Housing and Planning Bill published
The Housing and Planning Bill 2015-16 had its first reading in the House of Commons this week and, as anticipated, the planning system is again the target of some fairly radical changes aimed at speeding up the delivery of new homes to help the Government meet its ambitious target of building one million homes by 2020. Amongst the key provisions are new measures allowing automatic planning permission on allocated brownfield land, a new legal duty on local authorities to provide Starter Homes and a requirement that Local Plans are in place by 2017.
Brownfield Sites – The Bill will enable local authorities or neighbourhood groups to grant ‘planning permission in principle’ for housing sites at the point when a site is allocated in an adopted local, neighbourhood plan or placed on a local brownfield register. Further legislation will follow setting out the ‘type and scope’ of development for which this permission will be granted, but at the moment the Government intends to limit it to minor housing developments of fewer than 10 units. The Bill confirms that the permission in principle cannot be granted subject to any conditions, and instead, an application for ‘technical details consent’ will be required – at which point, appropriate conditions may be attached. Consultation will take place on what will constitute the ‘technical details consent’ in due course.
Starter Homes – The Bill includes provisions which require local authorities to ‘actively promote’ the development of Starter Homes – properties available to first time buyers aged under 40 at a discount of 20% below market rates. As well as a general duty to promote the supply of Starter Homes through the local plan process, the duty will also apply to decisions on planning applications to ensure that they become a ‘common feature’ of new residential developments across England. New regulations will be brought into force so that local authorities will only be able to grant planning permission for certain residential developments if specified requirements relating to Starter Homes are met.
The Bill follows a separate announcement by David Cameron last week confirming that Starter Homes will be included in the affordable housing definition – meaning that, for the first time, developers have the option of providing low-cost housing for sale as part of their affordable housing obligation rather than just rent as was previously the case. The Bill confirms that regulations ‘could include provision of a particular number or proportion of Starter Homes on site or the payment of a commuted sum to the local planning authority for the provision of Starter Homes’.
Self-Builds – From March 2016, the Government is bringing into force a requirement for local authorities to compile a register of persons seeking to acquire land to build or commission their own home, and for regard to be given to the register in decision making. The Housing Bill now takes this further by requiring local authorities to ensure that there are a sufficient number of plots to meet the demand of their local register. Interestingly, a clause in the Bill allows local authorities to apply for an exemption from this duty.
Local Plans – New provisions are introduced to ensure that all local authorities get Local Plans in place by 2017. The Bill introduces powers to allow ‘targeted and proportionate intervention’ by the Secretary of State which is aimed at ensuring ‘the majority of local decisions to remain at the lowest appropriate level whilst ensuring a local plan is in place’. It will be interesting to see whether this new pressure on local authorities will indeed speed up the efficiency of their plan making, or result in the production of rushed plans which are ultimately found to be unsound.
Neighbourhood Plans – The Bill introduces new provisions intended to speed up the neighbourhood planning process which, on average, currently take two years to complete. New measures include powers to allow the Secretary of State to intervene to prescribe time limits for local authorities to decide whether to hold a referendum on a neighbourhood plan. Should a local authority fail to make this decision within the time limit, the new powers also allow the Secretary of State to intervene on the decision to send the plan to referendum. A new clause is also introduced allowing neighbourhood forums to request notification of planning applications in their area in an attempt to enable them to participle more effectively in local planning and ‘promote appropriate new development’.
Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects – Changes are introduced to allow developers to include an element of housing as part of their application for consent for an infrastructure project of national significance.
Planning Performance Regime – As is already the case with planning applications for major development, the Bill will extend the planning performance regime to allow smaller, non-major applications to be submitted to and decided by the Planning Inspectorate where the local authority has a track record of very poor performance in the speed or quality of its decision-making.
Office-to-Residential Use – The Bill was published on the same day that Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis confirmed that temporary permitted development rights introduced in May 2013, which allow office premises to covert to residential use without having to apply for full planning permission, will be made permanent. In addition to the PD rights being made permanent, those who already have permission will have three years in which to complete the change of use – ‘ending potential uncertainty for developers and enabling the development of much needed homes’.
Mr Lewis also announced that the rights will in future allow the demolition of office buildings and new building for residential use – a move which will broaden the scope of the PD rights to include many more underused office buildings, not just those capable of being converted to housing. In addition, new permitted development rights will enable the change of use of light industrial buildings and launderettes to new homes.
The emphasis of the Bill is certainly on speed, and improving the efficiency of the planning system is seen as a key element in delivering large numbers of new homes fast. As the Bill is debated on its way through Parliament over the coming months, the Government will have the difficult job of convincing everyone that these changes are not only the best way to quickly increase housing supply, but that the changes can be implemented without compromising the quality of housing or indeed the quality of decision making.
If you have any queries about the Housing and Planning Bill or the announcements relating to office to residential use, please feel free to contact one of the Firstplan team.