Gateway 1 self-assessment summary
This Gateway 1 Self-Assessment Summary sets out the preparatory work we have undertaken to ensure that we are ready to prepare a new local plan.
The publication of this Self-Assessment Summary (on 30 October 2026) marks the start of the 30-month plan making period referred to in the National Planning Policy Framework (Policy PM2 Local Plans). It explains what we did to get ready to meet the 30-month timeframe.
Legislation and guidance set out that the Self-Assessment Summary must reflect progress made in five areas:
- Preparing and publishing a local plan timetable
- Establishing project management and governance arrangements
- Identifying the approach to consultation and engagement
- Anticipating the content of the local plan
- Obligations relating to Strategic Environmental Assessment.
Further information on the new Runnymede Local Plan can be found via our New Local Plan webpage.
How we got ready to prepare a new local plan
We started preparing a new local plan for Runnymede Borough geography on 30 October 2026.
Government policy says we should adopt the new plan within 30 months of this date. This is to help ensure we have an up-to-date local plan that responds to the needs of the area and our communities.
This page explains what we did to get ready to meet the 30-month timeframe. It also has links to further information and where you can get updates.
We published a timetable for preparing the plan
The new Runnymede Local Plan timetable1 shows when we expect to carry out the different stages and activities for preparing a plan. It helps us check if and how we can adopt the plan within the 30-month timeframe. The Council reviews its Local Plan timetable on a monthly basis and updates it where necessary. The timetable can be viewed at:
Within the timetable, the Council has introduced a status column to confirm the Council’s progress against each plan-making milestone. There is also a version control document below the timetable which lists changes that have been made to the timetable since it was first adopted by the Council on 25th February 2026.
We’re confident we will be able to adopt our plan within 30 months.
We established project management and governance arrangements
Preparing a local plan is a complex process. It involves many people across the Council and from other organisations, and also requires significant input from local communities. Thinking early about how the work is planned, managed and signed off helps us monitor our progress and keep the work on track. It also helps us anticipate and manage any risks to us adopting the plan within 30 months.
As such, to ensure sufficient oversight, the preparation of the Local Plan has been designated by the Council as a grade A Council project. This requires monthly reporting during the preparation of the Local Plan to allow effective monitoring of progress against the Local Plan timetable. This reporting also includes a comprehensive risk assessment which is also reviewed and updated as necessary on a monthly basis. An up-to-date Project Initiation Document has also been prepared.
Team resources are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that resourcing remains sufficient to deliver the Local Plan in line with the timescales outlined in the adopted Local Plan timetable.
The Council has robust governance arrangements in place to support and guide the development of the Local Plan and to ensure robust decisions are made along the way. Governance arrangements include an established Planning Policy Advisory Group. This is a group of elected members who meet periodically with officers to look in detail at the direction of the Local Plan update process, the evidence underpinning the process, and at other specific planning policy topic areas. Details of the Planning Policy Advisory Group can be found at pages 55 and 56 of the Council's May 2026 Constitution
The Planning Committee is the relevant committee which makes key decisions on the Local Plan at the relevant milestones. Relevant decisions will also be made at certain stages by Full Council.
The Council's Corporate Leadership Team, which is made up of the most senior officers in the Council including the Chief Executive meets on a weekly basis. Items on the Local Plan are discussed at this meeting as required. This allows senior officer oversight at key stages of plan making.
We planned how we will consult on the plan
Public consultation is essential for the Local Plan to represent the needs of our communities and key stakeholders. It must be easy for people to have their say in a way that works for them, so they can influence the way the area develops. By planning this early, we can ensure people are aware in advance and can get involved from the start.
We have undertaken a scoping consultation to get people’s views on what the plan could contain and how we propose to consult on the plan at key stages.
