Planning Changes and Challenges in UK - Government Agenda and Productivity Plans

Planning changes & challenges Steve Barker Principal Consultant October 2015 www.pas.gov.uk

Planning reform overview 2010-15 Local Sustainable Simple Compulsory community consultation 1300 pages of policy down to less than 50 NPPF and Guidance Review Localism Act Robust Evidence of need and 5 year land supply Regional Strategy revocation Duty to cooperate 6000 page s of guidance reduced and now on web Presumption in favour of sustainable development Neighbourhoo d Planning Strong protections still in place Tackling LA poor performance Growth and Infrastructure Act & Infrastructure Act Proportionate Effective Condition s EIA Thresholds Deregulation and Simplification Speeding up appeals NSIP Community Infrastructure Levy Use Class Order Award of costs Statutory consultee s Major Information requirements Permitted developmen t rights Unblocking stalled sites Section 106 Infrastructure 2

The government agenda The future elements following the election: no (or little) change of policy framework combined authorities, up to date local plans, continuation of the performance regime (?) community right to build, plan, etc brownfield focus, LDOs, resourcing,

Productivity Plan: Planning 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 proceed more quickly CIL review of system in 2015 Streamline length and process of local plans Allow the Mayor to call in planning applications of 50 homes or more

Productivity Plan: Planning Measures Strengthening guidance on the duty to cooperate to emphasise the importance of councils working together to meet the housing and infrastructure needs of 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

Housing & Planning Bill 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 Introduce measures to improve Local Plan making and neighbourhood planning. In cases where no Local Plan has been produced by early 2017, and intervening to arrange for the Plan to be written, in consultation with local people

Housing & Planning Bill 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 (non majors) - expected target of 60% Improving compulsory purchase regime, so it is clearer, fairer and faster (?????) A new duty on councils to help allocate land to people who want to build their own home. new affordable Starter Homes a new legal duty will be placed on councils to guarantee the delivery of Starter Homes on all reasonably sized new development sites, and to promote the scheme to first-time buyers in their area.

The new Non Majors Performance Do you know your non majors (minors and others) performance? We think it will be 60% threshold NB: you are already in the 6th of the 8 quarters which make up performance period (July 2014 June 2016)

Table 153 (minors and others) for 24 months to end of June 2015 Total minor and other development decisions1 within 8 weeks2 PPA, agreed EoT or EIA decisions within agreed time3 Total minor and other development decisions1 PPA, ONS Name agreed EoT or EIA decisions3,4 % within 8 weeks or within agreed time with penalty for missing data 78 85 79 89 91 80 88 87 78 80 85 94 81 86 68 73 75 67 97 63 Adur Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Calderdale East Hertfordshire Enfield Epsom and Ewell Hastings Havering Mole Valley Portsmouth Rotherham Salford Scarborough South Cambridgeshire South Staffordshire St Albans St Edmundsbury St. Helens West Devon 669 502 21 22 1,939 1,626 34 27 1,530 1,106 131 104 2,342 1,907 187 166 2,634 2,353 36 34 3,182 2,364 248 195 1,464 1,276 6 6 977 775 100 79 3,048 2,222 166 161 2,055 1,383 278 267 1,530 1,276 40 22 1,854 1,584 162 162 1,405 1,045 140 91 1,029 771 125 119 2,777 1,894 4 2 1,243 911 3 2 3,964 2,946 44 36 1,507 983 38 23 1,236 1,193 3 3 841 522 8 7

Table 151 (majors)for 24 months to end of June 2015 Major Decisions within 13 weeks2 Total PPA, EoT or EIA1 Decisions within agreed time PPA, EoT or EIA Decisions3 ONS Name % within 13 weeks or within agreed time with penalty for missing data 95 82 83 98 66 67 77 85 81 All Major Decisions Adur Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Calderdale East Hertfordshire Enfield Epsom and Ewell Hastings Havering 20 8 11 11 79 58 11 7 76 20 48 43 64 31 32 32 77 19 39 32 94 47 22 16 35 26 5 1 65 41 16 14 84 46 23 22 Mole Valley Portsmouth Rotherham Salford Scarborough South Cambridgeshire South Staffordshire St Albans St Edmundsbury St. Helens West Devon 80 57 98 92 83 53 53 65 53 94 74 30 14 11 10 42 22 3 2 96 64 30 30 133 63 60 59 47 21 22 18 154 70 13 12 57 26 5 4 77 50 2 0 77 29 16 12 82 61 16 16 23 9 8 8

Local Plan Intervention Will this affect you? Do you have a post 2004 plan? Are you going to have a plan in place by 2017(?) ? Will you care? Do you have an up to date plan (post NPPF (post 2012))?

Government Agenda Housing & Planning Bill Is any of this causing you concern? Have you started to do anything in response yet? This is an opportunity to ask questions, get clarifications and vent!!!!! - but there will have a time limit.