On this page you will find information relating to the preparation of a new land use plan for the City of Hamilton. We will post updates here at key stages during the plan preparation process and will also provide details of any community consultation events. We hope that you will take the opportunity to contribute to the plan-making process.
The current plan for the City of Hamilton is the City of Hamilton Plan 2015, which was adopted in June 2016. Given the time that has since past and the wide ranging impacts of the pandemic, it was determined in late 2021 that it was time to take a fresh look at the City. The review that we have undertaken has not only been driven by analysing the data that we have collected, but also by an acknowledgement of some of the opinions that we have received from stakeholders in recent years, as well as international research.
We believe that it is important to continually review how the planning system is functioning and monitor if it is fit for purpose. As a Department, we carefully and consistently analyse planning decisions and how the established policy context is being applied in practice. Through time, this builds up a body of knowledge and opinions which can be used to inform policy direction. From the outset of this plan making process we were of the opinion that a fresh and new approach was required and the City of Hamilton Plan 2023 (Consultative Draft) was the first stage in that process.
The Department is aware of concerns raised during previous plan preparation processes, most notably in terms of going directly to the stage of issuing an operative draft plan without any prior community engagement. The Department acknowledged these concerns and pursued a different approach in the preparation of the North East Hamilton Local Plan 2022, whereby the draft version of the plan was issued as a non-operative document. We wanted to further our consultation efforts with the preparation of a new city plan to maximise opportunities for public input and therefore introduced a new stage to the plan-making process: the Consultative Draft stage.
Consultation on the City of Hamilton Plan 2023 (Consultative Draft) commenced on 19th January, 2023 and ran until 24th March, 2023. During this period the Department conducted various consultation exercises, as detailed below. The next stage in the process is the preparation of the draft plan, which is a legislated stage of the process. Alongside the draft plan an updated version of the City Survey Report will be published, which will contain a summary of the issues raised through the City of Hamilton Plan 2023 (Consultative Draft) consultation phase, alongside the Department’s responses.
The draft plan will provide a more solidified representation of what the Department considers the final, adopted version of the plan should look like. However, this stage will also provide a further opportunity to make submissions to the Department in the form of either an objection or representation.
A tribunal will be held where there are any remaining objections which could not be resolved. This provides an opportunity for both the objector and the Department to present their case and for the members of the Tribunal to ask any questions. The Tribunal will then provide the Minister with a report outlining its recommendations. The Minister will have the final decision on how to proceed with each of the objection cases, and in terms of the overall final content of the plan.
Consultation on the City of Hamilton Plan 2023 (Consultative Draft) closed on 24th March. The Department is currently in the process of reviewing all of the submissions received to the Consultative Draft consultation and preparing responses. We are also working on updating some of the key statistics set out within the City Survey Report to ensure that policy direction is guided by an understanding of current circumstances. The Department is using information received from the consultation exercise, as well as the updated data to make edits to the plan, in preparation of the draft plan.
The Department undertook a series of targeted consultation exercises during the consultative draft consultation phase, as detailed below:
Research, data collection and analysis
Internal consultation and plan preparation
Graphics, formatting, plan refinements and devising consultation strategy
Public consultation phase on the City of Hamilton Plan 2023 (Consultative Draft)
Review of consultation findings and refine plan and City Survey Report to reflect findings
Issue draft plan and conduct legislated consultation phase
Consider objections and representations, resolutions and prepare department position reports
Appoint Tribunal and refine Tribunal procedures
Tribunal period, including consideration of objection/representation cases by Tribunal
Prepare Tribunal Report and Ministerial review of recommendations
Presentation of the Plan to Cabinet, House of Assembly and the Senate
Plan adoption
Letters of objection and/or representation should be emailed to planningfrontdesk@gov.bm referencing the PLAN or SUB number in the subject line.
Information provided on the Department of Planning website is intended to allow the public convenient access to Planning services and information. While all attempts are made to provide accurate, current and reliable information the Department of Planning and the Government of Bermuda do not guarantee that the information will be error free.
Therefore, the Department of Planning and the Government of Bermuda and their respective employees, officers and agencies expressly make no warranty of the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published through their websites and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance upon the accuracy, completeness, reliability or timeliness of such information.