A scheme to cut bureaucracy surrounding getting planning permission has been proposed by a government advisory body.
The Penfold Review, which was set up last year by the previous administration, has investigated ‘non-planning consents’ such as environmental permits, highway orders and heritage consents that are required for planning permission.
Adrian Penfold, head of planning and environment at British Land and founder of the review, says: “[It] presents a package of measures that would deliver real benefits to developers by removing unnecessary burdens and speeding up the process.”
The Penfold Review recommends:
- Simplifying non-planning consents landscape by removing some individual consents and rationalising other groups of related consents
- Giving developers easy access to clear, accurate and up-to-date information
- Delivering greater certainty for developers and removing duplication by improving the way planning and non-planning consents operate together
- Improve coordination and governance around decisions involving multiple decision-makers
- Strengthening service culture of decision-making bodies by, for example, setting timetables for determination of non-planning consents
- Creating a clear system for oversight of planning and non-planning landscape
Mark Prisk, the Minister for Business, says: “We need innovative solutions that simplify how government can deliver real benefits for business, saving time and money and encouraging growth.
“Businesses involved in construction and development should not have to deal with a regime made more complicated through needless red tape and procedure. I thank Adrian Penfold for his valuable contribution to our work on cutting down the burden on business.”
Minister for the Department for Communities and Local Government, Greg Clark, says: “It’s common sense that we don’t tie up businesses with red tape and hinder the country’s return to economic growth through excessive regulation. This report makes it clear that non-planning consents are adding to an already complex planning process and creating further delays to vital development.
“I am already overhauling Whitehall’s prescriptive top-down planning system and we are committed to using this report’s practical recommendations to ensure the government is deregulating and simplifying the whole development process.”
The government will consider all proposals from the Penfold Review in detail and will publish a formal response this autumn.
