Planning Speed Read – 11th December
11th December, 2024
Our regular update for those who work in and alongside the planning sector. We aim to keep you, and your teams informed of changes in legislation, important cases signposting to the guidance and providing our own insights and experience.
Prime Minister’s Promises – 150 major infrastructure projects and 1.5 million homes
Last week, Keir Starmer gave a speech on his ‘Plan for Change’ announcing that it would be “the most ambitious and credible programme for government in a generation”, yet he further admits that the 1.5 million home target might be “a little too ambitious”, acknowledging that housing starts are the lowest they have been for a decade.
Starmer, like many other politicians, berates the UK’s planning system, claiming that it is “a blockage in our economy that is so big it obscures an entire future” but pledges to “turbo charge housebuilding with reform” in the forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
In his speech, Starmer went further and set a new target of determining 150 major infrastructure projects over the course of the current Parliament, representing a tripling of those compared with the last Parliament. This is a huge undertaking and one that will need a clear action plan, additional resources, and major reforms to the consenting process.
While the Government is clearly seeking to send a message to all that they mean business, it remains to be seen whether reality will live up to the hype. The revised NPPF is expected to be released this week and promises “sweeping changes”; it will be interesting to see to what extent the reforms will help achieve Labour’s ambitious goals.
For more information, please click here.
Further reforms – Planning Committees
This week, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government released a Planning Reform Working Paper on Planning Committees, setting out its proposals to ‘tackle the housing crisis’ through the reform of planning committees. They are seeking views on three areas of proposed action, including: a national scheme of delegation; dedicated committees for strategic development; and mandatory training for planning committee members.
There has been much made in the press around the proposals for a national scheme of delegation, which would apply universally to all LPAs, providing a standardised approach but crucially looking to move prescribed applications away from determination by way of planning committee. However, the headlines appear largely to be scaremongering at this stage and any amendments will in any case require primary legislation to come into effect. A number of possible options have been outlined in the working paper:
- Delegation where an application complies with the development plan;
- Delegation as default with exceptions for departures from the development plan;
- Delegation as default with a prescriptive list of exceptions; and
- All of the above (the Hybrid Model).
Given that many LPAs already determine the vast majority of planning applications by way of delegated powers, it remains to be seen how big an impact the proposals may actually have. While major developments are less often determined by way of delegation, if these developments were to fall within the proposals for delegated decision making, could the proposals in fact act as a further block on development coming forward by way of an increased number of judicial challenges?
The proposals do however highlight that the Government is applying the microscope to many areas of the planning process, with next in line being a devolution White Paper due to be published prior to 19 December.
The government are inviting comments on the working paper and although this is not a formal consultation with no deadline for responses, the Government is encouraging enquiries and replies.
To view the working paper and to provide a response, please click here.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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