Newsroom

BPF welcomes government planning move

The introduction to Parliament today of regulations that will remove 80,000 household planning applications from the planning system has been welcomed by the British Property Federation (BPF).

A revised general permitted development order, which will allow homeowners to build small loft conversions and other extensions without the need for planning permission, was laid before Parliament today by housing and planning minister Caroline Flint.

The changes will come into effect next month and could save up to £50 million each year in application fees and costs related to application processing and delays.

It is expected that the number of applications removed from the system could amount to a quarter of all of all householder applications.

Jonathan Seager, senior policy officer at the BPF, said:

“The planning system is suffering from a lack of resources therefore we should be focusing what resources there are on applications which affect the most citizens and have the ability to significantly improve an area. We see this announcement as hopefully the start of some common sense changes the government can easily make to improve the planning system.”

For more information contact Madeleine Williams at the BPF on 020 7802 0113 / mwilliams@bpf.org.uk