News
Thames Valley planning news, October 2018
01 Oct 2018
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Headline news |
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New rules for pre-commencement conditions now in force
On 1 October, new rules for pre-commencement conditions come into force, as a result of secondary legislation that was made and laid in May this year.
There is now a new procedure in place, whereby applicants have to give their written consent to any pre-commencement condition. It applies to pre-commencement conditions imposed only on a grant of planning permission (but not when granted in outline) on or after 1 October 2018. The new procedure is therefore relevant to planning applications that have already been made and that will be determined from now onwards.
Lichfields has already covered the new procedure and its ramifications extensively; the PPG also explains succinctly how it operates.
Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017, s14 (‘Restrictions on power to impose planning conditions’)The Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 (Commencement No.5) Regulations 2018Town and Country Planning (Pre-commencement Conditions) Regulations 2018 and Explanatory MemorandumLichfields’ Planning Matters, Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 – New procedures for pre-commencement conditions come into effect from October 2018Lichfields’ England Planning News, June 2018PPG, The use of pre-commencement conditions
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Quote of the month |
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I’m not sure everything needs to look like Cambridge, but how many people in this room believe they have built the conservation areas of the future. Probably not that many.
Housing Minister Kit Malthouse, in his speech to the RESI Conference 2018 on 14 September [...] when we are building this number of houses, if we can get to 300,000, we are not really just building houses we are building neighbourhoods. Developments of a thousand or 500 units are bigger than most villages, and we need to think in those neighbourhood terms, we need to think about the place, the design and beauty, where it fits and what we are, frankly, leaving to posterity. RESI Conference 2018 |
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Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet approves £120m road and building repair borrowing proposal
Oxfordshire County Council’s (OCC) Cabinet has agreed to borrow up to £120m against ‘expected growth in homes and council tax’ to invest in infrastructure improvements.
The Council acknowledges that under-investment has resulted in a significant reduction in the quality of major and minor roads and pavements. With Oxfordshire’s anticipated growth in homes and council tax income, the County Council considers that there is scope to borrow to invest in what is likely to, in the long term, save money. OCC’s Cabinet report references research by the independent Transport Research Laboratory which notes that maintaining roads generates £5 in the local economy for every £1 invested.
Approval of the proposal means that approximately £80m could be spent on highway improvements, with the remainder of the £120m being invested in other County Council-owned assets, such as schools. Detailed business cases will be required for each proposed project to be funded from the investment pool. However, it has also been highlighted that as the borrowing will be taken up over a number of years, based on individual business cases, the programme of investment could be stopped, should the anticipated increased Council Tax revenue not materialise.
Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet agenda and decisions, 18 September 2018
Oxfordshire housing land supply flexibilities
A parliamentary Written Ministerial Statement was made on 12 September that refers to the first of the planning flexibilities agreed as part of the Oxfordshire Housing & Growth Deal.
As part of the Housing Deal, Oxfordshire sought flexibility in relation to National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) policy on maintaining a 5-year housing land supply. In an attempt to support long-term housing delivery in the area, the Government has agreed to provide a short-term flexibility which will support the delivery of local plans for the County and ensure that the local authorities can focus their efforts on their Joint Spatial Strategy.
For the purposes of decision-taking under paragraph 11(d), footnote 7 of the NPPF will apply where the authorities in Oxfordshire cannot demonstrate a 3-year supply of deliverable housing sites (with the appropriate buffer, as set out in paragraph 73). This policy flexibility does not apply to the Housing Delivery Test limb of footnote 7 of the NPPF, nor plan-making policy in paragraph 67. If a local authority intends to fix their land supply under paragraph 74, they will still be required to demonstrate a minimum 5-year supply of deliverable housing sites, with the appropriate buffer.
The Written Statement is already a material consideration in planning decisions and applies to those councils in Oxfordshire with whom the Government has agreed the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal, namely: Cherwell District, Oxford City, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire. Moreover, although the flexibilities will be under ongoing review, the Statement will remain in effect until the adoption of the Joint Statutory Spatial Plan in each area, provided that the timescales agreed in the Housing and Growth Deal are adhered to.
