I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this debate. As the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, said, neighbourhood planning has been a success since its introduction in 2011. For the first time, communities have been able to prepare plans that have real statutory weight: neighbourhood plans have the same weight in law as the local authority’s local plan, and must be the starting point for decisions on planning applications. As the noble Lord also said, more than 1,800 communities have started neighbourhood planning, representing more than 9 million people, and planning applications are being approved and refused according to neighbourhood plans. The Government made a manifesto commitment to support communities who have embarked on the process and to encourage more to start.
Under Clause 125, the Secretary of State would be able to use regulations to prescribe the circumstances in which local planning authorities must designate the neighbourhood area applied for. In the prescribed circumstances, the authority would no longer need to advertise, and consult on, the proposed neighbourhood planning areas. This will allow communities to start planning more quickly and will significantly reduce the burdens on local authorities.
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We have recently set out in our consultation document the two circumstances that we intend to prescribe. The first is where the whole of a parish council area is applied for. This is because a parish council is the only body responsible for neighbourhood planning within their boundary. Some 90% of applications are from parish councils, and 90% of them are applying for the whole of their parish to be designated. In nearly all cases we are aware of, the whole of the parish has been designated, but the amount of time that this has taken has varied hugely, from around six to 19 weeks. Specifying that all applications for the whole of a parish must be designated without delay would therefore remove a significant administrative burden from the system for the majority of local planning authorities.
The second circumstance where we consider a local planning authority must designate the area applied for is where it has failed to come to a decision after existing time periods have expired. These time periods are either 13 or 20 weeks depending on whether the proposed area straddles local authority planning boundaries. But local planning authorities will not be required to amend existing designations—except to enlarge an existing designation of part of a parish to cover the whole parish—and will be given time to consider competing applications to designate all or part of the same area.
I turn now to the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, who has expressed concerns that the proposed circumstances which I have described are not set out in the Bill. I would like to reassure the Committee that there are sound reasons why we believe that the detail is best left in regulations. First, we believe that circumstances could change over time as a greater number of areas are designated, and we wish to retain the flexibility to alter the prescribed circumstances if required. A power to do this through secondary legislation allows far greater flexibility. Secondly, we want to allow the opportunity for public consultation on our proposals and we are open to comments on the details.
The noble Lord asked about the proposed timetable for decisions. We are consulting on the following, which we propose would be included in the regulations. There will be five weeks for the local planning authority to decide whether to send a plan to a referendum, 10 weeks from the decision to send a plan to referendum until the date of the referendum, and eight weeks from a successful referendum until the plan is brought into force. Indeed, as the noble Lord acknowledged, these timeframes are shorter than he has proposed in his amendments.
Clause 126 inserts new paragraph 13A into Schedule 4B to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and amends Section 61 of that Act, as well as Section 38A of the
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Together, these changes will allow the Secretary of State to set the time periods in regulations for key local planning authority decisions at the final stages of the neighbourhood planning process. This will ensure the timely progress of plans and orders that have passed an examination to ensure that they are taken swiftly to the local referendum and brought into force as soon as possible. I have just set out those time periods.
While some authorities are already doing this, there is considerable variation and no indication in regulations of expected performance. We estimate that if areas currently failing to complete regulated stages on time were to meet the maximum of the proposed timescales, on average an area would complete the process 17 weeks earlier. The time periods I have set out will ensure that groups have certainty that their plan or order will progress in a timely manner. They will also ensure that momentum and enthusiasm is maintained as the plan or order moves towards being brought into legal force.
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, for Amendments 87ZA, 87ZB and 87ZC to set three-month time periods for neighbourhood planning decisions. However, as I will set out, I do not believe that they are appropriate. I can assure the noble Lord that there are sound reasons why the prescribed time periods are set out in regulations and subject to public consultation. First, there is a clear precedent for setting time periods through regulations, such as the current time periods for designating a neighbourhood area. Experience may show that over time it would be sensible for the Government to look again at the prescribed time periods, and regulations will provide much more flexibility.
Secondly, as I have said previously, we want to allow the opportunity for public consultation on our proposals as we believe that local people and planning authorities should have an opportunity to have their say on this important issue as they are neighbourhood planning on a daily basis. All the proposed time periods we are currently consulting on are based on current averages and evidence.
Clause 127 inserts new paragraphs 13B and 13C into Schedule 4B to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. This gives the Secretary of State the ability to take over a local planning authority’s responsibilities to decide whether to send a neighbourhood plan or order proposal to referendum. I stress that this will apply only in the rare cases when a proposal is blocked by the local planning authority and intervention is requested by the neighbourhood planning group.