The Coalition has signalled plans to streamline development consents regimes for businesses in order to encourage development and stimulate economic growth.
This move is in response to Adrian Penfold’s review of non-planning consents which in July urged action to tackle a “complex and fragmented landscape” of non-planning consents with which businesses must comply, such as environmental permits, highways orders, and heritage consents.
Business minister Mark Prisk and planning minister Bob Neill said the Government would take immediate steps to free developers from burdensome regulation. It would also make sure that those responsible for the consents would share best practice.
The original review, carried out by British Land head of planning and environment Adrian Penfold, highlighted that the bureaucracy and complexity involved in obtaining all the consents was “both burdensome and unnecessary”. The review concluded that one reason for the complexity surrounding planning and non-planning consents regimes was the lack of a single strategic oversight.
The administration said it would seek to simplify some existing consents where other new non-planning consents are proposed, to make sure that the overall burden on developers does not increase. Ministers are now considering how consents might be streamlined and simplified to make the process simpler and reduce red tape.
The Department for Business Innovation and Science (BIS) and Communities and Local Government will work with other Government departments to carry out the changes and will provide an update on implementation next year.
Planning minister Bob Neill said: “By cutting some of the development consents red tape identified by Adrian Penfold, we can go some way to helping British businesses thrive while at the same ensuring we continue to meet a number of goals, such as delivering a decent road network or protecting endangered species.”
The key conclusions of the Government’s response are:
* in line with the commitment to a ‘one-in, one-out’ approach to regulation, Government will seek to simplify some existing consents where other new non-planning consents are proposed, to make sure that the overall burden on developers does not increase;
* ministers will consider how consents might be streamlined and simplified to make the process simpler and reduce the red tape on businesses; and
* BIS and CLG will work with other Government departments to drive forward these changes, and will provide an update on implementation in the Spring.
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