Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ensure that planning permission is time limited to prevent completions being built to superceded building regulations.

Generally, when a planning permission is granted, the development must commence within three years. The intention behind this time limit is to prevent the accumulation of planning permissions which are unimplemented. It also allows councils to review the development’s suitability in the light of circumstances which may have altered over the three year period

When new Building Regulations are introduced, time limited transitional provisions are normally included. Transitional provisions are kept under review for changes to Building Regulations.