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What is a Local Development Framework?

A Local Development Framework (LDF) is a set of documents which guide planning and development in a local authority's area until 2021 and beyond.

However, in Plymouth, our Local Development Framework is much more. It spearheads the our efforts to transform the city into a thriving, successful, attractive and sustainable place for people to live and do business.

Think of the Local Development Framework as a folder comprising three different types of Local Development Documents:

At the heart of the Local Development Framework is the Core Strategy that, together with the emerging Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West, sets out a long term vision and spatial strategy for Plymouth.

The Local Development Framework provides the flexibility to allow the strategy, policies and proposals to evolve in relation to needs, and to update parts of the strategy as required. Public involvement throughout is a key feature of the new system.

Plymouth is experiencing a period of significant change. There's a real expectation of improving the quality of people's lives in a way that truly reflects the aspirations of local communities. The Local Development Framework intends to 'provide a strong strategic framework to promote investment, guide development and safeguard the built and natural environment'.

In 2006 we won the Royal Town Planning Institute Silver Jubilee Cup for our Local Development Framework programme and since then we've adopted more Development Plan Documents than any other local authority in England.

The Local Development Framework will eventually be superseded by the Plymouth Plan. The Plymouth Plan will be a single strategic plan for the city, looking ahead to 2031 and beyond and will bring together all the city's long term strategic plans into one place and will deliver a full review of the current Local Development Framework Core Strategy.

For ease of reference the following document contains all Local Development Framework policies (the Core Strategy, Area Action Plans and the Waste Development Plan)