Planning Policy is the method by which the development of land and buildings is planned for, managed and controlled. This is done through the creation of planning policies which are designed to guide future development in the borough, including how much development there should be and where it should go, and to aid the determination of planning applications.

Policies continually evolve with changing administrations, lifestyles, environments and economic demands. It is the role of the Planning Policy team to develop, maintain, update and adapt policies on a local level to accommodate these changes.

National Planning Policy

Central government (through the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) has overall responsibility for national planning policy. However, local planning decisions are made by local planning authorities using local development plan documents (such as the Local Plan).

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out the Government’s planning policies for England and how these are expected to be applied. The NPPF is a material consideration in the determination of planning application, especially where the adopted Local Plan is silent or relevant policies are out of date.