Breckland Draft Local Plan (Partial Review) - Guidance Note for Representations

Information on how to submit representations, how to view the submission documents, and the time period within which representations can be made, can be found on theCouncil's website and in the Partial Review Consultation Statement that is available at the same link.

The following note provides guidance on the matters you should consider when completing a representation and is adapted from guidance produced by the Planning Inspectorate.

Introduction

• The plan has been published by Breckland Council, the Local Planning Authority [LPA], in order for representations to be made on it before it is submitted for examination by a Planning Inspector. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, as amended, [PCPA] states that the purpose of the examination is to consider whether the Partial Review of the Local Plan complies with the relevant legal requirements, including the duty to co-operate, and is sound. The Inspector will consider all representations on the plan that are made within the period set by the LPA.
• To ensure an effective and fair examination, it is important that the Inspector and all other participants in the examination process are able to know who has made representations on the plan. The LPA will therefore ensure that the names of those making representations can be made available (including publication on the LPA's website) and taken into account by the Inspector.

Legal compliance and duty to co-operate

• You should consider the following before making a representation on legal compliance:
• The Partial Review of the Local Plan should be included in the LPA's current Local Development Scheme [LDS] and the key stages set out in the LDS should have been followed. The LDS is effectively a programme of work setting out the plans proposed to be produced. It will set out the key stages in the production of any plans which the LPA proposes to bring forward for examination. If the Partial Review of the Local Plan is not in the current LDS it should not have been published for representations. The LDS is on the LPA's website https://www.breckland.gov.uk/local-plan-review
• The process of community involvement for the Partial Review of the Local Plan  should be in general accordance with the LPA's Statement of Community Involvement [SCI]. The SCI sets out the LPA's strategy for involving the community in the preparation and revision of plans and the consideration of planning applications. https://www.breckland.gov.uk/local-plan/community-involvement
• The LPA is required to provide an Integrated Assessment [IA] report when it publishes a plan. This should identify the process by which IA has been carried out, and the baseline information used to inform the process and the outcomes of that process. IA is a tool for assessing the extent to which the plan, when judged against reasonable alternatives, will help to achieve relevant environmental, economic and social objectives.
• The Partial Review of the Local Plan should comply with all other relevant requirements of the PCPA and the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, as amended [the Regulations].
• You should consider the following before making a representation on compliance with the duty to co-operate:
  • Section 33A of the PCPA requires the LPA to engage constructively, actively and on an ongoing basis with neighbouring authorities and certain other bodies over strategic matters during the preparation of the plan. The LPA will be expected to provide evidence of how they have complied with the duty.
  • Non-compliance with the duty to co-operate cannot be rectified after the submission of the plan. Therefore, the Inspector has no power to recommend modifications in this regard. Where the duty has not been complied with, the Inspector cannot recommend adoption of the Partial Review of the Local Plan.

Soundness

• The tests of soundness are set out in paragraph 35 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Plans are sound if they are:

a) Positively prepared - providing a strategy which, as a minimum, seeks to meet the area's objectively assessed needs; and is informed by agreements with other authorities, so that unmet need from neighbouring areas is accommodated where it is practical to do so and is consistent with achieving sustainable development;

b) Justified - an appropriate strategy, taking into account the reasonable alternatives, and based on proportionate evidence;

c) Effective - deliverable over the plan period, and based on effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic matters that have been dealt with rather than deferred, as evidenced by the statement of common ground; and

d) Consistent with national policy - enabling the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in this Framework and other statements of national planning policy, where relevant.

• If you think the content of the Partial Review of the Local Plan is not sound because it does not include a policy on a particular issue, you should go through the following steps before making representations:
  • Is the issue with which you are concerned already covered specifically by national planning policy?
  • Is the issue with which you are concerned already covered by another policy in this plan?
  • If the policy is not covered elsewhere, in what way is the plan unsound without the policy?
  • If the plan is unsound without the policy, what should the policy say?

General advice

• If you wish to make a representation seeking a modification to a plan or part of a plan you should set out clearly in what way you consider the plan or part of the plan is legally non-compliant or unsound, having regard as appropriate to the soundness criteria section 10 above. Your representation should be supported by evidence wherever possible. It will be helpful if you also say precisely how you think the plan should be modified.
• You should provide succinctly all the evidence and supporting information necessary to support your representation and your suggested modification. You should not assume that you will have a further opportunity to make submissions. Any further submissions after the plan has been submitted for examination may only be made if invited by the Inspector, based on the matters and issues he or she identifies.
• Where groups or individuals share a common view on the plan, it would be very helpful if they would make a single representation which represents that view, rather a large number of separate representations repeating the same points. In such cases the group should indicate how many people it is representing and how the representation has been authorised.
• Please consider carefully how you would like your representation to be dealt with in the examination: whether you are content to rely on your written representation, or whether you wish to take part in hearing session(s). Only representors who are seeking a change to the plan have a right to be heard at the hearing session(s) if they so request. In considering this, please note that written and oral representations carry the same weight and will be given equal consideration in the examination process.