GNLP 2045 Regulation 20 Scoping Consultation

The MOD understands the Greater Norwich authorities (Broadland District Council, Norwich City Council and South Norfolk Council, working with Norfolk County Council), England, scheduled to replace existing county and district councils by April 2028, are preparing and conducting a scoping consultation on the new Greater Norwich Local Plan 2045 for the combined planned new unitary authority in Norfolk.
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) Safeguarding Team represents the MOD as a statutory consultee in the UK planning system to ensure designated zones around key operational defence sites such as aerodromes, explosives storage sites, air weapon ranges, and technical sites are not adversely affected by development outside the MOD estate.
For clarity, this response relates to MOD safeguarding concerns only and should be read in conjunction with any other submissions that might be provided by other parts of the MOD.
The area the Greater Norwich- Local Plan GNLP 2045 scoping consultation would apply to, contains or is washed over by statutory safeguarding zones designed to assure the operation and capability of defence sites or assets.
Under the provisions of the Town and Country Planning (Safeguarded Aerodromes, Technical Sites and Military Explosives Storage Areas) Direction 2002 (Circular 01/2003), the MOD must be consulted on certain forms of development within these statutory safeguarding zones in order to be able to complete assessment(s) of the effect of development on the operation or capability of defence sites or assets or any effect on operational or training activity.
Copies of plans that provide the extent of those safeguarding zones, in both GIS shapefile and .pdf format, are issued to Planning Authorities by the Ministry for Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG). The most recent MOD assurance review was conducted in 2023 which confirmed that, at that time, Planning Authorities were in possession of relevant safeguarding data. Any subsequent updates to those plans have been issued by MHCLG. Should your Planning Authority require replacement data, a request can be made through the above email address.
It should be noted that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), published in August 2026, contains a number of policies relevant to plan making and defence which include:
• ‘Policy P1: Planning for clean and safe places’ requires that development plans identify whether certain forms of development should be restricted where they may fall within ‘safeguarding areas around aerodromes, technical sites or military explosives storage areas’.
• ‘Policy P4: Impact of development on existing activities’ sets out the agent of change principle, identifying that development proposals should not result in unreasonable restrictions being placed on the current and permitted operation of existing businesses and activities and identifies defence sites as one of those existing businesses and activities.
• ‘Policy P6: Land and operations for defence and public safety’ highlights the substantial weight that ‘should be attached to the importance of sites, activities, facilities and infrastructure required to maintain and enhance defence capability’ and directs that this be considered where development is proposed which could affect operational activity and capability. In addition, decision makers are guided to consider the importance of these sites when considering proposals for ‘modernisation, intensification, redevelopment or expansion for operational and related purposes’ of defence sites, facilities, and infrastructure.
Planning policy issued by a Planning Authority provides an opportunity to better inform developers of the statutory requirement that MOD is consulted on development that triggers the criteria set out on Safeguarding Plans and to make clear that development should be designed to ensure that it would have no detrimental impact on the operation or capability of a defence site or assets and that it would not restrict or compromise operational or training activity. As such, at this Scoping stage, the MOD would request that any new local plan make clear that planning permission will be granted only where development would have no detrimental impact on the operation or capability of a defence site or assets and that it would not restrict or compromise operational or training activity.
The DIO Safeguarding team would welcome further engagement on the emerging Greater Norwich new Local Plan and will provide representations as and when consulted.
I trust this clearly explains our position on this update.