Tax & Accounting News

Planning System Sees Major Changes

25/06/2010

The new government has announced major changes to the planning system in England, in line with pledges made by the Conservatives in the run-up to the election.

Planning at a regional level is to be abolished, and with it the housing targets imposed on local councils by regional planning bodies. In future, housing targets will be set out by the local authorities themselves, but details of how this will be done are yet to be announced.

The government has written to local authorities in England stating that the abolition of regional planning will happen ‘rapidly’, and this should be borne in mind when taking decisions. However, this has been interpreted differently in different areas, with some authorities continuing as they were until they hear otherwise and others delaying major strategic decisions until they have more clarification from the government.

The government has also published updated national policy guidelines on housing, including measures to outlaw ‘garden grabbing’ where homes are built in existing properties’ gardens, the removal of minimum housing densities and an end to the assumption that ‘previously developed’ land is necessarily suitable for new housing.

It remains to be seen how these changes will pan out, but it is likely that the overall effect will be that local authorities will end up with greater powers to resist new housing developments, which may provide an incentive for developers to bring forward any proposals so they are heard by authorities sooner rather than later.

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