I was lucky enough to be at the excellent RTPI Planning Convention in London on Tuesday this week.
As always, it was interesting to hear different perspectives on the future of planning. One particularly useful session was a discussion on the future of neighbourhood planning called Getting Real About Localism.
Among others, senior Planning Aid England advisor John Romanski gave a very interesting talk about this and the advice, guidance and support they provide to local communities to create neighbourhood plans.
One he highlighted was Lawrence Weston in Bristol, who had created a video that sets out what they wanted to achieve.
It’s very nicely done and uses an engaging medium to explain neighbourhood development plans to the community. Watch the video on their website.
Another point he stressed was that neighbourhood plans are not only for affluent areas of the country but for everyone.
Finally, while we’re talking about neighbourhood plans, it’s worth mentioning again the crowd-sourced map developed by our friends at Boilerhouse Media.
Chancellor George Osborne promised a further raft of planning reforms when he delivered his summer budget this week, but exactly what will not be unveiled until Friday 10 July.
In his budget speech Osborne insisted the administration remained wedded to the development of a ‘Northern Powerhouse’. He confirmed new powers for the new elected mayor of Greater Manchester and the creation of city-wide land commission.
He committed £30m to establish Transport for the North as a statutory body with statutory responsibilities.
Osborne launched a transport devolution package for the North which will include working on an Oyster-style smart and integrated ticketing system across bus, tram metro and rail services covering the North’s mayor-led city regions.
Osborne said the government was working towards further devolution deals with the Sheffield City region, Liverpool City region and Leeds, West Yorkshire and partner authorities.
A devolution deal is also progressing involving Cornwall and there are ambitious proposals for a “strong and coherent” West Midlands combined authority and proposals for two from East Midland authorities.
The Chancellor announced the government would invite bids for a new round of Enterprise Zones. It has pledged continuing support – and a further £90m – to help coastal areas via the Coastal Communities Fund which will carry on until 2020. The administration has published a discussion paper on regional airports.
In addition, the government has promised to introduce a “new approach” to station redevelopment and commercial land sales on the rail network building on the experience of regenerating land around Kings Cross Station and Stratford in east London.
Ministers will establish a dedicated body to focus on “pursuing opportunities to realise value from public land and property assets in the rail network to both maximise the benefit to local communities and reduce the burden of public debt”.
Roger Milne
Strong financial incentives are needed to coordinate planning and land use strategically across council boundaries with ‘meaningful penalties’ for councils which fail to do so, according to a new report on how cities could transform house-building performance.
That’s the headline conclusion of the ‘Growing Cities’ publication produced by think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research and housing charity Shelter, which argues that drastic action is needed to tackle the urban housing crisis.
The authors looked at Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and York and concluded that councils within city-regions “should be strongly incentivised to work closely together to co-ordinate building more homes”.
The report argued that strategic planning powers and budgets should be devolved to cities and resources such as public land should be pooled and coordinated across boundaries. However, councils “which block growth or refuse to co-operate” should face financial penalties.
Once all other options are exhausted, “there should be the ultimate backstop of a boundary review to incentivise working together effectively” argued the report.
The report made the case for the creation of city-wide, independent Local Homes Agencies with devolved powers to unblock stalled developments, negotiate with landowners and work with the private sector to put together new regeneration and urban extension projects. Cities should be able to tax land with planning permission which is being held back from development or built on very slowly.
The report also called for the creation of New Homes Zones, where cities would set basic terms of development and hold competitions for the best master plan ideas.
In addition, the report called for green belt reviews which would identify low public value land close to transport links and suitable for growth.
Roger Milne
Some wind farm developers have under-assessed the impact of wind farm noise and appearance on residents living nearby, according to ground-breaking research just published.
The two-year study looked at how the visual, shadow flicker and noise impacts predicted by developers at the planning stage of 10 wind farms across Scotland compared with what was experienced once the projects were operational.
In some cases what was set out in planning applications did not match the actual impact, the research by climate change body ClimateXChange concluded.
