L&G invests in Leeds mixed-use development
Investment company and insurer Legal & General has acquired a 50 per cent stake in Thorpe Park Leeds, an 80 hectare mixed-use business development site in East Leeds. The company has entered into a joint venture (JV) with Scarborough Group International (Scarborough Group).
This partnership will deliver phase two of Thorpe Park Leeds which has consent for a 1.35 million square feet mixed-use scheme. Thorpe Park Leeds is set to create a further 13,000 local jobs while potentially unlocking the construction of 7,000 new homes in the East Leeds area through the construction of the first section of the East Leeds Orbital Road, a key piece of road infrastructure.
The deal represents the first project to be delivered since the start of L&G’s Regeneration Investment Organisation (RIO) partnership launched at 10 Downing Street in January.
Earlier this year Scarborough Group received planning consent for the first 60,000 square feet of offices and consent for 300 new homes on the site.
Success on appeal for major Cornish housing scheme
Developer Jackamax Ltd has won its appeal over an urban extension providing 340 new homes on land at Trenethick to the north east of Helston, Cornwall which the unitary authority had failed to determine within the statutory period.
Costs were awarded against the planning authority which told the inquiry it objected to the outline proposal on sustainability and transport grounds.
The inspector who held the inquiry concluded that the scheme would bring both economic and social benefits. His letter argued “The environmental dimension of sustainability is more finely balanced, clearly there would be the loss of what is presently open land. But the proposal would not appear as an incongruous appendage to Helston and there is no reason why it should not be successfully designed and landscaped.”
The emerging local plan process had been suspended pending further work on housing provision. The appeal site was one of three potential urban extensions under consideration.
London round-up
- Westminster Council has announced plans to issue an Article 4 direction to remove permitted development (PD) rights for basement development works. The central London planning authority’s proposal is now open for public consultation.
- East London Tower Hamlets Council has granted planning permission for the first residential tower at the Wood Wharf redevelopment, now known as New Phase. The 57- storey building is located on the waterfront on the south dock. The proposal contains plans for 468 new homes as well as 17,777 square metres of business space, and 2,763 square metres of retail and leisure floor space.
- Hackney Mayor Jules Pipe has stepped up his campaign against the now amended proposals for the Bishopsgate Goodsyard development. He warned the proposals still threaten the unique character of Shoreditch and its nearby conservation areas and listed buildings, does little to address the east London borough’s housing needs and could be hugely detrimental to Tech City, leading to the loss of local tech and design jobs.
Energy project developments
- Mining company Miller Argent’s proposals for a new 478 hectare opencast mine in the Rhymney Valley have been rejected by Caerphilly County Borough.
- Island Gas Limited has submitted an application seeking planning permission to install monitoring boreholes on land off Springs Road, to the north-east of Misson in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire. In May a scoping request was submitted by Island Gas Limited to Nottinghamshire County Council for exploratory shale gas drilling, in relation to the same site.
- Plans for a hydroelectric power scheme at a stately home in Derbyshire have been approved by the Peak District National Park. Two generators will be installed next to weirs on the River Derwent within the Chatsworth House estate.
- Proposals by green developer Epsilon for a solar farm in Burton-on-the-Wolds, Leicestershire have been unveiled a week after a larger 12 megawatt project for the same location had been rejected on appeal. The company has now submitted a screening opinion to Charnwood Borough Council for a 5 gigawatt solar farm on the same piece of land.
- Energy company Europa Oil & Gas has won a long-running battle to carry out exploratory oil drilling in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Surrey. A planning inspector has allowed the company’s appeal over refusal of planning permission by Surrey County Council for the drilling at Holmwood near Leith Hill.
Land-use statistics
New English land use change statistics for 2013/14 covering brownfield/greenfield; green belt, flood risk and density have just been published which indicate that some 60 per cent of new homes over that period were built on previously developed land.
The figures also showed that one in five of the homes built on previously undeveloped land had a previous use of residential gardens (eight per cent of total new homes).
The statistics highlighted that three per cent of new homes were in green belt and that eight per cent of land changing to residential use was in green belt. Of new homes built in green belt, 62 per cent were on previously developed land.
