GVA’s Birmingham Planning, Development and Regeneration team has warned that only a quarter of Local Authorities in the region are ready to respond to the radical changes proposed in the draft National Planning Policy Framework, which the Government has published for consultation this week. Whilst the consultation process runs until 17th October 2011, the expectation is that the Framework will be adopted as a statement of Government policy before the end of the year.
The Government has been urging Authorities to speed up plan-making and put in place adopted Core Strategies for their areas. But GVA reports that 22 out of the 30 Local Authorities in the West Midlands do not have an adopted Core Strategy, and that the majority of those that are continuing to work on their plans are some considerable way from having an agreed strategy in place. In light of the content of the draft Framework, this lack of progress could prove significant.
At the heart of the Framework is a ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’. This will compel Authorities to grant planning permission for developments that accord with the Government’s policies, if either they do not have an up to date Plan for their area, or they have a plan which is silent or indeterminate on the key issues.
Craig Alsbury, Director in GVA’s Planning, Development and Regeneration team said: “The Government is keen to see the National Planning Policy Framework adopted before the year is out. If it is, there will be a significant number of Authorities in the West Midlands and elsewhere that will be caught by the new presumption and face the risk of receiving a swathe of planning applications that ought to be approved without delay.
“On the face of it, the extent to which these Authorities will be able to control or resist development will be greatly reduced. This should be good news for the development industry, although developers will still need to take care to ensure that they promote schemes that are consistent with the Framework overall.”
The only Local Authorities in the West Midlands which have adopted Core Strategies are Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme, Rugby, the four Black Country Authorities and Telford & Wrekin Council. The remaining 22 – including Birmingham City Council – are still preparing Plans for their areas.
GVA reports that the Government is aware that some of the Authorities that are still trying to grapple with the direction that their local planning policies should take might ignore the ‘presumption’ and continue to reject proposals that are clearly consistent with the drive to facilitate sustainable growth. If this happened, it would almost certainly lead to unnecessary appeals, costs and delays. This would be unfortunate, when what we need now more than ever is positive and proactive planning that delivers results in a timely fashion.
Craig Alsbury added: “What is certain though is that Local Planning Authorities interpret the Framework differently. It is, after all, a document that only summarises the Government’s requirements and is short on detail and definitions. It will be important for all involved in planning and development that the Government ensures that this does not lead to a lack of consistency in decision making and unintended consequences.
“In local policy terms, it will be interesting to see whether the Government’s requirement that Authorities produce Local Plans – instead of Core Strategies – will force those with recently adopted Strategies to think again, or cause additional difficulties for those working towards adoption of their Plans.”
