Great news! The draft Plan has been submitted to Westminster Council

Plan for Soho are excited and pleased to announce that the draft neighbourhood plan has now been submitted to Westminster City Council! The council will then start the processes needed to get the Plan approved and then into force.We would like to thank you to all our members, especially the Forum Steering Group for all the ideas and help in getting us this far. Soho is a very diverse area with many conflicting views which we have had to reconcile. As a business forum with strong business input and with the requirement to be in general conformity with national, London and Westminster planning policies, there have inevitably been changes and evolutions to some of our early ideas.However,  we were encouraged by the declaration last year of a Soho Special Policy Area by the City Council which was one of those early ideas. The Forum believes that with that new approach from the Council, together with the policies in our draft Plan, it will help to keep Soho special. It will guide development in the future so that the area continues to thrive and evolve but also that development becomes more sustainable in the face of increasing climate change challenges.After an initial minimum six week consultation process facilitated by the Council we will move on to the appointment of an independent planning inspector to look at the plan in depth and then hopefully be in a position to recommend later this year that the plan goes forward to a referendum of residents and a separate referendum of business.We will keep you posted!