England’s first part business-based neighbourhood plan passed muster last week following a referendum organised on the same day as the general and local elections.
The neighbourhood strategy – known as the Central Milton Keynes Alliance Plan 2026 – had taken two years to organise by a voluntary alliance of local businesses and community groups.
A core policy for the 50-hectare area is to retain the original, successful layout of Central Milton Keynes (CMK) with its tree-lined boulevards, open spaces, safe pedestrian routes and a presumption that new buildings over eight storeys high will need to be considered against very strict criteria.
Other policies support a major university, new community and sports facilities, new public transport shuttle service, market hall, civic square and a new boating marina.
In related but separate moves, outgoing Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has decided not to contest legal challenges to two decisions he made in appeal cases relating to areas with emerging neighbourhood plans.
Last year Pickles refused permission for a 350-home development to the north east of the Wiltshire town of Devizes and 100 homes on the edge of the Staffordshire village of Rolleston on Dove.
Both appeals involved proposals which had been recommended for approval by a planning inspector in a neighbourhood planning area without a demonstrable five-year supply of housing land. In both cases, Pickles had decided that allowing the appeals would undermine the neighbourhood planning process.
Both appeals will be remitted for re-determination by Pickles’ successor as Communities Secretary Greg Clark.
Also last week a High Court judge decided that Pickles acted contrary to national planning policy by allowing an emerging neighbourhood plan to become the determining factor in his decision over a 120-home scheme proposed by developer Woodcock Holdings in the mid-Sussex village of Sayers Common. The appeal will now be re-determined.
View ‘The CMK Business Neighbourhood Plan’
Roger Milne
Prime Minister David Cameron has returned to Downing Street and said the Conservatives’ electoral triumph means a green light for the Party’s manifesto programme, which included specific targets on housing supply.
The Conservatives have plans for 200,000 new Starter Homes as well as an aspiration of 120,000 new homes courtesy of its Help to Buy initiative plus a further 95,000 as part of the Housing Zone regime, already signalled. Also on the Conservative’s wish-list is a doubling of custom-built homes by the end of the decade.
Brownfield development should be a priority with the aim that 90 per cent of suitable brownfield sites will have planning permission for housing by 2020. All local authorities will have to have a brownfield land register. The Party has pledged to establish a London Land Commission. And it may decide to extend the Planning Act 2008 regime to major housing schemes, a move which a number of developers and volume builders have canvassed.
The Conservatives are on record as wanting more neighbourhood planning, a stronger Community Right to Bid regime and have plans for a ‘pocket parks’ programme. The Party also favours giving local people more control over planning and greater protection for the green belt. But in terms of specific policies the main pledges were an end to on-shore wind farm subsidies and a change in the law so local people have the final say on new land-based turbines. Also promised were moves to give local businesses more say on minor planning applications.
The Conservative Manifesto blew warm on more City Deals, more growth deals, and locally-supported garden cities and towns.
The Conservatives have signalled ambitious spending plans on roads, railways (including HS2) and flood prevention schemes. The Party is committed to creating a sovereign wealth fund for the north of England bankrolled from unconventional oil and gas development, including fracking.
The Queens Speech setting out the government’s first legislative programme is scheduled for 27 May.
Read the Conservatives manifesto
A groundbreaking deal designed to protect the University of Sussex’s unique listed buildings and streamline the planning process has been signed by Brighton & Hove City Council, Historic England and the University.
The so-called Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement is only the second such agreement in the country – and the first involving a university.
The University of Sussex was the first of a new wave of universities created in the early 1960s. Its early buildings were designed by architect Sir Basil Spence, and include one Grade l and seven Grade II* listed buildings.
They have many common design features, such as flat roofs, red brick and concrete arches. The university has continued to develop the site in sympathy with the early design and site layout.
Penny Thompson, chief executive of Brighton and Hove City Council, said: “The agreement means that Listed Building Consent for general or repeated work will be granted without the need for the university to individually apply for consent – cutting red tape and saving time and money.”
Areas covered by the agreement include work to repair or replace the external fabric of buildings, internal fixtures and finishes to upgrade teaching facilities and works to improve safety and accessibility.
The agreement will run for 10 years, subject to periodic review.