Average density of new residential developments was 32 homes per hectare. On previously developed land average density was 37 addresses per hectare while on non-previously developed land average density was 26 addresses per hectare. Within green belt, average density of new development was 18 addresses per hectare.
Areas with highest density were Tower Hamlets, Lancaster, Kensington and Chelsea, City of London, Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and Lincoln.
Housing figures
The number of social rented homes sold under the Right to buy initiative now outstrips the number built, new analysis has suggested.
Government figures analysed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that more social housing tenants exercised their Right to Buy in 2013/14 than the number of new social rented homes built in England and Wales.
In 2013/14, there were 11,514 Right to Buy sales and 10,920 units of additional social rented homes, the Department for Communities and Local Government figures show. In 2012/13, there were 6,114 Right to Buy sales and 17,620 additional social rented homes. In addition to social rented housing, 19,740 ‘affordable rent’ homes were built in 2013/14.
The last time there were more Right to Buy sales than new social rented homes built was in 2005/06 when there were 28,519 sales and 23,630 new social homes.
The number of social homes built has decreased because government programmes now only fund affordable rent homes, which are let at up to 80% market rent.
Analysis by the ONS also shows there is a shortfall in the total number of social properties compared to the number of applicants on housing waiting lists in every English local authority apart from three.
Starter Home funding announced
Communities Secretary Greg Clark has launched a £26m fund for house builders to demonstrate the range of high quality homes for first-time buyers that will be available as part of the administration’s Starter Home initiative.
The fund will support architects, developers, councils, housing associations and small builders to build properties that will increase the quality of design as the government gears up its pledge to build 200,000 starter homes by 2020.
It will be used to acquire brownfield sites to provide land for starter homes. Money from the sales of these sites will go back to the government.
As well the government has made available up to £10m for local authorities to prepare more brownfield land for development of starter homes.
Hull city centre plans goes on display
A new exhibition at Hull’s Ferens Art Gallery shows what the city centre is planned to look like by the year 2020.
The city is spending £25m on the first phase of the scheme ahead of hosting the year-long UK City of Culture festival in 2017.
Parts of the city centre will be pedestrianised, with new paving and fountains installed. Under the proposals for 2017, landmarks will be illuminated with special LED lights to create what is described as “sculptures in the sky”.
Films, videos and displays in the gallery enable the public to ‘walk through’ the proposals for a new cruise terminal and the redevelopment of the Fruit Market, move into city centre streets where ambitious public realm projects that will transform public spaces and down into the Old Town where schemes will re-establish the area as an historical centre.
Go-ahead for Brummie skyscraper
Doone Silver Architects has won permission to demolish John Madin’s NatWest tower in Birmingham and replace it with what is to become the city’s tallest building
Birmingham City Council has approved the new 26 storey (102.5m) office-block at 103 Colmore Row for Sterling Property Ventures and Rockspring Property Investment Managers.
The decision finally spells the end for Madin’s 1975 city centre block which has been empty for more than a decade.
The 102.5 metre high steel, aluminium and glazed tower will house 18,500 square metres of offices and nearly 1,500 square metres of leisure space and will feature a terrace on the 18th level.
Liverpool Lime Street regeneration
Proposals for a £35m revamp of part Liverpool city centre have been approved by the city council. The scheme will focus on the Lime Street area and includes proposals for a new hotel, shops, restaurants and student accommodation.
However there has been concern that the Futurist Cinema building, one of the country’s oldest purpose-built cinemas, will be demolished to make way for the project.
Redditch offices to flats conversion
A former council office block that stood empty for more than four years in Redditch is to be turned into flats. Threadneedle House, in Walter Stranz Square, has been sold by Redditch Borough Council to developers UVEE.
UVEE said it would turn the 1980s building, which includes old council offices and a former bank, into 37 flats. A post office trading from the block will be unaffected by the sale and development plans.
Crawley town centre revamp
Major improvement plans for Crawley’s Queens Square have been approved. The borough council and West Sussex County Council are investing £3m in revitalising the area, with work starting early next year and expected to be completed by autumn 2016.
