Chamber says Government planning reforms must cut decision waiting time for developers

The East Midlands Chamber is calling for more private sector support and more joined-up thinking as the government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill is published.

Reforms proposed in the Bill, aimed at cutting paperwork to make planning decisions happen more quickly, include:

• A national ‘delegation scheme’ to choose whether committees or officers should process an application
• Spatial development strategies’ to find sustainable building locations
• Prioritising clean energy projects that are ready to go 

East Midlands Chamber Director of Policy and Insight Richard Blackmore said: “We have a broken system where the wait for a planning decision is a barrier to construction and hinders growth.  Delays push up the costs for developers, curb competitiveness and reduce the creation of new employment.

"Fixing the planning system is a key ask in our Manifesto for Growth for the East Midlands, but government reforms must be able to noticeably speed things up for developers, who will want to see distinct improvement – that means the length of time from seeking planning permission to getting a decision reduced significantly.

“Lack of resource within planning departments severely hampers decision making, but bringing in the private sector to help could really accelerate things. Improving collaboration between planning departments, assigning an appropriate level decision maker to a project and not bouncing an application between departments or letting it sit with a local committee would reduce the wait to achieving an outcome.”