Gateway 1: Self-assessment of readiness

Gateway 1 involves self-assessing our readiness to start the process of preparing our Local Plan and it includes publishing a summary of our self-assessment.

The Planning Inspectorate does not carry out any assessment at this stage; this comes later in the process.

Getting ready for Gateway 1 and the 30-month process

This means making progress in the following five areas:

• preparing and publishing a Local Plan timetable
• establishing project management and governance arrangements about the preparation of the Plan
• our approach to consulting and engaging on the Plan
• the anticipated content of the Plan
• progressing the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

We have assessed our readiness to begin the 30-month plan-making process. In order to pass the Gateway 1 stage, we must publish a summary of our self-assessment to describe the progress we have made, and to provide links to supporting information. The following documents have been published to provide further information on what we have done to get ready:

• Self-assessment of readiness summary
• Self-assessment readiness checker (RAG Assessment)
• Project Initiation document
• Draft Local Plan Engagement Strategy