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
A strategy to capitalise on the opportunities that the arrival of High Speed Two (HS2) will bring to the West Midlands region has been unveiled by the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP).
The 34-page blueprint describes how the region can use HS2 as a catalyst for major job creation, increased productivity and net national growth.
As well as regeneration and connectivity improvements for the areas surrounding the two HS2 stations at Birmingham Curzon and UK Central Interchange in Solihull, the strategy identifies practical plans to unlock additional projects as a result of HS2.
According to the strategy, the scale of the ambition includes 104,000 new and safeguarded jobs, 10 per cent of which will be created for local, unemployed residents. Overall, the plan will see the region delivering an additional £14bn in economic growth, the GBSLEP has insisted.
The strategy highlights the provision of a highly connected economic ‘growth hub’ which, when development is complete, will provide an additional 16,500 jobs within 245,972 square metres of commercial, light industrial/R&D, retail and leisure space across a range of key sectors, including advanced manufacturing, construction, utilities and ICT.
Also central to the new scheme of things will be exemplar residential communities with some 3,000 new homes and the creation of a linear park through the development as a key natural landscape and environmental asset.
The strategy also highlights the prospect of wider connectivity with improved access to Moor St Station, the extension of the Midland Metro tram network (linking to New St Station) and other local public transport improvements to spread the benefits and provide local access to jobs.
Roger Milne
Keele University housing scheme blocked by Clark
Proposals by developer Keele Seddon to replace student accommodation on the campus of Keele University as well as making provision for 92 new homes on nearby green belt land has been refused by Communities Secretary of State (SoS) Greg Clark in line with the recommendations of the planning inspector who held the recovered appeal.
All the development proposed was within a conservation area. Newcastle-under-Lyme District Council had refused the scheme.
The SoS agreed the council could not demonstrate a five year supply of housing land and acknowledged that the scheme had benefits as it would have resulted in the removal of unattractive campus accommodation blocks and administrative buildings and the refurbishment of and re-use of undesignated heritage assets.
However, Clark’s decision letter concluded that the benefits of the appeal scheme “though considerable, are insufficient to outweigh the irreversible and serious harm that would be caused to the conservation area”.
London round-up
- The multi-million pound improvement and expansion of London Waterloo, the capital’s busiest rail terminus, has moved an important step closer this week now a planning application for works to enable more trains to run in and out of the station has been submitted. These will be the first major changes to Waterloo since the 1930s, providing five new platforms for London commuter services and completely redesigning the concourse and platforms to be suitable for the hundreds of thousands of passengers passing through every day.
- A judicial review prompted by Sainsbury’s of Hillingdon Council’s decision to approve planning permission for a £100m regeneration of the former Arla Foods site on Victoria Road, South Ruislip has been dismissed. The development including 132 new homes, restaurants, a cinema and an Asda supermarket, can now go-ahead.
- Social housing provider Notting Hill Housing (NHH) has announced a record surplus of £121.3m which it says will be used to build thousands of new homes across London. NHH’s future development pipeline will deliver 8,300 homes within Greater London, with 4,990 of these as rented social housing, shared ownership housing or supported housing.
- A plan for the future of Romford town centre, developed by Tibbalds, BBP Regeneration and CampbellReith, has been agreed by Havering Council. The document defines nine areas, each with a distinct character and focus, and identifies key opportunity sites with the potential to deliver around 2,200 new homes, approximately 29,000 square metres of commercial space, and over 4,000 square metres of public open space.
Suffolk housing scheme approved again
Babergh District Council members have reconsidered proposals for 166 new homes, a third of which would be affordable, near the historic Abbas Hall in Great Cornard near Sudbury, Suffolk and once again approved the project.
Grade 1 listed Abbas Hall has a cultural association with painter Thomas Gainsborough whose famous work ‘Mr and Mrs Andrews’ is said to have been painted in the vicinity of the historic building and grounds.
