Transcript LEADERSHIP ROADSHOW

Planning Act 2008
Strategic Planning and Housing Scrutiny Sub-Group
Wednesday 8 April 2009
Background
• Gained Royal Assent on 26 November 2008
– Implementation of its provisions will be gradual
• Large parts of previous acts remain in place, e.g.
– Town and Country Planning Act 1990
– Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004
Overview
• Key elements:
– Nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs)
– Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
• Minor changes relating to:
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Regional planning
Local planning policy
Climate change and design
Development management
NSIPs
• Covers major proposals relating to:
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Electricity generation and transmission
Gas storage, reception and transport
Highways (where SoS is/would be the highway authority)
Airports
Ports
Railways and rail freight interchanges
Dams, reservoirs and water transfer
Waste water treatment
Hazardous waste facilities
NSIPs (2)
• Single development consent order replacing need for
applications under various legislation
• Intended to create a “faster and fairer process for
taking the big decisions that affect our national
infrastructure” (Margaret Beckett)
• Application to decision expected to be less than 1 year
• Reduce cost by c£5 million for nuclear application
• NSIPs often cross local authority boundaries
• Detailed regulations to come (Oct 2009 and Apr 2010)
• Smaller infrastructure projects will continue to be
determined under current arrangements
NSIPs (3)
• Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC):
– NSIP applications will be made to and determined by the IPC
– Will have powers to authorise compulsory purchase of land
– Independent body of experts = non-departmental public body
operating at arms length from government
– Sir Michael Pitt confirmed as chair
– Will be established from October 2009, with an interim body
ahead of that
– Will be based in Bristol
– Won’t be ready to accept applications until April 2010
NSIPs (4)
• National Policy Statements (NPSs)
– Will detail national infrastructure priorities on issues such as
energy, aviation, road and rail transport, water, and waste
– NSIP applications must be determined in accordance with
NPSs
• Cannot challenge the principle of the infrastructure at application
stage if it has been agreed through a National Policy Statement
• Focus when determining applications will therefore be on local
impacts
– May specify locations for some infrastructure as well as
general principles, scale and locational criteria
– Will be subject to public consultation
– Consultation on first NPSs expected in Summer 2009 (nonnuclear energy and ports)
NSIPs (5)
• Pre-application
– Applicant consults with the relevant local authorities, local
communities and other key stakeholders
– Applicant conducts an Environmental Assessment, if required
– Applicant and the relevant local authorities prepare and
publish a statement explaining how the local community will be
consulted after application made
– Regulations will provide more details of minimum consultation
and pre-application requirements (draft published Mar 2009)
• Application
– Local authority must produce a ‘local impact report’
– Likely to require outside assistance
– Who funds it?
NSIPs (6)
• Examination
– IPC considers whether relevant adverse local consequences
outweigh the national interest identified in the NPS
– All interested parties will have the right to be heard
– But may be in an open forum and not to cross-examine
– Extra funding for Planning Aid to assist local communities
– Applications dealt with either by a Panel or a single
commissioner
– Regulations will provide more detail on the examination
procedure
NSIPs (7)
• Decision
– Secretary of State only makes the final decision if the
development is not covered by a National Policy Statement
– SoS can also intervene if significant change in circumstances
since the relevant NPS was published
– Otherwise all decisions made by the IPC not ministers
– Local authorities responsible for enforcement of conditions
– IPC responsible for applications to vary conditions
Community Infrastructure Levy
• Charge on most types of development to help fund
new infrastructure
• Local authorities are empowered but not required to
use it
• Cannot be used until Regulations are in place
– Consultation expected in Summer 2009
– Final version expected 1 October 2009
• Must have an up-to-date development plan
Community Infrastructure Levy (2)
• Charging schedule
– Sets rates and/or other criteria for determining the amount of
CIL to be charged for each type of development
– Must have regard to the expected costs of infrastructure, the
availability of other funding, and economic viability
– Charge calculated at the time planning permission first permits
development
– Payment on commencement?
– Will be subject to consultation and an independent
examination by a planning inspector
– Could be produced sub-regionally
– Regional planning body could seek to call on part of the CIL
Community Infrastructure Levy (3)
• Relationship to ‘planning obligations’ (section 106
agreements)
– Unlike s106, infrastructure funded by CIL does not need to be
directly related to the development paying it
– CIL provides more certainty for developers
– CIL can apply to a wider range of developments, including
single houses
– No requirement to use CIL, so could continue to rely on s106
but narrower scope than CIL
– S106 will continue to be used for affordable housing and sitespecific requirements
– CIL is a requirement, whereas s106 is a negotiation
Other issues
• Allows for the regional planning body to allow the RDA
to exercise any of its regional planning body functions
• Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) no longer
need to be listed in the Local Development Scheme
(LDS) or be subject to a sustainability appraisal
• Statement of Community Involvement no longer needs
to be listed in the LDS or be subject to independent
examination
• RSS and Local Development Documents must:
– Contribute to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate
change
– Have regard to the desirability of achieving good design
Other issues (2)
• Introduces power to make non-material changes to
planning permissions
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Currently treated as ‘working amendments’
Will require a formal application
Approval can be conditioned
Simpler process than amending permission under current
rules, but still needs to be consultation/publicity
– Won’t be implemented before April 2010
– Considering additional legislation relating to minor material
amendments to planning permissions (see Government
response to the Killian-Pretty Review)
Planning and Energy Act 2008
• Allows local authorities to impose reasonable
requirements in their development plans for:
– A % of energy used in development to be from renewable
and/or low carbon energy sources in the locality
– Development to comply with energy efficiency standards that
exceed the energy requirements of building regulations
• Gives legislative backing to approaches already being
trialled by some local authorities
• No requirement to use such an approach
• Must be ‘reasonable’, e.g. economic viability issues
Legal challenge?
• Both NSIP and CIL arrangements could result in a
large number of legal challenges, e.g.
– Human Rights implications of NSIP arrangements
– Process followed for producing NPSs (see for example recent
legal challenge to Heathrow third runway)
– Developers funding local impact reports
– Can CIL be justified if local authority funds available?