The Government insisted this week that its proposals for granting planning in principle would be “locally driven” and subject to both public consultation and consideration against local and national policy on issues like flooding and heritage.
That claim came from Government minister Baroness Williams of Trafford during the second reading debate of the Housing and Planning Bill in the Lords on Tuesday (26 January).
She also suggested that “ambitious and high-performing” local authorities would be interested in the opportunity to compete to process planning applications in other areas.
The minister said: “The decision to grant planning permission in principle will be locally driven where a choice is made to allocate land for housing-led development in a local plan, neighbourhood plan and new brownfield register.
This will promote plan-led development and ensure that decisions take place within a framework that includes the engagement of communities and others, as well as consideration of development against local and national policy, including important matters such as heritage and, of course, flooding.”
Later she told peers: “I believe that there is an appetite for greater competition in the planning system, although I must point out that the decisions remain with the local planning authorities.
“We anticipate that a number of ambitious and high-performing local authorities will also want to compete to process planning applications in other areas.”
Earlier Baroness Williams described the Bill as “a shot in the arm for planning”. Opposition and cross-bencher peers lined up to disagree and complain about the amount of detail which was waiting for, as yet, unpublished secondary legislation. The minister promised clarification and consultation on many issues.
Peers were also critical about many of the planning provisions. The measures were characterised as “a serious assault on the planning system” and a “generally dreadful bill”. That was cross-bencher Lord Kerslake, a former permanent secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Labour peer Lord McKenzie of Luton complained that the Bill was crammed with new centralising powers for the Secretary of State. He argued that this “moves us inexorably away from a planning system anchored in the democratic processes of the local community”.
And he added: “Why will the Government not properly resource local authorities’ depleted planning departments and make sensible provision for planning fees?”
View the Parliamentary transcript
Roger Milne
A new report by leading think tank Centre for Cities reveals that more than 980,000 new jobs were created in UK cities between 2010 and 2014 but that urban wages fell by five per cent in the same period – a decrease in average annual salary of £1,300 per city dweller in real terms.
It shows that despite the jobs boom between 2010-14 – with cities accounting for around three quarters of new jobs created in this period – nearly half of UK cities are currently classified as having ‘low-wage, high-welfare’ economies. These include places like Doncaster, Hull, Plymouth, Stoke and Sunderland.
However, the report also shows that 14 UK cities are already delivering ‘high-wage, low-welfare’ economies. These include Aberdeen, Chatham, Edinburgh, London and Milton Keynes.
Cities with high wages have also seen faster jobs growth – the number of jobs in high-wage places has risen by 10 per cent since 2010, compared to three per cent in low-wage cities.
The report highlights the need for all cities to focus on supporting high-skilled jobs in knowledge-intensive sectors – such as the digital and professional industries – and also boost jobs in other industries including retail, leisure and hospitality.
The report stressed that if the Government is serious about reducing welfare spending and enabling high-wage cities to continue to grow, it needs to urgently address the housing crisis.
There is a clear geographical divide across the country, with eight of the top 10 ‘high-wage, low-welfare’ cities located in the Greater South East, while nine of the bottom 10 cities for wages are in the North or Midlands.
The report argued that the Government should continue to increase investment in regional economies through initiatives like the Northern Powerhouse, while bolstering devolution deals by giving cities more control over local tax revenue, skills, infrastructure and housing.
Learn more about the research.
Roger Milne
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has announced that from March it will routinely publish any advice planning officers, or the council’s architectural appraisal panel, has given an applicant about a development proposal before the application was made.
The council is believed to be the first in the country to open its files in this way.
The council offers a popular advice service to those who are considering making a planning application. The advice is generally confidential between the planning authority and the customer, but can be published following a request under the Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations once a related planning application is made.
Under this move the advice will now be published automatically once a planning application is made without someone having to make a specific request.
Councillor Tim Coleridge, the Royal Borough’s cabinet member for planning policy, said: “The borough is already streets ahead of many other councils in the way it publishes planning application information on its website.
This is another step in our commitment to being transparent. Everyone will be able to see the advice our officers have provided, how they have fought to get improvements to development proposals and how they have encouraged applicants to engage with those who might be affected.”
Roger Milne
Communities Secretary Greg Clark has refused an appeal over a proposal to redevelop a former Oxfordshire police station into sheltered accommodation partly on the grounds the scheme was contrary to the neighbourhood plan.
Specialist developer Churchill Retirement Living wanted to demolish the existing police station at Thame and replace it with 45 sheltered flats. The planning authority South Oxfordshire District Council has refused the project and it was the subject of a recovered appeal. The inspector in charge of the hearing recommended that the appeal should be dismissed.
