Liverpool needs link to HS2 says report
A high speed rail link to HS2 for Liverpool is essential if the Chancellor’s decision to build a Northern Powerhouse is to succeed, according to a report from independent think tank ResPublica.
The report argued that northern cities need a dedicated high speed link to HS2 if they are to reach the level of economic success that the Chancellor wants.
It said Liverpool and other northern cities will be left behind if HS2 doesn’t go beyond favoured cities and locations.
The report claimed the cost of extending HS2 to Liverpool would be less than £3bn and suggested up to two thirds of the bill could be self-financed by the city region through the local retention of taxes.
ResPublica’s proposal would see a dedicated high speed rail line linking the Liverpool city region into the HS2 route to the north of Crewe, and connecting it to Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly on high speed track.
This link would also be the westernmost branch of the planned east-west “HS3” or “TransNorth” route running from Liverpool to Hull and reconnecting the great cities of the north.
Green light for Goole employment and distribution hub
An employment and distribution hub at Goole offering around 200,000 square metres of floor space plus a 100 bed hotel has been approved by the East Riding of Yorkshire planning committee.
Yorkshire developers Sterling Capitol and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), advised by Indigo Planning, are involved in the project which could create up to 3,000 new jobs.
The proposed development comprises two elements:
- Goole36, a 39-hectare site which is being promoted by the HCA for direct development; and
- Capitol Park, a 13-hectare location controlled by Sterling Capitol and offering design and build development opportunities. It is close to the existing Tesco regional distribution centre, Drax biomass facility and the Guardian glass factory.
The site has direct access to junction 36 of the M62 and the Port of Goole, and sits within the Humber enterprise zone with potential for a dedicated rail link.
Major Welsh wind farm withdrawn by developer
Swedish power company Vattenfall has withdrawn its proposed 122.5-megawatt Mynydd Lluest y Graig wind farm in Powys from the planning regime for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. The project had been registered for the pre-application stage of the NSIP process.
The company blamed “recent changes to planning policy” for its move. The Government is currently legislating to remove on-shore wind farms from the Planning Act 2008 (as amended) regime.
Read the letter from the developer.
Housing statistics published
There has been no change in owner occupation rates over the last two years, according to the latest English Housing Survey for 2014-15.
The survey published by the Department for Communities and Local Government highlighted that the rate of over-crowding remained low while under-occupation has increased and driven by the owner-occupier sector.
The overall rate of overcrowding in England in 2014-15 was three per cent, unchanged from 2013-14 with some 675,000 households living in overcrowded conditions.
Overall the energy efficiency of the English housing stock gas improved with average SAP rating of English dwellings now 61 points up from 45 points in 1996. The improvement was across all tenures.
The number of non-decent homes in England has continued to decline. In 2014 a fifth of dwellings failed to meet the decent homes standard, a reduction of 3.1 million homes since 2006 when 35 per cent of homes failed to meet the standard. The private rented sector has the highest proportion of non-decent homes (29 per cent).
Government consults on new London-only PD proposals
The government has begun consulting on three complementary ways to encourage more housing in London by allowing additional storeys on buildings.
The proposals are: a London-wide permitted development right, with a prior approval, for up to two additional storeys, up to the roofline of an adjoining building; specific planning policies in the London Plan to support upward extensions for new homes and boroughs making local development orders to grant planning permission to extend upwards for all or part of their area, or for particular types of buildings.
London round-up
- Tower Hamlets Council has approved proposals for what will be Europe’s tallest residential tower, a 67-storey skyscraper designed by architects HOK for a site overlooking West India Quay on the Isle of Dogs. The scheme will provide 861 new flats.
- Communities Secretary Greg Clark has accepted the recommendation of a planning inspector and allowed a recovered appeal for a 24-storey residential tower proposed by developer Essential Living for a site at Swiss Cottage that was originally refused by Camden Council. Clark concluded that the impact of the Theatre Square scheme on local conservation areas and heritage assets was outweighed by the housing benefits – including affordable homes provision.
