“Pragmatic” pauses to local plan examination should take no longer than six-months, Minister says

In a letter to the Planning Inspectorate, the Minister of State for Housing, Mathew Pennycook, said the expectation set out by the Government in 2015 that the inspectorate operate "pragmatically" during local plan examinations to allow deficient plans to be fixed at examination has "gone too far and has perversely led to years of delays".

He said the delays in examinations under the practice also fail to guarantee that the plans will ever be found sound or that the local authorities will make the necessary decisions to get them over the line.

"This has to end," Pennycook wrote.

The Minister said the change in approach is aimed at tackling delays in adopting local plans, which has seen the length of examinations increased from 65 weeks on average in 2016 to 143 weeks in 2022.

The Minister said that pragmatism "should be used only where it is likely a plan is capable of being found sound with limited additional work to address soundness issues".

He continued: "Any pauses to undertake additional work should usually take no more than six months overall.

"Pragmatism should not be used to address fundamental issues with the soundness of a plan, which would be likely to require pausing or delaying the examination process for more than six months overall.

"Local authorities should provide regular progress updates of their work to the Planning Inspector during any agreed pause."

Any extensions to the six-month pause should only be allowed at the inspectors' discretion to deliver
adopted local plans under the current system, Pennycook added.

In agreeing to extensions, the inspector should be confident that the local authority can complete any outstanding work in the agreed timeframe.

The letter also said that councils should not submit "deficient" local plans for examination, believing the inspector will use significant time and resources to fix them.

The Minister wrote: "Noting this concern, there is a role for Inspectors in ensuring plans that are submitted are capable of being found sound, which is why I would strongly encourage the Planning Inspectorate to continue supporting local authorities through Advisory Visits to ensure effective preparation for the examination process."

The new approach applies to all plans with immediate effect, and existing pauses already agreed by an inspector should remain in place unless an inspector considers there is insufficient progress being made, the Minister said.

Adam Carey