Our aim is to create a Local Development Order (LDO) on the land being developed to deliver the Somer Valley Enterprise Zone (SVEZ).
The function of a Land Development Order (LDO)
Local Planning authorities make LDOs. They are essentially a type of Planning policy ‘zoning’, which grants planning permission for specific development proposals or classes of development with a defined area.
LDOs are flexible tools and they cover a range of uses (commercial to residential), scales of projects, and size of buildings. The SVEZ LDO will include a design code, setting out what buildings and spaces should look like, and how they should function, in the final development.
Read more about LDOs, where and why they already exist in England
Creating an LDO for the SVEZ project will help provide greater certainty for potential developers, which should simplify and speed up delivery of investment and the creation of new job opportunities.
This engagement and next steps
This round of public engagement gives you an opportunity to examine the basic aims, approach and design principles in the current indicative Masterplan.
Public feedback from this informal initial public engagement process, together with that from other groups and organisations, will help shape the LDO scheme.
A formal consultation process will follow, in spring 2022, as part of our application to the Local Planning Authority for an LDO.
View the project timeline for a summary of stages already completed and our plans for progressing the scheme.