England’s Ministers have acted to reduce their involvement in the regime surrounding local development orders (LDOs).
Government amendment tabled during the consideration of the Growth and Infrastructure Bill currently under detailed scrutiny in the Lords removes the requirement for the Secretary of State (SoS) to require a report from the local authority before approving an LDO.
The amendment removes the requirement for local authorities to submit a report to the SoS for consideration and approval prior to granting a LDO. Instead, the local authority will just need to send a copy of the order to the SoS once it has been adopted.
The existing requirement for the local authority to report to the SoS on the effectiveness of the order has also been removed.
LDOs were introduced by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act in 2004. The regime removes the need to obtain planning permission for certain kinds of development in a specified area.
Government Minister Lord Ahmad told peers : ‘As we have made clear during previous debates on the planning clauses in the Bill, we are keen to free the planning system from unnecessary constraints to ensure that local planning authorities can focus on the most important planning matters in their area.’
Lord Ahmad told the Upper Chamber that more than 30 LDOs were now been put in place in enterprise zones with more surfacing ‘by the month’.
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