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LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS
36. Section 16 of the Act requires all planning authorities to prepare, and keep under review, one or more local development plans for their area. These must cover the whole of the authority's area, although one location may be covered by more than one LDP if prepared for different purposes (e.g. minerals), and LDPs may extend across the areas of more than one planning authority. Importantly, regardless of how many LDPs cover a local authority area, they must all be reviewed every 5 years.
Monitoring
37. In all cases LDPs will replace one or more existing local plan. So another early task of planning authorities will be to monitor:
- changes in the principal physical, economic, social and environmental characteristics of the area that have occurred since the preparation of the existing local plan(s); and
- the impact of the policies and proposals of the existing local plan(s).
38. As a product of this exercise, the Act requires the planning authority to publish a monitoring statement. Future generations of LDP must be based on similar monitoring exercises of the existing LDP. The planning authority is to publish the monitoring statement, including electronically, alongside the publication of any main issues report.
Form and Content of Local Development Plans
39. Section 15 of the Act requires LDPs to contain a spatial strategy, this being a detailed statement of the planning authority's policies and proposals as to the development and use of land. Outside SDP areas, LDPs must also contain a vision statement. This will be a broad statement of how the development of the area could and should occur and the matters that might be expected to affect that development, including:
- the principal physical, economic, social and environmental characteristics of the area;
- the principal land uses in the area;
- the size, composition and distribution of population in the area;
- the infrastructure of the area (including communications, transport and drainage systems and systems for the supply of water and energy);
- how that infrastructure is used; and
- any anticipated change in these matters.
40. In considering the content of LDPs, regard should also be had to the statutory requirement to exercise development planning functions with the objective of contributing to sustainable development.
41. While the Act allows authorities to include any other matters in the plan that they consider appropriate, draft regulation 10 specifically requires an LDP to include:
- a description of any limited purpose of the plan e.g. whether the plan deals only with minerals;
- a reasoned justification for the policies and proposals;
- a summary of the policies and proposals, i.e. an executive summary;
- a glossary; and
- within SDP areas, an analysis of the relationship with the SDP and a statement as to the plan's consistency with the SDP.
42. LDPs may contain any maps, diagrams, illustrations and descriptive material the planning authority think appropriate, but draft regulation 12 requires the inclusion of a proposals map. Given the Ordnance Survey's quasi-commercial footing, and the potential for other accurate map bases to be developed, the requirement to use an Ordnance Survey base is proposed to be removed. Detailed requirements relating to the use of insets have also been removed.
43. The proposed regulations continue to state that, in the event of any discrepancy between the map and the text of the LDP, the written statement will take precedence. Question 5 above seeks views on reversing this statement to give primacy to the map and this applies equally to LDPs.
Q7 Are there any other matters which the regulations should require always to be included in LDPs, or on the Proposals Map?
44. The Act also requires LDPs to contain a schedule of land that is owned by the planning authority and affected by any of the policies, proposals or views expressed in the plan. Schedule 1 of the draft regulations proposes a form for this purpose.
Preparation of LDPs
45. In preparing the LDP, the Act requires authorities to take into account the National Planning Framework. Draft regulation 13 also proposes that regard must be had to:
- the resources available for implementing the plan;
- any LDPs prepared for other purposes but covering the same area;
- any neighbouring LDPs or SDPs;
- any neighbouring English regional spatial strategies or local development frameworks;
- the regional and local transport strategies;
- the river basin management plan;
- the local housing strategy;
- the national waste management plan; and
- issues arising out of the European directive on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances.
46. Within SDP areas, section 16(6) of the Act also requires LDPs to be consistent with the SDP. As with SDPs, a key intention in the requirements here is to ensure that LDPs are properly integrated with other statutory plans and strategies affecting the development and use of land.
Q8 Are there any other information sources or considerations that planning authorities should be required to have regard to in preparing LDPs and how can planning authorities demonstrate that they have complied with these requirements?
Main Issues Report
47. With a view to facilitating and informing their work in preparing a LDP, Section 17 of the Act requires planning authorities to first compile a main issues report ( MIR). This is not intended to be a draft plan, but should focus on the key issues that are changing from the last plan.
48. The MIR must set out the authority's general proposals for development in the area and in particular proposals as to where development should and should not occur. The proposals must be explained sufficiently clearly and precisely to enable people to understand what is proposed and to make meaningful comments. The MIR must also contain one or more reasonable alternative sets of proposals. Finally, the MIR must draw attention to the ways in which the favoured and alternative proposals differ from the spatial strategy of the existing adopted LDP (if any). There is no legal requirement to draw such a comparison with existing local plans, but it would be good practice to do this within the first generation of main issues reports.
