planning law update 2013
DESCRIPTION
A Planning Law update for England and Wales delivered by David Delaney and Ian Kinloch of Aaron & Partners LLPTRANSCRIPT
Planning Law Update 2013
David Delaney, Head of Planning
Ian Kinloch, Consultant
The Growth and Infrastructure
Act 2013
• Poorly Performing Planning Authorities
– Submit applications direct to Planning Inspectorate
– Consultation paper issued June 2013
– Performance of LPA assessed July 2011 to June
2013
The Growth and Infrastructure
Act 2013
• Permitted Development Rights – Prior
Approvals
– General Permitted Development Order
– New permitted development rights
– Local authorities can decline repeat applications
The Growth and Infrastructure
Act 2013
• Town and Country Planning (General Permitted
Development) (Amendment) (England) Order
2013
– Class A – Household Extensions
The Growth and Infrastructure
Act 2013
• Class J
– Change of use of office to residential
• Class K
– Change of use to state funded school
• Class L
– Change of use from state funded school
• Class M
– Change of use of agricultural buildings
The Growth and Infrastructure
Act 2013
• Class C
– Use for temporary state funded school
• Class D
– Change of use aimed at helping new business
The Growth and Infrastructure
Act 2013
• Unviable Affordable Housing Requirements Section 106
Planning Agreements
– Right to apply to modify affordable housing obligations on the grounds of
viability
• The Town and Country Planning (Modification and Discharge of
Planning Obligations) (Amendment) (England) Regulations
2013
– Change does not affect planning obligations where 5 yr period has
expired or those entered into after 6 April 2010
The Growth and Infrastructure
Act 2013
• Public Rights of Way
– Enables stopping up or diversion of highways to
commence before planning permission granted
– Facilitates the process for landowners to make
statements and declarations to counter rights of
way claims
– Section 31 (6) – prevents new public rights of way
arising for a period of 10 years
The Growth and Infrastructure
Act 2013
• Village Greens
– Reduces the period within which a village green
application can be made from 2 yrs to 1 yr
– Deposit of statement and map to protect land from
registration
• Commons (Registration of Town or Village
Greens) and Dedicated Highways (Landowner
Statements and Declarations) (England)
Regulations 2013
The Growth and Infrastructure
Act 2013
• Village Greens
– Introduction of trigger and terminating events
– Exclusion applies where trigger event occurs until a
terminating event occurs
– Trigger and terminating events are set out in
Schedule 1A of the 2006 Act
The Growth and Infrastructure
Act 2013
• Village Greens- Further Reforms
– Proposed amendments to extend trigger and
terminating events
– Additional events to Schedule 1A will be applicable
regardless of the date when the new Order comes
into force
The Growth and Infrastructure
Act 2013
• Village Green Case Law
– R (Barkas) v North Yorkshire CC [2013] 1 WLR
1521
– Clarifies/expands when land held by public
authorities for recreation can and cannot be
registered as village greens
The Growth and Infrastructure
Act 2013
• Village Green Case Law
– R (Newhaven Port) v East Sussex CC [2010] P&CR
8
– The beach was registered as a village green as the
consequences of registering the beach for the
future discharge of the Port Authorities statutory
function was not a proper ground to hold that the
beach was not capable of registration.
The Enterprise and Regulatory
Reform Act 2013
• Conservation Area Consents
– Removal of the requirement for consent to demolish
an unlisted building
– Came into force 1 October 2013
• Listed Building Consents
– Listed buildings list to specify objects or structures
not to be treated as part of the listing
The Enterprise and Regulatory
Reform Act 2013
• Certificate of Immunity – No need for a concurrent planning application
• Heritage Partnership Agreements – To be put on a statutory basis
• National and Local Class Consents – Granting consent for certain categories of work, thereby removing need
for separate listed building consent
• Certificate of Lawfulness – Removal of need for listed building consent where the works do not
impact on a building of special interest
Streamlining the Planning
System
• The Town and Country Planning (Appeals) (Written Representations Procedure and Advertisements) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013
• The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) (Amendment No. 2) Order 2013
• The Town and Country Planning (Hearings and Inquiries Procedure) (England) (Amendment) Rules 2013
Government Consultations
• Extension to permitted development rights
– Greater flexibilities for change of use
• Office change of use to residential
• Agricultural change of use to residential
Government Consultations
• Extension to permitted development rights
– Retail change of use to bank/building society
– Change of use to state funded school/nursery
• Offices, hotels, residential, non-residential
• Agricultural building
Government Planning
Practice Guidance
• Lord Taylor’s Review
Recommendations
– New format for practice guidance
– Roles and responsibilities
– Planning professionals
– Unique source of information
– Timescales for implementation
– Additional ideas to improve planning practice
guidance
Government Planning
Practice Guidance
• Lord Taylor’s Review
– Test version launched on 28 August 2013
– Guidance clearer and more accessible
– Guidance linked to National Planning Policy
Framework
Judicial Review
• Proposals for further reform
– Specialist Planning Chamber
– Specialist Planning Judges
– Procedural time limit rules
– “Leapfrog” to Supreme Court
– Permission filter in Section 288 challenges
– Legal aid for High Court challenges
Across Offa’s Dyke
Planning in Wales 2013
Ian Kinloch, Solicitor
Let’s start with a little quiz
• All these people started new jobs in 2013
• How many do you recognise?
