Cooperating, Collaborating and Statements of Common Ground

The removal of the Duty to Cooperate needs to formally happen through regulation change, this hasn't happened yet so keep on planning and evidencing cooperation and collaboration in plan-making.

The government wrote to the Planning Inspectorate in November 2026, stating "On the basis of the government’s firm intention to abolish the Duty for the current system, examining Inspectors may wish to begin any necessary dialogue with LPAs in advance of the Regulations coming into effect". Plans being prepared in the current system and submitted by December 2026 are likely to have to deal with the removal of the duty during examination. Examinations will continue to assess a plans soundness, and the assessment of cross boundary issues such as unmet development needs from neighbouring areas and being in line with the policies in the NPPF on ‘maintaining effective co-operation’ remaining a key part of the test.

The new system refers to an alignment approach, and further details of how this might work are contained in the National Planning Policy Framework being consulted upon.

Plan makers will need to ensure any plan making complies with the current, or future, approach to aligning plans, working on cross boundary and strategic level issues as the regulations and guidance changes.

• Have a clear Duty to Cooperate strategy and plan for engagement and integrate this into your project plan and ensure you can extract this data from it easily.

• Set out how you will engage with all prescribed bodies and potentially others. 

• Update it at key milestones so you do not lose track of cross-boundary issues. 

• Cross-reference the strategy in your main project plan and capture the key milestone in the latter

• Identify the strategic matters early, often housing need, employment, large scale growth, transport, infrastructure, greenbelt etc..
• Get member sign-off so everyone agrees these are “strategic.”
• Cross-boundary housing need is usually the most difficult issue — address it directly and work with the authorities preparing any relevant Strategic Development Strategy. 

• Engage with the right bodies for each strategic matter and where possible set up Memoranda of Understanding.
• For environmental matters, speak to Natural England, the Environment Agency, and Historic England early.
• For transport infrastructure, involve National Highways and Network Rail.
• The National Health Service may require early discussion due to shorter-term health planning cycles.
• Memoranda of Understanding outline cooperation principles can help formalise working arrangements – as a minimum make sure you have a shared understanding of engagement.
• Here your Local Plan Project Initiation document can help clarify expectations at the start of the process.  

• Statements of Common Ground are crucial for showing how cross-boundary issues (for example, strategic site allocations, shared infrastructure) will be resolved.
• They vary in detail; some might cover high-level approaches, others very specific site or policy agreements.
• Update them as you progress—Statements of Common Ground are living documents and aim to have them ready by Regulation 19 stage.

• Be transparent about unresolved issues. State what the sticking points are and outline next steps or timeframes to resolve them.
• This is not an admission of failure; it is an honest reflection of ongoing dialogue. Not everything will be agreed — that’s OK.
• Be clear and honest about:
  • Outstanding cross-boundary matters
  • Areas of disagreement
• Keep referencing your risk register and strategy (Top tip 2) to manage these issues.
• Use Statements of Common Ground effectively
• Examiners value transparency over perfection

• Produce the Statement iteratively, starting at as early as Regulation 18, and refine it at key stages.
• It should reference or append the latest Memoranda of Understanding, Statements of Common Ground, and any relevant minutes or correspondence.
• Show clearly which issues have been resolved, which remain unresolved, and the implications (see Top tip 9 for dealing with unresolved points).