Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

Vale of White Horse District Council

Local Development Framework (LDF)

Local Development Framework (LDF)

The Government has changed the way planning policies are developed and delivered at the local level. At District Council level, instead of one local plan, the Council has to produce a Local Development Framework (LDF) which is a folder of local development documents which outline how planning will be managed in the area.

The individual documents that make up the Local Development Framework will contain different types of policy and will be prepared at different times, so that planning policies will be more up-to-date and more easily reviewed than the existing local plan. 

Ultimately the Local Development Framework will replace the Vale of White Horse Local Plan adopted in 2006. The Local Development Framework, together with the South East Regional Plan and the Minerals and Waste development plan, will form the statutory Development Plan. 

Saved Policies

For the time being the Development Plan includes “saved policies” from the Oxfordshire Structure Plan 2016 and the Local Plan 2011 which have been “extended” and have not yet been replaced by policies in the South East Plan or the Local Development Framework. Please see the Local Plan page for more information.

The following three documents set out how the Vale's Local Development will be produced, how the community will have the chance to be involved, and how this process will be monitored.

Local Development Scheme (LDS) - The Local Development Scheme (LDS) describes in detail the production of the Local Development Framework (LDF) documents. This has been recently revised and can be downloaded from the right of the page. Also available is a summary of the key dates covering the period 2010 to 2013. Please note that this revised LDS has yet to be formally agreed with the government office. As soon as this occurs a copy of the letter will be made available.

Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) - This document sets out how and when the community will be invited to participate in the production of Local Development Framework documents, and how they can be involved in the consideration of planning applications. This statement can be downloaded from the right of the page. The Council has recently reviewed the SCI and you can read more about this and find out how to make comments on the draft review by visiting the Statement of Community Invovlement page.

Annual Monitoring Report - Local planning authorities are required to produce Annual Monitoring Reports which give an update on the progress that is being made towards Local Development Framework production. The Annual Monitoring Report for 2008/09 can be downloaded from the right of this page. It can also be viewed or purchased from the Council’s Local Services Points in Abingdon and Wantage.

The Local Development Framework is also made up a series of local development plan documents which will collectively set out the Council's spatial planning strategy, policies and proposals for the Vale. Each developmet plan document will be accompanied by a sustainability appraisal.

As set out in the Local Development Scheme, the first development document to be produced will be the Core Strategy. The next to be prepared will be the Managing Development Document, followed by the Open Spaces Supplementary Planning Document, the Design Supplementary Planning Document and an SPD on Sustainable Construction and Energy Efficiency. For more details about these policy documents please see the following:

• The Core Strategy - this will set out the spatial vision for the Vale, including the broad locations for land use
• Managing Development Document - The Core Strategy will set out the broad locations for land use which will then be outlined in detail in the Managing Development Document. This will allocate specific sites and set out policies that relate to those sites. This will allow the Council to update any allocations in the light of changes to other local development documents or implementation on the ground. The Council’s LDS proposes public consultation on the issues and options stage of the Managing Development Document will take place in early 2010.
• Supplementary Planning Documents - these aim to expand upon development plan documents.
• Evidence Base - this is an expanding record of the background information on which the Local Development Framework documents will be based.

More information about Local Development Frameworks can be found on this page of the Planning Portal's website