Business and Planning Act 2020 to support Covid-19 recovery now in force

In a previous blog post in June we reported on the Business and Planning Bill 2019-2020 (the Bill) and the planning measures relating to the planning appeals procedure, extension of the life of planning permissions, longer construction hours, inspection of the London Plan, and pavement licences. The Bill received Royal Assent on 22 July 2020. A copy of the Business and Planning Act 2020 (the Act) can be found here.

Not many changes have been made to the original text of the Bill in relation to the planning measures. The key changes are as follows:

Key changes

• Life of planning permissions extended The deadline for commencing planning permissions and listed building consents that have been automatically extended or been given approval to be extended pursuant to sections 17-19 of the Act has been moved from 1 April 2021 to 1 May 2021. This also applies to the extended application deadlines for the approval of reserved matters. This will be welcome news for developers, who now have one extra month than previously envisaged to commence their planning permissions and listed building consents.

By way of a reminder, the automatic extension will only apply to

1. 1. planning permissions that are due to expire between 19 August 2020 (the date on which the relevant sections of the Act come into force) and 31 December 2020;
   2. listed building consents that have expired or are due to expire between 23 March 2020 and 31 December 2020; and
   3. applications for the approval reserved matters that must be made not later than any time between 23 March 2020 and 31 December 2020.

Planning permissions that have expired or will expire between 23 March 2020 and 18 August 2020 must be granted an additional environmental approval in order to benefit from the extension.

• Pavement licences A local authority now must also have regard to the needs of disabled people and the recommended distances required for access by them when it is considering the effects that furniture on a public highway will have.
• Local authority meetings The Coronavirus Act 2020 provides that regulations can be made relating to meetings held by local authorities (requirements, timing, frequency, place of, access to and attendance at the meetings). A new section 22 has been included in the Act in order to add a number of bodies (Mayoral Development Corporations, Transport for London, Urban Development Corporations and Parish Meetings) to the meaning of a "local authority" within the Coronavirus Act 2020.
• The Bill provided that the dates specified in the Bill may be substituted by a later date by regulations made by the Secretary of State. The Act keeps these provisions, but gives further clarification that this only applies if the Secretary of State considers it reasonable to do so in order to mitigate an effect of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).

When do the planning provisions come into force?

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