The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) will come into force on 1 April.
OPDC has been championed by the Mayor of London as the body that will drive the regeneration of 900 hectares of industrial land in west London.
On 1 April OPDC will take on planning powers for the area including the power to determine planning applications, prepare planning policy and prepare and collect CIL. In addition, OPDC will have the ability to use Compulsory Purchase Order powers to secure regeneration.
Old Oak and Park Royal DC sits across the boundaries of three London Boroughs – Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham, and will be established as a new local planning authority (LPA) on the Planning Portal to facilitate its introduction.
This means that with effect from 1 April 2015, any applications created on the Planning Portal within the new DC boundary will be submitted to the new authority.
More information about OPDC is available on the GLA website.
DCLG confirms raft of planning reforms
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has published its responses to recent consultations on the use of planning conditions, the consent process for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) and changes to statutory consultee arrangements.
Transitional planning regime for Ebbsfleet Garden City announced
Planning minister Brandon Lewis has announced transitional arrangements for planning as the urban development corporation which will be responsible for creating the new 15,000-home garden city at Ebbsfleet in Kent is set up.
Gloucester master plan unveiled
A £135m master plan to regenerate nearly three hectares of land across the Quayside and Blackfriars sites in the centre of Gloucester has been presented to potential investors.
Latest alteration to London Plan approved
The revised city-wide planning strategy to deliver the economic, environmental, transport and social improvements that London will need over the next 20 years has been published by the capital’s Mayor Boris Johnson.
Panel cold-shoulders single designation route for key Welsh landscapes
The independent panel set up to advise the Welsh Government on designated landscapes – National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) – has come down firmly against a single designation.
News round-up 12 March 2015
An overview of the other planning stories of this week…
We’re pleased to say that the ownership of the Planning Portal has this week been transferred to a private sector, joint venture between DCLG and TerraQuest.
At long last this will give us the opportunity to invest in and improve the core product. The existing service and content will be retained and built on when a refreshed service goes live later in the year.
All of the team have transferred over to the new company and will continue to provide the same levels of service you’ve come to expect.
We’re champing at the bit to get on with the next phase in our evolution and to build an even better service at the heart of this critical industry. We look forward to working with you on that and to your continuing feedback and support.
Starter home planning policy initiative confirmed
The Government this week kick-started its ambitious scheme to generate starter homes, which will be offered to young, first-time buyers at a 20 per cent discount, paid for by exempting developers from infrastructure payments.
Latest English household formation projections published
The Department for Communities and Local Government has published its latest official projections of household formations, estimating the formation of 5.2 million new households in England between 2012 and 2037.
Pickles blocks Gladman housing schemes in Buckinghamshire and Cheshire
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has dismissed two separate appeals by Gladman Developments involving proposals for sites in Buckinghamshire and Cheshire.
Devolution package proposes greater planning powers for Wales
The Coalition has confirmed moves to give the Welsh administration greater planning powers in line with the recommendations of the Silk Commission.
News round-up 5 March 2015
An overview of the other planning stories of this week…
Update: 16:20. The Portal site is now back up.
We are currently experiencing a technical issue with the Planning Portal, which means the site has been unavailable since late morning.
First and foremost: please accept my apologies for the inconvenience this is causing you.
We are working hard with our technical partner to resolve this issue.
In February we received 40,624 online applications, which equates to 38,177 total submissions – a huge 19.3% increase on the same period 12 months ago.
In line, the work-day averages for submissions have also increased. February was a record month with 1,863 applications submitted each working day. So far March is even higher with daily submissions hovering around the 2,000 mark. The work-day average for online applications in March has roughly doubled from 2012
This chart shows the change in daily submission over the last few years.
Does this indicate an increase in total planning applications or just those submitted online?
We won’t know for sure until DCLG publishes its PS1/2 returns reports sometime later this month but we suspect it’s a bit of both.
So, Chris is off to pastures new and though we’re disappointed that he decided not to join us on the next phase in the Portal’s evolution, the team’s enthusiasm to get cracking continues unabated.
The team and I will do our best to move this blog on along in the next few months and will continue to keep you up to date with the improvements and developments here as they happen.
One immediate change you’ll notice is that from this week I’ll also be posting our weekly news headlines. They’ve been popular when we’ve posted them in the past so I hope you’ll enjoy them. Do let me have your feedback on this and indeed anything else – I’m sure you won’t by shy!
For long-term blog subscribers, you may remember me holding the reins whilst Chris was leading our bid last year. For those that don’t, I’m one of the Portal’s deputy directors, focused on delivering the best possible experience to our customers – agents, applicants and LPAs alike.
I’m a relative newbie in Portal terms – I’ve only been here six years! Feel free to look me up on LinkedIn, where I’d be happy to connect.
Sarah
35,652 Online Planning Applications passed through the Planning Portal cogs and wheels in January 2015, a whopping 14.6% increase on January 2014.
If you keep up submitting at that level for the remainder of the year we’ll easily process half a million app’s in a single year!
I couldn’t let the milestone pass without comment now could I!
As of the past weekend there’s now been more half a million views of the blog since I launched it back in 2009, in which time I have published 465 posts, which have received around 3,000 comments and attracted more than 1,000 followers.
Commercial matters have meant that I’ve needed to keep a lower than customary (for me) profile of late however I hope to ramp up the content and interactivity in the very near future.
It’s an exciting time for the Portal and I’m looking forward to getting into lively debates about the our new direction and all the good stuff it will bring.
Thanks for reading.
Chris
It’s been a while coming but it can now be revealed that TerraQuest has been chosen by DCLG to partner with them in a joint venture to provide the ongoing delivery and commercialisation of the Planning Portal service.
The joint venture has indicated it will not charge applicants or LPAs for using the Portal’s 1App planning application service and that a new and improved 1App and website will be delivered by TerraQuest’s prime subcontractor Civica, later in 2015. The existing service will remain in place until the new website is launched – so there will be no disruption to our customers.
It is the intention to transfer staff to the new business before the end of the financial year however the JV is subject to final negotiation and therefore any questions regarding the process of commercialisation should be directed to PlanningPortalFuture@communities.gsi.gov.uk
The Portal team look forward to working with TerraQuest and DCLG in the new joint venture and are excited at the prospect of moving the service forward.
Planning Portal Blog 