49. It is important that LDPs are fully co-ordinated with other key strategies from the earliest stage, and that key infrastructure providers are signed up to the delivery of the emerging proposals. Therefore, in compiling the MIR (i.e. before its publication), the Act requires the planning authority to consult with and have regard to any views expressed by the key agencies. Draft regulation 14 proposes that this requirement also applies to:
- the Scottish Ministers;
- the Health and Safety Executive;
- any adjoining planning authority (including national park authorities); and
- any planning authority within the same SDPA as the LDP area.
50. The MIR stage should link closely to the process of Strategic Environmental Assessment ( SEA). The intention is for the alternative proposals put forward at this stage to be environmentally appraised and for a draft environmental report to be published alongside the MIR. Further guidance will be provided in due course on how the SEA process and the development plan process can fit together.
51. Draft regulation 15 proposes the following minimum publication requirements to apply at the main issues report, proposed plan and modified plan stages:
- Publication of a notice in the Edinburgh Gazette and a local newspaper, setting out:
- That the document has been produced and where and when it may be viewed;
- A brief description of the content and purpose of the document;
- Details of how further information may be obtained; and
- A statement that representations may be made, and how, to whom and by when they should be made.
- Sending this information to:
- The key agencies;
- neighbouring planning authorities;
- planning authorities within the same SDPA;
- the Health and Safety Executive; and
- community councils.
- Making a copy of the document available to inspect at an office of the planning authority and in public libraries; and
- Publication on the internet.
52. The Act requires authorities to secure that people who may be expected to want to comment on the MIR are made aware that they can do so, and are given such an opportunity. Draft regulation 16 proposes that this should be done through the sending of a notice containing the same information as the newspaper notice.
53. In publishing the MIR, the authority is to send a copy of the report and the monitoring statement (referred to at para 38 above) to Scottish Ministers.
Discussion of publicity for SDPs and LDPs
54. The publication of the MIR is intended to be the principal opportunity within the plan preparation process for productively consulting stakeholders on the content of the plan and for involving the wider public. It is therefore essential that engagement with the public at this stage is as full and open as it can be.
55. The publication requirements proposed in the draft regulations are intended as a statutory minimum, and the expectation is that authorities would do a lot more than this to publicise the key stages of plan preparation. But we are not minded to state more in regulations for a number of reasons. First, we considered specifying in regulation 16 (and 6 for SDPs) the people who must be notified of the publication of the MIR (i.e. proposing a list of statutory consultees for development planning). But in practice the circumstances when many bodies could usefully be consulted will vary depending on the purpose and content of the plan and on the character of the area. We would rather place the onus on planning authorities to actively consider the local and national groups they feel need to be engaged in the plan preparation process given local circumstances and the particular issues thrown up by the plan, but we do expect to issue further guidance in this area.
56. Secondly, authorities will be required to set out their intentions for engagement in their participation statements. These will be scrutinised by Scottish Ministers but will allow authorities to tailor their activities to local circumstances. A range of innovative techniques, tailored to local circumstances will be expected here.
57. Finally, publication requirements for main issues reports will also apply to proposed plans and modified plans. It may be appropriate for the extent and nature of publicity and consultation to be different at these stages. For instance, the principal focus for open public engagement is intended to be the main issues report stage, whereas by the proposed plan stage the authority's position is more fixed and formal representations that will be considered at examination are being sought.
58. It is no longer proposed to set out the form that public notices must take. Rather, the draft regulations set out a minimum set of information that must be included in any notice. The intention is to allow authorities more discretion as to how to publicise plans, perhaps in a more innovative or user-friendly manner than a traditional public notice.
(The following questions are intended to relate to both the SDP and LDP processes.)
Q9 Are the minimum publication requirements set out in the proposed regulations adequate, or should additional requirements be included, for instance specifying a list of statutory consultees for development planning?
Q10 Is the requirement to place a notice in the Edinburgh Gazette still useful?
Proposed Plan
59. Following the consultation period for the main issues report, the Act requires the planning authority to have regard to the representations received, and then publish a proposed plan. Publication at this stage is subject to the same minimum requirements as for the main issues report as set out in regulation 15. The Act also requires:
- A copy of the proposed plan to be sent to each key agency; and
- Any person who commented on the main issues report to be notified.
60. In addition, the Act requires authorities to consult the key agencies, and draft regulation 17 also requires consultation with Scottish Ministers and the Health and Safety Executive.