- Lewisham Council is embroiled in a row with Millwall FC over plans to compulsory purchase land for the New Bermondsey regeneration scheme proposed for the area around the club’s stadium. The scheme safeguards the operation of the club and will provide new cladding for the stadium. The New Bermondsey project involves up to 2,400 new homes, a new London overground station and other community benefits.
Report blows cold on developer contribution scheme for NI affordable homes
Plans to require developers to contribute towards affordable housing provision is unrealistic for most of Northern Ireland according to a report commissioned by the Department for Social Development (DSD) and the Department of the Environment (DoE).
Researchers from Heriot Watt University and Three Dragons Consultancy concluded that introducing a scheme would not work given “current market conditions”.
The report argued that a scheme could be considered for greater Belfast but that “timing, percentage target and form of provision are best left to local decision makers”. Developer contribution schemes operate in the rest of the UK and in the Irish Republic.
Environment minister Mark H Durkan said: “My department’s strategic planning policy will continue to recognise the importance of social and affordable housing and encourage its provision through local development plans.”
Cruise terminal
A feasibility study for a new permanent cruise liner facility in Liverpool is to be undertaken, the city council has announced.
It has identified the former Princes Jetty at Princes Parade, close to the landing stage, as its preferred location and a potentially suitable site.
The council will appoint a consultancy next month to undertake a detailed study into the design and cost of constructing a terminal capable of handling 3,600 embarking and disembarking passengers with baggage – twice as many as the existing temporary facility at Princes Parade.
The site would include passport control, passenger lounge, café, toilets, taxi rank, vehicle pick up point, coach layover area and a car park.
Call for tech-savvy planning
Cities need to use better planning to attract the technology and advanced manufacturing (AM) sectors while avoiding the creation of “tech ghettos” that exacerbate social inequality, a new report from the RTPI has stressed.
The report highlighted concern that the presence of technology and AM sectors can lead to a two-speed economy and economic segregation.
The report stressed that policies and incentives that attract those sectors should be balanced by plans to ensure their growth is beneficial to the whole city or region.
Richard Blyth, RTPI’s head of policy, said: “The success of places like Horsham, Temple Quarter in Bristol and Dublin’s Docklands is proof that innovative hubs don’t just thrive by chance, they are also frequently the result of good planning”.
Teesside Mayoral Development Corporation proposed
Former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine has revealed plans for a new Mayoral Development Corporation – the first of its kind outside London.
This would target regeneration and local economic growth in the Tees Valley area with an initial focus on transforming the former SSI steelworks site at Redcar.
Work will start immediately to form the corporation. This will offer a vehicle for greater powers to be devolved in areas including regeneration planning and business support.
LGA voices starter home doubts
Discounted starter homes could be out of reach for the majority of families in need of an affordable home in many parts of the country, analysis released by the Local Government Association (LGA) has revealed.
The LGA acknowledged that the national starter homes scheme could help some people onto the housing ladder but that crucial details are yet to be confirmed.
The association is concerned the initiative will help the fewest numbers of people in areas where the housing affordability crisis is most acute and will be out of reach for many people in need of an affordable home in the majority of local areas.
Council leaders are calling for local flexibility on the number, type and quality of starter homes so that they meet the needs of local communities.
D-Day for Dorset footpath decision
The Environment Secretary has set Dorset County Council a deadline of July next year (2017) to decide whether it should modify its definitive map and statement of public rights of way and add a footpath from Weymouth to Castle Cove beach at Portland Harbour.
Campaigners had applied to the council for modification in October 2014 but it emerged that the council was unlikely to take a decision until 2019.
The Planning Inspectorate has sent a letter to campaigners which made it clear the Secretary State took the view that a period of 18 months should be allowed for the determination of the application.
Read the letter from the Planning Inspectorate.
Bristol surf scheme approved
Planning permission for re-designed engineering works for a multi-million pound surfing lake at Almondsbury near Bristol has been given the go-ahead by South Gloucestershire Council.
