Planning, building and the environment

Planning application process shake up to slash unnecessary red tape

Published	24 November 2008

The Killian Pretty Review

A major new report published today is urging a cull of bureaucracy in the planning application process to make it work better for everyone and help economic recovery.

Joanna Killian and David Pretty have developed an ambitious, but deliverable, package of practical recommendations which will create a more proportionate, customer focused and responsive process, but importantly they will not alter the balance of decision making, weaken important safeguards, or reduce public consultation.

The planning system is dominated by minor developments. The review recommends that nearly 40 per cent of minor non-residential, mainly commercial, planning applications, such as for small scale alterations and extensions, should be taken out of the planning system altogether or subject to a much quicker process.

It also recommends improving the critically important pre-application phase, particularly for major developments, with a much greater focus on getting developers, councils and consultees, including local communities, to sort out key issues that could cause lengthy delays later in the process.

And, it proposes a new customer focus for council planning performance based on the quality of service provided throughout the whole process, not just on its speed.

These and other recommendations will speed up the process and improve its effectiveness and transparency, and could deliver up to £300m of savings for councils, applicants and the wider economy each year.

The recommendations will free up and encourage councils and consultees to focus their resources on the larger developments that can make the biggest impact on communities. Taken together they will make a real difference to businesses large and small, manufacturers, householders, and stretched public services, all facing tougher economic times ahead.

David Pretty said:

"Quite simply, the planning application process is too slow and bogged down in unnecessary red tape, to the extent that it acts as brake on key elements of the economy. It is crucial, particularly given today's economic climate, that we tackle this problem. In a system dominated by minor developments, even the simple decisions now take far too long. This is massively frustrating for both applicants and council planners with excessive workloads.

"We believe that our recommendations - based on extensive discussions with stakeholders - will go a long way to re-energising and streamlining the planning applications process. This will also free up council resources, help economic recovery, and help to ensure that we get the right development, in the right place at the right time."

Joanna Killian added:

"We have looked at every stage of the planning application process from every perspective to identify a series of practical recommendations to remove the stumbling blocks and help business and councils to put people first and work together more effectively.

"Our proposals won't remove the democratic safeguards but they will free up council resources to focus on major developments or controversial cases and give councils more freedom to choose how to reach out to people in the information age.

"We hope that ministers will take immediate action to implement these measures which can make our economy more resilient to deal with the tough times and help it recover in future."

Notes to editors

1. The Killian Pretty review, led by Joanna Killian, Chief Executive of Essex County Council and Brentwood Borough Council. David Pretty, former Group Chief Executive of Barratt Developments PLC was commissioned by ministers earlier this year to look at establishing a faster and more responsive planning application process. The full review including a list of the detailed recommendations is available here: www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/planning/planningpolicyimplementation/reformplanningsystem/killianprettyreview/

Joanna Killian joined Essex County Council as Director for Finance and Performance in March 2005. She started her current role as Chief Executive in June 2006 and was the first woman to hold the post, aged 41. Before joining Essex County Council, Joanna was Director of Local Government Performance and Improvement with the Audit Commission.

David Pretty retired as Group Chief Executive of Barratt Developments at the end of 2006 after 40 years in the housing industry, 27 of them with Barratt. He was made a CBE in 2007 for services to housebuilding. Since retirement from Barratt, he has remained active in the housebuilding sector, as a Director of the Home Builders Federation (HBF), Chairman of the New Homes Marketing Board, a trustee of The Prince's Regeneration Trust and an appeal board member of Shelter, the homelessness charity. He is also a non-executive Director of McCarthy & Stone, Britain's largest provider of private retirement housing.

2. The review examined 64 case studies in detail Killian Pretty Review: Research Report 1 - Case Studies by Addison Associates/ ARUP. In over half of the case studies, substantial problems were encountered during the process, such as significant blockages, cost and delays.

3. The reviewers held discussions with stakeholders across all 9 English regions to discuss matters of concern and potential solutions with applicants, councils, interest groups and consultees. Over 150 responses were received to the Killian Pretty interim report - The Call for Solutions published in June 2008.

Other review recommendations designed to make the application planning process more consumer focused, more efficient and more responsive for all users include:

a significant reduction in information requirements, such as unnecessary or duplicative paperwork, to reduce burdens on applicants. Information requirements should be made more proportionate to the size and scale of proposals, reducing the reliance on agents
reducing the number of conditions and improving the way they are discharged
improving administrative processing of applications drawing on best practice
clearer and faster planning obligation agreements - negotiation of obligations is often responsible for significant delays on major developments. It is proposed that the main issues are agreed at pre-application to reduce delays and legal costs, with more use of standard agreements
developing a new way to deal with minor material changes on approved schemes
overhauling and simplifying national planning policy to prevent duplication and continual additions of new policies from over-burdening decision-making, and improving the statutory framework too
making engagement by statutory consultees more efficient by reducing over-consultation
encouraging councils to improve advice and guidance to all users, for example, on whether planning permission is even required
making greater use of alternative dispute resolution and mediation

5. Annual savings for councils and applicants could be found by:

removing 40 per cent of minor commercial applications could save up to £30m a year
cutting delays (for example from inefficiencies in consultation or in negotiation of planning obligations - two of the biggest causes of delay) could save the economy at least £70m a year
reducing the complexity loaded onto planning could save applicants £75m and councils £30m
cutting information requirements could save applicants up to £50m a year
improving the processing of applications and reducing unnecessary consultation could save councils at least £40m a year

6. The World Bank's doing survey measuring business regulations ranks economies on their ease of doing business includes the dealing with construction permits (planning) category - which the UK economy is ranked 61st. It can be found at: www.doingbusiness.org/economyrankings/.