The consultation on Hillingdon's Local Plan due on 5 November now starts on 8 April 2027. Adoption has moved from May 2028 to 22 January 2029.

Today was the day Hillingdon residents were due to get their next say on the borough’s new Local Plan. That consultation will now not start until Thursday 8 April 2027.

The whole timetable has moved. The council now expects to consider adopting the plan on 22 January 2029, not 1 May 2028 (current Local Plan timetable; June 2026 version, Internet Archive).

The council says it updated the timetable on Tuesday 29 September (Gateway 1 self-assessment summary). Neither that page nor the timetable gives a reason for the change. Our August reports carried the earlier dates, and we have now corrected them.

Old dates and new dates

Stage June 2026 timetable Current timetable Moved by
Gateway 1 17 September 2026 21 October 2026 5 weeks
Consultation on content and evidence 5 November 2026 to 14 January 2027 8 April to 27 May 2027 22 weeks
Gateway 2 1 March 2027 9 September 2027 27 weeks
Consultation on the proposed plan 15 June to 27 August 2027 16 December 2027 to 24 February 2028 26 weeks
Gateway 3 1 October 2027 25 May 2028 34 weeks
Submission for examination 1 November 2027 8 June 2028 31 weeks
Consideration of adoption 1 May 2028 22 January 2029 38 weeks
Bar chart of how many weeks each Local Plan stage has moved back: Gateway 1 by 5, first consultation by 22, Gateway 2 by 27, second consultation by 26, Gateway 3 by 34, submission by 31 and adoption by 38.
The delay grows at each later stage. Chart by Uxbridge News
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Two more changes are easy to miss:

  • The first consultation is shorter. It was 70 days and is now 49, or seven weeks.
  • The second now runs over Christmas. It would open on 16 December 2027 and close on 24 February 2028.

The new date still meets the government’s rule. The council says the plan should be adopted within 30 months of its Gateway 1 summary, published on 21 October 2026. That points to April 2029.

Why it matters

The next consultation is where the argument starts in earnest. The summer scoping stage carried no sites and no housing numbers of the council’s own. Those were due to appear at the content and evidence stage (our August report).

Meanwhile the old plan stays in force. Part 1 sets the level of growth “up to 2026”, the council’s Local Plan page says. It adds that the plan is the starting point for deciding planning applications. In its scoping document, the council warned it “would not be able to place appropriate weight on policies which are out of date” without a new plan (scoping consultation document).

This is not the first reset. In January 2026, Cabinet scrapped an earlier programme as “no longer deliverable” and aimed for adoption in mid-2028 (Cabinet report).

The Mayor’s draft London Plan is moving in parallel, and asks Hillingdon for 24,030 homes. The council’s response to the Mayor names six open spaces it says his green belt search appears not to have ruled out.

What it means for you

  • There is nothing to respond to today. Expect the next consultation on 8 April 2027.
  • Planning applications carry on. Decisions continue under the existing plan and the London Plan. Our planning news page tracks the big ones.
  • You can ask to be told. Email localplan@hillingdon.gov.uk to join the planning policy consultation list, the council says.
  • The dates could move again. The council says it will review the timetable every month.