What's currently in place to support planning and development decision making?
Find information about our Development Plan, which sets out how planning and development in County Durham is managed currently until the County Durham Plan is in place.
What does the Development Plan consist of?
The existing development plan is made up of a number of documents (Local Plans) that were put in place for the former districts of County Durham before the local authority was unitised in 2009. Local Plans are statutory planning documents which shape the development policy for a particular area for land-use, development and protection.
Together, these existing Local Plans, set out information on how planning and development is currently managed. Saved policies in these Local Plans will continue to influence planning and development decisions until the County Durham Plan replaces them.
There are seven Local Plans for County Durham plus a Minerals Plan and a Waste Plan. They are listed below:
Area | Development Plans | Saved Local Plan Policies |
---|---|---|
Chester-le-Street | Chester-le-Street Local Plan | |
Derwentside | Derwentside Local Plan | |
Durham City | Durham City Local Plan | student accommodation (purpose built and houses in multiple occupation) from 16 September 2016. Please also note that policy H7 City Centre housing has now expired. | - Please note an Article 4 Direction has been confirmed for a defined area of Durham City for
Easington | Easington Local Plan | |
Sedgefield | Sedgefield Borough Local Plan | |
Teesdale | Teesdale Local Plan | |
Wear Valley | Wear Valley District Local Plan | Please note that policy TM7: New Caravan and Chalet Sites has now expired. |
Minerals | Minerals Local Plan | |
Waste | Waste Local Plan |
Determining planning proposals now
Given the timescale for introducing the County Durham Plan, and the dated nature of some of the above local plan policies, there is a degree of uncertainty in determining planning proposals.
A
(revised and approved by our Cabinet in April 2016) has, therefore been prepared to set out how planning proposals will be assessed, thus providing for more consistency and certainty.It includes guidance on matters such as:
- the status of local planning documents,
- five-year housing land supply, and
- infrastructure requirements and planning obligations.
National planning guidance
Certain individual local plan policies differ from more recent national planning guidelines to varying degrees. As this has implications on how much each can now be relied upon when the council is considering planning applications and providing planning related advice, we have looked at how they match up.
Details of these Local Plan assessments against the current national planning guidance can be found on our consultation portal.
The most recent national planning guidelines are:
- National Planning Policy Framework (March 2012)
- Planning Practice Guidance (March 2014)
- National Planning Policy for Waste(October 2014)
- Waste Management Plan for England
- National Policy Statements
- Spatial Policy
- Spatial Policy
- 03000 261 908
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Our address is:
- Room 4/24
- Durham County Council
- County Hall
- Durham
- County Durham
- United Kingdom
- DH1 5UQ