To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on local authority resources of the proposals included in their White Paper Planning for the future, published on 6 August.
Answered on
17 December 2020
The White Paper commits to developing a comprehensive resources and skills strategy for the planning sector to support the implementation of our reforms – so that, as we implement our reforms, local planning authorities are equipped to create great communities through effective civic engagement and proactive plan-making.
We want to reduce the amount of resource-consuming bureaucracy and streamline or abolish assessments and other requirements that are burdensome and slow-down planning departments. Part of achieving this will be through modernising the planning process, so that routine tasks are automated and decision-making is improved by better access to data and digital services. This will allow local authorities to focus attention on plan making and place shaping. We are also exploring options to introduce a new planning fee structure to ensure that local planning authorities are properly resourced to improve the speed and quality of their decisions.
We will continue to work with local planning authorities, as well as professional bodies and the wider planning sector, as we develop our proposals.