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Cornwall Local Plan 2050


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Developing a new Cornwall Local Plan

Help us to plan for the future

We're creating a plan for what Cornwall can become in the next 25 years. 

It's all about finding ways to treasure what's important to you, while shaping places that can thrive in our changing world. 

The new Local Plan will shape the future of Cornwall. We want everyone to get involved and have their say. We want to hear about:

  • the things that are important to you about where you live, and 
  • what you would like to see happen over the next 25 years.

What is a Local Plan

A Local Plan tells the story of what our towns, villages, hamlets and countryside are like now and what people want them to be like in the future.

Our existing Cornwall Local Plan was adopted in 2016 and needs to be rewritten before 2030. You can view a copy of the current plan at The Cornwall Local Plan.

But the world changes – the climate is changing, and the population and our needs are changing and so now we have to write a new plan.

The new Cornwall Local Plan will cover the period up to 2050. It will set out what can be built and where. It will create rules on everything that makes up a place, from what to protect and how buildings are designed, to how people get around. This will include:

  • housing
  • places to work
  • town centres
  • energy generation
  • new schools
  • health and community facilities
  • transport, and
  • green infrastructure, such as parks, local wildlife areas and woodlands.

The Plan will also need to consider how Cornwall responds to the challenges of a changing population and climate, support nature recovery and improve people's lives and work chances.

Community engagement for the Local Plan

As part of the development of the Local Plan, we are committed to working closely with local people, businesses and organisations.  We want to understand what you value most about your communities and to explore how we can shape places that thrive in a changing world.

Over the past six months, we have delivered 24 informal community drop‑in events across towns and villages in Cornwall. These sessions were led by Creative Kernow. They provided residents and workers with the opportunity to share what they treasure about the places they live and work. They could also share the improvements they would like to see.

A huge thank you to everyone who attended one of the events. We've had fantastic engagement. We're really pleased with how many people turned out to share their views on:

  • the things that are important to them about where they live and
  • any changes they would like to see happen over the next 20 years.

People have been telling us about the issues that matter to them including:

  1. genuinely affordable homes for local people
  2. assurance and clarity on infrastructure (health, transport, water/sewerage)
  3. revitalised town centres and stronger year-round economies
  4. protection of green/blue assets and water quality
  5. a lack of understanding regarding how planning decisions are made and the constraints in terms of process.

Feedback from every event was recorded by our team and will directly inform the next stage of the Local Plan. This engagement ensures that future planning reflects the aspirations and priorities of Cornwall’s communities.  You can find more information in the Local Plan Engagement Plan summary document.

Next steps

The drop in events are not the only opportunity for you to have your say.

We will be having further conversations with different people and organisations across Cornwall over the coming months as work on preparing the plan progresses.

We are expecting the first draft of the plan to be completed in late Spring 2027. Following further public consultation and engagement over Summer 2027, a revised Draft Plan will be produced. This will include all the comments made by the public and stakeholders.

This phase is due to be completed by Spring 2028. It will then be submitted to the Secretary of State ahead of a formal public inquiry led by an independent Planning Inspector. Cornwall Council is expected to decide on adoption of the Local Plan at the end of 2028.

You can find out the latest in our Local Plan interim progress report (March 2026).

Find out more

We are collecting evidence to help write the plan when we can.

There have been several reports to our Cabinet, Growth Board and other committees over the last couple of years.  All the papers are available via our Committee pages, but these links will take you straight to the reports:

Neighbourhood Planning

If you are from a Parish or Town Council, please look at our Neighbourhood Planning pages, particularly about new Neighbourhood Priorities Statements.

We will continue to work with the Cornwall Association of Local Councils (CALC). We will be reflecting on feedback from the engagement sessions to find the right way of continuing the next round of conversations with our towns and parishes for Spring 2026.

If you have a question or comment about our plan, please contact us at: localplan@cornwall.gov.uk.  

Understanding the Government housing target

The Council has been working with a revised housing requirement target of 4,421 dwellings per year.  Please note this figure has now increased to 4,453.  This target will continue to be updated as new data becomes available.  

You can find more details on the calculation in Understanding the new Government housing target.

You can find the:

Last Updated:

19/03/2026

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