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
Better asset management of the high street could unlock much-needed investment for local authorities and help communities transform town centres, a report part-funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government has highlighted.
The report advocated the establishment of so-called Town Centre Investment Zones where the pooling of a critical mass of property assets into an investment vehicle would allow the assets to be managed better, in the process helping rejuvenate the high street.
This approach has been trialled in three areas in England, at Melton Mowbray, Weston-Super-Mare and Dartford.
This model allows existing stock to adapt to the various challenges facing high streets and lets local authorities future-proof their town centres, ensuring that they have a better consumer offering, which could include housing and more leisure space.
The report recommended that areas designated for the asset management treatment should be set up as Town Centre Investment Zones (TCIZs), in order to provide “coherence, leadership and a clearer focus for all involved and a clear signal to potential investors that all local stakeholders are aligned”.
Such Zones would also benefit from being given, in due course, a range of concessions similar to Enterprise and Housing Zones, as well as the support given for business neighbourhood planning.
The report identified fragmented ownership and poor asset management as the key factors preventing high streets from adapting to changing circumstances
The report was compiled by planning practice Peter Brett Associates with law firm Bond Dickinson and property consultancy Citi Centric.
View the report on the Bond Dickinson website
Roger Milne
Coastal ‘Blue Belt’ designations
23 new areas along the UK coast have been named as Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) by the Government, extending the country’s ‘Blue Belt’ to over 20 per cent of English waters.
Marine environment minister George Eustice announced the new sites, which will protect 4,155 square miles of UK marine habitats and bring the total number of MCZs in waters around England to 50.
The new MCZs will cover areas across the country from as far north as Farnes East off the coast of Northumberland down to Land’s End in the south west, and will protect 45 different types of habitat, geological features and species – including stalked jellyfish and spiny lobsters.
Former MoD sites earmarked for homes
Defence minister Mark Lancaster has announced the release of 12 Ministry of Defence sites, all of which will be sold for new housing.
The disposal, slated to generate £500m, will provide the land for around 15,000 new homes in support of the Government’s objective of releasing sufficient publically-owned land to build 160,000 by 2020.
These sites will form the first tranche of the MoD’s plan to reduce by 30 per cent the size of its built estate. The MoD estate spans one per cent of all UK land and covers 452,000 hectares.
The 12 sites are:
- Kneller Hall in Twickenham and MOD Feltham, both in south west London
- Claro and Deverell barracks in Ripon
- RAF sites Molesworth and Alconbury in Cambridgeshire, and Mildenhall in Suffolk
- Lodge Hill in Kent
- Craigiehall in Edinburgh
- HMS Nelson Wardroom in Portsmouth
- Hullavington Airfield in Wiltshire
- RAF Barnham in Suffolk.
The MoD will announce further sites in due course.
Clark approves gypsy change of use scheme
Communities Secretary Greg Clark has approved a change of use application for a residential site for three gypsy families each with two caravans on land formerly used as a builders yard at Newton-with- Scales, a village eight kilometres from Preston, Lancashire.
The SoS recovered the proposal from Fylde Borough Council for his determination. The inspector who held the inquiry recommended the three pitch scheme should be approved. An alternative scheme involving four pitches was rejected.
Clark’s decision letter made it clear that the use of previously-developed land, the location adjacent to a settlement and the unmet need for gypsy sites in the borough and wider area were factors that weighed in favour of the development.
He also agreed that the use of land as a small scale self-contained Gypsy site was sustainable. Planning permission would have benefits for the children involved in terms of education and health care, Clark concluded.
Factory built zero-carbon homes mooted for UK
Specialised solar power company WElink Energy (UK) Ltd has announced a £1.1bn strategic framework agreement with China National Building Materials Group to build zero carbon affordable housing developments in the UK.
The companies will work with Somerset based British Solar Renewables and plan to deploy thousands of factory-built zero-carbon homes designed by the European architectural firm Cesar Martinell & Associates.
Some £800m is being committed to a programme of 4,000 units in 2016-18 with a further 4,000 units to follow, the companies explained in a statement.
View the press release on the British Solar Renewables website
Removing on shore wind from the Planning Act 2008 regime
The Government has tabled the statutory instruments that will eventually remove onshore wind projects from the Planning Act 2008. This honours the election pledge that local people would have a final say on wind farm planning applications.
View the statutory instruments:
The Onshore Wind Generating Stations (Exemption) (England and Wales) Order 2016
The Infrastructure Planning (Onshore Wind Generating Stations) Order 2016
Devolution developments
- Councils in the Midlands have published a summary of the draft North Midlands Devolution Agreement which is currently waiting for a government response The proposal is based on a new combined authority involving all 19 boroughs, districts and city councils in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The strategy includes building 77,000 new homes by maximising surplus and brownfield land and creating publically-owned and controlled local development corporations. Additional planning powers are being sought and the plans include a revised system of planning fees and volunteering to pilot the new ‘permission in principle’ approach proposed in the Housing and Planning bill.
