Recommendations, by the House of Lords (HOL) Select Committee on the Built Environment, for the creation of Chief Built Environment Adviser and a community right of appeal have been rejected by the Government.
The recommendations were part of a Select Committee report that considered the development and implementation of national policy for the built environment.
The House of Lords Select Committee had said that one of the critical elements missing from national policy for the built environment was the urgent need for much greater co-ordination and integration across the multiple built environment-related Government departments.
The Committee had said that the built environment cut across a number of central Government departments but had found that an integrated policy was missing. It recommended the appointment of a Chief Built Environment Adviser to deliver long-term coordination across central Government departments, to act as a champion for higher standards and to promote good practice across and beyond Government.
However, the Government said that strong policy co-ordination already existed, some of which was covered by the Chief Planner (although it would consider looking at developing this role rather than creating a new senior position).
Another recommendation was for the introduction of a community right of appeal in certain specified circumstances (such as when a planning decision conflicts with an emerging neighbourhood plan) as this would discourage speculative or unsustainable development.
However, the Government said it believed that the current system, combined with a new provision (that a local planning authority needed to demonstrate it had considered any conflict between a recommendation and the neighbourhood plan), provided sufficient opportunity for communities to contribute to planning decisions
