Planning Portal Blog

DCLG clarifies new housing element in Development Control Order regime

The Government has clarified its new proposals for including new homes in individual development consent orders (DCOs) and confirmed that the maximum number of permanent homes will be 500.

New draft guidance just published said ministers won’t limit the types of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) that will be allowed to include homes.

The guidance said homes would be allowed if they are “close to” the proposed infrastructure or if there is a functional need for permanent homes in cases where homes are required for construction workers or operational reasons.

Housing “up to one mile away from any part of the infrastructure for which consent is being sought” will be considered close enough to the infrastructure to be included in a NSIP, the guidance said.

However, where “a large amount of housing” is proposed to meet a functional need, the guidance said “it may be more appropriate for this to be in a location that is not in the immediate vicinity of the infrastructure project”.

The advice said fewer homes would be considered appropriate where policies like those protecting green belt land and heritage assets indicate that development should be restricted. Homes included on the basis of proximity would be expected to include affordable housing and “an element of starter homes”.

“It will be open to the Secretary of State to grant consent for the infrastructure, but refuse consent for some or all of the housing” noted the guidance.

View the briefing note

Roger Milne

Northants housing scheme allowed on appeal despite neighbourhood plan conflict

Communities Secretary Greg Clark has allowed on appeal outline proposals for a 39-home residential development on the edge of a Northamptonshire village. The scheme was in conflict with the emerging East Barton Neighbourhood Plan (NP). The proposals had been originally blocked by Wellingborough Borough Council.

Intriguingly the decision letter was issued on the day the NP referendum was held. Some 92 per cent of those who voted backed the East Barton NP on a turnout of nearly 28 per cent of those eligible to vote.

The inspector who held the recovered inquiry recommended the appeal should succeed. The Secretary of State agreed with the inspector that the planning authority could not demonstrate a five-year supply of housing land.

And like the inspector he argued that the “limited” harm to the landscape of the scheme was mitigated by the proposed containment of the development by existing hedging, a road and allotments.

The decision letter noted that the scheme was both in conflict with the development plan and the NP. However the SoS acknowledged that the development plan was out of date, the NP had not been “made” and given the absence of a five year supply of sites, the relevant NP policies for the supply of housing could not be considered up to date.

Clark acknowledged that that the conflict with the emerging NP should be given significant weight given the support for the plan locally and its advanced stage.

Nevertheless the SoS concluded that the harm identified was “insufficient to significantly and demonstrably outweigh the acknowledged benefits of this sustainable development”.

View the correspondence

Roger Milne

Further review of Welsh National Park and AONB governance announced

View the news story on GOV.WALES

Welsh Planning and Natural Resources Minister Carl Sargeant has announced a further review of the governance and purpose of National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). This news came in after the devolved administration‘s publication of the report of the Independent Panel which has been examining the subject over the last 12 months.

That three-person panel chaired by Professor Terry Marsden produced a lengthy report for the Government which runs to more than 250 pages and proposed nearly 70 separate recommendations.

Now Sargeant has asked Lord Dafydd Ellis-Thomas, a leading member of the Welsh Assembly, to lead a so-called Future Landscapes Working Group, involving representatives of the National Parks, AONBs, interest groups, business, and local government which will consider the recommendations and assess their implications. This latest exercise will involve another report due next year.

The recommendations now under scrutiny include:

Making no change to the name or legal status of National Parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Strengthening the support and delivery role of other bodies
Creating a National Landscape Committee.

Marsden’s report was adamant that the existing national park authorities should retain their strategic planning policy and planning development control functions. It also argued for the retention and development of what it called “flexible” AONB management models.

The Panel also argued that Natural Resources Wales and local authorities should “have regard” to the statutory partnership plans which each National Park and AONB (collectively known as the National Landscapes of Wales) will have to draw-up.

The Panel recommended the application of the so-called Sandford Principle, which confirms the primacy of the conservation purpose, should be applied across all the designated landscapes.

Sargeant said: “The Panel have endorsed my view that a fresh approach to purposes and governance is long overdue, and I agree with their summary that this is necessary to better respond to increasingly complex environmental challenges, inequalities in well-being and health, and to deliver more vibrant rural communities.

“The report makes 69 recommendations covering a raft of proposals and observations on purposes, principles, vision, governance models, planning, and funding. The scale and scope of these recommendations is considerable, and further work is now needed to understand their potential benefit and their consequences.”

Roger Milne

Planning round-up 5 November

Districts pitch their local plan reforms

District councils have outlined a series of reforms aimed at simplifying the local plans regime which have been submitted to the Government’s Local Plans Expert Group.

The reforms outlined in the submission from the District Councils’ Network (DCN) include proposals for a staged-plan examination, the production of strategic plans across housing market areas, slimmed-down plans and more protection for councils with well advanced plans from ‘5-year supply’ appeals.

