The government published proposed changes to Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town Centres (PPS 6) in July 2008.

The draft changes followed a commitment in the Planning White Paper 'Planning for a Sustainable Future' to review the current approach for assessing the impact of proposals: particularly with respect to the 'need test' applied to development on the edge of town centres. The focus of the proposed changes is to strengthen the Government’s policy on positive planning for town centres in a way which maintains a strong focus on the 'town centre first policy', whilst promoting competition and improving consumer choice.

The main changes

• The proposals remove the requirement for an applicant to demonstrate ‘need’ for a proposal which is in an edge of centre or out of centre location and which is not in accordance with an up to date development plan strategy. 
• The policy replaces the existing impact assessment with a new impact assessment framework which applicants for proposals need to undertake in certain circumstances. 

Key features of the new test

• Broader focus with emphasis on economic, social and environmental as well as strategic planning impacts that enables positive and negative town centre and wider impacts to be taken into account.
  
• Identification of key impacts which applicants must assess, including: impact on planned in-centre investment; whether the proposal is of an appropriate scale (the previous ‘scale’ test); and, impacts on in-centre trade/turnover which should take account of current and future consumer expenditure capacity. Where negative impacts are likely to be significant this will normally justify the refusal of planning permission.
  
• Identification of a number of wider impacts which should be considered, including: accessibility (the previous ‘accessibility’ test) and sustainable transport considerations; impact on traffic; effects on employment and regeneration; and how the proposal will make efficient and effective use of land. Where there are likely to be some adverse impacts but these are likely to be outweighed by significant wider benefits arising from the proposal, the proposal should normally be approved.
  

RTPI Response summary

The RTPI submitted its response to the proposed changes to PPS6 on 3 October 2008. While it is noted that in the main that town centres have increasingly been in a good state of health over the extended period of economic stability from the mid 1990s until late 2007, the RTPI believes there are still retail issues that need to be addressed, specifically the decline of independent retail that has been observed (leading to lower competition and diversity in some town centres) and the likely emerging effects of reduced retail spending should the current economic downturn persist or develop into a period of recession. The RTPI broadly supports the new 'impact' test with which Local Planning Authorities can assess proposals for development in and around town centres by reference to a wider range of factors (including social, environmental and economic factors).
Click Here to view the RTPI response

Competition Commission

The Competition Commission has published its final report to its UK groceries market investigation (Competition Commission, 30 April 2008). A key recommendation which the Commission has proposed is that the Government should introduce a ‘competition test’ into the planning system requiring local
authorities to assess planning applications for new grocery floorspace over 1,000 square metres for their impacts on competition, in consultation with the Office of Fair Trading. The Government’s response to the Competition Commission’s report will be published shortly, but it may not be possible to finalise a policy response to the report in the near future, as aspects of it are subject to challenge by the major retailer Tesco.

The RTPI already stated publicly that the Commission’s recommendations are not well founded. Depending on its precise formulation and application, the proposed competition test could itself cause further bureaucracy and delay, disproportionate to the minor price benefits that might accrue from its application. The RTPI has urged the Government to respond to the recommendations as soon as it can, indicating that it does not intend to impose a competition test. This would provide much needed early certainty around PPS 6. 

Author:

Rebecca Coates

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

22-Jul-08

Categories:

Policy 

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