Planning Portal Blog

Salford City Council has given the go ahead for nearly 2,000 new homes. Seven developments, including one dubbed the biggest residential development in the north-west of England, have been given the green light to meet demand for new homes in the city.

It brings the total number of homes granted planning permission to over 17,800 as part of an estimated £3.5bn worth of investment planned for the city over the next 10 years.

By the end of March this year, planning permission had been granted for just fewer than 3,000 houses and almost 11,000 flats in the city.

The schemes just given approval by the city’s planning panel include four 26-storey buildings at Salford Quays which will provide 1,100 new flats into the area, the development on land off Michigan Avenue including space for shops and/or community facilities and a 300 student flat scheme across two blocks of eight and 12 storeys on the site of the Bupa car park off King William Street, Salford Quays.

Approval was also given for a six-storey, 145,000-square-foot new office for BUPA on a site known as The Regent, next to Dock 9 and the Erie Basin. Around 2,000 staff will relocate from the company’s current offices in the Anchorage and Victoria buildings, protecting and creating new jobs in the area. Construction is expected to start next year.

Bloor Homes will also provide 179 two to four bedroom houses, including 36 affordable homes at Burgess Farm, Worsley, in addition to another major scheme by Redrow Homes which has already started on site.

Meanwhile, a Bellway Homes scheme will provide 140 new homes in Monton at the former Mitchell Shackleton Vulcan engineering works. On the former Vita site, Seaford Road, Rock Asset Management is to deliver 80 new homes.

View the press release

Roger Milne

At least £60bn of central government spending should be devolved to local areas over the next five years, council leaders have urged.

That call came as cities and county areas across the country submitted a series of proposals designed to meet the administration’s devolution initiative.

Local areas are calling for greater local powers and funding for skills, housing, transport and health and social care as well as infrastructure.

Deals already submitted and offers being finalised include:

• Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, which involves a call for 10-year transport settlement and fully devolved housing investment
• Gloucestershire – proposals for control of all health care budgets, fully integrated health and social care and a single vision for health and wellbeing for the county
• Liverpool city region, which wants the retention of 100 per cent of business rates income and the ability to franchise all local bus services
• Leicester and Leicestershire, which has made a case for the devolution of funding and ability to commission skills programmes locally
• Hampshire, South Hampshire, Isle of Wight, which want further investment in world-class marine and aerospace clusters and university research centres.

The Local Government Association, which speaks for more than 370 councils in England and Wales, is now urging George Osborne to match this ambition and use the Spending Review to devolve, or hand greater local control over, at least £60bn worth of funding down to local areas.

It argues that taking decisions closer to where people live can achieve up to £20bn in potential public sector savings as well as creating at least £80bn in economic growth and 700,000 new jobs.

Councillor Gary Porter, LGA chairman, said: “It is time to spend smarter on infrastructure to get maximum value from every public pound.

“This starts with a much more effective and efficient approach to investing in local growth and regeneration.

“With devolved decision making and funding, local areas can also better gear the skills system to tackle unemployment and underemployment and close skills gaps.” 

View the press release

Roger Milne

The first steps towards releasing Birmingham city centre’s massive Wholesale Markets site for redevelopment have been taken following planning approval for a new home for the facility.

IM Properties has been granted planning permission to build a new 6.8-hectare development, including a 20,856-square metre warehouse containing 78 business units, along with sprinkler tents, a pump house and a 450-space car park at The Hub, in Witton.

The relocation of the Wholesale Markets, the largest combined wholesale food market in the UK, from its existing home on Pershore Street will clear the way for the city council to begin delivery of its £500m, 14-hectare mixed-use Smithfield Development.

The Hub is situated on Nobel Way, close to Witton train station and is well connected to the national road network with Junction 6 of the M6 and the A38 both within a 10-minute drive time. Birmingham city centre is only two and a half miles away.

In a separate move, developer Westleigh Partnerships has been refused permission to put housing next door to the new market site.

The company had wanted to use a plot off Wellhead Lane, bordered by the rail line, but the planning committee thought it would be too noisy, too cramped and the site best suited for industrial uses only.

