To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what advice (a) her Department, (b) regional government offices and (c) the Planning Inspectorate have given to local planning authorities who are preparing their local development framework on the process by which supplementary planning guidance and design brief documents previously issued by the authority can be saved either as a supplementary planning document or as a design brief which will continue to have weight in determining planning applications. (152952)

Local planning authorities are being advised that supplementary planning guidance and design briefs are still capable of remaining a material consideration in the determination of planning applications and appeals provided that the policies in local plans on which they are based remain in force. There is no need to save them as supplementary planning documents (SPDs).

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance has been given to local authorities on making submissions from the public on individual planning applications open to public inspection. (153715)

We have issued no guidance on the point. For the sake of fairness and transparency, we urge local planning authorities to make comments from third parties open to inspection wherever possible. This helps applicant and authority to understand why aspects of a proposal give rise to objection, and adds to efficiency in the planning system. However, there is no legal duty to make representations public, unless (with certain exceptions) a letter of comment forms part of a planning officer’s report to Committee or the background papers to the report.

A local authority should always have regard to the Data Protection Act: the decision on what to disclose is one for the individual authority.