Before starting work on preparing a Local Development Plan, the planning authority needs to agree a 'Delivery Agreement' with the Welsh Assembly Government. This has two parts:

1) A timetable for producing the plan, indicating when each stage of the preparation process will happen.

2) A 'Community Involvement Scheme', which explains how and when the authority will involve 'stakeholders' and the local community in the plan-making process.

Once agreed, the Delivery Agreement commits the local authority to producing its LDP according to the stated timetable and using the consultation methods described in the Community Involvement Scheme. If the authority does not keep to the timetable, it needs to agree a new timetable with the Assembly Government. If the authority does not do what it says it will do in the Community Involvement Scheme, this will be taken into account by the independent Inspector who looks at the final plan to see whether it is 'sound'.

Opportunities to get involved

The regulations governing LDP preparation mean that planning authorities must consult with a range of organisations about their plans before the Delivery Agreement is signed. Authorities have some flexibility in how they do this consultation, but there are some groups of people and organisations which must be consulted. For more information on this, click here.

Once agreed the Delivery Agreement is available for anyone to look at, either by visiting your local authority offices or on the authority's website.