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Local Plans and Plan Making
www.pas.gov.uk
What is PAS ?
• PAS is a DCLG grant-funded programme but
part of the Local Government Association
• Governed by a ‘sector led’ board
• 11 staff – commissioners, generalists, support
“PAS exists to provide support to local planning
authorities to provide efficient and effective planning
services, to drive improvement in those services and
to respond to and deliver changes in the planning
system”
Objectives
To introduce you to
• the key components of plan-making
• the issues that need to be addressed in order
to help your planning authority get a robust
plan in place as soon as possible
• your role in the process
This presentation will cover
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Plan making policy context
The role of your local plan
Developing a sound plan
Key policy issues
Viability
Engagement
Examinations
A councillors role
Why good plan-making matters
Having a robust Local Plan in
place helps to:
• Move from plan-making to
place-shaping;
• Provide certainty for
communities and
developers;
• Focus council on delivery;
• Access more funding and
attract investment;
• Manage conflict!
Planning in England is policy-led
• national policy
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National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)
National Policy Statements
G&T policy
Planning Practice Guidance
• local policy
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development plan
• neighbourhood policies
• neighbourhood plans
NPPF and planning
• The NPPF explicitly states planning’s
principal role as being to help achieve
sustainable development
• “At the heart of the National Planning
Policy Framework is a presumption in
favour of sustainable development,
which should be seen as a golden
thread running through both plan
making and decision taking”
Key principles of the NPPF
• Local plans should:
“meet objectively assessed needs, with
sufficient flexibility to adapt to rapid change”
NPPF
Unless….
• “…any adverse impacts of allowing
development would significantly and
demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when
assessed against the policies in the
Framework taken as a whole”
NPPF
Remember – still a presumption in favour of
the plan
Duty to Cooperate
• Introduced by Localism Act
• New tool for delivering strategic planning at
local level
• Requires councils and public bodies
• to engage constructively, actively and on an ongoing
basis in relation to planning for strategic issues
• work collaboratively to ensure that strategic priorities
across local authority boundaries are properly
coordinated and clearly reflected in individual Local Plans
Complying with the Duty
• “The Government expects joint working on areas of
common interest to be diligently undertaken for the mutual
benefit of neighbouring authorities”
NPPF
• “Cooperation should be a continuous process of
engagement from initial thinking through to implementation,
resulting in a final position where plans are in place to
provide the land and infrastructure necessary to support
current and projected future levels of development”
NPPF
Local Plans
“Local Plans are the key to delivering
sustainable development that reflects the vision
and aspirations of local communities. Planning
decisions must be taken in accordance with the
development plan unless material
considerations indicate otherwise”
National Planning Policy Framework
Neighbourhood planning
• Localism Act introduced new right for communities to draw
up neighbourhood plans
• “Neighbourhood plans must be in general conformity with the
strategic policies of the Local Plan. To facilitate this, local
planning authorities should set out clearly their strategic
policies for the area and ensure that an up-to-date Local
Plan is in place as quickly as possible”
NPPF
Local plans
• set out a vision and a framework for the future
development of the area
• set out a vision and a framework for the future
development of the area
• guide decisions about individual development
proposals
• the starting-point for considering whether
applications can be approved
Implications / risks of not having an
up-to-date Local Plan in place
• Difficult to defend inappropriate development
• Priority in favour of ‘sustainable development’
• Increased ‘planning by appeal’ likely
Developing a sound plan
 Address the key priorities for the area
 Plan positively
 Develop a robust and credible evidence base
 Co-operate with neighbouring areas
 Focus on reasonable alternatives
 Undertake comprehensive Sustainability Appraisal
 Stakeholder engagement
 Viable and deliverable in practice
The role of Members
• You have a vital leadership role to play to
produce a robust Local Plan for your area
that has buy in from all parties
• Key challenge is to listen to the views and
aspirations of your constituents and balance
this with the professional advice of your
planning staff in order to plan for, and meet,
the development needs of your area
The Local Plan
Local Development
Scheme
Annual Monitoring
Report
Local Plan
Supplementary
Planning
Documents
Statement of
Community
Involvement
Core Strategy
Site Specific
Allocations
Proposals Map
Area Action Plans
Sustainability
Appraisal
What should the plan contain?
Vision
Strategic objectives
How much development
should there be?
Where should
development go?
Delivery Strategy
When should development
happen?
Managing and monitoring
By what means will the
development be delivered?
