Communities Secretary Greg Clark has rejected the advice of the inspector who held an inquiry into a recovered appeal involving outline permission for up to 200 new homes at Lydney in Gloucestershire and refused the proposals.
The scheme, proposed by Allaston Developments, included up to 20 serviced self-build plots, some 37 retirement flats, public open space and a community building.
Forest of Dean District Council had blocked the proposals. However at the inquiry the planning authority said it would not support its reasons for refusing permission as it couldn’t demonstrate a “robust” five-year supply of housing land.
Clark’s decision letter concluded that the appeal should be dismissed because of conflict with both the emerging Allocation Plan for the district and the emerging Lydney Neighbourhood Development Plan. The SoS also said the scheme was in conflict with policies in the existing Core Strategy.
Clark’s letter acknowledged that the proposals would increase the supply of market and affordable housing in the area.
But he insisted the conflict with both the local plan and the emerging neighbourhood plan as well as the adverse impact on landscape and local character as well as issues to do with traffic and air quality outweighed the benefits of the scheme.
Roger Milne
New Welsh language policy kicks-in
New provisions to ensure the Welsh language is considered in the planning system in Wales came into force this week.
Under section 11 of the Planning (Wales) Act 2015 it is now a requirement that every planning authority when preparing or revising the local development plan gives consideration to how the policies and site allocations are likely to impact on use of the Welsh language in their area.
Section 31 clarifies that the language may be considered in decisions where it is material to the application. To coincide with this, the Welsh Government has issued a revised Technical Advice Note 20: Planning and the Welsh Language for a three-month public consultation.
Prior approvals on the increase
Latest planning application statistics for England have highlighted a surge in bids for prior approval. The figures show there were 36,400 such application in 2014/15 and 21,900 in the first two quarters of 2015/16, up from 15,700 in 2013/14 and just 7,300 in 2012/13.
Of 10,800 applications received for prior approval for permitted development rights during July to September 2015, some 8,800 were approved without having to go through the full planning process and 2,000 were refused.
Between July and September 2015, district level planning authorities in England received 120,400 applications for planning permission, up one per cent from 118,700 in the corresponding quarter of 2014 and granted 98,700 decisions, up three per cent from the same quarter in 2014. Over the third quarter in 2015 planning authorities granted 12,200 residential applications, up 12 per cent on a year earlier.
In the year ending September 2015, district level planning authorities granted 366,000 decisions, up four per cent on the year ending September 2014. Some 46,200 of the granted decisions were for residential developments: 5,800 for major developments and 40,300 for minors.
DCO changes advice
The Government has issued new guidance on two types of change that may be made to a Development Consent Order (non-material or material) and the procedures for making such changes. The guidance covers the boundary between a material change and needing to make a new application.
In a related but separate move the Planning Inspectorate has issued a new advice note on the assessment of cumulative effects as part of an Environmental Impact Assessment.
The guidance has been produced following the Infrastructure Act 2015 (which amended the 2008 Act) and the subsequent 2015 amendments to The Infrastructure Planning (Changes to, and Revocation of, Development Consent Orders) Regulations 2011.
Urban study identifies gaps
A study from cross-party think tank Demos has identified a gulf between the socio-economic performance of English towns and their neighbouring cities.
Against a wide variety of critical social and economic measures including health, education and employment, the report finds that three in five English towns are falling behind their urban neighbours.
The report, Talk of the Town, mapped the fortunes of the satellite towns orbiting 21 of England’s largest cities.
Broadly, the study found towns in the Midlands are the best overall performers against their nearest cities. It also identified a substantial North-South divide in absolute socio-economic performance, affecting both towns and cities.
Clark refuses Bristol green belt solar farm
Communities Secretary Greg Clark has dismissed an appeal over a 7.7megawatt solar power project proposed for high-grade farmland in a green belt location at Iron Acton, Bristol originally refused by South Gloucestershire Council.
He agreed with the inspector who held the recovered appeal inquiry that the scheme represented inappropriate development, breached Core Strategy policies and could not demonstrate that lower-grade agricultural land had been considered.
