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	Chester-le-Street local plan saved policies (PDF, 2.1mb)
Derwentside	Derwentside Local Plan	Derwentside local plan saved policies (PDF, 1.6mb)
Durham City	Durham City Local Plan	City of Durham local plan saved policies (PDF, 2.0mb)  - Please note an Article 4 Direction has been confirmed for a defined area of Durham City for 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.
Easington	Easington Local Plan	Easington local plan saved policies (PDF, 2.7mb)
Sedgefield	Sedgefield Borough Local Plan	Sedgefield local plan saved policies (PDF, 1.7mb)
Teesdale	Teesdale Local Plan	Teesdale local plan saved policies (PDF, 1.3mb)
Wear Valley	Wear Valley District Local Plan	Wear Valley local plan saved policies (PDF, 2.0mb)  Please note that policy TM7: New Caravan and Chalet Sites has now expired.
Minerals	Minerals Local Plan	Minerals local plan saved policies (PDF, 33.5kb)
Waste	Waste Local Plan	Waste local plan saved policies (PDF, 764.9kb)

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.  

 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.

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