The government has cast doubt over its so-called ‘Northern Powerhouse’ initiative by announcing it has put on hold plans for the electrification of the Midland mainline from London to Sheffield and the TransPennine route between Manchester and Leeds.
Both rail projects were seen as key elements of the Conservative administration’s election manifesto pledge to “rebalance” England’s economy with major infrastructure spending designed to boost the North.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin told the Commons last Friday that the schemes had been “paused” because of escalating costs and missed targets in Network Rail’s work programme.
He told MPs: “Important aspects of Network Rail’s investment programme are costing more and taking longer. Electrification is difficult.
“The UK supply chain for the complex signalling works needs to be stronger. Construction rates have been slow. It has taken longer to obtain planning consents from some local authorities than expected.”
Meanwhile in a separate but related development the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and the northern branch of policy think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR North) have issued a ‘call for evidence’ on proposals to draw up a spatial planning framework for the north of England. One element of this would be greater integration between transportation and spatial planning.
The RTPI and IPPR North said they would be hosting a series of roundtable events in northern cities through the summer, which would feed into a ‘northern summit’ in Leeds in November to “discuss a way forward for a Great North Plan”.
View the statement to Parliament
Roger Milne
The National Audit Office has criticised the Department for Communities and Local Government over its failure to monitor adequately its plans to sell public land to build a potential 100,000 homes.
Ministers set a deadline of March 2015 to reach that target and claimed it had been successful.
However, an investigation by the NAO found that insufficient information had been collected on the amount of money raised or how many homes had actually been built.
“In future land sales, responsibility for monitoring what happens to land after disposal should be made clear,” the independent public expenditure watchdog said.
The NAO report highlighted that the department measured a notional number of expected homes, not actual homes built.
The watchdog complained there was little or no supporting documentation or economic evidence behind the target or how it was allocated to departments.
The NAO said departmental progress in disposing of land was “slower than expected and government had to take action to increase land sales”.
The coalition government took various approaches to increase delivery, such as transferring land to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) for disposal, increasing central support for difficult sites and providing financial assistance to departments to help with the cost of preparing sites.
By the end of March 2015, the administration had disposed of enough land with capacity for an expected 109,950 homes. In total, the land disposed of comprised 942 sites.
The NAO noted that DCLG deployed a wide interpretation of the land that could be counted towards the target. The government’s figure of 109,590 homes included 15,740 homes on land that the public sector disposed of before the target was set, the NAO report pointed out.
The watchdog also found that surplus land was categorised as sold when the organisation owning the sites moved outside the public sector even if the sites were not developed: for example, sites owned by Royal Mail (2,584 homes) and British Waterways (8,199 homes).
Roger Milne
DCLG reveals timetable for latest planning reforms and initiatives
Ministers plan to unveil the government’s housing bill in September, a senior civil servant told a conference in London last week.
Ruth Stanier, the Department of Communities and Local Government’s director of planning, also confirmed that officials were working on proposals to speed up the delivery of local development plans, reforms to the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) regime and changes to the compulsory purchase process.
Speaking at a Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors event Stainer said that under the new ‘starter homes’ initiative the maximum prices for starter homes would be £250,000 outside London and £450,000 within London.
Stainer said developers of starter homes would be exempted from the CIL and section 106 infrastructure contributions, though infrastructure contributions could be voluntarily provided.
Delegates were told that measures to speed up local plans and neighbourhood plan-making, initially earmarked for the housing bill, would be introduced instead in an enterprise bill in October or November.
Stainer said this legislation would also introduce CIL reform, particularly for large sites, and reform of section 106 agreements, including a mechanism for resolving disputes.
Population growth statistics
The UK’s population grew by 0.77 per cent over the past 12 months, slightly above the previous year, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics for mid-2014.
These highlighted that the population of the UK at 30 June 2014 was estimated to be 64,596,800.
