We have proposed an amendment to the Planning & Infrastructure Bill that prevents members of the Responsible Actors Scheme (the UK’s largest developers from applying for planning permission or undertaking major development until the Secretary of State has revised the Scheme to ensure that all leaseholders are protected from building safety remediation costs.
As this is a probing amendment the responsibility is placed on the Secretary of State to establish who will remediate buildings and how it will be paid for as long as all leaseholders are protected. Developers need not remediate all their own buildings; they could pay into a fund instead. That would be a question for the Secretary of State. The impetus for action is the block on planning permission.
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After clause 51 insert the following new clause—
“Planning permission –Responsible Actors Scheme members
(1) No member of the Responsible Actors Scheme may be granted planningpermission or carry out major development of land in England through any agent orcontractor or any other person acting for or on their behalf until the Secretary of State has revised the Scheme to ensure that—
(a) all buildings with relevant defects are remediated at no cost to leaseholders orcommonhold unit owners, and
(b) where a relevant defect arises from a failure to comply with building regulations or relevant approved document in force at the time of construction that defect must be corrected by remediating the building to current building regulations.
(2) In this section—
“building” means a self-contained building, or self-contained part of a building, in England that contains at least two dwellings;
“major development” has the meaning given by article 2 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015;
“member of the Responsible Actors Scheme” means a member of the Scheme established under The Building Safety (Responsible Actors Scheme and Prohibitions) Regulations 2023;
“relevant defect” has the same means as section 120 of the Building Safety Act 2022.
Member’s Explanatory Statement
This new clause prevents members of the Responsible Actors Scheme (the UK’s large developers) from applying for or undertaking major development until the Secretary of State has revised the Scheme to ensure that all unsafe blocks of flats are remediated.