The test sites included wind farms at Dalswinton in Dumfries and Galloway, Achany in the Highlands, Drone Hill in the Borders, Hadyard Hill in South Ayrshire, Little Raith in Fife and West Knock Farm in Aberdeenshire.
The majority of assessments presented at planning stage for the 10 case study wind farms identified and mainly followed extant guidelines.
However, for some of the case study wind farms, extant guidelines were not consistently followed and/or the impacts predicted in the documentation submitted with developers’ planning applications were not consistent with the actual impacts, as assessed in the study or as reported by some local residents.
“Assessments and public engagement activities had not always adequately prepared residents for the impacts of the operational wind farm in terms of visual, shadow flicker or noise impacts”, concluded the research.
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We welcome the publication of the wind farm impacts study report which is the first of its kind in the world and presents the findings of a two-year study involving a wide-range of interest groups.
“The report shows improvements have already been made in our planning system, which is rigorous and ensures appropriate siting of wind farms, and studies like this will make sure this improvement continues, and we look forward to considering the recommendations carefully.”
View more information on the study
Roger Milne
The legislation which makes major changes to the Welsh planning system including a new requirement to consider the implications for the Welsh language obtained Royal Assent this week.
The Planning (Wales) Act 2015 introduces a new legal framework for Welsh ministers to prepare a national land use plan, to be known as the National Development Framework for Wales. This framework will set out national land use priorities and infrastructure requirements.
The Act also makes provision for the production of so-called Strategic Development Plans to tackle larger-than-local cross-boundary issues, such as housing supply and areas for economic growth and regeneration. These will focus on three areas: Cardiff, Swansea and the A55 corridor.
In addition, the Act emphasises the need for pre-application consultation and requires local planning authorities to provide pre-application services.
The new measures also mean that planning applications for nationally-significant projects will be made to Welsh ministers. Applicants for planning permission will also be able to apply to the Welsh ministers for planning permission where a local planning authority is deemed to be poorly performing.
Planning minister Carl Sargeant insisted: “The new law will create a world-class planning system delivering timely, fair and consistent decisions that will enhance the built, natural and historic environment in Wales. It will also complement the framework for sustainable development established through the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and the environment bill.”
View the Planning (Wales) Act 2015
Roger Milne
Large tracts of agricultural land have been lost as part of large-scale changes to the environment this century, researchers have found.
Some 225,200 hectares of land – the equivalent of one per cent of the total area of the UK – showed a change in land cover or use from 2006 to 2012, including a net loss of more than 7,000 hectares of agricultural land.
While nearly 2,000 hectares reverted back to pasture after being used for mineral extraction projects, another 5,000 hectares of farmland was given over for mineral extraction and at least another 4,000 hectares was lost to construction sites.
Researchers at Leicester University and consultancy company Specto Natura studied satellite images to identify the changes which have now been published in map form. Their work contributes to the EU-wide Coordination of Information on the Environment (CORINE) land cover mapping project. They found that semi-natural and wetland habitats were in decline nationally.
According to their analysis urban expansion has led to the loss of more than 7,000 hectares of forest, with over 1,000 hectares of wetlands given over to artificial surfaces like concrete and tarmac.
The biggest change was the clearing of coniferous forest – over 100,000 hectares – with nearly 3,000 hectares cleared for industrial development, although almost half of the total area of conifers cut down was being replanted.
Study leader professor Heiko Balzter, director of the Centre for Landscape and Climate Research at Leicester University, said the data would be useful for informing policy.
He added: “At the scale of change mapping of five hectares or larger, there appears to be a loss of semi-natural habitats and agricultural land. The apparent decline in wetlands is particularly concerning.”
Roger Milne
Forth Bridge awarded Heritage Site status
Scotland’s iconic Forth Bridge has become the sixth Scottish landmark to be awarded Unesco World Heritage Site status.
The decision was announced at a meeting in the German city of Bonn after the UN’s cultural committee spent more than a year considering its nomination.
