‘End game’ for broken planning system
The government is considering a radical planning reform in what has been dubbed the “end game” for the current system.
A raft of proposals could see planning consent given to developers without the need for full planning applications and local authority approval, as the government races to meet its pledge to deliver 300,000 new homes by the mid-2020s.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has backed proposals from the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission for a planning reform to fast-track planning consent.
The government is considering a radical planning reform in what has been dubbed the “end game” for the current system.
A raft of proposals could see planning consent given to developers without the need for full planning applications and local authority approval, as the government races to meet its pledge to deliver 300,000 new homes by the mid-2020s.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has backed proposals from the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission for a planning reform to fast-track planning consent.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will also explore expanding permitted development and “permission in principle” to replace old commercial buildings with housing, taking away council powers to refuse them.
More radical proposals seek to more significantly reduce councils’ influence on the planning process, limiting their remit to selecting which land is allocated to development or where building is banned.
Hugh Ellis, head of policy at the Town & Country Planning Association, said: “We are moving now into the end game for the English planning system. The system is already demoralised, underfunded, lacks skills and capacity and is on its knees.
“The way we look after future generations and the built environment stands at an incredible crossroads.”
He supported the call for local authorities to be included in setting out demands for development, but raised concerns over potential deregulation of planning outside of council controls.
The BBBB Commission has made 130 recommendations to reform the outdated system.
Report author Nicholas Boys-Smith said: “At the moment it is not clear to developers, particularly small developers, or landowners, what they can and cannot do.”
The recommendations seek to enable greater certainty by allowing communities and local authorities to set out requirements for development in the initial stages, rather than finding out through expensive planning applications.
Boys-Smith said: “That is all very high-risk money that essentially prevents people going ahead and creating new places and new homes.
“We say, create a level playing field, through greater certainty, you can call it deregulation. If you are going to have constraints, have those, but make it clear this can’t be done.”
Jenrick has supported the report’s conclusions, raising a particular interest in the “fast-track for beauty” proposal.
He said: “Where individuals and developers have put in the time to create proposals for well-designed buildings, which use high-quality materials and take account of their local setting, it can’t be right that their planning applications are held up.”
The report comes weeks after housing minister Esther McVey revealed that the department would introduce new permitted development rights and expand permission in principle.
But Ellis warned: “If the government believes that further deregulation of the system is likely to lead to the outcomes that this nation needs, they are deluded.
“The clash point will come in the publication of the white paper and then you will know whether or not planning is over.”
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