The chancellor delivered the wrong kind of planning reform

By Al Watson2023-11-24T07:00:00

It is wishful thinking to believe the latest financial incentives announced on Wednesday will suddenly speed up planning decisions

The chancellor’s play for planning reform on Wednesday this week was underwhelming. Paraphrasing the statement; the view from the government is to allow local authorities to recover the full costs of major business applications in return for being required to meet guaranteed faster timelines. If councils fail to meet those timelines, the fees would be refunded automatically, and the application would be processed free of charge.

This is not a new idea – it has been bouncing around for years and it seems that the government wants to introduce it in 2024, despite planning fees going up in December, to claim that local planning authorities will be properly resourced (by the private sector).

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