Council Services
Planning - Local Development Framework
The Local development framework is a suite of planning policy documents to guide and manage new development in the city of Norwich.
It will form part of the overall development plan for Norwich.
At present the development plan consists of:
The Regional spatial strategy for the East of England the (East of England Plan), prepared by the East of England Regional Assembly, and adopted in May 2008. This sets out planning policies to guide the overall direction of new development and change in the East of England in the period to 2021.
In July 2009 policies on the provision of accommodation for gypsies and travellers and travelling showpeople were published by the Secretary of State. These are now part of the regional spatial strategy. The regional assembly is currently consulting on further housing and jobs growth across the regional up to 2031. The consultation runs from 2 September 2009 to 24 November 2009. Further details are on EERA’s website. More information about the consultation is here.
The Norfolk Structure Plan, prepared by Norfolk County Council and adopted in October 1999. This sets out strategic planning policies to guide development and change in Norfolk in the period to 2011. The Structure plan is being phased out and and has largely been replaced by regional policies (in the new East of England Plan), and more detailed local policies (in Local Development Frameworks for the separate Districts in Norfolk), except for saved policies EC.10, T.2, T.17 and RC.8.
The City of Norwich replacement local plan, prepared by Norwich City Council and adopted in November 2004. This sets out detailed planning policies for new development in the city in the period to 2011. It will be replaced gradually by the separate planning documents in the Norwich Local development framework. It consists of a number of saved policies beyond 30 November 2007 and policies not saved, no longer apply.
The Norfolk Minerals Local Plan, prepared by Norfolk County Council and reviewed in January 2004. This contains planning policies to guide development related to the winning and working of minerals in Norfolk.
The Norfolk Waste Local Plan, prepared by Norfolk County Council and adopted in December 2000. This contains planning policies to guide development related to the disposal and management of waste in Norfolk.
The Minerals and Waste Local Plans will be superseded by the new Minerals and Waste Development Framework now being prepared by the county council, who are the authority responsible for minerals and waste planning matters.
About the Norwich Local development framework
The council will be gradually introducing the new documents which go to make up the Local development framework (LDF) over a period of about four years. It will gradually replace the policies in the adopted local plan.
We would like to get more people involved in planning the future of Norwich, which can be done through consultations and stakeholder engagement as part of the Local development framework process. The new Local development framework for Norwich will show how the city will develop and grow over the next 20 years. The Local development scheme (see link below) will show when different documents will be produced.
The Local development framework for Norwich will be a set of documents that we will use to guide the future development and use of land in Norwich up to 2026. These documents will eventually replace the replacement local plan and will be used to assess all planning applications.
The following documents will be produced as part of the new Local development framework:
The councils of Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk, supported by Norfolk County Council have prepared a single plan, the Joint core strategy, covering the entire area up to 2026. The plan provides the strategy to guide, manage and deliver the growth deemed necessary for the area by central and regional government. For Norwich this is especially important to help addressing the significant concentrations of deprivation; develop the knowledge economy; ensure new development is more sustainable; and provide the strategic policy to support the council’s priorities for regeneration.
The Greater Norwich Development Partnership (GNDP) submitted the Joint core strategy to the Secretary of State on Friday 5 March 2010 - to view the submission document visit the GNDP website.
To address the issues raised by the inspector at the exploratory meeting held in May 2010, a Statement of focussed changes to the Joint core strategy is being published. There is a six week period, from Monday 19 July 2010 until Monday 30 August 2010, when representations are invited on this document. Full details of this consultation are available on the GNDP website
The anticipated timetable of stages for the Joint core strategy is as follows:
| May 2010 | Exploratory meeting |
| November 2010 | Public examination |
| March 2011 | Adoption |
The site allocations plan will show where new homes, shops and employment land will be and which land will be protected against future development.
The University of East Anglia is currently producing a Development framework strategy to identify how the university will grow over the next 30 years. A public consultation is being held by the university from 26 July to 6 September 2010. More information on this consultation is available here.
The development management policies will contain policies against which all future planning applications will be assessed.
Area action plans will be comprehensive plans for areas of the city where significant change is needed. The plans will include detailed policies and site proposals so that a new mix of uses can be developed. The city council is currently producing a Northern city centre area action plan.
Supplementary planning documents will provide more information and detail about key planning policy topics. These documents will also include planning briefs for future development of important sites.
The Local development scheme is the project plan that sets out our four year timetable for producing planning documents. The link to the Local development scheme is to the latest updated version (June 2007).
The Statement of community involvement sets out how and when we will involve the community in both preparing new planning documents and assessing planning applications. It was adopted in January 2007.
The Annual monitoring reports show how we are keeping to our timetable and if the policies in the plan are helping us to achieve its objectives.
For further information please contact us at LDF@norwich.gov.uk
