A history of the East Devon local plan ... part one

Here is a very useful set of summaries from the East Devon Alliance - of how we got to where we are with the Local Plan, now out to consultation following the rejection of the submitted draft by the Inspector Mr Thickett:

The replacement of the 2006-2011 Local Plan has taken a long time - and in 2008 a report noted that the District Council had not yet completed a 'Statement of Community Involvement'... i.e. how the public would be involved in changes to the plan... and that, in fact, this was significantly behind in its timetable - to quote from the EDA.

History of the Local Plan – Part 1 and already in 2008 things are “slipping” | East Devon Alliance

It seems that there were concerns back in 2009 that the Local Development Panel was giving a 'positive steer' to some sites which was "leading to the initiation of premature pre- application discussions for sites which would be ‘departures’ from the current development plan." 

This led to "concern that this is seen as reacting to local agendas rather than positive planning towards a long term vision for the district and likely to lead to ad- hoc decisions being taken."

Why did the draft Local Plan fall at the first hurdle? | East Devon Alliance

And there is more from the 2009 report, with EDA comments in brackets:

"However, following the issues and options consultation, the recent focus of the LDF panel appears to have been on considering strategic allocations [many of which just happened to be sites owned by EDBF members] rather than articulating and achieving ownership of a wider common spatial vision about the 'shaping of the place' and where they want to go to now."

"Advice and support in developing the engagement strategy for the core strategy between now and submission including how the council can use suggested consultation tools and techniques to effectively engage with the community." [This Panel is meeting in secret, is not doing what it should be doing and is not talking to the people it should be talking to.]

"Evidence base: Guidance on assessing the coverage and robustness of evidence and provision of advice on key issues to be considered during the evidence gathering process and dissemination of key messages to partners." [All of the above were commented on, in some form or another, by Mr Thickett. It is obvious that the above advice was not taken on board.]
The Planning Advisory Service report into shortcomings of the Local Development Framework process for the draft Local Plan (2009) – further reflections | East Devon Alliance 

More to follow...
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