NPPF & PAS - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)
Open group
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Started - July 2012
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Last activity - This week
NPPF & PAS
A couple of general NPPF related questions: 1. Which central government department supplies the top-level planning data etc that the PAS team passes on to the LPAs? 2. Does the PAS create, interpret or modify planning policy in any way?
question 2 is easy. The answer is "no". Question 1 is less clear. We don't act as an intermediary for planning data. Perhaps if you explained what lay behind your question I could be more helpful.
>> We don't act as an intermediary for planning data. The PAS provides a variety of advice on planning to LPAs. The information etc embedded in such advice must originate somewhere. Clearly the various public domain documents available will provide the primary input. However I had also assumed that the PAS has some sort of private communication channel with central government so that supporting data can be obtained and also to allow tricky points to be clarified promptly.. This is where you tell me that I have got this totally wrong!
Not entirely, but I suspect you'd be surprised at how little "special treatment" we are afforded. We do have straightforward conversations with DCLG and PINS, but just as important is our network of councils and suppliers. The fact that we deliberately pilot our work with real people and real places is one of our core values. We're also part of the LGA which helps us link planning to housing, energy, waste, finance etc and therefore sometimes to BIS, DEFRA and the treasury. Don't forget, we're generalists trying to apply an economy of scale to support and training. We cannot offer detailed expertise on individual situations. One of the balancing acts we try to achieve is to be clear on the principles and stay clear of tricky points of detail that are best dealt with by the council taking a view.