Local Plans and general conformity with the London Plan
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London Local Plan consultations
The London planning authorities are responsible for preparing local plans for their own areas but must ensure that they are in general conformity with the Mayor's London Plan. The London planning authorities are made up of the 32 London boroughs, the City of London Corporation and the Mayoral Development Corporations, of which there are currently two: the London Legacy Development Corporation and the Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation.
A local plan can be a single document or consist of a number of different documents such as Core Strategies, Site Allocation documents, Area Action Plans and Waste and Minerals Plans. In addition to these, a borough may produce other documents to support the implementation of its local plan, for example Supplementary Planning Documents.
London’s planning authorities consult the Mayor at different stages in the production of their local plan and other planning documents. The Mayor’s responses to these consultations will depend on the strategic planning issues raised by the consultation document.
When a London planning authority publishes a proposed submission development plan document (this is called the Regulation 19 stage and is the stage before the draft Plan is submitted to the Secretary of State for an Examination in Public) it must request the Mayor’s formal opinion on whether the plan is in general conformity with the London Plan. The Mayor will provide an opinion on general conformity with the London Plan within 6 weeks from the date the request is made.
The Mayor can also provide a general conformity opinion at any time during the course of plan preparation and similarly London planning authorities can request a general conformity opinion from the Mayor at any time. In reality, London’s planning authorities consult with the Mayor at all stages of local plan preparation and the Mayor responds to these in kind.
Neighbourhood Plan consultations
Neighbourhood Plans give communities the ability to develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood and shape the development of their local area. A Neighbourhood Plan forms part of the development plan and sits alongside the local plan prepared by the local planning authority and the London Plan prepared by the Mayor. In London it is generally a neighbourhood forum that leads on the preparation of a Neighbourhood Plans although some part of the plan-making process are carried out by the local planning authority.
Neighbourhood Plans in London have to be in general conformity with the London Plan and are also required to be in general conformity with the strategic policies of the local plan. The Mayor is a statutory consultee for the purposes of Neighbourhood Plans in London and are consulted at the pre-submission (Regulation 14, The Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012) and publication (Regulation 16 ) stages of Neighbourhood Plan preparation.
The Mayor’s response letters to neighbourhood plans can be found in the table below by borough.
Responses to plans outside London
The Mayor receives consultation notifications from planning authorities beyond London. From time to time the Mayor may respond to these plans where they are likely to impact the city. The responses can relate to matters of strategic importance to London, for example strategic policies for housing, employment and infrastructure.
Local Plans beyond London do not have to be in general conformity with the London Plan and therefore the Mayor responds as a consultee.
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