Key Facts

• Rachael Maskell tables an amendment to include community organizations as determining bodies.
• The amendment aims to ensure that copies of reports are sent to local communities.
• Examples given include York Bus Forum, Walk York, and the York Cycle Campaign.
• Amendment 88 aims to guarantee individuals' rights to be heard during examinations related to joint spatial development strategies.
• Amendment 89 includes a clause that requires anyone making representations about the strategy to have the option to appear before and be heard by an examiner if they request it.
• Amendment 90 seeks to prevent hearings for supplementary plans from being limited to written representations.
• Schedule 7 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill does not provide an automatic right for communities to be heard.
• New section 15AC explicitly denies residents the right to be heard at examinations of joint spatial development strategies.
• Section 15DB prescribes that submissions to independent examination take the form of written representations regarding supplementary plans.
• Amendments 88 and 89 would enshrine the right to be heard at an examination in public for joint spatial development strategies.
• Amendment 90 aims to allow examiners to determine the form of examination for supplementary plans as they see fit.
• The current procedure for examining spatial development strategies does not include a formal right to appear in person, but planning inspectors ensure that relevant interests and views are heard.
• Amendments 122, 124, and 125 aim to introduce a deliberative democracy process.
• New clause 42 mandates local planning authorities to undertake a process of deliberative democracy before preparing any development or outline plan.
• The process includes inviting all residents to apply as representatives and ensuring diverse representation.
• York has not had a local plan since 1956.
• Development is being pushed into York Central due to political disagreements in York Outer.
• High-density housing in York's urban centre is making homes unaffordable for those in need.
• Housing developments are exacerbating inequality and homelessness.
• Derwenthorpe and New Earswick exemplify successful community engagement in planning.
• The English planning system already gives communities a key role in shaping their areas.
• Neighbourhood priority statements will make it easier for local communities to determine priorities.
• Mandatory design codes ensure direct involvement of communities in making rules on how developments should look and feel.
• Street votes provide residents with a new way to permit additional development on their streets.
• Regulations will set minimum consultation periods of eight weeks before plan submission and six weeks before independent examination.
• 41 pilots have been funded, including in councils with disadvantaged communities.
• Watford Borough Council has developed a QR code system for planning information access.
• The London Borough of Hounslow has created an online 3D map to help residents visualize proposals.
• Liverpool city region has had two rounds of informal engagement targeting under-represented groups.
• The guidance is expected to work with measures in the Bill.
• Labour places importance on community engagement and agency in planning processes.
• DCMS pilots were successful in bringing people together.
• The amendment (123) aims to give Local Planning Authorities the power to adjust existing outline planning permissions.
• York Central is estimated to provide only 6,500 jobs but mainly high-density luxury apartments that do not cater to local needs.
• Stakeholders in York support Government assistance for addressing developments like York Central which they view as a disaster.
• Amendment 99 removes the consistency requirement for local development plans.
• Amendment 100 inserts a provision preventing regulations from requiring conformity with national demand management policies.
• Proposed changes aim to reduce the time it takes for local plans to be produced.
• Plans should not be inconsistent with national development management policies (NDMPs).
• NDMPs will primarily include nationally important policies such as green belt protection and flood protection.
• The amendment requires supplementary plans to be agreed within five years of the commencement of the local plan process.
• Maskell cites an example where data from 13 years ago is being used for future local planning in York.
• The census has provided up-to-date demographic changes that should influence local planning processes.
• The amendment would allow councils to review and adjust local plans for six months following a local election.
• A plan adopted by a previous administration could prevent a new council from delivering economic or housing opportunities for their community.
• The amendment aims to enable rapid changes in response to growing challenges such as the rise of Airbnbs.
• Amendment 140 would insert a requirement for the Secretary of State to consult local stakeholders on the local plan.
• Amendment 141 would ensure that community groups and stakeholders are involved with the development of a neighbourhood priorities statement.
• The amendments aim to increase proactive consultation during the planning process.
• Communities have been given opportunities to engage in shaping their areas.
• Powers under the Bill act as an important safety net for up-to-date plans.
• Neighbourhood priority statements are intended to provide a simpler way for communities to set out priorities.
• The Government is testing different approaches through a simpler neighbourhood planning pilot.
• Neighbourhood priority statements should be considered more seriously in areas where the planning committee is not elected.
• Schedule 7 amendments ensure local planning authorities must have regard to neighbourhood priorities statements when preparing their local plans.
• New measures include mandatory design codes, street votes, and restrictions on local authority-imposed street name changes without community support.
• The amendment seeks to clarify the meaning of climate change mitigation and adaptation in the Bill.
• The Committee on Climate Change's latest report states that current government policies will not deliver net zero emissions.
• Local authorities should have the power to enforce zero-carbon homes and buildings.
• The Bill requires local plans to secure development and use of land in a way that contributes to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
• The Government committed to updating the National Planning Policy Framework to enhance its contribution to climate change goals.
• A review of national policy will go out for consultation next year.