10 June 2008
Government changes to planning rules hit Wealden's local plan timetable
Changes to planning regulations announced last week by the Government look set to delay the next stage of Wealden's Local Development Framework. The LDF is the ongoing plan to decide where development takes place in the district over the next 20 years.
“These changes will have a significant impact upon the timetable for the production of our Core Strategy and also for revisions to our Local Development Scheme," said Councillor Roy Galley, the Council’s new portfolio holder for Strategic Planning and Housing Delivery.
"It is extremely annoying when Government chooses to move the goalposts half way through a process which we have been following at their request. The timing of the announcement is particularly unfortunate. These changes will mean further delay and uncertainty both for our residents and the development industry.”
Wealden carried out a widespread consultation on the Issues and Options for future development in the district last summer. This attracted a huge amount of local interest and resulted in over 20,000 representations being received. It was to have been followed by a Preferred Options document looking at the distribution of future development in the district, as set out in the Council’s current approved Local Development Scheme.
However under the new national regulations announced last week which affect all local planning authorities, the Preferred Options stage of plan preparation has been removed. This will have important implications for authorities such as Wealden who will need to revise their work programmes to reflect the new planning requirements.
The Council is carefully considering the full impact of the new Regulations which means it will have to urgently review its Local Development Scheme, its timetable for the LDF process This will have to be agreed with the Government Office for the South East (GOSE). The Council’s website will be updated with the full details.
