The last chance to comment on 42,704 homes to 2043 closes at 11.59pm on 16 November. How to respond, what counts, and the biggest Northampton sites.

The final public consultation on West Northamptonshire’s Local Plan is open. It runs until 11.59pm on Monday 16 November 2026.

The plan sets a requirement of 42,704 homes between 2026 and 2043. It names the land where most of them would go, including seven sites around Northampton of 850 homes or more. The council launched the consultation on Monday, the last day allowed by the Government’s direction.

This is the stage that matters most. Every response goes to the independent planning inspector who decides whether the plan can be adopted. The council says it is “the final opportunity to make representations” before that happens.

How we got here

Councillors rejected this same draft on 14 September and voted to start again. We covered that decision and its £1m cost at the time.

The next day, housing minister Matthew Pennycook overruled them. His direction orders the council to publish this plan for consultation by 5 October and submit it for examination by 31 December. The council told him on 28 September that his intervention was not appropriate, but it has complied.

So the plan now out for comment is the one the council itself voted against.

How to respond

You have three routes:

Every document is on the council’s Local Plan page. The plan itself is a 409-page PDF.

Before you write, know these rules from the council’s guidance note:

  • Anonymous responses will not be accepted. You must give your full name and address.
  • Your response will be published and shared with the Planning Inspectorate.
  • Late responses will not be accepted. The deadline is 11.59pm on Monday 16 November.
  • Say whether you want to speak at the hearings. Only people asking for a change to the plan have that right. Written and spoken responses carry the same weight.
  • Groups should send one response, saying how many people it speaks for, rather than many copies of the same letter.

What counts at this stage

This is not a vote on whether you like the plan. The inspector can only judge two things.

The first is legal compliance. Did the council follow its published timetable, its own rules on involving the public, and the planning regulations? Did it produce a proper Sustainability Appraisal?

The second is soundness. The guidance note sets out the four tests, from paragraph 36 of the 2024 national planning rules:

  • Positively prepared: it meets the area’s housing need as a minimum
  • Justified: it is a sensible strategy, compared with the alternatives, on proportionate evidence
  • Effective: it can actually be delivered over the plan period
  • Consistent with national policy

A response that says “I object to houses near me” carries little weight on its own. One that says a site cannot be delivered because of flood risk, a road junction or a missing school place, with evidence, and says what should change, is the kind the inspector can act on. The guidance note asks you to say “precisely how you think the plan should be modified”.

The big Northampton sites

Policy N6 lists 25 housing sites in and around Northampton. Their indicative capacities add up to 14,459 homes. Many carry over from the town’s existing plans. The largest are:

Site Homes Where it is
N15 Land west of the A43 2,900 Beside Moulton, with road access from the A43 and only walking and cycling links into the village
N16 East of the A43 1,950 The northern edge of the town, along Billing Brook and Cowpasture Spinney
N13 Land east of Wooldale Road 1,700 Next to Wootton Fields and Caroline Chisholm School, with Wootton Brook running through it
N18 North of Buckton Fields 1,500 Off Harborough Road North, opposite Boughton Hall park, containing the Boughton bowl barrow
N10 Greyfriars 1,000 The town centre, as part of a mixed-use scheme
N14 Land north of Newport Pagnell Road 1,000 South of Brackmills Industrial Estate, next to the Brackmills South urban extension
N20 South of Grange Park 850 South of Grange Park, near the M1
Bar chart of the seven largest Northampton housing allocations in the West Northamptonshire Regulation 19 Local Plan: land west of the A43 2,900 homes, east of the A43 1,950, east of Wooldale Road 1,700, north of Buckton Fields 1,500, Greyfriars 1,000, north of Newport Pagnell Road 1,000, south of Grange Park 850.
Indicative capacities from Policy N6 of the October 2026 plan. Chart by The Northampton Wire
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The plan also allocates 68 hectares for warehousing south of junction 15 of the M1 (Policy N23). And it includes 100 homes on land off Harlestone Road.

Two policies will matter to many readers:

  • Affordable housing (Policy HO2). Sites of 10 or more homes in the Northampton and Daventry urban areas would need to offer 10% affordable housing. In Towcester, Brackley and the rural areas it is 35%.
  • Wildlife wording still to come. The council’s own report to Full Council said the Cattle Market Road, Greyfriars and railway station allocations need extra wording to protect the Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits, a protected bird site. The direction froze the text, so those policies as published do not mention it. The council plans to add the wording during the examination.

What happens next

All responses go to the Secretary of State with the plan by 31 December. An inspector then holds hearings. The council’s revised timetable puts the examination in April 2027 and adoption in November 2027.

If you ask to be kept informed, the council will tell you when the plan is submitted, when the hearings are and when the inspector reports.

What it means for you

  • If a site near you is in the table above, this is your last formal say. Later comments are only heard if the inspector invites them.
  • Read the policy for your site, not just the map. Each big site has its own policy setting out roads, schools, green space and drainage. Comment on what it does or does not require.
  • Planning applications are still judged against the 2014 Joint Core Strategy and the older Part 2 plans until this plan is adopted. Our Northampton planning news page tracks the major schemes.
  • Put 16 November in your diary now. The council says late responses will be rejected.

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