The Bristol Local Plan

The Bristol Local Plan is a set of planning documents which contains a range of policies to guide future development decisions.

The Bristol Local Plan was previously referred to as the Local Development Framework.

Bristol Local Plan documents

Core Strategy

The Core Strategy is the overall approach for planning development in Bristol. All other planning policies must be written to fit in with the strategy.

1997 Adopted Local Plan

The 1997 Adopted Local Plan contains certain policies that are saved and still used in deciding planning applications.

Site Allocations and Development Management

The Site Allocations and Development Management document will provide planning policies for specific sites. It will include decisions about what sites can be built on and which should be protected from development.

Bristol Central Area Plan

The Bristol Central Area Plan will guide development in the centre of the city.

Neighbourhood Planning

Neighbourhood planning allows community groups who put forward an area and who apply to become a neighbourhood planning forum to (when designated) write their own planning policies for their area. Neighbourhood Plans will have a status similar to the Local Plan and will be used alongside it to decide planning applications.

Community Infrastucture Levy (CIL)

The Community Infrastructure Levy is a new system of developer contributions that will run alongside a scaled back system of planning obligations.

Joint Waste Core Strategy

The Joint Waste Core Strategy guides decisions about where major waste facilities should be built.

Other planning documents

Supplementary Planning Documents

The are 10 adopted Supplementary Planning Documents. These give more details about the planning policies in the 1997 Local Plan.

Local Development Scheme

The Local Development Scheme explains what planning policy documents make up the Local Development Framework. It also includes a timetable for preparing them.

Statement of Community Involvement

We ask people to comment on and take part in the preparation of planning policies. The Statement of Community Involvement tells you how we plan to do this.

Evidence to guide planning policies

We want decisions about our planning policies to be based on good evidence. So we have used a range of studies and assessments to help write the Local Development Framework policies.

Sustainability Appraisals

Sustainability Appraisals are used to assess the ongoing effects (social, economic, environmental) of planning documents as they are being prepared.

Register for updates

Give us your details and we will tell you about:

• consultation events
• issue or adoption of planning documents
• important news about the Local Development Framework.

We normally contact you by email and our website. Please let us know if you need to have information sent by post.