Conservative Planning Reforms Doomed?

After the Liberal Democrats widely condemned them, a national newspaper has reported that an alliance of councils and developers has urged the Chancellor not to make any further changes to the planning system.

A joint report from the British Property Federation and Local Government Association has recommended an expansion of "city deals", devolving power to regional communities.

This comes after much controversy about proposed changes to the planning system which would, amongst other suggestions, have allowed much larger home extensions without the current planning laws which have to be followed to secure planning permission.

Reforms to the planning system have been driven forward by the Conservative Party, despite some opposition from within. However, when Liberal Democrats chose to (almost unanimously) support a Motion at their Conference in September, which condemned the reforms, the Conservatives were unlikely to be able to progress the changes through Parliament.

For the time being at least, Epsom and Ewell should remain safe from large-scale home extensions that do not need planning permission.