Part 6: Planning in England Local Planning Section 143: Power to direct amendment of local development scheme
Section 143 inserts a new subsection (3A) into, and amends subsection (4) of, section 15 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. The existing provision in section 15(4) enables the Secretary of State, or the Mayor of London if the local planning authority are a London borough, to direct the authority to amend their local development scheme (which sets out the development plan documents that the authority intend to produce and the timetable for their production).
	The amendment to section 15(4) is intended to ensure that directions made under the power can relate to the subject matter of documents specified in a scheme. This addresses concern that the current wording may be open to an unnecessarily narrow interpretation. New subsection (3A) ensures that the Secretary of State, or the Mayor in the case of a London borough, may prepare a local development scheme for an authority that has failed to prepare one and direct the authority to bring the scheme into effect.