The coalition’s Localism Act has abolished RSSs and earlier this year, after months of consultation, the government announced a much shorter National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). If there’s still a problem with planning, it lies in the system this government has created.
We on the Communities and Local Government Committee held our own inquiry into the draft NPPF, concluding that there was no evidence that the planning system was an obstacle to growth. We made many recommendations to amend the NPPF, most of which ministers accepted.
It is therefore quite extraordinary that before the ink is dry on the final NPPF, which received widespread support, the government is now embarking on further change. Some of its new set of changes may amount to tinkering and simply being seen to be trying to do something to get the economy out of recession.
However, having just agreed an NPPF which places local plans drawn up by councils at the heart of the planning system, it seems completely contradictory for the government now to propose taking powers to remove the right of underperforming planning authorities to determine planning applications, which will instead go straight to the Planning Inspectorate for a decision. A government which has railed against top-down targets is going to have to create targets to judge authorities against.
Proposals to allow more development in the green belt and to greatly increase the size of extensions that can be built without permission all have the appearance of being rushed through by ministers as an afterthought.
Whether these changes are fundamental or window dressing, the real downside is that weeks after the end of a long consultation – which itself created uncertainty – we now have more change and more uncertainty. This is a recipe for confusion, delay, conflict and more appeals.
Even if the public see little extra income growth from these changes, the planning lawyers will no doubt be grateful for the extra work created.
Clive Betts is the chair of the Communities and Local Government Committee