Core Strategy or Local Plan? - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

My understanding is that under the new regime 1) local plan=Local Development Framework not Core Strategy hence neighbourhood plans etc becoming part of the local plan. 2) Also local plans are assiduously refered to in lower case presumably to distinguish them from pre 2004 Local Plans (I forecast that lawyers will have endless sport with this!). 3) You can call a plan anything you like as a strapline and then have the legalese in subtitles

Having last consulted on a Preferred Options Core Strategy we are now about to start consultation (tomorrow) on a Local Plan Preferred Options document which incorporates updated Core Strategy policies as well as development management and (limited) site allocations. This will be a DPD within the LDF as the legislation has not changed in that regard. We are using capital letters!

Thanks for that Daniel. I think it's really important to emphasise that point about the local plan being the new term for the whole of the LDF, not just the core strategy. it is your 'collection of policies which taken together make up the development plan for your area' (that isn't a quote, it's my understanding). On point 3, again, this is really useful to say in public. Call it whatever will make the most sense to the community, and keep the legalese very much in the background/to a minimum.

My understanding was the same as Adams and Dans, until I found the following in the CLGs draft NPPF Impact Assessment (p32). Under the titles 'Local plans' and 'policy objective' it says "we are removing the terms ‘local development framework’,‘core strategy’ and ‘area action plan’ and referring to Development Plan Documents as a whole as ‘local plans’. The reference to DPDs only would seem to exclude any SPDs or neighbourhood plans. Any clarifications on this would be welcome!

Hi Valerie, We have posted some Neighbourhood planning FAQ's here: http://www.pas.gov.uk/pas/core/page.do?pageId=1802659 In addition, Part 5 of the 'consolidated local planning regulations' deals with SPDs so they will still be around, should you wish to produce them. They are not DPDs, but then they never were. Perhaps then, you will have: Local Plan (still possibly made up of more than one actual bound document - supplemented where appropriate with SPDs) Neighbourhood Plans and Orders The latter must presumably be part of the collection of policies you use to determine development applications, but are not, by definition, part of the Local Plan (as defined in the statement Valerie quotes). I still think the main point Daniel made is that 'Local Plan' (capital letters or not) does not = Core Strategy alone. I also want to throw in 'and it need not be a single document'. It may be the preferred approach, hinted at in the draft NPPF, but I urge you all to base your decision to produce single or multiple documents on practical issues affecting you and your council, not on an apparent preference expressed nationally. You may want to play off the considerations of 'only one exam please' against 'adopt the core strategy asap and come back to allocations/other policies after that'. Clarity for the community is also paramount, so as long as you can clearly express what you are doing, when and for what purpose (and how they can get involved) you will be 'behaving'! I appreciate some of this is slightly off the point you have raised, Valerie, but I do feel it's worth saying.

Hi Martin Interesting to hear the views on this and agree that being hung up on what you put on the front cover of something isn't all that important. However the wording in the draft NPPF hasn't helped us and that's why we struggle a bit to interpret this. Para 21 says that - "Each local planning authority should produce a Local Plan for its area. This can be reviewed in whole or in part to respond flexibly to changing circumstances. Any additional development plan documents should only be used where clearly justified." which would imply to me a preference to have one DPD if at all possible. It then goes on to talk about “the" Local Plan (using capitals) and appears to distinguish between Local Plans and Neighbourhood Plans (in particular the examination process). If the Local Plan is new terminology for the whole LDF as Daniel & Adam think, then be grateful if someone could point me to the bit I've missed that says this! The regulations will be more important in terms of formal process and terminology, and the consultation draft from last summer removed references to Core Strategies and AAPs, but retained a distinction between DPDs and SPDs so whatever you put on your cover of your document, in formal terms it'd still be a DPD and so for regulatory purposes be termed as such somewhere in the background. Unfortunately these draft regulations refer neither to "local plans" nor to "local development frameworks” ! There will have to be a period of transition to the new system and it has been mentioned but to my knowledge nothing has set out what this period will be or how it will work. As per the others this is just my interpretation of things as they stand!

I can tell you what Huntingdonshire will be doing. As of 8 December we will be preparing a single DPD, to be known as the Local Plan and it will replace our adopted Core Strategy. We had previously progressed development management policies as a DPD to proposed submission and had just started work on a sites DPD. Both of these will covereed by sections of the LP. The main factor for making the jump now to a Local Plan was the designation of Alconbury Airfield as an Enterprise Zone, which as I'm sure you know triggers a review of all your LDDs. As our CS had very little on Alconbury it was obviously in need of amendment. The option of a fast track selective review was looked at but quickly discounted, mainly because of the difficulties in isolating the parts that would need changing. Really the timing made the decision for us. We have already moved away from the use of LDF and DPD as both have little meaning with one main plan document whatever you call it.

Sounds really good James. Can you e-mail me your details and perhaps we can have a chat about your approach? adam.dodgshon@local.gov.uk I look forward to hearing from you

Thanks Andrea, It would be really good to talk to you about this as well, if you would have some time? Please e-mail me in the first instance if you could. All emerging thinking on taking forward your 'local plan' is really helpful, and the idea of an additional 'DPD' is also one I'd like to pursue with you. I'm sure many authorities will be making a decision on how to progress over the coming months and if we can highlight some healthy debate and emerging good practice I'd like to do that as soon as we can! I look forward to hearing from you