Planning White Paper
Despite The House of Commons Briefing Paper suggesting that the Government is “still analysing the feedback received during the consultation” following last years Planning White Paper, the Queen in her speech earlier today acknowledged that changes would be brought forward through primary and secondary legislation this year.
Planning Bill
A planning bill is proposed to relax controls in England and help build more homes, regardless of recent articles acknowledging Council Chief’s assertions that there are 1.1million homes with planning permission, yet to be built.
One opportunity for secondary legislation might be to introduce more powers on local planning authorities to incentivise developers and landowners to actually deliver these homes.
Another option might be to simplify CPO procedures, to make it a more readily exercisable option to local authorities.
S106 (aka Planning Obligations/Agreements)
Surely, if feedback on the White Paper is properly considered and taken into account then plans for scraping S106 agreements will not come to fruition. Although one can imagine some streamlining or further tweaking of what these types of agreement can include. A single infrastructure levy seems unworkable, but I stand to be proven wrong once the legislation is published.
Relaxed planning
Zoning, freeports and design codes are all still in the running – but still subject to the details being confirmed and published!
Green Energy
The requirement to invest in green energy was made clear, with a commitment towards Net-Zero greenhouse gas by 2050. This can have come as no surprise in the wake of a coroner in Southwark finding air pollution at direct fault for the death of nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah last year. Although the Environment Bill will introduce new legally binding targets (previously agreed targets are based on EU legislation) it is likely that the present draft bill will need strengthening if we are to stand any chance of meeting these ambitious targets.
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts
Section 59(6) of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (in its current draft) abolishes the common law offence of public nuisance. Instead introducing a statutory offence of ‘intentionally and recklessly causing a public nuisance’, which carries a prison sentence, or fine, or both. It also gives police in England and Wales more powers to curtail protests, introducing the ability to impose conditions on one-person protests. The wording of the bill and mention of noise and disturbance from protests and assembly of people suggests that the ‘right to peaceful protest’ will remain, in very stark contrast to the offences now introduced to prevent noisy protests!
Building Safety Bill
Last reviews of the Building Safety Bill included comments about the lack of detail requiring secondary legislation. So even before it is introduced (which is expected shortly; August 2021 if we can believe proposed timings) we should expect details in relation to its compliance and application to be explained in secondary legislation to follow. It is suggested that irrespective of this legislation not likely to come into force until 2024, Accountable Persons and Building Safety Managers should take seek to meet the bill now. This is unlikely to assist anyone in an existing residential building struggling to ascertain who is responsible for ensuring compliance with fire safety issues now, particular where it not clear who is the Accountable Person or Building Safety Manager.
One step closer, but seemingly still several stages behind getting the real detail to the proposed radical reform of planning.
If you want to discuss anything in relation to this article or to the legalities around planning, environmental or highways then feel free to contact Pamela Chesterman. Interesting times lie ahead, that is for sure!
Pamela can be reached on 0151 958 0057 or by emailing pamela@prosperitylaw.com.