Land value guide
The Department for Communities and Local Government has published its latest set of values for both residential and agricultural land for each English district-level planning authority. The figures are purely for the purpose of policy appraisal.
Kent developments
- US hedge fund RiverOak has decided to use the Planning Act 2008 regime and apply for a Development Consent Order for the currently closed Manston Airport in a bid to safeguard the Kent facility for freight and executive aviation and associated activities. The company wants to compulsory purchase the site which has been touted for residential and industrial development. RiverOak has appointed Bircham Dyson Bell as its legal advisors.
- Robin Cooper, the chief executive of the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation (EDC) has resigned. An interim chief executive will be appointed this month. The EDC was set up by ministers to deliver the country’s first new ‘garden city’ for 100 years on land in Kent round the Ebbsfleet international rail station in Dartford and Gravesham where some 15,000 new homes are proposed.
- Meanwhile a High Court judge has dismissed the challenge by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) over the decision by Dover District Council to approve a scheme providing over 600 new homes and a hotel at Western Heights and Farthingloe in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
- Taylor Wimpey has been granted outline planning permission for the redevelopment of the 31-hectare Shorncliffe Garrison site near Folkestone in Kent by Shepway District Council for a housing-led mixed-use scheme providing up to 1,200 homes, 18 per cent affordable.
Neighbourhood plan progress
The Government’s latest neighbourhood planning newsletter has revealed that all 126 referendums held so far have been successful. The most recent took place in Linton near Leeds and saw 96 per cent of voters say ‘yes’ to the draft NP on a turnout of 48 per cent. Over 25,000 people have now voted in NP referendums, average ‘yes’ vote was 89 per cent and average turnout was 33 per cent.
West Midlands transport blueprint approved
Transport chiefs in the West Midlands have approved a strategic plan to help the region unlock its economic potential. The blueprint sets out the region’s transport strategy for the next 20 years.
It includes proposals for a fully integrated train, bus and rapid transit system, strategic road and rail improvements and a comprehensive cycle network, all underpinned by smart technology including ticketless travel and real time information.
The strategy, ‘Movement for Growth’ was the subject of a three month public consultation by the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority (ITA).
A key element of the plan is to help the West Midlands unlock the full economic potential of the HS2 high speed rail line which will link Birmingham to London in 2026 and later to Manchester and Leeds.
Clean air zones announced
The administration has announced plans to establish Clean Air Zones in Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton by 2020.
Oxfordshire developments
- The inspector examining West Oxfordshire District Council’s draft local plan has told the planning authority it must consider withdrawing the strategy or do more work on the overall housing requirement. The inspector said the plan’s target of 525 new dwellings per annum was too low and needed to be much closer to the 660dpa figure recommended following the Strategic Housing Market Assessment endorsed by all the other Oxfordshire councils.
- Cherwell District Council has insisted that special circumstances justified outline approval for a technology business park at the 8.3-hectare site of a former rugby ground on the northern edge of Kidlington which is located in the Oxford green belt. The scheme will provide some 40, 000 square meters of production, laboratory, storage, office and ancillary floor space.
- The council is going to court over Gladman Developments’ proposals for 54 new homes at Hook Norton, Oxfordshire allowed on appeal.
Dorset local plan sound provided early review
The inspector examining North Dorset District Council’s Local Plan has endorsed the strategy as sound providing the plan period is extended by five years to 2031 and is subject to an early review starting this March.
View more information on North Dorset District Council’s Local Plan
Green light for Wellington development
Taunton Deane Borough Council has given developer C G Fry and Son Ltd outline planning permission for 650 new homes on the edge of Wellington, 25 per cent of which will be for affordable housing. The scheme forms part of a mixed-use urban extension allocated in the Somerset planning authority’s Core Strategy.
View the application, number 43/14/0130
Legal round up
- The owner of a nightclub in Brixton has been given permission to bring a judicial review challenge to Lambeth Council’s grant of planning permission for a housing development which the claimant, Louise Barron, believes would result in the club’s closure.
- A high court judge has ruled that Cornwall Council should have insisted on an environmental impact assessment before granting planning permission for a quarry near St Keverne which is expected to supply the Swansea Tidal Barrage project.
- The Scottish Government and energy company SSE have confirmed that they intend to appeal a legal ruling quashing a planned 67-turbine wind farm near Fort Augustus in the Scottish Highlands.
- Enfield Council in north London has failed in a legal action brought against the Transport Secretary over the number of trains per hour stopping at the nearest station to a major regeneration site.
- A High Court challenge against a plan to redevelop Undershaw, the former Surrey home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, has failed.
- Developers who clear-felled trees covered by a Tree Preservation Order at Blacknest Park near Ascot will have to replace the woodland as required by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead following an unsuccessful challenge in the Court of Appeal.
- Developer Rosconn Group has launched a legal challenge over the adoption of Charnwood Borough Council’s Core Strategy and whether the Leicestershire planning authority’s five-year land supply position was adequately examined.
London round-up
- Plans have been submitted to Westminster Council for the redevelopment of the former Royal Mail sorting office in Paddington, west London which include a 254-metre high tower designed to provide 330 new homes, retail and commercial floorspace, restaurants and public realm works.
- The Port of London Authority (PLA) has published a report setting out a strategy for making the Thames cleaner, and increasing the use of the river for recreation and transporting goods and passengers. Several new piers are proposed.
- Proposals for a 61,000-seater stadium for Premiership club Spurs capable of hosting international sporting fixtures have been approved by Haringey Council. The development, which will replace the club’s current White Hart Lane home, will also see nearly 600 new homes, a 180-bed hotel, an extreme sports centre alongside a community health centre and a new public square.
- Plans to convert an iconic flour mill not used since the 1980s into a new centre for business and enterprise in east London have been given the go-ahead by the Mayor of London’s office.
- A new tech and creative hub for the east of the city with 454,514 square metres of business space and 3,000 new homes will be built on a 25-hectare site at Silvertown Quays in the Royal Docks. The land includes the derelict Millennium Mills which features regularly as a dystopian backdrop for films and videos including Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and Derek Jarman’s The Last of England.
- Communities Secretary Greg Clark has allowed on appeal a scheme to provide 28 new homes at a reservoir in West Hampstead, north London originally refused by Camden Council. He agreed with the inspector who held the recovered appeal inquiry.
Infrastructure commission chief named
Chancellor George Osborne has appointed Phil Graham as Chief Executive Officer of the National Infrastructure Commission.
He joins the new body from the Department for Transport, where he has worked on many of the UK’s most important infrastructure projects.
More time for NPPF changes consultation
The Government has bowed to pressure and extended the period for consultation on its proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The new deadline for comments is 22 February.
View the consultation on proposed changes
HCA interim chairman chosen
Kevin Parry has been appointed interim chairman of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the Communities Secretary Greg Clark has confirmed
Parry, an existing board member will lead the HCA board for the period after current chairman Robert Napier stepped down at the end of December. He will continue the role until a chairman is appointed on a permanent basis and took up the position from 1 January 2016.
Most popular place
Liverpool Waterfront has been crowned the overall winner in the nationwide competition organised by the Royal Town Planning Institute to show off the diverse places that planners and the planning system have created, protected and enhanced for communities. Over 11,000 people voted on a shortlist of 10 places.
New Year’s Honours
Influential planners Alice Lester and Malcolm Sharp have won recognition for their contribution to planning in the latest New Year’s Honours.
Lester, programme manager at the Planning Advisory Service, was awarded an MBE as was Sharp, a former president of the Planning Officers Society.
Also honoured was John Worthington, director of the Academy of Urbanism and an Independent Transport Commission commissioner. He received an MBE for services to urban regeneration.
Peter Eversden, chair of the London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies, received an MBE for services to community engagement in planning.
Margaret Morgan, co-chair of the Ascot, Sunninghill and Sunningdale Neighbourhood Plan Delivery Group Committee, received a British Empire Medal for services to the community in Berkshire.
View the full New Year’s Honours list 2016
Roger Milne
As 2015 draws to a close I thought I’d look back at a busy and momentous year for the Planning Portal.
Away from the day-to-day business of running the website and engaging with customers and stakeholders, it’s fair to say that for the first three months of 2015 most of the Portal team was pre-occupied with the move from Government into the private sector.
