The Government has announced changes to the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995 (GDPO) which include provision for applicants with partially implemented outline planning permissions to apply for a replacement planning permission with a new time limit. The new consolidated Order is also being renamed.
The measures, now called the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2010 (DMPO) has been laid before Parliament and will come in to force on 1 October. It includes the original Order and all amendments made to it up until 6 April 2010.
Communities and Local Government has signalled it will shortly revise the November 2009 guidance on greater flexibility for planning permissions, to reflect this change. The revised guidance will also update the legal position in respect of appeals against refusal or non-determination by local authorities of applications for non-material amendments to existing planning permissions. Copies of the statutory instruments currently before Parliament can be found at www.legislation.gov.uk
The department’s chief planner, Steve Quartermain, has written to all chief planning officers explaining the changes: “Consolidation in itself does not reflect a change in policy or change the material effect of the law itself. It is considered to result in more useable and updated legislation, with benefits to all users.
“As part of the consolidation, the Order has also been restructured to form a more accurate reflection of the actual stages applicants go through when submitting a planning application, along with a few minor updates to the drafting of the Order.”
CLG said the Order name change was “desirable” to avoid confusion with the General Permitted Development Order (GPDO).
It has also changed the guidance in respect of appeal rights for an application for a non-material change to a planning permission after it concluded that the Planning Inspectorate did not have jurisdiction to determine such appeals. The guidance will be amended to reflect this.
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