To help local authority planners in the South East incorporate the key elements of the South East Plan into their local development frameworks (LDFs), we have produced a series of in-depth but easy-to-use guides. They cover transport, climate change, the economy, employment land, waste and minerals, and affordable housing, and are all available to download free-of-charge from the links below.

The guides are designed to help councils produce development plan documents (DPDs) that are deliverable, in general conformity with the South East Plan and built on a sound evidence base.

The guides are primarily focused on the development of an LDF's core strategy - the key plan in an LDF - and reflect the various stages of LDF preparation so they can be used at any point in the process.

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Local Economic Assessments

The seventh and final guide in our local development framework series helps local authority planners to make sustainable economic growth a reality.

It shows how to collect the evidence on which sound plans for a local economy should be based to ensure businesses can grow strongly. It complements the national guidance issued by the Improvement and Development Agency and Planning Advisory Service, which is intended to be read alongside the statutory guidance on local economic assessments issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

 Sustainable Economic Growth guide for local authorities (2.7 MB)

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Affordable Housing and Local Development Frameworks

The planning system has a central role to play in the delivery of affordable housing. The latest guide to be published by the Partnership Board (pictured right) is designed to help local authorities set ambitious but realistic affordable housing policies in their local development framework that are built on firm evidence and can be delivered effectively.

The guide identifies the main components of an affordable housing evidence base and shows how these can be used to inform the policies set out in a local development framework. It gives advice on how policies can be implemented, how their results can be monitored, and how the policies can be reviewed if needed. It also gives examples of sound policies that have already been established in the South East.

 Affordable Housing and Local Development Frameworks (8 MB)

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Minerals and Waste Development Frameworks

This guide was produced to help local authority planners in the South East interpret and incorporate the minerals and waste elements of the South East Plan through their local minerals and waste development plan documents. The guide should help you produce development plan documents (DPDs) that generally conform to the South East Plan and are sound in terms of their evidence base and deliverability.

The guide is primarily focused on the development of the minerals and waste core strategy – the key DPD within the minerals and waste development framework (MWDF) – and reflects the various stages of plan preparation so it can be used at any point in the process. The guide also addresses the needs of unitary authority planners who intend to incorporate minerals and waste policies in their local development framework (LDF) core strategies without producing a separate minerals and waste DPD.

 Minerals and Waste guide - 6 MB
 Minerals and Waste annex - 3 MB

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Employment and Economic Land Assessments

The Partnership Board has developed a special approach to employment and economic land assessments in the South East. The guidance – which promotes better practice and the importance of reflecting local circumstances - relates to Planning Policy Statement 4 (Planning for Sustainable Economic Growth, December 2009, economic development land and floorspace need assessments).

It simplifies and updates existing Government employment land guidance but keeps the components that are vital to a robust evidence base for a core strategy. The approach also draws on Planning Policy Statement 12: Local Spatial Planning (June 2008).

The Partnership Board has worked closely with the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) on this guidance, and CLG confirmed its support for it at the South East/London PPS4 event on 1 February 2010. Local authorities, economic stakeholders and other planning professionals in the South East also helped to shape the guidance during a six-week consultation in July and August 2009.

 EELA Guidance Document - 7.6 MB
 EELA Technical Appendix - 1.5 MB

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Economy and LDFs

This guide helps local authority planners in the South East incorporate the economy aspects of the South East Plan into their local development frameworks (LDF). The guide can be used at any point in the planning process and has been periodically reviewed and updated to help planners stay abreast of new policy and guidance.

 Economy and LDFs Guide - 2.3 MB
 Economy and LDFs Technical Appendix - 3.0 MB

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Cimate Change and LDFs Guide

This guide will help local authority planners in the South East incorporate the climate change mitigation and adaptation aspects of the South East Plan into their local development frameworks (LDF). It can be used at any point during the planning process and has been periodically reviewed and updated to help planners stay abreast of new policy and guidance.

 Climate Change within Local Development Frameworks - 12.3 MB
 Climate Change Guide (technical appendix) - 10.0 MB
 Climate Change Guide (case studies) - 1.0 MB

Links to climate change related supplementary planning documents

Use the hyperlinks on the map (right) to access supplementary planning documents (SPD) on climate change related issues that have been adopted or are being drafted in South East England. If you know of other climate-change-related SPDs that have been adoptedcan, please let us know so we can keep the map up to date. 

Local authority carbon trajectories tool

The local authority carbon trajectory tool has been developed to help local authorities predict future carbon dioxide emissions in their area.

The tool is based on the South East's regional carbon trajectories and is aligned with the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) estimates of carbon dioxide emissions used to monitor performance against National Indicator 186. The tool is relatively easy to use and there is a also user manual, available below.

 Carbon Trajectory Database - 1.2 MB
(NOTE: Please right-click the link and select "Save target as" to save this document to your hard drive before opening it. It will not work correctly if opened in your web browser.)

 Carbon Trajectory User Manual - 261 KB

DECC published updated estimates of carbon dioxide emissions for 2005 to 2007 on 17 September 2009. The database above has been updated to include the new estimates. If you downloaded the database before the 17 September 2009, please update the database with the Data Load 2005 to 2007 excel file below (see page 7 of the user manual).

 Carbon Trajectory Database - Data Load 2005-07 - 208 KB

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Transport and LDFs

This guide was produced to help local authority planners in the South East incorporate the transport elements of the South East Plan into their local development frameworks (LDFs). The guide should help with the production of development plan documents (DPDs) that conform generally to the South East Plan and that are sound in terms of their evidence base and deliverability. The guide is primarily focused on the development of the LDF core strategy - the key plan within the LDF - and reflects the various stages of plan preparation so it can be used at any point in the process.

 LDF Transport Guide - 3.62 MB
 LDF Transport Guide (Annex) - 586 KB

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Green Infrastructure Framework

In 2009, a group of Government agencies and voluntary organisations, including the South East England Partnership Board, produced guidance to help local authorities incorporate the requirements of Policy CC8 (Green Infrastructure) of the South East Plan into their local development frameworks. The guide will help planners to identify and deliver networks of parks and gardens, natural and semi-natural green space, green corridors, amenity green space, play areas, allotments, community gardens, cemeteries and churchyards.

The guidance is available from the Government Office for the South East website.

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Making Space for Wildlife in a Changing Climate – Information document for local authorities 

Natural England has produced local authority guidance to help us adapt to climate change while maintaining biodiversity in the South East. It also covers how the spatial planning system can help to address this. 

The guidance is available from the Natural England website.