Councillor Gillian Brown, DCN lead for planning and leader of Arun District Council, said: “From a DCN perspective, our members require a clear explanation from government as to what the early 2017 deadline for producing local plans will actually entail.

“And on a more fundamental level, the Government should review how they envisage resourcing the large number of plans that will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate at around the same time.

“Otherwise we risk creating a frustrating scenario, where districts which have compiled their plans according to the timetable find themselves sat in a long queue, waiting for an inspector to call.”

The DCN stressed district councils must be fully resourced and urged the Government to change the planning fees regime “to enable full cost recovery”.

View the release on the ONS website

Latest UK population projections

The UK population is projected to increase by 9.7 million over the next 25 years from an estimated 64.6 million in mid-2014 to 74.3 million in mid-2039. This is 420,000 higher than the 2012-based projection for 2039 according to the latest assessment compiled by the Office for National Statistics.

The 2014-based projections predict a slightly faster rate of increase than the 2012-based projections did, equating to about an extra 14,000 people per year on average over the 25 years to 2039.

The UK population is projected to reach 70 million by mid-2027. Assumed net migration accounts for 51 per cent of the projected increase over the next 25 years, with natural increase accounting for the remaining 49 per cent of growth.

Over the 10 year period to mid-2024, the UK population is projected to increase by 4.4 million to 69 million. This is 249,000 higher than the previous (2012-based) projection for that year.

The population is projected to continue ageing, with the average age rising from 40 years in 2014 to 40.9 years in mid-2024 and 42.9 by mid-2039. By mid-2039, more than 1 in 12 of the population is projected to be aged 80 or over.

Revised CPO guidance published by DCLG

The Department for Communities and Local Government has published revised guidance on the compulsory purchase order regime and the Crichel Down rules for the disposal of surplus land acquired by, or under the threat of, compulsion.

The guidance has been updated to reflect legislative changes and case law since 2004.

Draft updated advice was published for consultation in March and the final version of the document contains minor amendments to reflect comments. The guidance only applies to England. Ministers have announced they will review the delegation to inspectors of compulsory purchase order decisions.

View the guidance

Competition to develop smarter urban spaces launched

Businesses can win up to £35,000 to develop digital projects that help make urban spaces better and smarter for people.

The Government’s Innovate UK’s IC tomorrow programme is looking to award up to £35,000 each to four businesses to meet a series of challenges facing so-called connected cities.

Businesses will have the opportunity to work alongside high-profile challenge partners Transport for London, Centro, Clear Channel and Atkins.

This initiative recognises that cities are becoming increasingly connected with services such as transport and energy managed by intelligent networks. The challenge is to get citizens involved in this evolving digital backdrop.

One area of interest will focus on citizen input to city design. This will concentrate on innovative ways of encouraging citizens to share their data in a bid to improve the planning, design and management of urban space. This will be in partnership with Atkins.

View more details for the Lincoln Transport Hub Scheme

Energy project developments

Multifuel Energy Limited has obtained a development consent order from the Department of Energy and Climate Change for a 90-megawatt plant which will produce electricity after burning fuel derived from refuse and industrial and commercial waste, such as wood. It will be built at the site of the existing Ferrybridge C power station at Knottingley, West Yorkshire.
The world’s largest and the UK’s first floating offshore wind development approximately 25 kilometres off the coast of Peterhead has been approved by the Scottish Government.
Statoil, the Norwegian multinational oil and gas company, has been granted a marine licence for its application for a pilot park of five floating 6-megawatt turbines. Unlike more conventional offshore wind farms, the turbines will be attached to the seabed by a three-point mooring spread and anchoring system.
Proposals for a 24-turbine wind farm on moorland between Loch Rannoch and Loch Erich, in Perthshire have been rejected by the Scottish Government on a technicality. The applicant company was not a legal entity when the application was submitted.
The first planning application for shale gas exploration in Nottinghamshire has been submitted to the County Council. Island Gas Limited (IGas) is seeking planning permission to undertake exploration for shale gas on land to the north east of Misson in Bassetlaw, which is close to the Nottinghamshire, Doncaster and North Lincolnshire local government boundary

