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The new planning system

The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, which came into force on 28 September 2004, has introduced a fundamental review of the planning system, including the introduction of development plan frameworks. This means that the previous statutory planning documents, which for Hertfordshire comprised the Structure Plan 1991-2011 (Adopted April 1998), the Minerals Local Plan 1991-2006 (Adopted July 1998), the Waste Local Plan 1995-2005 (Adopted January 1999) and the adopted district/borough local plans, will be replaced by a new suite of development plan documents. These are:

• The East of England Plan Regional Spatial Strategy (or RSS), produced by the East of England Regional Assembly and which sets out the broad development strategy for the region (the RSS is currently in draft form, and is expected to be adopted by late 2006. In the mean time the Regional Planning Guidance takes precedence)
• Local Development Frameworks (LDFs), prepared by each of the district/borough councils in the county and which set out the core strategy and planning proposals for the local level

New national policy guidance relating to these documents will be set out in Planning Policy Statements (PPS), published by the government.

Hertfordshire's Minerals and Waste Development Framework can be viewed via the links below and consists of a number of documents:

• Development Plan Documents (DPDs) - these include the core strategy and other key documents, such as site allocations for minerals and waste development
• Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) - these expand on policies set out in the development plan documents or provide additional detail
• A Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) - this sets out our policy and strategy for involving the community in the preparation and revision of the Minerals and Waste Development Framework and planning applications
• The Minerals and Waste Development Scheme (MWDS) - this is a public statement setting out our programme for producing the Minerals and Waste Development Framework documents
• the Annual Monitoring Report.

Acronyms

• AMR - Annual Monitoring Report
• DPD - Development Plan Document
• LDF - Local Development Framework
• LDS - Local Development Scheme
• MWDF - Minerals and Waste Development Framework
• MWDS - Minerals and Waste Development Scheme
• ODPM - Office of Deputy Prime Minister
• PPS - Planning Policy Statement
• RPG - Regional Planning Guidance
• RSS - Regional Spatial Strategy
• SA - Sustainability Appraisal
• SCI - Statement of Community Involvement
• SEA - Strategic Environmental Assessment