The Wave Bristol project is set to create one of the largest artificial waves for surfers in the world. As well as the lake the proposals include an adventure trail, swimming pool, and a camping area with 100 pitches.
Hampshire new town move
Fareham Borough Council has decided to seek a development partner for the Welborne scheme, a proposed new settlement of up to 6,000 new homes, 30 per cent of which will be affordable, earmarked for 400 hectares of land to the north of Fareham near the M27. A special meeting of the council executive also agreed to consider using compulsory purchase powers to expedite the project.
Coastal plans
Coastal community teams around England have submitted over 100 economic plans designed to boost growth and jobs.
Communities Secretary Greg Clark said the proposals demonstrated a wealth of creative and practical ideas. They include building a new history centre in Plymouth to redesigning the high street in Scarborough.
Court briefs
- A Wiltshire landowner has lost a Court of Appeal case over a 22 hectare solar farm located near his £3 million home. The Court of Appeal overturned an earlier High Court judgment which quashed permission for the scheme which has been built. Read the BBC news story.
- The owner of the George Tavern, a 600-year-old, Grade II listed pub and music venue in east London has won permission to pursue a legal challenge over the effect of new developments on established licensed premises to the Court of Appeal. The challenge relates to Swan Housing Association’s plans to build six flats next door to the pub, on the basis that noise complaints from future residents could pose a significant threat to the venue’s future. Read the news story.
- Wealden District Council has won a planning court challenge over a planning inspector’s grant of outline permission for a 103-dwelling development at Crowborough, East Sussex, on appeal. Read the news story.
- West Berkshire Council has accepted a High Court judgment dismissing its challenge over a planning inspector’s grant of planning permission on appeal for a residential development at Burghfield Common. Read more about the development.
Ministers have launched a rural planning review to reduce regulatory burdens in support of new homes, jobs and innovation. This initiative was signalled in last year’s Rural Productivity Plan.
A key element of this exercise centres on the rules for converting agricultural buildings to residential use. Following changes introduced in 2014 more than 2,000 agricultural buildings have been converted to homes.
The administration is interested in views over whether the current thresholds should be changed further. These limit change of use to a maximum of 450 square metres of floor space and up to three additional dwellings across the farm.
The administration has made it clear it is interested in how the permitted development rights in Part 6 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 are being used. Also of interest is how the planning system helps or hinders those developing farm shops, polytunnels and on-farm reservoirs.
Communities Secretary Greg Clark said: “The need for new homes doesn’t stop where our cities end, it’s just as real in rural towns and villages that need new house building to keep thriving.
“That’s why we are looking carefully at how our planning reforms can deliver this whilst at the same time ensuring local people have more control over planning and the Green Belt continues to be protected.”
Roger Milne
Current government policies designed to increase housing supply may not achieve that goal, top property consultancy Savills has warned.
The company has also highlighted that changes in affordable housing definition and policy are “likely to leave a gap in housing provision for those on lower incomes”.
A research note just published by the company pointed out that ‘Help to Buy’, ‘Starter Homes’ and shared ownership would largely serve the same parts of the market. “As a result of the overlap, there is a risk that the schemes may not deliver additional homes”
The assessment also argued there was a risk that the ‘Starter Homes’ policy could distort the new homes sales market, “without significantly increasing the number of new homes delivered overall”.
Savills added: “uncertainty surrounding the details of these schemes, including future affordable housing requirements alongside ‘Starter Homes’ makes the appraisal of land values a challenge.”
The note also questioned the impact on housing supply of the new focus of house building on first time buyers via the ‘Starter Homes’ initiative.
Savills’ researchers said: “Simply replacing homes which would have been delivered anyway through existing routes, namely in the open market via ‘Help to Buy’ or as affordable housing through s106 agreements, will not provide additional homes.
“In fact by narrowing the focus of house building to first time buyers we risk creating the reverse effect and reducing the number of new homes built”.
