By Sarah Hamilton-Foyn, Executive Director – Planning
The government is introducing a new process to speed up the delivery of local plans as part of its drive to streamline planning and support the development of 1.5 million new homes.
While broadly welcome, what do we know so far about the changes, and what impact will the new process have on development?
The slow and cumbersome process of developing and delivering local plans has often led to a riskier, speculative approach to planning, but that should change under the new Government plans.
Local plan delivery will be fast-tracked with clear milestones for each local planning authority to start the process and for subsequent reviews. This will be supported by a stricter process for developing the plan with clear criteria and checkpoints over a 30-month timetable.
There will also be a digital-first requirement with standardised data and formats to improve accessibility.
It’s a very prescriptive process designed to ensure consistency: You pass a gateway stage and then proceed to the next stage. In some ways, that is helpful as everybody knows where they stand and how to engage with the process.
Only recently did the planning inspectorate introduce a checklist into the current system. Prior to that, once a plan was submitted to the Secretary of State for examination, there was a raft of correspondence back and forth between councils and the inspectorate, seeking information or explanations and highlighting issues.
The new process sets out what is required for each stage, reducing the back-and-forth and smoothing the journey from submission for examination to the examination itself.
Significant change
One significant change announced is that the duty to cooperate will not be saved as part of the new regulations, which is a good thing, as it has not necessarily been effective.
It has been a bone of contention between many neighbouring local authorities: How do you satisfy the legal test? And it’s one of the first tests in local plan examinations.
But cross-border collaboration between local planning authorities is still encouraged, as planning inspectors should continue to examine plans in line with policies in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) on maintaining effective cooperation and part of the “test of soundness”.
Another change is the digitisation of the local plan process. This will mean a uniform, easily accessible format, which is a good thing.
The only potential challenge is recording what information has been submitted into the central database.
If you are submitting representations on behalf of a client, under the existing system, information is emailed with read receipts or an acknowledgement in a reply, and you retain a copy.
There needs to be a way of submitting online and downloading a copy of your submission for future reference, but no doubt this can be arranged.
Transitions arrangements
Clarity is also needed around the transition to the new system.
For example, if a local authority is in the transition arrangements, they will have submitted a local plan for examination on or before the 12 March 2025 deadline.
If the housing requirement in the submitted plan meets less than 80% of the local housing need, calculated using the standard method, the regulations will require the authority to publish their notice to commence plan-making for a new plan by 30 June 2026.
A local authority could be going through a local plan examination, and also in the process of publishing notice for a new plan. So, greater clarity on the transition arrangements would be helpful.
The government is shortly to publish a consultation on development management policies, which are proposed to be non-statutory.
There are arguments for and against statutory or non-statutory, but if development management policies do eventually become statutory, then they would reduce the content of local plans and make local plan preparation quicker.
A consultation on the new NPPF is also expected, and that may have further implications for local plans.
Our understanding is that both consultations are due to be published before parliament rises for Christmas on 18 December.
Supporting infrastructure
While speeding up the process of delivering local plans is a step in the right direction in helping to get development moving, the challenge of delivering supporting infrastructure remains.
Developments can be delayed because the utilities and transport infrastructure aren’t in place.
Alongside supporting infrastructure, there is also the challenge of viability and Section 106 contributions. New guidance is also expected on viability.
Devolution challenge
One final question mark over local plans is how this process “slots in” with the reorganisation of local government across England.
Some local authorities may be merged with others to form new, larger unitary authorities. If this happens, how will that impact their local plans?
Where are they with their individual plans, and what will happen when the new regulations and new local authorities come in?
There is no doubt that the process of delivering local plans needs streamlining.
Clarity over the process and speedier delivery will bring certainty, which is a big positive, but we await more detail on some of the practicalities of implementation.