"No Daft Plan"
“No Daft Plan” read one of the placards at a recent protest against the Draft Epsom and Ewell Local Plan.?The local paper provides the background, with the Green Belt Group pointing out that targets are “advisory and not mandatory”.?
I have worked on this plan and know it to strike a difficult balance on the basis of detailed evidence
It is no daft plan.?However, on a bigger canvas, I have often wondered about plans published under Regulation 19 of the Local Planning Regulations.?
Regulations 18 and 19 explained
The plan was published under Regulation 18, and many authorities do choose to take this step.?However, it is voluntary, i.e. undertaken for reasons of soundness.?The requirement is only to invite “specified bodies” to:
“make representations… about what a local plan… ought to contain.”?
As such, the requirement is essentially to seek views
The only requirement to consult widely is under Regulation 19, but is this a draft plan consultation in the truest sense??Evidence is as follows:
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Whatever the answer to the question, Reg 19 is often ‘sold’ as a draft plan consultation.?However, on the other hand, sometimes it isn’t.?Reg 19 plans are badged in a plethora of ways, but quite common is ‘submission’ version.
Suggestions for planning reform
Regulation 19 creates much confusion nationally, and hence is a barrier to planning reform, central to which must be simplifying and clarifying
It was introduced to expedite plan-making, but most authorities take the voluntary step of consulting on a draft plan anyway (under Reg 18), so why not standardise this nationally, for the sake of clarity on the rules of the game?
The Neighbourhood Planning Regulations provide a template:
The fact that Reg 19 local plans are very often referred to as the ‘pre-submission’ version (a hangover from pre-Reg 19 days) is further evidence of an issue.
Local plan-making might be understood nationally as involving three broad stages: 1) prepare; 2) consult; 3) finalise.?This is a ‘classic’ plan process, and the process envisaged by the legislation underpinning sustainability appraisal
A lack of regulatory alignment is a key reason why SA has failed.?For SA to work it requires a true draft plan consultation when the SA report can fulfill its purpose, namely to present an appraisal of "the plan and reasonable alternatives".
Chairman at Community Planning Alliance
1 年Ah, yes, we had someone wipe out the R on the council sign-board at the entrance to a consultation drop-in event. Please can you add a 0.5 to your 1, 2, 3? 0.5 should be ENGAGE before preparing. People who know me will be bored to death by my wish to see EDD (Engage Deliberate Decide) instead of DAD (Decide Announce Defend). Reg 19 is very confusing for people. It's the stage which is most set in stone and therefore real to people but the one that his hardest to engage with. In one campaign, we decided that at Reg 19 we would capture our supporters comments in a giant spreadsheet, then analyse it and try to present it in soundness test terms. That enabled us to allow our supporters to respond in their own words rather than in technical planning speak.
Director, Catriona Riddell & Associates
1 年I agree - Reg 19 is supposed to be the final draft plan but too many issues are often left either unresolved or far too vague from the earlier stage. Of course the elephant in the room here is that E&E is far too small an LPA to deal with what it is being asked to deal with. They should be part of a much bigger plan - and a much bigger unitary authority (districts of this scale simply don't make any sense!).