Ministers have sent a package of last-minute amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill ahead of its final approval processes next month, empowering developers against permissions timing out
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is due to be voted on in the House of Lords at the bill’s “report stage” next Monday, with royal assent(the last stage of approval before the bill becomes law) likely to follow in November.
The bill already limit’s protestors abilities to legally impede developments via multiple judicial reviews, allows developers to pay into a “nature restoration fund” to circumvent ecological delays and aims to reduce planning permission timelines for large infrastructure.
However, housing developers currently risk their planning permissions timing out if legal opposition or process takes too long, having to start the planning process again.
Holding directions and tackling ‘blockers’
The proposed amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would change this, meaning that planning permissions will be frozen during legal proceedings and no longer risk expiring. It is hoped this will give developers more confidence in undertaking home building projects, to help reach the increasingly ambitious housing targets set by this government.
The government also wants to take action on the nearly 900 major housing schemes blocked in the last year by local councils. Under the changes, ministers will get the power to issue ‘holding directions’ to prevent applications being rejected whilst they deliberate on using call-in powers to override the council.
Housing secretary Steve Reed said:
“Britain’s potential has been shackled by governments unwilling to overhaul the stubborn planning system that has erected barriers to building at every turn. It is simply not true that nature has to lose for economic growth to succeed.
“Sluggish planning has real world consequences. Every new house blocked deprives a family of a home. Every infrastructure project that gets delayed blocks someone from a much-needed job. This will now end.
“The changes we are making today will strengthen the seismic shift already underway through our landmark Bill. We will ‘Build, baby, build’ with 1.5m new homes and communities that working people desperately want and need.”
Changing the role and responsibilities of Natural England
Future amendments would allow non-water sector companies to build reservoirs that would automatically be considered ‘nationally significant’ infrastructure projects, as well as enabling 3 gigawatts worth of onshore wind farms.
The responsibilities of Natural England in regards to planning would also change under the proposed amendments; currently said to be wasting “precious resources” in responding to every query from local authorities relating to nature, as required by law, the amendments would allow the body “greater discretion” to focus on more complex applications, instead offering “standard guidance” on other cases. Natural England would also be permitted to delegate its advisory role to non-profit organisations.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly hoping the move will bolster her book-balancing
Part of the reason given for the amendments was that previous changes in the summer were percieved to have weakened it and damaged investor confidence as a result.
Reports from the Guardian and Financial Times indicate that Reeves is hoping that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill amendments will pass in time to be calculated into the growth forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility(OBR). The earning potential of the reforms could enable economic growth and extra tax revenue in the next few years in the eyes of the OBR, who would then ease Reeves’ debt rules constraints by around £3bn.
In a statement, the chancellor said: “The outdated planning system has been gummed up by burdensome bureaucracy and held to ransom by blockers for too long.
“Our pro-growth planning bill shows we are serious about cutting red tape to get Britain building again, backing the builders not the blockers to speed up projects and show investors that we are a country that gets spades in the ground and our economy growing.”
Some industry voices were critical of the amendments
Responding to the announcement of new amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, CPRE chief executive Roger Mortlock said:”These eleventh hour amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill represent a dangerous erosion of democracy. They are an astounding capitulation to the same big developers that have consistently failed to deliver the homes people need.
“The Housing Secretary claims that sluggish planning has ‘real world consequences’. So too would the removal of vital legal safeguards. Blocking judges from halting approvals while legal challenges proceed would allow unlawful projects to cause irreversible damage to communities, wildlife and the wider environment.
“Giving ministers powers to override local council rejections further strips communities of their voice in decisions that affect their areas, as does restricting access to judicial review.
“CPRE’s research shows there is enough brownfield land in England for more than 1.4m new homes. It’s possible to build the affordable and sustainable homes people need while still protecting the countryside and nature. What’s required isn’t the removal of democratic safeguards, but a shake-up of our broken housing market and proper investment in a planning system that works for communities, not just big developers.”
The changes might encourage investors- but more action is needed, according to the BPF
Danny Pinder, director of policy (Real Estate), British Property Federation, said: “The Government’s planning reforms to date have been necessary but not sufficient to get Britain building. The relentless focus on unblocking new development is welcome insofar as it seeks to give industry the confidence to invest in new homes, workspaces and places, as long as the plan-led system remains the core mechanism for delivering development.
“However, as of today, the biggest barriers to development delivery are significant viability challenges, delays caused by bottlenecks at the Building Safety Regulator, and an increasingly cautious position being adopted by investors due to the current economic climate. We need to see action on these by the Budget at the very latest.”
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