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The Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales (sometimes referred to as PINS) is an executive agency of the Department for Communities and Local Government of the United Kingdom Government. It is responsible for determining final outcomes of town planning and enforcement appeals and public examination of local development plans. It also deals with a wide variety of other planning-related casework including planning appeals - about, for instance, shop signs and advertisement displays on hoardings, bus shelters etc., and cases on which Inspectors report to the Secretary of State concerned on planning applications requiring ministerial approval.
The PINS web site, the Planning Portal, contains its own extensive glossary of planning terms
The National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG) website was launched in response to the Taylor Review. The review set out that the government should bring together all planning guidance in one easy-to-navigate website. The principle being that by removing the plethora of often rather aged and out of date guidance with one up-to-date source the planning system would become more accessible and as a result speedier.The website represents a massive stripping back of the current guidance, whole documents are summarised into just a few paragraphs.
Guidance should put more meat on the bones of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), presenting more detail to support Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) in drawing up their local plans and providing more information and explanation for local communities. The new guidance is so minimalist in its approach it seemingly only acts as signposting to the NPPF and legislation. Such an approach can only lead to more planning by appeal as the Planning Inspectorate and the Secretary of State are forced to make more decisions as LPA decisions will increasingly be seen as open to argument.
The National Policy Planning Framework [NPPF] was published by the UK's Department of Communities and Local Government in March 2012, consolidating over two dozen previously issued documents called Planning Policy Statements (PPS) and Planning Policy Guidance Notes (PPG) for use in England. It purported to simplify the large range of documents but has led to new cases in the courts leading to interpretation of its meaning. Its intention was to loosen previous restrictions on building on Green Belt land.
Normandy Action Group formed 2004 as a result of perceived weakness in local governance and representation of residents’ interests. NAG focuses on issues of planning affecting the community and acts as an enablement channel for residents to understand and respond to planning issues.
Local Enterprise Partnerships were bodies enabled in order to replace the Regional Development Agencies of the previous government. Their boards are composed of local and national business people (including house builders), local authority politicians, representatives of the armed forces, and representatives of higher education establishments. The board is effectively self-selecting, undemocratic and unaccountable. It is a channel through which central government money for housing and commercial property development are channelled. The body containing Guildford is Enterprise M3 LEP.