Revision to Home extension Plan

Eric Pickles promises a 'revised approach' to home extension plan

Conservative MP Bob Blackman says the plans could lead to people having to take down extensionsContinue reading the main story
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Ministers have promised to bring forward a "revised approach", after Tory MPs objected to plans to double the maximum size of home extensions.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles wants to ease planning restrictions in England for three years to boost the building trade.

But MPs argued that there would be little economic benefit to the plans.

Mr Pickles told MPs he was willing to find a "sensible compromise", as he sought to appease Tory rebels.

The new approach would be set out in the House of Lords when the Growth and Infrastructure Bill returns there next week, Mr Pickles said, after discussions with MPs.

However, he did not give any further details on what the compromise might look like.

'Eminently bridgeable'
Ministers announced last year that they wanted a three-year relaxation of the planning rules to allow single-storey extensions of up to eight metres for detached houses and six metres for other houses to be built without planning consent being required.



"I believe that this is eminently bridgeable and I would like the opportunity to make that bridge.”

The proposal, which is still under consultation, has angered some local authorities and is opposed by Labour.

Mr Pickles said he had listened to the concerns expressed by peers and MPs and said he believed "even at this late hour we can actually establish a broad consensus on these practical reforms".

He added: "I can announce today that in the spirit of consensus, we will bring forward a revised approach on the contentious question of permitted development rights for home extensions when the bill returns to the Lords.

"I believe that this is eminently bridgeable and I would like the opportunity to make that bridge."

He said MPs would get the opportunity to vote on the new plans when the bill comes back to the Commons on 23 April.

The Growth and Infrastructure Bill was amended last month by the House of Lords to stipulate that individual councils should be given the right to opt out of the planning rules changes.

Many Tory rebels wanted to keep this change in the bill, but the government wanted to reject the amendment and instead to reach a compromise with MPs.

The government won vote by 286 votes to 259, a majority of 27.

But not all Conservative MPs were convinced by Mr Pickles promise of a new approach.

'Greater clarity'
Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park, a vocal critic of the plans, was among a number of Tory rebels who voted against the government.

He said the government needed to "give greater clarity" about how it plans to reach a compromise.

Former cabinet minister Cheryl Gillan said she would not believe Mr Pickles until she saw the new plans "in black and white".

Earlier Mr Goldsmith told BBC Radio 4's Today programme relaxing the rules on building extensions would "guarantee disputes between neighbours".

"It will be very unpopular and there is no evidence, as far as I can see, that it is going to solve any problems at all. It seems like very bad, clumsy politics."

But another Conservative MP, Heather Wheeler, insisted that the government's plans would create jobs.

She said: "We are desperately short of family-sized houses. This is an opportunity to kick-start local economies."

For Labour, shadow communities and local government secretary Hilary Benn said: "The government is so weak and divided that it can't even agree on how to build conservatories".

He said the scheme, as it stands, would "allow unregulated and potentially unsightly development without scrutiny is anti-localist and will sow discord between neighbours".