Following the publication of the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Action Plan in February 2023, the government has committed to bringing forward reforms to ensure the existing system can support our future infrastructure needs by making the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects consenting process better, faster, greener, fairer and more resilient by 2025.
The key operational changes we are consulting on will make the system work more effectively for applicants,...More
The Public Bodies Review team are launching a call for evidence to gather views and experiences of Homes England.
The review is designed to assess whether Homes England is delivering for government and the taxpayer. It will focus on how effectively Homes England carries out its responsibilities, how efficiently it is run and whether it has appropriate governance in place.
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We are launching a second round of our Innovation and Capacity Fund to support and enhance the ability of local authorities to engage in the Development Consent Order process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning projects.
The aim of this fund is to explore if and how using resources more efficiently or supplying additional resources for key users of the regime can further improve our intended outcomes through provision of expertise or innovative work. This application...More
This consultation seeks views on statutory guidance for local authorities, including combined authorities and combined county authorities, in England on the Best Value Duty. It is issued to local authorities in England under section 26 of the Local Government Act 1999 and they are required to have regard to this guidance under the 1999 Act. The guidance provides greater clarity to the local government sector on how to fulfil the Best Value Duty by describing what constitutes best...More
This consultation seeks your views on proposed measures to ensure provision of separate toilets for men and women and sets out guidance to encourage the provision of universal toilets, ensuring appropriate levels of privacy in all situations.
These proposals relate to Building Regulations in England only.
Consultation stage analysis is included in this consultation. Further work will be carried out in advance of a decision following consultation. Changes to the analysis...More
The Department of Levelling up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is looking at ways it can help to improve home buying and selling. We want to speaking to people with recent experience of home buying and selling.
The research will take the form of an hour long interview. Those selected to take part will received a £30 online voucher as a thank you.
Please read our privacy statement .
If you would like to be considered, please complete this short survey.
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The Department of Levelling up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is looking at ways it can help to improve home buying and selling. We want to speaking to people with recent experience of home buying and selling.
The research will take the form of an hour long interview. Those selected to take part will received a £30 online voucher as a thank you.
Please read our privacy statement .
If you would like to be considered, please complete this short survey
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Local plans, and minerals and waste plans, (referred to here as ‘plans’) are produced by planning authorities (local authorities with responsibility for preparing these plans) to guide and manage development in their areas. They are important documents for local communities because they set the development framework for the area, usually for the next 10 or 15 years. Plans allocate sites for development, set out what land should be protected and contain planning policies, which are the...More
This consultation contains proposed changes to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, as amended. It covers the following areas:
Changes to certain permitted development rights that allow for the change of use to dwellinghouses.
Changes to certain permitted development rights that allow agricultural diversification and development on agricultural units.
Changes to certain permitted...More
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (“the Department”) has policy responsibility for the Prudential Framework (“the Framework”) under which local authorities borrow and invest, and stewardship responsibility to ensure that the system is operating effectively. The objective of the Framework is to ensure that borrowing and investment practices are prudent, sustainable and affordable, while providing authorities the freedom to set their own capital strategies....More
This consultation seeks views on proposals relating to the investments of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). It covers the areas of asset pooling, levelling up, opportunities in private equity, investment consultancy services and the definition of investments.
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As part of policy development, we committed to consult on further details for secondary legislation, that will set out how the auction process will work and what the leasing framework will be (including the terms of a standardised lease).
The purpose of this consultation is to seek views on policy options for the auction process, the standardised leasing framework (composition and how clauses may operate), the spreading of costs of the High Street Rental Auction process, the...More
This consultation seeks views on changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales (LGPS). Following a consultation we undertook in 2020 on proposals to address discrimination found by the courts in the ‘McCloud’ case, we published a government response in April 2023 setting out how we would proceed. We are now seeking views on issues relating to the McCloud remedy, where a) we stated in the government response we would be reconsulting to obtain further views, or b) our...More
We will be conducting research with people that interacted with this guide. The purpose of the research is to understand what sort of information you expect government to provide on 'home buying'.
The research will take the form of an hour long online interview via teams. The interviews will be conducted during June '23.
Those that are selected will receive a £30 online voucher.
You will not need to download any software to take part.
If you are interested in taking part...More
We are looking for people to take part in research to explore your experience of living in the UK and how you are preparing for the future.
The research will take place in June 2023. If you are selected to take part, we will invite you to a 60-minute video call using Microsoft Teams.
