Killian-Pretty Review

• Posted by Karyn Middleton on 26th Jan ’09 at 09:41 GMT
• 0 comments

The Killian-Pretty Review, published on the 28th of November 2008, has made a number of recommendations to speed up the planning application system. The recommendations are aimed at reforming the planning application process so it is less complex and more proportionate, responsive and customer focused.

The review looked at the efficiency of the planning application process, especially the pre- and post- application process and made 17 recommendations. The review mainly concerned small scale domestic developments, although it makes a number of suggestions that affect the planning application process as a whole.

Recommendations include freeing up resources of planning authorities through the relaxation of controls and requirements on small scale developments and allowing therefore an increased focus on the processes involved in more major planning matters.

The suggestions include an expansion of permitted development rights to include minor, non-residential applications which could remove 15,000 minor commercial and other non-residential developments from the planning system each year. The review also recommends a more proportionate approach to planning applications, particularly with regard to householder and minor developments, by simplifying the process and requirements for smaller scale developments. The recommendations also set out a range of improvements to pre-application discussions through measures such as clearer national policy guidelines and a presumption that major applications will have formal pre-application discussions involving all relevant parties.

The recommendations also hand a larger amount of power to Local Authorities and Planning Officers to make decisions without having to go to committee, and without input from statutory consultees, if they have failed to respond within the allotted timescale. It also recommends that councillors should have appropriate training on planning matters, which will become more significant if, as it is assumed will happen, written appeals are allowed to claim for costs from authorities.

Other recommendations include ways to increase public interaction with the planning system, in terms of advice for applicants and neighbours on applications for minor householder developments, and also with regard to public consultation and engagement of the community in the Local Authority’s plan for an area.

The review looks at increasing the use of technology across the planning application process, through the use of e-applications and electronic consultation, but also through an increase in interaction and information available to the public for specific schemes.

The recommendations highlight the importance of pre-application advice and discussions with regard to providing appropriate applications but also the role of good pre-application advice in determining appropriate conditions and obligations. The review also identifies the need for Local Authorities to distinguish the role of planning obligations when the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is implemented from Spring 2009, and the determination of these is to be agreed earlier on in the application process.

The hope is that the changes will enable the planning system and therefore the country as a whole, to react more effectively to positive economic conditions, promoting growth and investment when the economy recovers, but also promoting more inclusive and well-informed decisions through increased community involvement and an increase in the knowledge-base of decision makers.

For further information please contact David Jones on 01242 531411 or david.jones@evansjones.co.uk.