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Lord Avebury: The clause says that the local planning authority must issue a statement of development principles in relation to a proposed development. My noble friend suggests that "must" should be replaced by "may". In that context, will the Minister explain how this clause interacts with the policies of the local authority under the Licensing Act 2003? So far we have not had the guidance under the Licensing Act, and we do not know to what extent local authorities will be allowed to impose limits on the number of licensed premises to which planning permission will be awarded. Until that guidance is published, I cannot see how the local authority would be able to interpret a requirement that it must issue a statement of development principles. If it does not have guidance under the Licensing Act, it does not know to what extent the local authorities may impose some numerical limits on the number of licensed premises to which planning permission is awarded.
As the Minister will be aware from the debates on the Licensing Bill many months ago, there is considerable anxiety among local authorities about the extent to which they can exercise limits on the number of licensed premises by means of planning controls.
Lord Rooker: In answer to the question about licensing from the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, I do not have a clue but I will find out and write to him. I will not be able to give him an answer today.
I am delighted with the new-found interest in the proceedings of this Bill, given the greater attendance in your Lordships' House at this part of our proceedings. On the other hand, if I was misunderstood and anyone has come for the other Bill, I suggest they go and get a cup of tea, because I have the largest speaking note on this group of amendments than on any other.
As the noble Lord, Lord Marlesford, heard me say, this clause is very important. To keep everyone happy, my officials have ruthlessly edited the speaking note, so it will not be the 17 pages that I had planned to use, but I will do my best. I will not curtail my speech unnecessarily because this is a crucial part of the Bill. It is where the Bill starts to get interesting and sexy, if you like. It has been a little boring until now, but when we get on to outline planning permissions and situations such as this it becomes much more interesting.
The statement of development principles is a new procedure for anyone wishing to obtain an indication from a local planning authority about whether all or part of a proposed development would be acceptable in principle. The statement of development principles is halfway between an officer's informal view and an outline planning permission. A statement of development principles will be a material consideration for the purposes of determining an application for planning permission for a similar development that is submitted within three years. A statement of development principles does not grant the applicant any consent to do the works. That being the
case, it may stop the applicant raising finance, and I fully accept the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield.As far as the relationship between the statement of development principles and outline planning permission is concerned, there has been much debate about this proposal. Statements of development principles will at first supplement and might eventually replace outline planning permission. We believe that the way in which outline planning permission is currently handled by some authorities has significant faults. At its worst, it allows redlining on a map of an area or site for development for a particular use or uses of land with no detail shown. This is not an acceptable state of affairs. Local communities should have early opportunities to engage in discussion of proposed developments. The Government are laying increasing emphasis on the importance of pre-application discussions. Good developers will undertake such discussions. The Government want this best practice to become standard practice. A statement of development principles is one means of formalising the dialogue between a developer and a local planning authority.
We said in a Written Statement on 15 December—I cannot go further than that today—that if we retain outline planning permission, we will need more detail. We are waiting for a response from the development industry. I certainly hope that by the time we reach Report we will be able to have better particulars in that respect.
The outline planning permission would need to provide sufficient information for a local authority to make an informed decision about whether an environmental statement is required. On community involvement, the Government consider that a local planning authority statement of community involvement should set out how the community should be involved in significant planning applications. Outline planning applications should provide sufficient information to allow the community to comment in a meaningful way.
We are considering possible mechanisms for ensuring that additional information is required at the stage of application for outline planning permission. One mechanism might be guidance; another might be the use of secondary legislation.
Clause 42 allows for a development order to make provision as to documents or other materials that are to accompany a planning application. The general development procedure order might be used to require a design statement to accompany an application for outline planning permission. That is by way of an example that could be given. If we were to pursue that approach, the new system of development control could include both statements of development principles and outline planning permission. Statements of development principles would provide developers and local planning authorities with an additional tool for building up an agreed development prospectus for a site. Outline planning permission could be used either after or instead of a
statement of development principles. That would be for the applicant to decide. I understand that the issue of being able to raise the funds necessary is a crucial link, but the developer would have the opportunity to decide. Full planning permission, requiring the submission of all details of the proposed development, would not change. It would therefore remain the case that development could not commence until reserved matters had been approved.We do not agree with Amendment No. 113H. If an application for a statement of development principles is received, a local planning authority should be required to come to a decision. In issuing its decision, the local planning authority will have to indicate whether it agrees with the principle of all or part of the proposed development.