View the press release

Roger Milne

Migration figures cast doubt on housing projections

Official figures showing a surge in net migration to the UK cast further doubt on the robustness of key household projections used by councils to assess their area’s housing need, Planning Magazine reported last week.

Concerns have resurfaced about the reliability of the government projections used by councils to help assess housing need, with recent official figures showing that net international migration to the UK has hit record levels.

Commentators say the new figures are evidence that the housing shortfall is worsening more quickly than expected, and some councils may need to look to increase their housing numbers locally.

Simon Coop, planning director at consultancy Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners is reported as warning
that councils who relied on the projections risked an under-provision of housing need in their area.

 

Neighbourhood plans in Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and Oxfordshire make waves

Communities secretary Greg Clark has intervened over plans by developer Bellway Homes for 130 homes in Buckinghamshire, which Aylesbury Vale District Council planning officers had recommended for approval despite a conflict with the emerging neighbourhood plan.

The SoS has been asked to intervene over the permission given for the £70m “remodelling” of a shopping centre in Milton Keynes which will add some 100,000 square feet of floor space to the facility.

The planning authority has approved proposals from Intu to include new shops and a five-screen cinema in its Midsummer Place centre. But the town council says the scheme contradicts the local neighbourhood plan and wants the decision “called in” by the government.

Meanwhile Cherwell District Council in Oxfordshire has announced that the Hook Norton Neighbourhood Plan has successfully passed the referendum stage. Some 568 residents voted in favour of the strategy with 16 against the plan on a 34 per cent turn-out.

View more information on the Midsummer Place Centre

View more information on the Hook Norton Neighbourhood Plan

 

Developer wins appeal over Swansea retail park conditions

A planning inspector has overturned a decision by Swansea City Council to limit Hammerson’s redevelopment of its Parc Tawe shopping centre.

The developer was given permission for a £10m upgrade for the retail park last August but the council imposed 35 conditions, including the ban on approaching major retailers, which it said was needed to protect its own plans for the city centre.

But a planning inspector has overturned that ban, along with other conditions restricting the size of units which it said was unreasonable.

View more information on the Parc Tawe development on the Hammerson website

 

London round-up

• Proposals have been submitted to Westminster City Council to increase the height of the grade-II listed Millbank Tower in central London and convert it from office use to residential use. The owners of the Millbank complex, Basio Holdings Ltd, want to increase the height of the existing 32-storey tower and the neighbouring nine-storey ‘Y Building’ by three floors. The tower would contain 215 new one to four bedroom flats under the proposals and the Y Building, which is also currently in office use, would be converted into a 195-bed hotel.
• London mayor Boris Johnson has sent a 30-page dossier to MPs and peers attacking the Airport Commission’s recommendation to expand Heathrow Airport. He claimed building a third runway at Heathrow meant “investing in decline”.
• Camden Council has slammed the latest proposals for a regenerated Euston station as not ambitious enough. HS2 has revealed £2bn plans to extend Euston station to accommodate platforms for high-speed services to Birmingham and the North. The plans, which will now be considered by Parliament, will see up to 11 new platforms built in a bolt-on building to the west of the existing Euston station.
• The YMCA is putting the final touches to new affordable housing scheme in Mitcham south-west London involving single units costing £30,000 each which can be stacked and moved about where needed’

 

Legal round-up

• A Camden nightclub has won its court battle to prevent the pub next to it from being turned into flats. Koko, at 1A Camden High Street, appealed to the High Court after Camden Council approved plans to turn the Hope and Anchor pub into eight flats. The High Court judge who heard the case ruled that councillors had been “significantly misled” by planning officers.
• A High Court judge has upheld a judicial review challenge by a campaigner over an inspector’s refusal of an application to register land in Exeter as a town green.
• A campaign group is looking to raise £20,000 through crowd funding to support a judicial review challenge to the government’s new policy on fracking.
• The owners of five burger vans have mounted a legal challenge over North Lanarkshire Council’s imposition of a 250 metre exclusion zone around schools.

