What does Legal Compliance mean?
The Planning Inspector will test to ensure that a Development Plan Document (DPD) meets the legal requirements as laid out by the Town and Country Planning Act 2004. Anyone responding to the submission stage of consultation on a DPD should ask themselves the following questions before determining whether they think a DPD is legally compliant or not:
1) Has the DPD been prepared in accordance with the Local Development Scheme?
The Local Development Scheme (LDS) is a timetable for when and in what order documents within the Local Development Framework are going to be produced.
2) Has the DPD had regard to the Sustainable Community Strategy for the Wokingham Borough?
The Sustainable Community Strategy is a document written by the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) for Wokingham. The LSP is a body made up of public, private and voluntary sector organisations such as the Police and Chamber of Commerce. They have written the Sustainable Community Strategy to achieve the ambitions they have set out for Wokingham Borough’s Community.
3) Is the DPD in compliance with the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI)? Has the Council consulted the public in the way it said it would as laid out in the SCI?
The Statement of Community Involvement sets out what the process and local standards are for involving the community in the preparation, alteration and review of planning policy documents in the Council's LDF. It also details how the community is consulted on planning applications. Appendix 3 of this document may be of particular interest.
4) Has the DPD been subject to a Sustainability Appraisal and has a final report of the findings been made available?
Sustainability Appraisals are carried out to make sure a particular planning policy document accords with the Council’s and Government’s objectives for achieving sustainable development. All of the Sustainnability Appraisals produced by the Council for the Local Development Framework are listed on the Sustainability page.
5) Does the DPD contain anything that is not in general conformity with the Regional Spatial Strategy? If there is something to which it doesn’t conform, is there local justification?
A Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) provides a broad development strategy for a region for a fifteen to twenty year period and takes into account matters such as the scale, distribution and provision of new housing, transport, the environment, infrastructure and economic development. Local authorities have to take account of policies within an RSS when developing their own Local Development Framework policies. The RSS relevant to the Wokingham Borough is the South East Plan.
6) Does the DPD comply with the Town and Country Planning Act, in particular have Wokingham Borough Council published all of the documents as prescribed, and made them available at their Shute End Offices and on the web?
Government regulations state that the Council must produce a number of documents which form the evidence base of the Core Strategy. Paper copies of these documents are normally available for viewing at the Wokingham Borough Council’s Shute End Offices. Those that can be will also be posted on the Council's website.
7) Has Wokingham Borough Council placed local advertisements and notified the relevant bodies?
As part of the process of submitting a DPD, the Council has to undertake a final consultation before the document is handed over to the Secretary of State, This ensures that the public have had a chance to comment as to whether they think a DPD is sound or not, and the Council may amend a DPD accordingly before formally submitting it for examination. To notify the public of this final stage of consultation, adverts are put into local newspapers and important organisations such as English Heritage and the Environment Agency are notified in case they want ot comment. When each document is undergoing a consultation, a list of all of the advertisements issued and organisations notified will be available.
8) Does the DPD contain a list of superseded Saved Policies?
Saved Policies are local planning policies from the Wokingham District Local Plan that have been carried forward in the interim of adopting a new Local Development Framework. Those policies that were not saved have been rejected because they repeat national policies contained within Planning Policy Statements and Planning Policy Guidance Notes. In each DPD there will be a list in one of the appendices stating which policies within that DPD now replace an old Local Plan policy.