The Council has produced a robust Engagement Strategy. The strategy includes a detailed demographic assessment which has informed the identification of a number of hard-to-reach groups and informed the suite of engagement techniques which are proposed to be utilised during Plan preparation. This includes a mixture of traditional and digital engagement techniques. The Council is in the process of making a number of updates to the strategy, mostly focussed on expanding the possible range of engagement techniques which may be utilised during Plan preparation based on the most recent comments received during the scoping consultation. An updated version of the Engagement Strategy will then be taken before the Planning Committee for approval.
The Engagement Strategy referred to above is mainly aimed at engagement with the general public. Alongside this, the Council has produced a Cross Boundary Strategic Matters Scoping Statement. This statement seeks to ensure that the Council has:
- identified all of the strategic issues which could affect the Borough and wider area at the earliest stage of plan preparation;
- set out the framework for how Runnymede Borough Council will approach strategic cross-boundary engagement by identifying the authorities/bodies with which it will need to engage and the mechanism for that engagement (in broad terms);
- allowed consultation with those authorities and bodies who may identify other issues, bodies or mechanisms for engagement that the Borough Council has not identified;
- provided a framework for future engagement whereby the Council will limit its consultation on strategic cross-boundary matters to the identified and agreed strategic issues and relevant local authorities, prescribed bodies and other key stakeholders.
The Council’s Local Plan Engagement Strategy and Strategic Cross Boundary Matters Scoping Statement can be viewed at:
We began scoping the content of the plan
Scoping includes considering how well the existing plan is working and gathering baseline information about the area. This helps to identify our future needs and ambitions. Starting this early means we can begin preparing the new plan with a clear vision, making it quicker and easier to consult on the plan and make decisions about it.
As part of the scoping stage, the Council has produced a digital place portrait. The tool helps paint a portrait about Runnymede: what kind of place it is at the moment, and what its needs are – both now and in the future - which a new Local Plan could help address. It is supported by more detailed baseline information provided in evidence such as the Sustainability Appraisal (SA) Scoping Report, the Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA), and the Open Space Study. The digital place portrait can be viewed at:
The scoping of the next Local Plan continues following the recent closure of the Local Plan Scoping Consultation. The Council is in the process of reviewing all of the representations received, and feedback from a series of scoping consultation activities. The comments received will help the Council finalise the scoping stage of the Local Plan, including finalising the list of locally-specific policies that the Council believes should be included in the next Local Plan (currently a draft list of policies exists only).
The comments are being used to help the Council develop a vision for the Local Plan which is due to be consulted on as part of the Vision and Strategy consultation which is scheduled to take place in Spring/Summer 2027. The scoping consultation document (and a shorter summary version) can be viewed at the link below:
During the Autumn period, the Council will be informally approaching local groups and stakeholders to help develop strategies for its town centres of Addlestone, Egham and Chertsey, as required by Policy TC1 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
We began a Strategic Environmental Assessment
We’re legally required to identify, describe and evaluate likely significant effects on the environment of:
- implementing the Local Plan;
- reasonable alternatives, taking into account the Plan’s objectives and scope.
This process will consider how community, national and international environmental protection objectives and any other environmental challenges are taken into account in the Plan. It will help us to predict significant environmental effects and develop ways of preventing, reducing and offsetting these.
It is important we start this work early and are transparent about how we’re doing the assessment when engaging stakeholders and communities.
To date, the Council has prepared a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) incorporating Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Scoping Report. This was consulted on as part of the Local Plan Scoping Consultation and can be viewed on the page below:
This document identifies other relevant plans and programmes and collects baseline information, looking at the area’s environment and relevant designations to identify potential issues or problems.
The Council has appointed SLR Consulting to support the Council deliver the remaining Sustainability Appraisal incorporating Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) reports that will be required during the remainder of the plan preparation process.
How to stay up to date
To keep up to date with Local Plan news and to be notified of future consultations, we would advise interested parties to sign up to the Council’s Planning Policy consultation portal using the link below:
For Local Plan latest news (updated approximately monthly) and Local Plan Frequently Asked Questions, please visit the webpage below:
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