The Aire Valley Leeds Enterprise Zone commenced on 1 April 2012 for an initial period of three years to 31 March 2015.
It incorporates four major development sites (see attached map), which provide 142 hectares of development land suitable mainly for office, R&D, industrial and distribution uses.
Simplified Planning in the Enterprise Zone
- Enterprise Zone status is conditional upon putting in place a genuinely simplified approach to planning and speeding up the planning process. In order to simplify planning in Enterprise Zones the government promotes the use of Local Development Orders (LDOs).
- LDOs grant permission for the type of development specified in the Order, and by doing so, removes the need for a planning application to be made. LDOs are prepared by Local Planning Authorities who have the right to apply conditions on the LDO ensure that the development is acceptable in planning terms.
- The LDOs will simplify planning requirements not only on the Enterprise Zone sites but over a wider area of Aire Valley Leeds.
Consultation and adoption of LDOs
Consultation:
- This will take place on any draft LDO. Comments received and any changes required to the draft LDO will be reported to the Council’s Executive Board who will make the final decision on whether to approve the LDO.
- For each consultation the following documents are available : Draft LDO; LDO Response form for active consultations; LDO Notice.
Adoption:
- The LDO is then submitted to Secretary of State (SoS) for his consideration, who can choose to serve a Direction on the council at his discretion. In these cases the SoS can approve the adoption of the LDO or refuse it. He can also choose make any amendments to the LDO that he considers necessary. Following the SoS’s decision, the Council can then determine whether they wish to adopt the LDO in its amended state.
Current consultations : There are no consultations currently taking place.
Closed consultations
- LDO2 - Extensions, Alterations and Changes of Use - Closed March 2012
- LDO1 - Solar Panels – Closed January 2012 (see attachments for summary)
Adopted LDOs
LDO 1– Solar Panels has been adopted to start with effect from 1st April 2012 following the Secretary of State’s decision not to intervene. The LDO permits certain types of solar panel developments on the roofs of non-domestic buildings within the wider Aire Valley area.
The Order, boundary plan and accompanying monitoring form are available to download from this page. A summary of representations to the consultation and the Council’s response is available to view.
*Please note: Since the adoption of LDO 1 some significant amendments have been made by the Government to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (England) Order 2012. These changes allow the installation of certain solar panel developments on non-domestic properties as permitted development and therefore not requiring formal planning permission. Nevertheless, LDO1 is considered to be complimentary to these revised permitted development rights as it will offer non-domestic premises within Aire Valley Leeds area further flexibility on the solar panel developments which can be undertaken without the need to apply for formal planning permission.
You are there advised to check whether your solar panel development can be undertaken using permitted development rights prior to assessing the development’s compliance with LDO 1. Permitted development rights relating to the installation of solar panels on non-domestic buildings are contained within Part 43, Class A of The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (England) Order 2012 which is available to view at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/748/made