 

Power plans

• The owners of Eggborough Power Station have said the coal-fired plant located near Selby, north Yorkshire will stop generating power in March 2016, subject to consultations with staff and “government bodies”.
• Nottingham City Council has launched what it says is the first local authority energy company in the UK.

 

Charity claims new Traveller and Gypsy policy will backfire

New planning policy affecting Traveller pitches and sites could force thousands of Gypsies and Travellers back onto the road, an influential Gypsy and Traveller campaign charity has warned.

That’s the view of London-based organisation Traveller Movement Resource. It says the new policy could prompt a massive increase in the number of unauthorised roadside camps. It argued that the new policy was unlawful and discriminatory and would be challenged in the High Court.

View the press release

 

Transport highlights

• A fourth tram line in Nottingham would cost up to £168m, a study has said. Last week,trams began running on the £570m extensions to Clifton and Chilwell – eight months late. The £70,000 feasibility study looked at a route under the M1 to Giltbrook Retail Park, via Kimberley, with a possible extension into Derbyshire.
• Ministers have formally granted planning permission for the use of Manston Airport in Kent as a lorry park as part of Operation Stack. The temporary planning will last for nine months.

 

Taunton redevelopment

A fresh set of plans to regenerate the derelict cattle market site in Taunton into a shopping and leisure complex have been unveiled by developer St Modwen. Part of the Firepool site, which is by the River Tone, has already been developed with flats and offices. A new hotel, shops and restaurants are proposed.

View more information on the Firepool development

 

Warwickshire snubs west Midlands CBO

Warwickshire county councillors have voted against joining the West Midlands Combined Authority. But they have decided to continue to explore a closer working relationship between the council and Coventry. Seven authorities (Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton) want more devolved powers from the government.

View the press release

 

Go ahead for 550-home Bury St Edmunds scheme

Proposals for more than 500 new homes at Bury St Edmunds, west Suffolk, have been approved by St Edmundsbury Council. Taylor Wimpey has obtained detailed planning consent for 100 homes, including 30 affordable, and outline planning permission for 400 more on land off Mount Road at Moreton Hall, The 22 hectare development site is bounded by the Ipswich to Peterborough train line to the north.

View more information

 

Maidenhead makeover

A £230m major regeneration project for Maidenhead town centre has been given the green light. The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has granted planning permission for the Landing development earmarked for the Broadway.

Under the plans shops, offices, restaurants, up to 225 flats and a central public space will be built at King Street and Queen Street. It is due for completion in 2019 in time for the new Crossrail services.

View the press release

 

Northamptonshire’s Rushden Lakes scheme expands

A £140m shopping and leisure complex in Northamptonshire is to be larger than first proposed. LXB Retail Properties, which is developing the Rushden Lakes project, has won permission for a new hotel and leisure club on the site. The expanded scheme given the go-ahead by East Northamptonshire District Council last week also increases retail space by around three per cent.

 

RTPI CPD move

The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has reviewed the content of its continuous professional development (CPD) programme which now reflects eight areas of knowledge and skills which takes on board housing and public health priorities.

Trudi Elliott, Chief Executive of the RTPI, said: “We provide an extensive high quality CPD program that is constantly refined to ensure it addresses the most urgent and topical needs. These priorities for focus were identified following extensive engagement with members and will give planners a sharper focus for their professional development, and help maintain the standards of the profession.”

View the press release

 

Consultation on revised Welsh retail advice

The Welsh government has started consulting a range of changes to Planning Policy Wales (PPW) and Technical Advice Note 4 (TAN4) as part of a bid to ensure that town centres get as much help as possible to thrive in a rapidly changing retail environment.

Its proposed changes to chapter 10 of PPW and the revised version of TAN4 follow recommendations of a review by consultant Genecon last year.

View information on the consultation

 

Giant Liver Bird proposed for Liverpool

A giant 100 metre Liver Bird could be built on the banks of the River Mersey as part of a Liverpool architect’s proposals for a development called: Homecoming – The Statue of Liverpool. He explained the landmark could be used for shopping or perhaps student accommodation.

