May 2016

The May 2016 edition of the Up Front newsletter, the monthly e bulletin on Neighbourhood Planning is now available here

Over the last 3-4 years, DCLG has conducted a technical consultation on Planning which has now ended.

All parts of the response can be seen here

The last section to be completed includes review of some temporary changes to permitted development rights, and decisions on whether these should be extended / made permanent.

The result of the consultation has been published here

See the report here

The inquiry found that local authority planning departments ‘have been diminished by funding cuts, leading to a loss in capacity and skills’. It recommends a focus on improving funding for planning practice and for promoting skills and raising capacity at the local level so that the planning profession regains the ‘status and prestige it deserves’.

The committee urges the government to rethink recent changes to planning regulations, which in its view diminish the ability of LPAs to require development that takes account of long-term challenges.

HOUSE OF LORDS

Select Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment

Report of Session 2015–16

Building better places

This report was published in February 2016.

It has been very briefly summarised as follows:

• First, we need to do better, to collectively aim higher in our ambitions for the built environment
• Second, quality of place should be at the heart of this concern, as well as a concern for the impact of place (and development) on local populations
• Third, national government needs to step up to the mark, and to set the tone by being more ambitious in its aspirations for the built environment
• Finally, national government needs to trust and empower local government to deliver alongside its public and private partners

See the full report: here