Communities Secretary sets out planning principles for free school sites

Local authorities will be expected to “attach very significant weight” to the desirability of establishing new free schools and enabling local people to do so, the Communities Secretary said this week.

In a written ministerial statement published shortly before the Academies Bill receives Royal Assent, Eric Pickles also said local authorities – in determining planning applications – “should:

• adopt a positive and constructive approach towards applications to create new schools, and seek to mitigate any negative impacts of development through the use of planning conditions or planning obligations, as appropriate, and
• only refuse planning permission for a new school if the adverse planning impacts on the local area outweigh the desirability of establishing a school in that area."

The Communities Secretary said local planning authorities and the Planning Inspectorate should take his statement – which applies to England only – into account “as a material consideration when determining planning applications, where it is relevant to do so”.

Pickles said that if a council nevertheless refuses permission on this basis, the government would ask the Planning Inspectorate to deal swiftly with any appeal that is lodged.

The statement also revealed that the government will shortly be consulting on changes to the use classes order with a view to reducing “unnecessary” regulation and making it easier for buildings currently in other uses to be converted to schools.

The Communities Secretary said the changes to the planning system would allow school promoters to be confident about moving their proposals forward quickly. "We expect them to work collaboratively with local authorities to take advantage of the opportunities to benefit local communities, while ensuring sustainable solutions," he said.

The statement will represent the government’s policy approach to support the establishment of new schools until a proposed new national planning framework is in place.

Pickles said: “We know that many individuals and organisations are passionate about improving standards in education, and they will want to take advantage of the new freedoms. But we do not want to squander the opportunities that they represent, for lack of suitable school premises.

“Neither do we want to strangle proposals with red tape, by putting them through a lengthy and ponderous planning process. So we want to make it easier for promoters of schools to build new premises, or find and if necessary adapt buildings suitable for the needs of a school.”

The Communities Secretary said the government was already giving “a strong message” to local planning authorities that they must be more responsive to the needs of their own area.

However, he added the government was empowering them by removing centralised targets and streamlining national planning policy. Local planning authorities were also being encouraged to take a more proactive and positive, collaborative approach to development at the pre-application stage.

Pickles added: “The best authorities work with applicants to identify the key issues and how they might be resolved, before the planning application is submitted. In this way, they have the opportunity to work with development promoters, to bring about imaginative, but practical solutions, which will benefit their local community. This is what we would like to see happening with new free schools.”