The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (“the DMPO 2015”) was laid before Parliament on 24 March 2015 and comes into force on 15 April 2015.  It replaces the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2010 (“the DMPO 2010”) and its various amendment orders. 

Why has the Government issued the DMPO 2015?

Since the coming into force of the DMPO 2010 (itself a consolidation order) it has been amended 15 times. The Government considered that it was time to consolidate all these amendments into one order as well as to make some further changes including the deemed discharge of planning conditions and to improve layout and legibility.  The DMPO 2015, as its name suggests, relates to England only.

Are there any changes that I should be aware of?

The DMPO 2015 is predominantly a consolidating order but it does introduce other changes, the main ones are set out below:

•  Notification requirement for railway infrastructure managers (Article 16)

The DMPO 2015 introduces a new requirement to notify railway infrastructure managers of planning applications within 10m of relevant railway land (which is essentially operational railway land).  The manager can instruct a local planning authority that they do not require notification of certain types of development or development in relation to particular areas and that instruction can be withdrawn at any time.

•  Clarification of information requirements that must accompany a planning condition (Article 27)

This Article imposes additional requirements upon an applicant to those set out in Article 30 of the DMPO 2010 in that it specifies that plans, drawings and “such particulars….as are necessary to deal with the application” should be submitted.

•  Deemed discharge of planning conditions (Articles 28, 29 and 30 and Schedule 6)

The introduction of a process of deemed discharge of planning conditions was reported on in my blog entry of 26 February 2015.

Section 74A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 provides for the deemed discharge of planning conditions procedure to be prescribed by way of a development order.  The DMPO 2015 is that development order with Articles 28 and 29 setting out the process for deemed discharge including the service by an applicant of a deemed discharge notice.  Article 30 and Schedule 6 govern which conditions are exempt from the deemed discharge process.

•  Written justification for pre-commencement planning conditions (Article 35)

I reported on this in my blog post of 9 March 2015.  The DMPO 2015 now introduces this new requirement for local authorities which is additional to the justification that must be given for the imposition of all conditions. The LPA must now justify, in the case of a pre-commencement condition, why the condition has to be complied with before development commences as opposed to before occupation or some other trigger date.

•  Changes to statutory consultation (Schedule 4)

Changes have been made in relation to the consultation requirements with Natural England, the Highways Agency, English Heritage, the Garden History Society, water and sewerage undertakers and lead local flood authorities.

As a result of the changes to the Highways Agency brought about by the Infrastructure Act 2015, with Highways England appointed as the strategic highway company for England from 1 April 2015, amendments have been made to reflect this.

The addition of a consultation requirement in respect of water and sewerage undertakers for shale gas planning applications has also been added.

Where can I find the corresponding Article from the DMPO 2010 in the DMPO 2015?

There is a helpful “Table of Destinations” in the Annex to the Explanatory Memorandum produced by DCLG which sets out the Article number from the 2010 DMPO and its corresponding article number (where there is one) in the DMPO 2015. 

What if I am working on a planning application now, which DMPO applies to me: 2010 or 2015?

Transitional provisions are in place (see the details in Article 47 of the DMPO 2015).  Essentially if your application for planning permission was submitted before 15 April 2015 then certain Articles and Schedules of the DMPO 2015 will not apply and the corresponding Articles and Schedules in the DMPO 2010 will still govern the application.