6th May 2021: the day when planning stops?
Get out those diaries, friends. Scroll ahead to 6th May 2021. It doesn’t seem so far off, does it? Come on - it’ll fly by. Well, mark it down. In bold. Because, for #planoraks like us, 6th May 2021 is turning into a seriously important date.
Why?
English local planning authorities decide around 400,000 planning applications a year. Add to that tens of thousands more on prior approval and permitted development rights (on which theme, have a look here). Now, most of those applications never cross an elected councillor’s desk. 95% of planning applications are decided by officers under delegated powers.
Which means (broad brush-strokes) that locally elected members are responsible for deciding around 20,000 applications a year. Almost 1,700 a month. And of course, by definition, those will include the big’uns. The schemes of local or regional importance. The strategic-level developments. Sure, there’ll be a fair few mansard extensions and granny annexes. But there’ll also be thousands and thousands and thousands of new homes, major pieces of new infrastructure, commercial development, retail… serious stuff. To meet serious needs.
2020 was a year with a lot of lowlights, and very few highlights. But one highlight was the fantastic way that this industry kept on rolling through national lock-downs. Yes, it was a slow start for some. But virtual planning is now here, and I think it works. I also think we should keep it. And it’s particular kudos local planning authorities. The Ministry brought out regulations at warp speed in April 2020 to allow committee meetings to happen virtually. And happen they did. Within literally days of the regulations becoming law. Yes, virtual committee meetings have had their moments. But generally, the system has kept on trundling pretty well… until now.
Back to the 6th May 2021. That’s the final day it’s (currently) lawful to hold virtual committee meetings under the 2020 Regulations. As things stand, from 7th May 2021, all bets are off. We’re back to dusty, chilly Council chambers. Getting all dressed up, finding someone to watch the dog/kids, driving/bussing it into town, fighting for somewhere to park, trying to work the PA system. You remember - the “good old days”. Where delivering your 3 minutes of material to members may mean you’re out of the house all day. In any event, for better or for worse, the 2020 Regulations have run their course. And there is is not currently any plan (in the public domain anyway) to extend them.
6th May 2021. We won’t, on the Government’s timetable, be entirely out of lockdown by then. Many many more of us will, so we hope, have been vaccinated. But far from all. And even those who have been vaccinated may have really good reasons for not wanting to leave their homes and pack themselves into a crowded Council chamber to haggle about planning permissions.
So here’s the risk. It’s a huge risk. And we need to be clear. This is urgent stuff:
There is a real prospect that from 7th May 2021 local planning authority decisions for major schemes in England will effectively grind to a halt. In a way which could hold up literally thousands and thousands of planning applications for really significant pieces of new development.
I don’t need to tell you, but let’s say it anyway: this would be a national disaster which could harm not only important sectors of the economy, but the many people who are relying on development coming forward of all kinds. This is… a problem.
Now, the Association of Democratic Services Officers and Lawyers in Local Government have been on this case for a while. Bravo! They procured a legal opinion along the lines that:
There are forceful arguments that can be made that the pre-existing legislation governing local authority meetings enable local authorities to hold meetings remotely.
For the present situation to continue after 7 May 2021 with the use of remote meetings, the optimum position would be for further legislation to be passed to make the position clear [you can say that again, Ed.]
In the absence of such legislation, one resolution would be to obtain a declaration from the courts to obtain clarity as to the legal position under the pre-existing legislation.
They have now written to the Minister seeking his support for a declaration to the effect that the current legislative scheme allows for virtual meetings. So. We shall see.
But so far, the Government’s position has been that there are “no plans to extend the [7th May] date as it requires primary legislation and there is no vehicle to do that in time for May.”
Now, public meetings are one area of public life where really clear ground rules are incredibly important (don’t believe me? ask Jackie Weaver). A bold judge may be willing to interpret the word “attend” in legislation from the early 1970s so as to include attending over Zoom or MS Teams. But it’s… how can we put this… far, far from ideal. To leave such important questions at the heart of public decision-making so very unclear. That was, of course, the point of the 2020 Regulations in the first place. So the applicants, objectors, supporters, members, officers - all of us - so we all know exactly where we stand. So the cogs of local government can continue to turn. So that decisions produced by members are not immediately going to be attacked in the High Court. We need certainty. And (I don’t want to sound alarmist, but…) we need it now.
So it’s SOS time, people. This blog post is a plea. If there’s anyone out there reading this from the Ministry. HELP US. Help us help you. Because development management in England approaching a cliff edge, friends. And without some urgent new laws to keep virtual meetings moving, there’s a very steep drop on the other side.
In the meantime, stay well. And here’s very much hoping that we’ll be able to #keeponplanning.
