In a written ministerial statement published yesterday, Planning Minister Nick Boles has introduced a new suite of online guidance to elucidate on sections of generic policy contained within the National Planning Policy Framework. Within his statement, Mr Boles has set out a series of headline changes that will be introduced by the new guidance in bid to strengthen Government policy in the run up to the upcoming general election.
Together with these announcements comes an update on the proposed permitted development changes extending to agricultural buildings and retail units to residential.
A summary of the headline changes is set out below:
Planning Practice Guidance
The new online Planning Practice Guidance, as of the 6th March 2014, has superseded the existing raft of 237 guidance documents and circulars that were declared by Lord Taylor as “unfit for purpose”. Many of these documents have been in limbo since the adoption of the NPPF in March 2012 and there deletion should lead to more clarity in Government policy.
As part of this shift in planning guidance comes inevitable change, the precise nature and significance of these alterations will be investigated by Iceni Projects in the coming weeks we will be advising our clients on relevant matters accordingly. However, in the meantime Mr Boles has provided headline changes that have been incorporated into the Planning Practice Guidance:
Green Belt
* Strengthens Green Belt policy through a new position that unmet housing need is, in isolation, unlikely to outweigh harm to the Green Belt to constitute very special circumstances justifying inappropriate development.
Local Plans
* Allows Local Plans to pass the test of soundness where authorities have not been able to identify land for growth in years 11-15 of their Local Plan.
* Highlights that infrastructure constraints should be considered when assessing suitability of sites.
* Stresses the importance of bringing brownfield land into use.
* Clarifies when Councils can consider refusing permission on the grounds of prematurity in relation to draft plans.
* Encourages joint working between local authorities, but asserts that the duty to co-operate is not a duty to accept growth.
Housing Targets
* Allows windfalls to be counted over the whole Local Plan period.
* Clarifies that student housing, housing for older people and the re-use of empty homes can be included when assessing housing need.
* Introduces a practice that Councils should also be able to consider the delivery record (or lack of) of developers or landowners, including a history of unimplemented permissions when considering developability of sites as part of the Local Plan evidence base.
* Allows past over-supply of housing to be taken into account when assessing housing needs.
* States that Council’s 5-year housing land supply assessments are not automatically outdated by new household projections.
Flooding
* Requires Council’s to consider strict tests set out in national policy. Strengthening the position that where these are not met development in flood risk areas will not be allowed.
Renewables
* Incorporates guidance on renewable energy (including heritage and amenity) published last summer so that in relation to solar farms, visual impact is a particular factor for consideration.
Permitted Development Update
As we have known for some time, the Government has been planning to roll out permitted development changes to allow changes of use from retail units and agricultural buildings to housing. It appears that the General Permitted Development Order (GPDO) will be revised to introduce further ‘Prior Approval’ mechanisms to allow change of use without the need for planning permission. These proposals follow the similar office to residential rights announced last spring. Yesterday’s announcement has fleshed out what we can expect from the upcoming regulations.
Retail to Residential:
* Outside of “key shopping areas, such as town centres” reforms will allow change of use from shops (Class A1) and professional services (Class A2) to residential (Class C3) without planning permission.
* This will not apply to land protected by Article 1(5) of the GPDO, including National Parks, AONBs, World Heritage Sites and conservation areas.
The announcement states that “the onus will be on the Local Planning Authority to establish that the proposal would not have a detrimental impact on the sustainability of a key shopping area or on local services should they wish to refuse the conversion. When considering the effect on local services they will have to take into account whether there is a reasonable prospect of the premises being occupied by another retailer. Local planning authorities will need to have a robust evidence base to justify any decision not to permit change of use using these prior approval tests.”
Agricultural Buildings to Residential:
* Reforms will allow up to 450sq.metres of agricultural buildings on a farm to be converted to provide a maximum of three houses without planning permission.
* This will not apply to land protected by Article 1(5) of the GPDO, including National Parks, AONBs, World Heritage Sites and conservation areas.
The statement also mentions that flooding issues will be addressed within the prior approval process.
If you wish to discuss any of the changes above please contact us.