All local planning authorities have a statutory duty to prepare and maintain a Local Plan for their area and to review and update it as required.
There is also a legal requirement on us to prepare and maintain a timetable for the preparation of our plan. This is known as a Local Development Scheme (LDS).
The LDS sets out the timetable for the preparation of our Development Plan documents (the legal name for the Local Plan). This makes it easier to understand which documents will be prepared for our district and when they will be able to participate in the plan-making process.
The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act also requires Development Plan documents to be prepared in accordance with the published LDS.
So that the LDS is kept up to date, we must revise it at appropriate times, or when the Secretary of State tells us to do so.
Our most recent LDS was approved in January 2025 and relates to the preparation and adoption of the Local Plan Update 2025-2045.