Status of Emerging DPDs - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

Under the previous Development Plan system, emerging Plans gathered weight as material considerations as they progressed depending on which elements were the subject of outstanding objections. Clearly under the new system, one cannot make deductions about soundness prior to the binding report. Logically an emerging DPD cannot have weight in planning decisions, except perhaps in the short interval between publication of binding report and adoption. Is this other peoples understanding? Have the courts spoken?