Less hectic in Wales!
• None of these apply:
– Special measures’
– The new Town or Village Green provisions
– Change of use from offices to dwellings
– Time-limited additional domestic permitted development
rights
– Removal of affordable housing requirements in s106
obligations
I’m not based in Wales!
What has this to do with me?
• Because if not now then possibly in the future:
– You do business in Wales
– Your have property interests in Wales
– You have clients with business or property interests in Wales
• We can no longer “read across” our knowledge of
planning law and procedure from England
So what do we have then?
• Let’s start with yr iaith y nefoedd – the language of
heaven:
– Technical Advice Note TAN 20
– Issued 9 October 2013: Planning and the Welsh Language
TAN 20
• Purpose is to provide guidance on how the Welsh
language should be considered when Local
Development Plans are being prepared
• Where a local authority identifies ‘the protection and/or
enhancement of the Welsh language” as a priority for
its area, the Local Development Plan “should consider
this priority in so far as it is relevant to the use of land”.
Suggested strategies for
supporting the language
• Positive promotion of local culture and heritage
• Planning the amount and spatial distribution of new
development and infrastructure
• Phasing of strategic housing and employment developments
• Directing strategic sites to communities where evidence
suggests positive impact of the use of the Welsh language
– if evidence suggests the likely impact to be negative those impacts can
be mitigated
BUT!!!
• Policies should not seek to:
– Introduce any element of discrimination between
individuals on the basis of linguistic ability
– Control housing occupancy on linguistic grounds
Planning Guidance
• Supplementary planning guidance may specify
mitigation measures to support LDP policies such as:
– Bilingual signage
– Support and funding for language induction and staff
language lessons
– Local labour contracts
– Support for Welsh medium schools
– Support and funding for language and cultural awareness
activities
• CIL and s106 agreements may be used
Permitted development
• Dwellinghouses
• From 30 September 2013, the General Permitted Development
Order is amended for Wales (SI 2013/1776 W.177)
– The changes do not precisely mirror those in England under the 2008
amendments
• New Part 1 domestic permitted development rules
– Enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a dwellinghouse,
additions and alterations to roofs, erection etc of porches, swimming
pools etc
Permitted development
• Moves away from volume thresholds to “impact assessment”
• As in England in 2008
• Introduces concept of the “principal elevation” of a
dwellinghouse
• Requirement to use porous or permeable materials or direct
run-off to porous or permeable areas when laying hard surfaces
on front gardens that face a highway
Natural Resource Wales
• New body operational from 1 April 2013 taking over
duties of:
– Environment Agency Wales
– Countryside Council for Wales
– Forestry Commission Wales
Here’s some they made earlier…
• Notification Direction 2012
– All “departure applications” no longer need to be referred to Welsh
ministers
• But the following have to be referred
– Significant residential development (more than 150 dwellings or a site
greater than 6 hectares) not in accordance with development
– Flood risk area development
– Minerals or waste development not in accordance with the development
plan
– Aggregates development in National Parks and AONBs
New Procedure Orders
• In force from 30 April 2012 • Development Management Procedure (Wales) Order 2012 (SI
2012/801 W.110)
• TPO consent applications (SI 2012/792 W.107)
• Listed Buildings and Conservations Areas Regulations 2012 (SI
2012/793 W.108)
• New edition (5th) of Planning Policy Wales, October 2012
Coming (soon?)
• Draft Planning Reform Bill promised for consultation late 2013,
to be introduced in Assembly before 2014 Summer recess
– likely to introduce major changes to planning law and
procedure and the workings of local planning authorities
• Following Planning Reform Act, a Planning Consolidation Bill
will be introduced
• Heritage Bill to be consulted upon and then introduced into
Assembly in 2014
• Sustainable Development Bill – consultation closed and Bill
intended to be introduced in “Autumn 2013”
Thank you, Any Questions?
David Delaney, Head of Planning
01244 405538
Ian Kinloch, Consultant Solicitor
www.aaronandpartners.com
Twitter @AaronsLegal