Permission in principle to be restricted to 'housing-led development'

Provisions of the Bill will enable the communities secretary to make regulations granting PiP for the development of land allocated in "a qualifying document". The government has previously said qualifying documents will include local plans, neighbourhood plans and the new statutory register of brownfield land suitable for housing development.

At a meeting of the Housing and Planning Bill committee last week, Lewis said such development must be housing-led in order to qualify for PiP. However, he said secondary legislation to be brought forward by the government will allow for mixed-uses to be included on housing-led developments. Lewis said:  "as long as a site allocation includes residential development, local authorities will be able to grant PiP for other uses."

The minister explained that the communities secretary will "have no direct role in choosing which sites to grant PiP to". He said the communities secretary's role will be to make development orders providing for PiP to be granted by certain types of document and to "maintain oversight of how the PiP system will work, including issuing statutory guidance".

Lewis said flexibility will be built into the PiP process, to allow documents granting permission to be amended without permission lapsing. He confirmed that the government does not intend a PiP to exist in perpetuity and that a "sensible duration" will be set out in secondary legislation following a consultation that will commence "shortly". The minister said the consultation would also cover "procedural matters" such as the process to be followed by councils when granting PiP.

Planning expert Ben Mansell of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "The news that PiP is being aimed at the housing industry will be welcomed by housebuilders. In theory, PiP should remove the risk for housebuilders that a proposal is refused on grounds of the site being unsuitable. It should also save costs on rejected planning applications."

"However, PiP is a long term measure. There are no 'qualifying documents' currently; the brownfield land statutory register has yet to be released and PiP can only be allocated in future local plans or neighbourhood plans. It cannot be applied retrospectively. Nevertheless, the government estimates that once PiP has been established, it could lead to permission for up to 7,000 developments each year," said Mansell.