Update on planning reform
DCLG Priorities
The key DCLG priorities focus on:
Driving up housing
supply
Increasing home
ownership
Devolving powers and
budgets to boost local
growth
Supporting strong
communities with
excellent public
services
Manifesto Commitments - Budget - Productivity Plan
2
Planning reform overview 2010-15
Local
Sustainable
Compulsory
community
consultation
Localism
Act
Duty to
cooperate
Robust
Evidence of
need and 5 year
land supply
Regional
Strategy
revocation
Neighbourhood
Planning
Community
Infrastructure
Levy
Section
106
NPPF and
Guidance Review
Strong protections
still in place
Proportionate
EIA
Thresholds
Simple
Deregulation
and
Simplification
Information
requirements
Use
Class
Order
Permitted
development
rights
1300 pages of
policy down to
less than 50
6000 page s of
guidance
reduced and now
on web
Presumption in
favour of
sustainable
development
Tackling LA
poor
performance
Growth and
Infrastructure Act
& Infrastructure
Act
Major
Infrastructure
Effective
Conditions
NSIP
Speeding
up appeals
Award of
costs
Unblocking
stalled sites
Statutory
consultees
3
Ministerial vision
The top-down targets of the past
planning system did nothing to deliver the
homes our country needs. In contrast,
putting local people in control has led to
record numbers of homes being granted
permission and support for house
building to grow.
Today’s proposals ensure we go further
and faster, removing the barriers so we
can keep the country building and
support hard-working people to achieve
their dream of home ownership
4
Impact of changes to date
•
Permissions for 242,000 new homes in the year to 30 June, up three per cent on
the year to 30 June 2014.
•
95,100 decisions approved between April and June 2015, up three per cent from
the same quarter in 2014;
•
64 per cent (216 in total) of local planning authorities have adopted a Local Plan –
only 17 per cent (58 in total) in May 2010.
•
82 per cent (274 in total) have at least published a draft Local Plan – only 32 per
cent (109 in total) in May 2010.
•
Nearly 1,600 communities, representing over 8 million people, have started the
neighbourhood planning process
5
Overview - Productivity Plan
Productivity plan sets the agenda
for the whole of government over
the parliament to reverse the UK’s
long-term productivity problem and
secure rising living standards and a
better quality of life for our citizens.
6
Productivity Plan measures:
•
Allow an element of housing to be included in major infrastructure proposals take
forward under the nationally significant infrastructure planning regime
•
S106 - introducing a dispute resolution mechanism to speed up negotiations and
allow housing starts to proceed more quickly
•
Streamline length and process of local plans
•
Allow the Mayor to call in planning applications of 50 homes or more
•
Strengthening guidance on he duty to cooperate to emphasise the importance of
councils working together to meet the housing and infrastructure needs of our
communities.
•
Reviewing the threshold below which agricultural buildings my be converted to
residential use using permitted development rights.
•
Helping London to “build up” rather than “build out”, delivering more homes for
Londoners while protecting he countryside
•
Rural Productivity Plan (August 2015) – review of planning barriers
7
Overview - Housing Bill
The Housing Bill as announced in the
Queen’s Speech, will serve a core set
of objectives:
• To help more people own their own
home
• To build more homes
• To make the planning process deliver
more
• Making rental markets fit for the
future
8
Housing Bill measures:
•
Planning bodies to grant permission in principle for housing development on sites
allocated in local and neighbourhood plans or identified on the new brownfield register;
•
Small builders to apply directly for permission in principle for minor development
•
Introducing measures to improve Local Plan making and neighbourhood planning. In
cases where no Local Plan has been produced by early 2017, we will intervene to
arrange for the Plan to be written, in consultation with local people
•
Raising the performance bar to further improve the speed of decisions on major
schemes – from 40 to 50% decisions made on time and extending the performance
regime to minor applications
•
Improve compulsory purchase regime, so it is clearer, fairer and faster
Shale Oil & Gas
Recent changes made since 2014 to ensure a locally-led planning system is in place for
shale oil and gas proposals that is faster and fairer for those affected by new
development
September 2015 – DECC and DCLG issued a joint Written Ministerial Statement setting
out further planning measures to help drive timely decision making including:
- Commitment to prioritise shale gas appeals and consider their recovery for decision by
Ministers;
- A scheme to identify local planning authority underperformance on oil and gas
applications;
- Taking forward permitted development rights for the drilling of boreholes for
groundwater monitoring.
What does it all mean –
what’s next?
Key drivers of reform remain:
• Localism,
• positive planning,
• supporting sustainable growth and simplification
Increased emphasis on implementing and building on existing reforms.
Focus on what more can planning can do to support growth
Next steps
Spending Review
underway with decisions
in autumn 2015
11