Food for thought to enforce local plan making in the UK

In the UK, we all know the struggles associated with Local Planning Authorities not having an up-to-date development plan - speculative development, more appeals, delays, and increased cost for developers.  Lee Rowley confirmed that at the end of March 2024, that 72% of Local Planning Authorities had an out-of-date local plan at that point.

Labour has spoken out about utilising intervention powers to ensure plans are kept up-to-date, but how can they make a success of that? 

As a transatlantic company, DLBP has the benefit of understanding how the State of Georgia encourages positive and proactive plan-making.  Similar to the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (and the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023), the Georgia Planning Act 1989 requires a local government to prepare and maintain a development plan (of which, similar to the England, is to be revised every 5 years) to maintain its Qualified Local Government status to aid in the implementation of the plans.

The key benefit of Qualified Local Government status is that it allows local governments to continue collecting and using development impact fees - which are the equivalent of Section 106 contributions - alongside a wider package of financial resources.  Without it, the City or County loses its power to collect and spend developers’ money.   As a result, less than 7% of Georgia’s local authorities have out-of-date plans.  This is a stark comparison to the UK’s 72%, whereby the number of local planning authorities is not dissimilar (535 in Georgia, and 401 in the UK).  Perhaps this is a measure worth considering as part of the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill?