Welcome to the OPR plan-making calculators. These calculators give an approximate timeframe for making or reviewing a city/county development plan or a local area plan. The calculation is based on the minimum or maximum timeframes outlined in the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Act).
The two plan-making calculators can be found here:
Statutory Plan-making Process
The plan-making calculators provide estimate timeframes for two types of statutory plans:
- city/county development plans (CDPs): which set specific objectives for the proper planning and sustainable development of the relevant city or county.
- local area plans (LAPs): which provide more detailed, locally-focused planning policy for the relevant local area.
The Act provides timeframes for key steps in the plan-making process, which are categorised in the calculators into four key stages:
- Pre-draft: this relates to the preparation of the pre-draft paper or issues paper, which occurs prior to drafting a plan. This stage helps to inform the preparation of the draft CDP or LAP. The pre-draft stage is a not a statutory stage for LAPs, therefore, this stage is not included in the LAP calculator.
- Draft plan: the draft CDP or LAP is prepared for the relevant city, county or local area.
- Material alterations: this stage occurs when elected members from the local authority decide to amend the draft CDP or LAP.
- Making of a plan: this stage occurs when, following the draft plan or material alterations stages, the elected members vote to make or adopt a proposed plan.
Statutory Timelines
The calculators provide the timeframe for the plan-making process, for both CDPs and LAPs, based on the minimum or maximum deadlines given in the Act.
The Act allows flexibility with some of the internal local authority deadlines. For example, the local authority may give extra days for public consultation or may not require the maximum time available to prepare reports or consider the plan. The timeframe and dates calculated are indicative only and the local authority dates may differ. Therefore, we advise anyone using the calculator to contact their local authority for precise timeframes.
Timeframes differ between LAPs and CDPs, therefore, it is important to choose the correct calculator which is relevant to the plan timeframe you are querying.
Disclaimer
This calculator does not offer a legal interpretation of the Act nor prescribe the timeline for any specific plan.