The duty to cooperate was created in the Localism Act 2011. It places a legal duty on local planning authorities, county councils in England and public bodies to engage constructively, actively and on an ongoing basis to maximise the effectiveness of local plan preparation in the context of strategic cross boundary matters.
DtC activities in relation to the Epsom & Ewell Local Plan
The Council has produced a Duty to Cooperate Framework January 2023 which identifies the strategic matters/issues relevant to the borough, who the Council’s DtC partners are, and the methods for engagement with these partners.
The Statement of Compliance (November 2024) provides an overview of these strategic matters/issues and documents the engagement which has taken place with the DtC partners in relation to these. The Statement of Compliance Update (March 2025) records the DtC activities undertaken since the publication of the November 2024 Statement of Compliance up until submission of the Proposed Submission Local Plan (12 March 2025) for the Examination in Public (EiP) stage. During this period, a Regulation 19 consultation was undertaken on the Proposed Submission Local Plan (2022-2040) and seven Statements of Common Ground (SoCG) have been entered into with various DtC partners to date. The SoCG are available on the Submission Documents webpage.
DtC activities in relation to other authorities Local Plan
The Council has signed statements of common grounds with two planning authorities in relation to their respective Local Plans:
- In July 2021, the council signed a statement of common ground with Mole Valley District Council. Mole Valley Statement of Common Ground
- In August 2023, the council signed a statement of common ground with Elmbridge Borough Council. Elmbridge Statement of Common Ground