View the University of Sussex press release
View the Brighton and Hove City Council press release
View the ‘Good Practice Advice Note: Drawing up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement’
Roger Milne
Greenwich Royal Borough Council has formally proposed a landmark new local planning authority policy that would mean any developer who doesn’t meet the council’s affordable housing target would have to provide a public viability study justifying its stance.
Currently the south-east London local planning authority expects developers to ensure 35 per cent of housing in new schemes is affordable.
The Royal Borough has just started consulting on a new list of locally established criteria for planning applications. This includes a requirement to provide a fully public viability study for residential developments with less than 35 per cent affordable homes. This will then be subject to full public consultation as part of the planning application.
Councillor Danny Thorpe, Greenwich cabinet member for regeneration and transport, said: “This is about transparency for local people. At the moment our hands are tied on affordable housing levels if the viability study shows a development won’t work financially with the levels of affordable housing we want.”
“This will now allow the whole process to be far more transparent – making the viability studies publicly available as part of the planning documents means the Royal Borough and residents alike can see precisely why a developer might claim they cannot meet our affordable housing targets.“
He added: “We believe we’re the first local authority in the country to be doing this – looking at policy which insists on these studies being in the public domain.”
View the Royal Borough of Greenwich press release
View further details of the consultation and have your say
Roger Milne
This Friday we will be rolling out some improvements to our online application service.
Firstly, applicants will be able to submit Non-Material Amendments to authorities in Wales online. The form will be available from the form chooser.
Secondly, if your local authority is using the most up-to-date Portal connector you will also be able to submit the new Welsh sustainable development indicator data automatically to LPA back-office systems.
Finally, we have also made a change to our system to let applicants submit .docx Word attachments with their applications.
The site will be offline between 05:00 and 07:00 while we make this change.
Developers urge enhanced planning service charging
The new government should consider following in the footsteps of Historic England and introduce a charging system for enhanced planning services, according to the British Property Federation (BPF).
Historic England has consulted on charging for a series of enhanced services which will allow developers to pay for options such as extended pre-application advice and fast-track listing within a guaranteed time frame, whilst still offering its existing advice for free.
The charges will help improve performance by delivering a better-resourced system for all, and will encourage developers to bring historic buildings back into use, while also safeguarding the future of these assets.
The BPF has suggested that a similar structure be considered by the new administration as part of the solution to tackling the lack of resources facing local planning departments.
In its response to the Historic England consultation, the BPF recommended that there should be a regular review of the free services, to ensure that those who are unable to pay do not receive a poor, reduced or slower service.
View further details of the Historic England ‘Enhanced Advisory Services’ consultation
London round-up
- London Mayor Boris Johnson (who is now a constituency MP in the capital) has started consulting on two sets of minor alterations to the London Plan (MALPs) on housing standards and, separately, on parking standards for outer London boroughs. Both sets of minor alterations will be considered by an independent planning inspector at a joint public examination to be held later this year in City Hall, probably in October 2015.
- London Premiership club Queens Park Rangers (QPR) has submitted a revised planning application for a new training ground at Warren Farm in Ealing. The scheme will create a new purpose-built training centre for the club’s first team and academy, alongside a new community sports facility.
- Owners of an illegally converted property in Ealing received more than £104,000 in fines at Harrow Crown Court plus a confiscation order after failing to comply with a planning enforcement notice issued by the west London borough.
Workington solar farm blocked
Solar Park Developments has announced it has appealed the decision by Allerdale Borough Council to refuse it application for a 14-hectare solar farm scheme at Moor House Farm near Workington in west Cumbria. Officials had recommended approval of the 14-megawatt project.
View full details of the refused application
County Durham wind farm rejected
Proposals for a £16m four-turbine wind farm on the edge of a County Durham forest have been rejected by members of the county council’s planning committee.
Green power developer Banks Renewables had originally proposed a five-turbine project at Hamsterley Forest. The scheme, at Windy Bank Farm north of Woodland village, was reduced to four turbines up to 125 metres in height.
The committee rejected the development because of “significant effects” on the character of the local landscape. Natural England had opposed the project because of its adverse impact on the Teesdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
View full details of the refused application
Mineral plan guidance
The Mineral Products Association (MPA) together with the Planning Officers’ Society has published a best practice guide on so-called Local Aggregates Assessments (LAAs). The guidance highlights what can be expected in terms of LAA style and content for all interested parties.
