The Planner - April 2014

APRIL 2014 ‘CHANGE OR A AMEND POLICIES DON’T BLAME PINS’ // p.12 • THE POTENTIAL POTENT OF SELF BUILD // p.24 • SHALE GAS THE CHALLENGES F FACED BY PLANNERS // p.28 • MAKING THE MOST OF MENTORING // p.40

T H E B U S I N EESS S M O N T H LLYY FFO O R P L A N N I N G P R O F EESS S IIO O N A LS

PLANNER

THE

HOUSE OF FARRELL

How Britain’s design guru is laying the foundations for good places

www.rtpi.org.uk

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Highlight ‡ celebrate ‡ inspire Join us in celebrating the very best at the RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence ceremony on 23rd June at the Shaw Theatre, Pullman London St Pancras.

Our awards highlight exceptional examples of planning and celebrate the contribution that planners and planning make to society, inspiring others to achieve the highest standards.

To book your ticket visit rtpi.org.uk/planningexcellence2014

Sponsors include:

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2014

Supported by:

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CONTENTS

PLANNER P 08 18

THE

APRIL

20 14

“THE BRITISH DON’T DO PROACTIVE PLANNING, THEY DO DEVELOPMENT CONTROL”

NEWS

6 Government plans for next-gen garden cities are sketchy so far

7 Boles releases final version of online National Planning Practice Guidance

8 Young planners are urged to create their own legacy 9 Town meets gown “will inject £30m into the high street”, says think tank 10 Planning Summer School ends at 80

OPINION 12 Chris Shepley: Either change policies or defend them – don’t blame PINS 16 Trudi Elliott: Floods have provoked a torrent of blame and, as ever, planning is in the frame

COV E R I M AG E | R IC H A R D G L E E D

FEATURES

INSIGHT

18 Sir Terry Farrell tells Huw Morris the UK needs a more holistic approach to planning

34 Decisions in focus: Development decisions, round-up and analysis

10 London Mayor should take over planning applications to tackle housing crisis

16 Nathan Renison: What happened to the new towns?

11 Localism could impede LEPs, says RTPI

17 John Hack: Let’s take an audit of all existing land

24 DIY homes: Simon Wicks looks at those who are building their own

17 Leonora Rozee: CPD won’t be as challenging now that Summer School has closed

28 Mark Smulian looks at the challenge posed by the great shale rush

12 QUOTE UNQUOTE

“OF COURSE I’M HERE TO MAKE A BUCK – GUILTY AS CHARGED” REDROW PLC CHAIRMAN, STEVE MORGAN

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38 Legal landscape: Opinion, blogs, and news from the legal side of planning 40 Tackling the ethical, emotional and practical issues involved in a mentoring relationship 42 Plan Ahead – our pick of upcoming events for the planning profession and beyond 44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute 50 Plan B: Licensed to Phil – BBC Two’s planning reality star

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Our breadth of experience and quality at all levels equips us to deal with the full range of planning issues in the UK, including high-profile infrastructure and other nationally important projects.

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PLAN UPFRONT

Leaderr Vaulting ambition that overleaps itself – Hang around long enough and the same issue crops up again, albeit under a different name.

Remember eco-towns, the last government’s flagship programme to build news towns to exemplary standards of sustainability?

More than 50 bids were suggested, many of them unsuitable housing schemes that had failed to negotiate the planning system. Fifteen were shortlisted and four eventually accepted. Only one will now be built to the original standards. A flagship that sank almost with all hands. By any measure, the programme was a total and utter shambles.

Then steps forward Chancellor George Osborne with his shock announcement that Ebbsfleet will be the site of the first garden city to be built in the country in a century. A prospectus is also in the pipeline for

Huw Morris interested local authorities to bring forward their own proposals for similar developments. Yet Osborne’s announcement poses far more questions than it answers.

Are we going to have yet another development competition only with the “garden city” badge stuck on it? That will have to wait until the government publishes the prospectus.

A second crucial question is whether ministers even know what a garden

city is. From land value capture for the benefit of the community, adorable mixed-tenure homes for ordinary people through to local jobs, and even opportunities for residents to grow their own food, a garden city sets an extremely high bar for development. An expert pole vaulter would blanch at the challenge. “A garden city for the garden of England” was part of the spin accompanying the announcement. Not for the first time the scriptwriters of The Thick Of It could have been at work.

A third big question mark surrounds whether, if a garden city has not been built for so long, the development industry is up to achieving it. The big clue here could be that there has

“A ‘GARDEN CITY FOR THE GARDEN OF ENGLAND’ WAS PART OF THE SPIN”

not been one for 100 years.

The Ebbsfleet site secured planning permission years ago. Its problem has been all about the availability of finance and the global recession, a nasty combination that has stalled so many schemes around the country. Its problems have never been with planning. So what exactly is the development corporation going to do?

There is a grave danger here that garden cities will end up as eco-towns mark II. This poses a big issue for the planning sector as a whole. Will it stand up and say these developments are not garden cities because they do not meet Ebenezer Howard’s demanding criteria?

The question is whether Osborne’s statement is outrageous PR and spin or a serious attempt to solve the housing crisis.

While the jury is out – until the government at least publishes the prospectus – the tea leaves do not look good on this.

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by Redactive Publishing Ltd (RPL), 17 Britton St, London EC1M 5TP. This magazine aims to include a broad range of opinion about planning issues and articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the RTPI nor should such opinions be relied upon as statements of fact. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in any print or electronic format, including but not limited to any online service, any database or any part of the internet, or in any other format in whole or in partww in any media whatsoever, without the prior written permission of the publisher. While all due care is taken in writing and producing this magazine, neither RTPI nor RPL accept any liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein. Printed by Polestar Colchester Ltd.

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NEWS

Analysis { G AR D E N

CIT IES

Garden leave The government is indicating that a new generation of garden cities could help to solve the country’s housing crisis. But details are sketchy so far, says Huw Morris

I

t landed like a bombshell. In the run-up to his Budget statement, Chancellor George Osborne announced plans for the first new garden city for 100 years comprising 15,000 homes at Ebbsfleet in Kent.

A total of £200 million in government funding will go towards the scheme, which will be overseen by an urban development corporation (UDC). Then in his Budget, Osborne said the government will publish a prospectus on new towns that could lead to more garden cities across the country. Both announcements came out of nowhere.

So what is the background?

Why now?

The coalition partners have been increasingly at loggerheads over the government's housing strategy.

A report on garden cities has languished in Whitehall. Some observers cite fears that new cities could lead to Labour voters moving into shire constituencies, thereby undermining the Conservative vote. Other sources indicate the delay was down to changes in the ministerial team last year.

What do the Liberal Democrats think?

In January, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said a prospectus promised by the government two years ago on new settlements had yet to be published. The Treasury has pledged to unveil it before Easter. The party is also preparing a paper for its general election manifesto backing the idea of “garden communities” of about 10,000 homes.

What’s in the prospectus?

The government has yet to give any details other than it will set out how interested local authorities could develop their own locally led proposals for bringing forward new garden cities.

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Why Ebbsfleet?

Osborne said: “There is the land available, there is fantastic infrastructure with the high-speed line.

It is on the river, it’s in the south-east of England – where a lot of the housing pressure has been.

“There are already some homes being built on the site, so progress was under way, but it was on a much, much smaller scale and with much less ambition that what I'm setting out.”

Ebbsfleet has strong attractions because of its existing infrastructure – a high-speed rail service carries passengers to London St Pancras in 19 minutes and the site is close to the A2 and M25. Nearby Bluewater shopping centre has 300 stores.

What’s the history of development at Ebbsfleet?

Originally called EuroCity, the proposal was part of a strategy for the routing of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link through the Ebbsfleet Valley. Plans for the wider Kent Thameside area set out in 1993 promoted development in Ebbsfleet, Eastern Quarry and the Swanscombe Peninsula.

Planning authorities at Dartford and Gravesham granted planning permission for about 800,000 sq m of development in 2002. Dartford granted permission at Eastern Quarry in 2006. But with the onset of the global financial crisis, developer Land Securities wound down the scheme.

Why has the project languished for so long?

The Centre of London think tank blames a combination of recession, complex planning negotiations and the risks to developers of a scheme of such scale.

And the reaction so far?

Land Securities said: “Parts of Ebbsfleet Valley still resemble a quarry – its former use – and significant further investment is needed before homes can be

“THERE IS THE LAND AVAILABLE, THERE IS FANTASTIC INFRASTRUCTURE WITH THE HIGH­ SPEED LINE. IT’S ON THE RIVER, IT’S IN THE SOUTH­ EAST OF ENGLAND WHERE A LOT OF THE HOUSING PRESSURE HAS BEEN”

FAST FACTS

15,000

homes at Ebbsfleet, Kent

+

£200m In government funding for the scheme

+

19mins Ebbsfleet to London St Pancras

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PLAN UPFRONT

built at scale. Government support, through a new UDC, will therefore be vital in delivering a garden city quickly.”

Local Government Association chairman Sir Merrick Cockell said: “While we support the government’s aims to build more houses, democratically accountable councils have been at the forefront of delivering local growth and the creation of a separate, remote quango is unnecessary.”

Town and Country Planning Association head of policy Hugh Ellis said: “There are huge opportunities to embed the garden city principles in existing ‘stuck’ sites such as Ebbsfleet. But does the government understand the very high bar that garden cities set for development?”

What are garden city principles?

Key principles include land value capture for the benefit of the community, community ownership of land and long-term stewardship of assets, mixed tenure homes, a strong local jobs offer, high-quality designed homes with gardens, generous green space and integrated and accessible transport.

Any flies in the ointment?

In 2009, an Environment Agency flood management plan for North Kent rivers identified Ebbsfleet and Dartford as areas with a high concentration of properties at risk of flooding.

A little known fact?

Before the building of its train station, an archaeological dig on the site found the skeleton of a Straight Tusked Elephant, which experts think could have been killed by hominins – early humans – some 400,000 years ago.

Osborne’s budget promises much for planners Apart from support for a garden city at Ebbsfleet (see page 6) Chancellor George Osborne introduced a raft of measures that will affect planning.

