Property Development Consultancy

Hello - and welcome to the latest DPM e-Update!

Since our last issue, I'm pleased to report that DPM have celebrated four years in business. Looking back over that time, we could never have predicted the tumultuous events that have gripped the world economy.

Fortunately, we have not been affected by the economic crisis and see the current situation as a positive opportunity to grow our business. Like everyone else in the property sector, however, we have dusted down our business plan and reviewed this in the light of the changing economic outlook.

Going forward, we continue to work closely with our existing clients as well as gaining new ones! As ever, we will be devising and managing bespoke development strategies to make sure that everyone continues to prosper in the months and years ahead.

Don't get caught out with expired planning consents!

The recession has forced many developers to place projects on hold with the risk that hard-won planning consents will expire.

Changes to the law governing planning consent duration and expiry have been introduced separately in both England and Scotland.

This will affect developers in different ways depending on the country in which they're based. Scotland and England have their own laws, and planning laws are no exception.

IN ENGLAND...

Under English law (which currently has a default three-year duration for full planning consents), the government is trying to help developers minimise the effects of the economic slowdown. To achieve this, they are proposing to introduce new legislation on October 1st 2009 which will aim to:

• Encourage longer consents, say five years, to be granted for applications
• Reduce the number of new applications which are submitted with the aim of extending permission for another three years
• Reduce the time that planning authorities spend on processing the applications

This will be achieved by introducing the ability to extend the time limit of an application through a new form of planning application. A new application will be granted with only the time condition varied.

The cut-off date for which applications will be considered to fall under the new or old legislation is October 1st, 2009.

DPM Project, Grimsby

(Illustrating the English legal changes which are largely beneficial...)

Our client was concerned that time would soon be running out on his planning consent so DPM looked into submitting a new application. It was advised that our client wait until the 1st October to make a decision as the new legislation would mean that a full new application would not need to be submitted and so save time and money.

Submitting a new application under the current system would not necessarily have meant that the same consent is granted as the LPA would consider it under current policies and it could potentially include more conditions. However, the new legislation enables the same consent to be granted with an extension to the time condition.

IN SCOTLAND...

In Scotland, on the other hand, we have the anomalous situation where new legislation from 3rd August 2009 has resulted in a reduction in the duration of full planning applications from five to three years. To clarify:

1. For a planning application determined BEFORE 3rd August, the duration of permission is five years (unless the planning authority specifies otherwise)
2. For a planning application determined AFTER 3rd August, the duration of permission is three years (unless the planning authority specifies otherwise)
3. In addition, the period in which you can now lodge an appeal if an application has been refused, after 3rd August, has been reduced from six months to three.

More information about procedural changes in Scotland - including details of the new pre-consultation requirements which came into force on 6th April, 2009 - can be accessed online atwww.edinburgh.gov.uk/modernisingplanning

DPM Project, Glasgow

(Illustrating the difficulties of overcoming Scotland's new planning legislation...)

Our client had planning consent on a development site which was due to expire in a matter of weeks. Due to the new legislation coming into force, DPM advised that the client submit a new full application to extend the period of consent BEFORE August 1st to avoid having to go through the process of a three-month pre-application consultation phase. Had we been caught up in the consultation phase, the original planning consent would have lapsed and the planning authority may have taken another view on our development.

These examples show the different processes within England and Scotland and the importance in the current economic climate of being aware of the emerging policies to ensure that suitable action is taken to retain planning consent and, where possible, to extend its time limit.