Under the 2004 Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act, the council is required to prepare a Local Planning Framework, which will replace most elements of the existing Unitary Development Plan.
The Local Planning Framework is a folder of documents, which include:
Local Plans are the documents within the Local Planning Framework that have development plan status (i.e. development control decisions must be made in accordance with them unless material considerations indicate otherwise). The Development Plan is made up of the Regional Spatial Strategy and documents such as the Core Strategy.
Local Development Documents are all the documents that collectively deliver the spatial planning strategy for the area. This includes the Development Plan Documents (see above), but also includes more process-oriented documents such as the Local Development Scheme, the Annual Monitoring Report and the Statement of Community Involvement.
Supplementary planning documents and planning advice notes give further advice and explain in more detail the council's policies contained in Development Plan Documents.
Evidence - All parts of the Local Planning Framework must be based on a robust and sound evidence base. Details of all background reports and studies can be found here.
Other corporate initiatives may not form part of the Local Planning Framework, but are important in providing evidence and giving direction and context for Local Plans. Details of such initiatives will be available soon.