Ken Livingstone will legally assume many rights, obligations and powers as the Mayor of London on 3rd July. Much has been made of his plans for the tube system, public transport and policing the capital. However an area that has great significance, but has attracted relatively little attention, is the power of the Mayor to play a serious decision-making role in where and on what terms development will be allowed to take place in Greater London.
The Mayor's powers come from the Greater London Assembly Act (GLA) 1999, and the soon-to-be-final Strategic Planning Guidance for London, along with The Town and Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2000 and The Town and Country Planning (London Spatial Development Strategy) Regulations 2000.
The Spatial Development Strategy (SDS)
The GLA Act requires the Mayor's office to produce the SDS which will become, in its final form, the new Strategic Planning Guidance for the Capital.
The SDS will only deal with matters which are of strategic importance. It will not look at specific sites, but only core strategic policy areas, e.g:
sustainable development, transport, housing, economic development and regeneration, housing, environmental strategies and major-trip generating development.
The Mayor's vision of what these strategic policies are has not yet been fully revealed, but in his on-line manifesto he explained that he wanted to have clear priorities and targets for planning economic strategies, and strategic investment in new public transport infrastructure.
No-one really knows how long it will take the Mayor's office to draft what will be a substantial document, but in the meantime and until the SDS is in its final form, the current planning guidance for London (RPG3) will remain in force.
Once the SDS is available in its first draft, consultation with the public, the GLA and the London Boroughs will begin. With each successive draft, the SDS will become more important, and London Planning Authorities (LPAs) will have to take it into account as a 'material consideration' when they assess planning applications.
When the SDS is final, RPG3 will fall away and London planning authorities will have to make sure that their UDPs are line with policies in the SDS.
The Mayor's role on planning applications
The Mayor does not assume the planning powers of the LPAs. They will still retain their UDPs, decision-making powers and responsibilities. He will only be consulted on applications received by the LPAs that are of strategic importance, and are relevant applications.
What will be strategically important? Examples as given in the new draft Circular are major infrastructure projects, development that may affect policies in the new SDS or development that may affect strategic sites or views.
In addition a proposal will have to be a 'relevant application' if the Mayor is to have a legal role in deciding whether a development should be permitted. Central Government have produced new Regulations which identify 'relevant applications'. The list is long and complex, so we only provide a summary here:
- development in Greater London with more that 20,000 sqm of floor space;
- buildings more than 75m high within the City;
- the construction of more than 500 houses or flats;
- nonresidential development which includes more than 200 car park spaces;
- development of more than 2,500sqm of floor space for almost any use type if it is contrary to a Borough's development plan policies.
The significance of the 3rd July.
Relevant applications on or after 3rd July must be passed to the Mayor by the LPA for his view.
There are two steps:
i) Informal view:
The LPA refers the planning application to the Mayor's office when it is first received, and the Mayor gives his informal view on the planning merits of the scheme. This may be positive, negative, neutral or say that further notification is not necessary, in which case the Borough proceeds as normal to determine the application.
ii) If the LPA want to grant planning permission:
If the LPA decides in principle to permit the development, it needs to notify the Mayor again. The Mayor may endorse the application, in which case the Borough can then go ahead and grant consent. Alternatively he may direct that the application be refused. If he does then the LPA will have to refuse the application (though there is still the right to appeal to the Secretary of State). However:
1. the Mayor should provide guidance on how his strategic concerns may be alleviated;
2. Government (draft) guidance says that the power to direct refusal should be used selectively and as a matter of last resort.
In an effort to keep the system moving with this new layer of executive and administrative power, the Mayor needs to notify the LPA of his decision within 14 days of receiving the planning application from the LPA, else it can move ahead and decide the merits of the application on its own.
The Mayor's role will become increasingly important once the SDS moves through the consultation draft stages towards adoption. Until then, provided an application is in line with current planning guidance for London, although the Mayor has the power to direct refusal, he will have a limited policy base from which to do so.
Where does this leave us?
The Mayor is seeking to publish his proposals for a timetable for agreeing the SDS as soon as possible: we will see what will be done. However this new layer of administration, at least in the early stages, will lead to some delays. Everyone involved in the planning process will be finding their feet.
The Mayor is still in the process of appointing his cabinet of advisers and drafting his policies. There is still much work to be done, and over the coming months as new significant developments take place, we will provide updates, via LawNow.
If you have any questions arising out of this e-mail, please contact Chris Williams at cjcw@cms-cmck.com or on +44 (0)20 7367 3571.
