Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet and outspoken critic of recent Government proposals on planning reform, has called for changes to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.
Speaking from her constituency, which is under considerable pressure from developers attempting to build blocks of flats, Theresa said “I very much welcome the decision by the Government to drop key parts of the so-called ‘Jenrick reforms’”.
“The introduction of ‘Growth Zones’ as envisaged by the Planning for the Future White Paper brought forward by the then Secretary of State, Robert Jenrick, would have severely undermined local democracy by removing the need for developers to seek planning permission.”
“Defeating these proposals is a very important victory, but there are still serious problems with the Bill just presented to Parliament. Clauses 83 and 84 would allow the Secretary of State to override the local plans produced by councils. This will severely curtail the input of residents into decisions on what gets built in their neighbourhood.”
“These two clauses would mean that policies set nationally will take precedence over Local Development Management Policies. These local policies provide a bulwark against overdevelopment and are devised with local circumstances in mind. Centralising power over these policies could leave areas much more exposed to inappropriate building plans. This amounts to a serious power grab and I sincerely hope that Ministers will think again about what they have brought forward.”
The policy paper accompanying the LUR Bill includes the following commitment to changes to the National Planning Policy Framework:
“To incentivise plan production further and ensure that newly produced plans are not undermined, our intention is to remove the requirement for authorities to maintain a rolling five-year supply of deliverable land for housing, where their plan is up to date, i.e., adopted within the past five years. This will curb perceived ‘speculative development’ and ‘planning by appeal’, so long as plans are kept up to date.”
Commenting on this proposal, Theresa said “It is encouraging that the Secretary of State has indicated that he wants to reduce the scope for the Planning Inspectorate to overturn council planning committee decisions. I would certainly welcome changes to the rules on a five year land supply because this aspect of planning policy seems to be making it harder and harder for councils to have the final say on what type of development is suitable for their area.”
“However, these proposals are not part of the Bill which Parliament is being asked to consider and we have little information on how they will work or when they will come into operation. So the jury is out on whether they will have any significant impact on remedying the severe problems there currently are with the planning system.”
