The Government has overruled the council's Local Plan reset: consultation by 5 October, submission by 31 December, and the plan cannot be withdrawn.

The Government has ordered West Northamptonshire Council to press ahead with the Local Plan its councillors voted to scrap. The direction arrived the day after the vote.

Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, wrote to council leader Mark Arnull on 15 September using the Secretary of State’s intervention powers under section 27 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. The council’s Planning Policy Committee had voted on the evening of 14 September to reject the draft plan and start a new one. (Intervention letter, 15 September 2026)

The letter directs the council to:

  • start the Regulation 19 consultation on the draft plan by no later than 5 October 2026, for at least six weeks
  • submit the plan for examination by no later than 31 December 2026
  • take no step to withdraw the plan
  • report monthly to Government officials on its progress
  • see the plan through to the end of the examination
  • publish a revised Local Development Scheme on its website by 5 October, carrying those dates

“The above directions will remain in force until withdrawn by the Secretary of State,” the letter says. “Should you fail to comply with the directions in this letter, I will consider taking further action.”

Timeline of the West Northamptonshire Local Plan intervention: committee votes to scrap the draft on 14 September, the section 27 direction lands on 15 September, the council can set out exceptional circumstances by 29 September, consultation must start by 5 October, and the plan must be submitted by 31 December 2026
Fifteen weeks from the vote to scrap the plan to the deadline for submitting it. Source: MHCLG intervention letter, 15 September 2026. Graphic by The Northampton Wire.
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The warning that came true overnight

When councillors took their decision, officers’ own report warned them there was “a probable risk” that the Government would issue a direction compelling the rejected draft to proceed anyway. It took one day.

The minister’s reasoning is blunt. The council has not adopted a local plan since it was created in 2021. The joint plan its predecessor councils adopted in December 2014 is, in the letter’s words, “12 years old and the policies it contains are likely to be significantly out of date”. Without an up-to-date plan, the letter says, the area is left “vulnerable to piecemeal and speculative development”, and the council’s most recently published housing land supply position adds to that risk.

The decision not to progress the draft “would not only see that time, effort and investment wasted, but would create further uncertainty”, Pennycook wrote.

The council has until 29 September to set out any exceptional circumstances which, in its view, make intervention inappropriate. The letter gives that offer a hard edge: “To be clear, this neither alters nor removes the direction set out in this letter.”

The council’s response

The council says Whitehall deadlines are being put ahead of residents.

“We are deeply disappointed that the Government has chosen to intervene in our decision to start afresh on our Local Plan,” said Cllr Arnull. “We firmly believe our communities deserve a Local Plan that is truly deliverable, reflects local priorities and commands public confidence, not one that has been simply pushed through by the Government to meet their deadlines and expectations.

“Our residents should not be forced to choose between having a Plan quickly and having a Plan that works.”

He said the council “will now carefully consider the Government’s direction and its implications”. (West Northamptonshire Council, 15 September 2026)

What is back on the table

The direction applies to the Regulation 19 draft exactly as it was published for the committee on 14 September. That draft sets out a requirement of 42,704 homes between 2026 and 2043, a housing need of 2,512 homes a year, affordable housing at 10% in the Northampton and Daventry urban areas and 35% everywhere else, and 63 new Local Green Spaces. It does not allocate Collingtree Golf Course, an allocation dropped from the previous version. The submission can only carry minor modifications; anything more significant has to go back to the Secretary of State.

Our report on the committee’s decision sets out what the draft contains and what the plan has cost so far.

What it means for you

You will get your say within weeks, not years. The Regulation 19 consultation must open by 5 October and run for at least six weeks. This is the formal stage: representations go to an independent inspector, who examines whether the plan is legally compliant and sound.

The reset has not formally been abandoned. The council can put exceptional circumstances to the minister by 29 September, but the direction stands regardless, and the council cannot withdraw the plan.

Nothing changes for current applications yet. Planning applications continue to be decided against the 2014 Joint Core Strategy and the three inherited Part 2 plans until a new plan is adopted. We track major applications on our Northampton planning news page.

Sources