Under its review of the General Permitted Development Order, the government will consult on new rules to allow warehouses to be converted into homes with planning permission.

The government will also consult on a new right to build. This aims to give custom builders a right to a plot from councils.

The Budget committed £100 million to support transport and infrastructure proposals in Greater Cambridge until 2019/20.

The Budget pledged to look at funding proposals, including a tax incremental financing scheme to regenerate Brent Cross. The government will also work with the London mayor and the Greater London Authority to develop the Gospel Oak to Barking Line to Barking Riverside.

Revamped planning guidance officially launched The sDepartment for Communities and Local Government has launched the finalised version of its new online National Planning Practice Guidance, which has been updated with a view to making the planning system easier to use.

Planning minister Nick Boles said the guidance would let “local communities shape where development should and should not go. Planning should not be the exclusive preserve of lawyers, developers or town hall officials.”

The launch follows a review of planning guidance by Lord Taylor, chair of the National Housing Federation, in 2012. A test version of the website was made available in August of last year.

The confirmed reforms emphasise that green belt land should be prioritised over a local authority’s housing need. But the guidance does allow change of use from shops and financial and professional services into homes without the need for planning permission, although this does not apply to land within National Parks and World Heritage Sites.

Barn conversions will also become easier. Up to 450 sq m of buildings for each farm can now be turned into a maximum of three houses. Boles said local authorities will need “a robust evidence base” to justify a refusal to change of use.

The Design Council, which advised the government on design elements of the new guidance, said it welcomed the reforms. But it added that the guidance would need to be updated “as and when necessary” from now on.

The council was particularly keen to point out that the guidance would need further reform after the government had responded to the Housing Standards Review. It said the government should do this “sooner rather than later to ensure that house builders are given sufficient support to deliver the homes that the UK needs, of the right quality, in the right places at the right time”.

RTPI calls for better access to land ownership information to boost housing development The RTPI wants greater access to details of land ownership so that more land might be opened up for housing development.

Commenting on the institute’s suggestions to the Labour Party’s Lyons Housing Review, RTPI president Cath Ranson said: “We welcome the proposal that developers should register land they own and have options on – a proposal that mirrors our own report on Delivering Large Scale Housing. However, much more needs to be done to make land acquisition easier with thought given to how infrastructure links to the proposed development.”

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The main focus of the institute’s input is on making more land available for housing, and ensuring that it is accompanied by the proper transport and social infrastructure.

To that end, the RTPI’s counsel also urges government departments and agencies to dispose of their land holdings in a manner that emphasises value to the wider community,

as opposed to capital receipt. The RTPI added that it “recognises the important role new towns and garden cities have to play”.

Ranson said: “The housing crisis will not be solved by filling quotas of houses; we need to create places in which people want to live.”

Housing schemes should be planned along with national transport spending, she added.

The Lyons Housing Review, led by former chair of the BBC Trust Sir Michael Lyons, follows Ed Miliband’s resolution last year that a Labour government would increase the supply of new homes in England to more than 200,000 a year.

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NEWS

Analysis { CITY CENTRES

Town and gown plan ‘will inject £30m into high street’

T

hink tank The Future Spaces Foundation has called on policy-makers to bring universities closer to city centres, claiming that doing so could inject £30 million into ailing high streets.

The newly formed think tank, established by Gherkin architect Ken Shuttleworth, used its inaugural report – The Future High Street: Pxserspectives on Living, Learning and Livelihoods in Our Communities – to conclude that there should be a shift from retailled recovery to the knowledge economy.

Placing universities and centres of learning within town centres was said to create a “virtuous circle” of education and employment.

The Future Spaces Foundation is composed of experts including Paul Swinney, senior economist at Centre for Cities, and Gavin Kelly, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation.

Shuttleworth said: “We hope these findings will be a wake-up call for policy-makers and commentators to finally accept that we need to think creatively when approaching the problems on our high streets.

“Without a significant shift in perspective, we are in danger of losing these spaces and seeing our town centres as we know them disappear forever.”

The report applied an economic model that had an emphasis on business services and the knowledge economy to three exemplar towns/cities – Barnsley, Swindon and Stoke-on-Trent.

Results showed that applying this model led to uplift in both the local economy and job numbers across all three locations.

The report assessed the model’s impact on various factors, such as business investment, employee productivity and future growth rates in output. It

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found that in Stoke-on-Trent alone economic increase a year hit £30.3 million. The number of new jobs created was 642.

Swinney said of the results: “For too long policymakers and other commentators have focused too closely on retail as the solution to reviving the high street.

“But this is too narrow – retailers require footfall, and this footfall is created by people coming to use high streets as places of work, leisure and residence.

Only by addressing issues facing city centre working, learning and living can we hope to bring people back to town and city centres. Then retailers will benefit as a result.”

He added that “the combination of education, research and employment opportunities provided by universities and centres of learning is one route that national and local government can use for rejuvenating our high street from both an economic and a social perspective”.

Ken Shuttleworth

In Stoke-on-Trent

£30.3m the economic increase

+

642

The number of new jobs created

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PLAN UPFRONT

53% Young planners urged to create their own legacy

By Craig McLaren, director of RTPI Scotland

Young planners from across Scotland have been exhorted to create their own legacy.

Speaking at the Scottish Young Planners’ conference, Stuart Salter, chair of the Scottish Young Planners’ Network, echoed the late US President John F Kennedy by urging members to look not at what your profession does for you, but what you can do for your profession.

Professor Greg Lloyd, University of Ulster, built on his point that planning is the only vehicle to provide a long-term vision in a society that looks at its issues too quickly and without necessary reflection.

Planning should focus on what we can gain in future, rather than what could be lost, he said.

Public services are in transition and this adds to the fast tempo of society, said Neil McInroy, Centre for Local Economic Studies. “Serendipity is not an accident – we can plan to ensure that we have the right conditions for resilient places,” he said.

Other speakers discussed the specific role of planners. Barbara Cummins of Historic Scotland outlined how good planners were relationship managers bringing together different perspectives, organisations and resources while the need for planners to provide solutions was emphasised in presentations from the managers of the four Strategic Development Plan Authorities.

Planning minister Derek Mackay and chief planner John McNairney thanked young planners for their drive and commitment, expressing their belief that the future of the profession is in safe hands.

They promised that the Scottish government would continue to work with young planners to deliver quality places and sustainable economic growth.

The Planner and Greg Clark Last month we featured an interview with the urbanist and metropolitan strategic planning adviser, Greg Clark. Readers may have taken away the inaccurate impression that Mr.Clark is a current adviser to the UK Government, and that he had conveyed a personal opinion on current UK government policies when taking part in the interview. Neither is true, so our apologies for conveying that impression.

However, readers will also have established that Clark is a prolific adviser to cities and governments globally. Some may have seen him present at last year's RTPI convention.

In April, Mr.Clark is hosting representatives from 20 of the world's most important cities to discuss strategic planning issues. The event, in New York, runs from the 22nd to 25th of April – and we're delighted to announce that he'll be writing a report for us about the event and the issues discussed. You'll be able to read it in our June 2014 edition.

Survey respondents who feel the fees charged for planning applications don’t represent good value for money

Applicants are happy with NI planning process, says Durkan Northern Ireland’s planning minister Mark H Durkan says satisfaction levels from users of the planning system are at their highest in 14 years.

In total, 67 per cent of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the overall service they received in 2012/13, according to a customer survey.

A total of 86 per cent of respondents rated the professionalism of planning staff as good or satisfactory. Three-quarters of customers said their planning applications took eight months or less to be decided.

About three-quarters of respondents rated the quality and clarity of advice as good or satisfactory – 77 per cent and 74 per cent respectively.

But 53 per cent of all respondents felt the level of fees charged for planning applications did not represent value for money. n Customer Satisfaction Survey Report 2012/13 is available at www.doeni.gov.uk/planning_statistics.htm INFOGRAPHIC

67% O percentage of customers satisfied with Northern Ireland’s planning system

Q

percentage of users who rated planning staff’s professionalism as good or satisfactory P

86%

Q

75% O percentage of customers reporting their application took eight months or less to a decision

Q

percentage of of customers who felt planning fees were not value for money P

Bill will merge agencies to protect historic Scotland A new strategy for protecting Scotland’s historic environment has been proposed as part of the Historic Environment Scotland Bill, introduced to the Scottish Parliament by culture secretary Fiona Hyslop.

The strategy, Our Place in Time, is the first comprehensive programme for protecting the historic environment to be published by the devolved administration.

Our Place in Time will merge Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland to create a new entity – Historic Environment Scotland. This body will work with partners including the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), National Trust for Scotland and Built Environment Forum Scotland to manage the country’s historic heritage.

Presenting the bill, Hyslop said: “Scotland has a very rich heritage and historic environment which is all around us, whether as physical evidence of our past, such as historic buildings, monuments, shipwrecks and industrial sites, or the less tangible things that we link to them such as stories, poetry and folklore.”

She went on: “Scotland’s heritage needs careful management based on a clear sense of direction that is grounded in well-researched knowledge and expertise.”

The new body is slated to launch in 2015, although it will be established in two stages. The first comprises the inauguration of the body corporate and the board (April 2015), followed by the transfer of operational powers to Historic Environment Scotland (October 2015). COSLA’s spokesman for development, economy and sustainability, Councillor Stephen Hagan, said: “Local government has a crucial role in managing and promoting the historic environment as a positive element for individuals and their local communities alike.

“COSLA has been pleased to be closely involved in the development of Our Place in Time, which sets a bold and inspiring vision for us all. We look forward to continuing our work in partnership to deliver the strategy, as the Historic Environment Scotland Bill progresses through Parliament.”

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Q

53%

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NEWS

Analysis {

‘The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, should show MPs how it’s done, say business leaders

Planning Summer School ends at 80 A much-loved charity that organises an annual planning summer school has been forced to close on its 80th anniversary because funding from local authorities has dried up.

Local councils can no longer afford to send planners to the educational weekend workshops that are run entirely by volunteers and count as part of planners’ CPD requirements.

The school is “no longer viable in its current format”, according to the charity’s trustees, who blame increased pressure on local authority training budgets as responsible for the steady decline in attendance.

