My understanding is that the legislation does not differentiate in the way you have described. The 2012 Regulations provide definitions for two stages of policies map, as far as I can ascertain. The “adopted policies map” is defined in Regulation 9 and the “submission policies map” is defined in Regulation 2 as “…a map…which shows how the adopted policies map would be amended by the accompanying local plan, if it were adopted.”
The duty at the Publication stage (Regulation 19) is to make a copy of the submission policies map available alongside the publication draft local plan. At the Submission stage, Regulation 22 also refers to including a submission policies map, if the adoption of the local plan would result in changes to the adopted policies map.
Therefore, how the authority meets the definition of ‘submission policies map’ will largely depend on the type of local plan being produced and the number and geographical extent of the amendments being made to the ‘adopted policies map’. For example, I am working on what would previously have been called an ‘Area Action Plan’ and so although there will be significant amendments to my authority’s adopted policies map as a result of this plan, those changes are all focused on a very small area of the Borough. Therefore, it would be unnecessary for our submission policies map to cover the whole Borough.
What is clear from the legislation is that what is expected to be produced as a policies map at the Publication and Submission stages is the same and both stages relate back to the definition in Regulation 2.
