This essential guide to planning law is designed to equip lawyers and officers new to planning law with a basic level of knowledge in a range of areas, with a particular focus on issues relevant to the local authority context. The course includes an overview of the planning system in England and the role of planning law within that system, including the most recent reforms. It explains key terms such as “development” and “development plan”. It reviews the planning application process in detail and includes specific sessions on Section 106 agreements and enforcement. Delivered by leading planning barrister, Richard Ground QC, and Sue Chadwick, Strategic Planning Advisor at Pinsent Masons, this course:

• Provides a comprehensive overview of the whole system of planning law
• Covers the most recent reforms to the planning system
• Shows how law and policy work together in that system
• Identifies the main problem areas for practitioners
• Looks at some of the ways those problems have been overcome
• Identifies any problems which are still outstanding
• Reviews the main changes introduced by the Localism Act, Growth and Infrastructure Act and recent case law.

The day will cover:

• The historical context of the planning system
• Development and Development plans
• The law and procedure of determining planning applications
• Section 106 obligations
• The enforcement of planning control

Target Audience

The course is aimed primarily at lawyers in local government who are new to planning but would also be useful for local authority members, committee clerks dealing with planning issues and lawyers working in the public sector generally.