Will the Government's much vaunted radical reforms to the planning system allow Development Consent Orders (DCOs) to apply to large-scale, residential-led development proposals? It is an idea that has been around since DCOs, as wells as NPSs and NSIPs, were introduced by the Planning Act 2008, but perhaps now it’s time has come.

As well as considering the efficacy of the DCO regime as it relates to infrastructure projects, an expanded DCO regime is considered in a report by Barton Willmore, Copper, Womble Bond Dickinson and Hannah Hickman.

Sam Stafford discusses the report (link below) in this episode with co-authors Tom Carpen (Barton Willmore), Kevin Gibbs (Womble Bond Dickinson) and Hannah Hickman (Hannah Hickman Consulting).

LinkedIn profiles:

Tom - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-carpen-7102578b/

Kevin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-gibbs-24a39734/

Hannah - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahhickman1/

Some accompanying reading.

‘Can development consent orders help meet the challenges of our time?' by Barton Willmore, Copper, Womble Bond Dickinson and Hannah Hickman:

http://www.bartonwillmore.co.uk/Knowledge/Intelligence/2020/Can-Development-Consent-Orders-help-meet-the-chall

'Housing - Nationally Significant Infrastructure?' commissioned by Bond Dickinson and Quod:

https://www.quod.com/news/housing-crisis-demands-central-government-intervention/

'Unlocking Britain' by the Social Market Foundation:

https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/unlocking-britain/#:~:text=In%20a%20guest%20publication%20for%20the%20Social%20Market,recover%20and%20prosper%20in%20the%20wake%20of%20COVID-19.

'Following Orders: five actions necessary for DCOs and the NSIP regime to be used for large-scale housing' by Lichfields:

https://lichfields.uk/blog/2020/july/7/following-orders-the-five-actions-necessary-for-dcos-and-the-nsip-regime-to-be-used-for-large-scale-housing/

'The New Towns Question (Again)' by Simon Ricketts:

https://simonicity.com/2020/07/11/the-new-towns-question-again/

Some accompanying viewing.

The best of Jerry Springer's Final Thoughts:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3iobgi