In England, every local authority must produce a Development Plan for their area which sets out planning policies to guide development, such as housing or employment, but also to restrain development where there is good reason to do so. 

Specifically, the Development Plan is required by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) setting out the “plan-making framework” that local authorities should follow.

Section 38(6) of this Act also requires local authorities to determine planning applications in accordance with their Development Plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

The terms “Development Plan” and “Local Plan” are often used interchangeably; however, a Local Plan is often only part of a Development Plan.  

In reality, the Development Plan is normally made up of many different interconnecting documents that work together to guide development, whilst the Local Plan contains the policies that determine planning applications.

A Local Authority will first produce a Local Development Scheme, which is a timetable that the council will follow for preparing, consulting upon and adopting the Development Plan documents it intends to produce.

Documents that you normally expect to see included are:

• Area Action Plans – when a Local Plan allocates a large area for development, these are to set out in detail what the council expects that area to look like and the facilities it will provide;
• Neighbourhood Plans – These are produced by local communities, cover a smaller area such as a parish and include further planning policies to manage development; and
• Minerals and Waste Local Plan - Contains policies and locations for future minerals extraction (such as sand and gravel pits quarries) and and for the development of waste management facilities such as recycling centres.

Development Plan documents must be kept up to date and reviewed regularly. For a Local Plan, every five years is standard.

Other documents that are not part of the Development Plan but are nonetheless often produced to sit alongside include:

• Design Guide – a document outlining what the council considers good design and how to apply its findings to new development proposals and planning applications;
• Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) – these often guide very localised issues such as the frequency of hot food takeaways in a city centre, shop front design or crime prevention;
• Annual Monitoring Report or Authority Monitoring Report (AMR) – published annually on the council’s performance against targets such as housing delivery, employment and wildlife conservation; 
• Statement of Community Involvement – how the council involves the public, local groups, schools and businesses in the preparation of Development Plan documents;
• Sustainability Appraisals – assess the potential environmental, economic and social impact of the objectives and policies of the Development Plan as a whole;
• Brownfield Land Register – a database of previously built upon sites potentially available for new development; and;
• Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Charging Schedule – if a council chooses to fund infrastructure by collecting CIL from newly permitted development it must first publish its Charging Schedule and keep it regularly updated so the public knows how CIL receipts will be spent;

These documents all have different roles in the planning process. For example, a Design Guide has material weight when a council is determining a planning application whilst a Statement of Community Involvement must be done early in the preparation of a Local Plan.

Further information

Contact Peter Brampton or Eleanor King