Procedural guide for examinations and gateways under the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2026

Publication Year

2026

Document Status

Current

Abstract

Explains how gateway assessments and examinations of local plans are carried out by the Planning Inspectorate. Covers: overview; plan preparation and gateways; submission; initial assessment and organisation of the hearing sessions; preparation for the hearing sessions; conduct of the hearing sessions; main modifications to the plan; examination pauses; inspector's reports and recommendations; consistency quality assurance, fact-check procedure and delivery of reports to the local planning authority; and other procedures.

Document History

Last updated: 29 June 2026 - Updated to reflects a minor procedural clarification to paragraph 3.5.1 and the Gateway 2 Process Overview. Sourced from: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/procedural-guide-for-examinations-and-gateways-under-the-town-and-country-planning-local-planning-england-regulations-2026 and converted to pdf. Whilst we endeavour to capture all updates it is subject to receiving alerts from the publisher and there may be formatting or punctuation changes applied to the html version that do not affect the text. Document type: guidance. First published: 18 June 2026.

Publisher Information