Ken Hobden, director of mineral planning with the MPA, said, “Over the last 2-3 years, mineral planning authorities have been producing LAAs, often to different standards and degrees of consistency with what the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) requires.
“This document provides mineral planning authorities (MPAs) with advice on good practice in producing LAAs and guides Aggregate Working Parties (AWPs) and the minerals industry in terms of what can be expected to be included in an LAA.”
Download the ‘Practice guidance on the production and use of local aggregate assessments’ (PDF)
Luton legal challenge over urban extension fails
Luton Borough Council has failed in a Court of Appeal challenge to a neighbouring authority’s decision to grant planning permission for an urban extension in the green belt.
Central Bedfordshire Council granted permission on 2 June 2014 to the Houghton Regis Development Consortium for the extension on 262 hectares of land on the Houghton Regis North Site 1.
Luton, which is unable to find land within its own administrative area to meet all of its housing needs, brought judicial review proceedings as it wanted to secure a higher minimum level of affordable housing.
A High Court judge ruled against the borough council, which was given leave to go to the Court of Appeal. However, the higher court has now come down against the borough council.
View full details of the original application
Airports Commission air quality consultation
The independent Airports Commission, which is considering extra runway capacity for London and south-east England, has just begun a quick-fire extra consultation on the air quality impacts of the three short-listed options: the two proposals for Heathrow and the expansion plans for Gatwick.
This exercise has a deadline of 29 May. The commission is due to make its final recommendations to the government in June.
View details of the consultation
Suffolk coastal heath safeguarded
A stretch of coastal heath land in Suffolk has been bought for £200,000 to safeguard its future. Grants were used from two different sources to buy more than 14.5 hectares acres at Dunwich, which will be managed by the National Trust.
It means the land, home to nightjars, woodlarks and warblers, will be open to walkers and visitors. Footpaths around newly re-named Mount Pleasant Heath have been widened and maps of Dunwich Heath will be updated to help visitors explore the area.
View the National Trust news article
Sussex new town land sale snubbed
A Sussex farmer is reported to have rejected an offer of more than £275m for his land from developers seeking to build a new town.
Robert Worsley, who has run his 220-hectare farm in Twineham for the past 15 years, said he would rather protect the countryside than personally profit.
Developer Mayfield Market Towns wants to build 10,000 new homes on land between Sayers Common and Henfield.
The proposals have generated considerable local controversy and opposition from residents and the local authorities involved.
Preston bus station revamp competition
More than 90 entries have been submitted to the competition, run by the Royal Institute of British Architects, to redesign the listed Preston Bus Station. Lancashire County Council is allocating £13m to the initiative. A short-list will be announced later this summer.
Preston Bus Station was considered the largest bus station in Europe when it opened in 1969. The site, which was under-threat from demolition, was given Grade II listed status in 2013.
View details of the competition
Hall award announced
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has named one of its new awards for research excellence in memory of the late Sir Peter Hall, doyen of planning academics.
The Sir Peter Hall Award for Wider Engagement will recognise the very best work of academics which contribute significantly to a stronger policy and public understanding of planning.
Planning shenanigans on new TV series
Channel 4 this week began a three-part series on individuals whose properties have fallen foul of the planning system. The first part of Damned Designs: Don’t Demolish My Home was transmitted at 8pm on Monday night and featured Surrey farmer Robert Fidler who famously built a mock Tudor castle and hid it behind bales of straw.
Next Monday (18 May) the second part will see a Warrington pub landlord, a retired doctor in Bolton, and an eco idealist in rural Wales battling to save their dream homes from demolition.
Roger Milne
The research and development team of Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution is running research aimed at planners and local authorities regarding a new type of electricity substation.
The team was recently awarded £2.8m from Ofgem’s Network Innovation Allowance to develop a brand new type of substation.
The aim of the project is to develop, deploy and test a wholly modular substation on the network that could be up to 70 per cent smaller than current substations. The project is called Modular Approach to Substation Construction (MASC).
Planning and design consultancy Barton Willmore has submitted an outline planning application to Northumberland County Council for a major residential-led development of 1,600 new homes near Newcastle on behalf of a consortium of developers.
