Read the full story on our website by clicking on the headline.
Clark blocks Ipswich affordable homes scheme over ‘inclusivity’ issues
Communities Secretary refuses Ravenswood development on the basis that it conflicts with national policy “to create inclusive and mixed communities”…
MPs criticise government’s flooding strategy
Environment audit committee report urges the government to take a more proactive approach to managing flood risk…
Ministers insist new bill won’t curtail archaeological activity
Petition sparked by fears that the neighbourhood planning and infrastructure bill will curtail the use of planning conditions requiring archaeological surveys…
Future of Welsh planning outlined by minister
Speaking at the RTPI Cymru, Welsh planning minister Lesley Griffiths set out her vision for the Welsh planning system…
Liverpool unveils ambitious life and medical sciences campus project
Liverpool mayor announces flagship development scheme that could create up to 10,000 jobs…
Planning round-up 16 June 2016
– Dark skies
– Leeds housing allowed on appeal
– Report calls for older person priorities in local plans
– Think-tank talks up the economic contribution of small and medium-sized towns and cities
– Oxfordshire and Kent local plan developments
– Wolverhampton station development
– And more stories…
Roger Milne
Following hot on the heels of last week’s post about our new ‘Find A Trade Professional’ service, I’m equally pleased to announce that we’re also teaming up with RTPI and their official magazine, The Planner, to publish their online planning job vacancies across local authorities and private practice.
You can see the pages on our site by visiting www.planningportal.co.uk/industryjobs
This is another strong brand partnership for us, and another new area of content, this time to support our professional planning customers.
More content partnerships in other areas will follow to support those of you that aren’t planners.
And of course, we’re continuing to work on improvements to the application service behind the scenes and more will also follow on that shortly.
A lot of the traffic to our site is from members of the public who visit our ‘do you need permission?’ section to understand whether they need to apply for planning permission to extend or improve their homes, or whether its covered by permitted development.
Helping to ‘demystify’ planning for them has always been part of our objectives, but we’re also conscious that many need the help and support of a qualified professional to help them realise their ambitions.
With that in mind, we’re pleased to launch this week our new ‘Find A Trade Professional’ service. There are already a plethora of services out there, and rather than reinvent the wheel, we’ve carefully selected partners who already provide a quality service, both in terms of how they maintain the quality of their trade professionals and in the quality of the user experience their service offers.
We’ve also chosen partners who can complement each other by offering different kinds of service and different kinds of professions. We are particularly pleased that our first partner to go live this week is the Federation of Master Builders, a highly respected and long-established brand. More will follow over the coming weeks.
To take a look at our new service, visit www.planningportal.co.uk/findaprofessional
Read the full story on our website by clicking on the headline.
New research questions local plan housing supply claims
Indigo Planning report casts doubt on the ability of councils to meet housing supply targets…
Ombudsman probe reveals huge Hackney enforcement backlog
Local Government Ombudsman investigation concludes that planning authorities must keep track of enforcement action and follow through when promising to act…
Oxford publishes report which ‘justifies’ green belt urban extensions
Council report calls for a review of Oxford’s green belt inner boundaries to allow strategic housing allocations…
MPs cry foul over withdrawal of contaminated land grants
Soil Health report argues that without funding councils are less able and less likely to proactively investigate potential contamination…
Clark allows housing appeals in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire
Two separate housing schemes totalling over 400 dwellings allowed on appeal by the Secretary of State…
Planning round-up 9 June
– Salford Quays set to double up
– Teesside regeneration report
– Pig farmers pan planning
– Go-ahead for Nottinghamshire waste gasification facility
– Report says productivity not connectivity should be Northern Powerhouse priority
– Government’s Kent lorry park plan slated by MPs
– Local plan round-up
– And more stories…
Roger Milne
Read the full story on our website by clicking on the headline.
Birmingham plan ‘paused’ over green belt issues
Government uses new powers under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to put Birmingham Development Plan on hold…
Council ‘fury’ over Stockton housing scheme U-turn
Outline proposals for a 550 home development at Ingleby Barwick allowed after government reconsideration of appeal decision…
Latest population projections published
The Office for National Statistics latest population projections indicate a larger and increasingly ageing UK population…
Green light for new settlement at Stratford-on-Avon
Outline planning permission granted for 140-hectare development in Warwickshire…
Go-ahead for major Warrington developments
Planning committee approves the next stage of development for the Omega South project…
Planning round-up 2 June 2016
– New Homes Bonus allocations
– National Infrastructure Assessment
– Scottish planning review
– Housing completions
– Manchester housing schemes
– Green energy project determinations
– Estates regeneration initiative
– And more stories…
Roger Milne
Read the full story on our website by clicking on the headline.