View more information

 

Roger Milne

The Government has revised its special planning policy for travellers. From this week it will only apply to those “who lead a genuine travelling lifestyle”.

Ministers insisted this would mean that any application for a permanent site, including caravan sites, by someone who does not travel will be considered in the same way as an application from the so-called settled population.

The policy, drawn up by the Department for Communities and Local Government stated that if a local planning authority cannot demonstrate an up–to-date five-year supply of deliverable sites, this should be a significant material consideration in any subsequent planning decision when considering applications for the grant of temporary planning permission for traveller pitches.

However, there will be exceptions, designed to buttress the protection of green belt land and sites in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and land designated as local green space or protected under the EC’s Birds and Habitat directives.

The policy states that inappropriate development is harmful to the green belt and should not be approved, except in very special circumstances.

DCLG claims the new policy made clear the need to ensure fairness in the system, with planning policy reflecting the requirement that caravan sites should be made available for those who travel permanently.

Communities Secretary Greg Clark said: “I’m determined to ensure fairness in the planning system, so everyone abides by the same rules.

“This new policy strengthens the hand of councils to tackle unauthorised development in their area, ensures all communities are treated equally and that the protection of the green belt is enforceable.”

Planning minister Brandon Lewis added: “Unauthorised traveller sites can blight communities, causing misery for their neighbours and creating resentment that planning rules don’t seem to be applied fairly.”

View the government news story

Access the full ‘Planning Policy for traveller sites’

Roger Milne

English local authorities have urged ministers for the right to set their own planning charges as part of a submission by the Local Government Association (LGA) ahead of November’s spending review. This is widely expected to contain £20bn in government funding cuts.

The council body argued that introducing locally-set planning fees would “ensure effective, responsive and fully funded council planning services, removing the burden from taxpayers who currently subsidise 30 per cent of total costs”.

The LGA submission also made a case for the removal of the current national exemptions to s106 contributions and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) charges. The association said it wanted the present policy to be replaced with “a more robust and transparent local viability assessment process”.

The submission argued for the simplifying of CIL regulations and guidance and the removal of the restriction on pooling s106 contributions for strategic sites identified in local plans.

In addition, the councils’ organisation has called for assurances that local areas can use the local growth fund to support local housing and infrastructure investment strategies.

The LGA submission also insisted that local planning authorities should have the power to ensure developers prioritise brownfield sites. It has highlighted the need for councils to be able to have a say over new development on all brownfield land and proposals to convert offices to homes.

Read the LGA report ‘Spending Smarter: A Shared Commitment’

Roger Milne

The Government has agreed with the results of research carried out by Historic England and has listed a number of inter-war pubs on the grounds the buildings represent the best surviving examples of a building type “which is stitched into the fabric of English culture”.

The pubs, most listed at Grade II and one upgraded to II*, are local landmarks. Their design was shaped by the “improved pub” movement that followed the First World War.

Between 1918 and 1939 breweries across the country rebuilt thousands of pubs, in the process they created bigger and better pubs with restaurants, gardens and community meeting spaces. These were designed to attract more respectable customers and appeal to families and particularly women.

The listed pubs include:

• The Black Horse, Birmingham, built 1929-30, upgraded to Grade II*
• The Berkeley Hotel, Scunthorpe, built late 1930s
• The Daylight Inn, Petts Wood, built 1935
• The Duke William, Stoke on Trent, built 1929
• The Wheatsheaf, Merseyside, built in 1938
• The Gatehouse, Norwich, built 1934
• The Brookhill Tavern, Birmingham, built 1927-28
• The White Hart, Grays, Essex, built 1938
• Biggin Hall Hotel, Coventry, built 1923
• The Angel, Hayes, Middlesex, built 1926

Around 3,000 pubs were built during the inter-war years. “They are now a sadly overlooked and threatened building type, with very few surviving today,” said Historic England.

One of the pubs earmarked for listing through this project was the Carlton Tavern in Kilburn, London, recently demolished without warning before it could be protected.

