The Planning world is still to get to grips with Chief Planner's letter of last month

National planning policy has now been amended to make intentional unauthorised development a material consideration in the determination of planning applications and appeals.

The Government's Chief Planner's letter at the end of last month set out revisions to national planning policy to prevent unauthorised development.

The new policy, which took effect from 1 September 2015, now makes intentional unauthorised development a material consideration in the determination of planning applications and appeals, in a move which is designed to make it harder to gain retrospective planning permission for unauthorised development and reduce the amount of enforcement cases.

Experts have questioned the practicalities of the policy, and how it can be proved that unauthorised development was intentional. Even if the intent is shown, some have questioned how much weight should be given to a deliberate intention to disregard planning rules in relation to the other material considerations relevant to the determination of a particular application.

The policy applies to all new planning applications and appeals received from 31 August 2015.

The purpose of this new policy is logical - by seeking to discourage people from purposefully undertaking development without planning permission. It could now affect their chances of successfully obtaining retrospective consent. The practicalities of applying this policy in practice are likely to present challenges for Local Authorities, who will need to get to grips with the process of establishing degrees of 'intent' behind developer's decisions. It remains to be seen how big an impact this change will have in enforcement caseloads and how Councils and Inspectors determine retrospective applications.