The number and proportion of older people continued to rise, with over 11.4m (17.7 per cent of the population) aged 65 and over in mid-2014, up from 11.1m (17.4 per cent) last year.
Population growth in the year to mid-2014 was greatest in southern and eastern England. London had the highest population growth, with population up 1.45 per cent. The East and South East regions of England increased by 1.08 and 0.92 per cent respectively.
The lowest regional population increases in the year were seen in Wales, North East of England and Scotland growing by 0.31 per cent, 0.32 per cent and 0.37 per cent respectively. The population of Northern Ireland grew by 0.59 per cent. No country of the UK or region of England experienced a population decrease.
Clark blocks major Yorkshire housing schemes and Essex Sainsbury’s store
Communities Secretary Greg Clark has dismissed appeals by St Modwen Developments Ltd over two housing-led mixed-use schemes proposed for land to the east and west of Brickyard Lane, Melton originally refused by East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
He agreed with the planning inspector who held the recovered appeal hearings that the proposals were contrary to the development plan and that the housing benefits were outweighed by the adverse effect on housing and employment land strategy as well as the urbanising impact on North Ferriby.
The Secretary of State has also turned down a recovered appeal over proposals for a Sainsbury’s development on a largely disused industrial estate at Braintree, Essex, refused by the district council.
Clark agreed with the inspector who held the recovered inquiry that the scheme posed an adverse impact on Braintree town centre and was contrary to both the development plan and the policies in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
Energy developments round-up
- Developer Wessex Solar Energy has successfully appealed refusal of its scheme to build a 5.5 megawatt solar farm at Shillingford, Devon originally blocked by Mid Devon District Council.
- Hatfield Colliery near Doncaster – one of the last three deep coal mines in the UK – is to be shut by the end of this week with the loss of 430 jobs. It is closing a year earlier than planned because it cannot find a market for its coal. The pit has been run by an employee-owned trust since 2013.
- An application for a twelve-turbine wind farm at Rooley Moor, Lancashire, has been refused by Rochdale Borough Council. Developer Coronation Power has indicated it will appeal. The proposed site straddles the border with Rossendale Borough Council which has yet to determine its part of the scheme, originally planned to involve 17 turbines.
New homes claim
The number of new homes granted planning permission is now higher than before the 2008 economic crash, Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis has insisted.
In the twelve months to March 2015, councils across England granted permission for 261,000 new homes, the highest annual total for eight years.
The Minister also said nearly a third of local planning authorities now had an adopted local plan.
Oxford Area Action Plan approved
Oxford City Council’s plans to develop a science and research-led business park and 500 new homes in the Northern Gateway area of the city have made significant progress now a planning inspector has approved the action area plan for the scheme. Hotel, retail and leisure facilities are also included in the proposals.
Hull projects make waves
Proposals for a 3,500-seater music and events centre in Hull with a price tag of £36m have been approved by the city council. The chosen site is derelict area behind the Princes Quay shopping centre.
In a separate move the council has backed a scheme for a new cruise terminal and riverside berth at either Sammy’s Point next to the Deep aquarium or Alexandra Dock.
Cambridge new town takes another step
Plans for the centre of the proposed new town of Northstowe near Cambridge have been given the go-ahead by Cambridgeshire councillors.
The Northstowe Joint Development Control Committee has backed the outline planning application by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) for the town centre. This second phase of the development involves around 3,500 homes and three schools.
The committee also granted detailed planning permission for a new southern access road for the town that will provide a link to the A14. Northstowe is England’s biggest new settlement since the development of Milton Keynes in the 1960s.
London round-up
- Mayor of London Boris Johnson has announced four more housing zones to fast-track thousands of new homes. The zones in the boroughs of Havering, Enfield, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets will together deliver over 12,000 new homes, nearly 3,500 of which will be affordable housing. Included will be two new rail stations, a large new park, primary schools and retail and entertainment facilities.
