Purpose

 
The LDS is a public document which
communicates the expected timetable for producing the Local Plan
and other planning policy documents. The LDS includes an updated
timetable for the production of the
Partial Review of the Croydon
Local Plan 2018 and the Community
Infrastructure Charging Levy
2013.
The previous
LDS was approved under
delegated authority by the Corporate Director
of Sustainable Communities,
Regeneration & Economic Recovery in November 2024 to reflect
the submission of the Revised Local Plan to the Secretary of
State. It has now become necessary to make
further changes to the LDS following the receipt of the programme of examination hearings from the
Planning Inspectorate on 2 May
2025. 
  
Work has also
progressed on the revisions to the Council’s CIL Charging
Schedule and the LDS has also been amended to include the
timetable for
the production of the
Council’s CIL Charging Schedule.
It is anticipated
both the Local Plan Partial review and the CIL Charging Schedule will
be adopted by the Council in the Spring of
2026.  
 
This report is not about the scope of
the Local Plan Partial review which was
considered by Cabinet and Full
Council on 27 March 2024 and 17 April
2024 respectively. 
 
Local Planning Authorities are
required to prepare and keep up to date a Development Plan for their area, which comprises several
documents,and
needs to explain how during the process of Plan preparation engagement
is undertaken
with local communities through consultation and
participation.  
 
In Croydon the currently adopted DevelopmentPlan comprises the Croydon Local Plan
2018and
the South London Waste Plan(2022). It is
important that the Development Plan is
kept up to date to ensure that it reflects recent
legislative changes
to the planning system
and the Council’s
current corporate objectives
set out in the Mayor’s
Business Plan 2022 – 2026.An up-to-date Local Plan provides a sound basis for determining planning applications
and to secure
investment in enabling
infrastructure.  
 

Content

The Director of
Sustainable Communities, Regeneration & Economic
RecoveryAGREED:
 
To approve the updated the Local Development Scheme (LDS) for
publication. 
 
 

Reasons for the decision

It is a statutory requirement
to have a LDS which sets out the timetable to maintain an 
up-to-date Local Plan which has to be publicly available by
publishing it on the website. The Council is not required to
publish the LDS for public consultation prior to
adoption.  
 
In addition to the statutory
requirement, publishing the LDS will enable the Council to work
with the public and partners to ensure that decisions are taken in
a co-ordinated manner, provide certainty about when consultations
will be held and when new policies will come into
effect.  
 

Alternative options considered

Publish the Local
Development Scheme – Preparation
and publishing an up-to-date LDS is a statutory requirement under
section 15 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as
amended). It is also needed to update the residents and partners of
the process in respect of producing development plan documents and
to inform them of when they will be consulted as part of the Plan
Making process.  
 
Do not publish a Local
Development Scheme – Failure to
publish a LDS means that the statutory requirement under section 15
of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended) to
prepare a timetable would not be met.  Residents and partners
in the process will be unaware of the progress of the Local
Development Framework documents, and particularly the
consultations.  Should the Council wish to submit the Local
Plan for examination it would not be found legally compliant by the
examining Planning Inspector if the required LDS process had not
been followed. Not to publish the LDS is therefore not an
option. 
 
In conclusion, publishing the
LDS once approved, is therefore the only option if the Council is
to meet its statutory duty in this regard.