Ministers have confirmed that ‘radical’ reform of the planning system will be central to the new coalition Government’s programme with the scrapping of Regional Spatial Strategies, the abolition of the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) and replacing RDAs with (potentially identical) Local Enterprise Partnerships, and the adoption of the Conservative’s ‘localism’ agenda.
Details of what the coalition plans to do have been set out today in the manifesto agreement between the Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties. Planning reform is also highlighted in the new Government’s Big Society programme.
The document setting out the coalition’s agreement stresses that the Government would ‘promote the radical devolution of power and greater financial autonomy to local government and community groups. This will include a review of local government finance’.
The 30-page paper also says that the administration will ‘rapidly abolish Regional Spatial Strategies and return decision-making powers on housing and planning to local councils including giving councils new powers to stop ‘garden grabbing’ ‘.
It adds: ‘In the longer term, we will radically reform the planning system to give neighbourhoods far more ability to determine the shape of the places in which their inhabitants live, based on the principles set out in the Conservative Party publication Open Source Planning.’
The new Government also promises to ‘publish and present to Parliament a simple and consolidated national planning framework covering all forms of development and setting out national economic, environmental and social priorities’.
In addition the administration has committed to creating a new designation – similar to SSSIs – to protect green areas of particular importance to local communities.
Also set out in the agreement are pledges to provide incentives for local authorities to deliver sustainable development and to abolish the Government Office for London.
On the IPC:
IPC will be scrapped, says coalition Government
The new Government has signalled plans to scrap the Infrastructure Planning Commission. This intention is highlighted in the detailed paper spelling out the agreement between the Conservative and Liberal Democrats – just published – which forms the basis of the coalition’s programme.
The document states: ‘We will abolish the unelected IPC and replace it with an efficient and democratically accountable system that provides a fast-track process for major infrastructure projects.’
Meanwhile, the commission has added a further six new proposals to its current programme of projects since the beginning of April.
These bring the total number of applications anticipated to come to the IPC over the next few months to 32. The majority of the applications are energy schemes. The new proposals include:
* biomass plants at the Port of Hull and the Port of Tyne
* a 132Kv connector electricity line in Banwen in Neath
* an onshore wind farm at Mynydd y Gwynt in Wales
* two offshore wind farms, one located close to the Isle of Wight coast and the other some 30 kilometres off the Suffolk coast
The commission has been ready to accept applications for nearly three months.
Planning Portal News 1: LINK
No 10 News: LINK
Plannning Portal News 2: LINK
Download the manifesto agreement HERE
