Proposals for nearly 2,000 homes on a derelict ironworks in Derbyshire have been withdrawn after officers at Erewash Borough Council recommended refusal of the scheme.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A company spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we have withdrawn our application for planning permission on our Stanton Ironworks site.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
A Lincolnshire planning authority has begun consulting on a pioneering Local Development Order (LDO) designed to make it easier and quicker to redevelop brownfield sites.
North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC) is asking for views on an LDO which covers three sites which together could provide some 300 new homes. The three are the former Birds Eye site in Ladysmith Road, Grimsby, the former Western School site in Cambridge Road, Grimsby, and the former Clifton Bingo site in Grant Street, Cleethorpes.
The NELC was one of four councils chosen by the Department for Communities and local Government to pilot the use of LDOs which are set to play a key role in the plans for a new regime involving automatic planning permission for new housing on many brownfield sites.
An LDO is a legal document that sets out standards for development on a specific site. If development meets all the criteria in the Order individual planning permissions aren’t required, making the planning process simpler and less risky for developers.
The project is being managed and delivered through the council’s regeneration services partnership with technical and energy services company Cofely. Council Leader Ray Oxby said: “This will help us in our ambition to maximise the council’s economic potential, breathe life into under-used sites and improve the range of housing on offer.”
Roger Milne
Independent think tank ResPublica has called for all communities to have the right to “beautiful places, buildings and spaces”, regardless of income.
Its report, ‘A Community Right to Beauty’ just published highlighted concern that households with incomes lower than £45,000 a year are the least able to access beautiful places and green spaces,
The report argued for a ‘community right to beauty’ to be introduced via primary legislation. The think tank also recommended a range of new powers and incentives to support community measures to create, shape and improve their locale.
The report made the case for so-called citizen’s juries to oversee problematic development and the use of referenda which would be binding on local authorities.
Under ResPublica’s proposals a ‘community right to reclaim land’ would be extended to buildings and other local assets to enable the public to challenge authorities to improve derelict or unsightly developments.
The report also proposed new designations including so-called Areas of Outstanding Urban Beauty. These would be akin to conservation areas but would recognise beauty that isn’t just historic or green.
Buildings, areas and spaces with local importance should be designated as ‘Local Beauty Assets’ and preserved and maintained. Meanwhile, areas without much visual appeal would be designated ‘Community Improvement Districts’ where communities would be empowered to demand policies to tackle problems like litter.
The think tank’s stance has the support of the Woodland Trust, National Trust, Campaign to Protect Rural England, Ecclesiastical Insurance, Atlantic Gateway Parklands, Hastoe Housing Association and Civic Voice,
The report’s findings were based on findings from a public poll conducted by leading pollsters Ipsos MORI.
Roger Milne
Viability assessment guidelines should be introduced to make it more difficult for developers to reduce affordable housing in planning agreements, top research charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has proposed.
It has published a report on planning obligations (s106 agreements) which concluded that recent changes to the planning system have made it more difficult for planning agreements to ensure homes are built for those on the lowest incomes.
The charity argued that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), introduced by the coalition government, has led to negative impacts, including a greater emphasis on viability assessments, giving developers more ability to renegotiate agreements if they can show they make the scheme unworkable.
JRF has made the case for the introduction of viability assessment guidelines, which would set parameters for building costs and land values and allow councils to extract an amount from the rise in land value resulting from the granting of planning permission. The charity stressed this should be the existing use value, not the market value, of land.
It is also calling for the NPPF definition of affordability to be changed so it is aligned with households’ ability to pay.
The report also argued for local mechanisms to supplement S106, This could involve partnerships with local developers, housing banks, cross-authority co-operation to deliver housing and ethical trusts.
In a related but separate development ministers have been recommended to rethink the exemption that allows developments of fewer than 10 units, and empty buildings, to avoid having to contribute towards affordable housing.
The Local Government Association (LGA) is asking for a more flexible system to be introduced so that contributions (i.e. section 106s) can be required from developers of smaller sites if the needs of local communities warrant them.
The change in guidance would allow councils to reflect local market conditions and agree contributions with developers at an early stage, argued the LGA.
Roger Milne
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