President Roger Pidgeon said: “The trustees of the Planning Summer School have carefully examined a range of options to continue to hold an annual school but have, with the greatest reluctance, concluded that in today’s market this type of event is no longer deliverable.”

His immediate predecessor, Leonora Rozee, said: “It is a sad reflection of current cuts to the public purse.

“Many local authorities are unable to support the CPD and training requirements of their professional staff and elected members. This is particularly regrettable at a time when economic recovery and growth needs to be supported through effective planning practice and decision-making.”

She added that “changing lifestyle and work patterns have meant a steady decline in attendance over previous years”.

The first planning summer school opened on 11 September 1933 at Digswell Park Conference House in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, and they have been run in a different part of the UK each year.

Trustees are currently exploring how to secure a “long-term legacy” that will continue to deliver the charitable aim of the school to advance education in town and country planning.

LONDON

London mayor should ‘take over housing plans’

B

oris Johnson should show national politicians “how it’s done” by getting tougher on targets for house building in the capital, says London First.

The business group, which seeks “to make London the best city in the world in which to do business”, launched its latest housing report, Home Truths: 12 Steps to Solving London’s Housing Crisis, with a call for “hard delivery targets” that the Mayor of London can enforce.

Among the 12 recommendations in the report is that the mayor should take the decisions on residential planning applications in boroughs that have failed to meet new delivery targets, which the report says should also be set by the mayor.

Home Truths was compiled by London First members working across the housing industry, from developers to housing associations.

The report emphasised how London’s population has grown by a

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Years during which London’s population will grow by a headcount equivalent to the current population of Birmingham

million people over the past decade, but that only 202,400 new homes have been built during that time. The report also claimed that London’s population will increase by a headcount equivalent to a city the size of Birmingham over the next 10 years, and countered that only 18,380 homes were constructed in the capital in 2012/13.

London First’s findings point to new suburbs as the solution to the capital’s housing crisis. The report even suggests two areas that lend themselves to the development of a number of large settlements – Brimsdown in the Upper Lea Valley and Chessington, south of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

Baroness Jo Valentine, chief executive of London First, said at the launch of the report: “The Mayor of London has the political authority and the powers at his fingertips to build new suburbs. Boris Johnson now needs to show the national politicians – who can’t even “THE MAYOR OF agree on publishing a white paper on new LONDON HAS towns – how it’s done.”

THE POLITICAL The business group also recommended AUTHORITY AND creating a ‘Domesday Book’ of publicly THE POWERS AT owned sites that should be sold off for HIS FINGERTIPS homes. Another key proposition was that TO BUILD NEW boroughs should be encouraged to be more SUBURBS” flexible about sanctioning off-site affordable housing near development sites. The report added that boroughs should pass any payments made in lieu of affordable housing to the Greater London Authority if they have not been spent after two years.

London First also urged a reduction in the volume of preconstruction conditions attached to planning permissions.

Roger Bright, chairman of London First’s Housing Task Force, said: “We need political will and real leadership on this because marginal change will not deliver the step change in house building that London needs. This is hampering the capital’s economic and physical growth and will continue to do so unless the real obstacles to getting more homes built are tackled.”

A ‘rash of planning disputes’ will rage without garden cities, says Clegg Nick Clegg has warned that a “whole rash of planning disputes” will rage across Britain if plans to build new garden cities are not set in motion.

The deputy prime minister admitted that Britain’s green belt was being “eaten away” by piecemeal expansion of existing towns and cities, and argued that building new garden cities was the best way

to resolve the crisis.

Clegg said the new settlements would stop “small incursions” on green spaces “that people want to see untouched”.

The Liberal Democrat leader’s comments came amid increasing pressure on David Cameron to release a report the government is understood to have written on garden cities.

In an article for The Telegraph, Clegg insisted that Cameron should be “honest and upfront” about the plans and vowed that the report would be published.

Though the new cities could boast tens of thousands of homes,

Clegg said they would protect the countryside.

“It is possible to create them without building on green belt, National Parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty,” he wrote. “And by doing it we could deliver homes people can afford in places they want to live.”

There is believed to be concern among Conservatives that the proposals strike too close to their political heartlands. Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron has even accused the Conservatives of having a “nimby attitude towards garden cities”.

Although Clegg did not confirm where the garden cities are to be

RTPI warns localism could impede LEPs The RTPI has warned that the localism agenda is in danger of undermining LEPs. A new report commissioned through the RTPI’s Small Project Impact Research (SPIRe) Scheme, Planning For Growth: The Role of Local Enterprise Partnerships in England, reviews the development of LEPs and their ability to plan effectively for growth.

Written by Lee Pugalis MRTPI, Northumbria University, and Alan Townsend MRTPI, Durham University, the report raises questions about how far LEPs can support economic prosperity while the localism agenda continues to be pushed.

Dr Michael Harris, deputy head of policy and research, suggested that, in light of the report, “some decisions are best made at the larger-than-local level”.

He said: “While the role of LEPs in planning is still developing, there are increasing concerns that the shift from regional planning to localism has left a ‘planning vacuum’ in some areas which, left unfilled, could undermine the government’s efforts to promote growth and sustainable development.

“There is clear evidence that some decisions are best made at the larger-than-local level, which begs a fundamental and increasingly important question: How do we undertake strategic planning effectively to support economic growth objectives as well as sustainable development principles?”

Planning For Growth is an interim report. The next stage of research will survey LEPs with a view to creating a comprehensive analysis of the planning roles they are focusing on, plus their ambitions and challenges.

Due in May, the final report will include policy recommendations for strategic mechanisms that combine economic growth and sustainable development.

built, he did say: “there is an arc around the south-east of England where demand is past breaking point.”

The Telegraph, meanwhile, reported that it had been told by senior government sources – though not Clegg – that Yalding in Kent and an area near Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire have been earmarked for development.

Clegg has warned that without garden cities, the next generation would find it increasingly difficult to buy their own homes.

“I believe that if we put aside partisan politics and think collectively about the housing needs

of the next generation, we could set Britain on track for a major wave of new development, new jobs and new hope,” he wrote in his article.

But the very existence of the report seems itself to be a matter of some debate.

Responding to a parliamentary question from Cheryl Gillan, MP for Chesham and Amersham, a minister said that there are “absolutely no plans to impose new towns on any part of the country”.

Conversely, Clegg has said “we are committed to publishing a prospectus on garden cities and I am absolutely determined that we will do that”.

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CHRIS SHEPLEY

O Opinion Either change policies or defend them – don’t blame PINS So what seems to happen in this Alice in Wonderland world is this.

Two parties strong in the south of England form a government and set about reforming the planning system. They get rid of a lot of rules, make new policies, and decide to have a presumption in favour of development.

Councils must produce plans with demonstrably adequate supplies of housing, and so on, you know all that.

Planning inspectors, standing in the shoes of the secretary of state, respond as best they can (given that the policies are even now still evolving). If councils have not done the things the politicians have told them to do, they allow housing developments to happen, up the numbers in plans and require action to be taken. That’s their job.

Politicians in the two parties start to get complaints about this. Locals and voters – naively believing assurances about local choice – are up in arms. Public meetings are held and letters arrive in green ink. There are various possible responses. They could say – “Yes, but that’s the coalition’s policy and I’m part of it, and here’s why we’re doing it”.

They could say – “Good point, I’ll have a word with the minister to see what we can do about it”. Or they could say “appalling, terrible people, those inspectors – we’ll get rid of them”. Of these, the first is the noble response, the second the measured one, and the third the ignorant and irresponsible.

So guess what. It’s option three.

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“THERE IS RATHER MORE TO MOST MAJOR APPLICATIONS THAN WHETHER THEY ARE IN CONFORMITY WITH A LOCAL PLAN” A recent manifestation of this was at the Lib-Dems spring conference, where there was a motion to consult on restricting PINS to “examining local plans and dealing with appeals on major applications to judge whether or not they are or are not in conformity with a local plan”.

There was then a call for a system of “local appeals for minor applications”, whatever that means.

This at least falls short of calls for outright abolition, which have been heard from some Conservative councillors. There are points of detail. There is rather more

to most major applications than whether they are “in conformity with a local plan”.

The Terminal 5 Inquiry would have been much shorter if it had been that simple, and we could forget HS2. As for the “local appeals” idea, this is not new, and previously questions such as how you find people locally with the expertise and impartiality to provide impartial, generally acceptable decisions as efficiently and cheaply as PINS have killed it stone dead.

But there’s more to it than that. I suppose as an ex-Chief Planning Inspector I have an interest. But as I’ve said before, PINS, even in the unlikely event that it never did anything, is the glue that holds the planning system together. Knowing that they might be tested by respected adjudicators, developers, by and large, don’t make stupid applications and councils mostly don’t make ridiculous

decisions. Major schemes are generally well supported by evidence, local plans are carefully prepared and proper consultation is carried out on all sides.

And more important still, its decisions are respected and accepted. Its impartiality is recognised, its procedures admired, its people of the best quality, and its transparency transparent.

So when some unhappy Lib-Dem or some bristling Tory from the Home Counties starts to suggest undermining or abolishing this organisation, the dire consequences for the whole of the system and for the proper planning of England need to be understood. And when some member of the coalition finds that the policies it has adopted are wildly unpopular with its supporters, the right things to do are either to change the policies or to defend them, not – the zenith of cowardly and evasive behaviour – to blame someone else.

Especially someone with a hundred times the knowledge, and a thousand times the straightforward honesty.

