Consultation Response - Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: implementation of plan-making reforms
This consultation response sets out the county perspective to the government's plan-making reforms within the Levelling up and Regeneration Bill.
Our consultation response welcomes the government’s commitment to a plan‑led system and the ambition to produce clearer, more vision‑led local plans.
We support reforms that make plans more accessible, strengthen community engagement and improve the efficiency of plan production. However, we raise significant concerns about the practicality of proposed timescales, the treatment of infrastructure and affordable housing within plans, and the cumulative pressure the reforms place on already overstretched planning services.
We stress that without adequate resources and stronger mechanisms for strategic collaboration, the reforms risk undermining delivery rather than accelerating it.
Recommendations to government include:
- Ensure infrastructure and affordable housing requirements are core, mandatory components of local plans.
- Introduce flexible and realistic plan‑making timescales, particularly for large county unitary authorities.
- Strengthen mechanisms for strategic, cross‑boundary and cross‑tier planning.
- Fully fund new burdens, including gateway assessments, rather than charging planning authorities.
- Increase core planning funding, planning fees and workforce support to address capacity constraints.
- Ensure county councils are formally involved in plan‑making and gateway processes in two‑tier areas.