Residents were asked to pick their favourite out of three possible designs for the development last year. They chose one based on curved landscaping and planters, with a large space for events and improved lighting. The bandstand will also be refurbished and moved to the Memorial Gardens.
Legal round-up
- Developer Larkfield Homes has lost its Appeal Court challenge over permission for a relief road in Grantham approved by South Kesteven District Council in 2013 alongside a major residential development planned by Buckminster Estate.
- Lancashire County Council is facing a potential judicial review challenge to its decision to grant planning permission for seismic monitoring at a shale gas exploration site where fracking is on the cards.
- A High Court judge has ruled that a planning inspector misinterpreted green belt planning policy in his refusal of an appeal against Solihull Council’s decision to block proposals for the construction of an office building in the countryside near Coventry. The refusal has now been quashed.
Yorkshire studio project
A new film and television studio facility is to be developed on a former RAF base in North Yorkshire by media company Screen Yorkshire.
Proposals for the change of use of a 9,290 square metre air hangar at Church Fenton were unanimously approved by Selby District Council.
Screen Yorkshire invests in television, film, computer game and digital content projects across the region.
The airbase was established in the 1930s and is around half a mile from Church Fenton village 26 kilometres from Leeds and 17 miles from York.
Welsh secondary planning legislation
Consultation on further Welsh secondary legislation for development management has just started. The measures involve statutory consultees, design and access statements (DAS) and houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).
Somerset flooding report
Dredging on the Somerset Levels would have significantly reduced the number of houses submerged underwater in the 2013-14 floods, a report by the Environment Agency has concluded.
Shingle beach estate for sale
A deserted shingle beach next to a nuclear power station on England’s South Coast has been put up for sale at £1.5m.
The 200 hectare Dungeness Estate, in Kent, has been described as “Britain’s only desert” by the Met Office. The headland, which juts out into the English Channel, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and has 29 homes built from railway carriages on it.
The Estate, which includes the cottage where film director Derek Jarman lived, has been part of a family trust since 1964.
Roger Milne
Last week we reported that we’d been deluged by offers from professional applicants to help test the new version of the Planning Portal.
I’m happy to say we’ve had an equal level of support from local planning authorities to help test the system and make sure we have a seamless handover from old to new.
Our own testing is due to start this week, with LPAs due to start their two-week testing window from the week commencing 17th August.
Just like our request to professional applicants, we were heavily oversubscribed with offers of help from LPAs, with over 60 applying for 30 slots.
We have now filled these slots, which are representative of the LPA community in England covering large, small, urban and rural LPAs with the full range of ICT back-end planning solutions.
We’ll start giving you an insight into the new look and feel and features of the new Portal this week.
Two Berkshire councils have won a landmark High Court challenge over government policy brought in last November which set a threshold on the size of developments beneath which planning authorities should not seek affordable housing contributions through section 106 agreements.
That has now been quashed as has the vacant building credit policy. Under those provisions affordable housing requirements were reduced according to the extent to which a housing proposal involved the re-use or redevelopment of vacant buildings.
As a result of last week’s ruling by Mr Justice Holgate some 12 paragraphs have been removed from the National Planning Policy Guidance.
Last November, planning minister Brandon Lewis announced the new policy on affordable housing provision in a ministerial statement which set a threshold of developments of 10 homes or fewer. In designated rural areas, the threshold was set at five homes or fewer.
West Berkshire Council and Reading Borough Council successfully joined forces to challenge the proposal.
The judge agreed with the councils that the consultation process over the policy had been unfair and unlawful. He argued that there was a failure to take into account “obviously material” considerations when promulgating the policy, including the full implications for the supply of affordable housing land.
Tony Page, Reading’s lead councillor for planning, said: “This judgment is excellent news not just for Reading and West Berkshire councils but for all the people looking for affordable places to live.
“There is an acute and increasing need for affordable homes in Reading, which is demonstrated by the fact there are around 10,000 people on our housing waiting list, and the changes to the planning system would have made matters worse.”
