The Bill seeks to streamline the planning process through several changes, most notably through the introduction of national development management policies under Clause 84. This could make the application of policy more consistent across the country and allow Local Authorities to focus on local issues of importance to their communities. National development management policies will be given enhanced legal status, removing the current need to replicate national planning policy. Preparation of plans will be required to adhere to a new plan-making timetable of 30 months. This is a dramatic reduction in timescale, and it remains to be seen whether this is realistic.  

In seeking to expedite the process, the Bill proposes ‘gateway’ checks ahead of local plan examinations. Supplementary plans will be afforded as much weight as the Local Plan, reducing the ambiguity that can currently arise from the existing status of SPDs. For instance, the weight currently afforded to local design codes is limited and as such, development applications can circumvent the design standards set out within the code. However, the Bill proposes giving the weight of a Local Plan to such design codes and ensure their standards are met consistently across an authority’s locality. 

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) will be repealed and replaced with a framework for a new levy system. However, existing neighbourhood charges within CIL will be retained. The new levy will be set locally, with financial contributions based on the gross value of the property when sold, rather than on floor space. The thresholds of the levy will vary based on the context of a given site, for example, whether the property is positioned on brownfield or greenfield land. These changes could lead to improved flexibility and consistency, but the framework must first be developed through extensive consultation. It is possible to infer contradictions with the ‘levelling-up agenda’ from these changes, as areas with higher property values will secure greater financial contributions.  

Furthermore, the new levy charge will be non-negotiable. To help protect and ensure the validity of levy charges, section 204Q of the Bill will require all Local Authorities to produce an ‘Infrastructure Delivery Strategy’ that sets out how financial assets raised through the levy will be used to provide needed infrastructure in their area. Other implementations of the Bill to improve infrastructure delivery include a new duty on infrastructure providers to actively engage with Local Authorities during the plan-making process. This has the potential to ensure plans are made with full knowledge of realistic implementation capabilities but may also provide infrastructure providers with greater control over the direction of any new local plans. It is possible that this could lead to local authorities having less control over how and why infrastructure is delivered. 

Alongside the consultation period for the framework (expected in the coming months), further information is anticipated soon regarding the change to the levy system and how it will seek to address the inefficiency in current infrastructure delivery with the provision of an ‘Infrastructure Delivery Statement’. Consultation on this framework will enable planning professionals to provide valuable input into its structuring and scheduling.  

Currently, Section 28 of the ‘Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004’ enables two or more Local Authorities to address any cross-boundary issues under the ‘Duty to Cooperate’. The Bill, however, will repeal and replace this duty with a new flexible alignment test. The intention of this change is to provide a more judgement-based system that allows for greater flexibility and collaboration between authorities, rather than the current rigid ‘pass or fail’ approach. Building upon this move towards a greater collaborative planning policy, Schedule 7 of The Bill will allow for the voluntary creation of ‘Joint Spatial Development Strategies’ between Local Authorities. This is noted to include local plans, minerals and waste plans, and supplementary planning documents. This, in addition to the requirement for infrastructure providers to engage with Local Authorities during the plplan-makingrocess,  is a positive step towards the integration of spatial planning and infrastructure development. 

Helping to ensure that new plans produced under this collaborative process are not undermined, the Bill would remove the requirement for Local Authorities to maintain a rolling five-year supply of deliverable land for housing, so long as the plan is ‘up to date’, such as being adopted within the last five years. This will be achieved through an accompanying policy paper to be read alongside the Bill. 

This move to improved collaboration in planning is a clear positive direction for the planning system going forward. It has the potential to increase the consistency of decisions across authorities, resolve contentious issues, and provide greater clarity to organisations as to how their development objectives can be achieved. 

The Bill states that existing EU-generated systems of Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA), Habitats Regulations Assessments (HRA), and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) will be replaced. A ‘clearer and simpler’ process will be introduced for relevant plans and projects such as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), which will be known as ‘Environmental Outcome Reports’ (EOR). The DLUHC has indicated that consultation with SEA and EIA practitioners will be conducted to inform how the new EORs are developed. Given our longstanding experience in this area, LUC is contributing to several expert working groups on the future of assessment processes for plans, programmes and projects. 

