The head of NHS England this week named 10 new settlements which will be test-beds for so-called ‘healthy new towns’.
The new towns will pilot innovative ways of dealing with health care challenges of the 21st century like obesity, dementia and community cohesion. This initiative is supported by Public Health England.
The programme will cover new communities across England and cover projects totaling more than 76,000 new homes and potentially approximately 170,000 residents.
The NHS will help shape the way these new sites develop by bringing together clinicians, designers and technology experts to reimagine how healthcare can be delivered in these places, to showcase what’s possible by joining up design of the built environment with modern health and care services, and to deploy new models of technology-enabled primary care.
NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said : ”As these new neighbourhoods and towns are built, we’ll kick ourselves if in 10 years time we look back having missed the opportunity to ’design out’ the obesogenic environment, and ‘design in’ health and wellbeing.
“We want children to have places where they want to play with friends and can safely walk or cycle to school – rather than just exercising their fingers on video games.
We want to see neighbourhoods and adaptable home designs that make it easier for older people to continue to live independently wherever possible. And we want new ways of providing new types of digitally-enabled local health services that share physical infrastructure and staff with schools and community groups.”
The first 10 sites chosen are:
- Barking Riverside
- Barton Park, Oxford
- Bicester, Oxon
- Cranbrook, Devon
- Darlington
- Ebbsfleet Garden City, Kent
- Halton Lea, Runcorn
- Northstowe, Cambridgeshire
- Whitehill and Bordon, Hampshire
- Whyndyke Farm in Fylde, Lancashire
Options to be tested at some of these sites include fast food-free zones near schools, designing safe and appealing green spaces, building dementia-friendly streets and ensuring people can access new GP services using digital technology.
Professor Kevin Fenton, national director for health and wellbeing at Public Health England, said: “Some of the UK’s most pressing health challenges – such as obesity, mental health issues, physical inactivity and the needs of an ageing population – can all be influenced by the quality of our built and natural environment. The considerate design of spaces and places is critical to promote good health.”
Read more information about the towns
Roger Milne
The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has successfully appealed refusal of its outline application for a 1,000-home sustainable urban extension on land south of Brackmills, Hardingstone which had been refused by Northampton Borough Council against the advice of its head of planning.
The agency had been actively promoting the site for residential development since 2005. It was allocated for housing under the adopted joint core strategy. The scheme included plans for a local centre, a two-form entry primary school, a medical centre, a pharmacy and infrastructure improvements as well as green infrastructure.
The appeal was recovered for determination by the Communities Secretary Greg Clark. The inspector who held the public inquiry recommended the appeal should be allowed and Clark agreed.
The Communities Secretary acknowledged that the proposals would inevitably involve a major change to the landscape and appearance of the area. He noted that the council was unable to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply in the Northampton Related Development Area. Clark also highlighted that the scheme would make a significant contribution to local affordable housing need (at 24 per cent).
Overall, Clark concluded that the proposal represented a sustainable form of development which would accord with the development plan and the National Planning Policy Framework. He insisted that the adverse effects would not outweigh the benefits.
The Commons Select Committee considering the hybrid bill for the HS2 project has completed its work having notched up 160 days of sittings over nearly two years and dealt with nearly 1,600 petitions.
At issue was the detail of the scheme between London and the West Midlands but not the principle of the proposed new rail link.
The all-party committee recommendations included:
- A longer Chilterns bored tunnel with a north portal at South Heath
- Greater noise protection for Wendover
- Better construction arrangements in Hillingdon
- A remodelled maintenance depot at Washwood Heath to maximise local job opportunities Amendments to the operation of the discretionary compensation schemes with a view toward greater fairness and a more functional property market in areas near to the proposed line.
The committee has also urged changes to the hybrid bill process. The MPs complained that many of the current petitioning procedures and hearing arrangements were inherited from previous eras and were no longer fit for purpose.
The committee said: “We do not believe that spending nearly two years on this process is sensible or sustainable in terms of recruitment of future hybrid bill committee members. Nor is it necessary or indeed helpful to petitioners.”
The MPs added: “There should be less petitioning, with more focus on serious detriment. There is simply far too much repetition of the same issues before the committee.”
