Pictured above: LSH's Stephen Hemming

Experts at the Birmingham office of national commercial property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) have given Chancellor George Osborne's Budget announcement that the planning system is to be simplified a cautious welcome, but warned of potential for a planning postcode lottery.

The Chancellor announced that a presumption in favour of sustainable development would become the default position, underpinning the entire National Planning Policy Framework, which will merge dozens of planning policy statements in a single policy document, although this is not expected until April next year.

But LSH Director of Planning, Development and Regeneration, Stephen Hemming said the definition of sustainable development could be a sticking point, as could compatibility with local authority development plan proposals, although this does suggest a pro-growth emphasis on plan making.

"Simplification and removal of regulation is to be broadly welcomed, as is the 12-month guarantee for determination of planning applications. However I am worried that different authorities will have varying views on what is defined as sustainable development. There will need to be some central guidelines produced as soon as possible or we could end up with a planning postcode lottery," he said.

"Equally, does this mean that planning applications will be presumed to be accepted, even when a proposal goes against local authority or neighbourhood development plans? Which takes primacy; the development plan or the assumption of acceptance? Again this could result in inconsistencies across local authority areas without national guidelines being in place," he added.

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