An opportunity to boost development has been missed after the Government threw out one of the Penfold Review’s recommendations, according to the British Property Federation.
Development is often delayed while the Department for Transport decides whether a stopping up order - which allows the closure of a road for development to take place - is granted.
One of the options Government consulted on was to allow local authorities to make this decision while assessing a planning application.
Stephen Hammond MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, announced that the Government “has decided not to devolve the stopping up and diversion order process to a local level” as “additional costs and charges would be borne by both local authorities and those making applications, with no guarantee of a simpler or faster process.”
Ghislaine Trehearne, senior policy officer at the British Property Federation, said: “We believe allowing local authorities to determine a stopping up order at the same time they deal with the relevant planning application makes good sense and very much fits with the Government’s ambition to cut red tape and speed up development.
“While it’s disappointing this will not be the case, it is encouraging that some of the development risk and cause of delay has been stripped back. Previously applications for a stopping up order would not be processed by the Department for Transport until planning permission had been granted by the local authority. At least applications can now be made alongside planning applications.”
In July 2011 the Penfold Review, carried out by British Land head of planning and environment Adrian Penfold, called on the Government to end the “complex and fragmented landscape” of non-planning consents, covering issues such as environmental permits, highways orders and heritage consents.