View the Savills policy response (pdf)
Roger Milne
The planning regime for so-called Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) has reached a key milestone with development consent for a power plant in King’s Lynn granted by Energy Secretary Amber Rudd.
The Palm Paper combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) is the 50th scheme to be determined under the planning regime established by the Planning Act 2008 (as amended).
Under these arrangements projects are examined by the Planning inspectorate before determination by the relevant Secretary of State.
Steve Quartermain, Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate, said: “This is a significant milestone. Every application has met the statutory timescales laid down in the Planning Act 2008 for examination by the Inspectorate.
“This is a tremendous achievement for our inspectors and casework staff. The regime is a success as it has streamlined the decision making process for the major infrastructure that the country needs whilst ensuring proposals are properly and robustly examined and ensuring local people can have their say.”
Of the 50 projects examined by the Inspectorate, 31 were energy, 16 transport, two waste and one waste water developments.
Infrastructure planning expert Angus Walker from Bircham Dyson Bell noted that the 50th project was for a generation scheme mainly for the promoter’s own industrial processes.
“There was a bit of a disagreement between the inspector and Natural England on the assessment of effects on three Nature 2000 sites from air quality impacts.
“The former disagreed with the approach of both the latter and an ‘air quality technical advisory group’ of experts from Natural England, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales.
“Nevertheless the government concluded that there was no significant effect on the sites from the project. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of the consequences of air quality impacts on projects.”
View the Bircham Dyson Bell news story
Roger Milne
West Lindsey District Council has begun consulting on a housing-led Local Development Order for an area alongside the River Trent at Gainsborough where it wants to see 450 new homes built. Also planned are shops, restaurants and cafés and leisure facilities and a riverside linear park.
The site is mostly vacant and has been disused for a number of years. An empty school has been specifically excluded from the LDO boundary to ensure it is excluded from demolition. A separate project has started to investigate the feasibility of converting the building into residential use.
The Homes and Communities Agency is working closely with the council on the LDO initiative. The council was selected as one of the Governments first flagship Housing Zones with the expectation to deliver some 750 new homes on brownfield sites.
A council statement stressed: “We will work with developers and the Government to deliver a range of new housing, making the most of the riverside location, focusing on 13 housing Zone sites between Gainsborough, Lea and Morton.
“We are also continuing to work with Lincolnshire County Council to establish the viability of delivering a marina for the town on adjacent land.”
View the article on the West Lindsey District Council website
Roger Milne
Communities Secretary Greg Clark has agreed with the recommendation of the inspector who held the recovered inquiry and allowed outline proposals for a development of 605 dwellings, 60 units of which would be within an extra care centre, at Money Hill, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire.
The scheme also included a primary school, a health centre, a community hall, neighbourhood retail use, public open space and flood attenuation areas on 43.6-hectares of undulating open farmland to the north-west of the town. The application had been refused by North West Leicestershire District Council which could demonstrate a five-year supply of housing land.
Clark agreed with the inspector that the development met the economic, social and environmental goals of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and would be a sustainable project.
He noted that the appellant had not disputed the council’s contention that they have a five year supply of housing land.
But the decision letter added “the Secretary of State agrees with the inspector that local planning authorities must also plan for housing supply beyond the five year period; that there is also a current national imperative to boost the supply of housing”.
Clark made it clear he also attached “significant weight” to the scheme’s provision of 605 homes of which up to 182 would be affordable.
View the recovered appeal: Money Hill, land north of Wood Street, Ashby-de-la-Zouch
Roger Milne
Outline plans for a village extension involving 120 new homes at Sayers Common in West Sussex originally refused by Mid-Sussex District Council have been rejected by Clark. He redetermined the proposals after a High Court challenge by the developer Woodcock Holdings quashed a refusal by Clark’s predecessor.
The SoS disagreed with the inspector’s recommendation that the scheme should be allowed. The SoS acknowledged that the scheme would provide much needed housing, 30 per cent of which would be affordable, but argued those benefits did not outweigh the fact that the proposals were in conflict with both the local plan and the adopted neighbourhood plan. He also cited harm to a Grade 11 listed building.
