Part 6: Planning in England Local Planning Section 146: Secretary of State's default powers
Section 146 substitutes a new section 27 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Section 27 applies where the Secretary of State thinks that a local planning authority are failing or omitting to do anything it is necessary for them to do in connection with the preparation, revision or adoption of a development plan document. Under the existing power, the Secretary of State may prepare or revise (as the case may be) the document and approve it as part of the development plan for the authority’s area.
	The new section retains the current powers but also enables the Secretary of State to direct a local planning authority to prepare or revise a document, to submit that document to independent examination, to publish the recommendations of the person appointed to carry out the examination, and to consider whether to adopt the document. Existing requirements for the Secretary of State to give reasons for exercising these default powers, and for a local planning authority to reimburse the Secretary of State for expenditure incurred in connection with their exercise, are retained.