The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004

This new Act, which makes certain changes to the Town & Country Planning Act 1990, received Royal Assent earlier this year. The most important changes which will be brought about by the new Act affect ‘Development Plans’. These are the documents in which local planning authorities set out their development control policies. Out go the old County Structure Plans and Local Plans (or Unitary Development Plans). In their place, we are to have Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Documents.

Martin Goodall comments, “It remains to be seen what difference the new Development Plan regime will make in practice. It moves the ‘strategic’ element of the Development Plan up a tier to regional level, and reduces the role of County Councils in the development plan process. Rolling reviews of plans at the local level may make the local development framework a bit more responsive to changing circumstances, but this is likely to have only a limited effect on development control decisions and appeals.”

The Act makes some other minor changes in planning law, including the ability of Planning Inspectors to correct minor errors in their appeal decisions without the need for a formal quashing order in the High Court. Some of the other changes originally proposed (such as the threatened abolition of outline planning permissions) have not found their way into the Act.

	Licensing Act 2003 - You Must Act Immediately
	Liquor Licensing
	Reviewing your Will
	Wills
	Spanish Property
	Taxes on Overseas Property
	Enduring Powers of Attorney
	Teaching planners about Enforcement
	Personal Representatives
	Halcyon Daze
	Living Wills (also known as Advanced Directives)
	In-fill housing developments approved
	IHT planning and avoidance basics
	Inheritance Tax and the Use of Discretionary Trusts