To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance her Department has issued to planning authorities on the relative account to be taken of (a) supplementary planning guidance and (b) a design brief without supplementary planning document status. (178741)

Supplementary planning documents (SPDs) may contain policies which expand or supplement the policies in development plan documents. They form part of the local development framework. Since the new planning system was introduced in 2004, the Government have advised that local planning authorities should not produce supplementary guidance other than supplementary planning documents, in order to ensure that guidance follows minimum standards of consultation and appraisal. If any supplementary guidance has been drawn up other than as an SPD, it does not have a defined role and the weight to be afforded it will depend on the circumstances of the case. No guidance has been issued on this matter.

An exception to this concerns supplementary material produced before 2004: Paragraph 5.23 of Planning Policy Statement 12 “Local Development Frameworks” states that:

‘On commencement of the new planning system, existing supplementary planning guidance will not automatically lose its status and will continue to exist as non-statutory guidance whilst the relevant saved policies are in place’.