Consultation closes on 15 April on DCLG’s 60-plus page ‘
Technical consultation on implementation of planning changes’, launched today.
Views are sought on how the government should implement the planning clauses in the
Housing and Planning Bill, alongside some other related measures. DCLG is particularly interested in consultees’ ‘ideas’.
The consultation exercise will inform the various pieces of secondary legislation that are to be prepared after the Bill has passed into law – and changes to national Planning Practice Guidance too, no doubt.
Of particular interest, here are the details being put forward by government for:
Development Plans
1. Ensuring local plans are ‘in place’ and up-to-date: in line with previous announcements and in view of only 68% of councils having an adopted local plan at the end of last month (84% had a published plan then), future government interventions in local planning authority (LPA) plan-making will in large part use existing data sources (PINS and development plan schemes) in order to start to publish its own progress reports (6 monthly, from June) and to decide priorities i.e. based on where:
a. there is housing under-delivery and high housing pressure;
b. least plan-making progress has been made;
c. plans are not up to date; and/ or
d. plan production will be accelerated most.
The government will also look at the extent to which LPAs are working collaboratively, and the impact that slow progress is having on neighbourhood plan-making; exceptional circumstances will be taken into account too, in case there is a situation that would make intervention unreasonable.
2. New controls on LPAs and positive government interventions in neighbourhood planning: in the same way as parish councils already can, the Housing and Planning Bill allows neighbourhood forums to request notification of planning applications in their area. It is also now proposed that designated neighbourhood forums should be consultation bodies that LPAs must notify and invite representations from, where they may have an interest in the preparation of a local plan.
And in addition to other very detailed proposals relating to parish council neighbourhood areas, where an LPA has not decided an applied-for area within the required 13 or 20 week period, the Area must be designated (with limited exceptions) so long as there is no other outstanding application. And LPA decisions on neighbourhood forums will have to be made within 13 weeks (or 20 if to more than one LPA).
There will be a new time limit of 5 weeks (again with limited exceptions) for an LPA to issue their decision from receipt of an examiner’s report on whether to submit a neighbourhood plan or order to a referendum (but the Secretary of State will also be able to prevent the plan proceeding, pending a decision whether to intervene or not – an Inspector can be appointed to take this decision); the referendum (once more with exceptions) must then take place within 10 weeks (or 14, if there is also a business referendum). Time and consultee limits are also proposed on how to deal with LPAs coming to a different view to an examiner; the Secretary of State will be able to intervene in disputes and delays too, at the written request of the neighbourhood forum. The plan or order ‘planning positively for local development needs’ and the latest, up to date evidence of housing heed will be taken into account in reacting to such a request.
