Local Plans are at the heart of the planning system and are the main consideration in deciding planning applications.
All local planning authorities in England are required to produce a Local Plan, which:
- Sets out where different forms of development – such as housing, offices, factories and recreational facilities – can go;
- Contains policies that planning applications have to satisfy in order to get planning permission.
Local Plans are critical in determining what will be developed, what will be protected and what will be given planning permission to be built within a given local authority area.
In the case of Gypsy and Traveller sites, local planning authorities will carry out a Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment as part of the Local Plan process. If a need for more sites is identified, suitable land should be marked out (‘allocated’) for this purpose in the Local Plan. (See also section 8 ‘How do I ask the local planning authority to provide more sites’)
Local Plans should also include a ‘criteria-based policy’ which guides how planning applications for Gypsy and Traveller sites are assessed. However, sometimes Gypsy and Traveller sites are dealt with in a separate development plan document.
The criteria-based policy will cover a number of issues which are intended to ensure that Gypsy and Traveller sites are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. Criteria may include amongst other matters:
- Safe access from the road;
- Distance to local services, such as schools, shops and health services;
- Impact on the character and appearance (how it looks) of the local area;
- Residential amenity (living somewhere with a good quality of life – i.e. not next to a sewage works or a motorway);
- Flood risk and drainage;
- Impact on local ecology (this is wildlife).
In addition to the criteria-based policy, there may be other policies within the Local Plan that are relevant. You could think about these policies as a list of things that need to be ticked in order to get planning permission. If your application is able to tick all the boxes then it is said to be ‘in accordance with the Local Plan’. This means that planning permission should be granted.
If an application does not tick all the boxes, for example, it’s too far from services like schools and shops, then the local planning authority, or a planning inspector if the decision has gone to appeal, will look at other factors to see if permission should still be granted. These are called material considerations.