24 Jun Planning permission deadlines to be extended
The UK government has announced that it intends to extend the planning permission for construction sites that faced expiry because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Planning permission usually expires after three years if work has not started onsite. Sites with consent that have an expiry date between the start of lockdown and the end of this year will now see their consent extended to 1 April 2021.
The government estimated that by the end of this month (June 2020), more than 400 residential permissions providing more than 24,000 new homes would have expired.
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said the decision was to boost the construction industry and to help workers return to work safely.
Robert Jenrick, Housing Secretary also said the appeals processes would be speeded up and that builders would be allowed to operate more flexible working hours with agreement from their local councils to help the construction industry reopen.
He said: “Building the homes the country needs is central to the mission of this government and is an important part of our plans to recover from the impact of the coronavirus.
“New laws will enable us to speed up the pace of planning appeals and save hundreds of construction sites from being cancelled before they have a chance to get spades in the ground, helping to protect hundreds of thousands of jobs and create many others.
“Taken together, these measures will help to keep workers safe and our economy moving as we work together to bounce back from the pandemic.”