Supplementary Planning Guidance and documents

Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) is non-statutory guidance which supplements Unitary Development Plan (UDP) policies. Only the policies in the UDP have the special status afforded by section 38 of the Planning and Compulsary Purchase Act 2004, in deciding planning applications.

However, the Government advises that SPG may be taken into account as a material consideration, the weight given to it increases if the SPG is prepared in consultation with the public and has been the subject of a Council resolution.

Sustainable Construction Checklist

The Council now expects all schemes including one or more residential units, and commercial or other developments of 100sq m or more, to be subject to the Sustainable Construction Checklist, including the requirement to meet the Code for Sustainable Homes level 3 (for new homes), Ecohomes "excellent" (for conversions) or BREEAM "excellent" (for other types of development) in accordance with policy CP1 of the adopted Core Strategy April 2009.

More information can be found on the BREEAM website.

Items 4 and 5 of the Checklist - Designing for Minimum Energy Use, and Reducing Predicted Site CO2 Emissions - should be addressed in an Energy Statement.

Guidelines for Developers(pdf, 89KB) - on what to include in an Energy Statement - is provided and should therefore be provided for all new build developments that meet the relevant thresholds.