Download the full report (4MB PDF)
Roger Milne
A new Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) study has highlighted that 10 of the UK’s top 12 struggling cities are based in the north and risk being left behind by the attempts to boost economic growth and create prosperity in the north. No city in the south featured in the top 12 or 24 of the index.
The study analysed the fortunes of 74 cities with populations over 100,000 people. The resulting index is based on such factors changes in employment rates, levels of highly-qualified workers, the number and type of full-time jobs, net migration rates and population change.
The report noted that three of the top 12 struggling places (Rochdale, Bolton and Wigan) are located in Greater Manchester, where substantial powers and resources have been devolved.
The top struggling cities were identified as:
- Blackburn
- Blackpool
- Bolton
- Bradford
- Burnley
- Dundee
- Hull
- Grimsby
- Middlesbrough
- Rochdale
- Stoke
- Wigan
So far, the Northern Powerhouse and devolution agenda has focused on the core cities, the biggest cities in the country, with devolution deals already signed for areas such as Greater Manchester and Sheffield city region. But the report demonstrates that for wider prosperity and rebalancing, areas outside the biggest cities must also share in the benefits of investment and devolution.
Researchers at Newcastle University found that growth in many northern cities was lagging significantly behind national levels.
For instance, cities in the south have seen a much stronger growth in full-time equivalent job creation, which benefitted places such as Exeter and Milton Keynes, while the likes of Burnley and Stoke struggled.
The research said that economic growth alone will not necessarily reduce poverty in cities, so comprehensive and integrated packages of long-term policies around economic development, employment and skills and infrastructure were required.
Meanwhile, in a separate but related development global infrastructure firm AECOM has insisted that northern cities must ensure their planning structures are better prepared to attract foreign direct investment to fund the Northern Powerhouse.
Roger Milne
Housing starts and completions on the up
Latest official statistics on housing starts and completions show a seven-year high. Figures published by the Department for Communities and Local Government for the last quarter of 2015 showed:
- The number of starts was up 23 per cent on same quarter a year earlier
- Completions up 21 per cent over the last year and
- More than 143,500 new build homes were started in 2015 – nearly double the low point of 2009.
Meanwhile, figures compiled for the Home Builders Federation (HBF) showed that planning permissions were up 12 per cent on same quarter last year.
The department pointed to strong regional growth with Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire experiencing high levels of starts along with areas in North Oxfordshire and the Thames estuary.
Figures released last week by the HBF showed that planning permissions for 59,875 homes were granted in England during the third quarter of last year, an increase from 53,409 permissions in the corresponding quarter the previous year. Some 242, 819 permissions were granted in the 12 months to October. That was the highest ‘moving annual’ total since early 2008.
Council concern over starter homes policy
Local councils, of all political parties, have agreed that the government’s starter homes policy will hinder rather than help to tackle the growing need for genuinely affordable housing in England.
Nearly 80 per cent of local authorities think that starter homes should not be classified as affordable housing while only seven per cent of councils think they will address the need for affordable housing in their local authority areas. Some 53 per cent of respondents were conservative-controlled councils.
Those findings were highlighted in a survey of local government compiled by the Town and Country Planning Association and the Association for Public Sector Excellence (APSE).
The poll found that over two thirds of councils anticipate that they will be building less social and affordable housing as a result of the government’s plans to reduce social rents by one per cent a year and for the next four years.
Over 90 per cent of councils described their need for affordable homes as severe or moderate, nine out of 10 councils were concerned that the extension of the Right to Buy to housing association tenants will mean that there will be less socially-rented homes.
CBI wish-list for infrastructure
The National Infrastructure Commission needs teeth, mustn’t be waylaid by politics and should focus on long term planning in eight key areas. That is the view of business group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
According to a CBI paper priorities should include:
- Delivering a secure, diverse low-carbon energy supply
- Preparing for the roll-out of 5G mobile connectivity
- Ensuring the impact of climate change is factored in when planning water supplies and flood defences and
- Devising creative solutions to meet the future growing demand on the UK’s roads, rails and ports.
Rhian Kelly, CBI business environment director, said: “It’s vital the Commission is not blown off course by politics. This independent body must be given strong teeth by politicians so that it can recommend significant infrastructure decisions, like building a new runway in the South East, are made for the future benefit of all.”
