Memorandum from the Homes and Communities
Agency (HOU 1)
At the recent evidence session of the Communities
and Local Government Select Committee, I was asked how many schemes
were approved during Kickstart Round 1 that did not have detailed
planning permission. I apologise for not responding sooner on
this issue.
In every case, to qualify for Kickstart funding,
Round 1 projects had to be sufficiently well advanced so that
they could meet the set timescale of starting on site by 31 March
2010. HCA looked for projects to have detailed consent by September
2009. Each project was considered on a case by case basis and
there were some reserved matters or conditions still to be satisfied
which meant that detailed consent had not technically been achieved
by the time the project went to the HCA's internal group (Projects
Executive) for approval. This group took a view about the ability
of these to be resolved rapidly so as not to impact on target
dates for contract and start on site by 31 March 2010.
There were less than 10 projects where the Projects
Executive meeting was a short time before planning committee so
in such cases decisions were made subject to planning which they
subsequently achieved or where the scheme had been amended since
the original consent and was going back through planning in parallel
with HCA's due diligence. In every case the project had to be
sufficiently well advanced that it could start on site within
the Kickstart timescale.
As such these very few schemes quickly achieved
detailed planning permission. I hope this answers the Committee's
queries and please contact me again if you want any further information.
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