Alan Law, West Berkshire’s executive member for planning, said: “The decision to legally challenge the government on this issue was not taken lightly.
“The judgment… confirms that the council were fully justified in challenging this policy change in order to deliver much needed affordable housing and safeguard funding for critical infrastructure such as education.”
Planning barrister Jenny Wigley of No. 5 Chambers commented: “The practical implications are of immediate effect to developers’ negotiations. Following the judgment, the government has announced that the relevant paragraphs of the NPPG will be removed and this is now reflected on the NPPG website.
“Accordingly, with immediate effect, developers will be unable to rely on those paragraphs in negotiations as to affordable housing and tariff style infrastructure contributions. The vacant building credit will also no longer be applicable.”
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “We are disappointed by the outcome of the judgement and will be seeking permission to appeal against the judge’s decision. This will have a disproportionate impact on smaller builders who are important in providing homes for local communities.”
View more information on the Planning Practice Guidance website
Roger Milne
Proposals for nearly 2,000 homes on a derelict ironworks in Derbyshire have been withdrawn after officers at Erewash Borough Council recommended refusal of the scheme. The future of Stanton Ironworks at Ilkeston has been under consideration since it closed in 2007.
Developer Saint-Gobain had proposed a residential-led mixed-use development involving up to 1,950 new homes, about 20 hectares of employment land, including retail, cafes, bars and restaurants, a 150-bed care home, a GP surgery and primary school at the 200-hectare site
Planners had raised a total of 11 substantial objections to the development including concern over the amount of retail space proposed, the proportion of affordable housing offered and inadequate compensation for lost wildlife habitat.
A company spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we have withdrawn our application for planning permission on our Stanton Ironworks site.
“Despite having worked together with the council throughout the application process and addressed all 11 key concerns of the council, it was clear that a refusal was likely to be the outcome, so we felt there was no other alternative than to withdraw.
“If successful, development of this site would have created 2,000 new and affordable homes for the area of Stanton, supporting the local housing policy to address the current housing shortage. We will be considering all future options in respect of the site.”
Roger Milne
Manchester City Council has unveiled proposals for the city centre which could include a raft of new towers, multi-billion pound new neighbourhoods and so-called “vertical villages”.
A new city centre strategy is now out for public consultation which includes a vision for the city centre until 2018, as well as aspirations for Manchester as a whole up to 2025 that includes a move to a low carbon economy.
The strategy focuses on a number of new neighbourhoods including NOMA, St Johns (the former ITV site), Spinningfields, First Street, Aytoun Campus and the central business district.
The new vertical village at St John’s and the £1.4bn redevelopment of Granada Studios will be joined by the redevelopment of the dormant First Street site, which is close to the city’s new HOME theatre. The master plan will see the development expand south and west and include new residential development.
Meanwhile, work towards a joint Greater Manchester plan to identify future housing and employment land requirements has reached its latest milestone.
The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework is intended to be an overarching document which will be used by planners in each local authority to guide development and growth.
The next step in preparing the framework is to agree a set of objectives, now out for consultation against which proposals can be assessed at each stage of the process.
In a related developments plans for a new £110m theatre and arts venue at the site of the former Granada TV studios in Manchester has been approved by the city council.
Chancellor George Osborne pledged £78m for the project, known as The Factory Manchester, in last year’s Autumn Statement as part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative. The 5,000-capacity venue is scheduled to open by summer 2019.
Separately social business One Manchester has announced its first new-build housing scheme, a mix of 166 flats and town-houses, proposed for two sites in inner-city Hulme.
Roger Milne
Consultancy Peter Brett Associates has been appointed by Oadby and Wigston Borough Council to prepare Local Development Orders (LDOs) for three town centre sites.
These will be among the first LDOs under a pilot scheme by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), which is funding the Leicestershire planning authority as part of the Local Development Order Incentive Fund. This will be used to facilitate the development of three mixed-use brownfield sites.
PBA’s appointment follows the work undertaken by the practice on a pilot scheme for the Planning Advisory Service in Teignmouth, Devon.
