1.1. Section 15 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act (PCPA) 2004 (as amended) requires local planning authorities (LPAs) to prepare, maintain, and make available to the public a local development scheme (LDS). An LDS is the programme for the production of the Council’s development plan documents. It enables those with an interest in the plan-making process to understand which documents are to be prepared for the district and at what stages they will be able to participate.

1.2. An LDS must specify:

1. The local development documents that are to be development plan documents (e.g. a local plan) that, when prepared, will comprise part of the development plan for the area
2. The subject matter and geographical area to which each development plan document is to relate
3. Which development plan documents (if any) are to be prepared jointly with other LPAs
4. The timetable for the preparation and revision of the development plan documents

1.3. Section 19 of the PCPA requires development plan documents to be prepared in accordance with the LDS. As such, progress made against the LDS will be monitored annually in the Bexley Local Plan Monitoring Report (the ‘authority monitoring report’ or ‘AMR’). Up-to-date and accessible reporting on the LDS in an LPA’s AMR is an important way in which LPAs can keep local communities and interested parties informed of plan making activity.

1.4. LPAs are also encouraged to include details of other documents that form (or will form) part of the development plan for the area. Information on the preparation of other local development documents, such as supplementary planning documents (SPDs), and/or a review of extant planning guidance, can be included to bring this to the attention of persons living or working in their area.

1.5. The purpose of the LDS is to:

1. Inform the local community and other stakeholders such as key delivery bodies, landowners and developers about the way the local plan will be prepared for the area
2. Let everyone with an interest in planning for Bexley know what documents will make up the local plan and the timetable for their preparation
3. Let people know when they can get involved in influencing or commenting on these documents
4. Establish the Council’s priorities for local plan preparation and enable work programmes for the preparation of the documents to be set

1.6. So that it is kept up to date, a local planning authority must revise its LDS at a time it considers appropriate, (or as otherwise directed to do so by the Secretary of State). The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) has asked LPAs to review and update their LDSs no later than 6 March 2025 in light of the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The NPPF indicates that provisions for the revised plan-making system will come into place in 2025 and relate to the system provided for under the Levelling up and Regeneration (LUR) Act 2023.

1.7. The Bexley LDS 2025 was brought into effect by the Council on 22 March 2025. This LDS has been prepared under the new plan making system, in advance of secondary legislation, using the latest information in the public domain about the expected timeline for plan making under the new system.

1.8. This LDS is a hybrid document in that existing legislation, guidance, and data standards still apply where they have not been replaced. It considers the NPPF 2024 and new legislation in the review of the current Bexley Local Plan and in the preparation of a new local plan, and includes content on Bexley’s supplementary planning documents (rather than supplementary plans).

1.9. The plan making content and timetable will subsequently be updated to include relevant details of the new system when confirmed. This LDS therefore sets out an ‘interim’ timetable that will be subject to review when details of the new system are published.