Planning Advisory Service offers critical friend support to Local Planning Authorities on Project Management and getting ready for Local Plan publication stage and examination. Visit our plan making support pages to find out more and get in touch.
The Local Plan Route Mapper & Toolkit gives practical advice and tools to undertake a Local Plan review, project plan, manage and carry out the update of a Local Plan. It is designed for LPAs to use themselves but we can work with local authorities to use it as a “critical friend”. Visit our local plan production route mapper support pages to find out more and get in touch.
The appropriate focus and detail of evidence required to support a local plan will vary from for different places and will require planners to make professional judgements to assess an area and develop a plan appropriate to its own circumstances. PAS published a note setting out advice and matters to be considered when collating evidence in support of a local plan in February 2020 and can also offer support through an independent and critical friend review. Visit our evidence base support pages to find out more and get in touch. In 2024, we published a guide to better Sustainability Appraisal and we also have a monitoring webpage.
The use of new technology is changing how we reach out to and engage with our communities. It is also changing the way in which communities are taking part in the planning system. We have also produced an advice note and template to help LPAs produce their Local Plan Regulation 22 Consultation Statement of Main Issue for examination. Visit our consultation and engagement support pages to find out more and get in touch.
The Government’s ambition is to bring planning and plan making into the digital age. The aim is to transform how things are done for the better; to provide faster, simpler, more accessible plans and policies to deliver better outcomes, informed by up-to-date data and shaped more actively by communities and other stakeholders. Further information is available on our Digital Planning webpage.
PAS has collated case studies on key aspects of Local Plan making and Strategic Plans.
The role for local plans in mitigating climate change and achieving carbon neutrality are clear to everyone. The ability to deliver that role is, in practice, limited to some degree by current frameworks and legislation arguably not reflecting the National ambitions and targets set by Government, and the viability challenges of delivering developments to the highest standards.
Climate change mitigation is gradually becoming more of an examination issue. The NPPF update in June 2021 brought climate change mitigation in the description of the presumption in favour of sustainable development and there is National guidance about how local plans can mitigate against climate change. We've signposted some resources here:
A Guide for Local Authorities on Planning for Climate Change (2023)
LGA Guide For Leaders - Climate Change
RTPI Guide to Climate Action Tools - Sept 2020
We have four key workstreams on planning and the environment.
In addition to the above, PAS did some work in 2022 on Environmental Outcome Reports (EOR) and you can read more about that here.
