Neill looks to reduce number of planning appeals

A government minister has revealed that the Department for Communities and Local Government is reviewing the grounds for planning appeals with the aim of reducing the number going through the system.

Speaking in a Commons debate on planning control at Westminster Hall, Bob Neill said: “There is a legitimate role for an appeals process in a planning system. Planning decisions are matters of important public consideration, and in many circumstances affect proprietary rights.

“Our advice is that it is necessary to have an appeals process, and to ensure that the system is compliant with human rights legislation. We must have a planning system, and our desire is to avoid the system we have at the moment, whereby planning by appeal takes place almost automatically because local authorities are almost forced to refuse applications because they are grounded on the basis of the regional spatial strategies, which do not have regard to local needs. I want to get away from that.”

The minister said the Localism Bill envisaged ‘front-loading’ the process to encourage greater community involvement in the development of neighbourhoods. Developments over a certain minimum threshold would require pre-application discussions, he pointed out.

“The best developers do that anyway, and that will provide a greater opportunity for issues to be thrashed out before the decision-making process, rather than being decided on appeal,” he said.

Neill argued that the predetermination rule was “a considerable vice” because it prevented local councillors from speaking out on behalf of their constituents for fear that they would be prevented from being involved in a decision.

He added: “There will have to be an appeals process, but I hope that if we can reduce the volume of cases that go through it, and look at how to simplify it and make it more intelligible, that will deal with many of the issues raised by the Member for South Northamptonshire (Andrea Leadsom).”