The Portal had been in DCLG (formerly ODPM and formerly DTLR) since 2001 – and some of the team had been with it since then.
We left behind many friends and colleagues when we finally moved out of the public sector in mid-March.
DCLG remains a part of the joint venture with our parent company TerraQuest but moving into the commercial world felt like a breath of fresh air and reinvigorated the team in a new office and with a new website and vision to deliver.
Looking ahead at 2016, we can’t wait to get the new website live. We’re incredibly excited about the new service and the roadmap for service delivery in 2016. As I mentioned in an earlier post we’ll be delivering a host of new products next year.
In addition to the new website, next year we’ll be rolling out:
- A seamless and integrated planning and building control application service
- A suite of tools to make the application service work even better for professionals
- An improved range of online payment options to address validation issues – including a secure method for applicants to pay directly for applications submitted by their agent
- An intuitive, redesigned interactive house
- A facility for LPAs to increase supporting document file sizes – where they are able to process them
One thing that won’t be changing is our commitment to working with our customers and stakeholders to deliver the best service we can.
This commitment to working closely with LPAs, professionals and the general public has seen over 460,000 planning applications submitted through the Portal this year alone and we project over 525,000 applications will be sent through our system in 2016.
As a final sign off for 2015 I’d just like to extend my thanks, and the gratitude of the entire Planning Portal team, for your support in 2015.
We hope you have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. See you in 2016.
Historic England has published revised guidance on the impact of tall buildings amid a surge in applications for new skyscrapers.
The Government’s statutory advisor on heritage issues said tall buildings should make a positive contribution to city life but warned they can also seriously harm places.
“England has seen many examples of tall buildings that have had a lasting, adverse impact on the historic environment”.
The reshaped guidance, last published in 2007, stressed the need to use local plans to assess which areas, if any, were appropriate for tall buildings.
“Tall buildings should reflect a positive, managed approach to development, rather than being the result of speculative applications for development.
“The advantages of including tall buildings policies in local plans include identifying the role and areas appropriate for tall buildings as part of an overall vision for a place and protecting the historic places that make an area special.”
The advice said: “A successful urban design framework identifies the roles and characters of different areas, including their historic interest such as scale and height, landmark buildings and their settings, including important local views and panoramas.”
Historic England has also emphasised the importance of considering internal and external public space “as part of a well-designed public realm. Consideration of the effect on the local environment is also important, such as overshadowing, light pollution and the micro-climate around the base of such buildings.”
Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, warned: “There are many tall buildings being proposed at the moment, particularly in London, that could have a profound effect on the character of the place where people, work and live.
“London’s historic environment is one of our greatest assets, culturally, socially and economically. But it is at risk of being badly and irrevocably damaged.”
Roger Milne
MPs last week completed their line by line scrutiny of the Government’s flagship housing and planning bill. The amended legislation has emerged unscathed from opposition attempts to change the measures. The bill will now have its report stage in the Commons on 5 January in three weeks’ time before being passed on to the Lords.
During the final exchanges last Friday MPs queued up to urge ministers to ensure planning departments were better resourced, including allowing councils to set their own planning charges.
Planning minister Brandon Lewis reminded them that section 303 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 already provides for the Secretary of State to permit local planning authorities to set their own level of fees up to cost recovery. “We are therefore already technically in possession of the powers to enable local fee setting” he insisted.
Lewis reiterated his stance that councils had sufficient means to resource planning departments which should be treated as a key local authority service. However he also chided local authorities for not doing enough to make savings by pursuing out-sourcing and shared services.
However the minister did promise to look at ideas about fast-track planning applications and having a more competitive planning process suggested by MPs. “That, rather than a focus on raising fees alone, is the type of innovative thinking that needs to be brought to the resourcing debate” he said.
He also committed to consider planning’s contribution to protecting live music venues, a high-profile issue at present. He said the minister for culture and the digital economy had arranged for him to meet music industry campaigners “shortly”.
The bill was amended by the Government to enable the Secretary of State to ask the Mayor of London or a combined authority to prepare a development plan. The Mayor or combined authority will be responsible for having the document examined and approving it.