If you would like to take part in this research, please answer the survey questions below. We will select who to contact based on the survey responses, to make sure we include a mix of people who...More
Through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, we are seeking to secure powers to implement a new system of environmental assessment to be known as Environmental Outcomes Reports. This will allow the Government to replace the EU-derived Strategic Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment processes with a streamlined system that places greater focus on delivering our environmental ambitions.
The introduction of outcomes-based approach allows the Government to...More
This consultation seeks views on technical aspects of the design of the Infrastructure Levy. Responses will inform the preparation and content of regulations, which will themselves be consulted on, should Parliament grant the necessary powers set out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.
The Bill also introduces the power for the government to pilot Community Land Auctions (CLAs) to explore another avenue to more efficiently...More
This consultation contains proposed changes to the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes Order) 1987, as amended and the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, as amended, and the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012, as amended. It covers the following areas:
The introduction of a new use class for short term lets
...More
This consultation contains proposed changes to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, as amended. It covers the following areas:
A new permitted development right to support temporary recreational campsites.
Changes to the existing permitted development rights for solar equipment and a new permitted development right for solar canopies.
Amendment to the existing permitted development...More
This consultation seeks views on proposals to increase planning fees and to improve the performance of local planning authorities. We want you to tell us what you think about the proposals to:
increase planning fees by 35% for major applications and 25% for all other applications
additional fees for bespoke or 'fast track' services
make an annual inflation-related adjustment to planning fees
ring-fence additional fees income
...More
Scope of the consultation
Topic of this consultation:
The Building Safety Act 2022 establishes new legal duties for landlords and building owners of higher-risk residential buildings to keep their building safe.
There will be an ongoing cost associated with complying with some of these building safety duties, which can be passed to leaseholders through the service charge.
The consultation and call for evidence seeks views on:
the proposed...More
Scope of the consultation
Topic of this consultation:
This consultation seeks views on statutory guidance and policy proposals for legislation that would create a duty for landlords to take reasonable steps to ensure that all alternative avenues of cost recovery have been explored before passing remediation costs on to leaseholders.
This consultation seeks views on proposals for:
the buildings and defects to which the new duty should apply
the...More
This consultation seeks views on proposed Directions from the Secretary of State to the Regulator of Social Housing, using powers under section 197 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (“the 2008 Act”).
The Social Housing White Paper included a commitment to introduce a proactive consumer regulation regime. We have reviewed the existing directions covering tenant involvement and mutual exchange to ensure they are suitable for the new regulatory framework.
These...More
This consultation seeks views on proposals to amend the rules of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) in England and Wales. It covers amendments to the scheme regulations governing the Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) cost management process (CMP). The SAB ‘cost management process’ is provided for in regulation 116 of the LGPS Regulations 2013 and operates symmetrically, so that if valuations show that the costs of providing benefits have risen or fallen outside of a target...More
Consultation proposal on options to recommend sprinklers in care homes, remove national classifications from Approved Document B, and recommend a maximum height threshold for the use of one staircase in blocks of flats.
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Scope of the consultation
Topic of this consultation:
This consultation sets out the detailed requirements needed to implement the changes brought about by the Building Safety Act 2022. It seeks views on:
Approved inspectors becoming registered building control approvers, and implications for their existing work.
Restriction of activities and functions for building control bodies, both public and private.
Length of registrations...More
This consultation seeks views on our proposed approach to updating the National Planning Policy Framework. We are also seeking views on our proposed approach to preparing National Development Management Policies, how we might develop policy to support levelling up, and how national planning policy is currently accessed by users.
A fuller review of the Framework will be required in due course, and its content will depend on the implementation of the government’s...More
In March 2021 The Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2021 came in force. This amended the requirements about when accounts must be made available for public inspection for the 20/21 and 21/22 accounts, and provided that the period for the exercise of public rights needed to commence on or before the first working day in August in the following financial year. These deadlines were extended for two years to reflect the extraordinary pressures affecting the local audit market,...More
This consultation seeks views on changing the Local Government Pension Scheme for England and Wales (LGPS) annual revaluation date from 1 April to 6 April. This is to mitigate against the impact of high inflation on LGPS revaluation this year and consequent tax liabilities arising as a result. These tax liabilities would arise because the timing of LGPS revaluation on 1 April is not aligned with HMRC’s process for assessing the annual allowance tax charge. The proposed change would bring...More
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) will be operating as part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) from April 2023. Building control professionals will have to register with the BSR to perform building control work in England. The code of conduct sets out standards of professional conduct and practice that registered building inspectors are expected to meet.
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