Roger Milne
Rotherham resumes planning role
Rotherham Council has resumed responsibility for housing, planning and transport policy following 12 months when all executive functions of the south Yorkshire local authority have been exercised by government-appointed commissioners.
Lead commissioner Sir Derek Myers has advised Communities Secretary Greg Clark that a number of services are operating at an adequate enough standard and have sufficiently strong leadership in place to be transferred back to local democratic control.
Clark said: “The improvements that have been made mean it is now appropriate for councillors to take back control over some functions, a step towards a stronger future for Rotherham council and the community it serves.
“But let me be clear, there are still significant challenges that must be overcome before local people can have confidence in their council once again.”
As well as planning, housing and transport Sir Derek has advised that building regulation and policy arising from Sheffield City Region can now be exercised by officials and local authority members.
Green light for Nottinghamshire business park
Planning consultancy Barton Willmore has secured planning permission from Bassetlaw District Council for a major new business park in Nottinghamshire. It will be located on 81-hectares of land to the south of the former Harworth colliery close to junction 34 of the A1 (M).
The £200m project comprises some 2.5 million square feet of business units. It is one of the largest economic development projects in the North. It will provide starter units for small local businesses wishing to expand, as well as a range of larger space buildings for regional and national occupiers.
HCA review
Housing and planning minister Brandon Lewis has announced a review of the Homes and Communities Agency.
The agency is the national housing, land and regeneration agency and the regulator of registered social housing providers in England.
The review of the non-departmental public body will cover how each of the agency’s functions contributes to government objectives, whether each function and the body are still required and the best future delivery options. The exercise will examine the capacity of the Agency to deliver more efficiently and effectively.
Midlands stalled homes scheme fund
Housing developers in the Greater Birmingham, Solihull, South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire areas can now access a new £9m fund to unlock stalled housing sites which are ready for development.
Launched by the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP), the Unlocking Housing Sites Programme aims to help bring forward at least 500 new homes in the area.
The funding is available as grant, loan or equity. Consideration will also be given to funding for site specific feasibility studies. The programme is designed to support mixed tenure schemes of between 10 and 100 homes and is open to private sector developers, local authorities and registered providers for developments in the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership’s geographical area.
Boost for ‘pocket parks’
More than 80 neglected urban spaces across the country are set be transformed into green oases for public use thanks to a share of a £1.5m dedicated fund, Communities Secretary Greg Clark has announced.
Some 87 community groups, from Newcastle to Penryn in Cornwall, will have the money to create their own ‘dream’ pocket parks, developing small parcels of land, sometimes as small as the size of a tennis court.
Estates regeneration panel named
The panel set up to advise the Government on regenerating some of England’s most deprived estates has met for the first time.
The 17-strong group, co-chaired by Lord Heseltine and housing minister Brandon Lewis will report to the Prime Minister and Communities Secretary Greg Clark.
It will develop a national estate regeneration strategy and work with the residents of up to 100 estates. The administration has announced £140m to jump-start the regeneration.
Members of the group include councillor Ravi Govindia, leader of Wandsworth Council; Nicholas Boys Smith, director of Create Streets; Tony Pidgley, chief executive of Berkeley Homes; Peter Vernon, chief executive of Grosvenor Estates; Jane Duncan, RIBA president; Ben Bolgar, senior director of the Princes Foundation; David Budd, Mayor of Middlesbrough; Natalie Elphicke, chief executive of the Housing & Finance Institute and Graham Allen, MP for Nottingham North.
Leeds makeover
Plans to transform an historic former manufacturing site in Leeds into a major £80m mixed-use development have been approved by the City Council.
Developer Carillion’s proposals to redevelop part of the Tower Works site in Holbeck involve 10 new buildings providing some 160 new homes as well as restaurants, licensed premises, shops and more than 11,800 square metres of commercial floor space.
