Town and country planning in

the United Kingdom

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Town and country planning in the United
Kingdom is the part of English land law which
concerns land use planning. Its goal is to ensure
sustainable economic development and a better
environment. Each country of the United Kingdom has
its own planning system that is responsible for town
and country planning devolved to the Northern Ireland
Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd.

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Modern planning
o 1.2On-line access
 2Appeals
 3Use classes
 4Development control
 5Elements of the modern system
 6Main legislation
 7Criticism
 8See also
 9References
 10Further reading
  11External links

History[edit]
The roots of the UK town and country planning system
as it emerged in the immediate post-war years lay in
concerns developed over the previous half century in
response to industrialisation and urbanisation. The
particular concerns were pollution, urban sprawl,
and ribbon development. These concerns were
expressed through the work of thinkers such
as Ebenezer Howard and the philanthropic actions of
industrialists such as the Lever Brothers and
the Cadbury family, and architects such as Raymond
Unwin, PRIBA, and Patrick Abercrombie.
The Housing and Town Planning Act 1909, the Housing
and Town Planning Act 1919, the Town Planning Act
1925 and the Town and Country Planning Act
1932 were initial moves toward modern urban planning
legislation.
By the outbreak of Second World War, thinking was
sufficiently advanced that, even during the war, a series
of Royal commissions looked into specific problems in
urban planning and development control. These
included:
 The Barlow Commission (1940) into
the distribution of industrial
population
  The Scott Committee into rural land
use (1941)
 The Uthwatt Committee into
compensation and betterment (1942)
 The Reith Report into New Towns
(1947)
Also, Patrick Abercrombie developed the Greater
London Plan for the reconstruction of London, which
envisaged moving 1.5 million people from London to
new and expanded towns. These intellectual efforts
resulted in the New Towns Act 1946 and the Town and
Country Planning Act 1947.
Modern planning[edit]
The 1947 Act, in effect, nationalised the right to
develop land. It required all proposals, with a few
exceptions, to secure planning permission from the
local authority, with provision to appeal against refusal.
It introduced a development charge to capture
the planning gain which arises when permission to
develop land is granted. This was abolished by
the 1954 Town and Country Planning Act passed under
subsequent Conservative government.[1] Green
belts were added in 1955 via a government circular.
Furthermore, the 1947 Act introduced a requirement,
which still exists, on local authorities to develop forward
looking policy documents such as Local
Plans or Unitary Development Plans to outline what
kind of development is permitted where, and to mark
special areas on Local Plan Maps (today referred to as
policies map). It did not introduce a formal system
of zoning as used in the United States. Counties
developed Structure Plans that set broad targets for the
wider area. Structure Plans were always problematic
and were often in the process of being replaced by the
time they were formally adopted.
Over the years, the planning system has undergone a
number of alterations, which were consolidated in
the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA
1990). Section 106 substantially re-wrote Section 52
from the former Act, settling the concept of agreements
(known as "planning obligation agreements," or more
commonly "Section 106 agreements"), under which the
developer is subject to detailed arrangements and
restrictions beyond those that a planning condition
could impose, or by which they make agreed financial
contributions beyond the immediate building works to
offset development effects on the local community. This
was soon amended to allow a developer to self-impose
obligations to preempt objections to planning
permission. This prevents the planning authority from
blocking a permission by merely failing to negotiate.
Three further Acts related to planning are associated
with this primary act: The Planning (Listed Buildings
and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, the Planning
(Hazardous Substances) Act 1990, and the Planning
(Consequential Provisions) Act 1990. These four Acts
are referred to as the Planning Acts. Almost
immediately after parliament passed these Acts, the
government had further thoughts on the control of land
development, which led to the Planning and
Compensation Act 1991, which made important
alterations to many of the Planning Acts provisions.
The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act
2004 made substantial changes to the English
Development Plan system. It did away with
both Structure Plans and Local Plans, in favour
of Local Development Frameworks (LDFs), which are
made up a number of Local Development
Documents (LDDs) and Supplementary Planning
Documents (SPDs). The Regional Spatial
Strategy (RSS), which is produced by Regional
Assemblies in England, replaces the Structure Plan as
the strategic planning document (i.e., the RSS that's
targets for housing and employment development
within each district in a Region in the future). A
variation on this approach exists in Wales.
Local Authorities are also now required to
produce Local Development Schemes (LDS) - which
outline the work the LDDs/SPDs they intend to produce
over a three-year period, and Statements of
Community Involvement (SCI), which outline how the
Council will involve the local community. All LDDs and
SPDs also have to be accompanied by a Sustainability
Appraisal (SA) and a Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA). The SEA is a requirement
under European Union laws. Planning Policy Guidance
Notes are also being gradually replaced by Planning
Policy Statements.
Minor variations were allowed to planning permissions,
recognising that information provided for planning
permission does not provide enough detail for actual
construction. Working drawings are required first, and
architects often make small changes to accommodate
a building's technical requirements. Also, plans might
change on site to overcome unforeseen problems.
Legality of minor amendments was challenged in 2006,
and central government advice to many local
authorities was that any variation to a planning
permission should require planning approval.
The Localism Act 2011 introduced wide-ranging
changes to the planning system in England. The bill
introduced legal provision under which local
communities (led by parish councils or neighbourhood
forums) could develop neighbourhood plans. Similar to
development management documents produced by the
local authority, neighbourhood plans have statutory
weight, so that they are considered in the determination
of planning applications.
On-line access[edit]
Historically, planning applications were submitted in
paper form to designated Council offices and displayed
for a statutory period at public libraries or offices. In
December 1995, the London Borough of
Wandsworth created a website that published
electronic images of planning application documents.
This technology greatly improved access to application-
related documents for all participants in the planning
process. Within ten years, most planning authorities
within the UK followed suit.[2] Other access methods
now include routing inquiries through a centrally-hosted
public or privately hosted website, such as
UKPlanning[3] or the national Planning Portal.[4]

