Planning Acronyms & Jargon Explained

AAP - Area Action Plans
ABI - Annual Business Inquiry
AMR - Annual Monitoring Report
BBC - Bournemouth Borough Council
DCC - Dorset County Council
DERC - Dorset Environmental Records Centre
DPD - Development Plan Documents
GOSW - Government Office for the South West
LDD - Local Development Documents
LDF - Local Development Framework
LDS - Local Development Scheme
NLUD - National Land Use Database
NHS - National Health Service
ODPM - Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
PDC - Purbeck District Council
PDG - Planning Delivery Grant
PDLP - Purbeck District Local Plan
PG - Policy Group
PPG - Planning Policy Guidance
PPS - Planning Policy Statements
RPG - Regional Planning Guidance
RSS - Regional Spatial Strategy
SA - Sustainability Appraisal
SCI - Statement of Community Involvement
SEA - Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive
SPD - Supplementary Planning Documents
SPG - Supplementary Planning Guidance
SWRA - South West Regional Assembly
SWRDA - South West Regional Development Agency
WDDC - West Dorset District Council

Annual Monitoring Report (AMR): A report on the progress of the Local Development Scheme and the policies of the Local Development Framework. 

Community Strategy: The action plan produced by the Local Strategic Partnership

Development Plan Documents (DPD): prepared by the relevant plan-making authority. They will be spatial planning documents and subject to independent examination. There will be a right for those making representations seeking change to be heard at an independent examination;

Independent Scrutiny: Examination of a Local Development Document by a Planning Inspector

Formal Hearing: A formal type of independent scrutiny including cross-examination of witnesses.

Informal Hearing: A less formal type of independent scrutiny not including cross-examination.

Local Development Documents (LDD): One of the documents in a Local Development Framework.

Local Development Framework (LDF): will comprise a portfolio of local development documents which will provide the framework for delivering the spatial planning strategy for the area.  This replaces the Local Plan.

Local Development Scheme (LDS): will set out the programme for the preparation of the local development documents. All plan-making authorities must submit a local development scheme to the First Secretary of State for approval within six months of the commencement date of the Act regardless of where they are in terms of their current development plan. The transitional arrangements allow for existing adopted plans to be saved for three years from the date of commencement of the Act and for un-adopted plans to be saved for three years post adoption.

Local Plan: Local planning document under the old system, now to be replaced by the Local Development Framework.

Local Strategic Partnership: The stakeholders involved in the production of the Community Strategy.

Material Consideration: Any factor relevant to the determination of a planning application.

Planning Delivery Grant (PDG): An annual Government grant provided to Planning Authorities for the achievement of specific targets. 

Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004: The Act which sets out the requirement to produce a Local Development Framework.

Planning Inspector: A person employed by the Planning Inspectorate to consider the appropriateness of planning policies, taking into account public consultation responses. 

Planning Policy Guidance Note (PPG): National planning guidance produced by the Government under the old planning system.  These will be replaced by Planning Policy Statements. 

Planning Policy Statement (PPS): National planning policy produced by the Government as part of the new system.   They represent Government policy and therefore hold more weight in determining planning decisions than the old planning Policy Guidance Notes. 

Public Examination: The independent scrutiny of the Local Development Framework, considering public consultation responses. 

Regional Assembly: The regional tier of government.  Purbeck is within the area covered by the South West Regional Assembly (SWRA). 

Regional Planning Guidance (RPG): Regional planning policy document produced under the old planning system.

Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS): will be prepared by the regional planning body. The regional spatial strategy will set out the policies in relation to the development and use of land in the region and will be approved by the First Secretary of State. Planning Policy Statement II on Regional Planning provides detailed guidance on the function and preparation of regional spatial strategies.

Spatial Planning: Concerns all matters that affect land use and defines the scope of the Local Development Framework, in contrast to the Local Plan which could only deal with matters controlled by the approval or refusal of planning permissions.

Statement of Community Involvement (SCI): will set out the standards which the plan-making authority intend to achieve in relation to involving the community in the preparation, alteration and continuing review of all local development documents and in significant development control decisions, and also how the local planning authority intends to achieve those standards. The statement of community involvement will not be a development plan document but will be subject to independent examination. A consultation statement showing how the local planning authority has complied with its statement of community involvement will be required for all local development documents

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA): Strategic environmental assessment (SEA): a generic term used internationally to describe environmental assessment as applied to policies, plans and programmes. The European ‘SEA Directive’ (2001/42/EC) does not in fact use the term strategic environmental assessment; it requires a formal ‘environmental assessment’ of certain plans and programmes, including those in the field of planning and land use.

Structure Plan: A Countywide planning policy document that will be replaced by the Regional Spatial Strategy. 

Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD): will cover a wide range of issues on which the plan–making authority wishes to provide policy guidance to supplement the policies and proposals in development plan documents. They will not form part of the development plan or be subject to independent examination.

Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG): A document, produced under the old planning system, that sets out how the Council intends to implement planning policy.

Sustainability Appraisal (SA): The consideration of policies and proposals to assess their impact on sustainable development objectives. 

Sustainable Development: Development which can be accommodated to meet the needs of the present without compromising the requirements of future generations.  This encompassing an understanding of the impact of development on social, environmental and economic factors. 

Urban Potential Study: An assessment of the potential for further residential development within existing urban areas. 

Written Representations: An informal type of independent scrutiny where representations are provided in writing for the Inspector to consider and make a decision.