London round-up

Department for Communities and Local Government ministers have dismissed three appeals involving mosque development in West Ham, east London. One involved an enforcement order. The main appeal was over what would have been the UK’s largest mosque, a scheme refused by Newham Council.
MCC has been granted planning permission by Westminster City Council to redevelop the south-western corner of Lord’s cricket ground. The so-called South-Western Project, which includes an enlarged stand and a new Tavern Pub, is phase two of the master plan for Lord’s.
Plans for a second London ‘Boxpark’ has been given the green light by Croydon Council. It will be located on the Ruskin Square site near East Croydon station and is set to open next summer. The development will consist of 97 shipping containers.
London Mayor Boris Johnson has allowed a controversial scheme for 97 homes in Putney, south west London which had been refused by Wandsworth Council on the grounds the development would be too high.
Johnson has called in proposals for a housing-led mixed-use development involving a 28-storey residential tower on a site next to Barking station refused last month by the planning authority against the advice of officers.
Transport for London has begun a further round of public consultation on revised proposals for Crossrail 2. This would connect the National Rail networks in Surrey and Hertfordshire via new tunnels and stations between Wimbledon, Tottenham Hale and New Southgate, linking in with London underground, London Overground, Crossrail 1, national and international rail services.
Councils in the capital are drawing up plans to set up a pan-London vehicle for development, in the wake of the extension of the Right to Buy.
London boroughs believe that they could deliver more houses in the capital by using economies of scale and sharing development ambitions. Officials at umbrella group London Councils are currently working up detailed proposals for the venture.

Lincoln city centre revamps

Two major developments expected to change the face of Lincoln city centre have been given the go-ahead by city councillors.

Plans for the multi-million pound Lincoln Transport Hub project and the first phase of the Cornhill Quarter regeneration scheme have been approved.

The proposals include the demolition and replacement of the existing bus station and an improved rail station, a multi-storey car park, new commercial floor space, new retail provision and flats.

View more information about the Cornhill Quarter regeneration plans

Newcastle green infrastructure initiative

Funding for a project to investigate new ways of implementing green infrastructure schemes has been secured.

The £110,000 project will see consultancy Arup, Newcastle University and Newcastle City Council join forces to bring best-practice knowledge to the region, drawn from green infrastructure projects that have been developed around the world.

The group will work with colleagues in New York, London and Melbourne to review the latest thinking and develop a new community-led green infrastructure scheme in Melbourne which will shed light on opportunities in Newcastle.

£31m lottery funding for landscape betterment

The landscape which was home to a group of notorious 17th Century witches is to receive a share of £31m Lottery funding.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has announced it is providing £2m to restore wildlife and the fabric of Pendle Hill in Lancashire. It is one of 31 projects to receive funding across the UK.

The 13 areas benefiting from HLF’s investment stretch from the Orkney Isles in Scotland to Penwith’s peninsula on the south western tip of the mainland.

Go-ahead for Leeds campus homes

WYG planners have secured outline approval for up to 72 new homes at Leeds City College’s Horsforth Campus. The Campus is currently home for a further education facility which is due to close next year. Alternative residential use of the green belt site will provide investment in college facilities elsewhere in the city.

View the parliamentary transcript

Legal round-up

Robert Fiddler, the farmer at the centre of the long-running planning wrangle over a mock-Tudor house built illegally at a Surrey green belt location and originally hidden behind straw bales, has appeared in court following a contempt of court proceedings instigated by Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. He faces jail for refusing to demolish the building. He claimed in the High Court this week that the planning authority wanted to “destroy” his life.
A Romany gypsy has lost a three-year-legal fight to pitch a mobile home in the New Forest National Park. Robert Whitcher wanted to site the mobile home and a touring caravan on land he owns at Brambly Hedge in Landford in Wiltshire.
The Appeal Court has reserved judgement over the legal and planning saga surrounding Dudley Muslim Association’s proposals to build a replacement mosque and community centre on land off Hall Street.

Listed building legislation mooted

North Hertfordshire MP Bill Wiggin introduced a 10 Minute Rule bill in Parliament designed to make it easier for energy saving changes to be made to listed buildings and structures within the cartilage of listed Buildings. The legislation is known as the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (Amendment).

Wiggin said his measure would mean that “by slightly altering the rules we would enable owners to make important energy saving changes whilst appropriately protecting our historic buildings.”

Dungeness “desert” sold

A shingle beach in Kent, dubbed as “Britain’s only desert”, has been bought by EDF Energy, the owners of neighbouring Dungeness B nuclear power station.

The 190 hectare Dungeness Estate has been sold to the energy company for more than £1.5 million. The headland, which juts out into the English Channel, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and has 29 homes built from railway carriages on it. Film-maker Derek Jarman lived there before his death.

View the news article on BBC.co.uk

Roger Milne

Devolution deals set up for North East and Tees Valley

View more details on the Tees Valley devolution deal

Chancellor George Osborne has signed two more draft devolution deals. These involve the North East Combined Authority and the shadow Tees Valley Combined Authority.

Both combined authorities will choose a directly elected mayor in 2017. The deals will only go ahead if the Government’s Cities and Local Government bill, now at committee stage in the Commons is passed.

The North East region is set to receive £30m a year over the next 30 years. Tees Valley is due to receive some £15m a year over the same period. The deals will see transport, strategic planning and employment and skills powers transferred from Whitehall to each region.

The North East Combined Authority involves seven local authorities: County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland. The draft Tees Valley Combined Authority consists of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-On-Tees.

