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Birmingham Unitary Development Plan 2005

What is the UDP?

The Unitary Development Plan (UDP) is part of the statutory development plan for Birmingham. It contains policies and proposals that guide development and the use of land in Birmingham up to 2011. Until September 2004, every Metropolitan authority, including the City Council, was required to prepare such a plan for the whole of its area, and to keep it up-to-date.

In September 2004, a new planning system came into effect. Under the new system, the City Council is required to maintain a Local Development Framework (LDF), containing a range of different plans, including existing plans such as the UDP.

The 2005 UDP followed the same basic format as the preceding version adopted in 1993, and includes:

  • General topic chapters (covering subjects such as Economy, Housing and Transport), setting out broad objectives and policies to guide development and land use;
  • Detailed policies relating to specific types of development or development affecting certain types of area (such as Hotels and Guest Houses, Places of Worship, and Development in the Green Belt);
  • Area statements setting out policies and proposals for different parts of the City, including the City Centre; and
  • A Proposals Map, which shows the location of specific development proposals and areas of special control.

Revisions and adoption of the UDP

The first UDP was adopted in 1993 and reviewed between 2000 and 2005. The review took the form of changes, or alterations to the adopted plan. At each stage in the process documents outlining the proposed changes were published for consultation and the relevant documents were made available on this site. Pages relating to the UDP review have been archived and may be accessed from the links at the end of the page.

Revisions to the UDP were adopted by the City Council on 11 October 2005.

Saved Policies
Under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, policies in the Birmingham UDP were due to expire on October 11th 2008, unless a direction was issued by the Secretary of State to extend their life. Under the Act adopted development plans are extant for a period of three years from the plan’s adoption date.

On March 31st 2008 Cabinet agreed the submission of a schedule of UDP policies to be saved to the Government Office for the West Midlands (GOWM). Under the proposals the Secretary of State was asked to consider saving the majority of the plan’s policies. On the 19th September 2008 the City Council received a direction saving all but three policies from the UDP. Those policies which have been saved will continue to apply until they are replaced by new policy documents (in particular the Birmingham Core Strategy).
Under the direction the three policies which have not been saved after 11th October 2008 are

  • Heartlands policies in chapter 2 which were out of date (paras 2.27 – 2.38)
  • Office campus policies in chapter 4 which were inconsistent with government planning guidance, Planning Policy Statement 4 (para 4.45)
  • Housing requirements in chapter 5, which have been replaced by the Regional Spatial Strategy policy CF3 (paras 5.21 – 5.25 and Figures 5.3 and 5.4)

These paragraphs have been deleted.

Longbridge Area Action Plan

In April 2009 the City Council adopted a Development Plan Document for the Longbridge area – the Longbridge Area Action Plan. This provides a detailed framework for the redevelopment of the former Austin Rover car plant at Longbridge.

The Longbridge AAP is a separate document and has replaced the sections of the UDP which related to Longbridge. As a result the following paragraphs of the UDP have been deleted :

  • Part of paras 6.30, 19.8, 19.9A and 19.35
  • Paras 19.19 – 19.19D

Consequential changes have also been made to the Proposals Map. The proposals for Longbridge are shown on an inset plan.

Other Development Plan Documents

The City Council is in the process of preparing three other Development Plan Documents. When these are adopted they will replace further sections of the UDP.

The three plans are :

  • The Core Strategy. This is a city-wide plan which will set out an overall spatial strategy for Birmingham to 2026. It will replace chapters 2 – 7 of the UDP.
  • The Aston Newtown Area Action Plan. This will provide a detailed framework for change and regeneration in the Aston/Newtown area. It will replace parts of chapters 11 and 12 of the UDP.
  • The Bordesley Park Area Action Plan. This will provide a detailed framework for the Bordesley area. It will replace parts of chapters 14 and 17 of the UDP

The programme for preparing these plans is set out in the Council’s Local Development Scheme (LDS)

The Birmingham UDP 2005

The Birmingham UDP can be downloaded from the links below. There is a separate PDF for each section of the document.

Paper copies of the UDP 2005 document are available to purchase, priced at £20.00 + £6.00 postage. To order a copy, please telephone the Development Directorate on 0121 303 3734. Copies may also be purchased from the City Council reception on the 9th Floor Alpha Tower, Suffolk Street, Queensway, Birmingham B1 1TU, priced £20.00.

The Proposals Map

The Proposals Map is a map of Birmingham showing all the policies and proposals contained in the UDP. The map has been updated to incorporate the Longbridge Area Action Plan and it will be further updated when new Development Plan Documents are produced.

An interactive version of the Proposals Map is now available. This enables viewers to access the relevant text of the UDP by clicking on the policy descriptions or proposal numbers shown on the map. This can be accessed via the following link. Interactive Proposals Map. Alternatively paper copies of the Proposals Map can be purchased at a price of £5.00.

Regional Spatial Strategy

Under the new Planning system, the Regional Spatial Strategy also forms part of the Development Plan. The policies of the UDP should therefore be read alongside the Regional Spatial Strategy for the West Midlands. To access the RSS please click on the link below, which will take you to the West Midlands
Regional Assembly (WMRA) who are responsible for this document.
West Midlands Regional Assembly

The Development Plan

The statutory development plan for Birmingham currently consists of:


These are the main planning policy documents that the Planning Committee refers to when making decisions on planning applications, and that the City Council has regard to when it prepares new plans.

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