Despite Robert Jenrick’s orders, planning appeals and plan examinations in England have been at a stand-still for over 2 months. When will the Planning Inspectorate finally roll out virtual “events”?, asks Zack Simons, Planning Barrister at Landmark Chambers.
It’s now over 2 months since PINS issued its blanket postponement of all planning inquiries, hearings and plan examinations.
It took until the end of March (so over a month after the Government had declared “a serious and imminent threat to public health”) for PINS to reach the stage of “considering whether it might be feasible” to run their events virtually, in the face of legal advice from the Planning and Environmental Bar Association and from members of Landmark Chambers that there are no legal impediments to proceeding with virtual events straight away.
By early April, MHCLG had already brought new regulations into force to allow local planning authorities to meet virtually. Authorities picked up that baton with fantastic speed. Virtual meetings began under 1 week after the new regulations came into force, and now well over 1/3 of authorities either already have or are soon to meet virtually.
The Planning Court – and indeed, the rest of the court system – also rose to the challenge with amazing efficiency. Hearings were taking place over the phone and video-conference software by the middle of March, and by early April the top judge on the Planning Court had already produced “top tips” for virtual hearings based on several weeks of experience.
This incredibly fast response to lock-down both from many LPAs and the court system has been borne of bold leadership which recognises the urgency of this moment. The imperative for all of us that important decisions which can affect so many continue to be made, and be made now. Bravo.
Meanwhile, at PINS, another month went by.
By the end of April, PINS announced pilots of a small number of planning hearings and inquiries from May – July 2020, then rolling out “the capability to conduct fully digital and hybrid events fairly and robustly” for most cases – so not even all cases – after 6 months, i.e. by the end of 2020, or early 2021.
Robert Jenrick does not seem overjoyed with that timeline. In his written ministerial statement on 13th May, he said that:
“The Government expects events to be taking place virtually by mid-June, other than in exceptional circumstances.”
Mid-June. Not 6 months. Not even 6 weeks.
How did PINS respond to that bold new timeline? Well… they haven’t.
PINS issued a release on the same day as the WMS – not committing to any revised timescale. On 15th May, Graham Stallwood – PINS’ Director of Operations – told me in an interview for my planoraks.com site that PINS’ approach remained to scale up to virtual events over the next 3-6 months (although he notably did not answer a direct question on when that 3-6 month period is supposed to begin – e.g. when it was announced in April, or when the trials finish in July?).
If July, then on PINS’ own approach, we won’t have fully rolled out virtual events until 2021 – by which time lockdown may (we hope!) be over.
Most recently, in answer to questions from Planning Magazine, PINS confirmed that it was only expecting to develop the capability to conduct virtual events – meaning those that combine for “most” cases in “the coming months”, as opposed to mid-June.
So much for Jenrick’s WMS. So much for mid-June absent exceptional circumstances.
As Bridget Rosewell told me in an interview with my planoraks.com site, there is no need for virtual PINS events to take 3-6 months, and those events can be run fairly already. I have written elsewhere many times, and as MHCLG accepts, that there is no legal impediment to PINS conducting its appeal hearings, inquiries or plan examinations virtually. Indeed, PINS appears to accept that (because trials have now begun).
Nonetheless, and despite the minster’s express instructions to re-start planning appeals and plan examinations within weeks not months, PINS is not budging.
Their 28th May release confirmed that 10 appeal hearings will take place in June, along with 8 appeal inquiries. That is progress, and we should certainly welcome it. But it falls a very long way short of full roll-out by mid-June, and we still have no timetable into the future for how quickly and how widely virtual events will be held for the ever-increasing pile of cases in the system.
The question now is whether Robert Jenrick and MHCLG will take more positive action push PINS forward into quicker and bolder action.
In the meantime, we wait. Months pass. The backlog of unexamined plans and undetermined appeals increases.
Read more from Zack Simons at planoraks.com