New legislation affecting Planning Applications

Central Government has recently announced various changes to the Development Control System from 10 August 2006.

Outline planning permission

As you may have been aware, until now it has been possible to submit only a minimal amount of information with outline applications and request that only the principle of development be considered. This has led to criticisms in many quarters that local communities do not have sufficient information to allow them to make an informed decision.

In response to this the five “reserved matters” will be changing to “Access”, “Appearance”, “Landscaping”, “Layout” and “Scale”. In addition even when “Access”, “Layout” and “Scale” are reserved, further information will need to be submitted to clarify precisely what is being applied for.

Design and Access Statements

From 10 August 2006 it will be a statutory requirement to include a “Design and Access Statement” with:

• Most non-householder applications for planning permission;
• Householder applications in Conservation Areas, Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and National Parks;
• Applications for listed building consent.

The Council, in conjunction with the other Local Planning Authorities in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, has produced information on this topic. This can be downloaded from this page. There are three different downloads, one for each bullet point above, reflecting the complexity which will be appropriate.

Further information on this is given in Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Circular 01/2006: “Guidance on Changes to the Development Control System” and in Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) publication; “Design and Access statements – How to write, read and use them”.