The Government has intervened in the West Northamptonshire Local Plan one day after councillors voted not to progress the current Regulation 19 draft and instead restart plan-making under the new 2026 system.
Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook has issued formal directions under section 27 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. They require the council to start Regulation 19 consultation by 5th October 2026 and submit the plan for examination by 31st December 2026.
The Direction does not approve the Local Plan, set a housing figure or transfer plan-making to the Secretary of State. It controls the route the council must now follow to consultation, submission and examination.
Councillors voted to reset the West Northamptonshire Local Plan process
West Northamptonshire Council’s Planning Policy Committee met on 14th September 2026.
The committee opted not to progress the current draft Regulation 19 Local Plan, which had been prepared under the 2012 Local Planning Regulations. The council said it intended instead to restart plan-making under the 2026 National Planning Policy Framework and the 2026 Local Planning Regulations.
The officer report put those two routes expressly before members. It said the legacy timetable was extremely challenging, but that the Planning Service was confident it could meet the 31st December 2026 submission deadline. It also confirmed that the Regulation 19 draft had been prepared against the December 2024 NPPF, as permitted by the transitional provisions in Annex A of the August 2026 Framework.
That decision should not be described as a completed statutory withdrawal of the Local Plan. The important point is that the committee decided not to take the current draft forward to Regulation 19 and intended to begin again under the new system.
Planning Geek explains the normal role of the plan in our guides to Local Plans, the development plan and Local Plan examinations.
Government intervened the next day under section 27
On 15th September 2026, Matthew Pennycook wrote to West Northamptonshire Council exercising the Secretary of State’s intervention powers under section 27 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.
Section 27 gives the Secretary of State broad default powers where they believe a local planning authority is failing or omitting to do something necessary in connection with the preparation, revision or adoption of a Local Plan.
The minister concluded that the council’s failure to support the Regulation 19 consultation, together with its decision to restart plan-making under the new system, amounted to a failure to do something necessary in connection with preparing the plan and met the statutory test for intervention.
That is the Government’s stated legal basis for the Direction. It is separate from the council’s own reasons for wanting to reset the plan.
The minister also relied on the PPG intervention criteria
The letter says the minister also considered the intervention criteria in Planning Practice Guidance, which require regard to plan progress and local development needs.
On plan progress, the minister noted that West Northamptonshire Council has not adopted a Local Plan since it was established in 2021, while the strategic joint plan inherited from its predecessor authorities dates from December 2014. The letter says those strategic policies are likely to be significantly out of date.
On development needs, the minister expressly acknowledged that the council has a positive Housing Delivery Test record. The concern instead was the risk of piecemeal and speculative development in the absence of an up-to-date plan, reinforced by the council’s current housing land supply position. West Northamptonshire’s July 2026 Housing Land Availability Report records a 4.3-year supply as at 1st April 2026.
That distinction matters. The intervention was not justified on the basis that West Northamptonshire had failed the Housing Delivery Test. The Government’s stated case combines the age of the strategic plan, the decision not to progress the advanced Regulation 19 draft and the council’s current land-supply vulnerability.
The Direction imposes five key requirements
The ministerial letter directs West Northamptonshire Council to:
- commence Regulation 19 consultation on the emerging plan considered by the Planning Policy Committee on 14th September by no later than 5th October 2026, for a minimum of six weeks
- submit that plan for examination by no later than 31st December 2026, with any necessary proposed minor modifications following consideration of consultation representations
- take no step to withdraw the plan and report progress to MHCLG officials every month from the date of the letter
- progress the plan through to the end of the examination process
- publish a revised Local Development Scheme by no later than 5th October 2026, showing the directed Regulation 19 and submission milestones
The directions remain in force until withdrawn by the Secretary of State.
This is more than an instruction to hold a consultation
The Direction controls what happens after Regulation 19 as well as requiring the consultation to begin.
West Northamptonshire may submit the plan with proposed minor modifications considered necessary after the Regulation 19 representations have been reviewed.
If the council considers that more significant modifications are needed, the Direction says those proposed changes must be set out to the Secretary of State so that ministers can consider whether further action is necessary.
Planning Geek analysis: that is a substantial level of control over the route from Regulation 19 to submission. The Government is not simply saying “consult on something”. It is directing the council to take the current emerging plan into Regulation 19, meet a fixed submission deadline and refer more significant proposed changes back to the Secretary of State for consideration.
Why the 31st December deadline matters
The deadline is tied directly to the transition between the old and new Local Plan systems.
Planning Inspectorate guidance confirms that 31st December 2026 is the final date for submitting Local Plans under the legacy plan-making system. During 2026 the legacy and new systems are running in parallel, but authorities cannot simply move an advanced legacy plan into the new process at the same procedural stage.
The minister says the section 27 intervention is intended to give the West Northamptonshire plan the best possible opportunity to be adopted under the legacy system.
For a current Planning Geek example of the new process, see our coverage of the 30-month Local Plan system.
The council can identify exceptional circumstances, but the Direction still applies
The minister has invited West Northamptonshire Council to set out by 29th September 2026 any exceptional circumstances which it believes suggest intervention is not appropriate.
The letter is equally clear about the immediate legal position: making that case does not alter or remove the Direction.
The council is therefore required to work to the directed timetable unless and until the Secretary of State changes or withdraws the Direction.
What the intervention does not mean
The Government has not approved the West Northamptonshire Local Plan.
It has not, through this Direction, granted planning permission for development or declared that a particular housing number must be built. Nor has the Secretary of State taken over the whole Local Plan process.
The plan must still go through Regulation 19 consultation, be submitted for independent examination, and be tested by an Inspector for legal compliance and soundness before it can become capable of adoption.
Representations made at Regulation 19 also remain part of that statutory process.
West Northamptonshire is not the only recent intervention
Government has also intervened recently in plan-making at Southend-on-Sea and Tonbridge & Malling.
Those should not be treated as one merged story. The factual circumstances and directions differ. The common point is that section 27 can be used where the Secretary of State concludes that necessary Local Plan preparation steps are not being taken.
The West Northamptonshire Direction is particularly striking because it follows immediately after an express council decision to leave the advanced legacy route and begin again under the new system.
The practical Local Plan lesson
Planning Geek analysis: the transition to the new Local Plan system does not give an authority an unrestricted option to abandon an advanced legacy plan and restart whenever it prefers.
Where ministers consider that doing so amounts to a failure to carry out a necessary step in plan preparation, section 27 provides an intervention route. In this case that route has been used to impose specific dates, prevent withdrawal and require progress through examination.
The next immediate milestones are therefore 29th September for any exceptional-circumstances case, and 5th October for both the Regulation 19 start and the revised Local Development Scheme.
Sources and documents
- MHCLG, West Northamptonshire Council Local Plan intervention letter, 15th September 2026
- Full section 27 Direction and ministerial letter
- West Northamptonshire Council, decision to reset Local Plan work
- West Northamptonshire Council, Planning Policy Committee officer report, 14th September 2026
- Planning Practice Guidance, Local Plan intervention
- West Northamptonshire Council, Housing Land Availability Report 2026 and Planning Policy Committee minutes
- West Northamptonshire Council response to the intervention
- Planning Inspectorate guidance on the new Local Plan system and transition
Created: 16th September 2026
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