- East London’s Hackney Council has approved plans for an Article 4 Direction covering the borough’s key town and retail centres in a bid to safeguard employment and shop space. The proposed direction will mean planning permission will be required for many activities currently allowed under the change of use regime in areas such as Dalston, Hackney Central, Stoke Newington and Hoxton.
- Southwark Council has announced it has formally listed two pubs as assets of community value. Involved are the Elephant and Castle on Newington Causeway and the Thomas A ‘Becket pub on the Old Kent Road.
- Victoria Hills, a professional planner and former Head of Transport at the Greater London Authority, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation.
- After a five-year wrangle involving the opposition of Southwark Council and its development partner Lend Lease, campaigners have finally been able to publish the viability assessment drawn up as part of the Heygate outline master plan. This was the subject of a bitterly contested Freedom of Information request.
Legal round-up
- St Albans City and District Council has been refused leave to appeal the dismissal of its court challenge against the decision of former Communities Secretary Eric Pickles for a strategic rail freight interchange at a green belt location at Radlett in Hertfordshire. Campaigners have been using a crowd funding website to finance a judicial review of the development consent order granted for the Whitemoss landfill extension scheme in Lancashire.
- The First-Tier Tribunal has ruled that Aylesbury Vale District council was entitled to refuse to disclose correspondence passing between one of its solicitors and various members of its planning department about an unauthorised development and its possible demolition.
RTPI calls for health-conscious city planning
Although there has been much focus on the need for cities to plan for growth the value of planning in promoting health has often been overlooked, the Royal Town Planning Institute has argued.
Institute President Janet Askew, speaking at an international conference in Bristol this week, said “Health problems such as obesity, chronic heart disease, stress and mental health issues are intricately linked to the physical environments in which people live and work.
“Cities need growth, but at the heart of that must be citizens’ well-being. It makes economic sense and good planning can help to achieve both” she insisted.
Manifesto launched by TCPA
Environmental charity the Town and Country Planning Association has published a new manifesto for planning, designed to put people rather than economic growth at the heart of the planning system.
Short shrift for supernatural objection
Developing a Grade II listed building would bring “tragedy” and a “curse” on Leicester, according to an objection to the £2m scheme to convert the 18th Century Braunstone Hall lodged with Leicester City Council. However officers have told members that “supernatural activity is not a material planning consideration”.
Roger Milne
The government has wasted little time in honouring manifesto pledges over giving local communities a greater say over onshore wind farm projects and axing subsidies for them.
Communities Secretary Greg Clark has announced new planning rules, in the guise of new policy measures, which took effect from 18 June.
Under these new provisions councils should only grant permission for wind turbines in their area if the site is in an area identified as suitable for wind energy as part of a local or neighbourhood plan and following consultation, the planning impacts identified by affected local communities have been fully addressed and therefore have their backing.
Clark told Parliament: “This will ensure the planning concerns of local communities are addressed – even if they give their backing for wind farms in their area through the local or neighbourhood plan.
“If a planning application has already been made for wind turbines in an area where the local plan does not identify suitable sites, the council will only be able to approve the application where it addresses the planning concerns of the affected community and therefore has local backing.”
Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has announced that the current support mechanism, known as the Renewables Obligation, for onshore wind will close at the end of March next year, some 12 months earlier than originally expected.
Rudd told MPs that there would be a “grace period” for projects already in the pipeline but estimated that projects totaling over seven gigawatts of capacity would not now go ahead. “That equates to 250 projects totaling about 2,500 turbines,” she told the Commons.
Rudd was specifically asked if she could reassure MPs that the Planning Inspectorate could not over rule local objections to wind farms. Rudd replied: “Yes, I can”.
View the statement to Parliament
Roger Milne
MPs have approved a raft of changes to the proposed route of the HS2 project between London and the west Midlands.
Backing for the changes means the new details about the route can be petioned against in the Parliamentary Committee considering the hybrid bill.
In total some 125 changes are involved along the line of the route beyond Camden. They are the result of earlier petioning and HS2 Ltd’s continued development of the design of the rail link.
