An area in which a local planning authority wishes to stimulate development and encourage investment. It operates by granting a specified planning permission in the zone without the need for an application for a planning application and the payment of planning fees.

This document allocates land for specific uses, such as housing and employment, the documents can identify the criteria for control of development on specific sites i.e. details of any specific criteria related to development of that site, like design, access requirements, or level of affordable housing. Any allocations made in these documents will be clearly linked to the Adopted Proposals Map and other planning policy documents like Area Action Plans.

Spatial planning goes beyond traditional land use planning to bring together and integrate policies for the development and use of land with other policies and programmes which influence the nature of places and how they function.This will include policies which can impact on land use by influencing the demands on, or needs for, development, but which are not capable of being delivered solely or mainly through the granting or refusal of planning permission and which may be implemented by other means.