The Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities has announced that it is giving local councils new planning powers.
Through the new Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, council planners will be able to take stronger enforcement measures on landowners that are repeatedly breaking planning rules, making it harder for them to seek planning permission in future. Those who carry out work without approval, or act in bad faith, may also face unlimited fines from councils.
Included in the act, some of wide-ranging new powers are:
- Giving councils more time to stop developments that don’t have planning approval by increasing enforcement limits from four to ten years.
- Dealing with those who fail to comply with planning permission or refuse to deal with rundown properties by introducing unlimited fines.
- Giving councils the ability to suspend all works if there are suspicions that building has gone ahead with no permission, through the doubling of the length of temporary stop notices to 56 days.
- Putting more power in the hands of the Planning Inspectorate to dismiss appeals against developers that are trying to delay the process, this includes the refusal of site visits and access.
Lee Rowley, Minister for Housing and Planning, commented:
“Today marks another important step forward in our mission to deliver a faster and less bureaucratic planning system, making sure councils have greater powers at their disposal to take robust action against developers who do not play by the rules.
“We are clamping down on planning loopholes, allowing councils to issue unlimited fines, and strengthening local decisions that communities want to see. This builds on our long-term plan for housing to deliver more homes and infrastructure that is beautiful, affordable, and built in the right places.”
Being introduced immediately, these powers will compliment other measures that have come in to require developers to help with the delivery of vital infrastructure, including schools and doctor surgeries. New laws will also ensure that developers are encouraged to build more homes, provide regular updates on progress, and give councils the chance to consider slow build-out rates.
Working alongside the new powers to enhance planning across the sector, the government has also given councils a cash boost worth £29 million that will ensure that backlogs are tackled, and more skills can be developed across local government.
