The Town & Country Planning Department, Office of the Premier, is the government department charged with the mission for ensuring “the proper use and spatial development of the territory through integrated land use planning and management, and public education.” The legal instruments by which the department is guided are the Physical Planning Act 2004 and the Land Development Control Guidelines, 1972. These instruments make provision for:

1. The orderly and progressive development of land in both urban and rural areas

2. The granting of permission to subdivide or develop land

3. The preparation of development schemes with respect to any land within the Territory. The department serves as the secretariat – providing technical and administrative support – for the Development Control Authority, on whom, under the Act, the responsibility for Development Control has been delegated.