Planning And Compulsory Purchase Bill Published

The Government on 4 December published its long awaited Bill to reform planning and compulsory purchase law in England and Wales.

Both a green paper in December 2001 and a special policy document in July of this year heralded the Bill.

The Bill is 90 articles and 76 pages long. It does not form a new planning law code. Instead, the Bill inserts provisions in to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, or reserves powers for the Secretary of State to make Regulations to amend existing practice. Some fundamental changes to the system are proposed, despite the Government using the framework of the existing planning code to effect its reforms. Much of the detail of the reform is left to secondary legislation.

Some significant proposals do not feature in the Bill. It had already been announced by the Government that the controversial proposal to impose planning tariffs would not be the subject of legislation, although revised guidance on planning obligations is expected to be published shortly. The proposals on major infrastructure projects are also much reduced in the scale of their changes than were first proposed.

The expected wholesale codification of CPO law is not included, with the Bill providing only for uplift on compensation to reflect the fact that an acquisition is compulsory; as well as clarification of the ambit of the powers of local planning authorities in promoting CPOs. Perhaps the reform of this notoriously complex area of law was too ambitious to hold up a piece of legislation that is clearly on the Government's fast track. The Government states that the current report of the Law Commission on CPO law and procedure is awaited before more wholesale reform to CPO law is attempted.

The key provisions of the Bill are:

• A statutory purpose of planning. This is perhaps not as all-embracing as might have been expected. It requires that those having policy making functions within the system carry out their functions "with a view to contributing to the achievement of sustainable development";
• A Statement of Development Principles will be available as an alternative to outline planning permission. This will be a material consideration for any subsequent determination of an application for during the lifetime of the Statement. An application for permission submitted with the benefit of such a statement must be for a full permission. Further detail will be provided in secondary legislation and it is possible the Government may in due course abolish the outline permission process;
• Business planning zones and further guidance on simplified planning zones are seen as ways of allowing environmentally- and development framework-friendly proposals within designated areas proceeding more swiftly through the system;
• The end of "twin-tracking" applications - the practice whereby an applicant submits identical proposals, allowing one to be appealed on non-determination whilst keeping the second "live" for the local planning authority to determine. Local planning authorities will be able to decline to consider subsequent "similar" applications;
• Repeat applications may be declined to be determined by a local planning authority if a "similar application" was refused in the previous two years;
• Standardised application forms will be prescribed by secondary legislation;
• The presumed life of a permission will be limited to three years rather than five;
• The extension of time limits for development on outline permissions by the issue of a section 73 consent will no longer be allowed;
• Statutory consultees will be required to respond to pre-application consultations within a time period prescribed by the Secretary of State;
• Local planning authorities may by secondary legislation be given the power to charge for the exercise of their planning functions – not just for applications for permission and similar applications;
• Local planning authorities will not immediately lose jurisdiction upon a non-determination appeal being made. Instead they will have a short time in which to consider whether or not to grant permission;
• The Secretary of State will set a timetable for call in inquiries and appeals;
• Errors of fact in Secretary of State (and inspectors') decision letters may be corrected in certain circumstances;
• Regional spatial strategies will replace county structure plans. The spatial strategies will be the responsibility of regional chambers, but later will be the responsibility of the proposed regional assemblies where created;
• Local planning authorities will be required to prepare statements of community involvement indicating how people will be involved in drawing up future plans and considering specific sites;
• The proposals for local development frameworks are to an extent fleshed out. Local development documents (described in and prepared in accordance with the authority's local development scheme) will replace the existing local plan system. They will include the authority's statement of community involvement;
• CPOs for planning purposes may be promoted for the economic social or environmental benefit of a local authority's area. This is seen by the Government as providing greater clarity of CPO powers, particularly in relation to "regeneration" CPOs;
• Compensation for compulsory purchase will include a "loss payment" of 7.5% (plus an additional 2.5% for occupiers) up to a maximum loss payment of £75,000 for any interest or £100,000 for occupiers. This would be excluded for those persons whose property was the subject of a notice served under planning or housing legislation for having not adequately maintained their property; or whose property was the subject of a repairs notice served under the Listed Buildings Regime.

The Government hopes the Second Reading of the Bill will occur before the Christmas Recess.

A series of Law-Now releases over the next few weeks will concentrate on specific areas of reform. We will also issue updates on the Bill's progress through Parliament.

Should you require any further information on the Bill or on any aspect of Planning and CPO Law please contact Chris Williams on +44 (0)20 7367 3571, or at [email protected] or Richard Guyatt on +44 (0)20 7367 3545, or at [email protected].