Have your say on the Neighbourhood Planning Bill

Neighbourhood Planning Bill 2016

The Government has stated that the two “key aims” of the Bill are to:

• help identify and free up more land to build homes on to give communities as much certainty as possible about where and when development will take place; and
• speed up the delivery of new homes, in particular by reducing the time it takes to get from planning permission being granted to building work happening on site and new homes being delivered.

The Bill was first announced in the May 2016 Queen’s Speech as what was initially called a “Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill”. The Background Briefing notes to the Queen’s Speech indicated that it would include provisions to put the National Infrastructure Commission on a statutory footing and to enable the privatisation of Land Registry. These two provisions have not been included in the Bill. The Government has indicated that following the July 2016 cabinet reshuffle, the new Ministers would like to consider further these proposals.

On neighbourhood planning the Bill introduces a new procedure to allow neighbourhood plans to be modified. It also deals with the situation where a new neighbourhood plan is needed, but covering a slightly different geographical area to the previous one. This part of the Bill is also the subject of an open consultation, ‘Implementation of neighbourhood planning provisions in the Neighbourhood Planning Bill’.

The Bill provides that pre-commencement planning conditions can only be used by local planning authorities where they have the written agreement of the developer. If the developer does not agree to the pre-commencement condition then the local authority has the option to refuse the planning permission. These provisions are also the subject of a Government Open consultation: ‘Improving the use of planning conditions’.

Measures are also included in relation to compulsory purchase powers. It introduces powers allowing the temporary possession of land and a duty to provide compensation for it. It aims to clarify case law on the definition of what is meant by a “no-scheme world” for the assessment of compensation. A time limit is set in the Bill for an acquiring authority to issue a compulsory purchase confirmation notice. The Bill also provides for Transport for London and the Greater London Authority to be able to acquire land through compulsory purchase on behalf of each other for mixed-use transport, housing and regeneration purposes. Consultation on these provisions concluded earlier in the year.

Follow the progress of the Neighbourhood Planning Bill

The Bill was presented to the House on 7 September 2016. On Monday 10 October, the Bill received its Second Reading in the House of Commons where MPs debated the main principles of the Bill.

• Catch up on Parliament News: MPs debate the Neighbourhood Planning Bill
• Bills before Parliament: Neighbourhood Planning Bill 2016
• Read Explanatory Notes: Neighbourhood Planning Bill 2016

The Bill has now been sent to a Public Bill Committee where detailed examination of the Bill will take place. The Bill Committee is expected to hold oral evidence sessions on Tuesday 18 October.

Guidance on submitting written evidence

Deadline for written evidence submissions

The Public Bill Committee is now able to receive written evidence. The sooner you send in your submission, the more time the Committee will have to take it into consideration.

The Committee is expected to meet for the first time on Tuesday 18 October 2016; it will stop receiving written evidence at the end of the Committee stage on Tuesday 1 November 2016. Please note that when the Committee reports it is no longer able to receive written evidence and it can report earlier than the expected deadline of 5.00pm on Tuesday 1 November 2016.

What should written evidence cover?

Your submission should address matters contained within the Bill and concentrate on issues where you have a special interest or expertise, and factual information of which you would like the Committee to be aware.
Your submission could most usefully:

• suggest amendments to the Bill, with supporting explanation; and
• (when amendments are published) support or oppose amendments tabled to the Bill by Members of Parliament, with supporting explanation

It is helpful if the submission includes a brief introduction about you or your organisation. The submission should not have been previously published or circulated elsewhere.

If you have any concerns about your submission, please contact the Scrutiny Unit (details below).

How should written evidence be submitted?

Your submission should be emailed to scrutiny@parliament.uk. Please note that submissions sent to the Government department in charge of the Bill will not be treated as evidence to the Public Bill Committee.

Submissions should be in the form of a Word document. A summary should be provided. Paragraphs should be numbered, but there should be no page numbering. Essential statistics or further details can be added as annexes, which should also be numbered.

As a guideline, submissions should not exceed 3,000 words.

Please include in the covering email the name, address, telephone number and email address of the person responsible for the submission. The submission should be dated.

What will happen to my evidence?

The written evidence will be circulated to all Committee Members to inform their consideration of the Bill.

Most submissions will also be published on the internet as soon as possible after the Committee has started sitting.

Those making a submission to a Bill Committee should note the following:

• Committees publish most of the written evidence they receive on the internet (where it will be accessible to search engines).
  If you do not wish your submission to be published, you must clearly say so and explain your reasons for not wishing its disclosure. The committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish. If you wish to include private or confidential information in your submission to the committee, please contact the clerk of the committee to discuss this. The Scrutiny Unit (details below) will be able to provide you with contact details for the clerk.
• A Committee is not obliged to accept your submission as evidence, nor to publish any or all of the submission even if it has been accepted as evidence. This may occur where a submission is very long or contains material to which it is inappropriate to give parliamentary privilege (see Guide for Witnesses for further information on parliamentary privilege).
• Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may be referred to within a submission, in which case it should be clearly referenced, preferably with a hyperlink.
• You should be careful not to comment on matters currently before a court of law, or matters in respect of which court proceedings are imminent. If you anticipate such issues arising, you should discuss with the clerk of the committee how this might affect your submission.
• Once submitted, no public use should be made of any submission prepared specifically for the committee unless you have first obtained permission from the clerk of the committee. If you are given permission by the committee to publish your evidence separately, you should be aware that you will be legally responsible for its content.
• Evidence which is accepted by the Committee may be published online at any stage; when it is so published it becomes subject to parliamentary copyright and is protected by parliamentary privilege.
• Once you have received acknowledgement that the evidence has been published you may publicise or publish your evidence yourself. In doing so you must indicate that it was prepared for the Committee, and you should be aware that your publication or re-publication of your evidence may not be protected by parliamentary privilege.
• Public Bill Committees do not investigate individual cases of complaint or allegations of maladministration.
  

Data protection

• The personal information you supply will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 for the purposes of attributing the evidence you submit and contacting you as necessary in connection with its processing.
• The Clerk of the House of Commons is the data controller for the purposes of the Act.
• If you have any queries or concerns about the collection and use of this information please advise the committee team providing your full contact details.
  

Scrutiny Unit contact details
Email: scrutiny@parliament.uk
Telephone: 020 7219 8387
Address: Ian Hook
Senior Executive Officer
Scrutiny Unit
House of Commons
London SW1A OAA