What is a Local Plan?
The Local Plan is a document which sets out planning policies and proposals for how the communities and places in the borough will develop over a period of up to 15 years. It includes policies and site allocations to guide the development and use of land in the borough as well as defining the Green Belt and those areas that will be protected and enhanced for heritage or nature conservation purposes.
Purpose and need for a Local Plan
The Local Plan is at the heart of the planning system and is the starting point in deciding planning applications. The government has therefore made Local Plans a statutory requirement and requires that all local planning authorities must have an up-to-date plan that seeks to address their development needs.
Failure to prepare a Local Plan could lead to intervention whereby the government writes our Local Plan for us. Without a Local Plan we could also find ourselves unable to resist unacceptable development or refused applications being granted on appeal. This could result in unplanned development in unsustainable locations.
It is therefore important that a Local Plan is in place and is kept up to date.
Who approves the Local Plan?
The draft Local Plan will be submitted to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Homes and Communities for independent inspection. The examination will be carried out by an independent Planning Inspector on behalf of the Government. The Inspector examines the Plan to determine if it is ‘sound’. The Council and its councillors decide whether to approve the plan following the Inspector’s decision. If approved, the Plan would be adopted, becomes the development plan document for the borough and is used to guide decision-making in respect of directing development and granting or refusing planning applications.
What are the next stages of the Local Plan process?
The starting point for a Local Plan examination is the assumption that the council has submitted what it considers to be a sound plan. The plan is positively prepared, based on a strategy which seeks to meet objectively assessed development and infrastructure requirements; is justified by robust evidence; can be delivered; and is consistent with national policy. The Pre-Submission Publication version of the Elmbridge Local Plan is considered to meet the test of soundness and is therefore a step closer to examination and eventual adoption.
The Examination will be a series of open public sessions which members of the public can attend and observe. At the Examination, officers and expert consultants appointed by the council will be questioned by the inspector on how the Local Plan meets the tests of soundness. It is usual for developers and landowners to attend, often legally represented by barristers, to speak in favour of or oppose elements of the plan. The council will also be represented by a barrister. There are often complex legal and technical points to be made and defended.
Members of the public and residents’ associations who make representations during the Regulation 19 consultation will be asked if they wish to appear at the Examination in person and speak to the Planning Inspector directly on issues of importance to them.
For further information about the examination process see GOV.UK: Local Plans: the examination process.
Following the Examination, the inspector will issue a report to set out whether the plan can be recommended for adoption and if not, what needs to be changed in order to be found sound.
Once this has taken place, all Members of the Council will be asked to adopt the plan at a formal meeting. If adopted, the policies in the Local Plan will carry full weight and supersede former policies in older documents.
How much weight can be given to Local Plan policies before they are adopted?
Weight is the term used to explain whether a policy can be used in decision-making and to what degree as there is always a balance between the benefits and disadvantages of a development. Full weight can only be given once the Local Plan has been adopted by the council (anticipated 2024). The existing Core Strategy 2011 and Development Management DPD 2015 remain our current Local Plan, although more recent national policy may supersede elements of it, until the draft Local Plan is adopted.