The Bonfire Of The Regional Housing Target: Don’t get burnt
June 2010
by Paul Denholm
This follows a letter on 27 May 2010 from the Secretary of State for Communities, Eric Pickles, to local authorities telling them that regional housing targets are to be scrapped. In his letter, Pickles said: "I am writing to you today to highlight our commitment in the coalition agreements where we very clearly set out our intentions to rapidly abolish Regional Strategies and return decision making powers on housing and planning to local councils.
"Consequently decisions on housing supply (including the provision of travellers' sites) will rest with Local Planning Authorities without the framework of regional numbers and plans.
"I will make a formal announcement on this matter soon. However, I expect Local Planning Authorities and the Planning Inspectorate to have regard to this letter as a material consideration in any decisions they are currently taking."
John Silvester, spokesperson for the Planning Officers Society, has commented that: "In determining planning applications until such time as extant RSSs are formally expunged from the record then they stand as prevailing policy. Furthermore, the evidence on which they are based remains valid and ought to be taken into consideration."
South Oxfordshire District Council has already responded by halting work on its Core Strategy (the key elements of the planning framework for an area, including housing targets).
The Home Builders Federation has commented that the halting of work on South Oxfordshire's Core Strategy "illustrates precisely the uncertainty we are going to see if details of the Government's new planning system are not unveiled quickly." The Federation adds: "Clear policy guidance is desperately required from Government if we are not to see a hiatus in house building and a worsening of the country's already acute housing crisis."
First Title Comment
The statutory Development Plan is the starting point for a Local Planning Authority when considering a planning application for the development or use of land, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Where it is necessary to consider material considerations - for example, where the Development Plan is outdated - decisions should be taken in the light of all material considerations, including local priorities and needs, guided by relevant national policy.
Regional house building targets or Regional Strategies provided a useful, and legally valid, material consideration that a Local Planning Authority could include in it's assessment to grant or refuse a planning application. However, running contrary to these targets, the Secretary of State has made it clear that he expects Local Planning Authorities and the Planning Inspectorate to have regard to his letter as a material consideration in any decisions they are currently taking.
Once a planning permission has been granted, it is liable to legal challenge by way of an application for Judicial Review under Part 54 of the Civil Procedure Rules or, where applicable, by an application for statutory review under Section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act. The uncertainty created by the Secretary of State's letter will not help Local Planning Authorities to grant planning permissions that are robust to challenge.
As is often the case, material considerations can be finely balanced. For example, planning permission for a development may only be acceptable in planning terms, if a Section 106 and/or Section 278 Planning Agreement secure the delivery of sufficient public facilities to outweigh the impact of the development. Numerous planning applications will be subject to a resolution to grant planning, without a fresh referral to the planning committee. Planning permissions that are processed in this way, either side of the direction given in the Secretary of State's letter, are likely to carry increased risk of legal challenge.
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