The inspector noted that the scheme would neither preserve nor enhance the character or appearance of the conservation area in which the site was located. Clark concurred. He also agreed with the inspector that the development would harm the significance of the conservation area, though that harm would be “less than substantial”.
This was contrary to a number of policies in both the local plan and the Thame Neighbourhood Plan, one of the pioneers of the new breed of development plan.
Clark’s decision letter made it clear he agreed with the inspector that the proposal would affect the outlook and privacy of neighbours of the site.
Clark concluded that that the benefits of the scheme, considered in their totality, did not significantly or demonstrably outweigh the adverse impacts when assessed against the policies of the National Planning Policy Framework “considered as a whole”.
Roger Milne
Infrastructure consultation launched
A wide-ranging coalition of business, industry, academic and environmental bodies and leaders has launched a consultation on the UK’s infrastructure needs.
This exercise – dubbed a ‘national needs assessment’ – is being chaired by Sir John Armitt, president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and a National Infrastructure Commissioner.
The needs assessment will be based on evidence gathered during the nationwide consultation which kicked off this week, as well as evidence hearings, research being undertaken by the Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium.
It will take into account factors such as climate change, population growth and technological ‘game changers’. It will also review different options for meeting the UK’s needs, considering affordability, public acceptability and environmental obligations.
A report will be published in October 2016 setting out a vision for UK infrastructure up to 2050 and an action plan for Government and others. The assessment will feed into the work being undertaken by the recently established National Infrastructure Commission.
As well as the ICE, the coalition includes the CBI, Green Alliance, KPMG, London First, the National Grid, Pinsent Masons, the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, Thames Water, Transport for Greater Manchester, University of Cambridge and University of Oxford.
Learn more on the ICE website.
Sargeant approves national developments decisions process
Carl Sargeant AM, Minister for Natural Resources, has approved the introduction of a series of changes to planning legislation in Wales. The Minister signed Commencement Order 3 for the Planning (Wales) Act 2015, which brings into force a series of powers relating to the determining of planning applications and appeals, as well as making a series of items of subordinate legislation, setting out details for implementation of the 2015 Act’s powers and designed to streamline the planning application process. The new powers and changes to existing legislation, which will come into force in March, include:
- A “Developments of National Significance” tier of major planning application, to be determined by the Welsh Ministers, will be introduced
- A statutory pre-application advice service with a national fee structure, to be provided by Welsh planning authorities, will be introduced
- From August, any submission of a planning application for major development must have undertaken pre-application community consultation in order to be valid
- Changes will be made to validation procedures, including the introduction of a non-validation appeal process
- Statutory consultees will have a duty to respond to pre-application consultations within 21 days and to report on their performance
- Requirements for Design and Access Statements to accompany applications will be revised to apply primarily to applications for major development
For more details on implementation of the Planning (Wales) Act 2015, including a timetable for further changes, visit the Welsh Government’s website. The relevant statutory instruments are expected to be laid for consideration by the National Assembly for Wales within the week. Application forms for Developments of National Significance will be available on the Planning Portal, in due course.
RTPI critiques CIL regime
The Royal Town Planning Institute has highlighted significant variations in the way the Community Infrastructure Levy is implemented in its response to the Government‘s consultation on the regime.
The Institute urged “more coordination and transparency in councils’ infrastructure delivery plans as well as in applicant viability assessments to make it less possible for private owners to claim that the financial burden of the levy is making development, in many cases affordable housing, ‘unviable’”.
The RTPI also drew attention to the disparity in CIL adoption across the country with land values acting as the main determinant.
It added that councils in places with depressed land values like rural areas do not often find CIL viable, with many councils relying on S106 agreements.
But the RTPI argued that the Government’s recent restriction that limits the number of S106 agreements on one site to no more than five was hampering councils’ ability to deliver the infrastructure and supporting amenities communities need.
Post-war public art works listed
An Antony Gormley sculpture has been given Grade II protected status – his first to be listed. It is one of 41 pieces of post-war public art in England newly protected by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of Historic England.
The list also includes three works by Barbara Hepworth and one by Henry Moore, opposite Parliament in London. The works newly listed depict a range of themes from the power of electricity to the women’s peace movement in Northern Ireland.
South East England rail plans
Local authorities, local enterprise partnerships and other bodies could have a greater say in the planning and operation of rail services across the capital and South East England under new arrangements proposed by the Department for Transport and the Mayor of London.
This new regime would ensure that decisions affecting transport infrastructure support local and regional economic growth. Local authorities inside and outside London would have a direct say in the way services are planned and operated.
