Daventry District, Northampton Borough, South Northamptonshire Council and Northamptonshire County Councils have established the West Northamptonshire Joint Planning Unit (JPU) to prepare the Joint Development Plan Documents, including the Joint Core Strategy and the Joint Supplementary Planning Documents. Each Borough and District Council continues to be responsible for preparing its own Local Development Documents addressing local matters although co-ordination of the overall programme by the JPU will be necessary.
The JPU is responsible to the West Northamptonshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee which has been set up by Parliamentary Order. The Joint Committee comprises twelve voting Members, all of whom are serving councillors with Daventry District Council, Northampton Borough Council, South Northamptonshire Council and Northamptonshire County Council, and who have been nominated by those councils. Observers on the Committee represent the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation and the Borough Council of Wellingborough. The Committee’s role is to oversee the preparation of the Joint Documents and associated studies and to discuss common planning issues across West Northamptonshire. The inaugural meeting of the committee was held on Tuesday, October 21, 2008.
The Joint Committee is a council-led planning authority, but will be giving a formal role to the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation in particular to ensure plans are deliverable via the Corporation’s development control and regeneration powers. The Joint Committee will set the framework up to 2026 for the Government’s Growth Agenda as it applies to this part of Northamptonshire and the wider Milton Keynes South Midlands sub-region. The Joint Committee will not be responsible for determining planning applications. Its role is limited to strategic plan making.