All development projects and relevant plans, that fall under the framework set out in Clause 118 of the Bill, will be required to produce an EOR that provides evidence as to how environmental outcomes are met. Such ‘environmental outcomes’ will be set by the Government. It is currently understood that these outcomes will be based on a framework derived from the existing ‘Environment Act’ (2021) and ‘25 Year Environment Plan’ (2018). 

To ensure that environmental standards do not falter under the Bill, the Secretary of State will be required to ensure that the new assessment standards do not lead to a regression from the overall level of protection afforded to the environment by current assessment requirements and international obligations. This duty will include directives to ensure that reforms under the Environment Act are embedded fully within the plan-making process and all forthcoming decisions. Most notably, this includes the duty to secure biodiversity net gain in association with development, and for the preparation of Local Nature Recovery Strategies. It is currently unclear how these changes will impact emerging local plans at an advanced stage of consultation. Hence, clear guidance as to a transitional period is required and details of such are expected to be forthcoming over the next few months. 

The Bill looks to introduce added protection for heritage assets through the implementation of national ‘General Heritage Protection Policies’. This will form part of the general streamlining process of plan-making and has the potential to greatly improve the protection of heritage assets. 

For the first time, there will be a general duty for planning authorities to ensure special regard is given to the preservation or enhancement of affected heritage assets and their significance and setting in planning applications. While these duties have been in place for listed buildings and conservation areas under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, the Bill proposes that these same duties be applied to all designated heritage assets.  

The requirement for special regard would be extended to scheduled monuments, registered battlefields and registered parks and gardens. The outstanding universal value of World Heritage Sites would also be provided for. 

This is particularly important as it places consideration of these assets, and their settings, in the planning process on a statutory footing for the first time. Furthermore, a new statutory duty will be enforced to ensure all Local Authorities appropriately keep and maintain Historic Environment Records (HER). This is a major positive step and has been the subject of lengthy and intense campaigning by the sector for over a decade. This should ensure that all authorities have access to good quality and well-maintained information on the historic environment of their areas. However, there are numerous subtleties that are likely to affect implementation, not least the provision of appropriate funding and the level of charges for access to data. 

The inclusion of Cultural Heritage as a specific receptor in the Environmental Protection provisions, with regard to ‘Environmental Outcome Reports’, is helpful and reassuring. While it places the historic environment on an equal footing to the natural environment, an opportunity for greater joined-up protection and conservation approaches appears to have again been missed (cf. The recent and unhelpful exclusion of heritage from the Environment Act 2021).  

Enhancements are sought for enforcement powers that can be utilised to protect listed buildings. This includes new measures such as the ability to issue temporary stop notices, and allowing ‘Urgent Works Notices’ to be extended to occupied listed buildings. Several changes are being made to aid cost recovery for Local Authorities, with urgent work referenced above being proposed to be charged as a ‘Local Land Charge’. Furthermore, compensation liability that is currently required to be paid by Local Authorities following financial damage caused directly by an enforced ‘Building Protection Notice’ will be removed.  

The Bill’s journey through Parliament has only just begun and is expected to last until Spring 2023. Between now and then, consultation on the Bill and the specifics of its contents will be paramount to ensuring the positives of the announced amendments to the UK’s planning system are implemented effectively. This includes in-depth consultation regarding the new system of Environmental Outcomes Reports. DLUHC wishes to ensure a user-centred approach; using consultation to develop the new system’s core elements. 

Further consultation will take place on several changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to improve environmental outcomes and protect the historic environment while amending the NPPF to be consistent and complementary with the Bill. The changes brought forward through the Bill will also lead to further enhancements to planning, including a government aim for the full digitisation of planning systems. 

However, until the Bill works its way through Parliament, for now it remains ‘business as usual’. LUC, like others, will continue to keep a close watch over the development of the Bill, placing us in the best possible position to advise and support our clients now and in the future. You can follow the Bill’s journey through Parliament via the following link: https://linktr.ee/lurbplanning 

Please contact our Board Director for Planning, Philip Smith, if you wish to discuss the implications of the Bill.