On 10 May 2022, HRH the Prince of Wales delivered the Queen’s Speech to the Houses of Parliament which set out proposed bills comprising the Government’s legislative agenda for the new parliamentary session.
A link to the Queen’s Speech and the background briefing papers to this can be found at the following websites:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/queens-speech-2022
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/queens-speech-2022-background-briefing-notes
Below we summarise the planning reforms proposed in the Queen’s Speech and provide our comments on these reforms.
The previous Queen’s Speech in 2021 announced the Government’s intention to bring forward a Planning Bill containing significant proposed reforms to the planning system. Well we now have official confirmation in the current Queen’s Speech that there will no longer be a separate Planning Bill. Instead, the Government has decided to incorporate its now much watered-down version of planning reform into its proposed Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (the Bill).
The Government describes the Bill as follows:
“A bill will be brought forward to drive local growth, empowering local leaders to regenerate their areas, and ensuring everyone can share in the United Kingdom’s success. The planning system will be reformed to give residents more involvement in local development.”
With regards to the planning element of the Bill its stated purpose is to “Improve the planning system to give communities a louder voice, making sure developments are beautiful, green and accompanied by new infrastructure and affordable housing.” Sound familiar? Just about every proposed Bill containing planning reforms we can remember has had a similar slogan.
The Government says that the Bill will:
- Lay the foundations for all of England to have the opportunity to benefit from a devolution deal by 2030 – giving local leaders the powers they need to drive real improvement in their communities.
- Improve outcomes for our natural environment by introducing a new approach to environmental assessment in our planning system. This benefit of Brexit will mean the environment is further prioritised in planning decisions.
- Capture more of the financial value created by development with a locally set, non-negotiable levy to deliver the infrastructure that communities need, such as housing, schools, GPs and new roads. We understand this to be the proposed replacement to the current Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and the use of Section 106 agreements which is a proposed reform that has been heavily discussed in the media leading up to the Queen’s Speech.
- Simplify and standardise the process for local plans so that they are produced more quickly and are easier for communities to influence.
- Unlock new powers for local authorities to bring empty premises back into use and instigate rental auctions of vacant commercial properties in town centres and on high streets.
- Strengthen neighbourhood planning and digitalising the system to make local plans easier to find, understand and engage with; by making it easier for local authorities to get local plans in place, we will limit speculative development.
So is that it you ask? Well yes, unfortunately the Government has provided very limited detail on how these reforms will be implemented at this time. It looks like ‘the devil will be in the detail’ and we will have to wait for the draft Bill to be published to receive more meaningful detail on these reforms.
We have our reservations (similar to many other legal commentators) as to whether some of the Government’s proposed planning reforms will work in practice. In particular, we foresee several difficulties with the Government’s proposed new infrastructure levy to replace CIL and the use of Section 106 agreements. We are sure nobody will shed a tear for the abolition of CIL as it has always been an overly complex levy which due to this has been reformed in some way just about every year since its introduction. However, Section 106 agreements are well established having been used for decades in the planning system providing much needed flexibility for both local planning authorities and developers to provide for infrastructure and to impose planning obligations tailored to particular developments. We fear the Government’s proposed new infrastructure levy will be yet another rigid inflexible levy (repeating the mistakes it made with CIL) which quite simply will not do the job or achieve the targets on the provision of affordable housing and other infrastructure provision which the Government is aiming for.
Note: all comments and views expressed in this blog are merely opinions and provided for information purposes only and do not constitute legal advice which can be relied upon. Should you require legal advice on a matter then please contact us
