Written question asked by Andrew Gwynne (Labour) on Wednesday, 8 March 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 10 March 2006. It was answered by Yvette Cooper (Labour) on Monday, 20 March 2006 on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Unitary Development Plan

Question: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many local planning authorities do not have in place an (a) adopted and (b) revised replacement unitary development plan.

Answer: Under the old system of development plans, 72 local planning authorities had responsibility for the preparation of a unitary development plan; there is only one authority who is still working towards the adoption of its first unitary development plan.Of the 71 adopted unitary development plans, 37 made provision for the period up to 2001 and were not revised under the old development plan system. Of the remaining 34 plans, 20 make provision for the period up until 2006; five to 2011 and nine to 2016.The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (PCPA 2004) enables for the policies contained in adopted unitary development plans to be saved”” for a period of at least three years from commencement of the Act or three years from the adoption of a unitary development plan if that is after commencement. The PCPA 2004 also makes the Regional Spatial Strategy part of the development plan which, together with the new local development framework (LDF) that includes the saved”” unitary development plan policies, provides the framework for planning in local authority's area. All 72 authorities are now working up their LDFs.

Secondary information