Glossary
Local Plans: the policy each London borough applies
A council's strategic planning document. Sets housing targets, site allocations, design policies.
A council's strategic planning document. Sets housing targets, site allocations, design policies.
A local plan is the statutory development plan for an area, adopted by the local planning authority after examination. Section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires applications to be determined in accordance with it unless material considerations indicate otherwise — which makes it the first document to read.
Strategic policies for housing, employment and infrastructure; development management policies that decide householder applications; a policies map showing conservation areas, Article 4 boundaries, flood zones and designations; and site allocations. In London the borough local plan sits under the London Plan, which is also part of the development plan.
Supplementary planning documents — a householder design guide, a basements SPD, a shopfront guide — sit beneath the plan. They carry weight as material considerations but cannot introduce new policy.
Typically a general design policy, a residential extensions policy setting depth and height expectations, an amenity policy dealing with light and overlooking, a heritage policy, and a parking or servicing policy. The extensions policy is where the borough states its own 45-degree or 3 m rules.
Policies more than five years old may attract reduced weight where they are out of date against national policy, and where an authority cannot demonstrate a five-year housing land supply the NPPF's presumption in favour of sustainable development can be engaged. That matters far more for new dwellings than for extensions.
A worked Redbridge example of local plan: with 14 conservation areas — the Wanstead Village Conservation Area and the Snaresbrook Conservation Area among the best known — London Borough of Redbridge (Redbridge Council) sees local plan constantly, and there is no borough-wide Article 4 direction, so permitted development generally survives outside conservation areas. Where local plan pushes a Redbridge scheme out of permitted development, the route becomes a £548 application decided in 8 weeks rather than a £249 prior approval in 6 weeks.
| Legal weight | Section 38(6), PCPA 2004 |
|---|---|
| London hierarchy | London Plan + borough local plan |
| Review cycle | At least every 5 years |
| Supplementary documents | SPDs — material, not policy |
| Policies map | Shows Article 4, conservation areas, flood zones |
| Determination standard | In accordance unless material considerations indicate otherwise |
It is the starting point by law, but material considerations can outweigh it.
The Mayor's spatial development strategy, part of every London borough's development plan.
The borough's policies map by address, then the development management chapter.
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