Under section 117 of Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036), registration of land shall comply with any approved local plan for the area in respect of which an application for registration has been made. In an effort to facilitate the functionality of this provision the new Land Act stipulates that MMDAs shall submit all existing local plans to the Regional Lands Commission within one month after the coming into force of the Act 1036 and additionally submit copies of new local plans within three months of approval in the case where approved local plans do not exist.
These provisions are a perfect support for the management and enforcement of our land use plans; nonetheless, the current situation at the district level has several challenges relating to non-availability of local plans and variations of the physical developments on the ground as against the existing local plans. The 2019 to 2021 monitoring and evaluation exercises conducted by the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) to assess spatial planning activities of Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) revealed a great disparity between the physical developments on the ground and the existing approved local plans. This phenomenon was traced significantly to inadequate Human resource and logistical support to enforce development control on the ground and to revise outdated land use plans; amongst others This mismatch between land use plans and physical developments at any point in time creates difficult challenges for development permitting, land registration, revenue mobilization particularly in land value capture, for the parties involved.
In pursuant to Sec. 46(4)(f) of the Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016 (Act 925) to review and update existing local plans, which have become outdated in the face of current development patterns and changes in land uses over time, the LUSPA in collaboration with the Lands Commission, the Ayawaso West Municipal and La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assemblies are revising of some Local Plans of some state lands in the Greater Accra Region. These include Airport West, Cantonments, and Roman Ridge Residential Areas.
A team of Field Officers in LUSPA branded attire were deployed to the communities involved to collect and validate land use data, to be incorporated into the revised plan for approval. The team on various occasions, also, engaged the Community, the Assemblies, the Lands Commission, other relevant Agencies and the general public for their inputs and comments on zoning proposals for the draft designs for the revised plans.
The project is still on-going, therefore, any resident or stakeholder who still wishes to make input into the draft local plan should contact the Physical Planning Department of the respective Assemblies between now and the 31st October, 2023 to make their submissions.