According to a Prospectus now out for consultation this would mean more frequent services, better interchanges and increased capacity.
Proposed is the creation of a London Suburban Metro service with the potential for more than 80 per cent of stations to have a train every 15 minutes, up from 67 per cent at present today, as well as the potential for more regular services via Clapham Junction, south east London and Kent.
The proposals would see the transfer of rail services that operate mostly or wholly within the Greater London boundary to TfL when the current franchises are due for renewal. This could include inner suburban rail services from London Bridge, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Moorgate, Victoria and Waterloo.
Read the Department for Transport prospectus.
Leeds regeneration given green light
Proposals for a multi-million pound regeneration project designed to help transform Leeds’s ‘cultural quarter’ have been given the go ahead.
The 63,638 square metres Quarry Hill scheme is located next to West Yorkshire Playhouse and across the road from the Victoria Gate/John Lewis development.
The outline planning consent is for a mixed-use development including offices, 700 flats, a multi-storey car park and leisure activities.
Approval for 580-home Ormskirk scheme
West Lancashire Borough Council has approved outline proposals for a residential-led mixed development of up to 580 new homes at Yew Tree Farm in the village of Burscough, north of Ormskirk.
The land involved is part of a 74-hectare green field location allocated as a strategic site in the adopted local plan.
As well as the new homes Crompton Property Developments Ltd had proposed 4.6 hectares of employment use, a new linear park, a care home, allotments and a local centre.
East Devon local plan must include employment site in AONB
The planning inspector examining East Devon District Council’s local plan has reported that the strategy is sound.
Crucially he has insisted that a five-hectare site on the outskirts of Sidford in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is retained for employment use for Sidmouth. The planning authority had wanted to delete it.
The inspector has also confirmed that a retirement home was an appropriate use for the site of the council’s current headquarters at Knowle. The strategy sets out where 17,100 homes will be built across the district over the next 15 years.
Southampton regeneration milestone
The £450m redevelopment of Southampton’s Royal Pier has moved a step closer after proposals to relocate facilities provided by ferry company Red Funnel from Town Quay to the Eastern Docks were approved.
A four-storey car park and new terminal building will be built to accommodate ferry services to and from the Isle of Wight.
The relocation will help free up the crumbling pier site, which is proposed to be replaced with a waterside neighbourhood providing over 700 new homes, a casino, hotel, an arts and culture ‘hub’ and new commercial and retail floor space.
Swansea makeover
A 3,500-seat arena and £40m aquarium are part of a proposed £500m transformation of Swansea city centre unveiled last week by the city council and its partners Rivington Land and Trebor.
The proposals represent the biggest landscape change since the World War Two blitz and include a new retail area and cafe quarter.
A city beach area is set to be created with bars, restaurants, offices, five-star hotels and homes which will open on to an extended promenade.
Year-long suspension of West Oxfordshire local plan examination request
West Oxfordshire District Council has requested a 12-month suspension of the examination of its local plan to allow more work to be done on housing supply and delivery and the key issue of unmet housing need from neighbouring Oxford City.
The inspector examining the development plan had concluded that the council’s proposed objective assessment of need (OAN) of 525 dwellings per annum was too low and invited the planning authority to reconsider the evidence, including a higher demographic starting point, employment forecasts and the need to increase supply to facilitate the delivery of affordable housing.
London round-up
- Master planner and architect Sir Terry Farrell has proposed building a series of seven low-cost rising bridges east of Tower Bridge to ease traffic and create new floating neighbourhoods for London’s expanding population. “They would act as catalysts for mixed-use development on either side of the river, turbo-charging existing plans for areas such as the Royal Docks and Thamesmead,” claimed Farrell.
- Steve Curran, leader of Hounslow Council, has written to the Planning Inspectorate over the planning issues surrounding the installation by JC Decaux of an internally illuminated LED screen at York House, Brentford, to screen advertisements for drivers to see on the eastbound elevated M4. This involved the removal of the iconic copy of the 1920s “dripping bottle” Lucozade advertisement. The new screen was refused by the council but allowed on appeal.
- A further round of consultation has been launched over the controversial redevelopment proposals for the Bishopsgate Goods Yard, which straddles the boundary between Hackney and Tower Hamlets Councils.
- The government has announced the £371m sale to AustralianSuper, the largest pension fund in Australia, of its investment in the 30-hectare King’s Cross development.
Wirral growth strategy
Wirral Council has announced a growth strategy focused on Birkenhead in a bid to make the area the most attractive postcode for companies wanting to invest in the Northern Powerhouse.