Several of the newly listed pubs were built by Truman’s Brewery, based in east London. These include the Royal Oak, on the doorstep of the famous Columbia Road Flower market in the capital’s Hoxton. It is called an “early pub” because it serves market traders from 9am on Sundays. It is also a sought-after filming location.

Read the Historic England news article

Search the full National Heritage List for England

Roger Milne

Developer Miller Homes has lost its appeal over a residential development of 80 homes at the Northamptonshire hill-top village of West Haddon because the outline proposals were not sustainable in environmental terms and – significantly – the project risked undermining the relevant neighbourhood plan.

Communities Secretary Greg Clark has agreed with the planning inspector who held the recovered appeal hearing that the scheme, which included new access and open space, landscaping and drainage infrastructure, should be refused.

Daventry District Council members had refused the scheme, against the advice of officials, after deciding the proposals would affect open land, and would result in a visually intrusive form of development which would adversely affect the local landscape. The appeal site comprises around 3.5 hectares of managed and grazed grassland located on an elevated ridge on the north western side of West Haddon

The inspector concluded that the proposed development would have a detrimental effect on the form and setting of the village and would be detrimental to the character and appearance of the landscape. In both respects these breached local development plan policies. Clark concurred.

Clark agreed with the inspector and concluded that the scheme would undermine the emerging West Haddon Neighbourhood Development Plan.

Clark’s decision letter acknowledged that scheme would mean the provision of 36 affordable homes, the payment of New Homes Bonus and a net gain for biodiversity.

However, those benefits, said Clark, were “significantly and demonstrably outweighed by [the scheme’s] adverse effects.”

Read the full decision letter on Gov.uk

View details of the West Haddon Neighbourhood Plan

Roger Milne

First Welsh LDO introduced

Newport City Council has become the first planning authority in Wales to introduce a development control initiative which will reduce the planning regulations for certain types of development in the city centre.

A Local Development Order (LDO) is now in force following a public consultation earlier this year and the approval of Welsh Government ministers.

It streamlines the planning system by granting blanket planning permission for a period of three years for non-contentious forms of development in a defined area covering some 21 hectares of the city centre.

A range of specified uses are allowed on the lower, ground and upper floors of buildings. In order to protect the retail and café functions of the city centre, the LDO is more restrictive and permits only certain changes of use in the ground-floor units of these areas.

Councillor John Richards, the council’s cabinet member for regeneration, said: “We believe this will have considerable benefits for the city centre by increasing occupancy levels and commercial activity.

“We are working hard to support and stimulate appropriate development to help boost the city centre’s vibrancy while protecting its character and traditional architecture.”

View the Newport City Council LDO

Ellesmere Port scheme won on appeal

A development of 2,000 dwellings proposed by developer Redrow Homes in Little Sutton, Ellesmere Port has been allowed on appeal.

The site had been allocated in the emerging development plan after the application had been submitted and contained a requirement for development to be in accordance with a development brief for the site.

Although there was no such brief the application included a comprehensive master plan which could be used to control development, the inspector holding the inquiry concluded.

Cheshire and West and Chester Council, the local planning authority, dropped its main objections to the scheme a year ago just weeks before the inquiry was held.

The outline application included retail floor space, a new primary school, community facilities, a park, playing fields and other public open space including allotments.

The developer failed in its bid to be awarded costs over the refusal when it emerged the council had approved a scheme for around 1,500 new homes at the same site after its local plan was approved.

View details of the appeal and download the decision

Go-ahead for Grimsby housing

Developer Cyden Homes’ has won its appeal to build up to 160 homes at Scartho near Grimsby originally refused by North East Lincolnshire Council. It blocked the outline scheme after raising issues over highway safety and the scheme’s impact on the village’s strategic gap.

The inspector who held the public inquiry said the impact on the strategic gap would not be as great as feared and allowed the appeal on the grounds the council’s development plan was out-of-date and the planning authority could not demonstrate a five-year supply of housing sites.