Three years ago developer Persimmon Homes was refused permission for an earlier scheme and lost the subsequent appeal. Its current proposals are designed to meet the objections from the South Suffolk planning authority and the planning inspector who heard the appeal.
Members were recommended to approve the new proposals earlier this year but agreed to reconsider their stance under threat of a judicial review. The site is earmarked in the council’s core strategy for new housing.
Last week members decided to approve the scheme which generated objections from Great Cornard Parish Council, Sudbury Town Council, Suffolk Preservation Society and English Heritage as well as the owners of the 13th-Century Abbas Hall.
Green light for new Gloucestershire neighbourhood
A new neighbourhood consisting of 3,000 new homes to the north of Yate, South Gloucestershire has been given the go ahead by the South Gloucestershire Council. Independent design consultancy, LDA Design has prepared a master plan for 2,750 of the homes.
The revised scheme provides a green corridor, a new woodland area and a new meadow landscape area incorporating the site’s existing watercourses and floodplain.
The scheme will create a mixed-use development with residential areas and over four hectares of employment land.
The scheme will be set around a new local centre with shops, a pub, two primary schools, a mixed-use community centre, sports facilities, informal open space, allotments and play areas. Of the new homes, 35 per cent will be affordable.
The site, which lies to the north of Brimsham Park, is earmarked for residential development in the council’s core strategy and will make up the main part of the 3,000 home North Yate ‘new neighbourhood’.
Housing permission figures
Figures just released today in HBF and Glenigan’s latest Housing Pipeline report show that planning permissions for 52,167 homes were granted in England during the first quarter of this year, a 19 per cent increase on the 43,926 permissions in the corresponding quarter last year. As a result the Moving Annual Total has passed the 200,000 mark for the first time since early 2008.
Figures in the latest report show that 203,810 permissions were granted in the 12 months to April. This is the highest ‘four quarter’ total since early 2008. The number of permissions granted in Q1 was twice that in the corresponding quarter in both 2011 and 2012.
The report – which only measures permissions on sites of over 10 units – also shows that the number of sites consented has been fairly stable over the last 18 months, though at a higher level than previous four to five years.
Energy developments
Two gas fired power stations have been given development consent by the Department of Energy and Climate Change following examination by the Planning Inspectorate who had recommended approval.
Both the Progress Power Station located on the Eye Airfield Industrial Estate, mid Suffolk and the Hirwaun gas-fired power station, located on the Hirwaun Industrial Estate in South Wales, have a nominal generating capacity of up to 299 megawatts.
The shale gas firm Cuadrilla is to appeal Lancashire County Council’s decision to refuse permission to drill and frack at two sites in the county: Little Plumpton and Roseacre Wood.
Peak Park road tunnel study
Plans to build a road tunnel through the Peak District National Park aimed at improving links between Sheffield and Manchester are to be examined by consultancies Mouchel and Hyder operating as a joint-venture.
The JV has been awarded a £1.3m contract to carry out the work which will also include a possible combined road/rail link. This strategic study has been commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT) and Transport for the North (TfN).
Exeter redevelopment
The Crown Estate and TH Real Estate’s Princesshay Partnership has submitted an outline planning application to Exeter City Council for the £70m redevelopment of the city’s bus and coach station.
The plans offer over 180,000 square feet of retail and leisure space, including a new cinema, along with proposals for a public amphitheatre.
The Partnership’s, John Grinnell said: ”There’s still a long way to go in planning and design terms, but this an important step in unlocking the true potential of this gateway to Exeter.”
Parliamentary watch
- The Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee is to question Planning Minister Brandon Lewis on the planning proposals set out in the Treasury’s recent Productivity Plan. The all-party committee is due to quiz the minister on 7 September when MPs return to Westminster after the summer recess.
- A new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Housing and Planning has been formed to address the national housing emergency, supported by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). The Group, previously chaired by Tim Yeo MP, will now be chaired by James Cartlidge, conservative MP for South Suffolk. It will focus on recommending wide-ranging solutions to reshape the housing market: increasing the housing stock for both rental and private ownership and speeding up building of sustainable housing in the UK, which now faces an annual shortfall in the region of 130,000 homes.
