Ahead of the majority of the Localism Act coming into force on 6th April 2012, the Government has this month enacted two of its more controversial elements.
These are:
• An end to councillor ‘pre-determination’ – Planning committee members, who have expressed a view about a specific planning application before it comes to committee, will no longer be excluded from voting on it. It is hoped that this will allow councillors to talk openly about proposed developments thus improving local democracy and development scrutiny.
• The introduction of local finance as a material consideration when deciding planning applications. Committees will be able to consider financial incentives associated with developments when determining planning consent. This has been criticised for being a means for developers to ‘buy’ planning approvals. The RTPI have also been critical of this as they believe that finance provision will impact on fair and transparent decision making.
It will be interesting to see if these new provisions will create better dialogue between residents, developers and stakeholders. Or, will they cause new levels of mistrust and legal obstacles to development? We are all going to have to wait and see…
Much of the success of the Localism Act depends on the final National Planning Policy Framework. This is due out any time now and will no doubt lead to more scrutiny in parliament and the national media – keep checking our blog for the latest updates as the news is announced.
Emma Hulley
Consultant, Planning
(0191) 269 0164
emma.hulley@sw.co.uk
