Planning, building and the environment

Planning Act 2008

The Planning Act 2008 (external link) was granted Royal Assent on 26 November 2008. The Act builds on the proposals set out in the Planning White Paper and introduces a new system for nationally significant infrastructure planning, alongside further reforms to the town and country planning system and the introduction of a Community Infrastructure Levy.

An Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) will be established under the Act as the new authority granting development consent for nationally significant infrastructure projects. The Act also provides for the Government to produce national policy statements (NPSs) to be used as the policy framework for the Commission's decisions. It imposes a requirement on project promoters to consult affected parties and local communities prior to submitting an application, and sets out a new process for examining applications. The current timetable for implementing the new regime is set out in the route map (available below to download). The three departments responsible for drafting the NPSs are: Department for Transport, Department for Energy and Climate Change and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The Act also makes further reforms to the town and country planning system, including improving the Local Development Plan system by removing some minor procedures; adding a duty on councils to take action on climate change in their development plans; and to have regard to the desirability of achieving good design; streamlining development control procedures; making changes to the appeals process; and adding transitional powers allowing regional assemblies to delegate some planning functions to regional planning bodies.

The Act also contains enabling powers to empower local councils to apply a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) on new developments in their areas to support infrastructure delivery. The CIL will establish a better way to increase investment in the vital infrastructure that growing communities need. The detail for how CIL will operate will be set out in draft regulations which will be subject to full public consultation during summer 2009. Regulations will be made in April 2010.

All legislation is subject to an impact assessment, to assess the costs and benefits of the measures it contains. The impact assessment for the Act is available below.

If you want to know the key dates when the Planning Bill progressed through Parliament or read transcripts of the debates, these are available from Parliament UK (external link).

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