Permission in principle for new homes will not be given retrospectively and will only apply to site allocations in future plans…
According to an impact assessment document, permission in principle, as outlined in the Housing and Planning Bill, will only apply to sites already in plans.
The government said a new proposal to grant permission in principle for new homes would only apply to land designated in local and neighbour plans, as well as the brownfield register. The impact assessment document confirmed this means permissions will not be granted retrospectively.
The Housing and Planning Bill, which was published earlier this month, added to an earlier promise from the Chancellor to grant automatic permission in principle for brownfield sites registered by local authorities as suitable for housing.
However, the new Bill goes further, proposing a nationwide development order that would extend these permissions in principle to sites allocated in local or neighbourhood plans once they are adopted.
The impact assessment, which was produced by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), said based on the number of applications granted for major developments in 2014-15 the number of proposals could reach 7,000 a year.
It also warned that data on brownfield land was “out of date and of poor quality”. The most recent data published by DCLG was in 2011 and was based on information from the National Land use Database in 2010.
The document stated: “Since 2010 the number of authorities completing returns has reduced and it is currently estimated to be about 50 per cent.”
DCLG added: “The absence of robust data has led to assertions by the Campaign for the Protection of rural England and others that brownfield land has the capacity to accommodate over one million homes.
“We consider that to be wildly over optimistic as only a fraction will be suitable for housing. The land may not be suitable or available for development, it may be located in the wrong place or subject to physical and/or environmental constraints.”
The Second Reading of the Bill is set to go before the Commons next week, during which time MPs will be given the opportunity to debate the legislation.