Update on Government/Local Changes in Planning Policy
Note – the status of Neighbourhood Plans in the District may be found via this link
https://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/my-services/planning-and-building/neighbourhood-planning/
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Members heard from the Development Management Team Manager that a new Planning and Infrastructure Bill was announced in the King’s speech to ‘get Britain building, including through planning reform, as they seek to accelerate delivery of high-quality infrastructure and housing.’ In a statement from the cabinet office, the Bill would aim to ‘speed up and streamline the planning process’ to build more homes of all tenures and accelerate the delivery of major infrastructure projects. It claimed that by enabling democratic engagement with how, not if, homes and infrastructure are built, the major brakes on the planning system would be addressed to support sustainable growth.
The new Chancellor Rachel Reeves had outlined a series of planning changes to be rolled out and said the government would ‘reform the National Planning Policy Framework [NPPF], consulting on a new growth-focussed approach to the planning system before the end of the month, including restoring mandatory housing targets.
She also confirmed a manifesto commitment to ‘support local authorities with 300 additional planning officers across the country’. The government had issued a revision to the NPPF to remove what it called a ‘de facto ban’ on onshore wind schemes to ensure they were treated the same as other energy projects. It had also promised to consult on bringing larger onshore wind projects back into the streamlined major infrastructure planning regime.