Officers have held meetings with officers from other councils in Essex throughout the preparation of the Castle Point Plan. These have included discussions of likely housing targets and capacity, so that the councils can share data and consider whether there is capacity elsewhere for any unmet need being met elsewhere.

Unmet need is defined as the difference between the Standard Methodology and the planned requirements in the Castle Point Plan. However, where there is unmet need, as in this case, the Council cannot complete the duty to cooperate process, until it has published the Regulation 19 version of the Castle Point Plan which finalises what the level of unmet need is and provides all the evidence for other councils to consider which demonstrates why the unmet need cannot be met within the Borough.

The Duty to Cooperate will be completed before the Council makes the decision to submit the Castle Point Plan for Examination.