Unbelievably it is ten years since the public inquiry closed into the Purbeck Local Plan. That plan, already long in the making, was overtaken by the planning system shifting around it and ultimately could not be adopted. This still leaves Purbeck as one of the very few Council’s without an adopted Local Plan as part of its statutory Development Plan.
Things move slowly down the Purbeck way but finally it is back again bringing its Core Strategy to examination in May. Has any Council managed to clock up so many consultations on a Core Strategy? On this page it shows consultation work began with a conference back in 2005 with further consultation stages in 2006 (two), 2008 (another two), 2009, 2010 (two) and 2011. I make that nine. In Purbeck it would seem that planning is what happens whilst they are busy making other plans.
What will the Inspector David Hogger make of it? Will the District finally get some adopted policies? Time (and hopefully not too much of it) will tell.