Summary and implications
In early December 2014, the Chancellor unveiled the latest round of planning reform with particular focus on streamlining the planning decision process through the amendment and promotion of a number of key planning tools, principles and policies. These announcements were made in the Government's 2014 Autumn Statement and National Infrastructure Plan and are summarised below:
- Establishing the principle of development: The Government's aims are to ensure that the principle of development need only be established once, to give greater certainty and allow locally supported development to proceed more quickly. It is the Government's intention that only once an application for planning permission is agreed in broad principle by the relevant council will an applicant be required to produce the composite detail, with the opportunity for the council to monitor the detail required and make the final decision. While the reform may provide developers with certainty, in practice it appears that applications for planning permission would need to be supported with technical data ostensibly equivalent to that in an environmental statement. This requirement would appear to be unduly onerous for those consents generally considered straightforward.
- Section 106 negotiations reforms: The Government intends to speed up section 106 negotiations and make the process more transparent by providing revised guidance; consulting on a faster process for reaching agreement; considering how timescales for agreement could be introduced; and improving transparency on the use of section 106 funds. Revised guidance is required and welcomed, particularly in regards to the treatment of section 106 contributions and Community Infrastructure Levy charging schedules (where implemented) on applications for planning permission.
- Speeding up planning decisions: The speed of decisions on major applications is to remain under review, with the minimum performance thresholds increasing to 50 per cent of major decisions made on time. The Autumn Statement also proposed to publish new data on local authorities' performance in meeting their statutory duty to process smaller planning applications within eight weeks, will be published. This proposal is encouraged in theory, however quality must not be sacrificed or compromised in favour of speedy decisions. Local authorities are often under-resourced and added pressure may place further constraints on them to perform their tasks effectively.
- Compulsory purchase reforms: These are to include the publishing of proposals for consultation in the 2015 Budget on making the Compulsory Purchase Regime clearer, faster and fairer, with the aim of bringing forward more brownfield land for development. Reforms in this area are well overdue as the process is complicated and uncertain in its current form.
- National Network National Policy Statement: The Government laid the National Networks National Policy Statement before Parliament on 17 December 2014 for consideration and a formal vote. It went to a Commons vote on 13 January 2015, and on 14 January 2015 was designated as a national policy statement under section 5(4) of the Planning Act 2008.
While these proposed measures are intended to improve the efficiency and certainty surrounding planning decisions, much of their success hinges on their final form, detail and implementation at the local level.
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