View the press release and download the paper
Oxfordshire carve-up proposed as part of devolution deal
Five local authority leaders in Oxfordshire have proposed the abolition of the county council as part of an ambitious devolution deal for the sub-region which would mean the creation of a new combined authority. Such a move would involve significant changes for public services in Oxfordshire and include neighbouring Cotswold District Council and South Northamptonshire Council.
Under this plan the county council functions would transfer to four new local unitary councils working together in partnership with the National Health Service, Police and the Local Enterprise Partnerships.
The option now under consideration would create four new local entities:
- A new southern Oxfordshire Unitary Authority would cover the area currently administered by Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire District Councils
- An Oxford City Unitary Authority
- A West Oxfordshire-Cotswold Unitary Authority covering the area currently administered by West Oxfordshire District Council and Cotswold District Council and
- A Cherwell-South Northants Unitary Authority covering the area currently administered by Cherwell District Council and South Northamptonshire Council.
Durham clamp-down on student housing
Durham County Council has confirmed it will introduce an Article 4 Direction which will remove permitted development rights in respect of the conversion of homes into small houses in multiple occupation (HMO).
As a result family homes in the central art of the city will no longer be able to be turned into student accommodation without the need for planning permission.
The local authority has been consulting on the initiative and has announced that the new regime could also apply to the Framwellgate Moor area on the outskirts of the city.
Cornish quarry re-think
Shire Oak Quarries Limited has withdrawn a planning application to support the full reopening of Dean Quarry near St Keverne in Cornwall. Stone from the quarry was destined for the proposed Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project.
Cornwall Council approved the proposals last year but this was quashed after a High Court judge ruled that the planning authority should have required an environmental impact assessment.
A spokesman for Shire Oak Quarries said: “We have now considered the implications of the court decision and decided to withdraw the application. We intend to address the matters held in the judgment and to re-submit a further application in due course.”
Energy moves
- Scottish Power has unveiled plans to more than double the capacity of its 440 megawatt Ben Cruachan pumped storage hydro project in Argyll.
- Swindon residents have been offered the opportunity to buy so-called solar bonds which will be invested in a five MW community solar power project approved by the borough council which has ambitious plans to install 200 MW of renewable capacity by 2020, enough to meet the energy needs of every home in the Wiltshire town.
- Proposals for what would be the largest solar power farm in Wales have been submitted by Countryside Renewables for an 89 hectare site on agricultural land at Llanbadrig, Anglesey.
- Law firm Herbert Smith Freehills advised energy firm Cuadrilla Resources on its successful appeal over Lancashire County Council’s refusal of planning permission for proposed monitoring and site restoration works at its Grange Hill shale exploration site near Singleton, Lancashire. This is the first appeal success for a shale exploration site following the Government’s Shale Gas and Oil Policy Statement of last year. The appeal was determined by a planning Inspector on behalf of the Secretary of State, The proposals do not involve fracking.
Cheltenham tightens consent times
Cheltenham Borough Council’s planning committee has voted unanimously to reduce the period given for planning consents from five to three years. This took effect from 1 March.
The council argued there was no longer any justification for giving a longer period for implementing permissions because monitoring had shown that approvals were not being translated into development on the ground.
Councillor Andrew McKinlay, cabinet member for development, said: “From 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2015 the total number of dwellings granted planning permission was 2,339, however the total number of dwellings completed during the same timeframe has been 1,031; this shows that only 44 per cent of dwellings granted permission during that time have been delivered” he said.
Forest of Dean planning audit
Forest of Dean District Council has agreed to an external review of its planning services this month. This four-day exercise will involve the Local Government Association, the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) and a peer challenge team of elected members and senior planning officers from other authorities.
The team will assess how well the Gloucestershire authority is delivering its overall priorities and how both officers and members are managing the planning development process. They will also canvass the views of those using the service.
Neighbourhood plans progress
Another slew of neighbourhood plans won local backing following referendums held last week. These included two for Little Aston and Stonall – in Staffordshire (Lichfield DC); one for Morpeth in Northumberland; one for the Old Market area of Bristol and one in Southampton (Bassett).
