Recommendation 185

Jennie Donovan, Deputy Director, Sustainable Business and Development at the Environment Agency, told us that planning and permitting are “quite distinct”. 241 The National Planning Policy Framework states: “The focus of planning policies and decisions should be on whether proposed development is an acceptable use of land, rather than the control of processes or emissions (where these are subject to separate pollution control regimes). Planning decisions should assume that these regimes will operate effectively. Equally, where a planning decision has been made on a particular development, the planning issues should not be revisited through the permitting regimes operated by pollution control authorities.” 242