In a nutshell: the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act

Background

The first new Planning Act for more than a decade is a record-breaker: it took over 18 months to negotiate its passage through the Palace of Westminster and required special dispensation to be carried over from one Parliamentary session to another.

The Bill was introduced in the House of Commons in December 2002. It was re-committed to Commons Committee to allow the inclusion of significant new material relating to the removal of crown immunity and compulsory purchase and carried over to the current session.

It received Royal Assent on 13 May 2004.

The Act will come into force via a commencement order two months after Royal Assent.

In other words, the legislation will formally kick in mid-July.

Regulations implementing the parts of the Act reforming development plans will come into force shortly afterwards.

The remaining sections of the Act will be implemented by further regulations and development orders over the next 12 months.

View the full text of the Act here.

The measures at a glance

The legislation, stress ministers, is designed to pave the way for a more flexible and responsive planning system for England and Wales (as well as introducing a new set of acronyms!).

In a nutshell the Act:

• introduces what the government believes is a simpler and more flexible plan making system at regional and local level;
• increases the effectiveness and quality of community involvement at regional and local level and enables the provision of financial assistance to Planning Aid;
• improves the development control process by introducing powers for standard application forms and new provisions which change the duration of planning permissions and consents as well as allowing local planning authorities (LPAs) to bring in local permitted development rights via so-called local development orders.;
• speeds up the handling of major infrastructure projects (i.e. airports, power stations, major new energy transmission networks) by allowing the different elements of inquiries to be heard concurrently rather than consecutively;
• removes the crown’s immunity from planning processes; and
• makes the compulsory purchase regime simpler, fairer and quicker to support policies on investment in major infrastructure and on regeneration.

A new-look development plan system

Parts 1 and 2 of the Act contain the measures which change the face of development plan-making in England, in the process consigning old-style structure plans to history.

Moving to the new plan-making regime will be a major challenge for LPAs and professional planners.

The new elements are:

• Each region will have a regional spatial strategy (RSS).
• Existing regional planning guidance (RPG) where appropriate will become the relevant RSS.
• Regional Planning Bodies (RPBs, which may be elected regional assemblies) must keep the RSS under review and monitor its implementation.
• The RPB will be expected to take advice from county councils and other bodies with strategic planning expertise about preparing draft revisions of RSS as well as their monitoring and implementation.
• The RPB must prepare a draft revision of the RSS when necessary or expedient or when proscribed.
• Housing allocations will be settled at this strategic level (as well as in sub-regional plans where these are felt to be appropriate).
• There will be public involvement in the preparation of the RSS.

Below the RSS level there will be a new-look local plan regime (this is not being mirrored in Wales).

LPAs will prepare so-called local development documents (LDDs). These will effectively replace local plans, unitary development plans and structure plans.

Each LPA must prepare and maintain a local development scheme. County councils where there is a district council (as opposed to a unitary authority) will have to prepare and maintain a minerals and waste development scheme.

These schemes will set out what LDDs the LPA will prepare, along with their timetable and whether they are to be prepared jointly with one or more other authorities.

County Councils may be losing structure plans but they will be able to participate in the preparation of LDDs concerning matters other than minerals or waste by becoming part of a joint committee with one or more LPA.

LDDs must be in general conformity with the RSS (or in the capital the spatial development strategy for London).

Part 2 of the Act, where all this is set out, makes general provision for the preparation, withdrawal, adoption and approval of LDDs and the examination of development plan documents.

The government has decided that the inspector’s decision after such public examinations will be binding at present inspector’s reports are only recommendations).

There will be a transitional phase as the new development plan regime shapes up.

Councils with recently approved and clearly up-to-date unitary and local plans will be able to argue a case with their Regional Offices that these plans do not need to be superseded by the new regime immediately.

Part 3 of the Act updates the definition of the development plan to take account of the changes to the planning system made by the Act. including the new formal requirement in the legislation that plan-makers have a duty to exercise their functions with a view to contributing to the achievement of sustainable development.

Development Control

Part 4 of the Act introduces a series of development control measures. LPAs will be able to introduce local permitted development rights by way of local development orders.

The Secretary of State will be able to make development orders and regulations prescribing the procedures for making applications for permission and certain consents.

The SoS will have powers to prescribe fees and charges and set timetables for ‘call-ins’ and recovered appeals.

This section also allows LPAs to decline to determine applications. The duration of planning permissions and consents is also covered here.

In addition, this part of the Act details changes in the way major infrastructure schemas are handled and allows the SoS to direct that a particular project is referred to him rather than dealt with by the LPA.

This section is also where you will find the new powers in respect of mezzanine floors, temporary stop notices as well as the possibility of replacing the s106 regime with a form of planning tariff.

The latter won’t be enacted for some months while the detail of the scheme is agreed with interested parties.

It may not come into force, anyway, until next year when the government is due to decide whether it agrees with Kate Barker’s alternative formula involving a form of development tax.

Finally (but not exhaustively) this section makes new provisions for simplified planning zones (SPZs) though ministers are resigned to the fact that there is unlikely to be a rash of SPZs.

Error correction

Part 5 of the Act allows the SoS or planning inspectors to correct errors contained in decision letters or where a decision document is issued which contains a correctable error.

These provisions are subject to various conditions.

Reform of the Welsh development plan system

Part 6 of the Act reforms the Welsh development plan system.

The basic pattern of the existing regime will be retained (unlike in England) but the plans themselves will be simpler, more concise than the present unitary development plans.

These local plans will focus on objectives for the use and development of land and will include general policies (with scope for more detailed policies in key localities).

Plan making procedures will be simplified and public participation increased. These local plans will be required to have regard to the national spatial plan for Wales.

Crown Immunity

Part 7 ends Crown Immunity in the planning system and makes special provision in relation to certain planning applications by or on behalf of the Crown and in respect of planning control in relation to the Crown in England, Wales and Scotland.

Compulsory Purchase

Part 8 contains a series of measures to reform the existing regime and make it easier for LPAs, joint planning boards and National Park authorities to make a case for CPOs where it will be of economic, social or environmental benefit to the area.

This section also brings in amended procedures for carrying out CPOs, including a widening of the category of person with an interest in the land who can object.

This section also deals with ownership issues and compensation.

And finally…

Part 9 of the Act deals with miscellaneous and general issues.

All change

The measures were tidied up and amended in a number of ways since the original Bill began life in the House of Lords. The main changes:

• give more influence to county councils (through changes to Clause 4) and the public (regional public participation statements);
• retain outline planning permissions (the development industry was very unhappy at the potential end of that aspect of development control);
• drop the proposal for so-called Statements of Development Principles (SDP)
• strengthen the sustainable development clause;
• require the standard application form provisions to have access and design statements in appropriate circumstances;
• introduce enabling provisions to deal with the vexed issue of mezzanine floors;
• require reasons for substantive decisions;
• amend the major infrastructure provisions to require an economic impact report;
• allow for temporary stop notices; and
• provide for appeals on second applications.

Next steps

For ministers, developers, the public, councils and the planning profession what counts now is how the new regimes set out in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 work out in practice.

Critics have suggested the legislation could made the planning system overly complicated and less democratic.

However, ministers deny this and insist the legislation will mean a new system to 'make better plans and make better planning decisions more quickly'.

Roger Milne

Liz Cochrane

20th May 2004

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