The Local Government Association has issued a detailed response to the Government’s NPPF’s consultation, arguing a one-size-fits-all approach will never work in a system that involves such diverse planning issues.
The LGA is calling for the Government to take urgent action and work with the development and housebuilding industry to ensure there is a suitable pipeline of sustainable sites, which once allocated in a Local Plan or given planning permission, are indeed built out.
Local authorities must be given greater powers to ensure prompt build out of sites with planning permission and we urge the Government to come forward with the outcomes of two consultations from last year regarding build out.
Councils should not be subject to punitive measures, regarding the delivery of housing, which undermine the plan-led system including the 5-year housing land supply test and the Housing Delivery Test.
A standardised approach does not account for the diversity across local planning authorities, and it is essential that councils retain the ability to tailor decision-making processes to reflect the specific needs of their communities. The LGA has reservations about separate Government proposal outside the NPPF that would impose a national scheme of delegation, undermining this local role.
This huge shake up comes just as councils are undergoing massive upheavals of their own structures through reorganisation and as a new tier of strategic authorities – which will need immediate work on their own spatial development plans – is created above them. Government must recognise exactly what it is asking of councils and planning teams here and ensure the resources and support are there to manage this seismic shift.
Cllr Tom Hunt, Chair of the LGA’s Inclusive Growth Committee, said: “These proposals represent a huge shake up to planning policy and we recognise the Government’s pledge to deliver more homes, better integrated with infrastructure and connected to jobs and amenities. However, to succeed, local government and its views must remain at the heart of planning and delivery.
“Planning is about shaping the future, creating places and communities that work, building homes, linking with economic activity and public services, conserving and improving the natural and built environment, and ensuring the right decisions are made on issues that matter to residents. Councils must retain the ability to tailor decision-making processes and policies to reflect the specific needs and ambitions of their communities. The involvement of councillors, as the elected representatives of local people, in planning decisions is the backbone of the English planning system. “
“Councils need to be given the powers to ensure sites with planning permission are built out promptly, because our residents and communities do not and cannot live in planning permissions”
