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
The first Wales-only legislation to improve the protection and management of the country’s historic environment has been passed by the National Assembly.
When it becomes law, the Historic Environment (Wales) bill will introduce new measures to protect Wales’ historic environment.
It will make it more difficult for individuals who damage protected monuments to escape prosecution by pleading ignorance of a monument’s status or location.
It will also introduce new powers to take urgent action to stop unauthorised work to historic sites and to prevent historic buildings from falling into disrepair.
The bill also allows the development of a system of preservation notices and will give local authorities new ways to recover their costs when they have to take direct action.
Once the bill becomes law next month Wales will also become the first country in the UK to put historic environment records on a statutory footing.
These records allow advice on decisions by planning authorities and land managers to be based on sound information.
The bill will also simplify some of the systems in place for the management of scheduled monuments and listed buildings by allowing owners to enter into voluntary heritage partnership agreements with consenting authorities.
In addition the legislation will:
- Create an independent panel to provide the Welsh Ministers with expert advice on policy and strategy
- Introduce formal consultation with owners of buildings or monuments before a decision to protect them is made
- Extend the definition of what can be protected as an ancient monument to include some battlefield sites and prehistoric settlements.
Roger Milne
Mineral planning authorities (MPAs) should provide key information to both the Department for Energy and Climate Change and applicants when approving relevant shale gas or oil developments involving fracking, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has formally requested.
DCLG director of planning Ruth Stanier has written to all mineral planning authorities in England explaining how these new arrangements triggered by the Infrastructure Act 2015 will work. The aim is to support decision making under the Petroleum Licensing regime.
Her letter made it clear that the information required will be needed when it grants planning permission in respect of any development that involves “associated hydraulic fracturing” or if the application is not clear, involves the “boring for, or getting of oil and natural gas from shale”.
MPAs should “clearly and unambiguously” set out whether environmental information has been taken into account when making a decision on an application. Stanier also said authorities should confirm that no land is involved within a National Park, the Broads, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or a World Heritage Site.
MPAs will also have to spell out that cumulative effects of the application and any other fracking activity have been taken into account. These new arrangements came into force from 4 February.
In a separate but related development the appeal by energy company Cuadrilla over Lancashire County Council’ refusal to allow fracking at two sites in the county began this week.
Roger Milne
Communities Secretary Greg Clark has dismissed an appeal over a proposed cross-subsidy residential development of 18 dwellings earmarked for a site at St Just in Roseland near Truro originally refused by Cornwall Council. The scheme was for 10 affordable and eight open market homes on land in the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The SoS recovered the appeal because the site was covered by a neighbourhood plan which when the inspector wrote his report had been passed by a referendum, but had not been made by the council. The inspector recommended that the development should not go ahead.
Both the SoS and the inspector noted that there was no guarantee the policies in the neighbourhood plan would deliver the local housing required and the planning authority could not demonstrate a five-year supply of housing land. The decision letter acknowledged there was a clear need for housing in the area and an acute need for affordable homes.
However this was trumped by the “significant” harm which the scheme would cause to the character and appearance of the area and the landscape and scenic beauty of the AONB. And in that respect the proposals were contrary to saved policies of the development plan, policies of the neighbourhood plan and also a key policy of the AONB management plan.
Clark went on to conclude that the harm to the AONB outweighed the local benefit to the supply of housing in the area.
View the recovered appeal: St Just in Roseland, Truro
Roger Milne
Planning Portal Blog 