Government to extend planning permission length to six years

The government is to relax planning rules to give developers up to three extra years to build on mothballed sites.

John Healey used his first speech as housing minister to announce that a new mechanism would be introduced allowing planning permissions to last for up to six years after consent.

Planning permissions that are not used currently expire after a three-year period. But the economic downturn has meant that many new developments do not have the funding to begin construction during this time span. Under the government’s plans, local authorities will be given temporary powers to extend that period to up to six years.

Healey said: "The Prime Minister has said that we'll do whatever it takes to see people through these tough times, keep companies in business and people in their homes. So today I'm announcing the power for local authorities to extend the time limits for existing planning permissions. This will help to make sure that more homes, offices and factories get built at a time when investing in new developments is difficult and when access to funding is hard.”

The minister made his announcements at the Royal Town and Planning Institute planning conference in London.

Rynd Smith, head of policy at the RTPI, said: “We welcome the principle of extending the life of planning permissions… However we consider that it is very important that the final power to make a decision about the extension of the duration of planning permission rests with local planning authorities, who will be able to use this new power pro-actively to ensure development remains on track.”

The British Property Federation has been lobbying for an extension to existing planning consents, and welcomed today’s news. Francis Salway, president of the BPF and chief executive of Land Securities, said: “Today’s announcement is a very welcome victory for common sense."

"This is one of the measures needed to allow the industry to keep regeneration schemes alive. Many developers will have land ready to develop without the means to finance work immediately. John Healey’s measures are very sensible and it is clear Government has listened to our advice."