Winchester T: 01962 893 893 F: 01962 893 883
London T: 020 7812 6490 F: 020 7812 6677
info@remarkable-engagement.co.uk
Find out more about Localism visit localism-agenda.com
Winchester T: 01962 893 893 F: 01962 893 883
London T: 020 7812 6490 F: 020 7812 6677
info@remarkable-engagement.co.uk
Find out more about Localism visit localism-agenda.com
After several false starts, the Localism Bill was finally published by Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for the Department of Communities and Local Government, on Tuesday, following weeks of speculation and delay.
Introducing the Bill, Mr Pickles wrote:
"The legislation will set the foundations for the big society by radically transforming the relationships between central government, local government, communities and individuals. The provisions will devolve greater power and freedoms to councils and neighbourhoods, establish powerful new rights for communities, revolutionise the planning system, and give communities much more control over housing decisions.
"The Bill also contains significant reform of the planning system. It will replace the Infrastructure Planning Commission with an efficient and democratically accountable system for major infrastructure. It will enable regional planning to be swept away and, in its place, neighbourhood plans will become the new building blocks of the planning system with communities having the power to grant planning permission if a majority of electors are in favour."
The Bill contained few surprises as many of its provisions have been trailed over the past few months. Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs) will be disbanded; once the Bill is enacted it will override CALA Homes' recent High Court win.
Parish and town councils and community groups will be given the power to create local neighbourhood plans and, in certain circumstances, the power to approve planning applications, if they first apply to the district or borough council for a neighbourhood development order.
Furthermore planning inspectors will no longer have the power to impose binding recommendations on Core Strategies and development plans. They are able to suggest amendments, but local authorities will be under no obligation to amend them.
Greg Clark, the Decentralisation Minister, said: "Communities should have the freedom to manage their affairs in their own way and be empowered, not suppressed, by government. The Bill will allow local people to shape and influence the places where they live."
Councillors will be free from the shackles of predetermination; once the Bill is enacted, all members, irrespective of their positions on planning and development control committees, will be able to comment on planning applications without losing the right to vote. The detail of both is set out in the schedules to the Bill.
Community consultation will become a statutory obligation once the Bill is enacted. Chapter four of the planning section sets out the obligations developers will be under, which includes publicising ‘the proposed application in such manner as the person reasonably considers is likely to bring the proposed application to the attention of a majority of the persons who live at, or otherwise occupy, premises in the vicinity of the land.'
Under section 61X of that section, applicants will be required to ‘have regard to any responses to the consultation that the person has received'. Applicants will be expected to set out the timeline for consultation, and upon submitting an application set out how they have complied with the obligation, what responses they have received, and how they have taken account of those responses.
The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) will be expected to go towards the area affected by the development. Whilst it will be paid to the authority determining the application, or the ‘charging authority', there is a provision enabling it to be passed another authority, for example a town or parish council. The Bill also makes clear the CIL can be used towards the ongoing costs of infrastructure, or towards the initial costs of provision.
Each authority will be expected to prepare a charging schedule for the levy, which would be subject to examination.
On a national level, the Infrastructure Planning Commission will be disbanded, with its powers passing to the secretary of state. The measure was a manifesto commitment of both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. Nation policy statements, the blueprints for future infrastructure, will be approved by parliament, minimising the risk of judicial review.
Reacting to the Bill, Kate Henderson, chief executive of the Town and Planning Association, said:
"Collaborative neighbourhood planning, so that more people can be involved in the process of shaping the places in which they live and work, is an opportunity to be grasped. However the TCPA recognises that implementing such an ideal to be a meaningful choice will require communities to have intellectual as well as financial support.
"A revised planning system, truly fit for purpose, must offer a strong mechanism for planning for large areas where strategic issues are too big in scale or timeframe to be resolved within a single local authority planning area; for example a new train line, climate change adaptation measures such as a strategic response to flooding, or large scale housing growth. The duty to cooperate to encourage and enable local authorities and public bodies to come together on issues that cross local government boundaries, offers the potential for a strategic planning framework in large areas where collaborative strategies are needed. However, co-operation once embarked upon will need to be monitored and mechanisms for mediation between partners will also have to be made available if necessary."
Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, said: "The localism proposals provide a real chance for people to develop their communities for the better and house builders will work with them to build the homes communities and families want. More homes will mean more money for local facilities and services and will enable young people to live in the
communities where they grew up.
"The government and councils need to join us in educating communities of the severity of the
housing crisis and the benefits of new homes."
The Bill will now begin its passage through Parliament. No dates have yet been announced for when it will be debated, but it is not expected to be granted Royal Assent until mid to late 2011 at the earliest.
You are here: Home / Localism Bill finally published