The Bill sets out provisions to allow planning applications to be made directly to the Secretary of State (SoS) rather than to the local authority if the local authority has been "designated" by the SoS. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said in its notes (4-page / 43KB PDF) on the Bill that this would allow "applicants to opt for major applications to be swiftly decided by the Planning Inspectorate where councils have a very poor record in deciding applications".
The Bill further widens the scope for renegotiating affordable housing requirements made by section 106 agreements. Applications may be made to the local authority to modify, replace or remove such requirements where it "means that the development is not economically viable" and the local authority must deal with the application "so that the development becomes economically viable". The DCLG said that this will deliver more housing by helping to unlock "some of the 75,000 homes already with planning permission that are currently stalled due to lack of commercial viability".
The Bill also limits local planning authorities' power to require information to accompany a planning application. Such requirements must be "reasonable having regard, in particular, to the nature and scale of the proposed development" and must relate to matters which "will be a material consideration in the determination of the application". The DCLG said this would ensure a "swifter planning system" as applicants currently have to provide "volumes of paperwork" when submitting a planning application "which go over and above what is reasonably needed to inform decisions about the proposed development".
The infrastructure fast-track regime for nationally significant projects under the Planning Act 2008 is extended to bring business and commercial projects within its scope. The Bill gives the SoS power to give direction for "business or commercial" projects of a "prescribed description" to be treated as a project of national significance. "Such economically essential development, like manufacturing plants or big leisure parks, will be decided within 12 months. Existing requirements to consult local communities are retained," the DCLG said.
The Bill further includes new measures to make it easier for local authorities to choose to dispose of surplus of land held for planning purposes. This is to help "get more brownfield land back in to productive use," the DCLG said.
The award of costs regime is amended to "encourage timely and productive decision taking" by allowing Planning Inspectors to "recover all or part of the Secretary of State's costs for all types of appeals as a further incentive to good behaviour throughout the planning process from all sides," the DCLG said. The Bill also contains measures to implement recommendations from the Government's Penfold Review to remove "over-lapping development consent regimes, where multiple permissions from different government agencies are required on top of planning permission".
"These common sense reforms will support local jobs and local firms," said SoS Eric Pickles. "They complement the changes we are already delivered through the Localism Act, from streamlined planning guidance and, shortly, from the local retention of business rates."
"The Growth and Infrastructure Bill will boost investment and local economic growth," said Planning Minister Nick Boles. "It removes confusing and overlapping red tape, whilst ensuring democratic checks and balances and environmental safeguards remain in place."
"Britain is in a global race today with rising nations like China and Brazil. Countries like ours will only be able to compete if we make it easier for businesses to invest and quicker for infrastructure to get built," Boles said.
"The new Growth and Infrastructure Bill will help the country compete on the global stage by setting out a comprehensive series of practical reforms to reduce confusing and overlapping red tape that delays and discourages business investment, new infrastructure and job creation," said the DCLG.
The Bill implements a number of the measures announced by the Government in September as part of its major planning and housing package.