Under last week’s agreement the North East Combined Authority will take responsibility for a devolved and consolidated transport budget, with a multi-year settlement to be agreed at the Spending Review. It will also have responsibility for franchised bus services and, through Rail North, franchised rail services, contributing to the delivery of smart and integrated ticketing across the North East.

In addition it will have powers over strategic planning, including the responsibility to create a North East Planning Development Framework and to chair a new North East Land Commission to release land for development.

In the case of the yet to be established Tees Valley Combined Authority it will be given responsibility devolved from government for a consolidated transport budget, with a multi-year settlement to be agreed at the Spending Review.

Also involved will be the creation of new Mayoral Development Corporations. The new Mayor will head up a land commission to examine what publicly owned land and other key strategic sites should be vested in the development corporations.

View more details on the North East devolution deal

Roger Milne

Yorkshire Dales and Lake District National Park extensions approved

Ministers have given the green light to extend the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District National Parks. As a result of this decision, announced last week by Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss, Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire will now share an extensive area of almost continuous designated land.

The announcement will see the Yorkshire Dales grow by nearly 24 per cent and Lake District by three per cent. An additional 188 square miles of land across Cumbria and a small part of Lancashire will now have greater protection.

In the case of the Lake District NP the extension involves an area from Birkbeck Fells Common to Whinfell Common and an area from Helsington Barrows to Sizergh Fell, as well as an area north of Sizergh Castle and part of the Lyth valley.

In respect of the Yorkshire Dales NP the extended area involves parts of the Orton Fells, the northern Howgill Fells, Wild Boar Fell and Mallerstang as well as Barbon, Middleton, Casterton and Leck Fells, the River Lune, and part of Firbank Fell and other fells to the west of the River Lune.

The Variation Order required for these extensions will come into effect in August 2016. Truss said: “The Dales and the Lakes have some of our country’s finest landscapes, beautiful vistas and exciting wildlife. They are part of our national identity.

I am delighted to be able to announce this extension which will join these two unique National Parks and protect even more space for generations to come.”

Roger Milne

Permissions in principle won’t be retrospective

View more information on the Housing and Planning bill

The Government’s new proposal to grant permission in principle for new homes on land designated in local and neighbourhood plans and the new brownfield registers will apply only to site allocations in future plans and not retrospectively, an impact assessment published alongside the Housing and Planning bill has confirmed.

The document, produced by the Department for Communities and Local Government, said that based on the number of applications granted for major development in 2014-15 “the maximum number of sites that could benefit from the proposals could amount to 7,000 a year”.

The impact assessment highlighted that data on brownfield land was “out of date and of poor quality”. The department noted that the most recent data published by DCLG was in 2011 based on local authority returns to the National Land use Database in 2010.

“Since 2010 the number of authorities completing returns has reduced and it is currently estimated to be about 50 per cent” pointed out the document.

The department added: “The absence of robust data has led to assertions by the Campaign for the Protection of rural England and others that brownfield land has the capacity to accommodate over one million homes.

“We consider that to be wildly over optimistic as only a fraction will be suitable for housing. The land may not be suitable or available for development, it may be located in the wrong place or subject to physical and/or environmental constraints.”

The legislation is due its Second Reading in the Commons next week when MPs will have their first chance to debate the measures.

Roger Milne

East London master plan unveiled

London Mayor Boris Johnson has published a new master plan designed to help transform East London and deliver more than 200,000 homes and up to 250,000 jobs.

This so-called ‘City in the East’ strategy details how major development should take place from London Bridge to the Isle of Dogs and Greenwich Peninsula, right through to Ilford in Essex and Dartford in Kent.

The master plan knits together some 13 major development areas already established in the capital, known as designated Opportunity Areas. These have been identified as London’s major source of brownfield land with significant capacity for new housing, commercial space and other development.

In 2004 the Mayor’s Office estimated East London had the capacity for 52,000 new homes. But detailed modelling, which includes totalling the activity anticipated in the Opportunity Areas, now reveals that a minimum of 203,500 homes and 283,300 jobs could be delivered over the next 20 years.

The ‘City in the East’ document also contains a series of maps which illustrate how the city is moving eastwards, covering much of the Thames Gateway, and could benefit from improvements to transport infrastructure such as Crossrail and HS1.

The plans show an Overground extension to Barking Riverside, which will enable the creation of 10,000 new homes and could be operational by 2020. The blueprint also includes longer term potential to place the A13 in a tunnel, deliver a new station and build new homes in the area. It also envisages how land across East London could be split up for commercial and industrial use and suggests where new schools, work space and hospitals could be located.

The Mayor’s Office has also just launched a planning framework for London Riverside, which includes major plans for the redevelopment of 86 acres of industrial land owned by the Greater London Authority along the Thames.

Roger Milne

Essex members block major housing schemes against the advice of officers