Development plan: what documents make it up

The development plan definition sits in section 38 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, and it matters more than any other single provision in English planning. Section 38(6) requires that an application be determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Before anyone can argue about whether a scheme complies, both sides have to agree on which documents are in the plan.

For most sites that turns out to be four or five documents with different adoption dates, written by different bodies, at different levels of detail.

What section 38 actually says

Section 38 defines the development plan for an area in England as the adopted or approved development plan documents that cover it, taken as a whole, together with any neighbourhood development plan that has been made for the area. In Greater London it also takes in the spatial development strategy prepared by the Mayor.

Two subsections earn their keep in practice. Section 38(5) resolves conflict between plan documents in favour of the one adopted or approved more recently. Section 38(6) sets the plan-led starting point for every decision.

That phrase "taken as a whole" does real work. A scheme rarely satisfies every policy, and the statutory question is whether it accords with the plan read as a package, which is why officer reports usually end with a paragraph weighing conflict with one policy against compliance with several others.

The documents that make up a local plan

In a unitary or district area the core document is the adopted local plan, which allocates sites, draws settlement boundaries and sets the development management policies an officer will cite in a decision notice. Some councils still run a two-part structure with a strategic plan and a separate site allocations document, and both are development plan documents.

Where the area is two-tier, the county council prepares the minerals and waste local plan. It applies to your site even though it comes from a different authority, and it can bite on ordinary schemes through minerals safeguarding areas, which sometimes require a short assessment before a house can be built over a sand and gravel resource.

Then there are saved policies. When the 2004 Act changed the plan system, policies from older local plans, unitary development plans and structure plans were saved by direction so that areas were not left without a plan. Some are still in force. They look old-fashioned and they are still part of the development plan until replaced.

Neighbourhood plans and when they count

A neighbourhood plan becomes part of the development plan when it is made, which happens after an independent examination against the basic conditions and a local referendum. Before that point a plan in preparation is a material consideration whose weight grows as it passes each stage.

Made plans are short and specific. They set local design rules, protect green spaces, allocate small housing sites and sometimes impose stricter parking or frontage requirements than the borough-wide plan. Because they are development plan documents, a conflict with a made neighbourhood plan is a conflict with the plan, and the section 38(5) rule about the later document prevailing can cut either way depending on adoption dates.

Where supplementary planning documents sit

Householder design guides, parking standards, developer contributions guidance and shopfront guides are usually supplementary planning documents. They are consulted on and adopted by the council, they are material considerations, and they are not part of the development plan.

The practical consequence is about weight, not relevance. An SPD that explains how an adopted policy on residential amenity should be applied is persuasive. An SPD that quietly introduces a new requirement with no parent policy is vulnerable, because supplementary documents cannot add policy. If your scheme fails only against an SPD, say so plainly in your Planning Statement and set out the adopted policy it is said to supplement.

Some council documents sit outside the plan altogether and still shape the outcome. Air quality action plans are an example, and a site inside an Air Quality Management Area will attract requirements drawn from documents that were never examined by an inspector.

London and the spatial development strategy

In the 32 boroughs and the City of London, the London Plan sits alongside the borough local plan as part of the development plan. Both apply. Where they conflict the later document prevails, subject to the general duty of the borough plan to be in general conformity with the strategy.

That layering is why a London application often cites two policy numbers for the same issue, one from the strategy and one from the borough. It also explains why boroughs publish so much supplementary guidance: the detail has to go somewhere.

Finding the current policies for your site

1. Open the council's planning policy pages and note the adopted local plan name and its adoption date.
2. Check whether any older policies are formally saved and listed as still in force.
3. Search the neighbourhood planning pages for a made plan covering the parish, ward or forum area.
4. In a two-tier area, find the county minerals and waste plan and check the safeguarding maps.
5. In Greater London, add the current London Plan.
6. Collect the SPDs the council will apply, and mark them as material considerations rather than plan policy.

Write the list at the front of your policy analysis with adoption dates against each item. Officers notice when an applicant has done this, and it prevents the awkward moment where a submission quotes a policy that was superseded two years ago. Councils also publish their charging arrangements for the levy your council charges alongside plan documents, which is worth collecting at the same time.

Why adoption dates change the argument

A plan does not expire. Its policies stay in force until they are replaced, and the council still has to determine applications in accordance with them. What shifts with age is weight, because national policy directs decision-makers to consider how consistent a plan policy is with the current Framework, and older policies drift.

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 changed the architecture again, introducing National Development Management Policies intended to sit alongside local plans and remove duplication from them. Commencement has been staged and the detail is set by regulations, so check the current position on gov.uk before relying on it in a submission rather than assuming the reform is in force.

One honest uncertainty. Nobody drafting a statement today can be sure how much weight an inspector will give a five-year-old policy against a newer Framework, and the answer varies by topic. State the age, state the consistency, and make the argument rather than hiding it.

Start by listing the plan documents for your site, then work out which supporting reports the council will expect alongside them. You can enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports your site is likely to need.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.