| Planning Pickle Continues…
Where Are We Now?
We promised an update as soon as we knew more following our last planning news flash of 16 June 2010. The new coalition government have been busy changing and scrapping previous guidance but, as yet, we still have precious little by way of replacement.
Regional Spatial Strategies (such as the South East Plan) have now been formally revoked, along with the housing targets they contained. PPS3 has been revised to classify garden land as greenfield and not brownfield and the density targets which sought to ensure the best use of urban land (minimum 30 dwellings per hectare) have also been removed.
What Lies Ahead?
The latest statement from Eric Pickles (Secretary of State for The Department of Communities and Local Government) gives prominence to the statement that the government will be providing local authorities with “real incentives to build new houses”. The government have also confirmed that it “is committed to housing growth”. However, the “Localism Bill” will not be consulted upon until later this year and is unlikely to be enacted before April 2011. Consequently, there remains a policy vacuum following the removal of regional planning guidance.
Although Councils are not supposed to, I think that there is a strong likelihood that they will abandon work on their Core Strategies (in fact many already have) and sit back and wait for the Localism Bill to be published. Notwithstanding the above, Local Planning Authorities are still required to identify a 15 year land supply, the first 5 of which must be “deliverable”. Therefore, without an identified 5 year deliverable supply as PPS3 requires, they should consider favourably planning applications for housing.
Nevertheless, for the bold applicants seeking permission for additional housing there must be a strong likelihood that local authorities will refuse permission. There is no guidance yet for Inspectors on how they will assess the weight to be placed on adopted or emerging Local Development Plan documents, particularly if a local authority states that it is intending to review its housing policies. The likelihood is that at appeal the following documents will all carry some weight:
• The Regional Spatial Strategy approved figure (after all it has been examined and found “sound”)
• The Regional Spatial Strategy (Option 1) targets
• The local authority’s assessed need put forward to the RSS
• The requirements within the Council’s Strategic Housing Market Assessment/housing waiting lists
• The potential for a revised approach to the contribution of windfall sites given the changes to PPS3 in removing density targets and the brownfield designation of gardens.
Bodies as diverse as the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the Home Builders Federation have called upon the government to outline a credible alternative to help local authorities make consistent decisions on development proposals.
The government state that abolishing regional strategies will mean that the planning system is “simpler, more efficient and easier for people to understand” and that it will encourage the “investment, economic growth and housing that Britain needs”. However, at least for the time being the result will be the opposite.
What Now?
Our advice would be that any landowners or developers should review their portfolio and current schemes as quickly as possible in order to check their compliance with emerging statements and policy guidance. As always, early engagement with local authorities is essential and it is thought that, whilst there is some not inconsiderable uncertainty, progressing schemes vigorously now may well give the greatest chance of success.
For more information, please contact Heidi Copland, Partner and Head of Planning and Environmental and Peter Rainier, Director of Planning.
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