Hyndburn Local Plan to 2040 Examination

Thomas Jackson, 2 April 2025

Hyndburn Local Plan to 2040 Examination

The Council submitted their Local Plan to the Planning Inspectorate on Monday 10th March 2025.

This page should be viewed alongside the Submission web page from which the original submission library may be accessed. The submission library also contains a full set of representations submitted at the Local Plan Publication stage.

Further library items will be added to this Examination page as the Examination progresses and representors and other interested parties are encouraged to view it on a regular basis for new items and latest developments.

Latest News

27.11.25 – The Inspector’s post-hearings letter is now available and has been added to the Examination library below as item INSP007. Responses are not required to this letter but enquiries of an administrative nature may be addressed to the Programme Officer. As will be seen from the letter, the next stage of proceedings will be a consultation on proposed modifications to the submitted Plan – further details will be advised in due course.

24.11.25 – The Council have now concluded their work on actions arising from the hearings and these may be viewed in the EL4 library section.The Inspector anticipates she will be in a position to issue her post hearings letter in the near future and this will be added to this webpage in due course.

21.10.25 – The Council has produced a schedule of action points arising from the recent hearings and this may be viewed as library item EL4.001 below. The outcomes of these actions will be added to the EL4 library as and when they become available. Once concluded, they will assist the Inspector’s deliberations on the way forward for the Examination and her explanatory letter will be issued in due course and added to the webpage with a Latest News update.

For earlier latest news announcements please see the archive.

The Inspector

Helen Hockenhull BA(Hons) B.PI MRTPI has been appointed to undertake an independent examination into the soundness of the Plan and to subsequently issue a report with her conclusions.

The Programme Officer

All correspondence to and from the Inspector will be via an independent Programme Officer, Tony Blackburn. Items should be sent to him, preferably by email, to tony.blackburn@hyndburnbc.gov.uk.

or alternatively by post to him at the following address:

15 Ottawa Close
Blackburn
BB2 7EB

Additionally, he may be contacted by telephone on 01254 260286.

The hearings

The Inspector will hold a series of hearings as part of the Examination process and these are scheduled to be held at the Council offices:

Hyndburn Borough Council
Scaitcliffe House
Ormerod Street
Accrington
BB5 0PF

Dates scheduled are presently as follows:

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 16-18 September
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 23-25 September
Tuesday 7 October

Fridays of the respective weeks above have been allocated as reserve days in case any topics significantly overrun.

Privacy notices

Privacy notice tells you what to expect when we collect personal information and your rights in relation to that information.

The Planning Inspectorate provides advice about how the Planning Inspectorate will process any personal information and can be accessed at Customer Privacy Notice – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). It is very important that you read and consider these notices carefully because they explain how your personal information will be used and stored.

Procedure guide for Local Plan examinations

The Planning Inspectorate has also prepared a Procedure Guide for Local Plan Examinations that provides useful guidance on the procedural aspects of examining a local plan.

This document contains a link to a guide Local plans: taking part in Examinations updated in August 2024 and is particularly aimed at those taking part in Examinations for the first time.