A new ‘brownfield passport’ may be introduced to give proposals which meet design and quality standards automatic planning approval.
Details of the proposal were unveiled at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool this week and outlined in an accompanying Planning Reform Working Paper published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.
The fast-track mechanism would ‘support and expedite’ approval for projects for which development should be regarded as acceptable – with ‘the default answer to suitable proposals being a straightforward yes,’ according to the ministry.
They aim to provide greater clarity about the principle, scale and form of brownfield development with a view to lowering the risk, cost and uncertainty of securing planning permission for such sites.
The working paper states: “The government has been clear that the first port of call for development should be brownfield land.
“That means making the most of previously developed urban land – bringing derelict sites back into use, taking forward small sites which have been overlooked for too long, and seizing suitable opportunities to make better use of existing land and buildings, particularly where intensification supports local centres and brings improved accessibility and connectivity.
“It is with these goals in mind that we have proposed some immediate changes to national planning policy, including being explicit that the development of brownfield land should be regarded as acceptable in principle.
“Our proposals in the same consultation to introduce mandatory housing targets, improve local plan coverage and strengthen the requirement to allocate more small sites should also help make the most of suitable urban land.”
The paper adds: “In parallel, the government wants to consider whether there are opportunities to go further still in terms of providing faster and more certain routes to permission for urban brownfield land, and in particular whether we could introduce a ‘brownfield passport’ to ensure that the default answer to brownfield development is ‘yes’.”
The Government intends to consider the possibility of brownfield passports alongside responses to its National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), for which the deadline ended on September 24. It aims to publish an updated NPPF by the end of the year.
However, it says that any brownfield passport policies would not form part of the immediate changes to the NPPF but would be incorporated within a suite of ‘more accessible, web-based national policies for development management’.
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