Sorry about the bandwith, but below is just clause 98 of the Levelling Up bill. We have 38 bills in the Queen's Speech - not all as convoluted as this, but there's a price for all this tinkering to make things worse. How many civil servants were needed to draft 325 pages like this?
98 Minor variations in planning permission
(1) TCPA 1990 is amended as follows.
(2) After section 73A insert—
“73B Applications for permission substantially the same as existing permission
(1) An application for planning permission in respect of land in England
is to be determined in accordance with this section if the applicant—
(a) requests that it be so determined,
(b) makes a proposal as to the conditions (if any) subject to which permission should be granted, and
(c) identifies an existing planning permission by reference to which the application is to be considered (“the existing permission”).
(2) The existing permission must not have been granted—
(a) under section 73, section 73A or this section, or
(b) other than on application.
(3) The applicant may also identify, for the purposes of an application to
be determined in accordance with this section, a planning permission—
a) that was granted under section 73 or this section by reference
to the existing permission, or
(b) that forms part of a sequence of planning permissions granted under section 73 or this section, the first of which was granted by reference to the existing permission.
(4) A development order must set out how an applicant is to do as mentioned in subsections (1) and (3).
(5) Planning permission may be granted in accordance with this section only if the local planning authority is satisfied that its effect will not be substantially different from that of the existing permission.
(6) Planning permission may not be granted in accordance with this section in a way that differs from the existing permission as to the time by which a condition requires—
(a) development to be started, or
(b) an application for approval of reserved matters (within the
meaning of section 92) to be made.
(7) In determining an application in accordance with this section, the local
planning authority must limit its consideration to those respects in
which the permission being applied for would, if granted in accordance
with the proposal under subsection (1)(b), differ in effect from—
(a) the existing permission, and
(b) each planning permission (if any) identified in accordance with
subsection (3).
Section 70(2) is subject to this subsection.
(8) If the local planning authority decides not to grant planning permission
in accordance with this section, it must refuse the application.
(9) For the purposes of this section, the effect of a planning permission
is to be assessed by reference to both the development it authorises
and any conditions to which it is subject.
(10) In assessing the effect of an existing planning permission for the
purposes of subsection (5) (but not for the purposes of subsection (7)),
any change to the permission made under section 96A is to be
disregarded.
(11) The following provisions apply in relation to the condition under
paragraph 13 of Schedule 7A (biodiversity gain condition)—
(a) nothing in this section authorises the disapplication of the
condition
(b) the condition is to be disregarded for the purposes of
subsections (1)(b), (5) and (7);
(c) where—
(i) the existing planning permission is subject to the
condition,
(ii) a biodiversity gain plan (“the earlier biodiversity gain
plan”) was approved for the purposes of the condition
as it attaches to that permission,
(iii) planning permission is granted in accordance with this
section, and
(iv) that planning permission is consistent with the
post-development biodiversity value of the onsite habitat
as specified in the earlier biodiversity gain plan,
the earlier biodiversity gain plan is to be regarded as approved
for the purposes of the condition as it attaches to the planning
permission granted in accordance with this section.
(12) In relation to an application for planning permission that is made to, or is to be determined by, the Secretary of State, a reference in this section to the local planning authority is to be read as a reference to the Secretary of State.
(13) The preceding provisions of this section apply in relation to an application for permission in principle as if—
(a) each reference to planning permission were a reference to
permission in principle, and
(b) the provisions of this section relating to conditions were
omitted.
(14) Permission in principle granted in accordance with this section is to be taken, for the purposes of section 70(2ZZC), as having come into force when the existing permission in principle identified under subsection (1)(c) came into force.”
(3) In section 62A(2) (applications that may be made directly to the Secretary of State), after “73(1)” insert “, an application that is to be determined in accordance with section 73B”.
(4) In section 70A (power to decline to determine application similar to an earlier one)—
(a) in subsection (8), for “subsection (9)” substitute “subsections (9) to (11)”;
(b) at the end insert—
“(10) An application that is to be determined in accordance with
section 73B is not similar to an earlier application that was not
determined in accordance with that section.
(11) An application that is to be determined in accordance with
section 73B is similar to an earlier application that was
determined in accordance with that section only if the local
planning authority think that the difference of effect referred
to in subsection (7) of that section is (both in kind and in degree) the same or substantially the same in the case of both applications.”
(5) In section 70B (power to decline to determine application similar to a pending one)—
(a) in subsection (5), at the beginning insert “Subject to subsections (5A) and (5B),”;
(b) after subsection (5) insert—
“(5A) An application that is to be determined in accordance with section 73B is not similar to another application that is not to be determined in accordance with that section.
(5B) An application that is to be determined in accordance with section 73B is similar to another application that is to be determined in accordance with that section only if the local planning authority think that the difference of effect referred to in subsection (7) of that section is (both in kind and in degree) the same or substantially the same in the case of both
applications.”
