The Revised Early Minor Alterations to the London Plan (REMA)
Early Minor Alterations to the London Plan were submitted for public consultation in February 2012, with changes proposed to four of the 122 policies. Further alterations were required to bring the London Plan in line with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) the following month. These two sets of alterations were brought together as Revised Early Minor Alterations to the London Plan (REMA)
A timeline of the process that led to REMA’s adoption is outlined below. Links to key documents are provided.
Early Minor Alterations
The Early Minor Alterations (EMA), to bring the 2011 London Plan up to date with changes to government policy, were published for public consultation on 7 February 2012. They covered affordable housing, hazardous installations, cycle parking and other minor clarifications.
EMA needed to be updated when the Government launched the National Planning Policy Framework in March 2012.
Public consultation and Examination in Public
REMA, incorporating the Early Minor Alterations, was published for public consultation in June 2012, along with the draft supplementary Integrated Impact Assessment. REMA brought the London Plan in line with the government’s NPPF.
An Examination in Public (EiP) was held in November 2012.
Inspector's report, and submission of the alterations
Geoff Salter, the EiP inspector, sent his report to the Mayor on 19 June 2013. Having considered the Inspector’s recommendations, the Mayor produced and submitted his response to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, along with the ‘intend to publish’ version of REMA.
The Secretary of State wrote to the Mayor to say that he was content for the Mayor to publish the REMA with no further amendments on 13 August. He confirmed that the approach set out in the alterations is aligned to the government’s objective of increasing the delivery of affordable housing.
On 14th August 2013 the Mayor published the Inspector’s report and submitted the ‘intend to publish’ REMA to the London Assembly for their consideration. Under this new final stage in London Plan preparation or alteration process (a change to the GLA Act 1999 introduced by the Localism Act 2011), the Assembly had 21 days within which it could reject the alterations if a two thirds majority was achieved.
The London Assembly considered the alterations at an Extraordinary Plenary meeting held on 3rd September 2013, at which a motion to reject REMA failed to secure the required two thirds majority.
REMA formally adopted
REMA were adopted as formal alterations to the London Plan on 11th October 2013. A list of responses to the matters raised in the EiP was also published on this date.
Related documents
Need a document on this page in an accessible format?
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of a PDF or other document on this page in a more accessible format, please get in touch via our online form and tell us which format you need.
It will also help us if you tell us which assistive technology you use. We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.