Chris Shepley is the principal of Chris Shepley Planning and former Chief Planning Inspector

I L L U S T R AT I O N | O I V I N D H O V L A N D

25/03/2014 16:45

Quote unquote FROM THE WEB AND THE RTPI

“A commonsense approach to planning” ” NORTHERN IRELAND ENVIRONMENT MINISTER MARK H DURKAN N ON NEWLY RELAXED PLANNING RULES FOR MINES AND QUARRIES ES

‘On a planning committee, we’ve no friends’ A COUNCILLOR LAMENTS THE TOUGH AND UNPOPULAR DECISIONS THAT PLANNERS HAVE TO MAKE, IN THE BBC TWO PROGRAMME PERMISSION IMPOSSIBLE: BRITAIN'S PLANNERS, EPISODE 1

“A Jacuzzi in a tre tree? ee? I could live with that” PHIL SKILL, HEAD OF PLANNING AT STROUD DISTRICT COUNCIL

“Of course I’m here to make a buck – guilty as charged. We’re sometimes called faceless developers, nasty horrible people; we’re not”

“WELCOME TO MY LIFE – STUCK BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE MOST OF THE TIME”

REDROW PLC CHAIRMAN, STEVE MORGAN

PHIL SKILL, HEAD OF PLANNING AT STROUD DISTRICT COUNCIL

“WE HAVE TO SPEND MORE ON PLANNING FEES THAN THE VERY BRICKS THAT BUILD THE HOMES”

“Yes, the Welsh government would have the powers to say ‘yes’ to larger wind farms. At the moment it’s DECC. There could certainly be more but we’re not talking huge numbers – three or four more a year”

REDROW PLC CHAIRMAN, STEVE MORGAN

DIRECTOR OF RTPI CYMRU ROISIN WILLMOTT ON BBC'S GOOD MORNING WALES DISCUSSING THE POSSIBLE DEVOLUTION OF ENERGY POLICY

“We’ve allowed planning to be divorced from the environment – these two should be together” CHAIRMAN OF THE STATUTORY COMMITTEE ON CLIMATE CHANGE LORD DEBEN SPEAKS AT ECOBUILD 2014 I M AG E S | S H U T T E RSTO C K

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“Homess are built for people to live in, if they’re not being lived in then something has gone seriously wrong with the housing market” CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE EMPTY HOMES CHARITY, DAVID IRELAND, ON THE 11 MILLION EMPTY HOMES IN EUROPE

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CORRESPONDENCE

I Inbox

YOUR NEWS, VIEWS AND QUESTIONS F E E D B ACK

Mervyn Dobson I had not realised that The Planner was trying to become a humorous magazine. When I read that Jonathan Porritt could be mistaken for an anti-development campaigner I nearly choked on my cornflakes laughing.

He may well be a nonexecutive director at Willmott Dixon and sincerely believe that we need to double the amount of house building in the UK. But why if there has been a national planning system for the last 65 years, and with lead times for development becoming ever longer, does he believe that planning authorities do not bear some major responsibility for this? His (and others’) attack on the NPPF and the solutions that it introduces (such as the need for a five-year supply of residential land), are wholly incompatible with his wider aspirations to deliver more housing.

Mervyn Dobson, director, Pegasus Planning

Sue Taylor As a founder member and former chair of NAPE (the planning enforcement Network of the RTPI), I fully support the comments made by Steve Robshaw in the March edition of The Planner regarding the lack of coverage given in the magazine to planning enforcement matters. I had hoped that with the introduction of more membership classes, the RTPI would make their publications equally inclusive.

It was, therefore, with interest that I read the contribution from Charlotte Morphet on page 51 of the March edition, on the positive

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impact that taking a job as an enforcement officer has had on her career. I have long held the opinion that all graduate planners, on entering the arena of local authority planning for the first time, should be encouraged to do a rotation in planning enforcement, and policy as well, so that they can understand, and experience, the impact of decisions on planning applications.

Although I have been forced to hang up my “glass slippers” (on what I hope is a temporary basis) I have, like Charlotte, found that the skills I acquired during my years in planning enforcement have enabled me to make the transition into a different line of work.

I’m pleased that Charlotte found working as a planning enforcement officer such a worthwhile experience and wish her well in her career.

However, I wonder if part of the reason that emerging planners are so hesitant about considering a job in planning enforcement is that the subject gets so little coverage on planning courses and in planning publications.

decides it needs to), Mr Boles is “very clear that we would maintain key protections for the countryside and, in particular, for the green belt”.

We learn two things from this latest helpful clarification.

Firstly, it would seem, green belts are different from all other local plan policies in that they are not to be reviewed (except, am I right, where they really, really need to be?). And secondly, green belts are about protecting the countryside (dare one say, especially, those bits of it which can be seen from suburban sun-lounges in marginal constituencies).

I always thought there was rather more to it than that.

Perhaps someone should direct Mr Boles to the five purposes of green belts neatly set out in the NPPF at paragraph 80 – or is the problem that most of them do not sit easily with the realities of his, and his boss’s, recent pronouncements about the way the planning system is preventing “growth”?

David Kaiserman MRTPI

Phil Neaves I read with some dismay the letter published from Philip Hurling in the March edition of The Planner. I assume this was written as some kind of joke.

Many people in my part of the world in Berkshire and Surrey and elsewhere in the country are suffering considerable emotional and financial distress from the effects of the flooding. Please keep in mind the bounds of good taste before printing further such letters.

Sue Taylor Hon MRTPI

Philip Neaves, principal, Felsham Planning and Development

David Kaiserman

Charles Robinson

In reminding us all that his government will have no truck with “top-down” planning (except, presumably, where it

I cannot let your Leader article ('Ignore the three pillars of planning at your peril') pass without comment. I'm afraid

that this, plus the proceeding pages (7 and 9) exhibit why we still have a system that is woefully unfit for purpose.

You cite Nadim Zahawi, Conservative MP for Stratfordupon-Avon as the basis for your article which seeks to make the case for a more bureaucratic and burdensome planning system. However, whilst Mr Zahawi's apparent conversion to a planning apologist might seem convincing to the naive perhaps it is less so when subject to only a brief analysis.

He is MP for Stratford-uponAvon. This is a district that has ignored its own community's housing needs and which now finds itself in a position where it has an acute housing crisis such that sites are now getting approved whist the local politicians continue to dissemble and fail to face up to reality. That is the root cause of the planning system's problems - politics and a failure to plan properly. NIMBY planning does not work and eventually fails the people it purports to represent and protect.

It was highly revealing that the proceeding pages, directly after your Leader that failed to make this point, highlighted to fact that 80% of London Boroughs do not have enough homes to meet projected needs and that, in the UK (where we have the smallest houses on average) the average size of a family home has actually shrunk! The only conclusion is that we have a planning system that is bureaucratic and which fails to PLAN. Oh - and as for Mr Zahawi's apparent conversion to a community zealot - don't forget that there is an election coming up - as I say, planning IS politics!

Charles Robinson, B Tech (Hons); MPhil; MRTPI

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26/03/2014 11:26

ALL OF A TWIT TER T HE P L ANNER

ONL INE

THE PLANNER GOES ONLINE AT WWW.THEPLANNER.CO.UK It’s been quite the month at The Planner, culminating in the launch of our website, www.theplanner.co.uk and its sister site, job.theplanner.co.uk If you haven’t already, please do take a look. For a limited period, www. theplanner.co.uk is open access with no restrictions on viewing content. This will enable us to promote and build up awareness of the site beyond existing members and to allow everyone to easily explore the breadth of the content available and share articles without encountering any barriers. It also enables Google and other search engines to begin to recognise the site. In a few months we will implement a log-in procedure, making key content restricted to members only.

Also, in the coming weeks The Planner website will take over the Friday Briefing, the weekly email news bulletin to RTPI members. There will be some overlap with the news services offered by the website until then, but the intention, over time, is for The Planner website to allow members to tailor the type of news they want to receive and to have the option of more frequent news alerts.

So please, take a look – and let us know what you think.

@ThePlanner_RTPI

Samer Bagaeen @samerbagaeen @RTPIPlanners @ThePlanner_RTPI With only 5% of RTPI members outside the UK, should the RTPI reconsider its international engagements?

Judith Eversley @InternatRTPI @samerbagaeen @RTPIPlanners @ThePlanner_RTPI International engagements cover global issues of human settlements – not location of members!

WomeninPlanning @WomeninPlanning You need to keep developing your skills and adding complexity to your work #proudofplanners #proudofplanning

Dr Peter Geraghty @planitpres Check out the results of the recent @RTPIPlanners membership survey in @ThePlanner_RTPI #proudofplanning pic.twitter.com/nUwMka76at

Planning Scotland @planningscot @ThePlanner_RTPI @MariaRojinsky #proudofplanning means knowing how positive a difference planning makes, even though it often goes unnoticed

Cliff Hague @CliffHague @CrenellatedArts Planning education is good at widening perspectives, but statutory limits narrow that in practice.

Jamie Angus @jamie_angus Housing sector is one of the worst for jargon. Tell me about it. #plainEnglish #NHFComms14

Rob Cowan @cowanrob PLANNING APPEAL The magnetic attraction that development control officers have for the opposite sex #alternativedictionaryofurbanism

I M AG E | A L A M Y

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B E S T O F T H E B LO G S

O Opinion

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Trudi Elliott is chief executive of the RTPI

The recent rece floods have provoked a torren torrent of analysis and blame and, a as ever, planning is in the frame – including calls for a “planning revolution”.

After the 2007 floods Sir Mike Pitt undertook an exhaustive study into the causes. Government and all the key players accepted his 92 recommendations. In planning terms these reiterated the need for strong planning controls, the need for flood risk assessments at both plan and site level, and the importance of the sequential test for both building and planning control. For exceptional development permitted in a flood plain developers should meet the cost of defences. The non-planning recommendations were just as important, and required action from all from householders to central government.

Planning policy reflects these risks and has not changed.

Flood avoidance and mitigation remains a priority for planners. In England the NPPF contains all the important elements of PPS25, the previous policy on development and flood risk.

Inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas at highest risk, but if development takes place in the flood plain it may only happen if it is made safe and

Nathan Renison is a town planner and regeneration officer at Halton Borough Council

What happened to the New Towns?

The floods call for a planning revolution

does not increase flood risk elsewhere. The draft new planning guidance reflects this. Little new development is now approved in areas at high risk of flooding.

The Environment Agency, which must be consulted, calculates that in 2012/13 in cases where they objected, 95 per cent of applications were decided by planning authorities in line with their advice. That’s a lot of would-be potential development in the flood plain that hasn’t happened. Modern design should mean that if there is building in flood-prone areas the effects are effectively mitigated. We have the know-how to adapt, mitigate and protect against the impacts of climatic change.

I hope the government’s response will not be to commission further studies but, like all of us, take a long, hard look at what previous reports have advised and what we have and have not done.

