Hertfordshire Structure Plan and Saved Policies

Up until 2004 the county council had a legal duty to prepare, and regularly review, a ‘Structure Plan’ that set out the broad directions in which Hertfordshire should change and develop in the future. The Structure Plan provided a consistent strategic level planning framework for the preparation of the much more detailed local plans by district and borough councils and, in the case of minerals and waste planning, by the county council itself.

The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act (2004) received Royal Assent on the 13th May 2004, with its provisions coming into force in September 2004. The Act has altered the development plan process to concentrate strategic policy at the regional level and removes the requirement for county councils to produce structure plans. At the strategic level Hertfordshire is now covered by the policies of the East of England Plan (RSS14) which the Secretary of State finalised in early 2008.

The 2004 Act only saved existing structure plan policies until 27 September 2007. Consequently, the Government Office for The East Of England issued a saving direction, under paragraph 1(3) of Schedule 8 to the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, to outline those policies contained in the Hertfordshire Structure Plan (Adopted April 1998) that are saved.

The supporting document to the East of England Plan outlines which previously saved structure plan policies were replaced by RSS14. This means that only policies 3, 15, 24, 35 and 52 remain saved until they are in turn superseded by policies to be adopted in Local Development Documents.