Amendment No. 113J would require the local planning authority to have regard to the development plan rather than having regard to the plan so far as it was material to the request for a statement of development principles. The existing wording mirrors existing provisions such as Section 70 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which requires local planning authorities considering planning applications to have regard to the development plan,
- "so far as material to the application".
Amendment No. 113K is coupled with Amendment No. 113H. It would give the local planning authority discretion whether to decide on a statement of development principles depending upon the adequacy of the information submitted. By itself, it would have no effect, since the authority would be obliged to issue the statement of development principles whether or not sufficient information had been provided. I consider it right that a local planning authority must issue a decision, but it can only make its decision on the basis of the information submitted by the applicant. If the application lacks detail, so will the statement of development principles. But in issuing its decision, the local planning authority would be able to include details of any information that it would require to accompany an application for planning permission.
Amendment No. 113L would make an environmental impact assessment a possible requirement and a possible material consideration for a local planning authority in considering a statement of development principles. We see no need for that. An environmental impact assessment will not be required on an application for a statement of development principles, because such a statement is not a development consent. We propose to provide in the secondary legislation that if a local planning authority considers that a proposed development would require an environmental impact assessment, it must state in the statement of development principles its opinion as to the information to be provided in an environmental statement. Its agreement to the principle of the
development would be subject to such information being provided with an application for planning permission.Amendment No. 113M would prevent a local planning authority from declining to issue a statement of development principles where it had issued a statement disagreeing with the principle of all or part of a similar development within the previous two years. I can understand the concern that an authority might decline to issue a statement even where a potential developer has changed some factors of a proposed development in order to address concerns raised by the local planning authority in the first statement. However, it would be illogical to require an authority to deal with repeated requests for statements of development principles when, elsewhere in the Bill, we are proposing to provide them with the power to decline to determine repeated requests for planning permission. That is an issue that we shall come to, though certainly not today.
Amendments Nos. 132B and 134A would retain outline planning permission in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. We are considering the retention of outline planning permission. That would be on the basis that it provided a level of information that would enable local authorities to assess all the significant environmental impacts from proposed developments. Discussions with representatives of interested parties, including the development industry, are ongoing as I speak—but probably not at the rate of pace at which I am speaking. But it will be okay, Hansard—honestly—because I stuck to the script.
I hope that I have given a flavour of how we want to proceed. This is an issue on which we do not have a closed mind; we made that clear in the Statement on 15 December. There are important financial aspects; nevertheless, we wish to get over the problem that exists at present, with the sometimes scandalous situation that arises regarding outline planning permissions. I had that as a constituency Member in the other place. Some of the issues that arise as a result of an outline planning permission being granted are quite disgraceful. The noble Lord, Lord Rogers, or another noble Lord, made the point that the development that turns up later may have no relation whatever to what people believed was in the outline consent. We have to deal with that, and we are trying to find ways in which to do so; I hope that, by the time the Bill reaches the statute book, there will be an agreed way by consent across the Floor to find a solution. Therefore, I hope that the amendments can be withdrawn.
1.45 p.m.
Lord Hanningfield: I thank the noble Lord for that answer. He had a lot to read, just as I did when I had my notes to read through.
Many concerns were raised, and I am sure that the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, will address some of them in a moment. The Minister said that discussions were ongoing, but discussions must speed up, because
before we get to Report stage we would like to know more of how the Government can accommodate many of the fears within the industry and a lot of the bureaucratic nature of the work for the planning authorities. Those hard-pressed authorities will not have the resources to fulfil some of the Government's requirements. However, the fears are there in the development industry in particular. As the Minister said, discussions are going on, and Report stage will be the next opportunity to discuss those matters in detail. I hope that the Government are then able to accept some of our amendments.
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