The Public Accounts Committee looked at flood risk management in 2012 and its report, like Sir Michael’s, should be re-read when the waters subside.

Calls for a reform of the planning system and just blaming new development in the flood plain are wide of the mark.

We need a national debate on the amount of effort, resources and brainpower we are going to apply to the task.

“I HOPE THE GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE WILL NOT BE TO COMMISSION MORE STUDIES, BUT TAKE A LONG, HARD LOOK AT WHAT WE HAVE AND HAVE NOT DONE”

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In 1974 the th Canadian Film Board came to Runcorn to see the concrete and asphalt shoots of a New Town emerging from the green fields of North Cheshire.

Then, Runcorn New Town (RNT) was still young. It had been 10 years since the 1946 New Town Act was invoked to designate an area of 3.1 ha around the small town of Runcorn as a site for growth.

The filmmakers saw a confident town being delivered to the principles of a master plan. This was largely the vision of architect and town planner Arthur Ling. Alongside Professor Ling, town planners and social development workers from Runcorn Development Corporation explained how the town works.

Many of the characteristics of RNT are still evident: unique housing and estate designs; segregated paths for pedestrians, a rapid transit network called “the Busway” that connects home, factory and town centre; extensive green space with landscaping; a new town centre; and large dedicated planned industrial areas.

It was a town that responded to the rise of car ownership since the 1950s, but was designed with pedestrians in mind. The busway was designed in a figure-of-eight with a “shopping city” at the confluence of the two loops. Most people would live within 500 yards or a

five-minute walk from the busway. “Liveability” (the magical fairy dust of place-making) defined many of the underlying principles of the master plan.

Initially, about 30,000 people migrated to RNT, largely from the post-war slum clearance in Liverpool. They were enthusiastic converts to this new way of living. A strong sense of community was felt by those interviewed.

More than 45,000 residents now live in RNT areas, and its heritage still shapes the policies of Halton Borough Council.

Many of the effects of these and other aspects of the New Town are felt today.

The council has addressed the New Town legacies it has inherited by extensively renewing housing and building regeneration programmes in two former new town neighbourhoods – Southgate (now called Hallwood Park) and Castlefields. At Sandymoor the major landowner remains the Homes and Communities Agency, as the successor organisation to the Commission for New Towns. The Halton Core Strategy identifies East Runcorn as a focus for growth, with 3,000 new homes and 49 ha of new employment land by 2028.

In April/May a series of screenings of the film will mark the 50th anniversary of RNT. Keep an eye on Halton Borough Council Twitter feed.

“‘LIVEABILITY’ (THE MAGICAL FAIRY DUST OF PLACE­MAKING) DEFINED MANY OF THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES OF THE MASTER PLAN”

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Have your say Give your feedback on the National Planning Practice Guidance beta site: http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/feedback/ The closing date for submitting feedback is Wednesday 9 October.

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John Hack is a retired strategic planner and an environmental volunteer

Leonora Rozee is a former president of the Planning Summer School and former deputy chief executive of the Planning Inspectorate

CPD won’t be as challenging now Summer School is lost

Let’s take an audit of all existing land

Everyone acknowledges we have a severe housing crisis. There is little agreement, a however, as to where the 250,000 dwellings a year must go. Do we risk building on flood plains? Or take agricultural land that may be needed in the near future to bolster our food security? Perhaps we should build over our beauty spots and wildlife reserves?

We need to look again at the land used for transport and consider the downsides – greater runoff from tarmac (hence flooding), air pollution, reduced biodiversity, severance (both people and wildlife), obesity through lack of exercise, reductions in children’s play opportunities, and the decline of the high street by out-of-town retail, not to mention carbon emissions and the danger of a future energy crisis.

Facing the acute need for housing, two measures need to be taken. First, to ensure that land to be developed or redeveloped is used for priority needs over less essential uses (housing rather than cars), and second, to ensure the greatest efficiency of the use – cars being notably less efficient in using transport space than public transport, cycling or walking.

At the local level an audit of all existing land should be undertaken, rather than just the obvious sites. Is a retail warehouse car park really the best

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use? How many houses could go onto the site of an out-of-town supermarket (and how many shops would be saved in the town and district centres)?

When houses are built, how can the amount of land needed for roads and parking be reduced and replaced by green space, gardens and more houses? The early garden cities are design icons because they were not overrun by vehicles – car ownership then being very low.

At the district level safe pedestrian and cycle routes should take over road space to form green corridors.

Rapid transit should provide cheap, frequent and reliable movement possibilities to all major traffic generators and link the different parts of town. Community electric vehicle schemes should provide for the occasions when car use is essential.

Clearly, government is not going in this direction – it is reducing the impact of fuel duty and intends to build more (destructive) new roads. Out-of-town developments proliferate and bus services are cut.

As the housing shortage becomes more of a political issue we are faced with a stark choice – either accept the fact that huge swathes of countryside will be sacrificed to car-based development, or build more houses on less land and with a better environment.

“AS THE SHORTAGE OF HOUSING BECOMES MORE OF A POLITICAL ISSUE WE ARE FACED WITH A STARK CHOICE”

After 80 years the Town and Country Planning Summer School charity (TCPSS) has been forced to close as it is no longer possible to deliver the charitable objective of running an annual school following a long and steady decline in those attending.

It is a sad reflection of our times that this august institution can no longer hold its place in the crowded market place for keeping planners and elected members alert to the roles they play in our complex planning systems.

The pressure on LPA budgets and the focus for them on delivering the service at the least possible cost has had a big impact on TCPSS, which was always about taking time away from work to reflect on what we do as planners and councillors.

The modern approach to CPD seems to be about one-day events and in-house training rather than the more challenging and enjoyable offer of TCPSS. Devolution has also had its effect as the four UK planning systems become more divergent, making it increasingly difficult to provide a UK-wide school as has been the tradition of TCPSS with its core venues over the years of St Andrews, York, Exeter and Swansea.

More marked has been the impact of the changes in the planning world with increasing

numbers of planners employed in the private sector.

I first attended the school in the early 1970s as a young planner, having been fortunate to be nominated by my small rural LPA to attend. At that time TCPSS was attracting about 700 delegates, mainly from the public sector, where most planners were then employed.

A feature of the school from its origins was that it was for those involved in planning as elected members, not just professional planners.

Following the Local Government Act in 1972, which created a large number of new LPAs, a separate four-day weekend Councillors’ School was established alongside the then eight-day Planners’ School.

The TCPSS attracted top speakers and workshop leaders, both national and international.

Indeed in 1979 the Rt Hon Michael Heseltine made his notorious “jobs locked in filing cabinets” speech. TCPSS leaves a proud legacy, including the many young planners from emerging nations who attended the school under our special fund.

During my three years as president we continued the radical changes introduced by my predecessors to try to stem the decline in numbers. It is a great regret that these changes were insufficient to save the charity.

“THE MODERN APPROACH TO CPD SEEMS TO BE ABOUT ONE­ DAY EVENTS AND IN­HOUSE TRAINING RATHER THAN THE MORE CHALLENGING OFFER OF TCPSS”

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I N T E R V I E W S I R T E R R Y FA R R E L L

CI V I C

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LM H E R O From a converted aeroplane factory, Sir Terry Farrell has built an international reputation for architecture and planning. He tells Huw Morris how his review of the government’s role in promoting design in the built environment may push the issue up the agenda PHOTOGRAPHY | RICHARD GLEED

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HUW MORRIS is consultant editor of The Planner

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n unusual fact about Sir Terry Farrell, the country’s leading architect, urban designer and planner, is that he lives above the shop. His home is an old aeroplane factory in central London that previously made parts for Spitfires and Hurricanes among other iconic flying machines.

Indeed, the building pays homage to its aeronautical past. It has several model Spitfires mounted on its roof. Farrell’s flat also has a collection of replica fighter planes from the First and Second World Wars suspended from the ceiling.

In 1985, he bought the block in one day and promptly sold parts of it on to a film studio, developers and a fashion house among others, with a contract to convert the building.

Now the block features Farrell’s design studio and offices with flats at the top. “I’m very interested in regeneration and refurbishment together and I took on the building as a living project of what I do.”

In 40 years of practice, his CV is extensive. A selection of his projects includes London’s Char-

ing Cross Station, Newcastle’s Great North Museum and International Centre for Life and Edinburgh’s International Conference Centre.

His influence can be seen on Birmingham’s Brindleyplace, the Greenwich Peninsula and Paddington Basin. Numerous masterplans include South London’s Nine Elms and the regeneration in Battersea. Other roles include design adviser to both the Mayor of London and the Department for Transport on high-speed rail.

He has a considerable international profile, particularly in Asia, where he has offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Projects have included Beijing South Railway Station, Guangzhou Station, Kowloon Station and Incheon International Airport. His KK100 tower in Shenzhen is the tallest building ever designed by a British architect.

The proactive planner Farrell is arguably most famous in the UK for designing the MI6 headquarters next to London’s Vauxhall Bridge. He says he had no idea which government organisation the building was intended for and guessed that it might be the

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former Department of the Environment. His client at the time was a government procurement department in the Cold War era, when no minister or civil servant would even admit to the intelligence services’ existence. Even the CIA and the KGB did not go that far.

A year after the spies moved into the building, he tells of having lunch with ‘M’, MI6’s chief, who thanked him for helping to raise the organisation’s profile. “I had intended to keep it quiet but he said we had done them a great service by allowing them to come out of the shadows.”

“THEE BRITISH DON’’T DO PROAACTIVE PLAN NNING, THEY DO DEVELOPMENT CONTTROL”

Seeing things holistically A year ago, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport asked Farrell to spearhead an independent review of architecture and the built environment. Farrell’s brief covered the government’s role in promoting design quality, the economic benefits of architecture, cultural heritage and promoting education, outreach and skills. Backed by an 11-strong advisory panel, he has now published his conclusions.

Some critics had initially complained that the review was narrowly focused on architecture. ‘I have interpreted architecture and the built environment very broadly and holistically,’ he now says. The British “don’t do proactive planning, they do development control”, he says. “Even the middle classes now think housing shortages and their effect on their towns need to have people to be proactive. We have to look at a town holistically and say where it should expand rather than where the developers have bought the land.”

