Town and Country Planning System

	Statutory Development Plans. This section covers:- Structure and Local Plans Unitary Development Plans Mineral and Waste Plans and Supplementary Planning Guidance.
Old System	Local Government reform (1996) resulted in the creation of Unitary Authorities throughout Wales. There are 5 in Gwent. These have replaced the dichotomous County and Borough Council system of local government Under the old system the County Council was responsible for the production of: The Structure Plan A Strategic Plan of general policies for the whole county area including: A framework for development control An indication of the scale of development provision The location of significant developments A framework for local plans Leaving the borough councils to produce: The Local Plan This sets out: Specific development proposals Detailed policies
New System	Unitary Development Plan (UDP) Under the new system each Unitary Authority is responsible for formulating all planning policy and development proposals for its area This is known as the Unitary Development Plan, and it is still composed of two parts: The Strategic Plan Specific Development Proposals UDPs must contain policies for: The conservation of natural beauty and amenity of land Encourage the management of features of the landscape which are of importance for wild flora and fauna However, all of Gwent’s LAs are still working to existing Statutory Development Plans (Adopted Local Plans) created under the old system.
	UDP Consultations
Pre-deposit stage	L.A. drafts document and undertakes limited consultation.
Deposit stage	Draft document revised and placed on deposit (usually for 6 weeks) for public inspection Copies of any objections are sent to the Environment Minister.
Inquiry stage	If there are objections a public inquiry will be held, overseen by an Inspector.
Modification stage	The inspector makes a report with recommendations to the LA who decides whether to accept, amend or ignore each recommendation. At this point the LA can issue proposed modifications (these are open to objection).
Adoption stage	Only when the Plan has been through all these stages can it be adopted.
	The Environment Minister may require LA to modify plan if policies are out of line with national policy guidance.
	Mineral and Waste Plans
	Form part of the statutory development plan They must comply with national guidance (MPGs) Their purpose is to allocate specific sites or areas in which applications for: the extraction of particular minerals permitted forms of waste disposal Mineral and Waste Plans do this by identifying "preferred areas" or "areas of search" on Proposal maps From a nature conservation perspective, Mineral and Waste Plans are important because they set the standards for site restoration. Their after care/use can provide important habitat creation opportunities.
	Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG)
	This is additional guidance provided by the Local Planning Authority. It clarifies and may even extend the guidance provided in the Local Plan / UDP. This guidance is not mandatory. However, there may be a case to encourage the LPA to produce SPG as it can act as an opportunity to clear up any loopholes, errors or policy contradictions in the Statutory Development Plan. Developers should refer to this additional guidance prior to submitting a planning application. SPG content must not conflict with the development plan. SPG does not have the same status as development plan policies but will carry more weight if it has been subject to public consultation and Council resolution.