Annual Monitoring Studies

Review and monitoring are key aspects of the Governments 'plan, monitor and manage' approach to the planning system.

Regular monitoring is vital to establish what is happening now and what may happen in the future. Annual monitoring compares such trends or 'indicators' against existing targets to establish if policies and objectives are delivering sustainable development. In turn this will indicate and inform any required changes to policies and plans.

The Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) is the main mechanism for assessing the Local Plan and emerging LDF's performance and effects.
The Councils' residential (RLA) and employment (ELM) monitoring studies will continue to form part of the evidence base, and in future be used in the preparation of Local Development Documents (LDDs), the Annual Monitoring Report;
and Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment.(SHLAA)
The AMR is also the primary document used to demonstrate the 5 year housing land supply and its calculation.

It is a statutory requirement under Section 35 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act (2004) to produce an AMR.

The Local Planning Regulations 2012 have changed the requirements for local authority reporting. Local Councils are no longer required to send an AMR to the Secretary of State in December each year, and new regulation 39 prescribes minimum information beyond the current regulation 48, which should now include information on the number of Neighbourhood Plans adopted and Community Infrastructure Levy receipts for example.

The most recent Annual Monitoring Report is available to view on the consultation portal:

Annual Monitoring Report December 2012
No login is required as this planning document does not have a consultation period, and no comments can be made online.
The 'supporting document' to the AMR is a pdf version of the report, available for download / printing.

The Annual Monitoring Report has a dual purpose:

to review progress in terms of local development document (LDD) preparation against the timetable and milestones in the local development scheme (LDS)
to assess the extent to which saved policies are being implemented. Where this is not the case the AMR will explain why and set out what steps are to be taken to ensure that a policy is implemented; or whether it is to be amended or replaced. The assessment of policy implementation will enable the identification of any significant sustainability effects.

Also available to view are the following commentaries/studies:

Residential Land Availability (RLA) April 2012
Employment Land Monitor (ELM) April 2012

It is proposed that the RLA study will be incorporated / update the new Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) in light of the requirements of PPS3: Housing.

The SHLAA will then be annually reviewed, incorporating as a minimum the RLA data on site status, in order to support the updating of the Housing Trajectory and the five year supply of housing land calculation, which is published in the Annual Monitoring Report.

The 5 Year Housing Land Supply consists of sites with planning permission (RLA), allocated housing sites, and 'other' known, unallocated land (SHLAA). In accordance with PPS:3 (para. 54) all sites within the 5 year supply must be available for development, situated in a suitable location and achievable within 5 years and are therefore considered 'deliverable'. The Strategic Housing Land Availability (SHLAA) assessment is thus also used to inform the 5 year land supply.

A glossary of monitoring terms is also available to view.