While design reviews might not enjoy their earlier profile, instead Farrell

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suggests a new breed of PLACE reviews – how an area or proposal covers planning, landscape, architecture, conservation and engineering.

These reviews would not merely look at proposed schemes but look at how existing places work and live. Here, Farrell concedes that the “march is on all the time” on the merging of professional disciplines, arguing that planning, architecture, transport and landscape are becoming increasingly “intertwined but getting more specialised” – hence the need for the new type of reviews.

“We don’t want them to be called design reviews. The very title is self-limiting. Design is only a part of architecture and architecture is only part of the built environment.

“These reviews should be with combined pro-

HIG HL IG HT S

S I R TE R R Y FA R R E LL Born: Sale, Cheshire 1938

Timeline: 1961

2013

1961 1964 1980 2001 2008 2009 2010 2013 Graduated with a firstclass degree in architecture from Newcastle University

Graduated with a master’s degree in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania

Founds his company, Terry Farrell & Partners

Knighted for services to architecture and urban design

Appointed design and planning leader for the Thames Gateway

Won Royal Institute of British Architecture’s international award for Beijing South Station

Unveiled strategy to turn Kent into a “21st century garden city”

Voted the individual who made the greatest contribution to London’s planning development in the past 10 years Launched independent review of architecture and design

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fessions and combined interests and cover all aspects of the building. At the moment there are no design reviews of high-speed railway stations or of major transport infrastructure.

“But there are no design reviews or indeed PLACE reviews for what already exists. Local authorities should be able to review their hospital or university campus or infrastructure such as railway lines or road changes.”

Education, education Farrell’s review also considered how architecture and the built environment can be taught to schoolchildren. It rejected the idea of introducing a separate subject into the national curriculum, instead recommending to embed it into other subjects.

Biology would include landscape and pollution, maths and physics would look at “DESIGN ISS ONLLY A PAR RT OF AR RCH HITTEC CTU URE how buildings work, while history would CTUR RE IS ON NLYY PAARTT OF TH HE AND ARCHITTEC cover how an area has changed over time.

ONM MENT”” BUILT ENVIIRO On this last point, Farrell dismisses the notion that there has to be “an either/or battle” between heritage and new build. lend themselves naturally to governance and “They are both on the same side. The stewardship. For design and planning to come up culture we need to revisit is that heritage the agenda it has to have deep-rooted manageis different to planning and cities. Heritage ment and stewardship from communities. It should be forward-looking and a form of needs real awareness-raising.” sustainability.”

Farrell suggests a body akin to the ConFrom the top down struction Industry Council – a council for However, with substantial business interests in planning, design and architecture that Asia, Farrell is quick to point out the differences would form a policy and hold governin attitude and culture towards development. For ments to account. In fact, the contentious example, while Western countries only discourissue of whether England should have a written policy for architecture and age the public from using plastic bags, certain Chinese communities have made them illegal. the built environment – in line with 17 other European countries – is addressed in the review. Farrell’s suggestion of a cross-section professional This reflects, he notes, their increasingly desperate forum along the lines of the CIC is a diplomatic solution. fears about the environment.

“No policy lasts longer than the minister in charge of it. If you look at “Pollution is a big killer and the quality of life that transport, housing, planning or the environment, for example, they have is being produced by the chase for urbanisation is all been shunted around Whitehall over the years,” he says. “An architecnow being called into question. They are asking do tural policy should therefore be one that is developed jointly across the they really want to live in smog-ridden communiprivate, public and voluntary sectors. A council for planning, design and ties when they can’t see the sky, and know they are architecture, among others, could form a policy that would hold successive going to have widespread health problems. The governments to account.

Chinese approach is top-down with people’s agreeHe is similarly bullish about the economic value of design and architecment. They do believe in communism, but they ture. In particular, Farrell wants to see a celebration of London as a global also believe in the market place.” centre of excellence of all built environment professionals. A major interFarrell contrasts this with what he calls the national festival is mooted. “tyranny of the majority”. He points to congesIn this vein, he would like every town to have an “urban room”. Located tion charging, which, he says, has only been in a public place that is not owned by a government body, each room would achieved on any scale in London because there was no ballot. “If you had a vote on building the allow the public to view through physical models, or virtual websites any plans and proposals for new development. “People should be able to see M25 now or high-speed rail, the public would where flooding could take place and where new housing is going to go. probably come out against it. It takes something like the recent floods in a democracy for people “The only way architecture and the built environment will go up the agenda is through awareness-raising on a broad front,” Farrell continues. to collectively want to do something about it. But “We should not aim that at politicians but at adults and through education even those who have been flooded recently are not in the majority.” of children. Places begin with communities. Communities are entities that 22

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25/03/2014 13:56

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THE LITTLE BOXES ON THE HILLSIDE OF THE LATE PETE SEEGER’S HIT ARE INCREASINGLY LEAVING PEOPLE COLD, SO MUCH SO THAT SOME – IF THEY HAVE A HAMMER – ARE OPTING TO GO THE CUSTOM­BUILD ROUTE. SIMON WICKS REPORTS

HOMES

W

e tend to think of it in terms of extremes in the UK: Self-build either represents the kind of cheap prefab housing knocked up at the end of the Second World War, or it is the overengineered follies beloved of Channel 4’s Grand Designs, where budgets spin out of control as couples tilt hopefully at expensive windmills.

Is there a middle way? Well, yes – obviously. In the UK about 10,000 homes a year are self-built (or custom-built, which is the preferred terminology nowadays) and most are neither flimsy nor folly, but decently designed, decently made, affordable family homes.

They represent eight to 10 per cent of new homes in the UK. Across much of Europe the proportion of custom-built homes is typically 40 to 60 per cent, as it is in the US and Australia. In Austria, it is 80 per cent.

Why this disparity? And could an increase in self-build provide an answer to Britain’s housing shortage? Certainly planning minister Nick Boles thinks so. In the December/January issue of The Planner he was quoted as saying: “Only in this country is it [self-build] a tiny eccentric habit that involves Kevin McCloud and making a house out of yoghurt and straw.

“We are never going to get public support for house building if it’s always seen to be big companies coming along and building hundreds of identical houses. Local people design something that they want to live in, not something that they want to sell quickly.”

SIMON WICKS is a freelance writer and journalist

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(Below and main picture) An innovative experiment in largescale self-build in Almere, the Netherlands, on a 100-ha space

A lost habit Amen to that, says Ted Stevens, chair of the National Self Build Association (Nasba).

“In nearly every other country there are small builders and local architects, and people have always gone to those to get a home designed and built,” he explains. “In the UK we lost that habit after the Second World War because the government needed homes and lots of them.

“This led to the growth of the volume house builders,” he adds. “In the UK, around half of new homes are built by just 10 companies – and they don’t necessarily serve the demands of the demographic anymore. They serve the demands of their shareholders. That’s why they build the smallest new homes in Europe and the most expensive.

“In most areas, people think it’s too difficult and so it can’t be done. Instead of getting on with it, we just watch Grand Designs and think how wonderful it would be.”

Stevens argues that the “volume house builders”

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SELF BUILD limit the number of houses they build annually to control supply and keep profits up. But even if they did ‘up’ their building rates significantly, we would very likely still be well short of the UK’s target of 200,000 to 250,000 homes a year.

Encouraging custom-build could close the gap further, says Stevens, who believes that we could quadruple the number of custom-built homes over the next 20 years. There will be a plethora of benefits, he says.

“If you take the profit margin and marketing costs away, then you can typically get a home built for a quarter or a third less.

So if you’re trying to get people to get a roof over their head cost-effectively, then this has affordability.”

Custom-built houses give people choice and enable them to live in homes tailored to their needs, he says. Thus they will likely inhabit them longer and become the “bedrock” of stable communities. Moreover, self-build makes greater use of local supply chains and self-builders are more open-minded about new technology than volume house builders. Being by and for local people, self-builds tend also to attract fewer objections and get smoother passage through the planning system.

The arguments may be contingent on circumstances, but Stevens could be right about the broader benefits of self-build housing. “Self-build isn’t going to revolutionise the house building sector,” he says. “But we need a more diverse housing sector and self-build and custom-build can be part of that.”

The obstacles If the case for self-build is so strong, then why don’t we do more of it? Perhaps the planning system has lost the habit, too. Many planners are simply unaware of the sheer diversity of the emerging

“I’M SELLF­B BUILDIING PARTLLY BEECAUSE HE WE’REE IN TH NESSS. OUR BUSIN PRACTIICEE DOES A RIVATEE LOT OF PR DENTTIAAL WOR RK” RESID

A N D Y FO S T E R

The DIY challenge Chester and Yeovilbased architect Andy Foster (left) is close to completing a selfbuilt family home and workplace in Somerset.

“I’m self-building partly because we’re in the business.

“Our practice does a lot of private residential work and I wanted to find out what a house designed by me would be like. I also wanted to go through the process

26

self-build/custom-build sector Seven ways to (see box) and how sophistiself-build cated it’s becoming, says Sally Tag, of Foxley Tagg Planning.

(1) Self-built one-off home “What we’re finding is that (2) Contractor-built one-off home (3) Kit home the planning process [for (4) Independent community custom-build] just doesn’t collaboration exist. Very few planning (5) Supported community selfauthorities 18 months ago build group had any specific policies for this,” she explains. “Now the CUSTOM BUILD: NPPF has come out there are (6) Developer-built one-off home a couple of lines about self(7) Developer-led group project build in it.

Source: The Self Build Portal “But there’s a lack of underselfbuildportal.org.uk standing of how it works,” Tagg adds. “The system in this country is very much working for the mainstream developers. It’s not particularly aware of the individuals who want to build their own homes.”

Stevens and Tagg identify three major obstacles to more self-building. First, there’s that lack of awareness among planners.

Second, there’s lack of available land (and the fact that big builders snap up the best sites on the open market); third, there’s a reluctance among volume house builders to share developments with custom builders.

