Planning

See Community Notices for general news and announcements. 

Planning in Keevil

Keevil Parish Council is a statutory consultee of the Local Planning Authority (LPA) Wiltshire Council for all planning applications within the parish. Any views expressed by the Parish Council are taken into account by the LPA before a decision is made, providing the points made are relevant to the determination of the application in question. The Parish Council has no powers to approve or reject an application, the decision is made by Wiltshire Council as the Planning Authority.

The Parish Council strives for a consistent approach to the stance it takes as a consultee, based on it’s adopted Planning Policy. The current policy is based on the core principles of the Village Design Statement (2003) and the majority outcomes of the Village Survey (2019), and underwent a detailed revision in 2024 (see working group page) which was approved in March 2025. Further work to align with the Wiltshire Local Plan and Core Policy was pending, however, since the Local Plan was withdrawn in May 2026, our focus must be the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) until the LPA has a new Local Plan approved by the inspectorate. (See further information further down this page.)

Planning Meetings

Planning applications are considered at the normal bi-monthly council meetings unless the deadline for comment falls between meetings, in which case an additional meeting will be convened and noted on the Meetings page.

You can search for planning applications on Wiltshire Council’s website. You can find full details of all full planning applications in Keevil going back to 2018 on the village website.

Advice: commenting on a planning application

Wiltshire Council planning matters that affect the future of our Parish

The Wiltshire Local Plan

The Plan sets out the vision and framework for housing, infrastructure and land for employment growth in Wiltshire for the next 15 years. Once adopted, all planning applications will be determined against the plan, making it the most important place-shaping document for Wiltshire.

What happened to the Local Plan due to take effect in 2026?

Well, the government changed and introduced amendments and new measures to the NPPF, which affected the draft Local Plan and resulted in its referral to the Inspectorate in 2025. In March 2026, the Inspectorate informed Wiltshire Council the Plan would not be adopted; consequently, in May, Wiltshire Council withdrew the Plan and began work on a new one.

Have Wiltshire Council started work on a new Local Plan?

Yes. A formal Notice of Intention to Commence the preparation of a new Wiltshire Local Plan was published on 30th June, along with a timetable showing the key stages of the process, including public consultation. The first formal stage of consultation is expected to take place in September 2026.
 
As part of the early work on the plan, Wiltshire Council have also launched a Call for Sites, which invites landowners, developers and local communities to suggest land that could be considered for future development. The new Local Plan will need to accommodate significant growth, with current Government policy requiring around 3,500 new homes a year in Wiltshire.
 
The Call for Sites is an important early stage in identifying land that could help to meet future needs. Submitting a site does not mean it will be allocated for development, but it ensures all potential options can be properly considered. This initial Call for Sites will run from Thursday 9 July to 30 September 2026.

New National Scheme of Delegation

The Government is introducing a new national framework called the National Scheme of Delegation (NSD). The aim of the NSD is to standardise how planning applications are decided across England. It comes into force on 31 October 2026.
 
The NSD will make it unlawful for smaller planning applications, such as householder and minor planning applications, to be decided by a planning committee.
 
These applications will be known as Schedule 1 applications and can only be decided under delegated powers by professional planning officers.
 
Schedule 2 applications (major applications) can only then be decided by a planning committee if the nominated senior officer and the nominated member (usually the committee chair) both agree that the proposals raise significant issues in the local area or raise significant planning issues with regard to the development plan or other material considerations – this is known as the Gateway Test.
 
The option for local members to ‘call-in’ individual applications will end on 31 October.

Parish Council Planning Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes are published on the Meetings & Minutes page here.

If you need a more accessible format of a document, please email the clerk and tell us what you need – it will help if you say what assistive technology you use. Read our Accessibility Statement here.