Neighbourhood Planning (Referendums) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 — House of Lords, 2016-09-06
Topic: Housing
Nicholas Bourne (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the regulations set a latest-by referendum date in the final stages of the neighbourhood planning process. I beg to move that they be approved and come into force on 1 October Neighbourhood planning gives communities direct power to develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood and to shape the development and growth of their local area. For the first time, community groups can produce plans that have real statutory weight in the planning system. So far more than 1,900 communities across England, representing nearly 10 million people, have started the process of neighbourhood planning. More than 200 plans have passed a public referendum and are now in force. These plans are now the starting point for planning decisions We are fully committed to strengthening neighbourhood planning. The introduction of the neighbourhood planning Bill shortly will further empower local communities to get the homes and infrastructure that local communities need delivered as quickly and effectively as possible. But we need to ensure that the neighbourhood planning process is as simple and expeditious as possible so that communities see the benefits of their plan without unnecessary delays. Neighbourhood planning can take, on average, two to three years. Slow decision-making by local planning authorities can be particularly frustrating for communities and can discourage them from taking up neighbourhood planning. That is why we introduced a number of measures in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 that could speed up neighbourhood planning by an average of 17 weeks Complementing the new powers in the Housing and Planning Act is a power in Schedule 4B to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for the Secretary of State to make regulations prescribing a date by which the referendum must be held or before which it cannot be held. Holding a referendum is a key step required to bring a neighbourhood plan or order into force once it has been through public consultation stages and an independent examination. Where the neighbourhood area has been designated as a business area, there is an additional referendum for the businesses in the area. On average, referendums have been held within eight weeks of a local planning authority’s decision to submit a neighbourhood plan or order. However, while some authorities have called a referendum within six weeks, others have set a referendum date more than 17 weeks after their decision to do so, and some have been far later even than that. This is why we consider that it would be beneficial for new regulations to set out a clear expectation regarding the time period for holding a referendum In February, we consulted on proposals for these regulations as part of a wider package of measures. A summary of the responses to the consultation has been prepared and is available on the department’s website, along with the Government’s response. The proposal received considerable support, and a small number of technical amendments were made as a result of the consultation to ensure that the regulations could be implemented effectively. The details of the regulations have been agreed with the Electoral Commission and the Association of Electoral Administrators The regulations, if approved, will be an important safeguard to ensure that a minority of local authorities do not cause delays to the neighbourhood planning process. The regulations would require local planning authorities to hold a referendum on a neighbourhood plan within 56 working days of their decision that a referendum should be held, or 84 working days in certain more complex cases. The cases where the 84-working-day limit would apply are where there is also a business referendum; where the neighbourhood planning area falls within more than one local planning authority area; or where the local planning authority is not the principal authority responsible for arranging the referendum, as with mayoral development corporations or national park authorities There are three exceptions to the 56 or 84-working-day time limit. First, they are where a neighbourhood planning referendum can take place on the same day as, or be taken together with, another poll due to be held within three months of the end of the 56 or 84-working-day period described above; where there are unresolved legal challenges to the decision to hold a referendum; or where a local planning authority and the neighbourhood group agree that the referendum need not be held by that date. Those exceptions provide necessary flexibility to allow for local circumstances to be taken into account Neighbourhood planning has been hugely successful in making planning more accessible to local people. It empowers significant numbers of communities to take an active role in determining the future of their areas, and it is a principle that we can all agree on. This Government are committed to speeding up and simplifying the process so that even more communities benefit. It is important that we set time limits for key local planning authority decisions in the neighbourhood planning process to speed up and simplify the system in a sensible and pragmatic way, and I believe that that is what the regulations will do. I therefore commend the draft regulations to the House.