Documents that you normally expect to see included are:
- Spatial Development Strategies – introduced in March 2025, these are a new requirement to guide development across larger strategic areas that include two or more local authorities. They reflect the national move towards combined and unitary councils.
- Area Action Plans – when a Local Plan allocates a large area for development, these are to set out in detail what the council expects that area to look like and the facilities it will provide;
- Neighbourhood Plans – these are produced by local communities, cover a smaller area such as a parish and include further planning policies to manage development; and
- Minerals and Waste Local Plan – contains policies and locations for future minerals extraction (such as sand and gravel quarries) and for the development of waste management facilities such as recycling centres.
Development Plan documents must be kept up to date and reviewed regularly. For a Local Plan, every five years is standard.
Other documents that are not part of the Development Plan but are nonetheless often produced to sit alongside include:
- Design Guide – a document outlining what the council considers good design and how to apply its findings to new development proposals and planning applications;
- Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) – these often guide very localised issues such as the frequency of hot food takeaways in a city centre, shop front design or crime prevention;
- Annual Monitoring Report or Authority Monitoring Report (AMR) – published annually on the council’s performance against targets such as housing delivery, employment and wildlife conservation;
- Statement of Community Involvement – how the council involves the public, local groups, schools and businesses in the preparation of Development Plan documents;
- Sustainability Appraisals – assess the potential environmental, economic and social impact of the objectives and policies of the Development Plan as a whole;
- Brownfield Land Register – a database of previously built upon sites potentially available for new development; and;
- Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Charging Schedule – if a council chooses to fund infrastructure by collecting CIL from newly permitted development it must first publish its Charging Schedule and keep it regularly updated so the public knows how CIL receipts will be spent.
These documents all have different roles in the planning process. For example, a Design Guide has material weight when a council is determining a planning application whilst a Statement of Community Involvement must be done early in the preparation of a Local Plan.
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