The LDOs will allow the sites in Oadby, Wigston and South Wigston to be redeveloped to maximise community benefit, with a wide range of options including residential, commercial, leisure, and healthcare facilities under consideration. These will be selected following an extensive community consultation process.
“At the very heart of LDOs is a drive to simplify planning, and with our work for the PAS, we are at the forefront of developing residential-led LDO pilots nationally,” said Mary Crew, principal planner and project lead for PBA.
“We have a strong understanding of the local market that will help us support the council in its goals,” she added.
Roger Milne
Detailed plans – including landscaping and transport links – for the first stage of a new market town near Plymouth have been approved by South Hams District Council and the city council.
The 5,500-home Sherford settlement has a price-tag of £1bn and involves Red Tree, the project founder, and a consortium of developers including Taylor Wimpey, Linden Homes and Bovis Homes.
The project has been supported with an investment of up to £32m from the Homes and Communities Agency to allow key infrastructure to be built.
The first phase of the scheme involves 580 houses. When complete the town will have four schools, a library, GP surgery, town hall, community centres and parks. As well as thousands of new homes the new settlement will provide 83,000 square metres of employment space on the outskirts of Plymouth.
Leader of South Hams District Council John Tucker said: “This milestone marks the real beginning of Sherford as a town, bringing much needed housing and jobs to the area.”
Original plans for Sherford date back to the 1990s. The new market town is the fifth large-scale site the government has helped to accelerate since August last year. The new settlement is the central element of the development plan for South Hams.
Roger Milne
Stricter green belt safeguards sought
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has called on the government to strengthen green belt protection. The countryside lobby group wants greater clarification on the limited circumstances in which green belt boundaries can be changed through local plans.
CPRE has also urged ministers to call in or direct local authorities to refuse damaging developments in the green belt that are not identified in existing local or neighbourhood plans. In addition the CPRE would like to see bodies like Natural England and Local Enterprise Partnerships funding measures to improve the quality of and access to green belt.
These initiatives form the cornerstone of a new campaign by the group timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the introduction of green belt planning policy.
To mark this anniversary CPRE has just published the results of a poll by Ipsos Mori which found that nearly two-thirds of people surveyed believe that green belt land should not be built on.
Clark backs Sheffield warehouse to academy conversion
Communities Secretary Greg Clark has agreed with the recommendation of a planning inspector and allowed an appeal over Sheffield City Council’s refusal of proposals to convert a warehouse and distribution centre on a business park at Ecclesfield into a post-16 Academy.
Clark’s decision letter concluded that the proposals were in accord with the development plan and satisfied the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework which said great weight should be given to the need to “create, expand or alter schools”.
The SoS also noted that the NPPF advised against the long term protection of sites allocated for employment use “where there is no reasonable prospect of a site being used for that purpose”.
Kent theme park operator deal over energy scheme
Teal Energy Ltd has agreed to drop its plans for a £100m energy from waste scheme originally proposed for land on the Swanscombe Peninsula, Kent also earmarked for the London Paramount Entertainment Resort.
The latter is currently the subject of an application for a development consent order under the nationally significant infrastructure project regime (NSIP)
The parties have reached an important agreement for both projects and Teal Energy will now seek an alternative site.
Paul Sadler, Chief Executive of Teal Energy said: “The Swanscombe Peninsula will be transformed as a result of London Paramount and the Ebbsfleet Garden City. Teal Energy is keen to find an alternative site in North Kent.”
David Testa, Chief Executive of London Paramount, said: “We’re delighted to have reached an agreement with Teal – without doubt this is another important step in the right direction for the future of the project.”
London round-up
- The Mayor of London has announced three more Housing Zones – in Brent, Westminster and Sutton – which means the number of such designations in the capital now totals 18. A further two will be named later this summer. The Mayor will invest nearly £44m in these three new Zones which will provide nearly 6,600 new homes as well as improved transport links, more than 13,000 construction jobs and new retail precincts.
- Plans to create the world’s “longest and tallest tunnel slide” down the Orbit Tower, next to the Olympic Stadium have been approved. The Royal Borough of Greenwich has resolved to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of land at Enderby Wharf in London docklands. The scheme includes amended proposals for a cruise liner terminal, known as London City Cruise Port, as well as new housing.
