The Housing and Planning Act 2016

The Housing and Planning Act 2016 received Royal Assent a little over a month ago on the 12 May 2016. We have now started to see certain sections and provisions of the Act being implemented. For example, Sections 143 and 148 introduce powers for the Secretary of State to intervene in plan-making. A recent example is the Secretary of State halting the adoption of Birmingham City Council’s (BCC) local plan despite the plan being found sound by an Inspector in April of this year. The controversy arises over the plan’s allocation of 6,000 new homes in the Green Belt in Sutton Coldfield and “other matters relating to the plan”. The call in is as a result of Sutton Coldfield’s Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell regarding the allocation of land within his constituency.

BCC has argued that it cannot meet its objectively assessed need of some 89,000 homes without strategic Green Belt release and has made appropriate provision within its emerging local plan. The Government has clearly set out its objective with the Housing and Planning Act for all local planning authorities to produce a local plan by 2017 with a core principle of the National Planning Policy Framework to significantly boost housing supply and respond to housing need.  However, this new section has allowed a concerned MP to delay the plan making process, which undermines the Government’s objective to speed up plan-making. At present no timescales have been given for the Secretary of State’s decision on the plan to be issued but given that the local plan was submitted for examination in July 2014 it is not considered likely that a quick resolution is obtained. Interested parties have said that this intervention and application of the Act has caused delays, uncertainty and additional costs for all parties. If the Secretary of State’s own appointed Inspector considered the plan making process sound, does this call in not undermine the role of the Inspector and examination process? Is this section allowing for MPs, local communities and interested parties just another bite at the local plan cherry?

The Housing and Planning Act 2016 was designed to meet the Government’s commitment to increase the supply of new homes. However, a provision within the Act has halted adoption of a local plan, preventing significant delivery of homes in an area with exceptional and unique need. Commentators have said that this will not be the last Government intervention of this kind, so watch this space...