The Wirral Growth Plan aims to attract £250m of new private sector investment by 2020, in the process creating 250 new businesses, generating and safeguarding 5,000 jobs, and providing 3,500 new homes.
At the heart of the strategy would be a revitalised so-called ‘Downtown Birkenhead’ intended to become a national centre for enterprise in the low-carbon industry, professional services, advanced manufacturing and the maritime industry.
Bournemouth University developments
Bournemouth University has unveiled ambitious proposals for new landmark developments at its Lansdowne and Talbot sites which will include new student accommodation.
Proposals include state-of-the-art facilities for BU’s highly faculties of Media and Communication, Management, Science and Technology and Health and Social Sciences.
The plans for Talbot include a landmark Poole Gateway Building for the Media and Communication, Management, and Science and Technology faculties.
The university plans to submit planning applications for the £100m scheme to Bournemouth and Poole Borough Councils in March.
Retailer opts for Avonmouth rather than Chippenham
Retailer The Range, which specialises in out-of-town home stores, is to build a major new distribution centre at Avonmouth in South Gloucestershire close to the junction of the M4 and the M49 following opposition to its original proposal for a huge distribution centre at Chippenham in Wiltshire.
The Range has bought a 22-hectare site at Delta Properties’ logistics development at what is known as Central Park where it plans to develop an 111,480 square metre facility.
Energy projects bite the dust
The Secretary of State has dismissed Green Switch Developments appeal over the refusal of its proposed 16MW solar farm near Ormskirk, Lancashire. Visual, landscape and loss of high grade farmland issues were factors in the refusals.
The Forest of Dean District Council has rejected proposals for a 50MW PV solar power scheme earmarked for over 100 hectares of farm land on the banks of the River Severn at Awre, Gloucestershire.
E.On has scrapped plans for a 115-MW onshore wind farm proposed for a site at Newton Aycliffe in Co Durham next to the A1. The company said the scheme was no longer viable citing long-standing objections from the MoD and changes to the planning and subsidy regimes.
‘Beds in shed’ crackdown cash
Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis has announced that 48 English local authorities will benefit from a £5m fund to tackle rogue landlords and combat the scourge of ‘beds in sheds’.
The funding will allow local authorities to carry out more raids, increase inspections of property, and issue more statutory notices, survey more streets and to demolish sheds and prohibited buildings.
Court round-up
- A High Court judge has granted a final injunction to Westminster Council preventing any further demolition works or other unauthorised development on the site of a historic public house in Maida Vale that was substantially demolished last year – just before it was due to be recommended for listing by Heritage England.
- A High Court judge has ruled that residential gardens outside built-up areas should be treated as brownfield land under current planning policy following a case brought by Dartford Borough Council.
- Warwick District Council has announced it is likely to go to court over Community Secretary Greg Clark’s decision to allow appeals over 1,325 new homes at two sites originally refused by the planning authority.
- Chichester District Council has successfully defended a judicial review challenge by developer Crownhall Estates Ltd over the Loxwood Neighbourhood Plan.
Williams takes over as RTP President
Phil Williams, director of planning and place at Belfast City Council, has been inaugurated as President of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).
He has 35 years’ experience in the public sector in London and Welsh local authorities.
Read more on the RTPI website.
Roger Milne
In this preview of new Planning Portal features we’ll take a look at some improvements only local authorities will notice.
The redesign was a chance to consolidate and improve the way local authorities engage with the Planning Portal and configure customer-facing services such as PAR configuration and application payment options.
We wanted to make everything much easier and more convenient for local authorities with a single sign-on so that all the options they need to administer from their accounts are to hand, including application downloads.
Again, pictures speak louder than words so we’ve prepared another short video to let you get a feel for the new system. As before, there’s no sound on the video but we’ve added captions to explain the key on-screen elements.
The next post will look at the improvements we’re making to Supporting Documents – one of the areas of the system with the most amount of customer feedback.
Proposals for a huge so-called strategic rail freight interchange (SRFI) earmarked for a 100-hecatre site near the East Midlands Airport at Castle Donnington, Leicestershire have been approved by ministers, against the advice of the three planning inspectors who examined the project.
The decision on the East Midlands Gateway SRFI scheme’s Development Consent Order (DCO) was officially made by transport minister Robert Goodwill rather than the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin as the facility is proposed for a site adjacent to the M1 near McLoughlin’s constituency.
The proposals include a new rail line, rail freight terminal, some 560,000 square metres of warehousing and an intermodal area.
