More business development applications to be fast tracked

The Government wants to allow more business development applications to be fast tracked through the planning process.

Currently, only applications that have a national significance such as transport, water, waste or energy projects can benefit from fast-tracking.

Planning Minister Nick Boles wants to extend the system to help businesses grow as quickly as possible. He is proposing to allow several types of business developments including offices, warehouses, and storage and distribution sites to benefit from the faster system available through the infrastructure planning system.

This ensures that decisions are made within 12 months from the beginning of examination.

He said: “We are determined to help bring about new investment and jobs. Making sure businesses can have confidence in quicker and better planning decisions is an important part of that.

“Opening up the fast-track system will help get sustainable development underway sooner and minimise delays that only bring uncertainty for local people and businesses looking to create jobs.”

The Government’s proposed reforms package also includes plans to reduce the number of consents required by developers and provide a simpler streamlined planning process for companies in the 24 Enterprise Zones.

The government will now introduce draft regulations for final approval by Parliament.

Please contact Sing Li if you would like more information about the issues raised in this article or any legal aspect of development projects.