Lewis explained that currently, where it is necessary for the SoS to intervene over a development plan, his only option is to take over responsibility for the process of preparing, examining and approving.
“Our proposals will move more power back to a local level and enable more targeted and appropriate intervention where a local planning authority has failed to take action to get a plan in place, despite having every opportunity to do so.”
The planning minister also made it clear that the Government had no intention of allowing the new concept of permission in principle (PiP) to be used for some of the things that people are concerned about, like fracking or waste development.
“We want to ensure that the local authorities are able to grant permission in principle for mixed-use developments that promote balanced and sustainable places” he stressed.
Roger Milne
The Government has announced it needs more time before it makes a decision on new airport capacity in south east England although it has signalled that all three short-listed schemes originally proposed by the independent Airports Commission (two at Heathrow, one at Gatwick) remain in the mix.
The Commission’s final report had recommended a new third runway at Heathrow. Ministers have now signalled that a final decision won’t be made until at the earliest next summer.
Last week’ statement by the Government was careful not to endorse any of the three shortlisted proposals. It noted that the commission said all three were viable.
“The Government will undertake a package of further work on environmental issues”. The statement said it was anticipated that this would “conclude over the summer”.
It added: “The Airports Commission published a large amount of very detailed analysis on air quality and greenhouse gas emissions for their three shortlisted schemes. The Government faces a complex and challenging decision on delivering this capacity.
“The Airports Commission’s air quality analysis will be tested using the latest projected future concentrations of nitrogen dioxide.
“The next step is to continue to develop the best possible package of measures to mitigate the impacts on local people and the environment.
“This will include a package for local communities to include compensation, maximising local economic opportunities through new jobs and apprenticeships, and measures to tackle noise.”
Ministers have decided on the “mechanism for delivering planning consents for airport expansion”. Unlike HS2 this will not involve a hybrid bill.
Instead there will be an ‘Airports national policy statement’ (NPS). Then the scheme promoter will have to apply for a development consent order under the Planning Act 2008 regime for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs).
View the statement to Parliament
Roger Milne
A private developer has been ordered to pay what is thought to be a record £725,000 in compensation for a planning offence after building an illegal six-storey block of flats
East London’s Hackney Council served an enforcement notice in relation to the property in Hoxton in August 2011.
Garland Development Limited, and the company’s sole director Yusuf Sarodia, were sentenced last month for the offence of failing to demolish the property.
The local authority also made an application for the confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Hackney Council will receive one third of the confiscation order, with this sum reinvested in planning enforcement. The remainder will go to the court and the Treasury.
Garland Development and Sarodia are yet to demolish the property and the council said it would consider further enforcement if action is not taken.
Councillor Guy Nicholson, cabinet member for regeneration said: “Anyone who thinks they have a right to build a property in Hackney without first obtaining planning permission must realise that the council will take action against those who flout the rules.
“Putting up a building without planning permission is not only breaching planning law but to be quite frank puts at risk the safety of residents and neighbouring properties.”
Roger Milne
A Derbyshire planning authority has withdrawn its local plan from public examination after announcing it could no longer demonstrate a five-year supply of sites which would deliver the council’s objectively assessed housing need as set out in its draft Core Strategy.
Amber Valley Borough Council, a semi-rural local authority, has taken that draconian step after telling the planning inspector examining the strategy that discussions in the past month with relevant land owners and site promoters had revealed that fewer homes than originally anticipated would be available over the five years to 2020. Some 310 fewer dwellings were involved, the council reported.
The council told the inspector: “it will not be practical to achieve a demonstrable five-year supply through the identification of further sites for housing development without revisiting its overall strategy for housing growth. It anticipates that the process of reviewing the growth strategy and reaching a conclusion as to an alternative approach, including appropriate public consultation and engagement, will take at least 12 months”.
Alan Cox, Leader of the Council, said: “I am deeply dismayed that such a decision had to be made at the eleventh hour, after so much effort and expenditure on the process by so many.
“Regrettably, however, despite the fact that there are many sites within the borough that have been given planning approval by the council, the council has no powers to force developers to start building the houses, or influence the timeframe over which a site is developed.”
