Out-Law News 1 min. read

Planning guidance should be reduced and simplified, recommends report


The current system of planning practice guidance is "no longer fit for purpose", Lord Taylor has said in a Government-commissioned report which has recommended that a "single, coherent and up-to-date" set of only essential guidance be established.

The report (57-page / 185KB PDF), which was published shortly before Christmas, has recommended that Government cut planning guidance "to that which is essential and clearly defined and described as Government Planning Practice Guidance".

"This is not just a matter of eliminating some documents and updating others," the report said. "It is about identifying the essential paragraphs, processes and pointers, and cutting the guidance suite down to these elements, making sure they are in a form that is clear, concise, relevant, accessible, and up-to-date."

The report recommended that, in the future, guidance should be a "web-based, live resource, hosted on a single site as a coherent up-to-date guidance suite".

The review group, which was appointed by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in October last year and led by Lord Taylor of Goss Moor, reviewed over 7,000 pages of existing DCLG guidance and concluded that the current system is "no longer fit for purpose".

The report said that the current system is "neither an effective suite of planning practice guidance to support plan making and development management by the sector as a whole, nor is it in a form which can be effectively managed and kept up-to-date by Government".

The DCLG launched a consultation on the review group's recommendations at the same time as the report was published. The consultation seeks views on the report, which the DCLG said it will take into account in deciding how to respond to the group's recommendations. The consultation will run until 15 February.

We are processing your request. \n Thank you for your patience. An error occurred. This could be due to inactivity on the page - please try again.