- A developer has submitted proposals to convert two Croydon town centre office blocks into up to 1,500 flats. The move came 24 hours before a deadline involving an article 4 Direction which will remove permitted development rights in the area.
- A planning inspector has dismissed an appeal over a mixed use scheme in Lamb’s Passage, Islington, north London, because the development offered only 14 affordable housing units.
Energy projects round-up
- Swedish energy company Vattenfall has scrapped a planned 69-megawatt onshore wind project involving 20 turbines at Nocton Fen near Lincoln. The company said government subsidy cuts and the proposal to remove wind farms above 50 megawatt capacity from the Planning Act 2008 regime for nationally significant infrastructure projects “introduced increased risk in the process”.
- Hadstone Energy’s proposals for a five megawatt solar farm on an 11 hectare site in East Sussex have been refused by members of Lewes District Council against the advice of officers.
- Scottish Ministers have refused consent for a proposed 31-turbine wind farm at Allt Duine near Kincraig because of its impact on the Cairngorms National Park and on wild land.
Plymouth cruise terminal study
Leading marine consultants GP Wild International have been commissioned to look at the economic case for a cruise terminal for Plymouth.
A consortium comprising Plymouth City Council, Associated British Ports, the Plymouth and Devon Chamber of Commerce, Destination Plymouth and Plymouth Waterfront Partnership have commissioned the company who will be putting together the report over the summer.
City Council leader Tudor Evans said: “We need to look at a whole range of issues to get a clear picture of the market and its future directions, the infrastructure needed, the sort of costs we are looking at and some of the unique challenges we face.”
Legal briefs
- Developer DLA Delivery Ltd has failed in a High Court bid to quash the Newick Neighbourhood Plan, recently “made” by East Sussex planning authority Lewes District Council.
- A wildlife charity has failed in a High Court challenge to Teignbridge District Council’s grant of outline planning permission for a 230-home development at Chudleigh, Devon, over the impact of the proposed scheme on a rare type of bat.
Middlesbrough snow project
Proposals for a £30m snow and leisure centre in Middlesbrough have been unveiled. The indoor facility at Middlehaven would include a 170 metre high ski-slope, climbing area, trampoline park, indoor sky diving centre and shops and cafes.
Birmingham BID failure
Traders have refused to back plans to set up Birmingham’s 12th business improvement district (BID). Campaigners in Bournville, Cotteridge, Kings Norton and Stirchley had hoped to set up the Lifford BID which would have seen at least £1m extra invested in the area over the next five years.
But 52 per cent of businesses polled did not believe it was worth paying an extra levy on their rates to cover the cost and voted against. The turnout was 36 per cent.
Milton Keynes badminton centre pulled
Plans for a new £22m national centre for badminton in Milton Keynes have been scrapped due to a growing “funding gap”.
Badminton England had planning permission for a 17-court arena with 3,000 seats at the National Bowl site in Milton Keynes.
The sport’s governing body said rising costs in the construction industry would have placed the project at “considerable risk”. The proposals involved building 100 homes on Badminton England’s existing site in the city.
Cornish stadium moves
A supermarket development planned to help fund a 6,000-seat sports stadium on the outskirts of Truro for Cornwall has been approved by the unitary council.
The Cornish Pirates rugby club, Inox Group, Truro and Penwith College and Henry Boot Developments were behind the plans for the multi-use stadium. Members also approved plans for a new football stadium on a separate site nearby.
Didcot retail centre expands
South Oxfordshire District Council’s planning committee has voted in favour of nearly doubling the size of the Orchard Centre in Didcot.
Owner Hammerson plans to extend the centre and create 24 new shops, including an M&S Food Hall store, as part of a mixed-used extension project that will add 150,000 square feet of shopping and leisure space to the existing 200,000 square feet Orchard Centre which opened in 2005.
Westminster watch
The Commons Communities and Local Government Committee has launched an inquiry into the “viability and sustainability” of housing associations. The investigation will examine the proposals to extend Right to Buy to housing associations and the impact of this and other government measures on housing associations’ ability to build and develop social housing.
