| Writing within days of the setting up of the coalition Government, we cannot yet predict in detail, the changes which the new Government may make to planning law and policy, but it is possible to extract from documents published by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats common themes, which may become priorities as they review the planning system.
It has also been announced, in the last 24 hours, that Eric Pickles will be the new Minister for Communities and Local Government. Since 1997 he has been the Shadow Minister for this department. It is also apparent from his website, that he has had significant input into the Conservative Green Paper and strongly supports localism.
The Green Paper, which was published shortly before the election. began with the statement:
“Given the scale of the problems we face, piecemeal reform of the planning system is simply not an adequate response. Only a radical reboot is going to deliver the planning system that we need to succeed in the years to come.”
This is followed by a proposal to move from a single national planning structure to a localised system which would enable local people, with their local authorities, to produce:
“their own distinctive local policies to create communities which are sustainable, attractive and good to live in.”
This link will take you to the full text of the Green Paper which sets out the changes which the Conservatives propose to the planning system.
http://www.conservatives.com/news/news_stories/2010/02/~/media/Files/Green%20Papers/planning-green-paper.ashx
By contrast the Liberal Democrats have set out their position in less detail, but there are some notable points of similarity. In particular they wish to move from a centralised planning system to decision making by local people, to abolish the Infrastructure Planning Commission and to introduce a third party right of appeal.
These points, where the aspirations of both parties appear to coincide, are perhaps the most helpful signs of where change might be made relatively quickly. However, a decentralising of housing targets to local authorities is likely to impact on the levels of housing considered appropriate and may result in a lower supply of house building land.
Whilst the Conservative document expresses a wish to balance increased local powers with financial incentives to allow development, the concern must be that applications submitted after changes based on these policy documents have been introduced will meet increasingly strident local opposition which in turn will have increased statutory support. At the same time arguments based on, for instance, regionally imposed housing numbers will have been removed from the equation.
Developers could now face third party appeals against their planning permissions whilst having their own rights of appeal against local planning decisions limited to those cases where there has been an “abuse of process” or failure to apply local plan policies.
On the plus side, the Conservatives are proposing a relaxation of the Use Classes Order, so that changes of use will only be restricted by local plan policies and a presumption in favour of sustainable development so that if a scheme met certain tests it would be unlawful for a local planning authority to refuse it.
Whilst it is too early to give firm advice, our initial view is that, where a scheme can be brought forward and made the subject of a planning application, before any changes to the law are introduced, that it should be strongly considered.
We will continue to monitor the situation and will publish an update of this note as soon as the new Government begins to clarify its position. Please contact Geoff Smith or Katie Lamb for further advice on the potential impacts on planning and development, and on submitting early planning applications.
Kind regards
Heidi Copland
Partner and Head of Planning and Environmental
01293 663531
heidi.copland@dmhstallard.com
Meet the specialist Planning and Environmental group
Register for further newsletters, and DMH Stallard Legal Updates. | 
