A consultation document from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said that it plans to reinstate an applicant’s ability to challenge councils about the information necessary for an application to be valid. It also proposed removing the need for councils to list their reasons for granting planning permission.
The DCLG explained that this will “remove unnecessary paperwork from the application process”.
In its response to the consultation, the ALMR said that it would like to see national guidance on what information should be necessary in a planning application.
The ALMR submission said: “Some local authorities require information that is not necessarily relevant to the planning application in question and without giving full consideration to the costs that such information requests can impose on applicants.
“This is a significant additional cost burden for operators as it can be overly prescriptive and run contrary to what is necessary to assess the application, and we are therefore supportive of proposals to tackle this. In particular, we would welcome national guidance on what is an absolute requirement and what may be helpful in certain circumstances.”
The ALMR also welcomed proposals to reinstate the right of appeal where a local authority refuses to validate a planning application because of insufficient information supplied.
The ALMR called on the Government to review the Use Classes Order. “In addition to the proposals outlined in the consultation, we would urge the Government to review the Use Classes Order and align the planning and licensing regimes to further remove unnecessary constraints,” it said.