What to do in the PID template: Explain the purpose of the PID in enabling plan-making – why you have produced it and how you intend to use it. We have included some standard text for you, feel free to modify it.
Why: Establishes the role of the PID.
What to do in the PID template: State the plan’s legal role in decision making on planning applications. We have included some standard text but again feel free to amend it.
Why: This immediately clarifies the local plan role which is essential for stakeholders who may be less familiar with its legal and policy context.
What to do in the PID template: Define the Local Plan’s key objectives, thematic focus, and geographical scope. This is not the place to write the plan or its vision—that is the role of the Local Plan itself—but to establish the key parameters it will need to address. Identify major corporate priorities, such as affordable housing delivery, infrastructure, or sustainability goals, and clarify the geographical coverage, including likely any specific focus areas subject to assessments such as, urban centres, growth corridors.
Why: Defining the scope at the outset ensures your plan is aligned with statutory requirements, corporate priorities, and known local needs; for example, outlining a target of delivering 10,000 homes, contributing X toward achieving net-zero emissions by a certain date or tackling affordability. This alignment provides clarity for the team, leadership, and stakeholders on what the plan must achieve and avoids unrealistic expectations about what the plan can achieve.
1.3 Relationship to other relevant plans and programmes
What to do in the PID template: Briefly summarise how the Local Plan needs to align with key frameworks. Here you should Identify how the Local Plan must conform with existing or emerging strategies, such as Spatial Development Plans, wider than local transport strategies or other corporate programmes and strategies. Some of this analysis will form part of your Strategic Environment Assessment – draw on this but keep it short.
Why: Providing this summary sets the context for stakeholders or newer team members and consultants who may be less familiar with the legal and policy framework governing Local Plans. It ensures everyone understands the need for compliance with statutory requirements and alignment with national and regional policy objectives, which are essential for ensuring the plan’s soundness as well as specific pieces of work that will be required in the new system - in particular the requirement to prepare a vision which considers wider corporate strategies.
What to do in the PID template: Identify the current plan-making phase (e.g. Scoping, Draft Plan, Submission for Examination) and provide anticipated timelines for each stage. [This has been designed primarily as a tool for the new plan making system, but if you are using this PID under the current plan system replace the notification stage with scoping on the Sustainability Appraisal and identify Regulation 18 and 19 stages of consultation]
Why: Summarising the phases and timelines in the PID clarifies the structure of the plan-making process. While this information is included in the Local Plan timetable required under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, having it here ensures quick and easy reference, particularly for users less familiar with the process.
What to do in the PID template: Provide a high-level summary of key milestones and workstreams. This should reflect the 30-month timetable for plan preparation. It is likely to go beyond the published timeline, but we encourage you to keep high-level. The main stages are included but you can add in lines for any critical activities that you think need to be covered. But again, the detail project plan used by the team rather a simplified timeline through the main stages – too much detail will make it unwieldy. [This has been designed primarily as a tool for the new plan making system, but if you are using this PID under the PCPA system overwrite the stages with scoping on the Sustainability Appraisal and identify Regulation 18 and 19 stages of consultation].
Why: Including a summary of the project timeline provides leadership with a clear, concise view of what needs to be delivered and when. It allows decision-makers to quickly understand the overall progress and priorities without delving into detailed operational plans. This summary helps maintain strategic oversight, ensures resources are aligned with key tasks, and flags potential risks or bottlenecks early on.
3.1 Summary of Governance
What to do in the PID template: Provide a clear description of the governance structures and decision-making points for the Local Plan process. Include details such as the role of the portfolio holder, senior officer board, and any committees involved in reviews or approvals. Highlight key stages requiring sign-off, for example: "Portfolio holder and senior officer board review prior to Cabinet sign-off at Stage [X]." Specify how these governance steps align with Gateway milestones (e.g. Gateway 2: Draft Plan sign-off). If there is an established cross-party sounding board or working group, describe their role here.
Why: A clear summary of governance structures ensures that roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes are well understood by all stakeholders. It provides a shared understanding of the approval process at key stages, enabling democratic services officers to schedule meetings effectively and ensuring approvals/ sign offs are efficient, timely, and legally compliant. This clarity helps avoid delays, minimises the risk of missed deadlines, identifies where streamlined governance arrangements might be needed and maintains confidence in the governance framework underpinning the Local Plan
3.2 Council Lead (Portfolio Holder)
What to do in the PID template: Name the councillor responsible for leading the Local Plan.
Why: This ensures clear political accountability by designating a recognised figure who can champion the Local Plan within the council and the community. Their role is essential for maintaining alignment with corporate priorities, providing leadership on key decisions, and fostering trust and transparency with stakeholders. A Local Plan needs a visible advocate who can effectively communicate its objectives, address political challenges, and ensure the plan has the necessary support to progress through formal approval stages.
3.3 Sponsor (Lead Officer) and details of any Senior Officer Board/ Engagement
What to do in the PID template: Name the senior officer responsible for securing resources, providing senior oversight, and ensuring delivery capacity at both the corporate and team levels. If applicable, include details of any Senior Officer Board or engagement mechanisms that support the sponsor in aligning organisational priorities with the Local Plan’s objectives. For joint plans this might be two officer and may include a cross-boundary board.
