Draft Local Plan Review Consultation
The Council is undertaking a review of the Local Plan for the Borough. We are now seeking comments on a draft.
Regulation 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Plan)(England) Regulations 2012:
Requires us to write and tell relevant consultation bodies and interested parties to seek their views.
The consultation document sets out the spatial vision and objectives for the future of Darlington Borough.
Most of the adopted Local Plan remains up to date. However, revisions have been suggested to reflect the extended plan period of 2025 to 2042, latest national policy and local circumstances.
Two revisions of the Draft Local Plan Review, and their appendices, are provided:
- A copy of the updated Draft Local Plan Review 2025-2042 [pdf document] with appendices [pdf document].
- A ‘tracked changed’ version [pdf document] with appendices (with tracked changes) [pdf document]. This compares the proposed update version with the existing approved Local Plan 2016 – 2036.
A set of reviewed policy maps [pdf document] also accompany this consultation.
The Sustainability Appraisal [pdf document] is also available to view.
Consultation process
The Draft Local Plan Review 2025-2042 will be consulted on for a six-week period from:
Monday 16th March 2026 to Tuesday 28th April 2026 at 5pm.
- Online versions of the Draft Local Plan Review can be seen above.
- Paper copies of the Draft Local Plan Review are available to view at the Council Offices (Town Hall, Feethams, Darlington, DL1 5QT) by appointment only. Appointments can be made by contacting us:
By email at [email protected] or:
By phone on 01325 406724.
- You can also look at paper copies at Darlington Library and Cockerton Library during their opening hours.
If you are unable to access the consultation documents, please contact us to discuss alternative ways to view them.
How to comment
Click here to make your comments directly on our online consultation form:
You can also provide us with your comments by completing a response form [pdf document].
The form is also available as Microsoft Word response form [docx document].
Paper copies of this form are also available at:
- the Town Hall, or
- Darlington and Cockerton Libraries.
Forms should be emailed or posted to:
- [email protected], or
- Planning Policy, Darlington Borough Council, Town Hall, Feethams, Darlington, DL1 5QT
Please note:
- Only representations that are received within the consultation period, between Monday 16th March 2026 to 5pm on Tuesday 28th April 2026, will have the right to have their representations considered.
- Representations containing defamatory remarks or abusive language will not be accepted. If your representation cannot be accepted, we will contact you to explain why.
- If you respond to this consultation, we will keep you informed of future consultation stages unless you tell us that you want to opt out of such communication.
- Representations cannot be treated as confidential. If you are responding as an individual, rather than as an organisation, we will not publish your contact details (email/ postal address and telephone number) or signatures online.
- Further details on the General Data Protection Regulation and Privacy Notices are available on our privacy notice pages.