Planning Portal have been eagerly awaiting government’s plans regarding the future of planning legislation, having responded to the initial ‘Future of Planning’ Whitepaper published in 2020. Now that we’ve had a chance to review and digest the new Bill, we delighted to see expansion of several important areas for digital planning.
Read more…You can now access the recordings of the four morning sessions over on the Planning Portal Community Hub!
The four videos cover four of the biggest topics in the planning and building industry at the moment:
- Urban regeneration
- The building safety programme
- Beyond Net Zero
- Future of Planning – Local Plans
There has been a total of 52,075 applications submitted through Planning Portal in April 2022. This is a reduction of 20% in application submissions when compared to 2021. This is culminating in a 16% total reduction for the year to date.
Read more…We enabled the 12 remaining Prior Approval application types on Thursday 19 May 2022. This covers all the Prior Approval requirements that have been introduced via amendments to permitted development legislation over the last couple of years and allows users to create and submit these applications to any Local Authority in England.
Read more…
Planning reforms to be folded into new Levelling up and Regeneration Bill
More rights for local residents to determine the design of developments are elements of planning reform added into the new bill announced by Prince Charles in the Queen’s Speech.
Martin Read, The Planner
Guide on retrofitting published
A guide intended to provide industry and stakeholders with a common approach to commercial retrofit through the lens of net-zero carbon has been published.
Laura Edgar, The Planner
Charity pledges to put nature in recovery by 2030
The Wildlife Trusts has set out a strategy to reverse the decline of nature and put people at the heart of restoration projects.
Laura Edgar, The Planner
In case you missed it, last week we provided an update to the Planning Portal’s online planning application service, focussing on uploading supporting documents. The update included new document descriptions, multiple list views and an updated completion page.
We created a helpful video so you can see the changes in action!
Read more…
Built environment professionals seek to improve diversity
Membership bodies working across the built environment have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that will see them work together to create a ‘more diverse, equitable and inclusive sector’.
Laura Edgar, The Planner
Online application numbers in England and Wales
While submission numbers are not reaching the heights of 2021, March 2022 still saw a 20% increase on figures seen in 2020. With construction being closed at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, this caused changes to the application numbers we would typically expect to see.
Despite this however, the data from 2022 is still significantly higher, showing an overall increase in online application submission trends.
Access the full summary report
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The Building Safety Bill has received Royal Assent. This was a Bill to make provision about the safety of people in or about buildings and the standard of buildings, to amend the Architects Act 1997, and to amend provision about complaints made to a housing ombudsman.
The Bill received Royal Ascent 28 April 2022. The following content has been taken from the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Building Safety Regulator eBulletin. Further information about the Bill’s progress can be found here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3021.
Read more…As discussed in our latest webinar, work is underway to add the 12 most recent types of Prior Approval application to our online system. We expect to make these available to users and Local Authorities in the next month or so.
Read more…
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