Why: Naming the senior officer ensures clear accountability for aligning resources, resolving high-level issues, and maintaining strategic focus. This role is vital for securing buy-in at the corporate level, ensuring the plan-making team has the capacity to deliver, and leveraging support and resources from the wider organisation. Additionally, their senior position ensures they have the authority and influence to engage effectively with executive leadership, facilitating collaboration across departments. Where a Senior Officer Board is in place, it creates a forum for collective problem-solving and helps align the Local Plan’s delivery with broader organisational priorities, offering a structured way to resolve tensions between corporate programmes and ensure progress at key stages.
What to do in the PID template: Name the manager responsible for the operational delivery of the Local Plan under the direction of the project sponsor. This individual oversees the daily coordination of activities, ensuring the team works efficiently towards meeting project milestones, and manages the resources necessary to keep the plan-making process on track.
Why: Naming the Local Plan manager provides clarity on who holds responsibility for driving day-to-day progress. This role is critical for ensuring that resources—whether time, staff, or budget—are allocated and managed effectively to meet deadlines and maintain momentum. This manager acts as the central point of contact for the team, consultants, and other contributors, bridging strategic oversight from the sponsor with the practicalities of delivery.
What to do in the PID template: Identify posts within the team with responsibility for delivering the Local Plan. This should include job titles along with whether they are full time or part time. For internal purposes (you might want names against these). It’s important to capture the team members and time they will spend on the plan as distinct from other policy work. A rough estimate is fine – think about over a 12-month period how much time an officer will spend on tasks that do not contribute to the preparation of a local plan. For example, if someone spends 90% of their time on neighbourhood plans or other documents/ projects only tenuously related to the plan, while they are a post within the team their contribution to Local Plan development itself will be low. Get a proper handle on the level of team resource so you resource planning – including allocation of tasks to officers – is realistic and takes account or the actual capacity of these officers
Why: To realistically plan resources and workload, accurately allocate tasks, avoid delays, and manage risks effectively, it's essential to clearly understand each team member’s actual capacity and availability specifically for Local Plan activities. This ensures you are setting achievable milestones, identifying resource gaps early, and appropriately allocating responsibilities by making full use of all available capacity, ensuring all team members are actively engaged, including being part of PAS officer networks, such as the BNG and Local Plan Leaders Networks.
What to do in the PID template: If applicable, enter the name and role of the officer responsible for managing project-specific responsibilities in collaboration with the Local Plan Manager. This individual typically focuses on the logistical and operational aspects of plan-making, such as tracking timelines, coordinating across workstreams, and ensuring evidence preparation stays on schedule.
Why: While not every authority will do this, appointing a dedicated Project Manager or identifying senior officers in the team to focus on this can bring significant benefits. It provides clarity on who is accountable for detailed project management, including the coordination of evidence timelines, risk tracking, and workstream dependencies. This can, free up the Local Plan Manager to focus on management and complex issues.
What to do in the PID template: Your core plan making team will need to be supported by officers from other departments who will have a significant role developing the plan – this might be legal, environmental health, regen or other departments. You need to know who these people are – they need to know too! Capture this in this section of the PID. Think about what you need from them and when you will need it so you can communicate and, with the help of your Project Sponsor, secure the necessary Resource
4.5 External Support Needs
What to do in the PID template: Having identified the team and wider corporate team that will contribute think about where there are gaps in the skills you need to complete the plan. Identify the external support or training you will need and when you will need it. For example, you may need GIS expertise for spatial analysis, public engagement facilitation skills, or viability assessment experience. Training needs might include upskilling in viability modelling for economic assessments or using digital tools for consultations. External resources could involve engaging consultants for specific studies, such as transport assessments or Habitat Regulations Assessments (HRA) and will be reflected in Part 5.
Why: Ensuring the team has the necessary capacity and capability to deliver the Local Plan is crucial for its success. Identifying skills or resource gaps early allows you to address them proactively, whether through training, recruitment, or external support. This approach minimises delays, ensures the team is well-equipped for key tasks including those specific to the stage of plan-making.
5.1 Core Evidence Required
What to do in the PID template: Identify your evidence needs – and any interdependencies, including the timeline for completion of each reflecting on the main stage, the lead officer responsible, and whether the work will be undertaken in-house or commissioned externally. Specify which stakeholder groups or organisations need to provide input for each piece of evidence and at what stage. For example, the Infrastructure Delivery Plan may need contributions from utility companies and transport authorities. Use the template to list required studies, responsible contacts, and stakeholder inputs systematically.
Why: Capturing evidence requirements clearly and early ensures you have the right resources in house or can commission support and that these requirements are included in the work plan and any briefs for consultants. This helps align timelines, responsibilities, and stakeholder engagement activities, avoiding delays or gaps in the evidence base. Additionally, it ensures your stakeholder engagement plan is tailored to secure critical inputs, reducing the risk of omissions that could affect the Local Plan’s soundness or compliance.