Robust and credible evidence base
• “Each local planning authority should ensure
that the Local Plan is based on adequate, upto-date and relevant evidence about the
economic, social and environmental
characteristics and prospects of the area”
NPPF
Evidence base (examples)
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Strategic Housing Needs Assessment (SHMA)
Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA)
Authority Monitoring Report
Five Year Land Supply Assessment
Affordable Housing Economic Viability Assessment
Employment land review
Transport Assessments
Retail assessment
Renewable and Low Carbon Energy Study
Strategic Flood Risk Assessment
Landscape and Settlement Character Assessment
Green Belt Review
Prioritising evidence gathering
• “Wherever possible the
local planning authority
should consider how the
preparation of any
assessment will
contribute to the plan’s
evidence base”
NPPF
Meeting housing need
• “LPAs should use their
evidence base to
ensure that their Local
Plan meets the full,
objectively assessed
needs for market and
affordable housing in
the housing market
area”
NPPF
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Objectively Assessed Need
• the LPA is responsible for identifying the housing
requirement for its area, as part of the wider Housing
Market Area through its Strategic Housing Market
Assessment (SHMA)
• the plan sets out the level of provision to be made
and requirement and provision must be rooted in
evidence
• the provision made in the plan can be less than the
identified requirement, but the planning authority will
have to provide substantive justification for this
approach
SHLAA
• The Strategic Housing Land
Availability Assessment (SHLAA)
should be the key document to
demonstrate the deliverability of
the housing strategy in the plan,
it should:
– Identify the availability of
sites with potential for housing
– Assess their suitability for
housing
– Assess likely economic
viability of land to meet
identified housing need
5 year housing land supply
• LPAs must identify and keep up-to-date a
deliverable five year housing land supply
• in the absence of a plan and / or a five year supply,
the Council is prone to predatory planning
applications
• the presumption in favour of sustainable
development is at the heart of the Framework, it
means permission should be granted unless any
adverse impacts would significantly and
demonstrably outweigh the benefits
Green Belt
Local planning authorities with Green Belts in
their area should establish Green Belt
boundaries in their Local Plans which set the
framework for Green Belt and settlement
policy. Once established, Green Belt
boundaries should only be altered in
exceptional circumstances, through the
preparation or review of the Local Plan. At
that time, authorities should consider the
Green Belt boundaries having regard to their
intended permanence in the long term, so
that they should be capable of enduring
beyond the plan period.”
NPPF 2012
Current extent of green belt in England
Role of the Green Belt
• to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built up areas
• to prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one
another
• to assist in safeguarding the countryside from
encroachment
• to preserve the setting and special character of historic
towns
• to assist in urban regeneration by encouraging the
recycling of derelict and other urban land
NPPF 2012
Sustainability Appraisal
• How sustainable is our
plan?
• Undertake SA at key
stages in the planmaking process
Viability and deliverability
• “Pursuing sustainable development requires
careful attention to viability and costs in planmaking and decision-taking. Plans should be
deliverable.”
NPPF
Ensuring viability and deliverability
• For plan-making, this means:
Ensuring that the cumulative impact of local
standards and policies - when added to nationally
required standards - does not put implementation of
plan at risk
Whole Plan Viability
Source: ‘Viability Testing Local Plans: advice for planning practitioners’, Local Housing Delivery Group
Wish list of discretionary policies
Stakeholder engagement
• Requirement of planning legislation
• Helps to create more realistic & deliverable
plans
• Views & knowledge of community form an
important part of the Local Plan evidence base
Who to engage?
• Neighbouring Planning Authorities: DtC
• Regulatory agencies: The Environment Agency, English
Heritage, Natural England
• Physical infrastructure delivery agencies: highways
authority, Highways Agency, utilities companies, Network
Rail, public transport providers, airport operators
• Social infrastructure delivery agencies: local authority
education dept, social services, primary care trust, strategic
health authority, the Police, charities/NGOs
• Major landowners including the local authority itself and
government departments and agencies
• Housebuilders and other developers
• Minerals and waste management industries
How to engage?
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Early and continuous engagement
Understand the organisation
Identify responsible individuals
Invest in creating partnerships
Find out what others feel the Local Plan can
do for them
• Use interactive sessions
Engagement challenges
• Ensuring early and constructive engagement
with neighbouring authorities
• Engaging communities and developers on
strategic issues
• Ensuring agencies will deliver
• Involving ‘hard to reach’ groups
• Balancing ‘breadth’ and ‘depth’ of engagement
• Making best use of resources
Examination
• “The Local Plan will be examined by an
independent inspector whose role is to assess
whether the plan has been prepared in
accordance with the Duty to Cooperate, legal
and procedural requirements, and whether it is
sound”
NPPF
NPPF Soundness Test
• Evidence demonstrating your plan is:
- Positively prepared - based on a strategy that seeks to
meet needs and requirements of neighbouring LPAs
- Justified - most appropriate strategy, when considered
against reasonable alternatives, based on proportionate
evidence
- Effective - deliverable over its period and based on
effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic
priorities
- Consistent with the NPPF - enable the delivery of
sustainable development
The role of Members
• You have a vital leadership role to play to
produce a robust Local Plan for your area
that has buy in from all parties
• Key challenge is to listen to the views and
aspirations of your constituents and balance
this with the professional advice of your
planning staff in order to plan for, and meet,
the development needs of your area
Contact PAS
email [email protected]
web www.pas.gov.uk
phone 020 7664 3000