Introduction

Leicestershire County Council, Leicester City Council and Rutland County Council consulted on the Structure Plan Proposed Modifications from 7th June until 19th July 2002.

The Proposed Modifications consist of:

Schedule 1 - Panel Recommendations not Accepted

Schedule 2 - A Statement of Decisions and Reasons on the Panel Recommendations

Schedule 3 - Proposed Modifications

Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Structure Plan 1996-2016 was placed on deposit on 22nd May 2000. An Examination in Public (EIP) was held in June and July 2001, overseen by an independent Panel to discuss a number of key issues relating to the Plan. The Panel published its report in September 2001 setting out its recommendations in relation to these key issues.

Prior to the EIP the Three Councils prepared and consulted on Proposed Pre-EIP Changes to the Plan, and a Supplementary Housing Report (which set out suggested revision to housing policies taking account of new housing land availability and urban capacity information). These were not formal proposals of the Three Councils but were debated at the EIP and taken into account by the Panel in formulating its recommendations.

The Three Councils are required to consider the Panel Report and to decide what action to take on each of the Panel's recommendations. Government guidelines state that although authorities will wish to accept the Panel’s recommendations in most cases, they are not obliged to do so. At the same time as proposing any modifications to the Plan the Three Councils must prepare and make available for inspection:

a list of the recommendations that it is not intended to accept wholly or partially (see Schedule 1 - Panel Recommendations not Accepted).

a statement of decisions on each of the Panel’s recommendations and give reasons for each one – paying particular attention to any recommendation they do not accept and their reasons for rejecting it (see Schedule 2 - Decisions and Reasons on the Panel's Recommendations);

Where changes to policies are made, Proposed Modifications and their reasons for making such modifications must be prepared (see Schedule 3 - Proposed Modifications). The Proposed Modifications set out in this document indicate the changes from the Deposit Draft version of the Plan and take into account the following:

The Proposed Modifications only set out changes to the policies and key diagram of the Plan. Changes to the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum, which does not form part of the Plan itself, will be published when the Plan is formally adopted.