61. As proposed in the White Paper 'Modernising the Planning System', the draft regulations propose that in certain circumstances, the occupiers of neighbouring land to sites proposed for development in the local development plan must be notified by the planning authority at the proposed plan stage. We now propose to extend this requirement to the occupiers of the sites themselves. Draft Regulation 18 proposes that such notification will be required where proposals are site specific and, if implemented, would be likely to have a significant effect on the use or amenity of the site/ neighbouring land. Draft Regulation 1 proposes that neighbouring land is defined as " land conterminous with or within 20 metres of the boundary of a specific site in respect of which the LDP includes a proposal". The intention is that the notice may be addressed to the owner/occupier or the owner/occupier/lessee, and need not be addressed to a named individual. The draft regulations contain at Schedule 2 a proposed form for this neighbour notification.
Q11 Are the proposed circumstances where neighbour notification would be required and the definitions of neighbouring land appropriate?
Modified Plan
62. The Act requires that authorities must allow at least 6 weeks for representations to be made on the proposed plan, following which there are four possible ways forward:
(1) Where no representations have been received, or all representations have been withdrawn or fully taken account of by non-notifiable modifications (i.e. only minor modifications), the authority are to publish the plan, submit it to Scottish Ministers and advertise their intention to adopt it.
(2) Where the authority decides to make no notifiable modifications (i.e. only minor modifications), they are to publish the plan and submit it to Scottish Ministers.
(3) Where the authority decides to make notifiable modifications, they are to publish the modified plan, notify owners and neighbours of new or modified site-specific proposals and specify a date by which further representations may be made. The authority may then further modify the plan or submit it to Ministers.
(4) Where the authority makes modifications that change the underlying aims or strategy of the proposed plan, they are required to prepare and publish a new proposed LDP.
63. So the making of more significant modifications (termed 'notifiable modifications') brings with it a further opportunity for the public to make representations. Draft regulation 19 proposes that notifiable modifications will be those that add, remove or significantly alter any policy or proposal in the plan. Where notifiable modifications are made, the minimum requirements for publication reflect those at the main issues stage (draft regulation 15).
Q12 Will the broad proposed definition of 'notifiable' modifications unnecessarily delay the plan process by subjecting too many modified plans to further consultation?
64. On submitting the plan to Scottish Ministers, the Act also requires authorities to submit their proposed action programme and a report of conformity with their participation statement. Draft regulation 21 requires the authority to notify people who made representations on the proposed or modified plan that the plan has been submitted. The submitted plan must also be published by (draft regulation 20):
- Publishing a notice in the press;
- Making copies available in an office of the planning authority and public libraries; and
- Publishing on the internet.
Examination
65. Proposed procedures for the examination of LDPs will be covered by separate draft regulations which we expect to issue later in the year.
Adoption
66. Scottish Ministers intend examination reports to be binding on planning authorities in all but a limited number of exceptional and clear-cut cases. Draft regulation 3 (Annex A) proposes that authorities may only depart from recommendations that:
- Would have the effect of making the LDP inconsistent with the National Planning Framework;
- Would have the effect of making the LDP inconsistent with any SDP for the same area;
- Would insert a proposal that has already been identified by the environmental report as likely to have a significant adverse effect on the environment;
- Are made without regard to the information and considerations set out in regulation 13; and
- Are based on findings of fact that are manifestly not supported by the evidence considered at the examination.
Q13 Do these proposed exceptions provide an appropriate degree of scope for authorities to depart from the recommendations of examination reports?
67. S19(11) of the Act also allows authorities to environmentally assess the plan modified in response to recommendations, and to not make modifications that are not acceptable having regard to that assessment.
68. Subject to the exceptions mentioned above, authorities are required by the Act to make the modifications recommended in the examination report, and any other requisite modifications. The intention is that these other modifications should be wholly consequent on the reporter's recommendations (e.g. to rectify any factual or terminological inconsistencies created by the reporter's recommended modifications), and should not introduce unconnected new material into the plan.
69. Draft regulation 22 sets out how authorities are to publish the plan as they propose to adopt it. They are also required to notify people who made representations on the proposed or modified plan and advertise their intention to adopt.
70. Within 3 months of receiving the examination report, the Act requires authorities to send to the Scottish Ministers:
- The modifications made following receipt of the examination report;
- A statement setting out any recommended modifications that the authority has not made and the explanation for this (by reference to the grounds listed above);
- The proposed plan they wish to adopt;
- The advertisement of their intention to adopt the plan; and
- Any environmental assessment carried out into the proposed plan as modified.
71. 28 days after this, the authority may adopt the plan unless directed not to by the Scottish Ministers.
72. After the adoption of the plan, the planning authority are to:
- Send 2 copies to Scottish Ministers;
- Publish the plan, including electronically;
- Place copies in public libraries;
- Notify people who made representations on the proposed or modified plan of the publication and availability of the adopted plan; and
- Advertise the publication and availability of the adopted plan in a local newspaper.
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