Industry Buoyed by Prospect of 10-Week Planning Service

THE INDUSTRY has welcomed the prospect of a 10-week planning service proposed by government.

Tradespeople welcomed the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) consultation earlier this year on speeding up the planning permission process.

The National Planning Policy Framework consultation proposals overhauling local planning include:

• An Accelerated Planning Service for major commercial applications with faster decision dates of 10 weeks with fee refunds for overshoot failures.
• Ending time extensions for householder applications and allowing one only extension for other developments.
• Expanding simplified appeals process beyond householder and minor commercial appeals to more complex cases.
• Implementing section 73B for applications to vary planning permissions and the treatment of overlapping permissions.

10-Week Planning Service

The government proposals follow a Guild of Master Craftsmen (GMC) survey, showing its members are facing significant problems with planning. They have seen huge reductions in the number of approved applications, more extension delays from local planning authorities, inconsistent rulings and a backlog of applications.

One GMC member, Andrew Guppy, at The Classic Barn Company, said he had “noticed a huge increase in refusals”. From achieving a 95% success rate in planning applications two years ago, the company now gets “below 50%” approved.

Andrew Guppy added that the determination date when a decision is expected to be made on an application has not been met by the local planning authority “in over two years”.

He described a recent example: “The local planning authority always asks for an extension and this time, one was requested 24 hours before the deadline. This was despite us making numerous attempts to open dialogue prior to the deadline, but there was zero response.

“Then, 24 hours before the end of the extension, the application was rejected, again, with no avenue of communication and no ability to improve or work on changes. We had no choice but to start the whole process again.”

Underfunding, inadequate staff training and numbers were identified as causes for local planning failures.

Rachel Reeves announced £46 million for local authorities planning officers in the Budget. However, some in industry have responded that it is too little and will have limited impact.

Architect Haydn Jones, at The Guild of Master Craftsmen adds, “There are no immediate changes which will reduce the backlog in the planning process and the announcements will take some time to hopefully improve the situation.

“But those in the construction industry should also be aware of a more pressing issue – many local authorities are now failing planning applications without any recourse to revise a scheme, if such applications have not been submitted initially for pre-application advice.”

The government response to the National Planning Policy Framework consultation is expected by the end of the year.

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