LOCAL PLANNING AUTHORITY
What is a Local Planning Authority (LPA)?
What is a Local Development Order (LDO)?
A LPA is the public authority whose duty through legislation is to carry out specific planning functions for a particular area.
A LDO is a planning document which provides permission for specified types of development.
This includes responsibility for determining planning applications, making Local Development Orders (LDOs), producing Local Plans, undertaking planning enforcement, supporting Neighbourhood Planning.
Planning legislation allows a Local Planning Authority (LPA) to make a LDO.
A LPA is normally a Council department, and by law LPAs must act independently of other Council departments in carrying out its functions.
LPAs must consult on draft LDOs.
A separate planning application is not needed for a development covered by a LDO.
LDOs are usually time-limited to cover the length of time it may take for a development to be built.
How is a LDO different from a regular planning application?
What is an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)?
For LDOs ‘permission’ is effectively granted upfront. However, the same amount of assessment and scrutiny on whether development proposals are acceptable is undertaken by LPAs in making LDOs.
An EIA is required by law for certain types of large developments, and/ or developments that potentially could have significant environmental effects.
But this happens earlier in the process from a regular planning application. Planning applications are normally consulted on soon after they are submitted, and assessment work is undertaken after consultation responses have been received. For a LDO much of the assessment work is carried out before consultation, and further assessment takes place after consultation as the responses are reviewed. This is the case for the proposed data centre campus development.
It identifies any significant effects such as pollution, ecological impacts. An EIA sets out measures that can be used to mitigate or prevent those effects. The proposed data centre campus needs an EIA. The product of an EIA is an Environmental Statement which sets out any significant effects and mitigation measures. The Environmental Statement will be consulted on together with the LDO documents.