The changes are mostly of a minor nature. They include the realignment of access routes and the diversion of footpaths following discussions with affected landowners, or the relocation of areas of ecological mitigation to reduce the impacts on farming operations
There are, however, proposals for some significant changes. There are plans to realign the route in the Lichfield area so that it runs in a cutting rather than on an embankment, as well as moving the route away from the Trent and Mersey canal.
This will enable the line to go under the A38, the South Staffordshire railway and the west coast main line, which will significantly reduce the visual impact of the railway in the area.
The other significant change concerns the Heathrow Express depot. It is currently located at Old Oak Common, but it needs to be relocated in order to construct the new Old Oak Common station.
It was originally intended to be moved to another site nearby, but more detailed operational work undertaken by Network Rail since the Bill’s deposit has revealed that that site would not work operationally. Now it is proposed to relocate the depot to a site in Langley, near Slough.
Roger Milne
Councils have been urged to consolidate their planning, housing and regeneration teams as local authorities gear-up to help deliver more housing.
That is one of the key recommendations of a joint report by the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) and the Mears Group.
The report also recommended that housing deals should be embedded in any proposals for City Deals, new mayoral arrangements, combined authorities or other district/county growth Deals.
Also highlighted was the need for the government to consider further incentives for house building by expanding the New Homes Bonus scheme. The report stressed house building incentives should be central to the administration’s plans to extend the Right to Buy regime.
The report states: “Recent estimates suggest that we need to build between 243,000 and 280,000 houses a year just to meet current demand. This is a huge challenge that will require innovation, new partnerships and investment.
“Councils will have a big part to play in helping to plug the gap, and they are keen to start building again. There is political will for them to do so and the public feels that government should improve access to housing.
“But they will need to approach their role in a more creative way. Our research suggests there are pockets of innovation and some impressive examples of councils showing leadership, confidence and vision, but it is not widespread across the sector.”
Roger Milne
Please note: The Planning Portal is a member of the Mears Group Plc
Four men, three of whom are brothers, have been disqualified for 14 years for being either company directors or being involved in company management after operating a land banking scam via a firm called Tullett Brown Ltd.
Barinua Carr Nwikpo, John Ekpobari Nwikpo and Daniel Nwikpo and Bradley Peter Ferry were all involved with the firm which was wound up by the Secretary of States for Business, Innovations and Skills in the public interest following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.
The company sold land at Cheadle near Manchester, Chailey in Sussex; Billericay in Essex; and Wraysbury in Surrey. The site in Cheadle was sold to investors on the hope that it would increase in value by being developed as part of the extension of the A555 Manchester Airport Link road. Tullett Brown bought this two- acre piece of land for £36,000 in September 2009, divided in to 28 plots and sold them to unsuspecting victims for a total of £289,000.
Stockport Council is now seeking to purchase the land for the building of the airport link road and have placed a value on the land of £30,000, which is less than Tullett Brown paid for it.
Tullett Brown charged its victims as much as £24,000 for a plot of land worth £590. The company received a total of £2,091,799 from 106 victims for land sales between June 2009 and July 2011.
None of the land sold by Tullett Brown was suitable for investment and the local authorities insisted the land would never receive planning permission for development.
Roger Milne
The fate of a multi-million pound road scheme in Hastings is back in the melting pot after the borough council quashed its planning permission following a legal challenge due to be heard in the High Court this week.
The local authority said it will reconsider SeaChange Sussex’s £15m Queensway Gateway project after conceding it made an error when approving the proposal in February.
SeaChange Sussex is a publicly-funded not-for-profit regeneration and development company in East Sussex.
The proposed road was designed to connect the B2092 with the A21 north of the town and provide improved access for a planned business park.
Local protestors had voiced concern over the impact of the road on a wildlife site and the likelihood of increased air pollution. The council was due in court for a judicial review hearing brought by local resident Gabriel Carlyle.
