RURAL FOCUS

BY PAUL MILLARD

In spite of the government’s best efforts to make the planning system more streamlined and efficient, recent research shows that there are still significant barriers to housing and economic development in the countryside.

When it was first introduced, the vision of the planning system was as an enabling system, aimed at supporting housing, development and economic activity. But the CLA says that today, planning laws and regulations appears to be applied inconsistently across different authorities and are viewed as a series of difficult to impossible hoops and hurdles applicants are asked to jump.

To add substance to its arguments, the CLA has carried out a survey of its members and their experiences of applying for planning permission to build new homes, agricultural buildings, and commercial and industrial premises to let.

The survey shows that applications from rural landowning businesses face significant delays, additional costs and unrealistic demands from local authorities.

It’s a story of local authority delays and inconsistency coupled with high costs and demands for irrelevant or unrealistic reports.

Worryingly, the survey reveals that rural businesses are 13 per cent less likely to get planning approval for a business or residential development than the national average. Almost a quarter of those taking part in the survey said the cost of producing the reports and surveys required blocked development - and a further quarter said additional reports requested after the application was validated, represented yet another hurdle to overcome.

With many applications costing more than £25,000, half the respondents said that the quality and usefulness of the pre-application advice was poor and as few as one in six found the process barrier-free.

What the survey reveals is that, despite government intervention with the National Planning Policy Framework, rural economic development is still being stifled by a planning system that is costly, inconsistent and hard to navigate.

The challenges Brexit will present in the countryside make it more important than ever that we have a planning system which enables - rather than inhibits - growth and which is capable of helping rural businesses to establish and grow.

The CLA’s head of planning, Fenella Collins said: “We want to help build a stronger, more sustainable countryside by providing opportunities to create more profitable businesses and desperately needed homes.”

Now the CLA says it will be sharing its findings with local authorities and with the government in order to help break down both the real and perceived barriers that are holding rural enterprises back from making beneficial investments in their business and local community.