The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012

Procedure for pre-submission local plans

3.—(1) If the direction under section 21(4) of the Act is given before the local planning authority submit the local plan to the Secretary of State under section 20 of the Act, the local planning authority must—

(a) unless they have already complied with section 19(5) of the Act, do so;

(b) where they are a London borough council, unless they have made a request under section 24(4)(a) of the Act, make such a request;

(c) before complying with paragraph (d)—

(i) make a copy of each of the proposed submission documents and a statement of the representations procedure available in accordance with regulation 35;

(ii) ensure that a statement of the representations procedure and a statement of the fact that the proposed submission documents are available for inspection and of the places and times at which they can be inspected, is sent to each of the general consultation bodies and each of the specific consultation bodies which were invited to make representations under regulation 18(1) or this paragraph (as the case may be);

(d) as soon as reasonably practicable after the period specified pursuant to sub-paragraph (2) has expired send to the Secretary of State—

(i) the sustainability appraisal report for the local plan;

(ii) a statement of the description referred to in regulation 22(1)(c);

(iii) copies of any representations made in accordance with sub-paragraph (2); and

(iv) such supporting documents as in the opinion of the local planning authority are relevant to the preparation of the local plan; and

(e) as soon as reasonably practicable after the period specified pursuant to sub-paragraph (2) has expired—

(i) if the adoption or approval of any part of the local plan would result in changes to the adopted policies map, send a map showing those changes to the Secretary of State;

(ii) make available in accordance with regulation 35 a copy of the local plan and each of the documents referred to in paragraph (d); and

(iii) send to each of the general consultation bodies and each of the specific consultation bodies which were invited to make representations under regulation 18(1), notification that those documents are available for inspection and of the places and times at which they can be inspected.

(2) Any person may make representations to the local planning authority about a local plan made available pursuant to paragraph 3(1)(c) but they must be received by the local planning authority by the date specified in the statement of the representations procedure made available under that paragraph.

(3) Nothing in paragraph 3(1)(c), (d) or (e) requires a local planning authority to take any steps if they have taken an equivalent step under regulation 19, 20 or 22 before receipt of the direction under section 21(4) of the Act.

(4) The following modifications to regulation 17 apply for the purposes of this paragraph—

(a) the definition of “proposed submission documents” and the definition of “statement of the representations procedure” is each to be treated as if “which the local planning authority propose to submit to the Secretary of State” were omitted;

(b) paragraph (b) of the definition of “proposed submission documents” is to be treated as if for “if the adoption of the local plan” there were substituted “if the adoption or approval of any part of the local plan”;

(c) paragraph (f) of the definition of “statement of the representations procedure” is to be treated as if—

(i) sub-paragraph (i) were omitted; and

(ii) for the reference to the adoption of the local plan in sub-paragraph (iii) there were a reference to the Secretary of State’s decision under section 21(9)(a) of the Act.