Planning
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December 1998
LAs to Grant Themselves Planning
Permission
A local planning authority which is the sole local authority for its area will have greater flexibility to develop and dispose of land following an amendment to the Town and Country Planning General Regulations 1992. The amendment means that authorities may grant themselves planning permission relating to land in which they have an interest and the permission will run with the land. The planning permission will be available for the benefit of any purchaser of the land. The authority will, therefore, be able to dispose of land with the benefit of planning permission.
In England, the authorities to which the amendment applies to are district councils without a county council, county councils without district councils or the council of a London borough.
The power of local authorities to grant themselves planning permission is subject to certain safeguards. For example, the proposals must be advertised and decided in public by a committee which is not responsible for the management of the land or buildings concerned, and the public cannot be excluded from committee meetings at which the development proposals are discussed.
Local authority development proposals must be notified to the Secretary of State, if they are not in accordance with provisions of the development plan, so that he can consider calling in the application for his own determination.
June 1999
Ombudman: Planning Decision Results
in Nuisance
Hart DC transferred a list of building to the Parochial Church Council for use as a community facility. As part of the wider development of the site, the Council entered into a Section 106 agreement - under which it covenanted to safeguard other residents of the development from nuisance and annoyance. The complainant states that a number of functions held at the building have caused a nuisance.
The Council also imposed a planning condition, requiring four parking spaces to be laid out, which the complainant understood to restrict parking on site and which the Council did not enforce. This may have resulted in uncontrolled parking, which has had an impact on the complainant's amenity.
The Ombudsman recommended that the Council should:
Investigation No. 98/B/0846 (Hart DC).
April 2000
Planning Inspectorate Upgrades
Website
Guidance on making planning appeals became available on-line for the first time from the Planning Inspectorate's upgraded web site at www.planning-inspectorate.gov.uk.
The redesigned website has a primary objective of meeting needs more closely by making guidance on planning appeals available on-line. This was the first step in developing a full service over the web in line with government policy, as set out in the White Paper - Modernising Government.
As well as providing general information about the work of the Inspectorate, the site holds all the Inspectorate's guidance publications and has a growing number of appeal forms available for downloading. It also contains contact points and information about employment opportunities. Planning practitioners involved in the appeals process will find a number of articles on good practice and more are planned.
The main part of the site can also be read in Welsh.
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