Purpose

A key legal requirement of the Local Plan Review
is that it must be prepared in accordance with an up-to-date
adopted Local Development Scheme (LDS). The current LDS was adopted
in January 2023 by delegated decision of the Head of Economy and
Planning. This LDS updated the overarching timetable for the Local
Plan Review to reflect previous delays in the Local Plan Review
process. It is published to the website and can be viewed from this
link:
https://crawley.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-01/Local%20Development%20Scheme.pdf
. The Local Plan’s publication, submission and Examination
took place in accordance with the timetable set out in this
LDS.

However, this document requires some factual update and minor
amendments in order to reflect the current position:
1. Amending the time period covered from ‘2023 –
2025’ to ‘2024 – 2027’.
2. Updates to the timetable of the Local Plan adoption in order to
reflect the delay due to the Pre-Election Period for the General
Election in July 2024.
3. Updates to reflect the evidence base progress.
4. Correlating updates to the timetable of the reviews of the
adopted and new SPDs and Planning Documents to be progressed
following the Local Plan adoption.

Content

To make factual updates to the LDS to ensure the
most accurate timetable position for the Local Plan adoption is
published and to publish the Crawley Local Development Scheme
2024-2027 as the council's up-to-date LDS.

Background Documents: Local Development Scheme 2024-2027 (June
2024) to be published to the council's Local Development Scheme
webpage:
https://crawley.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/engagement-and-monitoring/local-development-scheme

Alternative options considered

Option 1 – not to update the LDS and
continue to adoption with the Local Plan on the basis of the
existing adopted January 2023 LDS.
Option 2 – to make factual updates to the LDS to ensure the
most accurate timetable position for the Local Plan adoption is
published (Chosen Option).
Option 3 – to undertake a more detailed review of the
LDS.

Option 2 was chosen as a pragmatic compromise in order to ensure
the Local Plan process remains legally compliant.

Option 1 was discounted as the risks associated with continuing to
adoption without an up-to-date LDS was considered to potentially
open the Local Plan up to challenge through Judicial Review at the
end of the whole Local Plan Review process. The council is legally
required to maintain an up-to-date Local Development Scheme.

Option 3 would only be considered at a later point should changes
to the Planning System nationally trigger more substantial changes
to the LDS programme and Development Plan Document preparation
going forward.