Local Plans and Local Development Framework

The Council is required to decide planning application in accordance with the development plan unless there are other more important factors which need to be considered.

The development plan for Uttlesford is made up of the East of England Plan, the saved policies from Essex and Southend on Sea Structure Plan, the Minerals Local Plan and Waste Local Plan, and the Adopted Local Plan.

• View the East of England Plan
• View the Essex and Southend on Sea Structure Plan
• View the Minerals Local Plan
• View the Waste Local Plan

Uttlesford Adopted Local Plan

Local Plans are prepared by every Council in the country to address conservation and development issues and set out policies on these matters. Local Plans provide the basis for making decisions on planning applications. The Uttlesford Local Plan was adopted in January 2005.

The Plan provides the basis for all planning decisions within the District. It contains policies relating to the location of development and protection of environmental features. These Policies are monitored and reviewed by the Council to make sure that the policies are meeting the Council's aims.
Copies of the Plan can be purchased for £25.00 from the Council Offices and Community Information Centres.

A web version can be viewed here using the link below:

• Interactive Local Plan
• Alternatively click here to view the text of the Uttlesford Local Plan Adopted January 2005 THIS IS TEXT ONLY WITH NO MAPS

Our interactive maps also contain a section with all local plan policy maps linked to the relevant policy text. These can be used to identify individual properties and areas of land by using address searches and zoom tools.

• Use this link to access interactive maps

The Council made an application in July 2007 to save the policies in the Uttlesford District Local Plan. The Secretary of State’s direction in respect of this request was received in December 2007. All the policies except two, which relate to completed development sites in Takeley have been saved.

• To view the Secretary of State’s direction and schedule of saved policies click here 

Local Development Framework

In September 2004 the Government introduced a new planning system. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 replaced the old system of County Structure Plans and Local Plans with a new system of Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Frameworks.

Over the next three years the Council will be working to replace the adopted plan with the Local Development Framework. This will be a folder of documents that sets out the planning strategy for Uttlesford District. This format means the plans are more flexible and relevant to the District as each document can be changed or updated if necessary over time.

The diagram below shows the documents which may be included in the Local Development Framework



Use the links in the menu on the left to look at the different parts of the Local Development Framework.