The government has revised the Planning Bill to keep outline planning permissions, which it had planned to abolish. The OPP system will continue to operate in a revised format – requiring developers to give more detail about a development’s design and environmental impacts, if the amendment is accepted by the Lords in its third reading of the Bill on Thursday (April 25). “I am pleased we have reached this agreement. We were concerned that communities weren’t given enough opportunity to engage in the process – that’s why we looked at abolishing OPPs in place of something more community focused,” said planning minister Keith Hill. “I am confident a revised system of OPPs will deliver real interaction with the community and give local authorities the information they need when it comes to judging applications.”