Success on Localism Bill

Travellers' Times has been privvy to a letter from Baroness Hanham, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department of Communities and Local Government which heralds an exciting and important change in current planning legislation.

As it stands at present a Retrospective Planning Appliction (RPA) will not be allowed where there is an enforcement notice on the land, while the local authority can serve an enforcement notice within the period for determination of the RPA (8 weeks), thereby preventing the RPA continuing.

This will change with the Government’s statement (see attached) that it has decided to table amendments to ensure that a local planning authority can only decline to determine a retrospective planning application if the relevant enforcement notice was issued before the application was received.

This success has been brought about by Marc Willers of Garden Court Chambers, Tim Jones of No 5 Chambers and Chris Johnson of TAT who worked with Lord Avebury on submitting an amendment to Clause 111 (formerly Clause 108).