“Mainstream house builders don’t see this as a threat but as something they just cannot get their heads around because it is alien to what they’re doing,” says Tagg. “A couple I’ve spoken to have said they wouldn’t want to share a site with self-builders

that my clients go through. Money comes into it, too – we felt that we could get value for money and we’ve achieved that.

“It’s been an interesting experience.

We’re very experienced with the planning system and have worked with a lot of different local authorities. But if you’re not involved in the profession there are a lot of issues to overcome and you’ve got to be really determined.

“For example, ours was a replacement

dwelling and all the local authorities I’ve worked with have had replacement dwelling policies that limit the size of the new dwelling compared with the old one. Somerset didn’t have that – it was all about the size of the property.

“The size annoyed the neighbours, but we were putting in something that would be much better.

“The local authority voted on everything – even the materials: we wanted to do it in

timber, but they wanted us to use the local stone.

We got everything we wanted in the end, but we had to fight our corner.

“It is not going to be featured in The Architectural Review, but we’ve ended up with a very flexible house.

The whole thing is built around doing things in the particular way that suited our budget.

If you were doing it for the open market, you’d probably want to make it much blingier, though.”

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Cherwell h ll District Council’s proposed 1,000-home Graven Hill site in Bicester, Oxfordshire

because usually they would be ‘detracting’ from what they are doing.”

The Home Builders Federation (HBF) reinforces Tagg’s point.

“We’re generally supportive of custom-build,” an HBF spokesman tells The Planner, adding: “We would not be supportive of any attempt to impose on land owners or house builders a requirement to allow custom building on a proportion of land.”

The HBF’s director of economic affairs, John Stewart, sums up the organisation’s stance. “For home builders, the biggest concerns are the practicalities of a custom-build section on a larger site for individual new home projects, such as access, the look and design of the homes, who is responsible for health and safety, how long the homes take to complete and the residents of the main site being upset by self-builders working at nights and weekends.”

The pioneer spirit Are these really insurmountable obstacles? A number of local authorities are supporting self-build schemes on allocated land and refining custom-build models. Broadly, these are multi-unit developments built communally, often with the support of a contractor. Self-build is not always about one-off houses; nor is it necessarily about ownership – houses can be built for rent from a local authority, for example, or part-ownership with a mortgage company (flexible self-build mortgages are becoming more readily available).

In the 1980s, Lewisham ran a pioneering community self-build scheme based on the principles of radical architect Walter Segal.

They are currently developing further schemes.

In the Midlands, Nottinghamshire-based Fairgrove Homes has developed a variety of ‘off-the-peg’ housing shells that they offer to buyers in multi-unit developments. Fairgrove obtains the land and design approval – thus ensuring the passage of each new home through the system is quicker. The company then builds the shell and the self-builders take it from there. The result is consistency, efficiency, organisation and compliance.

There are projects under way in East London and Redruth in Cornwall. The mother of them all, though, is the proposed 1,000home scheme in Bicester, Oxfordshire. Overseen by Cherwell District Council, Graven Hill will have a little of everything, including terraced homes, apartment blocks and homes designed to function as workplaces.

Developments such as these, with their semi-tailored homes,

“IF YOU U TAK KE THE RGIN AN ND PROFITT MAR NG COSTSS MARKETTIN AWAY,, THEEN YOU CAN CALLLY GET A TYPIC RA HOME BUIILTT FOR R A THIIRD QUARTEER OR LESS””

may well kick off the selfbuild/custom-build revolution called for by Boles.

The government is doing its bit; in October 2013 it announced that self-builders would be exempt from the community infrastructure levy.

It has also created a £30 million custom-build investment fund for multi-unit developments and endorsed the new Self Build Portal, a sister site to the Planning Portal.

The Labour Party is drawing up its own plans to increase housing supply and it is thought self-build will be prominent. Former communities minister Don Foster, who made the government’s pledge to increase self-build, has ensured that self-build is central to the Liberal Democrats’ housing policy.

Building the future So there is political consensus. Not all volume house builders are hostile either, says Tagg, but support it as a part of the broader housing mix. For example, if successful, the new garden city movement could see self-build going mainstream again.

“There are some big players in that – the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust and a couple of large house builders, too,” explains Tagg. “They want the opportunity to be a large developer in the new garden cities. But the garden city also wants to have an attractive area of homes that would be self-built.

“I do believe fervently that society has to think about what we are going to do with future generations,” she continues. “We need to offer choices. You can actually support both mainstream development and self-build within the system but we’re not geared up for it here.”

Nasby’s Ted Stevens agrees. “Good planning is about enabling stuff to happen,” he says. “The very best planners created the new towns and encouraged interesting sustainable projects.

What we need now is a generation of innovative, proactive ‘make-it-happen’ people.”

n May 3-11 is National Custom and Self Build Week. Find out more: www.nasba.org.uk/nsbw

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FRACKING

THE DRIVE FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH MEANS THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING ALL OUT FOR SHALE GAS EXPLORATION. MARK SMULIAN REPORTS ON THE CHALLENGES ABOUT TO FACE THE PLANNING SYSTEM

In the sands of the Middle East and the tundra of Siberia there are people who make a lot of money from supplying oil and gas to the UK. If – and it remains a big “if” – reserves of shale gas make the UK more self-sufficient in energy the country could rely less on the favours of Vladimir Putin and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

This geopolitical factor, along with ministers’ eagerness to grasp at anything that might mean economic growth, accounts for the government’s sudden enthusiasm for all things connected with shale gas exploration.

FA

Planners, be prepared.

There has even been a government concession that councils can keep all the business rate income generated by shale sites and Prime Minister David Cameron has said: “We’re going all out for shale. It will mean more jobs and opportunities for people, and economic security for our country.”

But on the other side are objections about the impact of both the actual drilling for shale on the environment, and also the surface installations and road traffic generated.

MARK SMULIAN is a freelance journalist specialising in planning and regeneration

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TAL EXTRACTION?

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FRACKING

SHALE GAS Hydraulic fracturing Minor earthquakes near Blackpool last year considerably increased public alarm about the industry.

The government’s new Planning Practice Guidance for Onshore Oil and Gas is, of course, carefully neutral on shale, but there is no mistaking the way the political wind blows, and any planning authority considered to be blocking shale’s expansion is liable to have a fight on its hands.

Shale extraction involves pumping water, sand and chemicals at high pressure to fracture (or “frack”) rocks in which gas is trapped in small pockets.

Gas is then pumped to the surface.

Before that can happen, exploration is needed to establish where the trapped gas is and whether it can be economically extracted.

Shales occur in the UK in parts of central Scotland, in an area stretching east from Blackpool and then splitting into northern and southern seams across Yorkshire and Lancashire, and in a belt in the South-East running from Surrey across West Sussex into Hampshire.

Although some of these areas are used to minerals extraction and might take

shale installations in their stride, the uproar caused by Cuadrilla’s test boring at Balcombe, West Sussex, last summer showed the political dangers of doing anything connected with shale in areas filled with articulate and environmentally minded residents.

Almost every minerals planning authority now has material about shale on its website, often in a question-and-answer format to try to allay public concern.

Most make it clear that applications for shale must be decided in conformity with the local minerals plan and the law and carry the implication for local residents that if they object to all shale drilling there is nothing much the local authority can do to prevent it.

As the government guidance states, planning is one of four regulatory regimes at work.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) issues licences to explore for gas and gives consents for flaring or venting gases.

Minerals planning authorities give permission for wells and surface installations and can impose planning conditions

“FRAC CKING HAS BEEEN O WATER LINKEED TO NATTION, AIR R CONTAAMIN POLLU UTIO ON,, EARTH H ORS, HEEALTTH TREMO PROBLLEMSS AND CLIMAATEE CHANGE – UCIAALLY,, ISSN’T AND CRU O BRING DOWN LIKELLY TO GY PRIICES” ENERG

Planners must pool thoughts How does the shale industry see planners, as each group circles somewhat warily around the other?

The managing director of one small shale industry business, who prefers to remain anonymous, says: “Some mineral planning authorities have a lot

30

of past experience of oil and gas drilling planning applications, but most have no experience.

“It would be helpful if planning authorities shared their experiences and worked towards giving a consistent efficient service across the country.

“There is increasing scrutiny on planning applications for

drilling. Both the gas companies and the planners are now very careful to follow all the procedures correctly.

“Planning committees are often reluctant to make a decision and so the planning process can take a very long time. The process will be helped when each authority’s plan includes detailed policy on shale gas drilling and production.”

Waste water pit

Aquifier

Gas

Fractures

Risky business: Hydraulic fracking uses chemicals that have the potential to contaminate aquifers. The process can also release methane emissions and in some cases even cause earth tremors

related to, for example, noise, traffic and visual impact.

But the Environment Agency has responsibility to protect water resources and to facilitate appropriate disposal of waste and control airborne emissions, while the Health and Safety Executive regulates extraction, including the design of wells.

DECC issues licences because hydrocarbon rights belong to the Crown, unlike the situation in the US, where controversy has been generated over shale free-for-alls when private individuals find gas beneath their property.

Very few shale-related planning applications have yet been made, but planning authorities are well aware they are coming.

Sally Gill, group manager planning at Nottinghamshire County Council, says: “We consulted just before Christmas on our minerals local plan.

“It includes policies on hydrocarbons as per the guidance in the NPPF covering exploration, appraisal, excavation and restoration to make sure it has the least impact on the environment.”

Nottinghamshire has two bands of shale, across the north of the county at Bassetlaw and in the south in Rushcliffe, though the rest of the county does not harbour the gas.

Gill says: “We’ve not had any applications but there has been a great deal of public interest in fracking as everybody is aware of it through media coverage

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Cambrian shalles wells Gasfield or discovery Gas and oilfield Oil and gasfield

The geological picture of UK shale gas reserves

and awareness of the wider environmental issues.”

Lancashire is likely to see Kimmeridge Clay the first shale exploration applications later this year Oxford Clay and county council leader Jennifer Mein must balance Lias planning law, public concern Milstone Grit and potential returns.

She says: “Our development control committee has to consider any applications “MAJO OR DEVVELOPM MENT we receive for further exploNLYY ACC CEPTTAB BLE IS ON ration according to the C IF IN THEE PUBLIC planning regulations in place.