He added: “The council remains fully committed to establishing an up-to-date local pan for Amber Valley, which will provide a robust set of policies and proposals to support housing and economic growth in the borough, whilst at the same time safeguarding and enhancing the environment.”
Roger Milne
Ministers urged to allow more time for policy change consultation
Clive Betts MP, Chair of the Commons Communities and Local Government Committee, has written to Communities Secretary Greg Clark to press for a month’s extension to the consultation period over the Government’s proposals announced last week for a raft of changes to planning policy in England.
That move came as Betts signalled that the all-party committee would hold a quick-fire inquiry into the proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) early in the New Year.
Betts pointed out there had been no prior warning about the consultation and that much of the consultation period will be taken up by the traditional Christmas and New Year break.
“An extension would allow the opportunity for the proper, informed, public debate these issues deserve” the Labour backbencher argued.
Meanwhile the Campaign to Protect Rural England has warned that the plans for a new ‘housing delivery test’ and proposals to allow housing on previously developed sites in the green belt would lead to more greenfield land being lost to development and the risk of further urban “sprawl”.
Report claims nimbyism isn’t inevitable
A new report from cross-party think-tank Demos has insisted that widespread local opposition to house development (aka ‘nimbyism’) is not inevitable.
The report argued that rather than being motivated by self-interest and financial concerns, most opposition was born out of genuine concern for the community and a lack of transparency and trust in the planning process.
The report ‘Community Builders’ highlighted that councils in the north of England are much more likely to approve new housing development, and in a much faster time, than those in the south where the shortage of supply is most acute.
The report also found that many types of council, particularly those in rural areas, were dragging their heels on approving new planning applications, including some councils where a third of all proposals for large developments are being rejected in the face of significant population growth.
The think-tank made the case that community-led housing schemes could help to solve the national housing crisis by encouraging greater local ownership over house-building.
Liverpool proposals
Proposals for the regeneration of Liverpool’s Chinatown have moved closer now planning permission has been approved for the £200m development that will provide new homes, businesses, leisure facilities, a hotel and a unique Chinese retail core.
The approved hybrid application sought detailed consent for the first phase of the project on Great George Street, and outlined consent for the second and third phases.
Meanwhile in a separate move the city council has dropped its legal challenge over the decision by the then Communities Secretary Sir Eric Pickles to refuse permission for regeneration plans for the Welsh Streets district in Toxteth proposed jointly by the local authority and housing association Plus Dane.
Accessibility toolkit
Social housing specialist Habinteg and the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) have joined forces and launched an online toolkit to help make accessible housing more of a national priority.
The interactive resource, Towards Accessible Housing, was launched in response to the implementation of the Building Regulations in October 2015.
This initiative is designed to offer practical support for local authorities’ planning policy on access and to ensure homes and communities are inclusive for all.
The TCPA said the toolkit would help planners and local authorities understand the implications of the new housing standards, support accessibility within planning, and ensure an increased supply of accessible homes.
Custom-build pilot for Basingstoke
A new development of 122 homes in Basingstoke, Hampshire has been selected as a national pilot for large-scale custom build, housing and planning minister Brandon Lewis has announced.
The minister stressed that the Government was committed to working with industry professionals to eradicate the two biggest barriers to custom and self-build, access to land and finance.
The proposed custom build scheme will be at Park Prewett, part of a major new housing development in Basingstoke. There, developer ZeroC will provide homes under the custom build model, ranging from self-build to custom fit-out.
Each of the homes can be customised to the buyer’s specifications with various levels of custom build on offer to buyers.
Plans for the site also include 44 plots which will be allocated for affordable housing, along with a few entirely-self build plots that will be made available.
Slough’s Sarah Richards named as new PINs Chief Executive
The Department for Communities and Local Government has named Sarah Richards as the new Chief Executive of The Planning Inspectorate.
Sarah is currently Strategic Director Regeneration, Housing and Resources, at Slough Borough Council a post she has held since 2013.
Previously she worked for the Greater London Council, Test Valley Borough Council and Essex County Council.
