About planning policy

Planning policy (also referred to as plan making or spatial policy) is used to guide decisions on planning applications. It is used to plan where and how future development should happen. There are 2 levels of planning policy - national and local.

The ‘National Planning Policy Framework’ (NPPF) was published in March 2012. It sets out the government’s national planning policies and how these are expected to be applied. The NPPF must be taken into account in the preparation of local and neighbourhood plans. It is also a material consideration in planning decisions. It is supplemented by Planning Practice Guidance.

Neighbourhood planning was introduced by the Localism Act 2011 and came into effect in April 2012 (Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended)). This gives local communities the opportunity to produce neighbourhood development plans (which become part of the development plan once ‘made’), neighbourhood development orders and/or community right to build orders.