Ministers could slash the number of official bodies that get a say in planning decisions in a drive to cut red tape.
As part of the Government’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes this Parliament, it will aim to cut red tape by consulting on removing a number of official bodies that have a say in planning decisions.
The consultation will include removing Sport England, the Theatres Trust and the Garden History Society from the list of statutory consultees, and narrow the scope of other organisations who give input into planning decisions.
Fergus Charlton, planning partner at national law firm Michelmores LLP:
“If there is real evidence that these statutory consultees are delaying significant numbers of well-designed schemes that accord with the development plan, then curtailing their influence will be helpful. Without that evidence, then labelling the likes of Sport England as a ‘blocker’ is unsubstantiated tinkering and will result in schemes that are more harmful to society as a whole being approved.
“A more considered approach would be to give guidance on the weight that a planning officer ought to give to a delayed, absent or holding statutory consultee response, thereby allowing the smoother functioning of the planning system whilst allowing these professionals to make a positive impact when they properly engage with that system.”
Angela Rayner has said reforms are needed to ensure the system is “sensible and balanced” as the Government has pledged to build 1.5 million homes this Parliament.
Chris May, partner in the planning team at Freeths:
“Whilst there are certainly many occasions where advice from statutory consultees – or the lack of – has caused significant delays to the determination of applications, in my experience it is usually where the views of that consultee are clearly very important to consideration of the key concerns raised by the application in question.
“I think a focus on improving the efficiency and efficacy of the consultees, which are clearly important to decision making,g would be a better way to attempt to tackle delay in the planning system. That being said, removing unnecessary statutory consultation may lead to some, even if minor, improvement in the system and so it is worthwhile reviewing whether there are consultees on the statutory list who can be removed without any major adverse impact on the legitimate interests which some of these consultees are there to protect.”
- Failing to engage proactively.
- Taking too long to provide advice.
- Reopening issues that have already been addressed in local plans.
- Submitting automatic holding objections which are then later withdrawn.
- Providing advice that seeks gold-plated outcomes, going beyond what is necessary to make development acceptable in planning terms.
- Consulting on reducing the number of organisations, including the impact of removing Sport England, the Theatres Trust, and the Gardens Trust.
- Reviewing the scope of all statutory consultees, to decrease the type and number of applications.
- Clarifying that local authorities should only be consulting statutory consultees when necessary.
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