View details of the appeal and download the decision

Inspector says farmland homes can go-ahead

A planning inspector has allowed an appeal for up to 300 homes to be built on farmland in County Durham after dismissing the local planning authority’s concerns that doing so might prevent the development of brownfield sites in the area.

Durham County Council refused permission for the proposed scheme, earmarked for a site in Spennymoor, last year. The planning inspector who handled the subsequent appeal inquiry concluded the scheme’s limited harm did not outweigh its benefits.

View details of the appeal and download the decision

House of Commons reports on planning reform and right to buy

The House of Commons Library has published separate briefing notes on the Government’s current proposals for further planning reform and the administration’s plans to extend the Right to Buy in England.

Access the reports:

• Planning Reform Proposals
• Extending the Right to Buy (England)

KPMG chairman bangs drum for affordable housing

Simon Collins UK chairman of financial services and accounting giant KPMG, has joined the calls for the Government to make the provision of affordable housing a priority.

Collins warned of the growing inaccessibility of property in major UK cities for a large part of the working population.

Collins said: “There is a widening gap between demand for housing and available supply. As well as specific help for our own people, I would like to use our convening power to help with a range of other things, including brownfield development, new sites, a carrot to encourage building and a stick to develop or let go of land banks.”

Inspector overrules Wigan Council over two housing appeals

Developers have won appeals for nearly 400 new homes on two sites at Standish, Greater Manchester originally refused by Wigan Council.

The council had turned down Persimmon and Morris Homes plans to build a further 250 houses next to the 250 they already have permission for on a former golf course site, and also refused Jones Homes plans to build 110 homes on land adjacent to Lurdin Lane and west of Chorley Road.

The inspector who considered the two appeals concluded they should be allowed because the planning authority could not demonstrate a five-year supply of housing sites as required by the National Planning Policy Framework.

View details of the appeals and download the decisions

Worcestershire wood campaign

A campaign to buy an ancient wood in Worcestershire to preserve it as a “haven for wildlife and visitors” has been successful.

The 38.5-hectare Blackhouse Wood on the Suckley Ridge near Alfrick has been bought by the county’s Wildlife Trust. The trust called it one of the county’s most “ecologically valuable” sites.

Read the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust news article

Piano parts site approved for Northamptonshire new homes

Proposals for 292 homes on the site of a factory which once made piano parts have been approved by South Northamptonshire District Council.

The Persimmon Homes’ scheme will be built on the Pianoforte Supplies site off Ashton Road in the village of Roade. The development includes provision for a local doctors’ surgery as well as land for the local football club and further land for an existing cemetery.

New Lime Street station mooted

A new railway station could be built in Liverpool city centre as part of the £35m Lime Street regeneration project.

Proposals for the station, which would be built on the site of Archbishop Blanch School on Mount Vernon Road, will be lodged with the council “by the end of the year”, mayor Joe Anderson has insisted.

The mayor said the station would be a major hub, linking into Liverpool’s local train network and complementing the existing Lime Street station.

Meanwhile, Anderson has confirmed that ministers have decided not to call-in the redevelopment for a public inquiry as requested by campaigners angry at the proposals to demolish the 100-year old former Futurist Cinema.

View the Liverpool City Council news article

Worcestershire green lights transport projects

Worcestershire County Council has given the go-head for ambitious plans for a second train station serving the city of Worcester. The landmark development will reduce pressure on the city’s two train lines and improve journey times to London.

The station will be located just outside the city close to Junction 7 of the M5 near Norton and will link the Cotswolds and Birmingham to Bristol lines. The station – set to open in autumn 2017 – will have a single platform on the Worcester-to-London line and two platforms on the Birmingham-to-Bristol line, together with a new station building and 500 car parking spaces.

View the County Council’s press release

Government to take action on pointless road signs

The Government has announced a new taskforce and consultation as part of its drive to obliterate pointless road signs.

Former Tory MP and Minister Sir Alan Duncan will head a taskforce tackling the overuse of road signs. The administration has started consulting on a range of measures including ensuring road signs that are used far longer than needed have a ‘remove by’ date.

