Mayor’s engagement with the Wider South East
The Mayor has duties to inform and consult on relevant strategic matters with authorities beyond London’s boundaries, and to co-operate with them on the preparation of their plans - the responses can be found on the Local Plan responses - within and outside London page
In addition, he is working with them to establish better arrangements to co-ordinate strategic policy and infrastructure investment. More details can be found on the Policy and infrastructure collaboration across the Wider South East page
Duty to Co-operate
The Duty to Co-operate applies to the Mayor, but the London Plan itself is not covered by the definition of a Development Plan Document. The process of preparing the Plan is therefore not subject to the Duty to Co-operate. However, it is subject to his Duties to Inform and Consult. Engagement with authorities outside London is also addressed in specific policies of the Plan itself.
The Mayor is required to co-operate with other local authorities in the preparation of their plans, and they are required to co-operate with the Mayor.
The Mayor’s duties to consult and inform
Although the duty to co-operate does not apply to the London Plan preparation, the Greater London Authority Act 1999 says that the Mayor of London must:
- ‘consult on any alteration to or replacement of the spatial development strategy (the London Plan) with counties and districts adjoining London’ (GLA Act section 335)
- ‘inform local planning authorities in the vicinity of London of his views concerning any matters of common interest relating to the planning or development of London or those areas’ (GLA Act sections 339 and 348)
The Mayor is strongly committed to working with the planning authorities and other relevant agencies in the South East and East of England to ensure a co-ordinated approach to securing sustainable development and the management of growth in the wider metropolitan area. This is made clear in London Plan policy 2.2, “London and the Wider Metropolitan Area’.
A more detailed explanation of the above is available to download.
Engagement in the preparation of the London Plan
Within the context of his duties to inform and consult and as part of public consultation on the Further Alterations to the London Plan, the Mayor held two consultation events specifically for the Wider South East. The first was on 28 March 2014 and the second on 25 June 2014. The presentations can be downloaded using the links below.
- Presentations for 28 March 2014 FALP consultation event PDF
- Presenations for 25 June Wider South East consultation event
Invitations were sent to every local authority within the Wider South East as well as to representatives of strategic partnerships and liaison groups. Over 50 officers and elected members attended each event. All local authorities within the Wider South East have also been asked for their views on the Minor Alterations to the London Plan 2015.
The Mayor is working with the authorities and local enterprise partnerships across the Wider South East to put the processes in place for effective collaboration. This includes arrangements for policy-making and infrastructure investment, such as the Full Review of the London Plan.
Strategic Spatial Planning Officer Liaison Group
In October 2012 the Mayor published a discussion paper exploring a number of options for future strategic cross-boundary work for London and the wider metropolitan area. In 2013 he also held two well-attended workshops with representatives from planning authorities across the Wider South East and London to discuss relevant strategic planning issues.
As a result of these discussions, a working group of officers was established to explore strategic planning matters and examine the processes for ongoing co-ordination and co-operation. This group came to be known as the Strategic Spatial Planning Officer Liaison Group (SSPOLG) and has focused mainly on housing, infrastructure and demography. The group is also working with member level roundtables and summits to identify ways to co-ordinate strategic planning and infrastructure investment across the Wider South East.
The next summit on 11 December 2015 has been organised to agree the best way forward and shape the priority areas for collaborative work.
For further details about SSPOLG, the Wider South East Roundtables and Summits, please see the Policy and infrastructure collaboration across the Wider South East independent website.
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