MHCLG, Written Ministerial Statement, Housing land supply in Oxfordshire
MHCLG’s first updates of Planning Practice Guidance to reflect new NPPF
MCHLG published new Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) on 13 September for ‘Build to Rent’ and ‘plan-making’.
Updated guidance was also issued on the same day, on ‘housing need assessment’, ‘housing and economic land availability assessment’, ‘local plans’ and ‘neighbourhood planning’.
In summary, the new guidance reflects the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and covers:
Build to Rent
Compared with the consultation draft PPG on Build to Rent (from March 2018), there is only new guidance in relation to when affordable homes in such developments are sold off.
Plan-making
Most of the new ‘plan-making’ guidance in the PPG has only been reordered and revised slightly from the March 2018 draft version – specifically to accurately reflect the finalised NPPF and also to subtly emphasise strategic planning, or alter the degree of flexibility at different stages in plan-making. The most detailed guidance is on Statements of Common Ground; the least elucidating is on plan viability.
Housing need assessment
The ‘Housing Need Assessment’ PPG has replaced the previous PPG on ‘Housing and economic development needs assessments’. The content relating to economic needs assessment has been removed, suggesting that this may be covered in separate PPG at a later date (although Paragraph 033 of the newly published plan-making PPG gives guidance on ‘gathering evidence to plan for business’ and Paragraph 034 covers how functional economic market areas can be defined).
Importantly, the PPG reiterates the Government’s intention to consult again on the standardised housing methodology for assessing needs, as follows:
‘In the housing white paper the Government was clear that reforms set out (which included the introduction of a standard method for assessing housing need) should lead to more homes being built. In order to ensure that the outputs associated with the method are consistent with this, we will consider adjusting the method after the household projections are released in September 2018. We will consult on the specific details of any change at that time.’
Housing and economic land availability assessment
The PPG has been updated to include the draft guidance for ‘Housing Delivery’ released in March 2018, explaining the Government’s new annual measurement of housing delivery for plan-making authorities, and the actions that authorities must take following under-delivery. The guidance and thresholds proposed in the draft are mostly unchanged; they have been included from Paragraph 28 onwards under the sections 'Housing delivery: 5-year land supply' and the 'Housing Delivery Test' at Paragraph 55 onwards.
Local plans
Much of the content in this part of the PPG has now been moved to form part of plan-making guidance. It now only covers:
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Local Plans: key issues
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Preparing a Local Plan
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Publication and examination of a Local Plan
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Local plans - adoption, monitoring and supplementary planning documents
Neighbourhood planning
There are now new Paragraphs 96-99 (Neighbourhood Plans, and housing policies/allocations) that relate to the revised NPPF’s Paragraph 14.
MHCLG, draft PPG, draft updates to planning guidance which will form part of the Government’s online PPG (March 2018)CLG, ‘Fixing our broken housing market’ (February 2017)MHCLG, Planning Practice Guidance New PPG: ‘Build to Rent’ and ‘plan-making’Updated PPG: ‘housing need assessment’, ‘housing and economic land availability assessment’, ‘local plans’ and ‘neighbourhood planning’
Chief Planner provides updates on planning reforms
On 14 September, Chief Planner Steve Quartermain issued a planning update newsletter outlining the Government’s progress on its programme of planning reforms.
The reforms covered include: the revised NPPF; updated PPG; the independent review of planning appeal inquiries; changes to pre-commencement conditions; the 2017/18 Annual Casework Report to Parliament; developer contributions and open data tools; design charrettes (a Call for Expressions of Interest); and the Local Digital Declaration and Fund.
MHCLG, Planning update newsletter
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The Lichfields perspective |
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Housing delivery in Oxfordshire is being watched closely. The new ‘planning freedoms and flexibilities’ - including the provision for a 3-year land supply - are in response to the authorities’ commitment to plan for housing at levels above the standard methodology. It will now be important to ensure that the short-term flexibilities do not ultimately hinder achieving the higher levels of housing delivery that the authorities have committed to.
Sarah Moorhouse, Associate Director |
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Disclaimer: This publication has been written in general terms and cannot be relied on to cover specific situations. We recommend that you obtain professional advice before acting or refraining from acting on any of the contents of this publication. Lichfields accepts no duty of care or liability for any loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of any material in this publication. Lichfields is the trading name of Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners Limited. Registered in England, no.2778116