The site includes a number of listed buildings, which are being preserved as part of the redevelopment: the Engine House on Globe Road, and the three ornate Italian Towers which are a distinctive element of the city centre townscape near the railway station.
Reading redevelopment risks setting of Grade 1 listed church
Historic England has warned that the latest proposals for an expanded Station Hill development in the centre of Reading around Friars Street near the railway station risk “serious harm” to the settings of the Grade 1 listed Greyfriars Church and 39 Friar Street, a Grade 11 listed property.
The latest version of the scheme now includes redevelopment of the existing Telecom House site which like other existing buildings covered by the reworked proposals is set to be demolished.
Outline planning permission for the enlarged site was granted by Reading Borough Council last week. The amount of potential retail floor space has now risen to a maximum of 13,500 square metres while the housing figure could be as much 41,050 square meters. Potential office floor space has nearly doubled to 122,000 square metres while car parking now has a maximum figure of 1,000 vehicles
Lyon Commissioners urge action on housing supply
Members of the Lyons’ Housing Review Commission have reconvened and published a new independent report setting out key actions to tackle the nation’s housing challenges.
They argued that the housing strategy needs to be broadened beyond the Government’s current focus on home ownership to increase supply of both market and affordable homes for rent.
The report also called for a more “ambitious approach” to direct commissioning by capturing land value to fund infrastructure.
In addition the commissioners highlighted that the Government should work more closely with the industry in developing the model for ‘starter homes’ to ensure an overall increase in homes. The initiative must not result in a reduction of affordable homes to rent, the commissioners insisted.
Brighton City Plan ‘sound’
An independent planning inspector has found Brighton & Hove City Council’s development plan legally sound and compliant with national planning policies.
The final report of the planning inspector who examined the City Plan concludes that, with the recommended modifications consulted on from 2013 to 2015, the strategy is sound.
Brighton & Hove’s housing target is 13,200 new homes to 2030. This does not meet the city’s assessed housing need in full, but the Inspector acknowledged it reflects the city’s significant land constraints. Councillors will decide whether to adopt the Plan at a meeting of the full council next month.
Cheshire local plan makes waves
Cheshire East Council’s revised local plan strategy is due to be approved by the full council later this month before a further round of public consultation is carried out. This will include additional and amended strategic site allocations.
The strategy revisions reflect a revised housing requirement of 36,000 homes (up from 29,000) and an increased employment land requirement, up from 300-hectares to 380-hectares, to reflect the stronger anticipated jobs growth rate of 0.7 per cent per.
Renewable developments
- Communities Secretary Greg Clark has dismissed an appeal over a three-turbine wind farm project proposed for Brightenber Hill near Skipton originally refused by Craven District Council. Developer Energiekontor UK Ltd had successfully challenged an earlier appeal refusal, triggering the project’s redetermination. The Secretary of State agreed with the inspector who considered the appeal that the scheme would result in unacceptable harm to the living conditions of some local residents as well as harm to heritage assets in the vicinity
- Clark has refused another solar power project which was the subject of a recovered appeal. His stance was in line with the recommendation of the inspector who considered plans by Green Switch Developments for a 4.7 megawatt scheme on green belt farmland at Nempnett Thrubwell in Somerset originally refused by Bath and North East Somerset Council. Clark agreed the scheme represented inappropriate development and that the very special circumstances necessary to justify the proposals did not exist.
- The Borough Council of King’s Lynn &West Norfolk has approved a five megawatt solar farm proposed by RES UK for a 10-hectare site at Barmer some 15 kilometres west of Fakenham.
- Two Devon district councils who are producing a joint local development plan have published a draft policy on wind development for consultation as part of work for the North Devon and Torridge Local Plan.
Didcot development approved
South Oxfordshire District Council has approved its own outline proposals for a mixed use deployment of a 4.35-hectare site in the centre of Didcot designed to provide 300 new homes (mainly flats), a 70-bed hotel, a gym, both retail and commercial floor space, a multi-storey car park and a replacement nursery school.
