Post-pandemic, DWD’s experience is that many local authorities have struggled to deliver decisions within statutory timescales. There have been 10 local authorities who have been specially singled out for attention by the Secretary of State for their slow-decision-making. What is special about these authorities and what happens next if they are designated in June?
In April, Michael Gove (the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) wrote to 10 local authorities threatening to designate them under Section 62A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, otherwise known as placing them in special measures. The authorities which received letters were:
- Calderdale Council;
- Cotswold District Council
- Epsom and Ewell Borough Council;
- Guildford Borough Council;
- Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council;
- Peak District National Park;
- Pendle Borough Council;
- Portsmouth City Council;
- Vale of White Horse District Council; and
- Waverley Borough Council.
The letters expressed ‘significant concerns’ about the determination period for applications, as none of the authorities met the expected threshold of 70% of applications determined within statutory timescales.
Of the 10 authorities, 8 have a national landscape designation restricting development on undeveloped land in their area, 6 include Green Belt and of these, 5 also incorporate Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). There is also a national park authority, Peak District National Park. Accordingly, there is a common theme of development being very heavily constrained in most of these authorities by national landscape designations.
Politically, 8 of the authorities were not under Conservative control in April and following the May local elections, remain under the control of other parties. During the Local Authority elections in May 2023, the Conservative party lost control of Pendle. Several of the local authorities have powerful residents’ associations which control the Council. Resident’s associations are not allied to any one national party but are made up of concerned local residents with an explicit focus on local issues. DWD has recent experience working in Epsom and Ewell, where a residents‘ association is in control of the Council’s decision making at Planning Committee. In our experience securing consent through Planning Committee can be more difficult where the Council has a local outlook, instead of the national thinking present for members of a national political party. This is clearly exacerbated by the need to weigh up local landscape designations which have likely contributed to the need for Special Measures.
If these authorities are designated in June, Applicants will have a choice of the local authority or the Planning Inspectorate as the decision-maker. Currently only one authority is designated under Section 62A, Uttlesford District Council. A review of the Planning Inspectorate’s website shows that many major applications exceed the statutory 13 week determination period as a hearing is required to determine the application. DWD has managed applications through the 62A process in Uttlesford and the process is more complex than the standard planning application procedure, however, it does reduce the role of local politics in the application as the planning committee are no longer the determining body.
If you have a site in one of these authority areas, DWD is happy to advise on the implications of the potential special measures designation to your planning application.