Under Regulation 10A of The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended), local planning authorities must review local plans at least once every five years from their adoption date to ensure that policies remain relevant and effectively address the needs of the local community. This does not necessarily mean that wholescale revision will be required, but the government anticipates that most plans are likely to require revising in whole or in part at least every five years.
Reviews can be assessed against the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) Toolkit Part 1 which supplements the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the Planning Practice Guidance.
Whilst the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act received Royal Assent in October 2023, the provisions relating to plan-making have not yet been brought into effect. Secondary legislation and changes to national policy and guidance are anticipated, but the detail and timing for these is not yet known. However, the government has stated that it intends “to implement the new plan-making system as set out in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act from summer or autumn 2025”.
As the Suffolk Minerals and Waste Local Plan was adopted in 2020, it falls for a review this year. Due to the uncertainties of the implementation of the new plan making system as well as Local Government Review, no work on a formal review or revision of the Minerals Local Plan is currently timetabled. However, the ongoing programme of monitoring and evidence gathering in the Authority Monitoring Report ensures the Council is well placed to undertake review and revision of the plan indue course when clarity is confirmed. The current plan is still providing a robust framework for the supply of Local Aggregates as Suffolk has over eight years capacity of supply when the national requirement is seven, and the sites in the Plan provide for a further 10 years of supply.
The government confirmed they will continue with the direction of travel and principles set out within the consultation document for new style minerals and waste plans.
The 30 month timescale for local plans is likely to apply to the new style minerals and waste plans. What is yet to be clarified is to what extent the new Spatial Development Strategies will provide the framework for minerals and waste and whether areas will be provided with levels of minerals to be extracted and waste to be managed.
It is a statutory requirement that the Council prepares an Authority Monitoring Report (AMR) to assess progress in the implementation of the Local Development Scheme and the extent to which the objectives of the County Council's adopted local plan is being achieved or are still relevant.
The Council’s AMR is split between a Waste Annual Monitoring Report and the Suffolk Local Aggregates Assessment. The latter is where the Local Plan monitoring is published.
A revised LDS will be produced with the intention of seeking approval to proceed on plan making in the autumn. This will also include a Project Initiation Document, the review assessment of the 2020 Local Plan, and a revised Statement of Community Involvement.
