What does the Government’s new Consultation Direction mean for large housing developments?
Whilst many await the outcome of the upcoming local elections due to take place in many local authorities across the country, we have a new piece of secondary legislation to digest in the planning sphere.
The introduction of the Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2026 (applying outside the Mayoral authority of London – separate provisions apply for London) provides that where a planning application provides for 150 or more homes (flats or houses) and it has not been determined by 11th May 2026, the local planning authority must consult the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (“the Secretary of State”) where the intention is to refuse the application. This consultation with the Secretary of State must be done before the local authority determines the application.
When consulting with the Secretary of State local authorities need to send copies of the application, various representations as well as any report prepared by the planning officer. Reasons for refusal must also be set out (unless contained in the officer’s report).
Following consultation, the Secretary of State then has a period of 21 days to decide whether to call-in the application for determination.
This new secondary legislation appears to be a clear intensification of the scrutiny being applied to local planning authorities and their handling of planning applications, clearly designed to help push through the Government agenda and plans for increasing house building in the country.
Whether in practice this will make a difference will remain to be seen: the effect may be to encourage developers to push sites currently just under the 150 threshold to get to that key 150 mark so that they benefit from this additional level of scrutiny. Local authorities may respond by just sitting on their hands and continuing to defer decisions – leaving it open for applicants to then decide whether to appeal on the grounds of non-determination instead. Before the 11th May comes round, local authorities may also seek to refuse pending applications so that they avoid this additional scrutiny from the Secretary of State altogether.
Alongside this, the Government has separately published a consultation on requirements to consult the Secretary of State where:
- a local planning authority is minded to refuse a planning application for commercial floorspace of 15,000m2; and
- an application is made for one or more dwellings within a Defence Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (notably for AWE Aldermaston and AWE Burghfield) where the Office for Nuclear Regulation and/or the Local Authority’s Emergency Planning Team has objected to the application but the Local Planning Authority is minded to grant it. This will therefore apply specifically to the local planning authorities (as currently constituted) of Basingstoke and Deane, Reading, West Berkshire and Wokingham.
Further details on any outcome arising from this further consultation will follow when available but it is clear that the Government remains focused on driving economic growth where possible.
For more detail or to discuss how this might affect your land or a pending planning application, please contact Vicky McDonald.