What to do in the PID template: Provide a brief summary of your overall engagement approach, focusing on key milestones and methods for engaging stakeholders. If you already have an engagement plan published you could simply include a hyperlink or summarise it.
Clearly and succinctly identify the main stakeholder groups and specify the key inputs needed from each – and at what plan stage you will be seeking this. You will need to consider the main stakeholder groups necessary for joint working/cross-boundary working including specific engagement with neighbouring local planning authorities. This is likely to help navigate where neighbouring local planning authorities will have their own plans at various stages and you will need to establish effective co-operation. Ward Member Engagement can be included in this section. Confirm that you have a councillor engagement approach in place and include a brief summary of its key elements or engagement points. This might include workshops to discuss spatial options and policy development at specific stages, materials to support councillors in communicating with their communities, and regular briefings to keep members informed and aligned.
Your approach should include appropriate engagement methods for each stage of the plan-making process, ensuring time is used effectively. It's important to design a strategy that fosters representative engagement. Beyond considering demographic factors like age and ethnicity, think about other groups who may be underrepresented in formal consultations. This could include home renters, individuals on the housing waiting list, unemployed residents, or small-scale developers. Ensuring these voices are heard can enrich the process and lead to a more inclusive plan.
You may wish highlight formal milestones like the first consultation on spatial options or informal sessions such as targeted workshops with statutory consultees during the scoping stage. But remember, this is a high-level summary, not a detailed consultation and engagement plan, which can provide more specific information about your approach to engagement. [This PID has been designed a tool for plan making in the new system, but if you using it in the PCPA system, remember the need to comply with your Statement of Community Involvement]
Why: Summarising the engagement approach in the PID keeps it accessible and manageable while ensuring that leadership and key stakeholders have the clarity they need helping to build consensus and confidence in the approach among those involved in the plan-making process. Engaging statutory consultees and other key groups at the right time ensures their input supports timely and informed decision-making. Effective councillor engagement ensures ward members are actively involved throughout the process, fostering transparency and collaboration. A well-structured approach helps build cross-party buy-in, smoothing the path to adoption by addressing concerns early, aligning priorities, and creating advocates for the Local Plan within the council and the community.
What to do in the PID template: Provide a summary of the main risks to project delivery, drawing on your detailed risk register. Focus on high-level risks that could impact critical milestones, soundness, or compliance. Examples include delays in obtaining key evidence, funding uncertainties for infrastructure, capacity challenges, or unexpected legislative changes. Clearly describe each risk and its potential impact, ensuring it reflects the most pressing issues identified any more detailed assessment/ detailed risk register. Your risk assessment might want to highlight significant dependencies, such as the timing of evidence studies or level of responses at the public consultation phases, to ensure the plan stays on track.
Why: Summarising the main risks in the PID keeps the document accessible while ensuring leadership and stakeholders remain aware of critical challenges. Mitigation strategies are essential for managing uncertainties and maintaining control over the Local Plan process. By proactively addressing risks, you can reduce their likelihood, minimise their impact, and prevent delays or disruptions to the plan-making timeline. Effective mitigation helps ensure that the plan remains deliverable and has a role in maintaining corporate and stakeholder buy-in.
8.2 Risk Monitoring and Review
What to do in the PID template: Confirm the process for tracking and reviewing risks throughout the Local Plan process. Specify how and when risks will be discussed, such as through regular updates at Sponsor or Senior Officer Board meetings, and where relevant, with the portfolio holder. Include details of how risks will be recorded (e.g., in a risk register) and escalated if they require higher-level intervention. Ensure the process is clearly aligned with the project’s governance framework and milestones identified elsewhere in the PID.
Why: Proactively monitoring and reviewing risks ensures that potential issues are identified and addressed before they escalate. Regular review allows risks to be reassessed as the project progresses, ensuring mitigation measures remain effective and relevant. A structured review process fosters accountability, keeps leadership informed, and provides a mechanism for timely intervention, reducing the likelihood of delays or unforeseen challenges derailing the plan.
9.1 Authors and Approvers
What to do in the PID template: List the contributors responsible for preparing the PID, including their roles and contact information for follow-ups. Clearly identify those who have signed off on the PID, typically including the Lead Member, Chief Executive, and Project Sponsor. Ensure their approvals reflect a shared commitment to the proposed approach and demonstrate alignment with corporate priorities. For clarity, refer to the responsibilities of the Project Sponsor outlined under 3.3.
Why: Documenting authorship and securing formal sign-off ensures clear accountability for the PID’s preparation and approval. It facilitates follow-ups by providing contact points and demonstrates that key leaders, including councillors and senior officers, support a shared corporate vision for how the Local Plan should be managed. This alignment strengthens buy-in across the organisation and provides confidence to stakeholders that the plan is a collective priority.
What to do in the PID template: Use a version control, for example, v1.0 for the first draft. Enter the date this version was finalised.
Why: Tracking versions ensures clarity and avoids confusion in communications. It ensures all users are working with the most current document.