The Wigan Local Development Framework will, in time, replace the Unitary Development Plan. In the meantime the Unitary Development Plan is a ‘saved’ development plan under the terms of the 2004 Act.
The development plan part is contained in a series of Development Plan Documents. These can be prepared at different times and for different purposes, but all have to be prepared along the same lines as set out by government legislation.
The main development plan document is the Core Strategy. We submitted our Core Strategy to the Secretary of State in September 2011 for independent examination.
Two further development plan documents are being prepared as joint plans with other districts in Greater Manchester. These are the Greater Manchester Joint Waste Plan and the Greater Manchester Joint Minerals Plan.
Another development plan document that we are working on is the Wigan Central Area Action Plan. We initially consulted on the issues to be addressed in August and September 2010 and produced an Issues Paper (.pdf, 1410Kb) for consultation in March 2011. The consultation period for the Issues Paper ran until 25 May 2011.
A further development plan document is proposed. This will be an Allocations and Development Management Plan and will follow later in the process of preparing the Core Strategy.
Further policy advice is set out in Supplementary Planning Documents. These also have to be prepared according to the requirements of government legislation.
We are committed to involving the community and other stakeholders in the planning policy preparation process. There are many ways to get involved. Our overall approach is set out in our Statement of Community Involvement.
Each document in the Local Development Framework needs to be informed by a robust and credible Evidence Base and a Sustainability Appraisal.
Our Annual Monitoring Report is an important part of the evidence base. It has to be prepared and submitted to the Government Office for the North West in December each year. It has to monitor whether the council’s planning policies are doing what they are intended to do and whether there is a need to revise any policies or introduce new policies.
The plans that we will prepare and when we will prepare them, stage by stage, are set out in our Local Development Scheme. It sets out when people can expect particular stages of policy preparation to take place and, with the Statement of Community Involvement, how they can expect to be able to get involved.
All of these documents together make up the Local Development Framework.
