Planning & Development

Town and Country Planning is the system for managing changes to the environment.  Through planning we can identify what changes we need to make: new homes, places to work, transport and community facilities; and where these should be located.  These changes are called development.

Planning seeks to ensure that we achieve a balance between our need for new development while conserving what we value about our environment and communities.  It can create places such as cities, towns and villages that we treasure; want to live in, work in, visit and enjoy.  Planning is about our future.

Our system of planning is an important part of our democracy.  It can help deal with the different views between groups over development and provide opportunities for people to have their say about the future of their neighbourhoods, communities and areas.