The number of bodies that need to be consulted before housebuilding projects go ahead has been cut to speed up approvals.
Agencies such as Sport England, Theatres Trust and The Gardens Trust, referred to as statutory consultees, will no longer have formal planning input on new homes as the government pushes to build 1.5 million houses over the next five years.
“The scope of other statutory consultees will be narrowed to focus on heritage, safety and environmental protection, speeding up the building process and preventing delays to homes being built,” says the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Statutory consultees, which currently include over 25 bodies, are legally required to provide advice on planning decisions to ensure developments consider environmental, transport, heritage and safety concerns.
But the department adds that “councils and developers report that the system is not working effectively”.
It says problems with these agencies in the current system include:
- Taking too long to provide advice
- Re-opening issues that have already been dealt with in local plans
- Submitting automatic holding objections which are then withdrawn at a late stage
- Submitting advice that seeks gold-plated outcomes, going beyond what is necessary to make development acceptable in planning terms
The department says: “Problems with the operation of the system cause uncertainty, extensive delays, and increased costs.”
It adds that over the past three years over 300 applications were forced to be escalated to the secretary of state because of disagreements from consultees.
The department points to a prior development to create 140 new homes in Bradford next to a cricket club, which “was significantly delayed because the application was thought to have not adequately considered the speed of cricket balls”.
The housing department adds that it will review the scope of all remaining statutory consultees, “to reduce the type and number of applications on which they must be consulted”.
It will also ensure that local authorities should only be consulting statutory consultees “where necessary to do so”.
Deputy Prime Minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner says: “We need to reform the system to ensure it is sensible and balanced, and does not create unintended delays – putting a hold on people’s lives and harming our efforts to build the homes people desperately need.
“New developments must still meet our high expectations to create the homes, facilities and infrastructure that communities need.”
