DCLG consults on plans to speed up negotiation of planning agreements

The UK government committed, in its 2014 Autumn Statement, to take steps to speed up the planning application process. A consultation document (19-page / 516 KB PDF) published last week sought views on proposals aimed at encouraging the swift completion of section 106 agreements, which are negotiated alongside the planning decision-making process and can lead to delays in the issuing of planning decision notices by local authorities.

According to the document, the government intends to issue guidance confirming that section 106 agreements must be concluded within statutory timescales; explaining that engagement should commence early in the pre-application stage; encouraging use of standardised clauses to speed up the drafting process; and setting expectations for "greater transparency about what has been raised through section 106 and what it has been spent on".

The government has also proposed to make legislative changes, in the next Parliament, introducing a new dispute resolution mechanism to provide a solution where parties cannot agree "on the scale and scope of mitigation necessary" under a section 106 agreement or where the agreement process breaches statutory or agreed timescales.

The document sought views on the proposed provision of an external dispute resolution service, through which "an external body or suitably qualified individual" would make binding decisions on the terms of a proposed agreement. The consultation considered whether any new mechanism should be restricted to major developments; whether the dispute mechanism would also need to determine the related planning application; and whether the service should be self-funded through the charging of fees.

The document said the government had also considered the introduction of an automatic process, whereby any draft section 106 agreement or unilateral undertaking submitted by a proposed developer with a planning application became the deemed planning obligation after statutory or agreed timescales were breached.

However, the government considered this "deemed approach" to be unworkable because councils were likely to refuse applications where draft obligations did not make an application acceptable; any negotiations would be "significantly skewed in favour of the applicant"; and "unilateral undertakings cannot oblige an authority to deliver any of the items funded through the undertaking".

The document also sought views on whether requiring affordable housing contributions from developers of dedicated student accommodation acted as a barrier to such development.

The consultation closes on 19 March.