In early 2025, PAE held a meeting with colleagues at South Ribble Borough Council and Preston City Council to decide on how Planning Aid could help provide support for the Central Lancashire Local Plan Pre-Submission Regulation 19 Consultation.

The geographical area of Central Lancashire comprises Preston City Council, Chorley Council, and South Ribble Borough Council, covers a total population of over 385,000, and the consultation period began on Monday 24 February and ended on Monday 14th April.

As part of our support offer, we agreed to attend a women-only community engagement event which was attended by over 50 women from black and ethnic minority (BME) backgrounds in an area of Preston with a large BME population, in a ward within the top 5% most deprived areas of England. Claire Walters, Planning Advisor for PAE wrote an RTPI blog, here, documenting her experience of undertaking this inclusive engagement as part of our help with the consultation.

In addition, we recruited Joel Austin, graduate planner and PAE volunteer, to present a recorded online 15-minute webinar to outline the Local Plan stages and the consultation process for interested groups and individuals to submit their comments. This video, presentation slides and transcript, alongside further supporting information and materials relating to the consultation can be viewed here.