Reading offices to become student flats
Plans to transform a Reading town centre office block into flats for 400 students have been given the go-ahead. The six-storey Yell House building in Queen’s Walk will get a two-storey extension and feature a gym, cinema room and dance studio. The block is four kilometres from the University of Reading campus.
Rural development boost
New £24m Growth Programme fund for rural businesses and communities administered by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is now open for applications to help people expand or set up new businesses, develop new food processing facilities and promote tourism.
Ecological links
Bridges built to carry wildlife over roads and railways are preventing species from becoming isolated and reducing the number of accidents, according to a study just published by Natural England.
Known as “green bridges”, they are usually planted with a variety of local trees or shrubs and other vegetation to allow animals such as birds, mammals and insects to remain mobile despite the barriers that can be imposed by transport infrastructure. Although common in Europe and North America, only a handful have been built in Britain.
Legal round-up
- A property developer who painted red and white stripes on her west London townhouse has lost her planning battle challenging Kensington and Chelsea Council’s basement development policy.
- A legal challenge by IM Properties to the adoption of Lichfield District Council’s local plan has failed on all counts in the High Court.
- The Supreme Council has refused to grant relief despite finding a legal defect in the procedure prior to North Norfolk District Council’s grant of planning permission for a development in a landmark case relating to appropriate assessments, EIA assessments and mitigation measures.
Top planning QC to chair Irish PINs review
Top UK planning QC Gregory Jones has been named as the chair of a four-person group which will undertake an organisational review of An Bord Pleanála (the Planning Board), the Irish Republic’s equivalent of the Planning Inspectorate.
Alan Kelly the Republic’s Environment Minister has set up the group which is expected to report whether the organisation is fit for purpose by the turn of the year.
Clooney CCTV wrangle
Hollywood star George Clooney’s neighbours in Sonning have lodged objections to the A-Lister’s proposals – which require planning permission – to install 18 CCTV cameras at his Oxfordshire home.
Roger Milne
As part of our move out of government we’re also moving out of the government building we’ve been in for the last 12 years!
We’ve managed to find an office not far from our current Bristol base and are looking forward to our own place.
The team’s mobile phone numbers will stay the same, but landlines and email addresses will change, including the Support desk.
We’ll be moving over around the end of August and I’ll provide updated contact details nearer the time, as well as a firm date.
Planning Minister Brandon Lewis told Parliament this week that the government would intervene where local authorities had failed to produce a local plan by “early 2017”.
In a written Commons statement he said: “We will intervene to arrange for the plan to be written, in consultation with local people, to accelerate production of a Local Plan.”
The minister’s comments came as Lewis’s colleague Communities Secretary Greg Clark wrote to the Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate Simon Ridley voicing concern that some inspectors were taking too tough a line on shortcomings in some strategies.
The Secretary of State said: “We have recently seen significant positive plan-making progress: 82 per cent of authorities have now published local plans and 64 per cent adopted plans compared with 32 and 17 per cent in May 2010 respectively.
“It is imperative that this positive progress is maintained, and the government is open to taking further measures to achieve this if needed. As inevitably a plan cannot exactly account for future circumstances there is a real value in getting a local plan in place at the soonest opportunity, even if it has some shortcomings which are not critical to the whole plan.
“We have acknowledged this in planning guidance by setting out that local plans may be found sound conditional upon a review in whole or in part within five years of adoption. Many inspectors have already demonstrated commendable pragmatism and flexibility at examination to enable councils to get plans in place.
“I have, however, seen recent examples where councils are being advised to withdraw plans without being given the option to undertake further work to address shortcomings identified at examination. In order to maintain plan-making progress and to recognise the cost and time to a council prior to submitting a plan, it is critical that inspectors approach examination from the perspective of working pragmatically with councils towards achieving a sound local plan.”
