Local Plan evidence base

The Local Plan review commenced in 2022 evidence document underpinning the review can be found in the Planning Policy Library below. Documents are grouped by the themes in the Local Plan for ease of reference. Clicking on each theme will reveal the documents available.

Document	Date Published
Viability Study 2024 (PDF, 9MB)	November 2024
Infrastructure Delivery Plan Baseline Report 2025 (PDF, 2MB)	November 2025

Document	Date Published
Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment 2023 (PDF, 6MB)	29 November 2024
Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment 2025 (PDF, 10MB)	3 November 2025
Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment 2026 (PDF, 9MB)	28 July 2026

Document	Date Published
Settlement Accessibility Assessment 2023 (PDF, 2MB)	23 August 2023
Green Wedges Methodology and Evaluation (PDF, 481KB)	October 2023

Document	Date Published
Strategic Flood Risk Assessment	12 November 2025

Document	Date Published
North East Lincolnshire Landscape Character Assessment 2010 (PDF, 3MB)	February 2010
North East Lincolnshire Landscape Character Assessment 2015 Sections 1-4 (PDF, 2MB)	12 November 2025
North East Lincolnshire Landscape Character Assessment 2015 Sections 5-6 (PDF, 8MB)	12 November 2025
North East Lincolnshire Landscape Character Assessment 2015 Section 7 (PDF, 21MB)	12 November 2025
North East Lincolnshire Landscape Character Assessment 2015 Appendices (PDF, 8MB)	12 November 2025

Document	Date Published
Design North East Lincolnshire places and spaces renaissance 2008	17 April 2008

Document	Date Published
Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment 2025 (PDF, 10MB)	12 November 2025
Windfall Allowance Technical Paper 2025 (PDF, 987KB)	12 November 2025
Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment 2026 (PDF, 5MB)	12 March 2026

Document	Date Published
Retail, leisure and three centres study (2013)	June 2013
Retail Floorspace Capacity report (PDF, 2MB)	September 2016
Retail And Leisure Study (PDF, 9MB)	October 2024

Sustainability Appraisal

A Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment must be carried out at each stage of preparing a new local plan or reviewing an existing local plan. These two legal requirements have been met through one integrated process and a report prepared called the Sustainability Appraisal.

The purpose of the Sustainability Appraisal is to identify and report on the likely social, economic and environmental effects of the plan and the extent to which sustainable development is expected to be achieved through its implementation.

There are five main stages to preparing a Sustainability Appraisal, these are:

Setting the context and objectives, establishing the baseline and deciding on the scope of the appraisal (Scoping report)
Developing and refining options and assessing effects
Preparing the sustainability appraisal report
Consulting on the emerging local plan and the sustainability appraisal report
Monitoring the significant effects of implementing the local plan

2025 Preferred Options consultation

The 2025 Sustainability Appraisal (PDF, 13MB) was published in accordance with Regulation 13 of the Strategic Environmental Assessment Regulations for consultation with the prescribed statutory bodies and the public.

The consultation period ran from Monday 8 December 2025 to Sunday 1 February 2026. All comments needed to be received by 23:59 on Sunday 1 February 2026.

2024 Draft Plan consultation

This 2023 Sustainability Appraisal (PDF, 15MB) has been published in accordance with Regulation 13 of the Strategic Environmental Assessment Regulations for consultation with the prescribed statutory bodies and the public.

The consultation period ran from Monday 15 January to Friday 8 March 2024. Any comments needed to be received by 5pm on Friday 8 March 2024.

2023 Scoping consultation

This Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report (PDF, 9MB) was published for consultation with the prescribed statutory bodies.

The consultation with Natural England, Historic England, and the Environment Agency ran from Friday 6 February to Friday 17 March 2023.

The purpose of this consultation is to seek their views in relation to the scope and level of detail to be included in the Sustainability Appraisal of future stages of the local plan review.

There following iterations of the Sustainability Appraisal published during the preparation of the existing 2018 Local Plan. These have been retained below for information and completeness:

Sustainability Appraisal Post Adoption Statement (April 2018)(PDF, 381KB)

Habitat Regulations

The objective of the Habitat Regulations Assessment is to determine whether the emerging local plan is likely to have a significant effect on the achievement of the conservation objectives of the European and International conservation sites within and around the area. These sites include:

Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for birds classified by the ‘1979 Wild Birds Directive’
Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) for other habitats and species designated through the ‘1992 Habitats Directive’
Ramsar sites, which are internationally important wetland areas designated under the ‘Ramsar Convention’

The Habitat Regulations Assessment feeds into the Local Plan review and has undergone the following consultation:

2025 Preferred Options consultation

The 2025 Habitat Regulations Assessment Report (PDF, 5MB) was published for consultation with stakeholders and the public.

The consultation period ran from Monday 8 December 2025 to Sunday 1 February 2026. Any comments needed to be received by 23:59 on Sunday 1 February 2026

2024 Draft Plan consultation

This 2023 Habitat Regulations Assessment Report (PDF) was published for consultation.

The consultation period ran from Monday 15 January to Friday 8 March 2024. Any comments needed to be received by 5pm on Friday 8 March 2024.

The report presents the methodology and findings of Stage 1: Screening. If Appropriate Assessment is required, this will be conducted at the next stage of the Local Plan review process.

There were three iterations of the Habitat Regulations Assessment prepared as part of the existing 2018 Local Plans preparation. These have been retained below for completeness: