Local Development Scheme - 2024 to 2026

The Local Development Scheme (LDS) sets out the planning documents that we intend to produce as part of the Council’s Development Plan. It tells you:

• the purpose and status of each planning document

• the stages of production

• the anticipated timetable

The latest LDS establishes a revised work programme to produce the borough-wide Local Plan.

• The Council has a statutory duty to prepare, monitor and review its planning policy documents. Section 15 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended) states that the Council is required to set out current planning policy documents, and any new or replacement documents that it intends to produce in the future. 

• This Local Development Scheme will cover the period from January 2024 to December 2026.

• There have been some updates to the planning system since the approval of Kingston's 2020 Local Development Scheme. The most significant change is the revision of the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework: in response to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: Reforms to National Planning Policy Consultation on 19 December 2023.

• There have been significant changes to the planning system in the period since the last Local Development Scheme was approved in 2020. Most notably (and recently) the publication of the revised National Planning Policy Framework at the end of 2023 after the Levelling Up and Reform Act was confirmed in 2023. This confirmed the intention to produce new style Local Plans, proposals for National Development Management Policy and proposals for a new Infrastructure Levy. At a regional level, the London Plan was published in 2021, which confirmed Kingston’s housing target.

The documents that comprise the borough’s current Development Plan

• The London Plan (adopted in 2021) is the Spatial Development Strategy for Greater London. It sets out a framework for how London will develop over the next 20-25 years and the Mayor of London’s vision for Good Growth. Boroughs’ Local Plans must be in ‘general conformity’ with the London Plan, ensuring that the planning system for London operates in a joined-up way and reflects the overall strategy for how London can develop sustainably.

• The South London Waste Plan (adopted in 2022) was jointly prepared in partnership with the London Boroughs of Croydon, Merton and Sutton. The Waste Plan includes policies for deciding planning applications for waste facilities and safeguards existing waste sites.

• The Core Strategy (2012) sets out the vision, objectives and policies for managing future growth, change and development within the Borough for the period up to 2027. Upon adoption, the Local Plan will replace the Core Strategy as a response to the latest national and regional policy legislation. 

• The Kingston Town Centre Area Action Plan (adopted in 2008) set out a framework for future developments in Kingston Town Centre up to 2020. Upon adoption, the new Local Plan will replace the Area Action Plan as a response to the latest national and regional policy and legislation.

In addition to the above mentioned plans that make up the statutory Development Plan, the Council also produces other documents which either provide additional guidance to people applying for planning permission, or provide information to applicants and others on community involvement, or monitoring.