Agenda item

Kieron Manning, Assistant Director – Planning:

a.    presented a report to update Planning Committee on the content of the recent White Paper consultation from Central Government on reforming the planning system

b.    referred to paragraph 2 of the report and outlined the two consultations published by the Government on 6 August 2020 relating to the Planning System, one being a fairly straightforward consultation on proposed changes to the current planning system, the second proposing major changes to the planning system as part of an overhaul by the Government calling our ‘outdated and ineffective planning system’

c.    advised that the ‘Planning for the Future’ White Paper published in early August saw significant changes at both Policy and Development Management stages, the Government had stated that it had the potential to alter the planning system more than any previous reforms since the inception of the planning system in 1947

d.    advised that in the forward to the White Paper, the Prime Minister stated that the government’s ambition was to create a planning system which was “simpler, clearer and quicker to navigate, delivering results in weeks and months rather than years and decades”

e.    advised that since 1947 planning applications in England had been assessed on a case-by-case basis against a long-term local plan, with permission ultimately decided by committee

f.     reported that the new system proposed to diminish this, with land instead classified into three zones within a new Local Plan, with outline planning permission awarded automatically if proposals met specific criteria within specific zones

g.    explained that the White paper proposed that the following three categories would apply to all land within a district boundary as part of the local plan allocation process:

                                          i.    Growth

                                        ii.    Renewal

                                       iii.    Protection

h.    referred to paragraph 4 of the report and summarised the key proposals covering the following main areas:

§  Local Plan Proposals

§  The Role of Councillors and Development Management

§  Public Engagement

§  Section 106 Agreements and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

§  Housing Targets

§  Design

§  Enforcement

§  Delivering Changes

i.      explained the implications of the proposed changes at paragraph 5 of the report

j.      advised that the consultation was open until 29 October 2020 and that subject to the outcome of the consultation, the government “would seek to bring forward legislation and policy changes” to implement its reforms acknowledging that “we have not comprehensively covered every aspect of the system, and the detail of the proposals would need further development pending the outcome of the consultation”

k.    highlighted that the proposals would require primary legislation followed by secondary legislation and an updating of the National Planning Policy Framework

l.      reported that at the time of drafting this report none of the key organisations within the sector had issued their formal response to the White Paper but the Assistant Director – Planning had been part of a number of webinar discussions attended by LGA, DCN,CCN, POS, MHCLG and a range of Council representatives from across the country where many of his concerns had been echoed

m.  added that members of the Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee had endorsed an officer report highlighting the same planning policy concerns of the White Paper and whilst as a Planning Policy body they would be submitting a formal response to the consultation it had also been agreed that each district would also submit their own response

n.    requested that Members endorse the conclusions of the report together with the suggested response to each question as detailed at Appendix A to the report, and to further recommend to Executive for approval.

Members discussed the content of the report in further detail. The following comments emerged:

Comment: Planning Committee was not seen as a scrutiny body although it scrutinised the reasons why there was agreement or disagreement in relation to particular developments. These new proposals would lose sight of a great deal of this deliberation which was of great concern. Planning Inspectors should have a role to play in new development. There were a lot of concerns should the reforms go ahead

Comment: The proposed reforms would require local people to take a much greater part in the local plan consultation process if they didn’t want development in ‘their own back yard’ as once the Local Plan was decided this would form the basis of what type of houses would be built.

Comment/Question: There was much talk about three zones including a zone of protection. A lot of these areas were already protected. Would these protected areas be extended and how? Would the idea of green protective areas through cities also be extended?

Comment by Chair: The Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee had voted unanimously not to support the proposed reforms within the Government White Paper as it agreed that local residents should be involved in consultations on local plans. Once that opportunity was gone it would not be available again.

The proposed reforms removed the safety net provided by Planning Committee and development authorities. Residents would lose the ability to have their say. People would feel powerless in their communities’ .The Planning Manager had stated that should applications be refused but approved at appeal stage then applicants would also receive an automatic refund of the planning fee which could be quite substantial she believed.

Comment/Question: In terms of street design and facilities for cars, cyclists and pedestrians, how would the proposed reforms affect our relationship with our current statutory consultees e.g. The Highways Authority, Environment Agency Anglian Water Authority?

The Planning Manager offered the following points of clarification:

·         Planning fees were calculated on an ‘area per dwelling’ basis. Significant developments attracted much bigger fees involving thousands of pounds and would make Planning Committee nervous to reflect over potential loss of fees if won at appeal.

·         The role of the Planning Inspectorate would still exist under the proposed reforms. One of the ideas was that local planning authorities may be able to adopt their own local plans using inspectors as ‘mystery shoppers’ to check the plans were being operated correctly.

·         In terms of protection zones, the proposed reforms appeared open ended and vague in respect of the 3 proposed zones. All zoning would appear at Local Plan stage with bearing/weight given as to whether or not areas were rolled forward as protection zones.

·         The virtue of direction of proposed developments would be a significant requirement for consultees to be involved in at the local plan stage more than they had ever previously been before. Local plan allocation sites were at a high level at the moment subject to finer detail at the time of planning consent. The local authority would have to rely on consultees engaging as part of the local planning process instead of at development stage. Once in the Local Plan proposed developments would in effect have draft planning permission.

(Councillor B Bushell left the meeting early during the discussion of this item at 6.25pm having a prior engagement to attend.)

RESOLVED that the conclusions of the report be endorsed by Planning Committee together with the suggested response to each question and be recommended to Executive for approval.