The government have introduced measures to help the construction industry boost building and return to work safely.
- Government to extend planning permission deadlines, saving hundreds of construction projects’ permissions from expiring
- Planning appeals will be sped up
- Flexible working hours on construction sites to support social distancing, helping people return to work safely (following agreement with their local council)
- New changes could speed up the pace of the planning appeal process
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. This will prevent work that has been temporarily disrupted by the pandemic from stopping altogether.
The government estimates that by the end of this month alone, more than 400 residential permissions providing more than 24,000 new homes would have expired. The new measures will help these developments and more resume as the economy recovers.
New measures will also permanently grant the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) the ability to use more than one procedure – written representations, hearings and inquiries – at the same time when dealing with a planning appeal, enabling appeals to happen much faster.
Government intends to help builders to quickly agree more flexible construction site working hours with their local council for a temporary period. The intention is to make it easier to follow public health guidance onsite. By staggering builders’ arrival times, the hope is to ensure that public transport will be less busy and the risk of infection will be reduced.
To read the government’s full PR click here.