The government is changing the rules on what has to be included in planning applications.
It will no longer make people who apply for outline planning permission show approximately where buildings would be, where the access would be and specify minimum and maximum dimensions of buildings.
This is good as far as it goes but does not prevent individual councils asking for similar information anyway. Also, the revised rules do nothing about the many reports – which can be expensive and time consuming – that can be required for outline applications. All this before the applicant even knows whether the basic principle of the proposal will be approved.
Under the changes, councils will have to keep their lists of application requirements up to date (less than two years old) in order to be able to enforce them.
Outline planning applications might be slightly cheaper now, because of reduced drawing requirements, but there is still plenty of unnecessary red tape left for the government to get its scissors into.