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Budget Planning Changes Welcomed by Planning Professional- 24/03/2011
A leading planning lawyer has welcomed the changes to planning rules announced in yesterday’s Budget as a sign of a commitment to freeing up the planning system.
Niall Blackie, Partner and Head of Planning at Wolverhampton law firm FBC Manby Bowdler LLP, says that the Budget speech tried to address one of the most obvious symptoms of the economic downturn, the fact that planning applications have fallen by a third, but the proposed changes may still fall foul of the government’s Localism agenda.
He says: “The Chancellor stated that there should be a new presumption in favour of sustainable development, so that the default answer to development is ‘yes’. However, this rather cuts across the concept of Localism and of other controls over development, such as habitat and environmental issues, that have their origins in European law, which generally tend towards a negative response to a planning application. This should be resolved in the Localism Bill later this year.”
Mr Blackie also welcomed the re-introduction of Enterprise Zones, with one planned for the Black Country. He said: This designation will allow a wide range of development in areas to be carried out without specific planning permissions. When last introduced in the 1980s they saw some real progress in a period of stagnation, because they were accompanied by 100% rate reliefs.
“Our own offices in Telford were created in an Enterprise Zone, and would not have been built without the financial advantages that were given, as the fiscal benefits in the Zone encouraged our firm to move into them on completion.
“This new set of designations will almost certainly bring those pump priming benefits to a new generation of businesses, and have to be welcomed.”
With 35 partners, FBC Manby Bowdler is one of the largest law firms in the West Midlands. The firm has offices in Wolverhampton, Willenhall, Telford, Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth.