Duty to Co-operate
…the East Midlands
Experience
Andrew Pritchard
Director of Policy &
Infrastructure
Introduction
Policy 17 of the East Midlands Regional
Plan (Deceased)
 Legal Framework for Joint Planning
 North Northants Joint Core Strategy
 Central Lincolnshire Joint Core Strategy
 Greater Nottingham Aligned Core Strategy
 Joint Planning: pros and cons

The East Midlands
41 Local Planning Authorities
 11 Housing Market Areas
 Principle Urban Areas under-bounded
 Influence of surrounding conurbations
 High pressure for housing and economic
growth
 Two-tier till we die…

Policy 17 of EM Regional Plan
(Deceased)
Local Authorities, developers and relevant
public bodies should work across
administrative boundaries in all of the
Regions HMAs…joint development plans
will be expected, with joint core strategies
across HMAs particularly encouraged…
Legal Framework for Joint
Planning
Part 2 of the PCPA 2004
 LPAs pooling sovereignty for plan-making
into a new body
 Will include the County Council in two-tier
areas as well as LPAs
 Requires an Order made by the Secretary
of State to establish - and a similar order
to revoke.

North Northants JCS
Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, East
Northants and NCC
 Adopted in 2008 (first Core Strategy of any
kind in the EM)
 Review held up by Rushton Lakes retail
call-in – but now underway
 Has demonstrated substantial cost
savings for LPAs

Central Lincolnshire JCS
Lincoln City, West Lindsey, North
Kesteven and LCC
 JCS pulled in 2013 because of
deliverability issues (5 year land supply)
 Work on a Joint Local Plan now underway
 Lack of progress has caused some
frustration from councils…

Greater Nottingham
Aligned Core Strategy
Broxtowe, Gedling, Nottingham City,
Erewash (Derbyshire), Rushcliffe and
Ashfield
 Common ‘Part 1s’ to each Core Strategy
 Joint approach found sound
 Rushcliffe and Ashfield tried to brake ranks
- but brought back into line by PINS

Joint Planning: Pros
Good way of addressing the Duty to
Cooperate
 Provides a statutory mechanism for
planning across a sub-region – particularly
in two-tier areas
 Will save money and maximise the use of
scarce staff resources

Joint Planning: Cons
May be challenging to establish both
technically and politically
 Some Members (and senior officers) may
feel excluded from the plan-making
process
 Will not automatically lead to a sound
plan…

Any Questions?