Guidance issued by the Inspectorate on examining the ‘soundness’ of Development Plan Documents (DPDs) and Statements of Community Involvement (SCIs), produced under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. DPDs and SCIs form the major part of Local Development Frameworks. View the guidance.
A note on the current approach to development plan inquiries held under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Local Development Frameworks: Lessons Learnt Examining Development Plan Documents
A comprehensive guidance document has been produced by the Planning Inspectorate, which seeks to expand on the ‘Early Experiences’ leaflet published by the Inspectorate at the end of last year. It focuses on lessons learnt from examining over 100 DPDs submitted as at June 2007, which have predominantly comprised Core Strategies. It also incorporates a note provided by Communities and Local Government (CLG) on the waste content of Core Strategies (annexed), which will be of interest to all Local Planning Authorities (LPAs).
View the Full Lessons Learnt document 1005kb

Local Development Frameworks

Planners and other professional practitioners involved in the planning process will be aware that, following the introduction of the Planning and Compulsory Act 2004, old style development plans are being replaced by a new system of Local Development Frameworks. The Planning Inspectorate has a key role in the new plan making process and is working to ensure it plays a full part in the successful introduction of Local Development Frameworks (LDFs).

The background to the new approach is set out in Planning Policy Statement 12: Local Development Frameworks, produced by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Part II of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 provides a new development plan system based on Regional Spatial Strategies (which replace Structure Plans) and Local Development Frameworks (which replace Local Plans and Unitary Development Plans) in England . The principles underpinning the new approach are that the planning system needs to be speeded up and should embrace the concept of real and meaningful community involvement. Local Development Frameworks seek to streamline the local planning process and promote a positive approach to managing development.

Key elements of the new system are:

Flexibility, to enable local planning authorities to respond to changing circumstances more quickly than development plans under the old system;
Strengthening community and stakeholder involvement, by involvement from the outset of plan preparation;
Front loading i.e. seeking consensus on essential issues early in the process;
The use of sustainability appraisal in the preparation of local development documents to ensure they are prepared with the objective of contributing to the achievement of sustainable development ;
Efficient programme management in preparation of local development documents; and
Soundness, both in plan content and the process by which plans are produced.

Local planning authorities must prepare a Local Development Framework which will comprise a folder of Local Development Documents (LDDs) for delivering the spatial strategy for the area (as opposed to the old single plan covering the whole of the authority’s area). LDDs will comprise Development Plan Documents and Supplementary Planning Documents, which expand polices set out in development plan documents or provide additional detail. The Local Development Framework will also include a Statement of Community Involvement, the Local Development Scheme (which sets out the programme for the production of LDDs) and the Annual Monitoring Report.

Within the Local Planning Authority’s Local Development Framework, Development Plan Documents and Statements of Community Involvement must be ‘sound’ (section 20 of the 2004 Act) both in terms of their content and the process by which they are produced. They must also be founded on a robust and credible evidence base. PPS12: Local Development Frameworks sets out 9 tests of soundness for examining Development Plan Documents (DPDs) and Statements of Community Involvement (SCIs) respectively. It states that the presumption will be that the DPD/SCI is sound unless it is shown to be otherwise as a result of evidence considered at the examination.

Visit Communities Website for Frequently Asked Questions on the LDF system now published by DCLG.

Visit The Planning Portal Website for a visual guide to Local Development Frameworks on the Planning Portal Site.

Visit the Planning Inspectorate Website for an overview of the Development Plan System from issue 1 of our Newsletter.

Visit The Planning Advisory Service Website for further advice on Local Development Frameworks, including guidance on the content of core strategies.

Assessing the Soundness Of Development Plan Documents and Statements Of Community Involvement

The Planning Inspectorate issued new guidance on 20 December 2005 for local authorities, planning agents and other interested parties including developers, interested organisations and local residents on the approach to be taken to public examinations of Development Plan Documents and Statements of Community Involvement. For more information on assessing soundness.

Read the article on Statements of Community Involvement from issue 1 of our newsletter.

Read the list of the Statements of Community Involvement in PDF format 176kb that have been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate and have been adopted by the Local Planning Authorities.

Read the list of the Development Plan Documents in PDF format 114kb that have been submitted to the Planning Inspecorate.

Fees

Revised fees for Local Development Framework (LDF) examinations, intended to recover from local planning authorities the cost of providing Inspectors, were introduced on 3 January 2007.

The Planning Inspectorate’s previous fees did not reflect the full costs of examining the soundness of Statements of Community Involvement (SCIs) and Development Plan Documents (DPDs) introduced under the new Local Development Frameworks. The phased increases are designed to strike a balance between achieving Treasury requirements for full recovery as soon as practicable while keeping year-on-year increases to a reasonable figure. By phasing increases over several years in this way, local planning authorities will have a more stable basis for budgeting over the period. The phasing increased the daily fee from £679 to £779 for examinations opening on or after 3 January 2007, to £879 for examinations opening on or after 31 March 2007 and to £993 for examinations opening on or after 31 March 2008. Under the new system the examination commences on submission of the SCI/DPD

The fees for LDF examinations were set under the Town and Country Planning (Costs of Inquiries etc) (Standard Daily Amount) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/3227), which came into force on 3 January 2007 , following consultation with planning bodies (the Local Government Association, the Planning Officers’ Society, the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Development Plans

Note on Development Plan Inquiry Practice

Current Development Plan Inquiries PDF Format 22kb

Development Plan Document Examinations - Programme Officer Guidance Notes

Local Plan and Unitary Development Plan Inquiries - Programme Officer Guidance Notes

How to view PDF documents

PDF files can be viewed using Adobe's Acrobat Reader. You can download Acrobat Reader free of charge from the Adobe website. Visit Access Adobe to find out how people with visual disabilities can get the most from this software.