Resort restoration
Blackpool’s iconic Winter Gardens is one of 77 projects due to benefit from three million pounds of government funding.
Ranging from theatres to piers and lidos to lighthouses, the projects will each receive grants of up to £50,000 to help kick-start restoration work.
They are also set to attract £30m in private and public investment and could support up to 1,500 jobs, ministers have claimed.
Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England said: “Several of the sites are on our Heritage at Risk Register and require urgent action before they are lost.”
The schemes include projects from Berwick in Scotland to St Ives in Cornwall.
Energy and power projects
- Proposals to build a gas fuelled peaking power plant at a site near a scrap yard close to the M32 at St Werburgh’s, Bristol have been refused by the city council because of air quality and other pollution concerns. Three other proposals for peaking plant were withdrawn.
- Communities Secretary Greg Clark has dismissed an appeal over a single wind-turbine project earmarked for a location in green belt near Lumby in north Yorkshire originally refused by Selby District Council. His decision was in line with the recommendation of the planning inspector who held the recovered appeal inquiry. Clark’s decision letter concluded that the benefits of the scheme did not outweigh its short comings in terms of harm to the openness of the green belt and impact on heritage assets. He also said community concerns over planning impacts had not been addressed.
- The UK needs to start fracking to establish the economic impact of shale gas, an industry-funded body has said. The Task Force on Shale Gas’s latest report says only after fracking has begun will it be possible to determine how much gas can be recovered. The report calls on the Government and local communities to allow initial exploratory wells.
Cheshire East Council’s draft local plan receives examiners support
The planning inspector examining Cheshire East Council’s draft local plan has issued further interim views on how the strategy is developing which are broadly supportive of the local planning authority’s latest work.
The inspector noted that the council has produced “an impressive and comprehensive set of additional evidence within a relatively limited amount of time during the suspension of the examination.” The inspector said the council had adopted a balanced and rational approach to economic and jobs growth.
On housing, the objectively assessed need (OAN) for 36,000 new homes was viewed as “supported by the evidence”.
Thumbs-down for Hull music venue
Plans for a £36m music and exhibition centre in Hull have been rejected. The 3,500 capacity venue was to have been built on derelict land in the city centre and was expected to open in 2018.
Hull City Council’s planning committee rejected the proposal, despite council officers recommending approval.
Lewes development approved
The South Downs National Park Authority’s planning committee has approved, in principle, a 416-home development proposed jointly by developer Santon and the local authority for the Phoenix quarter of Lewes in East Sussex. Some 40 per cent of the homes will be affordable.
The North Street Quarter development is the biggest housing scheme to be determined by the park authority and was the subject of considerable local controversy and an alternative proposal by campaigners.
Margaret Paren, Chair of the South Downs National Park Authority, said: “We recognise that our decision won’t be universally welcomed but we believe that it offers the best possible use of this brownfield site for the future of Lewes and the people who live here, including much-needed flood defences and drainage for the whole town and space for recreational facilities.”
London developments
- A viability report commissioned by two east London councils who object to controversial proposals to redevelop the four-hectare Bishopsgate Goods Yard site has questioned the lack of affordable housing on offer from developers Hammerson and Ballymore. London mayor Boris Johnson has called-in the housing-led mixed-use scheme on the grounds of its strategic significance. The proposals involve plans for 12 new buildings including two skyscrapers of 39 and 47 storeys straddling the boundary between Hackney and Tower Hamlets Councils.
- AFC Wimbledon has been given permission by Merton Council to build a new stadium close to its spiritual home in Plough Lane, south west London. The League Two club applied to build an 11,000-seater stadium (that could be expanded to hold 20,000) on the site of Wimbledon greyhound stadium. The original Wimbledon club left Plough Lane in 1991 because of legislation requiring all-seater stadiums.
- A series of listed Victorian buildings once used to store coal is set to be converted into a spectacular Covent Garden-style piazza under the latest proposals for the regeneration of the King’s Cross unveiled by developer Argent.
- Haringey Council have approved revised plans for Tottenham’s new 61,000-seat stadium. Spurs hope to move to the ground for the 2018-19 season with work beginning in spring 2016. The plans must now be formally approved by the Mayor of London.
