Planning bill may be dropped until after May local elections

摘要

The government is unlikely to bring forward its planning bill this year, and may even delay it until after next year's May local elections, according to planning experts. The government has faced a huge backlash from its own backbench MPs since publishing proposals to reform the planning system in August, which included a white paper, Planning for the Future, proposing the zoning of land and the abolition of section 106. Measures in the white paper will require primary legislation to be brought into effect, but Hugh Ellis, director of policy at the Town and Country Planning Association, said officials at the department had told him the bill was unlikely to be published before the end of the year. He said: "They're very clear it won't be delivered on the timetable originally indicated -it's not going to happen as quick as the cadre around Number 10 want it to."