A council spokesman said the High Court had ruled the majority of Mr Carlyle’s arguments as “misconceived”.
But the spokesman added: “However, we do accept that the report which went to our planning committee in respect of the ‘Queensway Gateway’ road did not draw committee members’ attention to the policy regarding air quality. It should have done, and we apologise for this omission.
“We do not think that it is in the interests of local council tax payers for us to continue lengthy and potentially costly legal debate and so we have agreed to reconsider the scheme again at a further planning committee meeting.
“It would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment on the original planning report, or to speculate on what might happen in the future, at this time.”
View more information about the project
Roger Milne
D-day looms for Yorkshire potash mine
Proposals for a £1.7bn potash mine in Yorkshire are hanging in the balance this week. Planning officers from North York Moors National Park Authority (NYMNPA) have insisted its economic benefits do not outweigh the harm it would cause the designated area while three councils in the vicinity are supporting the project.
The NYMNPA planning committee is due to consider developer Sirius Metal’s planning application on 30 June. The company wants to mine near Whitby and build a 37 kilometre tunnel to a Teesside processing plant.
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has already approved part of the scheme. Ryedale District Council and Scarborough Borough Council have said they back the project because it has the potential to “transform” north Yorkshire’s economy.
The report to the national park planning committee argued that the proposals did not meet the “exceptional circumstances” required to justify the scheme given the environmental harm it posed.
View more information about the project
New home for Oxfordshire planning departments
South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils have announced that their new shared headquarters including the joint planning department will be open to the public from 29 June.
The councils’ departments started moving into 135 Eastern Avenue in Milton Park near Didcot recently and the last few teams are now settling in.
The councils have been looking for a new home since a fire destroyed their shared offices in Crowmarsh in January. Since the blaze, caused by an arsonist, staff moved into smaller temporary accommodation in Abingdon and Sandford-on-Thames while others worked from home.
New POS president announced
Stewart Murray, Assistant Director (Planning) with the Greater London Authority, has become the new President of the Planning Officers Society.
Welsh planning secondary legislation consultation
The Welsh Government has begun consulting on secondary legislation relating to new development management provisions in the planning (Wales) bill currently awaiting Royal Assent.
Involved are measures to do with invalid applications; notices and appeals; decision notices; notification of development; consultations in respect of certain applications for approval; appeals against a notice issued in respect of unsightly land post-submission amendments, and changes to applications made under section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
View more information about the bill
Planning statistics
Latest official statistics compiled for the Department for Communities and Local Government show that between January and March 2015, district-level planning authorities in England received 121,100 applications for planning permission, up one per cent from 119,400 in the corresponding quarter of 2014.
The figures showed they granted 83,300 out of 95,600 decisions, up seven per cent from the same quarter in 2014. This is equivalent to 87 per cent of decisions, down one percentage point from the same quarter of 2014.
The LPAs decided 75 per cent of major applications within 13 weeks or within the agreed time, down from 76 per cent a year earlier and made 17 per cent more residential decisions than in the March quarter 2014.
During the year ending March 2015 district-level LPAs granted 360,200 decisions, up three per cent from the figure for the year ending March 2014 and granted 88 per cent of decisions, unchanged from the previous year.
Of 8,500 applications reported for prior approval for permitted development rights during January to March 2015 some72 per cent related to larger householder extensions, with 10 per cent relating to applications for office to residential changes and nine per cent relating to agricultural to residential changes.
View the planning application statistics
HCA exceeds its target
A total of 179,170 homes of all tenures were completed through programmes run by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) during the 2011 to 2015 spending review period. Nearly 52,000 of those were delivered in the final year.
The agency’s anticipated contribution of affordable homes over that period was 123,000. However, HCA programmes delivered 134,526 homes, exceeding the target by over 11,000.
Developers back moves to help BIDs become neighbourhood forums
The British Property Federation (BPF) has pledged its support for government proposals that will make it easier for Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) to participate in business-led neighbourhood plans.
