What is the LDF?

Since 2004 local authorities have had to change how they prepare and implement the strategies and plans for their areas. Every council with planning responsibility now has a statutory duty to produce a Local Development Framework (LDF), through which it controls the future development of its area.

It cannot do this on its own. It has to work in partnership with central government, the regional planning authority (in Ealing's case, the London Mayor), with the public, private and voluntary sectors within its areas and with neighbouring authorities - and with the direct input of the local community. Moreover, its plan has to pass scrutiny by the independent Planning Inspectorate to ensure that it has been prepared in accordance with statutory guidelines and has met all the tests of "soundness".

The LDF is not a single document, but a collection of local development documents which together deliver the spatial planning strategy for the area. It includes a project plan (the Local Development Scheme), a statement of community involvement, a range of detailed "supplementary planning documents", and an annual monitoring system. A key element is the regional "Core Strategy", which for Ealing is the Mayor's London Plan.

Ealing's draft plan, Ealing 2026, has reached its second stage with the legally required public consultation on the strategy document. The timetable for approval of this has already slipped from April 2010 to the summer, but it has to be ready to submit to the Planning Inspectorate by the end of 2011, after a further round of consultation.

For more information, see www.ealinginlondon.com.