Saved Development Plan Policies September 2007 |
|
|
|
Saved Development Plan Policies September 2007 The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 automatically saved all adopted structure, local and unitary development plan policies for a transitional period of three years from 28 September 2004. During the period up until 27 September 2007 local authorities were expected to bring forward Local Development Documents (LDDs) as part of their Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) to replace their saved plan policies. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act did however make provision for local authorities to seek the approval of the Secretary of State to extend the development plan status of their saved policies beyond 27 September 2007 until such time as they could be replaced by policies contained within adopted LDDs. Progress in achieving the adoption of LDDs has unsurprisingly been much slower than the Government anticipated. Accordingly county, unitary and district planning authorities were respectively required to submit lists of thir adopted Structure and Local Plan policies they wished to have saved beyond 27 September 2007 to their regional Government Offices by 1 April 2007. During the latter part of September 2007 the Government Offices issued Directions made under Schedule 8 of the 2004 Act, setting out the list of adopted Structure and Local Plan policies which were being formally saved beyond 27 September 2007. Most of the Government Offices have published on their websites the directions they have issued. Policies that are not listed in these directions no longer have Development Plan status and can be disregarded. The Government Office for the South East (GOSE) has for example published all of the directions it issued. It is interesting to note that GOSE has rejected attempts by some local authorities to have some of their housing allocations discarded, by saving the allocations in question despite the wishes of the authority in question. The GOSE’s reasoning for conferring saved status upon these allocations is to support the delivery of housing in the region. For the foreseeable future when considering development proposals in Development Plan terms it will be very important to refer to both the directions that have been issued and the relevant old style Development Plan or Plans to establish the current policy framework applicable to the proposal in question. It will also be necessary to regularly check the progress of LDFs in local authority areas because as individual LDDs are adopted they will increasingly supersede saved old style Development Plan policies. For any old-style development plans adopted after 28 September 2004, their policies will retain their development plan status for three years from the date of adoption. |