Planning and Infrastructure Bill - A fundamental change for the better?

Today is a very significant day for the planning and development sector. The government has put a lot of emphasis on growth to date and I believe the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will fundamentally change our industry for the better. It’s a substantial Bill which covers some key areas which have been overlooked for too long.? Our clients – from housebuilders of all sizes to large scale infrastructure providers – will welcome these changes.

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Planning fees

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will allow councils to set their own planning fees to allow them to cover their costs, with the money reinvested into the system to speed it up.

The issue of planning fees is currently bigger than it might first appear. The increase is necessary, and despite the additional cost, it won’t be controversial among developers if it results in speedier decision-making.

For this reason, it’s absolutely critical that the additional resources raised through higher planning fees are ring-fenced. Local authorities have so many demands for funding, some of which may seem more pressing than planning on face value. But this funding is crucial to unblocking the system and preventing the logjams we’ve seen recently.

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Statutory consultation

The government will put in place a review of statutory consultee system to promote growth, which will include removing a limited number of statutory consultees from the list

Statutory consultees are an important part of the democratic process. But some can be more relevant to planning and development and the determination of planning applications than others, and for this reason it is right that those the government has named are potentially removed some from the ‘standard’ list. Of course, all consultees will still have the right to take part in the democratic process where they consider it necessary. But most importantly, by freeing up more resources to concentrate on specific, key consultees, they will be better placed to make a constructive contribution and increase the efficiency of the determination process. ?

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Planning committee reforms

Following on from the government’s working paper, published in December, a national scheme of delegation will be put in place, setting out which types of applications should be determined by planning officers and which should go to committees, as well as controls over the size of planning committees. The proposals will prevent council members from determining any smaller applications below a threshold of somewhere between ten and 100 homes or to have a say on reserved matters applications.

In my view the proposed reforms to planning committees – as outlined in the government’s working paper in December – is the most significant of the reforms announced today.

Maintaining the integrity of the democratic process is fundamental. But, as the slow rate of progress on development to date has shown, there has to be a better way of involving local communities, where beneficial, in decision-making.

Today’s proposals strike the right balance in our view by maintaining local involvement and removing what is perhaps the most significant blockage in the system.

Democracy is important, but it doesn’t need to operate in duplicate – for example, a development proposal on an allocated site appearing before a planning committee when it has already been through a democratic process.

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Nature restoration funds

A nature restoration fund will be created to ensure builders can meet their environmental obligations “faster and at a greater scale” by pooling contributions to fund larger environmental interventions. This is intended to remove time intensive and costly processes, with payments into the fund allowing building to proceed while wider action is taken to secure the environmental improvements needed.

In Norfolk where Lanpro has its headquarters, and increasingly through the country, nutrient neutrality is a serious blockage on necessary development. We have to have a solution and nature restoration funds are a step in the right direction. Rather than attempt to find a solution for each site on a piecemeal basis, the pooling of funds will allow for the problems to be addressed at a more strategic level resulting in greater benefits and a longer term solution.

On a site specific basis, BNG has begun to address this issue and the development sector has been very willing to contribute in this way. The proposed nature restoration funds are a necessary next phase in addressing these issues and an another of today’s announcements which I believe will have a very real and positive impact.

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NSIPs

The government has committed to reforming the National Significant Infrastructure Projects regime to streamline the planning process for large infrastructure projects and will introduce measures to speed up the construction of new energy infrastructure, with targeted reforms to support planning decisions on at least 150 major projects this Parliament.

Lanpro has significant experience of the NSIP process, having recently secured approval for some of the UK’s largest solar projects. We have always supported the raising of the threshold for schemes to be considered at a local level, allowing local input while also speeding up the process.

Global politics means that energy security is more important than ever, and climate change requires that we regard ‘energy farming’ with the same importance as food production. A sensible approach to planning and land use can ensure that both can be achieved.? The focus must be that energy schemes are enabled to come forward quickly. We’re very interested to see what the ‘transitional arrangement’ will allow and most importantly, that it speeds up, rather than slows down the process.

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Incentivising local communities to accept energy schemes and energy transfer

The Bill tends to mandate for an energy bill rebate to people living within 500m of new pylons and will also set out how developers should ensure communities hosting transmission infrastructure can benefit funding projects like sports clubs, educational programmes, or leisure facilities.

Everyone benefits from clean energy but we have to accept that there is all too often a disconnect with the local communities which are in the closest contact with energy infrastructure.

We’re seeing more and more councils and parish councils requiring and requesting direct community benefits in terms of funding and we are pleased to support local projects.

Direct financial payments to individuals is a more nebulous area. It risks opening the floodgates to substantial ‘compensation’ payments potentially associated with property values, prolonged negotiations and legal challenges. Consequently it may risk slowing down the planning process to the detriment of many. On this issue I think there is a need for more consultation and consideration of the potential impact.

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Spatial Development Strategies

The Bill proposes that spatial development strategies will be introduced by regional mayors, or in some cases by local authorities, crossing multiple local planning authorities

I’m not alone in wanting to see a return to a form of regional planning – this is probably true of over 99% of the planning and development sector.?

But today’s proposals are unlikely to see a return to the early 2000s Regional Spatial Strategies. Strategic planning – as we can see from the success of the London Plan - only really works when it is based in Statute and therefore has direct ability to influence. The information to date on regional planning proposals leaves many questions unanswered: what weight will the new spatial strategies have? Will they form part of the development plan? Will they override local plans or be subservient to them? If they are put in place by a local planning authority (as opposed to a larger, mayoral authority), will they be any different to a local plan? Essentially, will they have teeth? And if not, do they risk being another tier of administration which simply slows the process down further?

#Planning #Infrasture #Development #PlanningAndInfrastructureBill #HousingPolicy

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