Part 13: General Schedule 7: Plan making Section 15D: Independent examination: local plans Background
Former section 20 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 set out matters relating to the procedure for a range of powers relating to the conduct of the independent examination of development plan documents. Plans are examined to determine whether they are ‘sound’ via an examination in public.
	New section 15D maintains the established principle that a local plan is submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination, to ensure that plans adopted by authorities are 'sound'. It retains former powers for the Secretary of State to appoint an independent "examiner" (Inspector) to conduct the examination process, as well as various established practices around how the examination is conducted, including the "right to be heard".
	In addition, section 15D creates a new power enabling the Inspector, at any point during the examination of a plan, to pause the examination where certain matters need to be dealt with to make the plan sound. This pause enables the local planning authority to undertake further remedial work to deal with these matters.