Coronavirus

England’s chief planner Joanna Averley has written to local authority planners about the changes to the planning system and temporary measures that will remain to ease the path out of lockdown and aid economic recovery.

The Association of Democratic Services Officers (ADSO), Lawyers in Local Government (LLG) and Hertfordshire County Council have lodged a legal challenge in the High Court that seeks a continuation of local authority remote meetings beyond 6 May 2021.

Northern Ireland’s infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon has announced a further extension – until 30 September 2021 – of the temporary suspension of the requirement to hold a public event as part of pre-application community consultation on major planning applications.

Planning minister Julie James this week promised that a next Labour administration would look at amending planning legislation to make sure that developers ‘build to the current building regulations and not the ones in existence at the time that planning consents started’.