Yorkshire fracking permission makes waves
North Yorkshire County Council’s planning committee votes in favour of exploratory fracking scheme…
Mortgage Lenders urge starter home caution
Starter Homes initiative risks destabilising the housing market, warns the Council of Mortgage Lenders…
Transport Secretary backs Birmingham tram extension scheme despite heritage concerns
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin goes against recommendation of a planning inspector and renews compulsory purchase powers for Centro…
Clark blocks green belt solar farms in Worcestershire and Essex
Communities Secretary dismisses appeals for two solar farms as neither demonstrated the very special circumstances needed to justify development in the green belt…
Green regulator voices concern over M4 project
Natural Resources Wales voices environmental concerns over the proposed £1bn M4 corridor project around Newport…
Planning round-up 26 May 2016
– RPTI Cymru welcomes new Welsh Cabinet Secretary appointment
– Housing ‘Pink Zones’ urged
– Salford’s green space plea
– Clark allows single wind turbine appeal
– Bolton plan handling probe
– Neighbourhood planning progress
– Housing and Planning Act 2016 published
– And more stories…
Roger Milne
Read the full story on our website by clicking on the headline.
Queen’s Speech promises a neighbourhood planning and infrastructure bill
21 new bills announced, including legislation to help simplify planning rules and support the government’s ambition to deliver one million new homes…
Starter home delivery doubt as Housing and Planning Bill enacted
Developers cast doubt on government’s target of building 200,000 ‘starter homes’ by 2020…
Councils defend their challenge to developer contributions policy after latest court ruling
West Berkshire Council and Reading Borough Council unrepentant after Appeal Court judgement overturns High Court ruling…
Leeds trolley-bus project proves a switch-off
Transport Secretary refuses controversial proposals for a trolley-bus project as part of the £250m Leeds New Generation Transport Scheme…
Majority of councils say NPPF viability test hinders affordable homes provision
New report shows only seven per cent of councils believe that the government’s starter homes initiative would help address their affordable housing need…
Planning round-up 20 May 2016
– A14 upgrade consented
– Legislation changes big onshore wind farm planning regime
– Developers pledge to boost home delivery
– Meadowhall expansion
– Hampshire new settlement partner sought
– North Yorkshire shale gas test case
– And more stories…
Roger Milne
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that we are working with the organisers of Better Connected Live to deliver a bespoke session on planning.
Better Connected has been assessing local authority websites from a customer perspective since 1999, but this is the first event of its kind. It’s being held in central Birmingham next Tuesday and Wednesday, and our planning session will include:
- Vicky Sargent and Helen Williams at Better Connected about the programme overall and the planning results
- Pete Flynn at Liverpool City Council
- Scott Alford at Planning Portal
The session, sponsored by Arcus Global, is open to anyone involved in or interested in local authority planning. You can find out more about it by watching this short interview with me by Public Service Digital.
Bookings are about to close, so this is your last chance… Register here as a Planning Portal user and you’ll get a discount.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Our news is now being published on the main site, however we intend to provide a weekly round-up of the news here on the blog.
Read the full story on our website by clicking on the headline.
Parliamentary deadlock over housing and planning bill nearly over
Housing and planning bill nears completion of its legislative journey with just one issue still in contention between the two Chambers…Update: The Lords did not insist on its final proposed amendment, Royal Assent was scheduled for 12 May…
Clark blocks major housing schemes in Gloucestershire and Cheshire
Clark agrees with the inspectors’ recommendations and refuses both of the residential schemes…
Experts critique housing need assessment proposals
Report offers alternative method to measuring housing need…
Proposal for 2,800 new homes on Green Belt near Redditch
Green Belt residential development plans submitted for 136-hectare site…
Stonehenge tunnel gets guarded UNESCO approval
UNESCO report backs the concept of a tunnel under the World Heritage Site…
Planning round-up 12 May 2016
– Judicial review for ground-breaking Cornish neighbourhood plan
– Wrangle over Greater Manchester spatial strategy
– Folkestone garden town mooted
– Land Registry consultation
– Milton Keynes mulls getting higher
– Southampton housing estate revamp
– And more stories…
Its good to see that one month on from the launch of our new site, the numbers of online applications continue to grow – reaching more than 47,000 submitted in April.
April’s numbers continue the trend of around a 10% growth from last year, consistently averaging over 2,000 applications each working day, as you can see from the graph.
Traffic across the website also remains strong and its good to see that the new responsive site design is pushing up traffic from mobiles and tablets.
Planning Portal Blog 