In a related but separate move the all-party committee has requested written evidence on local “devolution deals,” agreed between combined authorities and central government, like the Greater Manchester Agreement and what lessons can be learnt in general from the existing City Deals programme.
Helen Hayes MP, a backbench Labour member of the committee is a former planner.
Listed libraries
The British Library has been listed Grade I by Heritage Minister Tracey Crouch on the advice of Historic England and joins the top 2.5 per cent of listed buildings in England.
Originally designed by architect Sir Colin St John Wilson and his partner MJ Long between 1982 and 1999, it was the largest UK public building to be built in the 20th century.
The listing coincides with seven libraries from across England that have been awarded Grade II status. These are in Eastleigh, Hampshire; Epsom, Surrey; Leamington Spa; Milton Keynes; Suffolk; The Wirral and West Sussex.
Size matters in Bedfordshire home extension saga
A home owner involved in a planning saga over an extension may have to demolish part of his house after a planning inspector refused a bid for retrospective permission for the work.
Syed Raza Shah got permission to increase the floor space of his home in Barton-Le-Clay, Bedfordshire, by 45 per cent, in 2011.
But Central Bedfordshire Council said he increased the house’s-size by 165 per cent triggering planning action, claims and counter-claims and legal challenges over the property which is in a green belt location.
Dorset developments
Property developer and former AFC Bournemouth chairman Eddie Mitchell is to submit plans for a 2,000-seat complex on the Sandbanks Peninsula. The £7-10m stadium at the mouth of Poole Harbour would host beach sports and entertainment events.
It would also contain 40 ground-floor beach huts as well as 20 exclusive glass boxes with interior views of the stadium and exterior balconies overlooking Sandbanks.
Separately plans have been submitted for a £100m facelift of the Salterns Marina at Poole including proposals for a luxury hotel, 73 new flats and a rooftop restaurant.
Meanwhile villagers and tourists have started a petition opposing Purbeck District Council’s enforcement action over a wooden version of Stonehenge built by a pub landlord in a field at Worth Matravers near Swanage.
Roger Milne
With development progressing well, we recently invited our planning professional customers to take part in the user acceptance testing (UAT) of the new Planning Portal website – the response was nothing short of remarkable.
Emails asking to take part in the testing started arriving within minutes of sending the invitation. With more than 80 per cent of planning applications in England and Wales being submitted via the Portal perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised but it was hugely encouraging to receive such a rapid and enthusiastic response from our customers.
We had responses from a diverse range of business sectors, ranging from the largest and most well-known architectural practices and planning consultancies to sole practitioners.
Extensive user testing of the new Portal is scheduled to start shortly when UAT participants will be free to create, assemble and submit as many applications of any type they wish. Testers will be able to freely comment and provide detailed feedback on the site.
The purpose of UAT is to help ensure the Portal meets the increasing requirements of the planning industry prior to its launch in the Autumn.
Central Bedfordshire Council has resolved to approve a major planning application for a mixed-use residential-led development of nearly 2,000 new homes to the west of Bidwell which forms part of the larger sustainable urban extension to the north of Houghton Regis.
This decision follows two years of extensive public engagement with the local community and successful pre-application advice with the local planning authority through a planning performance agreement.
The outline ‘hybrid’ application was submitted on behalf of the Bidwell West Consortium by planning consultancy DLP Planning Ltd. The proposed scheme occupies some 166 hectares of green belt land which has been named Houghton Regis North Site 2 (HRN2),
The development proposals will provide a mixed use scheme for the delivery of up to 1,850 dwellings including 555 affordable units, two hectares of employment land, a local retail centre, schools school and community centre and an extensive network of green infrastructure and open space incorporating sports pitches, sustainable urban drainage, heritage trail, play areas an urban park along with the protection and enhancement of the area’s Site of Special Scientific Interest, a former quarry.
The application has now be referred to the National Planning Case Work Unit and is subject to call in by the Secretary of State before the s106 legal agreement can be completed prior to issue of the formal planning permission.
Roger Milne
Planning Portal Blog 