Failure to adopt core strategies is "absolutely scandalous", say BPF

To encourage the adoption of core strategies, councils should be given credit for their implementation and should not be penalised by having their documents reassessed to ensure they are complaint with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the BPF's Liz Peace said.

A Core Strategy document is a key compulsory local development document which outlines the local authority's development areas and plans, and under the anticipated NPPF would be used to judge compliance of planning applications with the local authority's development plans.

"I think this is an issue that has to be talked about with officials at the Department for Communities and Local Government to look at how to make sure those local authorities get some brownie points or get some credit for the fact that there is a plan already in place," said Peace, speaking at a recent conference.

There has been much controversy surrounding the proposed NPPF and core strategies and having an up-to-date core strategy will be key for local authorities. The 'presumption in favour of sustainable development' contained in the draft NPPF states that the default answer is "yes" to development where a core strategy is "absent, silent or indeterminate".

Peace claims it is "unfair" that councils with core strategies in place should be penalised by having documents reassessed to ensure they are compliant with the NPPF.

However, some councils have taken the decision to delay the issue of their core strategy documents until after the final publication of the NPPF. St Albans City and District Council recently announced that it will not issue its core strategy until three months after the final publication of the NPPF and the revocation of the East of England plan.

The decision to delay the issue of the core strategy was taken in line with legal advice. The Council said it had heard that a number of other councils around the country who are midway through the development of their planning core strategies are similarly affected.

There is concern that councils are under-resourced to be able to take on the additional work required by the recently enacted Localism Act and the impending draft NPPF. Peace said it is important to ensure that council planning teams are properly resourced if the NPPF is to be successful.

"We're talking about a time when local authorities are having their budgets slashed, their manpower reduced and have fewer and fewer people capable of actually dealing with planning," she said.

Richard Ford, a planning law expert with Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com said that by delaying their core strategy processes, councils were potentially exposing themselves to housing shortages in the future.

"Councils who suspend their Core Strategy process in order to wait for the NPPF and the abolition of RSS are storing up future five year housing supply shortages. It will expose them to unplanned development as developers lose patience and push on with applications. There is no good reason to delay," he said.