Persimmon Homes and Bellway Homes want to build the sustainable urban extension on an 86-hectare site to the south-west of Cramlington New Town. The scheme, which will be known as Arcot Woods, also includes a local centre with shops, a pub, a school, a pub as well as a care home, sheltered housing for older people, a community centre and a health centre.
Also proposed is nearly 30 hectares of public open space. Some 10 per cent of the housing will be affordable.
The application represents the two first phases of the so-called ‘South West Sector Master plan’. The site was first allocated for housing development 1999 and this was carried forward to the Blyth Valley Core Strategy in 2007. In 2008 the council identified the sector as part of the ‘Growth Point Programme of Development’ for south-east Northumberland.
Arcot Woods is designed to be the final quadrant of Cramlington New Town, which was first established in the 1960s. The plans will help to complete the original vision of Cramlington and support its development as one of the most sustainable and accessible towns in Northumberland.
View further details of the scheme
Roger Milne
A High Court judge has quashed the first compulsory purchase order promoted by the Port of London Authority.
The CPO was for Orchard Wharf, an unused and vacant facility with some derelict buildings at Leamouth on the north side of the River Thames, near its confluence with the River Lea. The order had been confirmed by the Secretary of State for Transport.
Part of the wharf and an adjoining strip were owned by the Grafton Group who went to court to challenge the order.
The LPA had sought a CPO under the Port of London Act 1968. It planned to bring the site back into active use a wharf, handling river-borne aggregates and cement and for batching them into concrete.
Aggregate Industries UK and London Concrete proposed to lease the wharf and had submitted plans for a batching plant and ancillary development from east London planning authority Tower Hamlets Council. The latter had refused the proposals on design grounds.
An inquiry was subsequently held into the CPO and objections and into the planning appeal. The planning inspector recommended that planning permission be refused, but that the CPO should be confirmed.
The Grafton Group, which owns 1.38 hectares of the wharf and a small additional strip, hoped at some stage to develop the site for uses including residential, a boat yard and a waste-to-energy facility.
The group mounted a legal challenge to the order which has now been quashed after a High Court judge agreed the CPO was unfair.
Roger Milne
The Welsh Government has insisted that so-called Strategic Development Panels (SDPs) would only be introduced sparingly and only in areas where a cross-authority approach is necessitated such as the Cardiff and Swansea city regions.
The administration clarified its stance as the Government’s flagship planning legislation was debated in the Welsh Assembly.
Assembly Members remain concerned that proposals for SDPs and a national-level plan will weaken democratic local authority planning powers. There is also concern that the legislation does not do enough on Welsh language issues.
A spokesman for the administration insisted that planning minister Carl Sargeant “intends to introduce SDPs only where they add value, currently we envisage the need for two, or at most, three SDPs.
“Strategic development panels will be established to produce the SDPs with locally elected members making up two-thirds of the panel. The inclusion of social, economic and environmental partners on the panel will ensure that all relevant interests have the opportunity to contribute to the production of the SDP early on to deliver a more effective outcome.”
He indicated that the national level plan would only look at energy infrastructure.
The spokesman added: “The minister continues to work with all parties to ensure that any further amendments to the bill in relation to the Welsh language tabled at stage three reflect the concerns and comments of stakeholders and the environment and sustainable committee and are in the best interests in communities across Wales.”
In a separate but related development the Welsh Government has introduced into the Assembly the country’s first Wales-only legislation to protect ancient monuments and historic buildings.
The Historic Environment (Wales) Bill will make it more difficult for individuals to escape prosecution for criminal damage to scheduled ancient monuments by claiming ignorance of a monument’s status or location.
It will also give Welsh Ministers powers to take action if scheduled monument are threatened and allow local authorities to take action to halt the decay of historic buildings.
Meanwhile, Sargeant has welcomed the publication of an independent report into the effect houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) can have on communities.
The report reviewed existing legislation and considered best practice in both Welsh and other local authorities and made recommendations in respect of both local authority practice and potential changes to the regulatory framework.
Sargeant has promised to consider recommendations which included modifying change of use regulations.
View details of the Plenary meeting
View further details of the Planning (Wales) Bill
View further details of the Historic Environment (Wales) Bill
Roger Milne
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