New Legislation – relating to local planning (16/07/2020 and 12/08/2020) …

The following 1 new Statutory Instrument (SI) comes into force on 16/07/2020 and 12/08/2020:

New Legislation:

  • July 2020 and August 2020: SI 2020 No. 731 - The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (pdf) (link).

Notes:

  • The above SI 2020 No. 731 makes amendments to the following SI:
    - Local Planning Regulations 2012.
  • The "Explanatory Note" (link) at the end of SI 2020 No. 731 includes the following information:
    - "Regulation 2(2) [of SI 2020 No. 731] amends regulation 35(3)(b) of the 2012 Regulations to update a reference to section 113 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (c. 5) following amendments made to that section by the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (c. 2).".
    - "Regulation 2(3) [of SI 2020 No. 731] inserts new regulations 36A and 36B into the 2012 Regulations. New regulation 36A makes temporary modifications to Part 9 of the 2012 Regulations which are needed as a result of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The modifications will apply during the period beginning with 16th July 2020 and ending with 31st December 2020 (“the relevant period”).".
    - "New regulation 36A(1)(a) modifies regulation 35(1) of the 2012 Regulations so that a document will be taken to be made available by a local planning authority under the 2012 Regulations when it is published on the authority’s website. The modification removes the requirement on a local planning authority to make the document available for public inspection at the authority’s principal office and at such other places as the authority considers appropriate.".
    - "New regulation 36A(1)(b) modifies regulation 36 to remove the requirement on a local planning authority to provide hard copies of documents made available under regulation 35.".
    - "New regulation 36B makes transitional provision in respect of documents which are made available in accordance with regulation 35(1)(b) of the 2012 Regulations (on the local planning authority’s website) during the relevant period and which continue to be made so available after the end of that period. It provides that, as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of the relevant period, the local planning authority must also make the document available in accordance with regulation 35(1)(a) until the authority ceases to be required to make the document available under the 2012 Regulations.".

Other Sources of Information:

  • July 2020: "Explanatory Memorandum" to SI 2020 No. 731 (pdf) (link).

Updates to the Planning Jungle website: