2.1 Every Council has to have an up to date Local Plan - it is a statutory requirement. A Local Plan is a blueprint for housing, roads, business and infrastructure. Thanet's Local Plan sets a clear development strategy for Thanet, providing certainty for local people, agents and developers as to where development can happen and where it should not, and the types of development that would be supported. The Local Plan is the starting point for making decisions on planning applications, and helps to guide investment and can help support bids for infrastructure funding.

2.2 The Council can also produce 'Development Plan Documents' (DPD) to include planning policies that sit alongside Local Plan policies (e.g. the Cliftonville DPD).

2.3 The Council has to carry out informal and formal consultations in the process of preparing a Local Plan, a DPD or a review of an existing Local Plan. The Local Plan, DPD, or reviewed Local Plan will have to be formally adopted by the Council.

2.4 Supplementary Planning Documents are not statutory documents, and can be used to provide more detail to policies included in the Local Plan (e.g. the Landscape Character Assessment SPD). The Council has to carry out a formal consultation in the process of preparing a SPD. The SPD will also have to be formally adopted by the Council.

2.5 Neighbourhood Plans are prepared by Town or Parish Councils, or a Neighbourhood Forum in any areas where there is no Town or Parish Council. There are various stages in the Neighbourhood Planning process where the Council has to carry out formal consultations. The Neighbourhood Plan will have to be formally adopted (or 'made') by the Council.

2.6 A Neighbourhood Development Order means that town and parish councils can grant permission for certain types of development without the need for people to apply to the Council. These could include, for example, all house extensions in a defined area, changes of use, or development on a particular site. Certain types of development are excluded, such as minerals and waste developments, certain public and private environmental projects, and nationally significant infrastructure projects.

2.7 A Community Right to Build Order enables small-scale development in neighbourhoods, such as housing or community facilities, but can be prepared by any local community organisation rather than just town and parish councils. As above, certain types of development are excluded.

2.8 The Council may from time to time consult on other planning related documents (for example the Transport Strategy andConservation Area Appraisals). The consultations carried out will depend on the nature of the document the Council is consulting on.

2.9 The Council consults in a number of ways on planning applications to ensure that anyone likely to be directly affected by a proposed development has the chance to comment on the application.