The committee described the construction as “innovative in style, materials and scale” and an important milestone in bridge design.
The distinctive red bridge has carried trains over the Forth since 1890. Scotland’s other World Heritage Sites are New Lanark, St Kilda, the Old and New Towns in Edinburgh, Neolithic Orkney and the Antonine Wall.
CPRE makes case for rural exemption to safeguard affordable housing
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has urged ministers to treat rural areas as a special case in order to protect and provide affordable housing, particularly in the light of the latest proposals to extend the Right to Buy regime.
CPRE has just published a paper which warns that this is likely to have highly damaging consequences for rural communities faced with disproportionately high house prices and ageing populations, unless rural exemptions can be secured.
The paper argues that local authorities in rural areas should be allowed to set their own thresholds for affordable housing.
The paper also argues that a standard and more inclusive definition of ‘rural community’ should underpin new initiatives to boost affordable housing. It recommends a standard definition identifying communities of fewer than 10,000 in rural local authorities
Luke Burroughs, policy and research adviser at CPRE said: “rural areas must be considered a special case – starting with an exemption from the proposed extension to Right to Buy. The last thing we can afford to do is eat into our meagre supply of affordable homes.”
Cheshire East may need to resubmit amended local plan
The planning inspector who been examining Cheshire East Council’s draft local plan has warned the planning authority it may have to withdraw the strategy and resubmit it, if work on amendments to overall housing and employment land provision result in significant changes to the original plan.
He has told the local authority: “Consultation on a significantly amended overall housing and employment land provision figure, along with a set of new or amended sites, may constitute the type of substantial amendment which might suggest that the submitted plan should be withdrawn and resubmitted when all necessary community engagement and public consultation has been completed.”
Last November the inspector halted examination of the plan after concluding it had not dealt adequately with either housing assessment and provision or green belt issues.
Castleford stadium scheme makes waves
Proposals for a new 10,000 capacity Castleford Tigers stadium are closer to climbing off the drawing board now Communities Secretary Greg Clark has signalled he will not be “calling in” the plan which also includes a 50-acre country park, shops and restaurants proposed by developer the Lateral Property Group for land near Junction 32 of the M62 at Glasshoughton.
The £135m scheme for the new rugby league stadium and other elements had been approved by Wakefield Council earlier this year. The project is known as the Five Towns Park.
Help for small builders
Small builders are set to benefit from a £100m cash boost thanks to an initiative known as the Housing Growth Partnership, launched this week.
Under this scheme small firms will receive financial support. The partnership will also establish a network of builders, including experienced developers, who will act as mentors and advisers to those looking to expand and grow their businesses.
The government has matched a £50m investment from Lloyds Banking Group to create the £100m Housing Growth Partnership, which will be used to help smaller builders invest in new projects and develop their businesses, allowing them to recruit and train skilled workers and become more competitive in their local area.
Energy projects round-up
- The National Trust has announced it will invest a record-breaking £30m, in renewable energy to heat and power more of its historic sites. The move follows the successful completion of five renewable energy projects at National Trust properties, part of a £3.5m pilot launched with Good Energy in 2013. The National Trust is investing in more than 40 further projects including a 200-kilowatt lake source heating project at Blickling Estate in Norfolk, two biomass boilers at Upton House in Warwickshire and a 250-kilowatt hydro scheme at Hayeswater in Cumbria.
- Communities Secretary Greg Clark has called in controversial proposals for a 24-megawatt solar farm on a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) at Rampisham Down approved by West Dorset District Council. Clark’s predecessor had considered intervening over the project earlier this year.
- Meanwhile in a separate development a planning inspector has allowed an appeal against a council’s refusal of a 8.21-megawatt solar farm in East Sussex after he concluded that the benefits of the scheme, including the production of renewable energy, would ‘outweigh any harmful impacts’ on the character and appearance of the area.
Environment Agency response time performance
The Environment Agency (EA) responded to some 30,251 requests from local planning authorities and developers over planning application consultations and pre-application requests under the so-called 21-day duty regime during 2013/14.
