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Shapps beefs up “Right to Build” planning vote

23/09/10 12:40 pm By Nick Johnstone

Housing minister Grant Shapps has strengthened measures that give local people the power to circumvent the planning process if they vote in favour of development.

Previously, under the coalition’s Community Right to Build policy, rural communities were to be offered powers to give the green light to developments if they voted 90% in favour of them.

However, yesterday Shapps said he had faced criticism that this threshold was too high and would make the policy unworkable. Instead, he has introduced a new threshold of 75%, to be introduced in the Localism Bill later this year.

In practice, this would mean specially-formed community groups would have influence over whether a development needs official planning consent or not.

If three quarters of members vote in favour of a scheme, its developers would have the green light to bring homes forward without needing to go through the planning system.

Shapps said: “I’ve listened to the views of the public that responded strongly to our consultation, and I believe this threshold strikes the right balance between enabling communities to go ahead with their plans for expansion, while at the same time ensuring the support of the overwhelming majority of the wider community.

“And I hope it gives rural towns and villages across the country the prompt they need to prepare for a new Right to Build as a solution to the housing challenges they face.”

Richard Ford, head of planning at law firm Pinsent Masons said a lot of unanswered questions about the scheme remain.

“For example, what is the catchment area for a vote on a particular proposal, who organises and polices the vote, what must the turnout be, how many referenda can there be on a particular proposal, how will quality be safeguarded, and how will manifestly inappropriate development be guarded against?

“And perhaps most pertinent of all – is it really needed? We will wait and see.”

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2 Comments »

  • DAVID BARRETT said:

    This new policy is complete madness.

    Planning decisions are best made with an element of detachment at District Council level and with the benefit of professional planners advice.

    It makes a nonsense of the present rational planning system guiding development to the right sites. Residents and owners wanting development can make representations at Development Plan stage to seek development and it is then considered in a wider and fairer context

    Decisions will now be made on these local schemes by a few interested groups or individuals and the policy cries out for interested developers to manipulate the system with offers of dubious ‘Planning Gain’ and sweet talk to secure consent, all to the possible detriment of nearby owners

    The present system could achieve already all that the Minister seeks and a minority adversely affected given a fair and dispassionate hearing. All the Minister has to do is issue Guidance to the Planning Authority to be more receptive to a category of development that he thinks is being refused

    # 24 September 2010 at 10:58 AM
    • andrew hawkes said:

      Who will organise and govern these specially formed community groups.Is’nt it the voice of the village members that should be taken on board and not a small group of people who supposedly represent them, we can represent ourselves, we do not need the parish council or a similar group to make decisions that effect peoples lives, on our behalf. If this policy is to be real, give us what is promised….the opportunity to change our own world, not the one seen through the eyes of a few. I think we would run into troubled waters regarding the few making decisions for the many.
      Our parish council should remain impartial and not compromised by accusations of favouritism and aiding to promote the few that would benefit by selling, previously protected land. We do not object to us having a say, on the contrary, but it’s our voice not a minority group, that needs to be heard.

      Its the small voices that make the most noice.

      # 24 September 2010 at 12:57 PM

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