Appeals[edit]
An applicant may appeal against a refusal of planning
permission. A neighbour who objects to an application
has no right of appeal, but may appeal to the local
authority ombudsman if they can make a case of
maladministration by the local authority. In such a case
the ombudsman has no powers to enforce a retraction
of the permission, but it may sanction the local
authority.[5] Appeals can be made:
 In England, to the Secretary of State
for Communities and Local
Government.
 In Northern Ireland, to the Planning
Appeals Commission.[6]
 In Scotland, to the Scottish
Government; Directorate for Planning
& Environmental Appeals or a Local
Review Body of the local planning
authority.
  In Wales, to the Assembly.
In England and Wales the appeal is heard by
a planning inspector, while in Scotland this role is filled
by a reporter.[7] There has often been talk[by whom?] of
making the inspectors independent of government
ministers, as in the Planning Appeals Commission in
Northern Ireland.[6]

Use classes[edit]
Main articles: Town and Country Planning (Use
Classes) Order 1987 and Town and country planning
in Wales
The requirement to obtain planning permission extends
not only to new construction, but also in substantive
changes of use of a property. There are various 'use
classes', and change of use to a different use class
generally requires Planning permission.
The main use classes (excluding Scotland and
Northern Ireland, both of which have separate but
similar orders) are:
 A1: shops
 A2: financial and professional
services
 A3: restaurants and cafés
 A4: drinking establishments[8]
 A5: hot food takeaways
  B1: businesses (offices, light
industry)
 B2: general industrial
 B8: storage and distribution
 C1: hotels
 C2: residential institutions
 C3: dwellinghouses
 C4: house in multiple
occupation (HMO or HiMO)
 D1: non-residential institutions
(schools, libraries, surgeries)
 D2: assembly and leisure (cinemas,
swimming baths, gymnasiums)
Classes A3 to A5 were formed in the 2005 amendment
by a split of the previous A3 class 'Food and Drink',
though this split was not effected in Wales; jurisdiction
over secondary planning legislation being by then a
matter for the Assembly.
Various uses are considered to be sui generis,
meaning that they are considered to be a use class in
themselves, and not part of an existing use class.
These specifically include:
 theatres
 amusement arcades
 laundrettes
 petrol stations
  car dealerships
 taxi/car rental firm
 scrapyard
 nightclubs
 warehouse clubs

Development control[edit]
Main article: Development control in the United
Kingdom
A key part of planning control is exercised in the UK by
preventing any significant development of property
without permission by the local authority. In Part III of
the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, under
section 59 the Secretary of State delegates to public
bodies the right to grant planning permission.

