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Department for Communities and Local Government: www.communities.gov.uk
Scottish Executive: www.scotland.gov.uk
Welsh Assembly Government: www.wales.gov.uk
Northern Ireland: www.doeni.gov.uk
Supervision and control of the planning system is increasingly a job of central government, and these links are the easiest way to access central government policy guidance and circulars which contain the basic ‘rules of the game’.
Make sure that you have access to the very latest version of primary and secondary planning legislation, for which a source such as Westlaw is essential. Don’t rely on accessing the version of the TCPA as it was first enacted, not least because of the changes made by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the frequent changes to the GDPO and the GPDO. (There will also be further changes under the Planning Bill currently (2008) before Parliament.).
The Planning Portal: www.planningportal.gov.uk
This is managed by the Planning Inspectorate (http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/planning/planninginspectorate/) and contains information on the planning system, links to online development plans, and tracking planning appeals.