Structure Plans

The County Council adopted the current Structure Plan in March 1999. This sets out the strategic planning policies to guide the future development and use of land within County Durham. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this information.

Current Status of the Structure Plan and Saved Policies

The provisions of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 saved all existing County Structure Plan policies until 27 September 2007. From 28 September all but 6 policies in the plan have expired. The remaining ‘Saved' Structure Plan policies are identified in the schedule below. When regard is being given to the written text of the plan interested parties will need to have regard to the schedule of saved policies. Please note that the Council is not intending to republish the written text of the plan to take into account the schedule of saved policies.

County Durham Structure Plan Saved Policy Schedule.pdf (2 pages, 12kb)

Purpose of the Structure Plan

The Structure Plan translates national and regional planning policy to county level and provides strategic planning policies for County Durham. Its purpose is to:

a) Provide the strategic policy framework for the preparation of local plans and for development control within County Durham.
b) Ensure that the provision for development within the county is realistic and consistent with national and regional policy.
c) Secure consistency between district-wide local plans in County Durham.

The Structure Plan comprises a written statement of policies and proposals in capital letters, illustrated by a key diagram. The accompanying text provides an explanation and interpretation of the policies.

Implementation

The plan provides the strategic planning context for action by both public and private agencies. Many of its policies and proposals for the use of land in the County will be implemented through the more detailed adopted local plans and by the development control decisions of District Councils. The County Council is also responsible for preparing minerals and waste local plans and for determining applications for minerals and waste developments.

The Structure Plan does not allocate particular sites or areas of land for development: that is the role of the local plans. Together they form the statutory development plan for the area. A Summary Paper is available:

County Durham Structure Plan Summary.pdf (6 pages, 26kb)
Publication Date: March 1999

County Structure Plan

The full version of the County Structure Plan is available to look at in all County libraries or can be purchased by sending a cheque for the sum of £20 made payable to "Durham County Council" to:

Environment
Planning Policy Team
Durham County Council
County Hall
Durham
DH1 5UF

Structure Plan.pdf (149 pages, 2.3mb)
Publication Date: March 1999

Structure Plan Review

The Government's decision to reform the planning system and replace the existing system of Regional Planning Guidance (RPG), Structure and Local Plans with a new system of Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) and Local Development Frameworks means that under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act, (September 2004) work on the Structure Plan review has ceased. However, to help inform its sub regional work in relation to the emerging Regional Spatial Strategy the County Council published a Key Issues Paper in 2004.

Key Issues Paper CDSP.pdf (39 pages, 2,279kb)
Publication Date: August 2004

A schedule detailing comments received is also available: Schedule of Key Issues Paper Responses.pdf (47 pages, 173kb)
Publication Date: February 2005

Urban Capacity Study

If you want to Know More

Tel: 0191 3834115.

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