The National Planning Policy Framework sets out the Government’s planning policies for England and how these are expected to be applied locally. The National Planning Policy Framework must be taken into account in the preparation of local and neighbourhood plans and is a material consideration in planning decisions.
Bath and North East Somerset Council’s principal planning policy document is the Local Plan, adopted in 2007. The Plan sets out the goals and priorities of local ‘spatial’ planning, and is the primary point of reference for local decisions about planning applications. However, it is due to be replaced by the Council’s new Local Development Framework (LDF). This is a suite of documents including a Core Strategy which sets out the Council’s vision for development in the area. The Local Development Framework includes a Statement of Community Involvement, describing how the Council plans to involve local people in preparing and reviewing all planning documents for the area, and supplementary planning documents (SPD’s)which address specific local issues of importance.
The current B&NES planning policy framework and LDF is available here
The Councils current supplementary planning documents (SPD’s) are available here
National and local planning policy is governed by the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation) Areas Act 1990