The Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) provides an assessment of the implementation of the Local Development Scheme and the extent to which policies in Local Development Documents are being successfully implemented. The report is part of the Local Development Framework. The Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004) sets out matters that an AMR must address, namely:

• progress made on preparing the local development documents set out in the local development scheme. Where there is any deviation from the programme, the reasons for it and any measures needed to restore timeliness;
• whether the policies in local development documents are being implemented and their associated targets are being achieved, or the progress being made in that direction;
• the impact the policies are having in helping to achieve national and regional targets;
• any significant effects the policies are having on sustainable development objectives; and
• whether any of the policies in local development documents need amending, because they are not working as anticipated or because they are out of line with national or regional policy.

Government recognises that fully developed ‘spatial’ planning monitoring frameworks will take time and resources to establish and accepts that a pragmatic approach will be necessary, with the AMR evolving as experience in the establishment and implementation of indicators and targets grows.

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