Clark stressed the importance of inspectors highlighting significant issues to councils very early on, and of giving councils full opportunity to address issues.
He also highlighted a recent note published by the Planning Advisory Service where commitment to early review has featured in recently adopted local plans.
View the letter to the Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate
Roger Milne
Energy Minister Lord Bourne has granted a development consent order for the Preesall underground gas storage project proposed by Halite Energy on the east side of the Wyre Estuary in Lancashire. The project will be used to store and extract gas from local underground salt caverns.
Bourne said investment in the new infrastructure would provide sufficient storage space for initially 130 million cubic metres of gas (which could rise to 900 mcm provided certain extra conditions are met) and was “essential” to help keep the lights on and bills down.
The minister took the decision rather than Energy Secretary Amber Rudd following mounting concerns over an assumed conflict of interest involving her brother Roland Rudd whose lobby firm had canvassed the government to back the project.
Halite’s proposals were originally snubbed by the Coalition administration last year against the advice of the planning inspectors who examined the scheme. That refusal was over turned after a High Court challenge and reconsidered by ministers.
Earlier gas storage plans for the site proposed by Halite’s predecessor Canataxx had been unsuccessful following widespread local opposition including both Lancashire County Council and local planning authority Wyre Borough Council.
The decision letter issued by the Department of Energy and Climate Change said there was a “pressing national need for the development of new nationally significant gas storage infrastructure of the type proposed.”
Roger Milne
The government has published the draft regulations which set out the conditions under which hydraulic fracturing would be allowed to take place beneath National Parks, Areas of Outstanding National Beauty, the Broads and World Heritage Sites. The administration is stipulating that fracking can only take place below 1,200 metres in those areas.
The government pointed out that drinking water aquifers were not normally found below 400 metres.
The statement said that the government had a “clear commitment to ensure that fracking cannot be conducted from wells that are drilled in the surface of National Parks and other protected areas in such a way as to not impact on conventional drilling operations”.
This does mean that operations under protected areas could still take place from outside their boundaries. Environmentalists have voiced concern that these particular safeguards do not include sites of special scientific interest as originally expected – and promised.
A DECC spokesperson said “The National Planning Policy Framework already makes clear that development should not normally be permitted if it is likely to have an adverse effect on a site of special scientific interest.”
The draft regulations surfaced in the wake of the publication of the latest report from the industry-backed Task Force on Shale Gas which insisted local environmental impacts from fracking projects can be kept within “acceptable limits”, provided best practices are embraced and stringent regulations are introduced and adhered to.
The report proposed forward a series of measures designed to strengthen the monitoring of shale gas wells and ensure full disclosure of the chemicals used in fracking projects.
The report also called for a relaxation of current planning requirements that require full planning consent before boreholes can be drilled for monitoring purposes.
Roger Milne
Communities Secretary Greg Clark has backed a Lincolnshire planning authority and dismissed an appeal for a mixed-use sustainable urban extension of up to 970 new homes at Louth.
East Lindsey District Council had earlier refused outline permission for the scheme by developer Gladman Developments who wanted to locate the proposals on farmland some 2 kilometres south of the Lincolnshire market town.
The plans included a local centre with a community hall, shops, offices and a GP surgery.
Clark agreed with the inspector that the scheme would not be sustainable and would cause “adverse effects on the function and character of the town and the surrounding countryside”.
Clark gave “significant weight” to the provision of housing, including 30 per cent affordable housing, in an area without a demonstrable five year supply of housing land. He also acknowledged the “modest” benefits of providing a primary school, shops, a doctor’s surgery, a community centre, public open space, and transport improvements.
However Clark agreed with the inspector that the proposals would be intrusive to landscape views and would extend Louth into the surrounding open countryside “in an incongruous manner”.
The communities secretary’s decision letter concluded that the negative impacts of the scheme were sufficient to “significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits … taken as a whole.”
Roger Milne
Planning Portal Blog 