Chief Planner and experts sent in to three councils over local plan delays
The Chief Planner and a team of experts are to be sent in to three councils to assess if the government needs to take over the process of producing the local plan, it has been announced.
The three authorities – Castle Point, Thanet and Wirral – were among 15 councils to receive decision letters last week (23 March) from the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid.
The Chief Planner, Steve Quartermain, and the experts will report back to the Secretary of State who will then take a final decision on formal intervention later this year.
In addition, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is to conduct formal discussions with relevant county councils and city regions to see if they could take over plan production on the Secretary of State’s behalf.
The councils were given until 31 January 2018 to explain why they had not yet published a plan, providing any exceptional circumstances for why the government should not intervene.
In relation to the other 12 local authorities:
- in Northumberland the government has instructed the council to produce their plan earlier and to make the timetable clearer
- in Basildon, Bolsover, Brentwood, Calderdale, Eastleigh, Mansfield, St Albans, which have all committed to publishing draft plans before the end of September 2018, the government has made clear it will monitor their progress and that any further significant delay to meet this timescale will lead to the case for intervention being reconsidered
- four local authorities – Liverpool, North East Derbyshire, Runnymede, York – have since published their plans.
Javid said: “Whilst most councils rightly recognise their responsibilities and most have worked hard to meet the housing challenge, some have failed.
“I expect those authorities we identified in November to continue to make progress. I’m also stepping it up with three councils in particular, sending in a team of experts to make a direct assessment, ensuring they plan properly for the future or we’ll have to do it for them.”
The government said the Ministry had commenced preparations to take over plan production so that work could begin as soon as possible, subject to decisions taken after the Chief Planner and his experts report back.
A procurement process is currently underway to secure planning consultants and specialists who will undertake the work on plan production should these councils not comply in the time required.
The letters sent to the relevant local authorities can be viewed here.
