Better Transport

To get a road built, a local authority needs to go through some important legal processes that are part of this country’s planning system. The processes for securing planning permission are legally required and have a legally correct way of being undertaken, laid out in legislation. These processes differ from the more political decisions taken regarding the appraisal and valuing of the scheme.

It is usual for a council to first gain funding approval from the Department for Transport, and then once the scheme is in the roads programme, to go through the process of acquiring planning permission. However, recently a number of local authorities have jumped straight to getting planning permission, and even issuing compulsory purchase orders, in order to demonstrate to the department that the scheme is ‘deliverable’.

Planning process in brief

• The scheme should be proposed or the route safeguarded in the local plan or new local development framework
• The scheme may be in the old-style county structure plan but these are now being superseded by regional spatial strategies. Only schemes of regional significance go into the regional strategies– but what makes a road 'regionally significant' is a bit unclear and many seemingly local roads make it into regional strategies
• The scheme will get listed in the local transport plan. The road will be listed as a 'major scheme', since the cost will be over £5 million. The Government won't consider funding it if it's not in the local transport plan
• The road also has to be in the region’s 10-year list of funding priorities in the Regional Funding Allocation. A road can appear in the regional funding list even if it is not in the regional spatial strategy
• The council will publish a planning application, including an environmental statement
• The council grants itself planning permission. Or if the scheme is not in the local plan, seriously conflicts with national planning policy or is very controversial, the planning application could be 'called in' by the Government for decision. If that's the case, there will be a public inquiry regarding the scheme and the side road orders and compulsory purchase orders
• The council issues side road orders and compulsory purchase orders
• Consultation follows and a public inquiry into the side road orders and compulsory purchase orders may be called. If no inquiry, that’s the end of the process
• The public inquiry inspector makes recommendations to the Government
• The Government make a final decision about the road

Tactics for influencing the planning process

For more expert help on planning issues you could:

• Go to the CPRE planning help website
• Speak to your local CPRE group, or try their head office, especially if you are a member
• Use the Government's planning website, Planning Portal 

Compulsory purchase procedure
Certain bodies have the power to compulsory purchase, including local councils. This is a very serious legal power and there are strict legal processes that need to be followed.

The council issues compulsory purchase orders in draft and the Secretary of State confirms and signs the orders – or not.

The council will first try to negotiate purchase of land it needs for the road scheme but if people refuse to sell, the council will issue compulsory purchase orders.

If you’re affected by compulsory purchase orders, please get some legal advice.

The Government has produced a series of brochures on compulsory purchase orders that you might find helpful.

Publicising the orders
The side road orders and compulsory purchase order, which will have been sent to landowners, have to be published publicly - in local newspapers, along the line of the road and around the site of the land to be purchased through compulsory purchase order. The orders will include maps and details of where objections can be sent. There will be a period for objections which should be at least 21 days.

Example: Compulsory purchase orders regarding a new road in Weymouth

People objecting can:

• Agree with the scheme in principle, but object to certain minor aspects
• Agree with the scheme in principle, but object to the scheme's location
• Object to the scheme completely

However you are not allowed to object to the scheme as far as it relates to adopt planning policy, because such issues are dealt with during the granting of planning permission.

Objections are split in to two categories:

• Those from statutory objectors – landowners and tenants
• Those from non-statutory objectors – the rest of us!

Public inquiry
Objections regarding side road orders and compulsory purchase orders go to the Government Office in the North East – regardless of the region for which the road is planned. The office informs the minister of the extent of the objections and the minister decides whether to hold a public inquiry. The minister need only call a public inquiry if there are objections from statutory objectors but may call one even if there aren’t if the road is highly controversial.

Ministers don’t always accept the recommendations which come out of public inquiries. In October 2006 an inquiry inspector recommended the go-ahead for a scheme in Norfolk but the Secretary of State for Transport refused to confirm the compulsory purchase orders because the scheme had not been prioritised for funding in the regional funding allocation and therefore did not have a realistic prospect of proceeding. This demonstrate the importance of the regional funding allocation process.

More about public inquiries