freight/Station: the same
  • N12 Hill Farm Rise: the same
  • N17 Northampton West (remaining): surveys to check whether the land is “functionally linked” to the protected area, with mitigation if it is

The council intends to add them as modifications during the examination. The report says they are “necessary to ensure legal compliance”.

What it means for you

  • The consultation is almost certainly coming by Monday. It must run for at least six weeks. This is the stage where comments go to the independent inspector, so it is the one that counts.
  • If you live near Cattle Market Road, Greyfriars, the station or Hill Farm Rise, read those allocations knowing that the council already expects to add wildlife protection wording to them.
  • The row is not over. The Government has the council’s letter. It can accept the case, do nothing, or take further action.
  • Planning applications are unaffected for now. They are still decided against the 2014 Joint Core Strategy and the three older Part 2 plans. See our Northampton planning news page for major schemes.

We will publish how to respond, and the closing date, when the consultation opens.

Sources