Westminster Briefing Conference: Transforming the planning system
Nick Wood-Dow, Chelgate's deputy chairman, chaired the Westminster Briefing Conference entitled
'Transforming the Planning System: Making Collaboration Easier & Incentivising Sustainable Development' on November 30, 2010.
NOTES FROM STEVE QUARTERMAIN, CHIEF PLANNER, CLG, ON THE LOCALISM BILL TO BE PUBLISHED SOON
1. Use as a guideline the recent Conservative documents Open Source Planning and Control Shift. There will be a National Planning Policy Framework, which will take into account the current 25 Planning Policy Guidance Notes, and make them simpler, shorter and less prescriptive. It is intended that there will be a collaborative approach to writing these, as distinct to the usual practice of civil servants drafting them. External writers could be used.
2. Regional strategies have been revoked, and the new Local Enterprise Partnerships will have a role in strategic planning and housing. It is for LEPs to determine the kind of role they will play. Planning will be driven at a local level, with either the LDF or the local plan as the guide. if the Council has an up to date LDF or plan, this will be noted by CLG and the Planning Inspectorate, as the Council will be seen to have evidence for its decisions.
3. Emphasis will be given to planning at a neighbourhood level, but the definition for this was not clear, and may still be under consideration by CLG. This will include the Community Right to Build, which is expected to be in the Bill. CLG will encourage an open and responsive approach, listening to Parish Councils, and applicants will need to demonstrate that they have engaged effectively at Parish and District levels in the detail of their planning application.
4. Community Infrastructure Levy will be kept by the Coalition, despite early rumours that it would be abolished. Garden-grabbing by developers will not be welcomed. Inspectors will support Council decisions providing there is clear evidence of the way the decision was taken. Enforcement will be based on fair play. Work is being done to roll 16 Statutory Instruments into one for further simplicity. The Independent Planning Commission will be abolished, and folded into the Planning Inspectorate, so its decisions will be subject to scrutiny by Ministers. Accountability for performance of Councils will be maintained by CLG, but Comprehensive Area Assessments will be abolished.
5. The Localism Bill will be a big bill, with 200 clauses, so will take time to go through the Parliamentary process. It is intended to be detailed, and is expected to attract a lot of discussion. The ambition is that the LDF or Local Plan, however it is known in the future, will be delivered in the local community, so it can be tested for effectiveness.
6. He asked the councillors present whether they were prepared to think for themselves and make local decisions, without always resorting to the law and planning guidelines. He said there had been so much constraint from the centre over recent years that it may be a surprise that government wants councils to make their own decisions, rather than leaving an application to go to appeal so that it is decided by an Inspector.
