Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
Accepted
Simplify the local plan-making system to accelerate production and increase adoption rates
Recommendation
The Department told us it was introducing a new system for plan-making that should be more streamlined, and would involve statutory timelines. Its aim would be for local authorities to be able to complete a plan in 30 months. The Department also told us it was giving additional support to those local authorities who had not started a plan, and in the future it would expect local authorities to feel under departmental pressure to produce a plan. It expressed a hope that a much higher number of local authorities would have an up-to-date plan by the end of the Parliament.19 The plan making system is far too complicated. The government should examine how it could be simplified, requiring less detailed predictive information that may be inaccurate. This change could considerably speed up the local plan making and revision, and increase the number of local authorities able to provide a plan. The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to examine the local plan making system to make it simpler and shorter, drawing up a revised local plan. They published the government response to the July 2023 consultation on the implementation of reforms to the plan-making system in February 2025, and more detailed information in November 2025.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2. PAC conclusion: The number of local planning authorities with an up-to-date local plan has fallen significantly since 2019. 2b. PAC recommendation: In its Treasury Minute response, the Department should provide the Committee with further details of: • if it will examine the local plan making system to make it simpler and shorter, drawing up a revised local plan. 19 2.5 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 2.6 In February 2025, the department published the government response to the July 2023 consultation on the implementation of reforms to the plan-making system. 2.7 On 27 November, the government published more detailed information about the design of the legislation that will underpin the new plan-making system together with a series of vital new resources to help plan-makers prepare. The department also announced how it intends to roll out the changes across the country from early next year. 2.8 The new plan-making system will make it faster for local authorities to get simple, meaningful plans in place. This will provide local authorities with greater clarity about how local plans should be prepared and supported by evidence and establish a clear 30-month timeline for plans to be prepared and kept up to date. 2.9 The government will expect all local plans to follow a standardised structure in line with the permissible content defined in legislation and “core content” set out in policy. This will reduce the time taken to prepare plans, provide more consistency and make plans easier for users to navigate. 2.10 National planning policy and guidance will clarify what evidence is required and when. This will help prevent abortive work and reduce delays. The department is also taking a digitally-led approach to support plan-making and the streamlining of evidence gathering, including the development of standardised tools, methodologies and templates, such as those published on Create or Update a Local Plan.