Amber Valley Local Plan Support

Hyas were appointed in July 2023 to manage the production, submission and examination of the Council's new Local Plan. The Council has found it challenging to replace its 2006 Plan and following the retirement of key personnel, Hyas were appointed to lead the final stages of preparing the plan and taking it through to adoption.

The Authority sits on the edge of the Derby, Nottingham conurbation and also the Peak District National Park. It contains a World Heritage Site, is well connected and faces significant housing and economic development pressures.

We have embedded a member of our team, Matt Bowers, in the Council's Local plans section and they have led the team through the process. In addition other Hyas team members have provided expert support on topics and workstreams. This approach has helped to build capacity and knowledge in the Council's team.

We have led the team, prepared policy wording, undertaken key stakeholder engagement in relation to Duty to Cooperate, liaised with Senior officers and Members, attended Full Council and commissioned evidence. We have supplemented this with support from other members of the Hyas team on policy drafting, particularly focusing on key strategic sites and design policies, engagement activity and undertaken training. The Plan was approved at Full Council in December 2023 and the Regulation 19 consultation took place in February 2024 with submission in July 24. The hearing sessions took place in December. Matt was the Councils lead at the EIP. The Inspectors have asked for further work and the Hyas team have set out a work programme for the Council and actively leading on a number of the workstreams. The Council hope to adopt the plan later this year and have asked Hyas to continue to support them through to adoption.