§ The Minister for Housing and Planning (Keith Hill)On 15 December I issued a statement noting that I had received significant representations from organisations representing housebuilders and other major developers indicating their concerns about the potential removal from planning legislation of outline planning permission and its effect on proposed developments. I said that I would consider further the removal of the provision from the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill that abolishes outline planning permission.
My statement said that if outline planning permission were to be retained this could only be on the basis that it provided the opportunity for greater community involvement and a level of information which will enable local authorities to assess all the significant environmental impacts. I indicated my willingness to consider proposals on the scope and extent of the further information needed to achieve these objectives.
Discussions have been held with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and representatives of developers. We have received letters from the British Property Federation (BPF) and the House Builders Federation (HBF) indicating their willingness for their members to provide sufficient information with applications for outline planning permission to satisfy our objectives. The information would meet the requirements of environmental impact assessments and would comprise elements to be included 49WS in a design statement. These elements would be massing, layout, relationship to public space, density (as defined by units for residential developments or floorspace for commercial developments), building heights, access and movements, landscape strategy, mix of use and response to context. The level of information provided would be appropriate to the complexity of the scheme. We see this information as providing the foundation for greater community involvement.
Following the discussions with developers and the receipt of the letters from the BPF and the HBF I am pleased to announce that the Government are now prepared to retain outline planning permission as part of 50WS the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. We will table an amendment to achieve this for consideration on 25 March during third reading in the House of Lords of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill.
We propose to use the standard application form proposed in the Bill as the means for the submission of the additional information to be required to accompany an application for outline planning permission. The details would be set out in secondary legislation, in an amendment to the General Permitted Development Order and in guidance accompanying the standard application form. We aim to consult on this package in June.