Controversially the master plan for the scheme, known as Didcot Gateway, does not include any affordable housing. The proposals will involve the demolition of existing buildings including a pub which dates from the arrival of the railway in the town. Last December ministers announced that Didcot is to become a ‘garden town’.
London round-up
- Business lobby group London First has published a new report with planning consultants Turley urging greater clarity and transparency over the system of off-site construction of affordable homes and payments by developers to planning authorities in lieu of building affordable housing.
- The London Assembly has raised concerns about a number of altered policies in the latest Minor Alterations to the London Plan. Highlighted were the loss of housing standards within the strategy and the impact of the introduction of minimum car parking standards on air quality.
- More than 10,000 people have objected to the proposed controversial redevelopment of the Bishopsgate Goodsyard in east London about the over-shadowing effect of the proposed eight towers up to 177 metres high.
Welsh round-up
- Proposals for 1,600 new homes have been approved for two sites in Cardiff by the City Council. The schemes form part of larger developments known as Plasdwr and Churchlands.
- Concern is growing about the restoration of the former Margam opencast mine site after a planning application was delayed.
- An independent review of tidal lagoon energy will examine its feasibility, the UK government has announced amid delays to an agreement on the power deal for the £1bn Swansea project.
Swindon broadband blocked
Proposals to roll-out wireless broadband across Swindon have hit a glitch after the planning committee rejected applications for five of the necessary 15-metre high masts in North Swindon.
The Wiltshire local authority has signed a deal with UKB Networks to provide superfast broadband for nearly 20,000 homes currently without the service.
Legal round-up
- Transport for London has defeated a High Court challenge brought by taxi drivers over the so-called East West Cycle Superhighway scheme which partly centred on whether the project needed planning permission.
- Thurrock Council has failed in a High Court challenge over a planning inspector’s grant of permission on appeal for a gypsy and traveller site in the green belt at Corringham, Essex.
- Swindon Borough Council is to bring a High Court challenge over a planning inspector’s decision to grant an appeal by a developer seeking to build up to 100 homes on a site at Wroughton.
Roger Milne
We had a great start to 2016 with just shy of 40,000 applications submitted through the Planning Portal – an average of 1,811 applications each working day.
This represents a year-on-year increase in total applications of 12 per cent compared to January 2015.
This included over 13,800 householder and 10,800 full planning applications.
If the increase stays at a similar level throughout 2016 we could have over 560,000 applications submitted through the Portal in a single year – taking us well past the three million applications submitted mark.
Feasibility studies, viability assessments and project leadership are all key elements in developing housing-led Local Development Orders (LDOs), according to a new advice note published by the Government’s Planning Advisory Service (PAS).
The note was prepared with help from consultancy AECOM and Peter Brett Associates who took part in PAS pilots involving Teignbridge District Council, North East Lincolnshire Council, Swindon Borough Council and Welwyn Hatfield District Council.
The note stressed that one of the chief advantages of the LDO is that the order can be shaped to local circumstances and embody local aspirations.
PAS pointed out that what distinguished the LDO approach from more traditional forms of pro-active planning was the importance of ensuring that the development for which permission will be given is deliverable in the timeframe; typically five years for the LDO pilots.
“An LDO for either a regeneration or a stalled housing site will take significant resources to set up, so it is essential that this effort and investment is based in an early understanding of the market conditions and development economics for the specific site” argued the note.
Viability studies and market assessments will be key, argued PAS. This evidence is likely to be provided by external consultants appointed by the council.
The note highlighted the need for strong leadership. “Leadership is critical, ensuring that the top people, politically and managerially, understand the process and are committed to the desired outcome, and will therefore encourage engagement from others, put the necessary resources in place and drive decision making.
“Ideally someone from the leadership team will take the role of project leader and chair the LDO steering group” said the note.
View more information on the PAS website
Roger Milne
Planning Portal Blog 