- In a separate development a report commissioned by Hull City Council has backed the concept of merging the former with East Riding of Yorkshire Council to maximize the economic potential of the area. The East Riding council is against any merger. The report also argued that a combined authority for the Humber ‘region’ involving Hull and East Riding and the North and North East Lincolnshire councils would make strategic sense.
- Meanwhile the legislation required for the government’s devolutionary agenda the Cities and Local Government Devolution bill has been signed off by Parliament and is waiting for the Royal Assent.
Exeter bus station redevelopment
The Crown Estate’s proposals to develop Exeter’s bus station site have been recommended for approval by council officers.
The scheme, known as Princesshay Leisure, involves restaurants, significant new retail floor space, a cinema, a new bus terminal and a public amphitheatre. It would sit alongside the city council’s £26m new swimming pool and gym.
London round-up
- The latest London New Homes Monitor compiled by property agency Stirling Ackroyd showed that just 5,740 new homes were fully approved in the third quarter of 2015. That figure represented a fall of nearly 30 per cent compared with the previous three months. Planning approvals in the southern boroughs of Southwark, Croydon and Lambeth outpaced the rest of London.
- The capital must build on low quality green belt locations around existing commuter infrastructure to solve its housing crisis, according to a new paper from the Adam Smith Institute. Building on 8,000 hectares of the Metropolitan Green Belt (roughly 3.7 per cent) would create room for the one million new homes needed (at a density of 50 houses per acre) all of which could be built within a 10 minute walk of a station.
- CNM Estates residential-led mixed-use development of the Tolworth tower site in south west London has been approved by Kingston Council. The residential-led mixed-use scheme involves the revamp of the existing building and four new blocks providing hundreds of new flats.
- Mayor Boris Johnson has approved British Land’s plans for a scheme in Tower Hamlets on the edge of the City at Norton Folgate involving the mixed-use redevelopment of Victorian warehouses to provide offices, flats and shops.
Sargeant minded to approve major Cardiff residential development
Welsh Planning Minister Carl Sargeant has announced he is minded to allow an appeal by South Wales Land Developments Ltd for a scheme providing up to 1,200 new homes at Lisvane on the north eastern edge of Cardiff earmarked for residential development by the recently revised and approved local development plan for the Welsh capital.
The final green light for the scheme, known as Churchlands, is subject to successful negotiations on an s106 agreement
Bridge plans for Lowestoft and Ipswich
Suffolk County Council and the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership have submitted outline business cases to the Department for Transport for two separate new road and bridge links, one for Lowestoft and the other for Ipswich.
The former scheme would involve a third crossing of Lake Lothing between the two existing bridges, linking Peto Way and Tom Crisp Way. The latter project would involve a new crossing at the waterfront in Ipswich linking the east and west banks of the River Orwell. Each scheme is costed at around £90m.
Devon and Lancashire solar farms refused…
West Devon Borough Council has refused permission for the 58-hectare North Tawton Eco Park, a proposed 22-megawatt solar power farm, planned by Kinetica Solar for land to the rear of the Taw Valley Creamery. Planning officers told members that the scale, visibility and dominance of the development would result in an “unacceptably adverse impact”.
Meanwhile Communities Secretary Greg Clark has agreed with the inspector who considered a proposed 17-megawatt solar farm on a 37 hectare site in a green belt location at Aughton, Lancashire originally refused by West Lancashire Borough Council.
Clark agreed that Hive Energy’s appeal should be dismissed as it represented inappropriate development and would be detrimental to the landscape.
View the planning application details for land to rear of Taw Valley Creamery North Tawton Devon
View the recovered appeal for land off Butchers Lane, Aughton, Lancashire
…and Rugby wind farm blown away
The Secretary of State has dismissed an appeal by RES UK & Ireland Ltd’s over the company’s four-turbine wind farm proposed for land at Pailton near Rugby. Like the inspector who held the recovered inquiry, Clark concluded the eight megawatt facility would be detrimental to local heritage assets and would have harmful impacts on the landscape and visual amenity.
View the recovered appeal for land at Cestersover Farm, Cestersover, Pailton, Rugby
Thurrock design help
Design Council Cabe has created a design review and support panel to help Thurrock Council in south Essex prepare for major growth and investment.
Legal round-up
- The establishment of the Planning Court has led to a dramatic reduction in the time from lodging to substantive hearing, according to the Lord Chief Justice’s latest annual report. By the end of October 2015 this period had been reduced to 27.3 weeks, down from 46.9 weeks in February 2014.
- Smech Properties, a company owned by the ruler of Dubai has failed in an attempt to block the development of the former DERA site at Longcross near Chertsey where Runnymede Borough Council has allowed Crest Nicholson to build 200 homes on a green belt site.
- The Appeal Court has been hearing joined appeals on the meaning of a key section of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) relating to “policies for the supply of housing”. In court it was claimed that three competing interpretations have emerged from recent High Court rulings.
- A £35m regeneration scheme around Lime Street in Liverpool city centre is due to go ahead after the High Court rejected a legal bid by conservationists Save British Heritage to overturn planning permission from the city council.
