Purpose of the scoping consultation

This ‘scoping consultation’ is being carried out in accordance with national legislation, to provide an opportunity for residents and organisations to help shape the new Runnymede Local Plan at an early stage of its development.

The consultation provides an opportunity to share views on the locally-specific subject matters which a future Local Plan for the Runnymede area should help address. We also want to know how you would like to be engaged during the plan-making process.

At this stage, we are not making decisions about specifics, but asking for views on the key issues facing the area, and how a Local Plan could help address them. Specific policy wording, potential site allocations and development requirements will be consulted on at a future stage of plan-making called the ‘Plan Content and Evidence (PCE) Stage’.

Your feedback to this scoping consultation will help ensure the Local Plan focuses on the right priorities for local communities and other stakeholders.

Compared to the existing 2030 Local Plan, the range of policy issues that a new Plan will be able to address will be significantly reduced. This is because Local Plans are not allowed to repeat National Decision-Making Policies (NDMPs) in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), so issues addressed by them are, in the main, out of scope.

Essentially, where the NDMPs are clear on how a decision-maker should react to development proposals, the Local Plan should not repeat these policies.

Examples of matters which are considered to be out of scope – and thus outside the control or scope of the Local Plan, are described as follows.

  • Matters being addressed through Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs). A NSIP is a major infrastructure development that bypasses normal local planning requirements. Local examples of NSIPs are the expansion of Heathrow Airport and the River Thames Scheme.
  • Matters relating to the regulation of the activities of statutory providers such as water or power companies.
  • Matters which replicate or go beyond requirements of other consenting regimes (such as Building Regulations) unless national planning policy says we can do so.
  • Allocating land or including policies which would be covered by a minerals and waste plan prior to the adoption of a Local Plan.
  • Setting out the circumstances when submission of development viability assessment is necessary other than to set out review mechanisms to reassess viability where developer contributions are reduced below plan requirements.
  • Providing additional advice on control of development outside of urban areas - as described in Topic Area 1 later in this consultation material.
  • Matters relating to pollution control, including ground conditions, air, noise, water or light and the ‘agent of change’ principle (see glossary for definition).
  • Matters relating to the assessment of effects of proposals on heritage assets, unless there are locally specific design issues to be addressed. However, the Local Plan can continue to identify Runnymede’s heritage features - including non-designated heritage assets - and key issues facing them, and create a positive strategy for their conservation and enhancement.

The scoping consultation is presented by topic area and supported by a glossary to aid your understanding of key terms. Each topic is summarised on the relevant web page, but a detailed topic paper can be downloaded at the bottom of each page for more detailed information.

For each topic, we have set out the locally-specific issues we think are important and why, and where relevant, reflected on whether the issues are already addressed by NDMPs (and are likely to be ‘out of scope’) or whether Local Plans are capable of addressing the issue (thus being ‘in scope’).

Topics or issues which the new Local Plan could address may evolve during plan preparation as new evidence emerges, including via responses to consultations like this.

A set of questions follows each topic area, to gauge your views on whether we have identified the key issues correctly (and if not, what we have missed) and whether you agree on whether they are in or out of scope. We recommend that you read the detailed topic paper in order to fully understand what we consider to be in or out of scope for a new Local Plan.

The questions are repeated in one place on the digital representation form, but hard copies are also available. You can choose which questions you answer, and you do not have to answer all of them.

Response form

Next page - Topic area 1 - A strategy for growth