Allowing BIDs to become neighbourhood forums more easily would enable them to implement business-led neighbourhood plans like one approved recently in Milton Keynes.
Melanie Leech, chief executive of the BPF, said: “Businesses have a crucial part to play in the neighbourhood planning process, and it is for this reason that we would like to see steps taken to make it easier for them to participate in neighbourhood planning, to ensure that local businesses, as well as residents, get the opportunity to shape their area.”
Power line route proposed for North West England
The potential route for a power line project that will connect a proposed new nuclear power station in Cumbria to the National Grid has been unveiled.
National Grid has chosen a route that runs overland around the coast of Cumbria and under Morecambe Bay.
The chosen corridor will run from Harker substation near Carlisle, largely following the path of existing low voltage power lines around the Cumbrian coast to Moorside.
It will then head to the Furness peninsula where it will go under Morecambe Bay to emerge at Middleton substation near Heysham.
The company aims to submit an application to build the new connection in 2017 and if it is given the go-ahead, work is expected to start in 2019.
London round-up
- Company Cargiant has unveiled ambitions plans to turn its 20-hectare site at Old Oak Common in west London into a new £5bn neighbourhood with 9,000 homes, one-million square feet of offices and a cultural quarter but no provision for football club QPR’s aspiration for a new stadium. Old Oak Park is the capital’s Old Oak Common and Park Royal Opportunity Area.
- King’s College has withdrawn its controversial proposals to redevelop its Strand campus, which had been called in by Communities Secretary Greg Clark after being backed by Westminster City Council .“We have today withdrawn our plans and will consider alternative options” the university said in a statement.
- Housing and planning minister Brandon Lewis has called for the demolition and redevelopment of council estates across London in a move which he said would help boost the supply of new homes in the capital.
- A new Commission on Affordable Housing in London has been launched by the think tank IPPR. It will be chaired by Lord Kerslake, former head of the Civil Service, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government and now chair of social housing provider Peabody It is due to report next March.
- Westminster City Council’s draft housing strategy includes proposals to partner with other local authorities and build homes outside the capital. Also proposed is a new requirement that 60 per cent of new housing developments should be affordable.
Rural rail link report
Countryside campaign group CPRE has published a report which uses a case-study about the re-opening of the line between Plymouth and Exeter to argue that reinstating rural lines closed in the Beeching era could help revitalise rural communities and provide greater resilience against the impact of climate change.
RIBA awards announced
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announce the winners of this year’s National Awards, billed as the most rigorous and prestigious awards for new buildings in the UK.
The shortlist for the coveted RIBA Stirling Prize for the UK’s best building of the year will be drawn from the 37 award-winning buildings named last week
Award winners include a beautifully-crafted wooden fishing hut on a small new estate in Hampshire; a modern malt whisky distillery inspired by the shape of a barley sheaf on Speyside; a patterned red-brick church centre and flats surrounding a listed church in Hackney and a modest and calm cancer care centre in Lanarkshire.
The architectural body insisted that the stand-out trend of this year’s awards was the prevalence of high quality new housing development.
Listed curiosities
Historic England has highlighted some 20 of the more unusual places given listed status this year. The list includes a lamp that burned fetid gas from Victorian sewers, a 1930s hairdressers’ shop, a Neolithic henge site in Yorkshire, part of Greenham Common, the focus of long-running anti-nuclear demonstrations.
View the list on the Historic England website
Palace of Westminster revamp options
Work to upgrade and restore the historic Grade 1 listed Houses of Parliament in central London is set to cost between £3.9bn and £5.9bn, according to an independent appraisal of options just published.
However, the report makes clear that, depending on how MPs and Peers decide to carry out the work and on the actual condition found when it starts, the bill could top £7bn.
The report sets out a range of options for renovating the entire Palace of Westminster complex which includes the famous debating chambers of the Commons and Lords, and three scenarios for delivering the project.
