LDF Project

The long wait for and associated regulations and guidance  tended to focus minds on the extent of prescription by the Government, and the difficulties which attended adjusting to the radical changes in the plan preparation process.

The challenge of adapting to the new system presented by the Planning and Compensation Act 2004 provided an opportunity for planners in all fields to contribute to the re-making of planning, as something more relevant, creative and dynamic than its previous stereotype.

The POS took this cause to heart, and worked with national partners to maximise the prospects of planning authorities succeeding in the new system. The Society agreed to take on two key roles in this process -

• to identify how authorities can quickly get to grips with the new system and bring forward quality LDFs, and
• to disseminate that learning promptly and widely among practitioners, especially local government planners who lead the new system

The Society's LDF learning and dissemination project was designed to actively address both these objectives. Over the following year the Society tracked the experience of ten pilot authorities in tackling their LDFs, giving them support to maximise their prospects of success, and disseminated their learning in real time to its members and others interested in the effectiveness of our planning system.

About the LDF learning and dissemination project

The project was led and funded by the Planning Officers Society (with contributions from the participating authorities), with welcome support from colleagues at the ODPM, Planning Inspectorate, Local Government Association, and RTPI. It is was delivered by POS Enterprises, the Society's operational arm, through Andrew Wright as Project Director and Karen Moore as Project Officer. A copy of the project description can be found here .

The pilot authorities represented different kinds of authorities in different kinds of circumstances, and at different stages in getting LDF work under way. What they had in common was a will to succeed in planning under the new system, and openness to learning from others, both through the project and more widely.

The original learning note material can be found on the Meeting Notes page.