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Options For Change
4.0 PRIMACY OF THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Proposal: There is a need to avoid 'slavish adherence' to development plans.
Source: Interview with developers.
Present position: Section 25 of the 1997 Act provides that where, in making any determination under the Planning Acts, regard is to be had to the development plan, the determination shall be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.
Implementation: This will depend on what is required. Developers and lawyers felt strongly that s.25 had promoted an unthinking application by planning authorities of development plan policies to development proposals. As there tended to be more policies in plans of a controlling than a promotional nature, s.25 was having a negative effect on the development industry. The policies were being operated as a sort of 'rubber stamp' to reject applications. Reporters on appeal also begin every decision letter with a reference to s.25. Developers accepted that the development plan should be accorded considerable weight but felt that planning officers should be encouraged to consider the application of policies to particular circumstances more carefully, particularly as there was so much reliance on dated plans or on draft plans. This could probably be achieved through guidance but there was some suggestion that the wording of s.25 needed changing to place 'material considerations' on an equal footing.
In fact, s.25 could already be interpreted, in appropriate circumstances, as placing them on an equal footing. If there are material considerations which indicate in a particular case that the development plan should not be followed, the plan no longer has primacy. Section 25 reserves, as Lord Clyde stated in City of Edinburgh Council v Secretary of State for Scotland (1997 SCLR 1112), "a valuable element of flexibility". The difficulty arises over the weight to be attached to a material consideration but that is more a matter of policy and merit than law.
There was also a suggestion that modifying the status of development plans could have benefits in terms of a corresponding reduction in the focus of attention by developers and the public on development plans and development plan inquiries. The alternative view is that such modification would disenfranchise local communities who see the local plan making process as a key opportunity to influence the planning of their area.
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