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 Local Development Order (LDO)
Local Planning Authorities make LDOs. They are essentially a type of Planning policy ‘zoning’, which effectively grants planning permission for specific classes of development.
It is designed to help streamline the planning process by removing the need for developers to make individual planning applications, which in turn will facilitate the wider objectives to support job creation and economic growth in the Somer Valley.
LDOs are flexible tools and they cover a range of uses, 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 flexibility for potential developers, and greater certainty for local people, 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 initial informal public engagement process, together with that from other groups and organisations, will help shape the LDO scheme.
A formal consultation process will follow 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.