Transport projects
- A new £26m railway station in Rochester has opened. It is closer to the town centre and allows longer 12-car trains to pass through the station. The old station used to take 10-car trains. Five extra trains to London will run in the mornings and one extra return train will run in the evening.
- A five million pound railway station has opened for the first time and is now serving residents of the new Cranbrook eco-town near Exeter. The single platform Cranbrook Station, funded by Devon County Council and Cranbrook New Community Partners will mean hourly services will run on the existing Exeter to London Waterloo line, providing new links to Exeter, Salisbury and Basingstoke.
- Two potential sites for a lorry park to deal with disruption on the M20 motorway in Kent have been unveiled for consultation. Either site would help prevent the need for Operation Stack, when the motorway is closed during cross-channel disruption. Both sites are to the north of the M20 at junction 11, close to Westenhanger, and would ease Eurotunnel and Dover port disruption, Highways England said.
Chinese lessons?
China’s success in using planning to grow and develop its economy has been highlighted in a report just published by the Royal Town Planning Institute. The organisation has insisted that this should send a strong signal to UK politicians and the public.
The report stressed that China recognised that urban planning was vital to economic growth and civic pride and showed what can be achieved when national and local policymakers provide leadership and support for planners.
In the study Professor Fulong Wu, Bartlett Professor of Planning at University College London (UCL), sets out China’s experience in using planning to drive economic growth while limiting the environmental impact of urbanisation.
Mike Harris, Head of Research of the RTPI said: “We see a confident and positive interpretation of the role of planning in China which is not always the case in the UK. Of course there are problems with their system but the key lesson here is China’s attitude and confidence in robust planning.”
East Sussex coastal erosion scheme
A scheme to protect homes at Fairlight in East Sussex from coastal erosion has been approved by Rother District Council. A rock barrier costing nearly two million pounds should prevent further erosion for the next 50 years but some 22 homes will be lost, it is predicted.
The new defences should save around 160 properties in the village, which sits on cliffs between Rye and Hastings.
Lawrence cottage listing upgrade
The only adult home of the iconic diplomat and writer T.E. Lawrence has been upgraded to a Grade II* listing by Heritage Minister Tracey Crouch.
The cottage, Clouds Hill, in Dorset served as Lawrence’s retreat from barrack life where he would entertain his friends and wrote most of his famous books.
Lawrence reconstructed the partly-derelict cottage during 1923-35 to his specifications and needs, preferring the simplicity of the small and unheated building. Since his death in 1935 the cottage has remained unaltered and preserved as he left it.
Roger Milne
The Government has begun consulting on a slew of proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
These changes to English planning policy involve the following areas:
- Broadening the definition of affordable housing
- Increasing the density of development around commuter hubs
- Supporting sustainable new settlements and helping development on brownfield land and small sites
- Helping the delivery of housing allocated in plans
- Promoting and aiding the delivery of starter homes.
In respect of broadening the definition of affordable housing to include a wider range of low-cost homes ministers are also already introducing a statutory requirement for a proportion of ‘starter homes’ to be delivered on all reasonably-sized housing developments. There will be separate consultation on the level at which this will be set.
The consultation explains government thinking on the introduction of a so-called housing delivery test and possible action where there has been a significant under-delivery of new homes over a sustained period.
The document also sets out the Government’s plans to extend the current exception site policy and strengthen the presumption in favour of ‘starter home’ developments. “We propose to amend the NPPF to make clear that unviable or underused employment land should be released unless there is significant and compelling evidence to justify why such land should be retained for employment use”.
The consultation clarifies the proposal to change policy to support the regeneration of previously developed brownfield sites in the green belt provided this contributes to the delivery of starter homes. This will be “subject to local consultation”.
Ministers have also said they will amend the existing policy test on the impact on the openness of the green belt to make this more flexible to “enable suitable, sensitively designed redevelopment to come forward”.
The document has proposed there will only be transitional arrangements, for a period of six to twelve months, in respect of local authorities accommodating the new definition of affordable housing because this may need the development of new policy and possibly a partial review of their local plan.
View the consultation documents
Roger Milne
Planning Portal Blog 