Respondents to local planning call for evidence highlight lack of resources and call for stronger strategic planning

Several submissions have also recommended the strengthening of strategic planning at different levels, from the sub-regional to the national.

Campaign group the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) said in its submission to the panel (6-page / 414 KB PDF) that "resource issues have emerged as the defining problem for the planning service" and that "in some cases the number of qualified planners working on plan-making is plainly insufficient to drive effective implementation".

These concerns were echoed by other bodies in their responses to the call for evidence. The Planning Officers Society (POS), which represents local authority planning practitioners, noted in its response (7-page / 90 KB PDF) that "some authorities do not have any policy planners". The submission from district council representative group the District Council's Network (DCN) (15-page / 381 KB PDF), meanwhile, said "the increasing burden of evidence" on local planning authorities was partly to blame for the "increasing financial constraints on authorities preparing plans".

Several bodies recommended strengthened strategic planning at levels above the local. Both the TCPA and the DCN advocated the introduction of cross-boundary strategic plans which would be prepared and approved by the relevant mayoral combined authority, or a joint committee for the relevant housing market area, and cover issues such as housing needs and economic development.

According to a report in Planning Magazine, trade association the British Property Federation called for the introduction of a "National Spatial Framework" as well as the preparation of joint-strategic plans by city regions, combined authorities or HMAs. The POS suggested the recasting of the duty to co-operate on strategic matters as a duty to agree, with incentives or sanctions to encourage progress.

The recommendations put forward also included: increasing the scope for planning inspectors to allow for long breaks in examination and for the part-adoption or early review of local plans; government guidance on the preparation of strategic housing market assessments, the boundaries of HMAs and the five-year supply of housing land; and introducing a set of national development management policies from which councils could choose when preparing their local plans.

Planning expert Jamie Lockerbie of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: “All of the submissions reported in this article have merit. The BPF’s suggestion for a National Spatial Framework is particularly appealing because it would greatly assist with strategic planning at regional level. It could act as an acceptable middle ground between the old centrally planned Regional Spatial Strategies and the current system”.