After the public consultation on the Deposit Plan, the plan and all its accompanying documents are handed on to the Planning Inspectorate for 'examination' by an independent Inspector.
The independent Inspector will look at the submitted plan and consider how it performs against ten 'tests of soundness' - a summary of these tests of soundness can be seen by clicking here. To do this, the Inspector holds an Examination to look at all the evidence available, all the representations made (these are summarised in the Consultation Report), and the particular circumstances of the Local Development Plan area. The Inspector also considers the soundness of the Local Development Plan by looking at the Sustainability Appraisal.
Members of the public are able to take part in the examination of the plan at the discretion of the Inspector.
After the Examination, the Inspector writes a report which is 'binding' on the planning authority. This means that, unless the Assembly Government intervenes, the planning authority must accept the changes required by the Inspector and adopt the LDP as amended. This gives the Inspector a more important role in plan-making than was the case with Unitary Development Plans.
The Inspector aims, wherever possible, to get the Local Development Plan to the stage where it is sound and can be safely adopted. If the plan is obviously unsound, the inspector can recommend that it is withdrawn. However, assuming that soundness checks have been made before submission, this is very unlikely to happen.
Opportunities to get involved
At least six weeks before the examination begins, the planning authority should contact everyone who made a representation to offer them the chance to give their views in writing or, if objecting, to do so in person at the examination.
The independent inspector will hold a pre-examination meeting to identify the issues to be discussed and the format of the examination, and may also hold subsequent programming and agenda-setting meetings.
You may attend and listen to the examination, even if you are not taking part in it or have not made a representation. The inspector can also invite certain members of the public to speak and provide evidence to make sure that the plan is sound.
