Masterplan Consent Area Regulations: consultation responses summary

Question 1

Question 1A) To what extent do you agree with the principle that regulations be kept to the minimum necessary and that more advice be offered in guidance and kept updated?

Responses to Question 1A are set out by respondent type in Table 1 below.

A total of 54 respondents answered this question. A majority – 74.1% of those who answered the question – strongly agreed or agreed that the regulations should be kept to the necessary minimum, while 7.5% disagreed or strongly disagreed and 18.5% remained neutral. Organisations were more likely to agree or strongly agree than Community and Individual respondents, at 82% and 40% respectively. There were high levels of agreement from both Planning Authorities (89.4%) and the Development, Property & Land Management sector and Agents (85.7%).

Question 1B) Please explain your view.

50 respondents provided further comment at Question 1B.

Summary /Themes

The responses highlighted a high level of support for the regulations being kept to the minimum necessary. The supportive responses noted the approach to regulations would provide clarity and allow for local flexibility for planning authorities, with guidance including more detail on MCAs and being able to be updated more easily than regulations. Some noted this approach would also safeguard against legal challenge, while others requested that supporting guidance should be published at the time that the regulations come into force.

Some respondents suggested that the MCA regulations should include more detail on design quality requirements and also on the owner / occupier notification procedure.

A number of respondents suggested that the guidance should include templates to assist planning authorities with the preparation of MCA schemes.