The report does not recommend a best option. A decision will be made by a joint committee made up from MPs and Peers which will assess the five preferred options presented in the report and make a recommendation to both Houses. A decision over which option to pursue is expected early next year.
View more information on the revamp
Fracking report ruling
The UK’s independent Information Commissioner has told the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs it must release an un-redacted version of its Shale Gas Rural Economy Impacts report. This follows a formal complaint lodged by Greenpeace. Defra now has until the end of July to publish the report in full.
New South Shields transport hub
Proposals have been unveiled for a new transport interchange in South Shields as part of the £100m town centre regeneration scheme. The new-look transport interchange will include a combined new Metro and bus station to the south of Keppel Street.
The scheme has been developed in conjunction with Nexus, the public body which delivers local public transport on behalf of the North East Combined Authority, South Tyneside Council, and the developer, Muse Developments.
In a related but separate development Nexus has announced plans to invest £40m in modernising the Tyne and Wear Metro over the next 12 months. The work will focus on Metro track replacement, the refurbishment of Central Station and three Gateshead stations, improvements to accessibility and essential new technology.
Revised Woodstock master plan
Developers proposing a major new mixed-use housing-led development at Woodstock in Oxfordshire have reduced the amount of new housing but doubled the provision for employment activity.
A revised master plan for the scheme, drawn up by Blenheim Estate and Pye Homes has been submitted to Cherwell District Council and West Oxfordshire District Council, the two planning authorities involved.
Originally the scheme offered up to 1,500 new homes, a care village, a primary school, a local centre and some 7,500 square metres of employment floor space for a site on land owned by the Blenheim Palace estate to the east of Woodstock. The latest version of the project would provide 1,200 homes and 13,800 square metres of employment activity.
View more information on the Woodstock East website
Legal round-up
- Green power developer Broadview Energy has lost its High Court case challenging former Communities Secretary Eric Pickles’ decision to dismiss an appeal over a five-turbine wind farm in Northamptonshire against the advice of a planning inspector.
- The Supreme Court has refused permission for a challenge by campaigners over Suffolk Coastal District Council’s adopted core strategy, concluding that the courts below “were clearly right”, it has emerged.
- Monika Juneja, a former councilor at Guildford Borough Council who led on planning issues and who pleaded guilty to forging her qualifications and claiming to be a qualified barrister, has been sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.
- The Court of Appeal has rejected developer Larkfleet Homes’ challenge over site allocation policies in the Uppingham Neighbourhood Plan.
- A tenant has launched a legal challenge over south London borough Lambeth Council’s plans to redevelop the Cressingham Gardens estate.
Roger Milne
Lancashire County Council planners have recommended that test fracking should be allowed at one of two sites on the Fylde coast.
This follows applications from energy company Cuadrilla to use fracking to extract shale gas at Little Plumpton and Roseacre Wood.
The application for Little Plumpton has been recommended for approval. Roseacre Wood has been recommended for refusal because of the impact on road safety caused by increased lorry traffic.
If approved it would be the first time a planning authority has backed an application to frack, drill and test flow the gas and the first fracking since tests near Blackpool in 2011 which caused small earth tremors.
In a separate but related development, the Environment Agency is consulting on environmental permits to allow Third Energy to carry out test-fracking at a site near the village of Kirby Misperton in Ryedale, North Yorkshire. A planning application is due to be submitted to the county council shortly.
Meanwhile, the government has denied that fracking applications will receive less environmental scrutiny from the public following proposals from the Environment Agency to introduce standardised testing for both conventional and unconventional oil and gas wells.
In a joint statement from the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Environment Agency, the government insisted: “The process for operators to apply for a fracking permit has not changed. Any operator wanting to undertake fracking needs to apply for an environmental permit, conduct an environmental impact assessment and apply for planning permission. This is open to full public consultation.”
View the report on the Lancashire County Council website
Roger Milne
Planning Portal Blog 