Planning Policy Training for new Members
Planning Policy: Module Contents • Recap: a plan-led system • LDF: content and process • Overview of the PPG/PPS • Moving forward: Core Strategy series • Site allocation documents • East of England Plan: purpose • Supplementary Planning and current status Documents • Local Plan and Structure Plan
Planning Policy A Plan-led system “If regard is to be had to the development plan for the purpose of any determination to be made under the Planning Acts the determination must be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise”. Section 38(6) Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004
Planning Policy PPGs and PPSs • Planning Policy Guidance notes (PPGs) and the newer Planning Policy Statements (PPSs) set out the Government’s national policies on different aspects of land use planning in England. • They must be taken into account by Councils when preparing local development documents • They may be material to decisions on individual planning applications, both by Councils and by Inspectors • Dozens of topics are covered, some in more detail than others • National planning guidance currently totals more than 4,200 pages – equivalent to reading 136 Shakespeare plays, or 3 copies of War & Peace Your Officers are intimately acquainted with the entirety of PPGs and PPSs enabling them to advise you on their implications, interpretation, and relevance to specific matters
Planning Policy PPS1 Delivering Sustainable Development (2005) PPS1 Climate Change Supplement (2007) PPG2 Green Belts (1995) PPS3 Housing (2006, revised May 2010) PPS4 Planning for Sustainable Economic Growth (2009) PPS5 Planning for the Historic Environment (2010) PPS6 has been superseded by PPS4 PPS7 Sustainable Development in Rural Areas (2004) Telecommunications (2001) PPG8 PPS9 Biodiversity and Geological Conservation (2005) PPS10 Planning for Sustainable Waste Management (2005) PPS11 Regional Spatial Strategies is no longer in use PPS12 Local Development Frameworks (2008)
Planning Policy PPG13 Transport (April 2001, revised January 2011) PPG14 Development on Unstable Land (1990)* PPG15 has been superseded by PPS5 PPG16 has been superseded by PPS5 PPG17 Planning for Open Space, Sport & Recreation (2002) PPG18 Enforcing Planning Control (1991)* Outdoor Advertisement Control (1992)* PPG19 PPG20 Coastal Planning (1992)* PPG21 Tourism (1992)* PPS22 Renewable Energy (2004) PPS23 Planning and Pollution Control (2008) PPG24 Planning and Noise (1994) PPS25 Development and Flood Risk (2010) * subsequently replaced by Circular or Best Practice Guide
Planning Policy …and then there’s additional guidance in Departmental Circulars • Planning circulars usually cover specific areas of planning process and procedure, but have the same weight of Government policy as Planning Policy Statements and guidance notes • They can be material to individual decisions (of both the Council and the Inspectorate) in the same way as a PPG or PPS • Decisions must be made having had regard to the guidance set out in the relevant Circular • Circular advice by all Government departments can be material in planning terms, not just Circulars issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government
Planning Policy Circular 11/95 Use of Conditions in Planning Permissions Circular 10/97 Enforcing Planning Control Circular 06/05 Biodiversity & Geographical Conservation Circular 05/05 Planning Obligations Circular 03/05 Changes of Use Circular 01/06 Planning for Gypsy & Travellers Circular 04/99 Planning for Telecommunications Circular 01/10 Development in Airport Safety Zones Costs Awards in Planning Appeals Circular 03/09 Circular 04/08 Planning-Related Fees Circular 02/05 Temporary Stop Notices Circular 04/00 Planning for Hazardous Substances Circular 02/99 Environmental Impact Assessment
Planning Policy …and even more guidance is found within Ministerial Statements : “The Chancellor of the Exchequer has today issued a call to action on growth, publishing an ambitious set of proposals to help rebuild Britain's economy. The planning system has a key role to play in this, by ensuring that the sustainable development needed to support economic growth is able to proceed as easily as possible. We will work quickly to reform the planning system to achieve this, but the Government recognises that many of these actions will take some months to deliver, and that there is a pressing need to ensure that the planning system does everything it can to help secure a swift return to economic growth. This statement therefore sets out the steps the Government expects local planning authorities to take with immediate effect .” Minister of State for Decentralisation (Mr Greg Clarke), March 2011
Planning Policy East of England Plan (2008) • The current Regional Spatial Strategy (“RSS”) for the region is the East of England Plan, covering the period 2001 to 2021 • The RSS sets out policies which address the needs of the region and key sub-regions. These policies provide a development framework for the next 15 to 20 years that will influence the quality of life, the character of places and how they function, and informs other strategies and plans. • Regional planning does not, however, meet the Localism agenda of the current Government. Early in the current term the Government sought to revoke the RSS
Planning Policy East of England Plan (2008): Revocation • Revocation of the RSS was challenged in the High Court by Cala Homes • The Court found the revocation to be unlawful, meaning that for the time being the RSS is still material in planning decisions • The Government’s view, however, is that their intention to revoke the RSS by way of the Localism Act is also a material consideration • Your Officers can advise you whether and how to take the RSS into account, and what weight it should be given
Planning Policy Cambridgeshire Structure Plan (2003) • Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's joint Structure Plan was adopted in October 2003 • After the approval of the East of England Plan in May 2008 all but 13 of the policies in the Plan have been superseded • The Structure Plan provided the framework for the district councils’ preparation of detailed Local Development Frameworks or Local Plans, up to 2016 • The Government has confirmed that it does not intend to resurrect Structure Plans • The 2003 Structure Plan therefore has ever- diminishing relevance and importance when making planning decisions
Planning Policy Fenland Local Plan (1993) • The Local Plan was adopted 18 years ago – whilst it was in accordance with the Structure Plan at the time, many of its policies are now out-of-date • Nonetheless, it still forms part of the Development Plan • Part 1 of the Plan contains written policies against which proposals are judged • Part 2 contains policies specific to individual towns and villages • The Local Plan will be replaced, in due course, by the new Core Strategy
Planning Policy Fenland Local Plan: Interim update (2001) • Following national planning policy changes in 2000 relating to housing, in 2001 the Council adopted an Interim Local Plan review document for Development Control purposes • The Interim document is material in the determination of applications, but carries less weight that the formal Local Plan itself • It amends policies in Parts 1 and 2 of the Adopted Local Plan, and was itself subject to re-issue in 2005 • The Interim document was never intended to be a permanent statement of planning policy in Fenland, but rather, a stop-gap measure until the 1993 Local had formally been reviewed and replaced • Like the Local Plan, the Interim document will be replaced, in due course, by the new Core Strategy
Planning Policy Local Development Framework • In 2004 the Local Plan making process was radically overhauled* • Structure Plans and Local Plans would no longer be produced • Instead, Councils would prepare and adopt a Local Development Framework generally consisting of a Core Strategy with associated Site Allocations , Area Action Plan and other topic-specific document • The concept is of a folder of related planning policy documents, all based on a single Core Strategy, where any one of the documents can be reviewed and updated at any time in isolation of the others • As an interim measure, existing Local Plan policies were “saved” pending each Council’s preparation and adoption of their new Local Development Framework * Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004
Planning Policy
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