Planning officers urge improvement to development plans regime

The current system of development plans is “essentially sound” but there are a number of areas where it could be improved, the Planning Officers Society has said.

In Planning for a Better Future ­– our planning manifesto for the next government, the Society said:

  • The ‘duty to cooperate’ was “challenging”;
  • Agreeing the overall strategy in an area could be politically difficult and this was “leading to a two plan process persisting in many areas, rather than a single Local Plan as desired by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)”;
  • Despite the NPPF advice that a plan should receive increased weight as it progresses through the system, “the soundness test towards the end of the process undermines this”;
  • The Strategic Environmental Assessment requirements and Issues and Options stage should be applied in a more targeted way.

The POS suggested that the system should be reformed so that it operated in a more logical way. The essential elements of this adjustment include:

  • Local Plans should be prepared in two stages: the strategy followed by the detailed policies.
  • The strategy stage was where the duty to cooperate needed to be focused.
  • Strategic Environmental Assessment and Issues and Options should only be applied to stage 1.
  • The Planning Inspectorate should apply the ‘Soundness Test’ to stage 1 and sign it off.
  • This would leave the drafting of the detailed policies that would deliver the strategy as a simpler process “as it will be done in the context of a clear, agreed and sound strategy”. The Planning Inspectorate's role at stage 2 would be to hear objections to the detailed policies.
  • The carrying out of the Soundness Test at stage 1 and limiting future involvement of the Planning Inspectorate to considering objections to detailed policies, would re-establish “a clear process for the plan to gain weight in decision making as it progresses through the system to final adoption”.

The POS called on the next Government to work closely with it to build a more efficient and effective planning system.

Mike Kiely, President of the Society, said: "Our offer is to help ensure that a community's needs, particularly for housing, are met through the planning system. We consider that there are features of the current system that need refinement to ensure that they work better and serve our communities well."

Dave Evans, Society Senior Vice President, added: "It is considered that this restructuring and refocusing of the existing plan-making system could save time in the process overall because it ensures that resources by all parties are put into the process only where they are needed and it is done in a logical sequence thereby avoiding wasted effort.

“It is also felt that this approach could create a better environment for Neighbourhood Plans to flourish as the clarity it gives to the strategic vision enables parish councils and neighbourhood forums to be clear about what they need to plan for. We also think it has the potential to shave about a year off the plan preparation process."