The average (mean) number of days to provide a substantive response to all consultation requests was 16 days. This was an improvement on 2012/13 when the EA’s average (mean) response time was 17 days.
The Agency responded to 92 per cent of planning application consultations and pre-application enquiries within 21 days or such other period agreed in writing; 93 per cent for planning application consultations and 88 per cent for pre-application enquiries. This is lower than in 2012-13 when the green watchdog achieved 95 per cent.
The EA responded to 84.7 per cent of all planning application consultations and pre-application enquiries within 21 days.
London round-up
- North east England-based social enterprise Gentoo Genie has signed a deal with the Greater London Authority to secure up to £40m of loan finance to deliver 2,000 affordable new homes over the next 10 years. Gentoo is now seeking a London developer to partner with in order to deliver these planned new homes; they would like to acquire new build properties or development land. This follows a successful pilot scheme in the north east of England where 94 families moved into their own homes.
- London property owners The Crown Estate, Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, Shaftesbury, the Howard de Walden Estate and The Portland Estate have jointly formed a unique collaboration to promote green infrastructure in the capital, through an ecology project entitled ‘Wild West End’. The first phase of Wild West End will see The Crown Estate create a green corridor across its holdings in Regent Street and St James’s, linking Regent’s Park and St James’s Park. The plans will see the creation of over a hectare of new green space. A master plan is being drawn up to expand the scheme.
- Amber Valley Borough Council has refused permission for a 400-home development on the edge of the Derby suburb of Allestree because of the harm posed to the setting of the nearby Grade 1 listed Kedelston Hall. Developer Catesby Estates is considering an appeal.
Legal round-up
- Tandridge District Council in Surrey has lost a High Court challenge over whether the replacement of a group of buildings by a single building that was not materially larger than those it replaced was capable of falling within an exception in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
- A woman who has fought for years to block plans to redevelop a bowls club in Bexhill into sheltered flats has failed in her latest legal challenge to the granting of planning permission by Rother District Council.
- Up to 1,000 bridleways and footpaths in England and Wales could be reinstated more than 200 years after disappearing from maps. This follows a Court of Appeal ruling that two paths near Crudwell in Wiltshire are legal rights of way.
Tideway Tunnel scoops top award
The £4.2bn Thames Tideway Tunnel (known as the capital’s ‘super sewer’) project, designed to provide essential additional capacity to London’s now antiquated Victorian sewage system, is this year’s winner of the RTPI’s Silver Jubilee Cup, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious planning award.
First purpose-built women’s football stadium mooted in Glasgow
Glasgow City Football Club is exploring plans to build the first purpose-built women’s football stadium in the UK. The sports facility would have a standard pitch and training facilities in Auchinairn, East Dunbartonshire.
It would be used by the Glasgow City Foundation and other community groups. Glasgow City’s Douglas Barnett said: “This will be the first purpose-built women’s football facility in the UK – promoting the sport to new generations of girls and women.”
Roger Milne
As many of you are aware we had another set of site outages on Tuesday and Wednesday.
First and foremost: we are sorry for the inconvenience.
The problem was related to the Planning Portal’s LDAP server, which is the part of the site that deals with log-in and registration. It was also the part of the site causing us issues last month. We thought the issue was resolved but we were advised today that there are a few configuration issues that need to be ironed out.
This configuration work will take place on Thursday (9th July) morning between 04:00 and 07:00 meaning the Portal will be unavailable during this time.
I know this is a frustrating time for customers, it is for us, too. We look forward to delivering the new Planning Portal this Autumn.
As some of you will know, the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation (EDC) became a local planning authority on 1 July 2015. The EDC, established in April 2015, has the role of coordinating investment and driving forward development of a new garden city at Ebbsfleet, building up to 15,000 new homes. Read more…
I mentioned back in May that one our first priorities as a new business was to move our website safely to a new IT platform. Well, I’m pleased to say that the site build is going well and we’re on track for delivery in the autumn. Read more…
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