The Queen has spoken – implications for planning law

The Queen’s speech was made at the state opening of parliament yesterday (Wednesday 27 May). Here we set out some of the key changes expected for planning:

1. Housing – A new Housing Bill will be tabled which includes amongst its objectives, “ensuring [that] local people have more control over planning”. A statutory register for brownfield land will be created (in a bid to achieve the government’s target of getting Local Development Orders in place over 90% of suitable brownfield sites by 2020). Measures are also proposed to speed up and simplify the neighbourhood planning system and local planning authorities will be required to assist custom and self-builders registered in their area to “identify suitable plots of land to build or commission their own home”.
2. Onshore Wind Farms – An Energy Bill is set to remove wind farms of over 50 megawatts (MW) from being classified as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) and return decisions on these developments to the local planning authorities. Changes will be made to the National Planning Policy Framework to give local communities “the final say on planning applications for wind farms”. Plans to end the new subsidy for onshore wind farms will also be separately implemented.
3. Welsh Devolution – A Wales Bill will devolve new planning powers to the Welsh ministers including the power to consent to energy developments in Wales of up to 350MW (including both onshore and offshore). The bill is also intended to devolve the licensing powers for onshore oil and gas exploration to Wales.
4. HS2 – The HS2 bill will progress the government’s commitment to the £50bn HS2 high-speed rail link. The legislation will confer powers to construct and operate the first phase of the development, with work expected to begin in 2017.

A link to the full speech is available here.