Local Development Orders

LDOs are an extension of permitted development rights, where for specific developments, planning permission is not required.  The LDO could relate to all land in a local planning authority area or only to a part of that land including specific sites. This power is discretionary and intended to help speed up the planning system. LDOs will, in effect, grant permission for the development to which they relate and remove the need for planning application and associated application fees.

It is proposed that the content of LDOs would be decided upon locally in response to local circumstances. For example, a local planning authority may wish to make a LDO to assist in the regeneration of an employment area or industrial estate. An LDO can guide development in areas where significant change is anticipated. It could also encourage the provision of housing on a particular site.

LDOs can operate at a variety of scales and can be made to achieve a variety of objectives. Specific developments or specified classes of development can be defined. LDOs could be used to achieve and promote a variety of objectives and behaviours by developers to achieve community, planning, environmental or regeneration objectives. It is proposed that local planning authorities in Wales will have discretionary powers to make LDOs.