Princes Foundation launches BIMBY toolkit for homes planning
Residents in Norwich have been the first community to take advantage of an innovative online toolkit produced by the Prince’s Foundation. The BIMBY (beauty-in-my backyard) toolkit is a series of workshops that helps a community create a housing manual for an area which can become part of local planning policy. Groups in Cambridge and Malvern are evaluating the initiative.
View further details of the toolkit
City Deal for Swansea region submitted
The Swansea Bay city region has submitted an ambitious ‘internet coast’ city deal bid worth in excess of £500m over 20 years to the UK and Welsh governments. It aims to support 39,000 jobs and will focus on technology, energy and ultra-fast broadband infrastructure.
The Swansea Bay city region is made up of the local authorities of Swansea, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Neath Port Talbot.
In a separate but related move Cardiff capital region last week outlined its planned £1.28bn city deal to UK ministers, with a view to securing an in principle agreement in time for George Osborne’s budget due later this month.
Capital developments
- The London region of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), which has over 2,000 members working in the public, private and third sectors, has urged the incoming Mayor to stimulate economic growth, tackle climate change and build more homes to house the capital’s rapidly growing population.
- London assembly member Tom Copley has released a report titled ‘Tax Trial: Land Value Tax for London?’ which argues that a new and Value Tax (LVT) could provide the incentive to build over 200,000 new homes in the capital.
- Benson Elliot and Londonewcastle’s proposals to transform Ealing town centre with a series of new buildings, one 18 storeys high, providing new homes with shared gardens, a cinema, a music venue, shops, restaurants and basement car-parking and cycle storage have been approved by the west London council.
- The Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard is set to be demolished now Westminster City Council has approved plans for a mixed-use scheme on the site in central London involving six new buildings providing nearly 93,000 square metres of new housing and retail and commercial floor space.
- Some 93 per cent of those polled in a referendum on a neighbourhood plan for the St Quintin and Woodland area of north Kensington voted yes on a turn-out of 23 per cent.
Drone initiative
Moray Council in north-east Scotland is planning to trial the use of drones to survey potential development sites.
Legal briefs
- Campaigners have applied for a judicial review of Canterbury City Council’s decision to enter a contract for the sale, subject to planning permission, of seafront land in Whitstable. View further details…
- Dorset County Council is facing an £18 million claim for compensation from a Portland quarry company following changes to the access arrangements for the site the firm owns near Southwell. View further details…
Roger Milne
Councils will be able to compete to process planning applications and offer ‘fast track’ application services, much like the Fast Track Passport service, under proposals for a series of pilots now out for consultation.
The administration said the proposals would increase local choice by giving applicants the option of whether to submit their plans to the local council, a competing council or a government-approved organisation, which would process applications up until the decision point.
Councils will also be able to offer the ‘fast track’ planning application service – either through competition pilots or potentially through devolution deals.
However, ministers have stressed that decision making on planning applications would remain with the local council.
These reforms are among other measures outlined by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in a consultation document, which also includes latest thinking on planning charges and detail on potential government intervention when planning authorities fail to produce local plans in a timely fashion.
DCLG has proposed that planning fees should rise in line with inflation and, crucially, performance. One approach could mean that councils which under perform in respect of major applications would not benefit from increased fees.
Another approach canvassed would mean limiting increases to those authorities that are in the top 75 per cent of performance for both the speed and quality of their decisions.
The department is consulting on revised thresholds in respect of major developments and new thresholds for non-major developments.
The department has also confirmed that the government will prioritise intervention over tardy local plan marking where there is under delivery of housing in areas of high housing pressure, where plans have not been kept up to date, where the least progress in plan-making has been made and where “intervention would have the greatest impact in accelerating local plan production”.
Ministers will be checking to see if planning authorities are meeting the timetable they have set themselves, possibly on a six-month basis.
Roger Milne
Ministers confirmed last week that the new requirement to set out the financial benefits of planning applications would be drawn widely.
It will go beyond “local finance considerations” (i.e. sums payable under the Community Infrastructure Levy and grants from central government like the New Homes Bonus).
The government has proposed that council tax revenue, business rate revenue and s106 payments should be included.
The Department for Communities and Local Government has also clarified key detail over its proposals for permission in principle (PiP), brownfield registers, simplification of the neighbourhood plan process, changes to statutory consultation on planning applications and the new arrangements for section 106 dispute resolution.
