The Localism Bill became the Localism Act 2011 on the afternoon of Tuesday, 15 November 2011. This Act paves the way for a number of important changes to the planning regime in England and Wales and also includes changes to Council Tax and business rates amongst other property related matters.
The legislation will take some time to come into effect and a raft of regulations and guidance is still eagerly awaited.
The Act gives effect to the Government's policy of decentralisation and seeks to encourage greater community involvement in the planning process. The Act also creates a new tier of planning control with the introduction of a new right for communities to influence decisions on planning in their neighbourhood. This will be in the form of Neighbourhood Plans and Neighbourhood Development Orders.
Robinson & Hall's planning team is already involved with several projects which are likely to be brought forward under the new legislation and if you have any land you consider could be offered to enhance your community in return for releasing some development value please do not hesitate to speak to one of the members of our team.
As always, the "devil will be in the detail" and in particular the secondary legislation required to implement many of the provisions contained within the new Act. We will be analysing these changes and implications over the coming months for landowners and developers and we would be happy to speak to anyone who requires more detail.
Contact details for further information:
Andrew Barr: 01280 428010 or e-mail: ahb@robinsonandhall.co.uk
Hayley Chandler: 01234 362913 or e-mail: hvec@robinsonandhall.co.uk
Peter le Grys: 01473 834593 or e-mail: plg@robinsonandhall.co.uk