The UK Government Publishes It’s Planning And Infrastructure Bill

On Tuesday 11^th March, the First Reading of the UK Government’s much publicised Planning and Infrastructure Bill was published, followed with a debate on the floor of the House of Commons (the latest version of the Bill is here. This Bill aims to accelerate development and streamline the planning system in England in its pursuit to drive growth. The document should be seen in conjunction with the government’s drive to set a target of delivering 1.5 million new homes in England by 2030 in order to address the current housing crisis and promote economic growth, which at the moment is sluggish. Simplified planning processes are at the heart of the reforms, including a national scheme of delegation for planning applications, mandatory training for planning committee members, and allowing local councils to set planning fees (rather than the current national universal fees) which cover the actual costs incurred by the council. These are much needed, with Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) under-resourced, struggling with recruitment and retention, and therefore lacking the capacity and capability to process their caseload within the statutory timelines. Also, given this lack of capacity, this issue needs to be addressed in order for the government to meet its housebuilding targets.

The Bill therefore makes two key changes in order to speed up the planning decision making process; these are the power for LPAs to raise their own planning fees, as mentioned earlier in this article, and, also, the Bills lays the groundwork for the government to introduce regulations setting out which planning decisions should be delegated to planning officers, rather than being decided by planning committee. The downside to these reforms is the diminished power that local councillors sitting on planning committees will have (potentially deciding on far fewer applications) once these reforms are put onto the statute book, with the public perhaps feeling that they will have less say.

Beyond these two key changes, the Bill also focuses on environmental priorities, introducing a nature restoration fund to support large-scale environmental projects. This fund will enable builders to waive certain obligations, allowing construction projects to proceed more efficiently and, significantly for house builders, at far greater speed. In addition, new spatial development strategies will be introduced in order to identify sustainable areas for development, ensuring a balance between housing and infrastructure needs. Indeed, infrastructure projects, such as roads, railways, and wind farms, will benefit from a more streamlined approval system designed to fast-track major developments whilst reducing bureaucracy.

Also critical for house builders are the government’s plans to overhaul the statutory consultee system, launching a review. A new performance framework is also set to be introduced. Both councils and developers have reported in the past that the statutory consultee system is not working effectively and needs to change. Therefore, under the plans, organisations such as Sports England, the Theatres Trust and the Gardens Trust will no longer be required to be consulted on applications where they otherwise would have been. It should be noted that in the past three years alone, over 300 planning applications have had to be escalated to the Secretary of State for State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) due to disagreements from statutory consultees on the details of planning applications. It is worth noting that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states that existing open spaces, sports fields and recreational buildings should not be built upon unless an assessment has shown the space is surplus to requirements or would act as additional provision, so this is a major change of direction.

Lastly, Chelgate Local has been reporting on the changes to local government which are currently underway. This Bill can be seen to build on those changes by making planning more strategic. It places a duty on combined authorities, combined county authorities, upper-tier county councils and unitary authorities to prepare a Spatial Development Strategy) – a strategic plan – for their area. This could be critical for house building growth  in the coming months and years, whilst also providing a framework for aligning housing and infrastructure plans and promoting joined-up infrastructure. Chelgate Local will continue to monitor the developments of the Bill as it makes its way through the UK Parliament.