It has also started consultation on changes to permitted development rights for state-funded free schools, which would mean these could open quickly on temporary sites and in temporary buildings while permanent sites are secured.
The government is also proposing to allow larger extensions to be made to school buildings in certain cases without the need for a planning application.
In respect of PiP, ministers have proposed that the so-called qualifying documents that can grant PiP on allocation should be future local plans, future neighbourhood plans and brownfield registers.
The administration has proposed that the only ‘in principle matters’ that should be determined as a part of a PiP should be the location, the uses and the amount of development. PiP should have duration of five years, ministers have also suggested.
Last year ministers committed to ensuring that 90 per cent of suitable brownfield sites should have planning permission for housing by 2020.
The consultation document suggested that planning authorities which failed to make “sufficient” progress against the brownfield objective would be unable to claim the existence of an up-to-date five year housing land supply.
In that case the presumption in favour of sustainable development would apply, the department said.
Roger Milne
The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has insisted that planning committees should record the reasons for their decisions clearly, particularly when their result conflicts with officers’ recommendations.
The watchdog stressed that decision making should be as open and transparent as possible, particularly in the face of public opposition.
The LGO has reported that this was not the case in a recent investigation involving Erewash Borough Council in Derbyshire.
Neighbours complained to the LGO about the way the council approved an application for a development on green belt land near their homes. They made a number of complaints, including that the initial application was not advertised properly, and that members did not give any reasons for granting the proposed extensions planning permission. The LGO upheld some of the complaints.
The application was recommended for refusal because the proposed extensions were disproportionate to the size of the original building and would increase the building’s prominence.
The officer’s report to the committee included details of the neighbours’ objections and those of the local parish council along with representations from the applicant and his agent.
Following a site visit, members decided to approve the application against the officer’s recommendation. However, no record was made of the reasons for their decision.
The watchdog recommended that Erewash Borough Council apologise to the neighbours for failing to publicise the application as a departure from the local plan and for also not giving reasons for the decision to grant planning permission.
Roger Milne
Communities Secretary Greg Clark has allowed two free school projects, both for academies, against the recommendations of the inspectors who held the recovered inquiries.
Clark has granted prior approval to the Secretary of State for Education to allow the temporary use of Pioneer House in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire as a faith school to become permanent.
This was a redetermination. Clark’s predecessor Sir Eric Pickles had backed the scheme but his decision was overturned after a High Court challenge brought by the parish council and the local planning authority South Buckinghamshire District Council.
The main issue was noise nuisance. Clark’s decision letter concluded that the predicted external levels of noise would be “acceptable with regard to the relevant guidelines”. He said the internal noise levels “would not give rise to significant adverse impacts to health and quality of life”.
The Secretary of State has also granted planning permission and listed building consent to Route 39 Academy Trust and Willmott Dixon for a permanent new school at Steart Farm in Bideford, Devon.
The location is in the North Devon Coast area of outstanding natural beauty. The scheme was opposed by Torridge District Council and recommended for refusal by the inspector who held the inquiry.
Clark acknowledged that the proposals, including a new school building, breached AONB policies but concluded that there were “exceptional circumstances” which justified the project.
He decided that “the disadvantages to the public interest of the proposed development at Steart farm within the AONB are outweighed by the significant benefits of the school at the appeal site”.
Roger Milne
Peers have added their voice to those criticising current government policies as unlikely to meet demand for either the quantity or quality of new homes needed.
The Lords Select Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment has published a report which urged the government to appoint a chief built environment advisor to champion higher standards in the built environment across government departments.
The report also recommended that ministers should review the National Planning Policy Framework to make sure developers weren’t using financial viability “to play fast and loose with design quality and sustainability”.
Peers want the administration to publish a nationally consistent methodology for viability assessment.
The committee said the government should reconsider the proposal to include ‘starter homes’ within the definition of affordable housing since “starter homes cease to include any element of affordability after five years”.
Peers also wanted design reviews to be mandatory for all major planning applications.
Their report also made the case for planning departments to be better resourced. “Planning profession needs to rediscover the prestige planning once had,” said the peers and urged more proactive planning by local authorities.
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