12.— Section 19 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) by the substitution, in paragraph (b)(ii) of “5,000” for “2,000”,

(ii) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (b):

“(bb) Notwithstanding paragraph (b), a local area plan shall be made in respect of a town with a population that exceeded 1,500 persons (in the census of population most recently published before a planning authority makes its decision under subparagraph (i)) except where—

(i) the planning authority decides to indicate objectives for the area of the town in its development plan under section 10(2), or

(ii) a local area plan has already been made in respect of the area of the town or objectives for that area have already been indicated in the development plan under section 10(2).”,

and

(iii) by the substitution of the following paragraphs for paragraph (c):

“(c) Subject to paragraphs (d) and (e), notwithstanding section 18(5), a planning authority shall send a notice under section 20(3)(a)(i) of a proposal to make, amend or revoke a local area plan and publish a notice of the proposal under section 20(3)(a)(ii) at least every 6 years after the making of the previous local area plan.

(d) Subject to paragraph (e), not more than 5 years after the making of the previous local area plan, a planning authority may, as they consider appropriate, by resolution defer the sending of a notice under section 20(3)(a)(i) and publishing a notice under section 20(3)(a)(ii) for a further period not exceeding 5 years.

(e) No resolution shall be passed by the planning authority until such time as the members of the authority have:

(i) notified the manager of the decision of the authority to defer the sending and publishing of the notices, giving reasons therefor, and

(ii) sought and obtained from the manager—

(I) an opinion that the local area plan remains consistent with the objectives and core strategy of the relevant development plan,

(II) an opinion that the objectives of the local area plan have not been substantially secured, and

(III) confirmation that the sending and publishing of the notices may be deferred and the period for which they may be deferred.

(f) Notification of a resolution under paragraph (d) shall be published by the planning authority in a newspaper circulating in the area of the local area plan not later than 2 weeks after the resolution is passed and notice of the resolution shall be made available for inspection by members of the public during office hours of the planning authority and made available in electronic form including by placing the notice on the authority’s website.”,

(b) in subsection (2) (amended by section 8 of the Act of 2002)—

(i) by the insertion of “, its core strategy, and any regional planning guidelines that apply to the area of the plan” after “objectives of the development plan”, and

(ii) by the insertion in paragraph (b) of “the objective of development of land on a phased basis and,” after “the area to which it applies, including”,

(c) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2A) (inserted by section 86 of the Act of 2008):

“(2B) Where any objective of a local area plan is no longer consistent with the objectives of a development plan for the area, the planning authority shall as soon as may be (and in any event not later than one year following the making of the development plan) amend the local area plan so that its objectives are consistent with the objectives of the development plan.”,

and

(d) by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (4) (inserted by Regulation 6 of the European Communities (Environmental Assessment of Certain Plans and Programmes) Regulations 2004):

“(5) An appropriate assessment of a draft local area plan shall be carried out in accordance with Part XAB.

(6) There shall be no presumption in law that any land zoned in a particular local area plan shall remain so zoned in any subsequent local area plan.”.