Part 13: General Schedule 7: Plan making Section 15B: Local plan timetable Background
Former section 15 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 enabled the Secretary of State or Mayor of London to: prepare a local development scheme and direct the local planning authority to bring that scheme into effect; direct the authority to make amendments to the scheme; or direct the authority to revise the scheme. A direction to amend the scheme must be for the purpose of ensuring full and effective coverage both geographically and with regard to subject matter of the authority’s area by the development plan documents (taken as whole) for that area, whilst a direction to revise the scheme may only be given if the person giving it thinks that the revision is necessary for such purposes.
	New section 15B retains the concept of a public timetable for a local plan, any supplementary plans the authority are to make, and a minerals and waste plan timetable if the local planning authority are the minerals and waste planning authority for the area. This is set out in a document prepared by a local planning authority and retains the intervention powers of former section 15 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. However, the intention is to achieve, by prescribing via regulations under subsection (5)(a) and drawing on broader data standards powers in Chapter 1 of Part 3 (Planning Data), a shift from a "document" based requirement to one that will make the relevant data publicly available in a prescribed digital format. This will ensure the timetable is clearer and simpler for local planning authorities to update.