Order enacted allowing for more replacement applications to fall under DMPO exemptions and Infrastructure Bill laid before Parliament

The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) Order 2010 (the DMPO) has been amended to extend the time period within which developments can take advantage of exemptions in the DMPO.

Developments that have received planning permission that are still within their time limit but where work has not yet begun will not have to re-submit design and access statements; conduct full consultations, or provide full plans and drawings when applying for a replacement planning permission.

The amended Order applies the exemptions to those seeking a new planning permission to replace an existing planning permission where the original was granted on or before 1 October 2010. It applies only to developments where building has not begun and the time limit for that work to begin has not passed.

The Order previously only applied the exemptions to permissions granted before October 2009, so the amended Order increases the number of permissions the exemptions apply to.

The amended Order also changes the rules governing decision notices given by local authorities to applicants for planning permission. Local authorities' decision notices now have to include a statement explaining how they have dealt with the application in a positive and proactive manner based on seeking solutions to problems arising in relation to dealing with a planning application.

The amendments to the Order come into force on 1 October 2012, with the provisions on decision notices coming into force on 1 December 2012.

The Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill has been laid before Parliament. It sets out provisions for financial assistance to be given by Government to support infrastructure projects. According to the Bill, financial assistance may be provided in the form of loans, guarantees, indemnities or any other kind of financial assistance.

The Bill has been introduced in response to the difficulties that the Government said providers of infrastructure have met in obtaining private finance. It said that these include constraints on capital and banking markets and the fact that finance and insurance providers are taking longer to approve projects.

The Bill was announced as part of the Government's major housing and planning package and follows the UK Guarantees scheme announced in July 2012. The scheme is aimed at accelerating and bringing forward investment in major UK infrastructure projects in response to difficult market conditions.

The Government has asked Parliament to fast-track the Bill through Parliamentary progress and the second reading of the Bill is scheduled for 17 September 2012.