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Growth & Infrastructure Act
News and in-depth coverage of the government's Growth and Infrastructue Act.
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Review of service led to ‘massive upturn in planning performance’, says council director
The director of planning at a city council has reported a “massive upturn in planning performance” following a peer review of its services by a local government body.

Councils will consider growth and constraints with neighbours under new strategic planning tool, says chief planner
The government's chief planner has revealed details of the new “alignment policy” that will replace the duty to cooperate and promised the publication of a "prospectus" setting out impending revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

Levelling Up Bill to scrap environmental impact and strategic environmental assessments
Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and strategic environmental assessments (SEAs) will be scrapped by the government’s new Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill and replaced by a new “outcomes-based” approach to examining the likely environmental impact of proposed projects and plans.

Section 106 agreements to be kept to help deliver ‘largest sites’
Section 106 planning gain agreements will still be retained to help deliver the “largest sites” after the government’s proposed new infrastructure levy is introduced, according to a housing department policy paper.

Why growing numbers of council planning teams are isolating while they tackle application backlogs
A Hampshire council’s planning department last month decided to ignore nearly all customer queries for a two-week period as officers focused on tackling an application backlog. It follows similar action by a Dorset authority at the end of last year. Commentators say they expect more over-stretched council planning teams to follow suit.
Latest Growth and Infrastructure Act Opinion
Legal Viewpoint: Critical importance of sequential scheme of CIL notices re-emphasised
The High Court has refused permission to judicially review a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) liability notice because the challenge was made very late and without good reasons for delay.
Legal Viewpoint: Healthcare contributions – mandatory for development projects?
For the first time, the Court has ruled on whether a local planning authority has lawfully exercised its planning judgment in deciding whether financial contributions for healthcare services should be secured from the developer.
Gove’s squeeze on housebuilders could push them away from brownfield sites, by Joey Gardiner
The last couple of weeks has seen a raft of major housebuilders sign up to a government-agreed pledge to repair previously built properties now affected by the fire safety crisis. In the wake of the pledges, the cost of sorting remediation of flat blocks for stock market-traded builders alone now runs to just shy of £2bn.
Higher densities and better public transport would reinvigorate UK cities, by Cliff Hague
Seventy-five years of land-use focused planning has put pressure on people to live away from inner cities and public transport links, depriving many areas of the benefits that the country’s economic powerhouses such as London provide. A more integrated, transport-aware, approach is needed.
A word of advice for May’s new councillors, by Catriona Riddell
Increasingly difficult officer/councillor relationships, particularly in places where members have been elected on an anti-development ticket, are widely said to be damaging morale in town halls. What advice for new members elected this May could help?
Why we still await the first Development Consent Order for a business project, by Angus Walker
The development consent order regime was extended almost a decade ago to range of non-infrastructure projects, but despite the possibilities it offers for getting big commercial developments off the ground, none have yet come to fruition
- Service Manager – Development Management Lancaster City Council Lancaster, Lancashire
- Planning Officer – Policy (Career Grade – Graduate/Planning Officer/Senior) Sevenoaks District Council Sevenoaks, Kent
- Principal Development Management Officer Be First Maritime House, Barking with flexible and remote working arrangements possible
- Graduate Development Management Officer Be First Maritime House, Barking with flexible and remote working arrangements possible
- Planning Manager Carrington West Bedford
- Senior Planner Phillips Planning Services Ltd Kingsbrook House, 7 Kingsway, Bedford, MK42 9BA
- Senior Planning Enforcement Officer (permitted sites) Kent County Council Invicta House, Maidstone, Kent
- Principal Planning Officer South Hams District Council / West Devon Borough Council Totnes, Devon
- Development Management Manager Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire
- TEAM LEADER – PLANNING ENFORCEMENT Maidstone Borough Council Maidstone, Kent
Growth and Infrastructure Act In Depth

Growth and Infrastructure Act: a primer
On 6 September 2012 the government announced a fresh wave of planning reforms aimed at stimulating the housing market and driving economic growth. This page collates all the key events as details on the reforms.