Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017
Following an extension of nutrient neutrality advice, applications for planning permission in designated protected sites must now undergo a Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA). Proving that the surface water runoff and wastewater will be less than that generated by the existing use. An increase is often found on developments which result in a greater net population being served by a wastewater system, such as overnight accommodation developments.
Read more…Last September, a number of the Planning Portal team undertook the Beyond Somerset Sportive, cycling 70 miles across North Somerset up through Cheddar Gorge to raise money for We Build the Future UK. They managed to come 15th out of 125 riders!
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In terms of application submissions, the year has started strongly.
• 55,055 applications were submitted in England and Wales throughout February 2022.
• This is a 13% increase on January 2022.
• Yet a 13% decrease when compared to February 2021.
• Nearly £25 million in application fees were paid to English authorities in a single month.
Also included: This month’s issue also includes analysis on the regional breakdown of application submissions, a national overview from the last six years and an in-depth dive into applications by type and application fees.
We only have a few weeks left until the Planning Portal Spring Conference and can’t wait to hear some of the discussions from some of the leading experts in the Planning and Building market.
Our Early Bird offer is only available until midnight on 1 April so be sure to get your tickets soon.
Don’t forget, those with a gov.uk email address are able to attend for FREE, so register now using the button below!
We have an excellent line up of speakers and panellists joining us across the four days of our virtual event.
You can see some of them here:
Covering four of the major topics of conversation at the moment, we will be looking at Urban Regeneration, The Building Safety Programme, Beyond Net Zero and The Future of Planning – Local Plans.
With hundreds of delegates in attendance, including members from Local Planning Authorities, Architectural Practices and Planning Consultancies, the week is shaping up to be an excellent event.
Mike is a chartered town planner and MBA qualified manager with over 40 years’ experience in local government, most of that in London and 14 years at service head level and above. He is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute, formerly president of the Planning Officers Society and now chair of its Board.
Mike works closely with government and across the sector to shape planning in England. In 2015 he set up his consultancy, Mike Kiely Planning + Regeneration, to specialise in assisting local authorities to perform better and be more effective.
Urban regeneration brings back life and prosperity to our towns and cities, and with the impact of COVID on town centres in particular, this has never been more important. Our panel discussion will explore the opportunities and challenges of modern urban regeneration and what it means for planning.
There is a week left to grab your Early Bird Tickets to join us at the Spring Conference, so register now!
Work for the Public Sector or a Government Body? You can access the conference for free by signing up with your gov.uk email address.
Our Spring Conference will deliver four days of keynote speeches, panel discussions and breakout sessions, covering a wide range of pertinent topics including:
- Urban Regeneration
- Future of Planning – Local Plans
- Beyond Net Zero
- Building Safety Programme
We have many other excellent speakers joining us throughout the event; you can find out more information here.
Local authorities to get cash boost to tackle air pollution
The government has released £11.6 million from its Air Quality Grant to local authorities in England to fund projects for cleaner air.
Laura Edgar, The Planner
Council consults on climate change planning document
Cheltenham Borough Council is consulting its climate change supplementary planning document (SPD), which is intended to ‘drive the positive change’ the council wants to see from developers.
Laura Edgar, The Planner
We have the pleasure of sharing with you that Helen Fadipe, Managing Director of FPP Associates Ltd will be joining the Planning Portal Spring Conference for our Urban Regeneration panel discussion!
Read more…
We’re pleased to announce that Catriona Riddell, Director of Catriona Riddell & Associates Ltd, will be joining the Planning Portal Spring Conference.
Catriona provides professional support on a wide range of spatial planning issues but focuses on local plans and more specifically strategic planning and working with local authorities and their partners to develop different approaches in terms of both governance structures and output.
We are delighted to share that Catriona will be our moderator for the Future of Planning: Local Plans, panel discussion on 28 April 2022.
You can now sign up for your spot at the virtual Planning Portal Spring Conference, 25 – 28 April 2022, with 12+ hours of CPD presentations, panels and breakout sessions!
We have four days of great presentations and panel discussions. Make sure you secure your tickets now!
Our annual service charge increase will this year take into account some stark increases in the charges levied by the credit and debit card providers which have been widely publicised in the mainstream media. Therefore, from 1 April 2022, the service charge for our national payment service (also known as FTS) will be £26.83 + VAT. This charge not only covers the costs of providing the payment service, but also contributes to the continued investment into our service, delivering ongoing improvements that will add additional efficiencies for agents, applicants and Local Authorities.
At the end of January, we launched the new Planning Portal website, putting in place the foundations to deliver our vision to transform digital planning and building services.
Developed in-house by our TerraQuest colleagues, it’s been built in a modular style that allows us to work in a more agile way, be more responsive to customer needs, policy change and implement continuous improvements. This is the first step of an ongoing process that will see regular development of each component part of making an application that’s transferable to join-up other services, such as better integrating online building control applications and delivering a single sign-on to link these key processes that’s coming later in 2022.
We shall also be exploring the requirements for a national standard pre-application service and following the DLUHC pathfinders on digital local plans, as we look to unlock the value of spatial data to improve the quality of application submissions and help to reduce invalidation levels.
Firstly, we need to embed the new service that shows the investment made to achieve our ambitious plans.
If you would like to understand the new developments and functionality in greater detail, we would strongly recommend you join us for our free webinar series ‘The digital future of planning and building’. Alongside providing you with an in-depth review of our development programme it provides you the opportunity to ask questions. You can register on our new Community Hub.
The Planning Portal Spring Conference is also back after a fantastic response to our virtually hosted November Conference. The four-day CPD accredited conference will be covering the key issues affecting planning and building, with presentations and panel discussions from an array of industry-leading panellists and speakers. Talking about Urban Regeneration, The Building Safety Programme, Beyond Net Zero and the Future of Planning – Local Plans/Pathfinder Programme. Early bird tickets for a full conference pass are available at only £90 until the end of March and its free for public sector delegates. You can register on our conference website.
We are committed to providing an efficient service to all customers and delivery partners and thank you for your continued support and feedback.
If you have any questions or comments in relation to any of the above, please email communications@planningportal.co.uk.
Planning Portal Blog 