Government confirms new deadlines for neighbourhood plan decisions

As part of its 'technical consultation on planning' in the late summer of 2014, the government sought views on a proposal to impose a 10-week time limit on councils to determine applications to designate an area for the introduction of a neighbourhood plan. In a response to the consultation (21-page / 417 KB PDF), published last week, the government confirmed that it intended to introduce time limits, but that these would range from eight weeks to 20 weeks, depending on the complexity of an application.

For applications seeking the designation of an area following parish boundaries, the government said it intended to introduce an eight-week time limit for local authorities to make a decision. Where applications included the areas of more than one local authority, the time limit would be extended to 20 weeks under the government's plans. For all other applications, a 13-week time limit would apply.

The government said that the relevant time period for each type of application would "run from the date immediately following that on which the application is first publicised".  The response also said the government intended to hold a further consultation on whether neighbourhood areas would be automatically designated where a council failed to make a decision within the specified time limit.

The document confirmed that neighbourhood planning groups would be required to provide environmental information with any neighbourhood plan proposal. Applicants would have to submit a statement of reasons, an environmental report or an explanation of why the European Union's strategic environmental assessment directive did not apply, in what the government said was not a change from requirements under existing regulations.

Several reforms proposed in the 2014 consultation would not, however, be carried forward, the government confirmed. The government said it would not remove the existing requirement for applicants to publicise and consult on plans for six weeks prior to submission. It also said it would drop plans to require consultation with certain landowners and to introduce a standard against which to test the adequacy of the consultation process.

"We're seeing a genuine neighbourhood planning movement, with communities in almost two-thirds of local authorities already using these powers to shape what gets built where in their local area," said housing and planning minister Brandon Lewis in a statement.

"Today's measures will speed up the process, making it quicker and easier to get a neighbourhood plan together so that the views of local people are written clearly in black and white for developers and councils to see, and ensure that future development in those areas delivers the homes communities want to see," said Lewis.