Wirral Council has moved the deadline for comments on its Local Plan 2045 scoping report from 6 to 28 August. How to have your say before 5pm that day.

Wirral residents have three extra weeks to comment on the first stage of the borough’s next Local Plan. The council has extended its Local Plan scoping report consultation, which was due to close on 6 August, to 5pm on Friday 28 August 2026, saying the extra time is a direct response to public feedback and gives people a greater opportunity to review the document. (Wirral Council, Wirral View, 6 August 2026)

What is being consulted on

The scoping report is the starting point for a new Local Plan looking ahead to 2045. Wirral’s current Local Plan was only adopted in March 2025, but the council says it already needs updating to align with the new national planning system the Government introduced in March 2026, and the next plan will incorporate minerals and waste planning alongside housing and employment policy. The consultation opened on 15 July. (Wirral Council, Have Your Say: Local Plan scoping)

A Local Plan sets the framework used to decide planning applications across the borough: where homes, workplaces and infrastructure can be built, and where they cannot. The scoping stage is when the council decides which issues the new plan should cover, which makes it the cheapest possible moment to influence what comes later.

Timeline of the Wirral Local Plan 2045 scoping consultation, from the March 2025 adoption of the current plan to the extended 28 August 2026 deadline

How to respond before the deadline

There are three routes, all set out on the council’s consultation page (Have Your Say: Local Plan scoping):

  • Online, through the consultation portal at haveyoursay.wirral.gov.uk/local-plan-scoping, where the scoping report can also be downloaded.
  • By email to localplan@wirral.gov.uk, which is also the address for questions or requests for alternative formats.
  • By post to the Strategic Planning Team, Wirral Council, PO Box 290, Brighton Street, Wallasey, CH27 9FQ. Paper copies of the document are available in the borough’s main libraries.

One thing to know before you write: the council states that comments submitted, along with the respondent’s name, will be made available for the public to view and cannot be treated as confidential.

What it means for you

If you care where development goes in Wirral over the next two decades, this is the stage where the questions get set, before any sites are chosen or policies drafted. Responses accepted until 5pm on 28 August; after that, the council moves on to preparing the plan itself, and the next formal chance to comment will be on a draft.

We cover every stage of the borough’s planning pipeline, from major applications to the Local Plan, on our Wirral planning news page.