It is a legal requirement that when the local planning authority make decisions on planning applications that regard is to be had to the development plan and the determination of the application shall be made in accordance with the plan unless there are good reasons not to do so.
The current adopted development plan for Bury is the Unitary Development Plan.
However, work is on-going to replace this and Bury's new development plan will be made up of a series of local and sub-regional plans, namely:
- the Bury Local Plan;
- the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF);
- the Greater Manchester Joint Waste Plan; and
- the Greater Manchester Joint Minerals Plan.
The Joint Waste and Minerals Plan have now been adopted but work is progressing on both the GMSF and a new Local Plan for Bury.
Greater Manchester Spatial Framework
Alongside the other nine districts in Greater Manchester, Bury Council has been involved in the preparation of the GMSF since 2014 and, once adopted, this document will form a key part of Bury's development plan. The main focus of the GMSF is to set out:
- How much housing land and employment floorspace is needed to 2035 and identified a number of strategic site allocations across Greater Manchester to assist in meeting these needs;
- Proposed revisions to the Greater Manchester Green Belt to accommodate the identified strategic sites;
- The importance of infrastructure such as health, education, transport, green spaces and utilities to support neighbourhoods and employment; and
- Ways to protect and improve the environment.
Bury Local Plan
Whereas the GMSF deals with strategic planning matters that are of significance at the Greater Manchester level, Bury's Local Plan will, within the context of the GMSF, guide and manage future growth and development (such as housing, offices, industry, warehousing and retail) at the local level.
It will contain local planning policies that, together with the policies and proposals contained within the Greater Manchester plans, will be used as the basis for determining planning applications. It will also identify sites where development should be built as well as areas where development should be restricted. These allocations and other designations will be identified on an accompanying Policies Map.
Further information
For additional information on Bury's Development Plan see Bury Council - Bury Local Plan.