Overhaul of call-in policy mooted

The Government has proposed major changes in its policy on "call-in" directions which could result in a significant reduction in Secretary of State involvement in planning casework.

At present of the 650,000 planning applications submitted annually in England less than 0.01 per cent is called in for decision by the SoS.

Now ministers want to reduce the number of planning applications automatically referred to Government for consideration of whether they should be 'called in' for ministerial decision, ensuring that the thresholds for notifications are set at the appropriate level and by consolidating all remaining directions into a single direction.

Among the directions highlighted for potential elimination are those where a retail scheme of gross shopping floor space of 20,000 square metres is concerned and the one relating to residential schemes of more than 150 houses and flats.

Also proposed to be dropped is the present stricture on development proposals for land belonging to the local planning authority or development of any land by an LPA.

"This requirement has led to large numbers of minor referrals, very few of which are ultimately called in," stated the consultation document.

Ministers want to confine call-in directions to just three requirements – all in line with current provisions - covering playing fields, Green Belt and flooding. The Government also wants to include town centres and heritage cases and has proposed new requirements to cover these two further categories.

The resulting reduction in workload should then enable Government Offices to spend more time on the complex cases, which in terms of decision making, tend to be finely balanced and therefore time consuming.

The Government has stressed that the changes can be effected without the need for either primary or secondary legislation. The revised call-in regime won't be implemented before April at the earliest, the Department for Communities and Local Government has signalled.

Download the consultation document (PDF, 213KB)

Roger Milne

10 January 2008