Read the Department for Transport news story

Chilterns HS2 tunnel extension

People living in and around South Heath, Hyde Heath and Great Missenden stand to benefit from an extension to the Chilterns tunnel proposed as part of the HS2 rail project. Under this plan the deep-bored Chilterns tunnel will be extended 2.6km to a new portal just past South Heath. These new proposals would also preserve 12 hectares of woodland.

Read the HS2 press release

Meanwhile, Slough Council is formally opposing government plans to build a depot for Heathrow Express trains at Langley in east Berkshire. The HS2 project includes provisions to move the depot from Old Oak Common in west London to an area north east of Langley.

Read the Slough Borough Council news story

Enterprise Zone statistics published

Latest figures show the country’s 24 enterprise zones have attracted more than 19,000 jobs. That’s the figure highlighted by the administration which claimed the zones have now attracted £2.2bn of private investment and more than 500 new businesses across a range of key industries including the automotive, aerospace, pharmaceutical and renewable energy sectors.

Ministers said the zones are proving popular with colleges seeking to set-up facilities and training opportunities to fill gaps in the local skills market.

View the press release and statistics

London round-up

• The ‘Walkie Talkie’ in the City Of London’s Fenchurch Street has won the 2015 Carbuncle Cup organised by Building Design magazine to find the UK’s worst building.

Read the BDOnline news article

• Westminster Council in central London has published a draft supplementary planning document (DSPD) for public consultation. The consultation, which ends on 25 September 2015, sets out guidance for the use of planning obligations. The council is currently in the process of preparing a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) draft charging schedule; the DSPD will complement this document. Once adopted, the DSPD will provide interim guidance until adoption of the city plan, the revision of which is expected to take place in 2016.

Access the consultation and view the documents

Contempt of court claim in longstanding house dispute

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council has lodged a claim for contempt of court proceedings in the latest stage of its long-running battle with a farmer over a house he built hidden behind straw bales.

Warwick Castle glamping wrangle

The owners of Warwick Castle are appealing after a council rejected plans for a permanent “glamping” site in its grounds.

Merlin Entertainments Group (MEG), which runs the attraction, submitted an application last year to build 20 permanent lodges and provide space for some 41 “glamping” tents.

The district council refused the plans after claims the company was turning the attraction into a “theme park”. The planning authority had previously allowed “medieval glamorous camping” at the castle on a temporary basis.

View details of the original application

View details of the ongoing appeal

Energy round-up

• Planning permission has been granted for part of what is believed to be England’s largest onshore wind farm. Peel Energy and United Utilities want to add a further 16 turbines at Scout Moor, on land between Rochdale and Rossendale. Rossendale Borough Council gave the go-ahead for 14 of them at a meeting this week. Councillors in Rochdale are yet to determine the fate of the remaining two turbines. Government ministers have yet to decide whether the scheme should be the subject of a public inquiry.

View details of the planning application

View details of the Development Control committee meeting

• Plans to build eight new wind turbines near Leswalt in Wigtonshire in the far south-west of Scotland have been rejected by Dumfries and Galloway Council. Both the planning authority and Scottish Natural Heritage warned that the scheme proposed by Brookfield Renewable UK would have an adverse impact on a designated Regional Scenic Area.

View details of the planning application

• Proposals by oil and gas company Third Energy to drill boreholes to monitor groundwater at Kirby Misperton where it wants to frack for shale gas have been approved by North Yorkshire County Council.

View details of the planning application

View details of the Planning and regulatory functions committee meeting

Scottish planning review promised

The Scottish Government has announced it will review the operation of its planning system.

This exercise will “identify the scope for further reform with a focus on delivering a quicker, more accessible and efficient planning process, in particular increasing delivery of high-quality housing developments.”

The administration said this review would “ensure that planning realises its full potential, unlocking land and sites, supporting more quality housing across all tenures and delivering the infrastructure required to support development”.

This will involve streamlining, simplifying and improving “current systems and removing unnecessary blockages in the decision-making process.”

View the Programme for Government 2015-16

Roger Milne