Stockport has opened its final Regulation 19 consultation while working under a ministerial direction that requires the Stockport Local Plan to be submitted by 31st December 2026.
The timing is made more striking by changes since last winter. Three housing sites have entered the publication plan after not appearing as allocations at Regulation 18, while three earlier sites have been removed and other allocations have changed.
That does not mean the newly allocated land has planning permission. Regulation 19 is the final formal consultation before examination, and the question now is whether the published plan is legally compliant and sound.
Three housing sites have entered at the final consultation stage
Stockport Council says it carried out further work after the 2025 Regulation 18 consultation to assess the suitability of land for development and protection. It says the plan-making process can result in sites being added as allocations at this stage, provided they are assessed in the same way as other sites.
The publication plan adds three housing allocations that were not in the Regulation 18 draft:
- Land off Buxton Road, Hazel Grove, around 75 homes
- Land off Occupiers Lane, around 120 homes
- Daisy Bank, Heald Green, around 132 homes
At the same time Brookfield Business Park, land at Chadwick Street in Marple and Houldsworth Golf Club have been removed as housing allocations following further work on deliverability. Other sites have also changed, including extensions to the Mill Lane and Romiley Board Mill allocations and a reduction in the proposed employment floorspace at Bredbury Gateway.
The important point for anyone affected by a newly added site is that the council is accepting representations on those allocations now. The council says all Regulation 19 comments will be sent to the Planning Inspectorate if it decides to submit the plan.
An allocation is a proposal in the development plan. It is not planning permission for a particular development, and any later application would still need to be determined through the appropriate statutory process.
Why the Stockport Local Plan’s 31st December deadline matters
Stockport is not working to its own timetable alone. In September 2025 the government directed the council to accelerate the plan. After the council sought more time, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook amended that direction on 1st July 2026.
The amended direction requires the Regulation 19 consultation to have started no later than 1st October 2026 and requires submission for examination no later than 31st December 2026. The consultation opened on 23rd September, so Stockport has met the first of those amended milestones.
The 1st July ministerial Direction does not say that the council is prohibited from withdrawing the plan. The original 16th September 2025 Direction does not contain such a restriction either. The July Direction does say officials will liaise with the council regularly and that further intervention may be considered if progress slips.
The council’s current timetable schedules further consideration in December before submission. Its Local Development Scheme shows submission in December 2026, examination in public in spring 2027 and adoption in winter 2027/28.
Planning Geek explains why the deadline matters in our guide to the old and new Local Plan systems. Plans that qualify for the transitional arrangements can still proceed under the legacy system, but Stockport has a fixed ministerial submission date within that window.
Regulation 19 is not a referendum on the plan
The consultation opened at 09:00 on 23rd September 2026 and representations must be received by 23:59 on 8th November 2026.
This stage is narrower than the Regulation 18 consultation. People can support or object to the publication plan, but the formal questions concern legal compliance and soundness.
For soundness, the Inspector will consider whether the plan is positively prepared, justified, effective and consistent with national policy. That means evidence about matters such as deliverability, infrastructure, transport, flooding or whether the evidence properly supports an allocation can be important where it relates to those tests. A simple vote for or against a development is not what Regulation 19 is designed to collect.
Anyone who commented at Regulation 18 should therefore read the publication version afresh. The council warns that the documents have changed. If someone wants the examining Inspector to consider a representation on the published plan or a newly added allocation, the safe course is to make a Regulation 19 representation during the current consultation rather than assume an earlier response will do the same job.
For more on the examination stage, see Planning Geek’s guide to Local Plan examinations, soundness and Main Modifications.
What happens after 8th November?
After the consultation closes, Stockport will consider the representations and decide whether to submit the plan. Council papers schedule an extraordinary scrutiny meeting on 7th December, Cabinet on 8th December and an extraordinary Council meeting on 17th December 2026 before the ministerial submission deadline.
If the plan is submitted, the Regulation 19 representations and supporting documents go forward for independent examination. The Inspector, not the consultation response count, decides whether the plan meets the legal and soundness tests and whether changes are needed before it can be adopted.
Sources and documents
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