THE LOCALISM BILL

INBUILT'S OPINION

The Localism Bill was introduced in 2010 and it making its way through the parliamentary process. Although it contains some specific measures it is more of an 'enabler' that will allow further administrative changes without the need for primary legislation. In many ways it can be seen as part of the Government's Big Society vision with more decisions being taken at a local level and greater involvement of communities. In addition to a range of general powers there are a number that related directly to the built environment.

The Bill paves the way for the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) due in 2012. It is the NPPF that will contain much of the information crucial to buildings but there are some parts of the Bill that indicate what will be coming. It will allow Regional Strategies to be abolished and whilst this is a good move it is a shame that there has been a void between the Secretary of State for Communities' announcement last year and the implementation of the NPPF. This has caused unnecessary confusion and uncertainty at a time when planning approvals were already at a long term low.

Thankfully there will not be an obligation on communities to draw up a neighbourhood development plan even though they will have the right to do so. This will allow the communities with fresh minds, enthusiasm and ideas to create local examples of Best Practice which can then be used by others.

It is important that these plans are well informed and the Bill's proposals for neighbourhood planning along with the 'Duty to cooperate' should help this but the technical advice to be provided by planning authorities needs to well informed and clearly explained. Inbuilt's experience is that some authorities have this skill in house but others do not and it will be essential to ensure that expertise is brought in.

A NIMBY'S CHARTER? - PROBABLY NOT

The spectre of nimbyism should be prevented by needs for plans to be in line with national policy and strategic visions for the wider area but even so local problems could will emerge which will hold up or distort beneficial development.

The underused Community Infrastructure Levy is also up for a makeover with greater flexibility on how it is used - going forward it can be spent maintaining the existing infrastructure as well as providing new infrastructure. Interestingly for a Bill about less central involvement, it will actually allow Government to require some of the money raised to go directly to the neighbourhoods where development takes place. Whether communities see this as a bribe is yet to be seen.

Contrary to popular belief there is no mention in the Bill about the 'presumption in favour of sustainable development' promoted in the Conservatives Open Source Planning Green Paper in 2010 but it is likely to feature in the NPPF. Details will follow but this presumption would be useful where a development is in line with a local or neighbourhood plan as it will assist the process and allow the agreed development to go forward. The Green Paper however stated that this presumption should apply if there is no plan in place by a set deadline - this does raise concerns. The absence of a plan should not prevent all development proceeding but it is essential that local authorities or Government work with industry and communities to develop a usable and realistic fall back definition of sustainable development.