Wrexham outlines local plan next steps

After years of legal battles fighting the adoption of an unpopular strategic planning framework, the local authority said it was determined to learn lessons from the past to create a document that the community and county councillors can support.

Starting in November, Wrexham County Council will start reviewing and updating the evidence base for the local plan as well putting forward a call for sites.

Consultations on the local plan will start in February 2028, with a second public consultation set for April 2029.

This will put the county council on track to submit the local plan to Welsh Government by October 2029 and formally adopt it in October 2030.

Wrexham County Council has been without an up-to-date local development plan since 2013, with its latest attempt being overturned by members despite having won Welsh Government support. What followed were several rounds of legal battles, with county councillors at one point threatened jail time if they refused to approve the plan.

The government formally withdrew the proposed spatial development plan this year, meaning it is time for the county council to start the process anew.

Cllr Hugh Jones, the lead member for strategic planning and public protection, stressed that the new local plan would be different from its predecessor.

“This is absolutely about the future and not the past,” Jones said.

He noted: “We need to learn the lessons about the process. We need to learn the lessons about listening.

“It’s important in the development in our next local development plan that we listen to the community and the public and that we also listen to our own members.”

Wrexham County Council Leader Cllr Mark Pritchard added that it was time for the council to “start off on the right foot”.

“We have to listen and move forward on this,” he said.

READ MORE: Wrexham readies for appeals in aftermath of local plan quashing