- A family in High Wycombe has been forced to pay back more than £50,000 after they illegally redeveloped an outbuilding and rented it out. The confiscation order followed legal action by Wycombe District Council. Archaeologists have claimed they have uncovered Britain’s “Pompeii” after discovering the “best-preserved Bronze Age dwellings ever found” in England.
Historic and listed building round-up
- Part of a settlement made up of circular wooden houses built on stilts has been discovered at Must Farm quarry in Cambridgeshire. The settlement is thought to date to about 1000-800 BC. A fire destroyed the posts, causing the houses to fall into a river where silt helped preserve the contents. Pots with meals still inside have been found at the site.
- The world’s first operational radar station, at Bawdsey on the Suffolk coast, has been awarded a grant of £1.4m to help preserve it. The transmitter block, built in 1938, is crumbling and letting in water.
- A DIY nuclear fallout shelter built in a back garden during heightened Cold War fears has received Grade II-listed status. The bunker, built in Taverham, Norfolk, in 1982, was a reminder of the public’s “fear” in the Cold War years, Heritage Minister Tracey Crouch said.
Roger Milne
We’re entering the later stages of testing on the new Planning Portal site now and I thought I’d take the wraps off some of the new features.
First up are the application forms themselves.
The new forms are adaptive, meaning questions appear and disappear based on the answers you give – in other words you only answer the questions that are relevant to your application.
Naturally, the forms still follow the national question set approved by DCLG and are accepted by every LPA in England and Wales.
I thought I’d show you how we’ve addressed some known issues on the forms in a few areas: materials, hours of opening and the certificates.
The materials question has long been a bit of an issue and we’ve given a lot of thought to how to improve it. We’ve made it easier to add materials that are relevant (and only relevant) to your application. Take a look at the short video to see how it works (note: there’s no sound in the video).
Secondly we’ll take a look at one of the more complex questions to complete – hours of opening.
Currently this is a very long question with all entries for each kind of use case on screen by default, resulting in a cluttered user experience.
Again we’ve applied the principle that the form should work for you – not the other way around.
You select only those use cases that are relevant to your application. You can select the correct hours of opening either by clicking on the clock icon in the relevant field and selecting the time or by typing the exact time you need.
We think it results in a more usable and cleaner experience.
Thirdly, we’ve made some improvements to the certificates.
Users had complained about a persistent validation error whereby one certificate would be partially completed before the applicant realised that a different certificate should be used.
In this case the system would record two versions of two certificates causing some confusion when it came to submit the application as it wasn’t obvious which part hadn’t been completed.
Now if you swap certificates the earlier version is wiped from the system resulting in quicker validation and application submission, saving you time and money.
Finally, at least for this blog post, the forms are responsive. This means they can be viewed and work properly on mobile devices. We live in an increasingly mobile-dominated world so making it easier to access your forms on the go was a key consideration.
There are many more improvements in the forms but throughout development our focus has remained on providing continuity for our customers. Everything has been refreshed but you won’t feel lost or need to ask directions.
We’ve applied best design practice but we’ve also listened to user comments for many years and we’re very excited to finally be able to pay you back for your feedback and patience.
The Government’s flagship Housing and Planning bill completed its passage through the Commons this week unscathed. No opposition amendments were successful during the legislation’s report and third reading stages. The measures will now be scrutinised by the Lords.
The bill made history as the first to be considered under the new procedure whereby measures affecting just England are voted on only by English MPs.
Planning minister Brandon Lewis called the legislation “an historic bill in many ways. It will put homeownership within the grasp of generations that have only dreamed for many years that it could be possible. It will deliver a planning system that is the envy of the world. It will get Britain building again.”
Labour’s John Healey MP complained the legislation was “ a bad bill; it is now a very bad bill, made much worse by amendments forced through at the last minute after the Committee’s line-by-line scrutiny”.
Opposition MPs accused the Government of ending long-term rented housing and presiding over the loss of genuinely affordable homes, an issue some Conservative MPs raised.
Healey insisted. “The bill sounds the death knell for social housing. Starter homes will be built in place of affordable council and housing association homes, both to buy and to rent. Councils will be forced to sell their best properties and housing associations will not replace many of their right-to-buy sales with like-for-like homes. “
He predicted the loss of at least 180,000 genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy over the next five years. And he questioned the efficacy of an eleventh-hour amendment supported by the Government which is intended to ensure that proceeds from the sale of vacant high-value assets should be used to provide new affordable homes in London on a two-for-one basis.
Healey added “We have tried to stop the worst of the plans, but Tory ministers and back benchers have opposed our proposals to give local areas the flexibility to promote not just starter homes but homes of all types, depending on local housing need; to make starter homes more affordable and protect and recycle taxpayers’ investment; to allow local areas to protect council and housing association homes with a proper replacement of each; to limit any automatic planning permission from ministers for brownfield land; and to protect stable family homes for council tenants.”
View more information about the Housing and Planning bill
Roger Milne
Planning Portal Blog 