Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

Lord Greenhalgh Excerpts

Tuesday 29th June 2021 Grand Committee

Moved by

[Lord Greenhalgh]

That the Grand Committee do consider the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2021.

[The Minister of State, Home Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Lord Greenhalgh) (Con)]

My Lords, I beg to move that the House has considered these draft regulations, which were laid in draft before this House on 27 May. If approved and made, these regulations will introduce fees for new permitted development rights that are currently, or will be, conditional on obtaining prior approval from the local planning authority. These permitted development rights relate to constructing additional storeys on existing dwelling houses, changing the use of commercial, business and service-class buildings to residential use and the development of university buildings.

I turn to the details of the regulations. A fee of £96 for prior approval is introduced for the enlargement of a dwelling house by construction of additional storeys made under class AA of Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the general permitted development order. This fee reflects the resourcing impacts on local planning authorities in processing such applications, and it is the same as the fee for applications for prior approval for larger home extensions. This is less than the fee for a planning application—£206—had the permitted development right not been introduced.

A fee of £100 per dwelling house is introduced for prior approval for the change of use from commercial, business and service use, or class E, to residential use, or class C3, under class M(a) of Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the general permitted development order. Responses to the consultation for this permitted development right indicated support for the introduction of a fee per dwelling house to help to meet the costs of local planning authorities. There was support for a higher fee, but we believe that a fee of £100 per dwelling house meets the right balance between encouraging development and meeting the costs of determining such applications.

Finally, a fee of £96 is introduced for prior approval for erection, extension or alteration of university buildings made under class M of Part 7 of Schedule 2 to the general permitted development order. The introduction of a prior approval condition was a response to the concerns raised at consultation. The fee reflects the costs to local planning authorities in assessing these types of application and is the same level as fees for other applications for other non-residential prior approvals where a similarly limited number of additional matters are required to be considered. The development rights to which the fees relate have already been introduced. If these planning fees are not introduced, the cost to the local authority to process these applications would have to be funded, or would continue to be funded, by taxpayers.

We have announced ambitious reform of the planning system to support the delivery of more homes as well as key transport and infrastructure projects. The draft regulations that we are debating today reinforce our commitment to ensuring that local authorities have adequate resources to deliver a high-quality planning service. I commend the instrument to the House.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Duncan of Springbank) (Con)]

I call the next speaker, the noble Lord, Lord Jones. The noble Lord, Lord Jones, is not with us today, so I will move straight on to the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

I thank all noble Lords for their contributions. This has been an interesting and short debate. I am very keen to hear my noble friend Lady Neville-Rolfe’s deliberations from her work on the House of Lords Built Environment Committee. It is really important that we think about the steps we can take to increase the supply of housing but also ensure that we get the right built environment.

I will turn to some of the other contributions. My noble friends Lord Moynihan and Lady Neville-Rolfe, and the noble Baroness, Lady Blake of Leeds, all raised adequate resourcing and fees. The proposed fees are considered to meet the right balance between encouraging development and meeting the costs of determining such applications. The new fees introduced by these regulations have been considered as part of the full regulatory impact assessment for the permitted development rights legislation. That will be published in due course.

I am glad to assure noble Lords that we will continue to keep fee levels under review and maintain discussion with local planning authorities and users of the planning system. The change will come if it is indeed required.

My noble friend Lord Moynihan mentioned data standards and site selection. Data standards in local plans are key for increasing accessibility, transparency and improved decision-making in the planning process and wider planning sector. Local authorities will work with the support of MHCLG to develop and test data standards through the site selection process.

There has also been quite a bit of work on digital. The Housing Minister has announced a £1.1 million fund to test the use of digital tools and data standards across 10 local areas. This pathfinder programme will look at the digital transformation of local plans, which will increase community involvement and speed up the planning process.

The noble Lord, Lord Bhatia, wanted to know whether, and be assured that, there would be adequate provision of affordable housing, in particular for key workers. First of all, there is the importance of additionality in permitted development rights. Some 72,000 new homes have been delivered under such rights in the five years to March 2020. Of course, there are plenty of opportunities for more affordable housing with the commitment to £11.5 billion as part of the current affordable homes programme, the largest investment in affordable housing in a decade.

I do not recognise the description of this as a developers’ charter, which the noble Baroness, Lady Blake, raised. Indeed, I assure my noble friend Lord Moynihan that local authorities can remove a permitted development right where they are justified to do so in line with government policy by making an Article 4 direction. We recently consulted on proposed amendments to national planning policy on the circumstances in which an Article 4 direction could be used to remove permitted development rights. Further announcements will be made in due course.

In conclusion, planning fees are a vital source of income for councils to ensure the delivery of a well-resourced, effective and efficient planning system that underpins housing delivery and economic growth. I firmly believe that these regulations will support local authorities to have the capacity to consider these applications, play their part in creating new and improved homes and local communities, and support the economic recovery and growth our country needs. I commend the regulations to the Committee.

Motion agreed.