The inspectors recommended refusal because they thought the project did not comply with two paragraphs of the relevant National Policy Statement (NPS) on functionality and rail connections. At issue was how well-connected the scheme would be to the rail network as the scheme was built-out and in the future.
The decision letter said that the Transport Secretary accepted that in some limited respects the proposals did not fulfil the letter of the NPS, particularly in not providing for future rail extensions and not providing for direct rail connections to individual warehouses.
However the letter said the SoS was satisfied the project displayed “overall a substantial degree of consistency with the objectives of the NPS, having the potential to contribute significantly to modal transfer and to meet the national need for an expanded network of SRFIs.
“The SoS has therefore concluded that the project is substantially compliant with the NSP requirements for SFRFIs when they are considered as a whole.”
Roger Milne
Two major housing schemes totalling up to 1,350 new homes proposed for sites off Europa Way in Warwick have been allowed on appeal by Communities Secretary Greg Clark. Both were recovered cases following Warwick District Council’s rejection of the developments.
In the case of the larger outline proposal which involved up to 900 dwellings by developer Barwwod Strategic Land, Clark’s determination went against the recommendation of the planning inspector who held the planning inquiry.
In respect of the latter scheme Clark acknowledged that it posed substantial harm to the established character and appearance of the area and would result in the loss of 50-hectares of high quality and versatile agricultural land. It was also contrary to the emerging neighbourhood plan as well as the approved local plan.
However Clark said the drawbacks of the proposals were outweighed by the benefits of the new housing, 40 per cent of which would be affordable in a town where there was a lack adequate housing land. He also argued that plans for a park and ride scheme and the economic and job benefits of the scheme weighed heavily in its favour.
He disagreed strongly over the inspector’s position on whether the scheme conflicted with the economic dimension of sustainability as set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
In respect of the appeal involving Gallagher Estates’ outline proposal for a 450-home scheme the Secretary of State acknowledged there was conflict with both landscape and heritage policies in the adopted local plan.
He also agreed that it would mean the loss of high quality and versatile farm land. However the SoS concluded those drawbacks were outweighed by the housing, the provision of significant new green infrastructure and, potentially, both biodiversity and social benefits.
Roger Milne
National Grid has successfully applied for a development consent order (DCO) from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to construct the Hinkley Point C Connection project.
The transmission line, which will be approximately 60 kilometres long, will connect new electricity generators in south west England, including the proposed new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point, to NG’s electricity transmission network.
The scheme will transmit power from Bridgwater to the Avonmouth substations using new 400kv power lines. Its construction will involve removing approximately 65 kilometres of existing overhead electricity lines. The majority of the new connection will be an overhead line with 8 km going underground through the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The DCO was one of the largest to be considered under the Planning Act 2008 regime and involved planning authorities across Somerset and Gloucestershire as well as Bristol City Council.
The project will be the first scheme to use the new T-pylon, which resulted from a competition held in 2011 by the Royal Institute of British Architects, DECC and NG to explore the potential for a new generation of pylon design.
Energy Minister Lord Bourne said: “This is a step forward in the Hinkley Point C project, which will play a crucial part in our plan to provide clean, affordable and secure energy.
“Hinkley represents a major boost for the UK and local economy – powering nearly six million homes and creating more than 25,000 jobs with a significant number for the people of Somerset.”
Roger Milne
The master plan for a new settlement providing over 1,300 homes west of Stonehouse, Gloucestershire has been given the go ahead by Stroud District Council.
The development will see the creation of a series of interlinked neighbourhoods between Stonehouse and Eastington, stretching north and west from Oldends to the hamlets of Nupend and Nastend.
With plans for up to 1,350 homes built over 98 hectares the proposals are almost twice the size of the largest single development in the district.
The outline approval, recommended by officials, will now effectively see the creation of a new town a few miles from Stroud.
The site was earmarked for housing in Stroud’s recently adopted local plan and will be developed by Robert Hitchins Ltd and Redrow Homes Ltd.
A spokesman for Robert Hitchins said: “We know this development has been controversial and we appreciate the difficult decisions which councillors have had to make in reaching this point.“
The development will include a new primary school, children’s play area, open spaces for recreation, a sport pavilion and new parking, footpaths and cycle lanes.
A new local hub will also see the creation of shops, utilities, a community hall and a health centre. The homes will include a mix of sizes, designs and tenures, with 30 per cent as affordable housing.
Nine hectares of employment land will also be made available as well as new main roads from Grove Lane, Oldends Lane and Brunel Way. This includes proposals to widen roundabouts and revamp the A419 to help ease congestion.
View more information on Stroud District Council’s Local Plan
Roger Milne
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