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Following much anticipation, on 26th October, the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill received Royal Assent, becoming law as the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act (LURA). The government has declared that the act will “speed up the planning system, hold developers to account, cut bureaucracy, and encourage councils to put in place plans to enable the building of new homes.”
The final version of the act is yet to be published and secondary legislation not yet enacted, meaning many finer details remain to be established; however, the LURA is expected to bring about wide-ranging changes to the planning system, including:
· The scope of Local Plans will be limited to ‘locally specific’ matters with more generic areas to be covered by new national policies
· ‘Loopholes’ preventing planning enforcement will be closed
· Introduction of a ‘short-term let’ use class
· Allowance for an increase to planning fees for major and minor application of 35% and 25% respectively
· A new Infrastructure Levy will replace Section 106 obligations and the Community Infrastructure Levy
· Councils will be able to decline to determine applications from developers with a previous record of slow building rates and/or not implementing permissions
· Benefit to the public purse will become a factor in authorities’ land allocation decisions
· A new duty on councils to grant sufficient permissions for self and custom build housing
· A discretionary council tax premium on second homes
To discuss this further, or obtain advice on the issues raised, please contact Stags planning department on planning@stags.co.uk or 01392 439046
