Consultation Draft Statement of Community Involvement 2018

3. Development Plans

3.1 Applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise as set out in section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. The previous SCI referred only to Local Plans under this section, however the new shared strategic Section 1 Local Plan for North Essex includes proposals for three cross boundary Garden Communities. The Garden Community DPDs and the Local Plan are all classed as Development Plan Documents (DPDs).

3.2 The Borough also has several adopted and emerging Neighbourhood Plans. A Neighbourhood Plan attains the same legal status as the Local Plan once it has been approved at a referendum. At this point it comes into force as part of the statutory development plan for the Borough.

Local Plan

3.3 The Local Plan is the main planning policy document produced by the Council; it contains policies to guide the development of an area and includes allocations that indicate where development will take place (normally over a 15 year period from the adoption of the Plan). As required by national planning policy, the Local Plan should be drawn up by the local planning authority in consultation with the community. It will be reviewed every 5 years in part or in full.

3.4 The Local Plan forms part of the Development Plan (along with 'made' Neighbourhood Plans and Garden Community DPDs where appropriate). Planning applications must be determined in accordance with the Development Plan unless other material considerations indicate otherwise.

Garden Community DPDs

3.5 The Garden Community DPDs that the Councils are currently producing will contain strategies, policies and proposals to guide their development. The DPDs, once adopted by the Council, will include the location and scale of land uses alongside the required infrastructure. As with the Council's Local Plan, the DPDs will be reviewed at 5 year intervals, this process will be subject to the appropriate public consultation.

Consultation Methods

3.7 The following table sets out a summary of the consultation stages and methods that Colchester Borough Council will use when consulting on development plans (the Local Plan and DPDs). Alongside the development plans, the relevant Sustainability Appraisal (SA)/ Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) will also be consulted upon. Please see section 6 on page 15 for further information on Sustainability Appraisals / SEAs.

Table Three – DPD Consultations