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Localism Bill continues its progress through Parliament

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has announced the dates that the Report Stage and Third Reading for the Localism Bill will take place in the House of Commons, the final steps prior to it passing to the House of Lords.

The Report Stage - at which MPs will have an opportunity to consider further amendments to the Bill - will take place on the 17^th and 18^th of May, with the Third Reading happening immediately after.

Although - as the name suggests - the Report Stage is primarily an opportunity to report back to the House the changes that were made during the Committee Stage, there will also be a chance to consider further amendments that have been tabled since then.

The Third Reading provides a general debate on the Bill and a vote, though as the main principles of the Bill were discussed during the Second Reading in January and the Government has a sizeable majority it is unlikely that it will not pass.

The Bill will then move on to the House of Lords, where the process will be repeated.

Since the Committee Stage, 25 further amendments have been tabled, including:

• Amendments to the referendum ‘trigger' from 5% of the electorate to 2.5%;
• Allowing businesses to join neighbourhood forums;
• Creating a test of competence for neighbourhood forum creation;
• Creating a test of cross-community representation for neighbourhood forum creation;
• Amending the minimum size of neighbourhood forums from three people to 12;
• Introducing a community right of appeal against the granting of planning permission that goes against the development plan; and
• Preventing appeals against refusal of planning permission for a housing development.

There have also been further efforts to ensure the presumption in favour of sustainable development - expected to be included in the forthcoming National Planning Policy Framework - is linked to the Bill, with amendments proposed requiring the Government to define sustainable development within six months and to introduce a definition of sustainable development as the purpose of planning.

The DCLG has also announced further consultations due to take place in the coming months, including a consultation on how best to apply the local referendums regime to parishes, a consultation on the detail of draft regulations to implement reforms to the Community Infrastructure Levy, and a consultation on the draft directions to the Social Housing Register.

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