Elements of the modern system[edit]

 The Town and Country Planning
(Control of Advertisements)
(England) Regulations 2007
 Department for Communities and
Local Government
 Local Planning Authority
 Advisory team for large applications
 Planning and Compulsory Purchase
Act 2004
  General Permitted Development
Order
 National Planning Policy Framework,
replacing the Planning Policy
Guidance Notes and Planning Policy
Statements
 Design and access statement

Main legislation[edit]
 Town and Country Planning Act
1990, for England and Wales,[9] plus
the Town and Country Planning
(Scotland) Act 1997 and the Planning
etc (Scotland) Act 2006 and the
Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011
 Planning and Compulsory Purchase
Act 2004
 Planning Act 2008
 Localism Act 2011
A long list of other unconsolidated Acts and
Regulations also affect UK planning. For example,
the Localism Act 2011 abolished the Infrastructure
Planning Commission for national projects, set up by
the Planning Act 2008 and recentralised control in the
hands of the Secretary of State.

Criticism[edit]
The aim of recent reforms to the planning system was
to simplify and speed up the production of plans.[citation
needed]
 The financial costs and time delays associated with
the new system are significant and the Barker Review
of Housing Supply (2004) on the planning system
suggested some of the requirements were unnecessary
and delaying the delivery of sustainable and social
housing, and recommended early revisions to the
regulations.[10] HM Treasury noted the recommendation
to redirect a portion of Section 106 financial
contributions as a "planning gain supplement"" for
wider community needs and has responded by an Act
of Parliament that will levy "a tax on the increase in the
value of land resulting from the grant of permission for
development".[11]
 Planning Green Paper
 Planning white paper (Scotland):
Modernising the planning system

See also[edit]
 Urban Planning
 Landscape planning
 Regional planning
 Royal Town Planning Institute
 Town and Country Planning
Association
  Building regulations in the United
Kingdom
 Planning gain
 Listed Building
 Scheduled monument
 Conservation Area (United Kingdom)
 Planning Acts

References[edit]
1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Pendleton Survey of web access to
planning applications
3. ^ UK Planning access to local authority
planning applications
4. ^ Planning Portal UK Government's online
planning and building site
5. ^ www.planningportal.gov.uk
Jump up to:a b
6. ^     Planning Appeals Commission
(Northern Ireland)
7. ^ Scottish Executive Inquiry Reporters Unit
8. ^ "Drinking establishment" does not
specifically refer to alcoholic drinks
9. ^ See also the Planning (Listed Buildings
and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, Planning
(Hazardous Substances) Act 1990,
and Planning (Consequential Provisions) Act
1990
10. ^ Barker Review of Housing Supply - Final
Report and
RecommendationsArchived September 17,
2008, at the Wayback Machine HM
Treasury. Archived here.
 11. ^ Planning-gain Supplement (Preparations)
Bill 2006-07 Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Her Majesty's Treasury

Further reading[edit]
 K Gray and J Gray, Land Law (2011)
ch 11

External links[edit]
 The Planning Portal - the UK
government's online planning and
building regulations resource
 Department for Communities and
Local Government (England)
 Scottish Executive - Planning and
Building
 The Planning Service (Northern
Ireland)
 GamePlan - A Lean Construction
principles
 Planning Process and EIA
show

 Town and country planning in the United Kingdom

Categories: 
  Town and country planning in the
United Kingdom
 Law of the United Kingdom
 Towns in the United Kingdom
 Housing in the United Kingdom
 English land law
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