INTER RESTT AND IF “Many people have conPLIC CANT THE APP cerns about fracking taking CAN DEMO ONSTRAATEE place near where they live.

THAT EX XCEP PTIONAAL “Recognising that the UMSTTANCES CIRCU industry is still in the exploEXISTT” ration phase, we need to make sure that if it does begin to make profits from the area’s natural resources in the future, these extend beyond the feet below the ground and very little shareholders and workers to the wider impact comes from that to the surface,” community.” he says.

“More important is what happens on Geological game-changers the surface and that that is well regulated An even more controversial potential and managed.” site for fracking is the protected landKen Cronin is the voice of the shale industry as chief executive of the UK scape of the South Downs National Park.

Park authority minerals and waste Onshore Operators Group (UKOOG).

He says the government guidance has manager Claire Potts says: “We will apply the same approach to conditions as any usefully clarified the role of planners and other planning authority to make sure regulators but “shale gas has not yet been that the conditions are fit for purpose. the subject of a planning application so “As with any major application in the the jury is still out on how effective this will be”. park, the bar is set very high and major development is only acceptable if in the He adds: “We want to be as clear as possible about everything with local public interest and if the applicant can demonstrate that exceptional circumauthorities.”

The industry is still in the exploration stances exist.”

Professor Peter Styles, who made a presstage rather than fracking because it “needs to understand the geology and entation to the park authority on shale last how economic a site would be,” he autumn, thinks energy security will trump explains. “There is potentially a huge environmental concerns, which he in any event considers overblown. amount of gas in the UK but it is a question of how to get it out.”

The professor of applied and environmental geophysics at the University of Keele points out that 200 wells are in Expecting a flood operation for gas, water and geothermal With the third round of licensing of sites for shale exploration due this year there heat, which have attracted little attenis little doubt that a flood of applications tion, and thinks shale should be the will be heading towards planners before same. long.

“Small seismic events did occur from Tim Pugh, a partner at law firm Berwin shale drilling in Lancashire but they were very small and are unlikely ever to be Leighton Paisner, says gas is a comparabigger as its quite difficult to produce tively clean technology, but for shale firms earthquakes by fracking; it’s all 10,000 to gain acceptance “public confidence

must be won and will not be bought”.

He explains: “Local communities must be convinced they will benefit but this alone will not suffice. Concerns about flares, floodlights, water shortage, pollution and trundling lorries must be met.

“Real job creation and local economic bounty would be game-changers.

“Community sentiment around nuclear power plants and coal mines shows a strong relationship between local employment and community support.”

This is what the shale industry hopes it will bring, with Cronin pointing to an Institute of Directors report that predicts the industry could create some 74,000 jobs.

UKCOOG has already sweetened the pill by offering 1 per cent of revenues – not profits – for community benefits where fracking takes place, which Cronin says could be worth £5 million to £10 million for each site.

Environmentalist opposition to shale remains strong, with Friends of the Earth warning, for example, “Fracking has been linked to water contamination, air pollution, earth tremors, health problems and climate change – and crucially, isn’t likely to bring down energy prices, nor create sustainable jobs.”

The level of government enthusiasm for shale’s economic and energy security possibilities, though, mean it would be wise for planners for prepare to deal with industry applications and their knock-on impact on localities AP R IL 2 0 14 / THE PLA NNER

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D E C IS IO N S IN F O C U S ..................................................... P .34 L E GAL L AN D S C A P E ............................................................. P .38 C ARE E R D E VE L O P ME NT ................................................... P .4 0 P L AN AH E AD . . . . . . ........................................................................ P .4 2 RT P I N E W S. . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................................ P .4 4 P L AN B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................................ P .5 0

INSIGHT THE ENDURING APPEAL OF A VICTORIAN WRITER’S VISION OF THE FUTURE It all started with a book by this man – Ebenezer Howard. His seminal work, Garden Cities of Tomorrow was published at the turn of the 20th century and spawned the original Victorian/ early Edwardian garden city movement. In 1899, this movement led to the formation of the Garden Cities Association (today’s Town and Country Planning Association) and, ultimately, the garden cities of Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City and the new towns of Stevenage and Milton Keynes.

Whether the garden cities suggested for the 21st century abide by the rules laid down by Howard at the start of the 20th is open to debate. We shall see whether the new fashion lasts.

Oh yes, and fascinating fact time – Howard’s greatgranddaughter is actor and TV personality Una Stubbs. This being 2014, there had to be a celebrity connection somewhere.

You’re welcome to contribute to, or comment on any of our Insight pages – email at editorial@theplanner.co.uk

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INSIGHT

DiF { D

DECISIONS IN FOCUS

Decisions in Focus is where we put the spotlight on some of the more interesting, offbeat and significant planning appeals of the last month – alongside your comments. If you’d like to contribute your insights and analyses to future issues of The Planner, email DiF at editorial@theplanner.co.uk Permission for 140 homes at Broom Hill in Swanley, Kent, has been granted on appeal

HOUSING

Inspector rejects adopted core strategy as basis for housing land supply in Sevenoaks (1 S U M M A R Y Inspector Graham Dudley has granted the appeals for four applications by Cooper Estates to build a combined total of 140 homes at Broom Hill, Swanley, Kent. This was despite Sevenoaks District Council having an adopted core strategy and five-year housing land supply in place.

The main issues in the case were: • The need for the proposed housing; • The proposal’s effect on the character and appearance of the surrounding area; • Noise; and • Financial contributions.

(2 C A S E D E T A I L S The first and second applications concerned mixed-use developments; both comprised the demolition of an employment building and both included the construction of an employment building of up to 2,500m2. The first

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application was aimed at building 61 homes while the second comprised 39 homes. The third and fourth applications each aimed to build 20 homes, taking the total proposed number of homes to 140.

Sevenoaks District Council did not determine the first two applications within the statutory time limit and refused permission to the third and fourth.

(3 C O N C L U S I O N R E A C H E D Sevenoaks’s adopted core strategy was prepared before

publication of guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

Neither party disputed that the council had identified a five-year supply of housing set out in the strategy. But the inspector ruled that the need for housing will not be met by the supply targets in the strategy because of the constraints placed by the green belt and no attempt had been made to co-operate with neighbouring authorities.

Under the NPPF, applications must be determined in accordance

with the development plan, which is the starting point for decisions. The inspector found there was a difference between the approaches to forming housing targets in the core strategy and the framework. The approaches in the core strategy were not up to date.

Appeal references: APP/G2245/A/13/2195874; APP/ G2245/A/13/2195875; APP/ G2245/A/13/2197478; APP/ G2245/A/13/2197479

I M AG E | A L A M Y

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Hard runway plan at Redhill Aerodrome, Surrey, fails to take off

4 A N A LY S I S [1] MATTHEW SPRY These decisions did not introduce anything that wasn’t already clear from the NPPF, but the temporal proximity of the core strategy’s adoption (2011) put its conclusions into sharp relief. The five-year land supply was based on the core strategy target drawn from the South-East plan (prepared under PPS3, which did not require plans to meet housing needs in full) and adopted prior to the NPPF. It was, by definition, outdated, and hence the NPPF carried greater weight. In many locations without an up-to-date plan (currently 86.9 per cent of areas) the official household projections and emerging evidence on housing need imply future housing targets greater than those of revoked regional strategies, so these types of cases will continue. The NPPG (released after the Sevenoaks decisions) indicates that, for five-year land supply purposes, targets in adopted plans should be given considerable weight unless significant new evidence comes to light, whereupon evidence in the latest full assessment of needs will be relevant, subject to its degree of testing. The NPPG also casts some doubt on use of the government’s household projections alone as the basis for assessing needs. This all points to future appeals being heavily reliant on substantive new evidence on objectively assessed needs.

MATTHEW SPRY director, Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners

[2] VINCENT RYAN This decision highlights the key differences in approach to

setting housing targets preand post-NPPF. Previously, PPS3 required provision of a sufficient quantity of housing taking into account need and demand. The NPPF focuses on meeting the full, objectively assessed needs for market and affordable housing in the area. The inspector notes the change in emphasis and as such the allocation of housing to Swanley in the pre-NPPF core strategy (CS) did not represent an up-to-date approach as it was not based on the latter and it was dictated by constraints of green belt and the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The CS approach was seen by the inspector as inconsistent with the framework (para 215).

The CS would come nowhere close to meeting the assessed need for housing.

The restrained housing target of CS was based on limited land availability caused by the extensive green belt and I M AG E | B L O OM B E RG

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the AONB. The residential element of the development was seen by the inspector as a limited opportunity to provide sustainable development on an unallocated green field site to help meet the housing needs of the district and applied the presumption in favour of sustainable development.

VINCENT RYAN, associate, Barton Willmore LLP

TRANSPORT

Green belt threat forces rejection of hard runway at Redhill Aerodrome, Surrey (1 S U M M A R Y An inspector has dismissed an appeal by Redhill Aerodrome Ltd against the refusal by two local authorities of its application

to replace three grass runways with a 1.3kmlong and 25m-wide hard runway along with ancillary infrastructure, drainage improvements and lighting.

Redhill Aerodrome is located in the Metropolitan Green Belt and provides general aviation services for both fixed wing and rotary aircraft.

Two-thirds of the site is in Tandridge, with the remainder in the borough of Reigate and Banstead.

Tandridge District Council and Reigate and Banstead District Council both refused the application on the grounds that it would harm the green belt.

(2 C A S E D E T A I L S The aerodrome’s owners said the proposal would create an additional 140 full-time jobs and produce a net economic benefit of £12.4 million a year by 2030. The owners contended that a refusal risked the aerodrome’s

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INSIGHT

DiF { D closure. The current proposal evolved from a previous application for a hard runway that was refused permission in 2011. In 1986 a proposal for a hard runway was dismissed on appeal and in 1995 a proposed commercial airport was unsuccessful on appeal.

Inspector Diane Lewis gave substantial weight to the proposal’s harm to the green belt through inappropriate development, loss of openness and the encroachment into the countryside. Although she gave significant weight to the economic benefits of redeveloping the airfield, these did not outweigh the potential harm to the green belt.

(3 C O N C L U S I O N R E A C H E D The inspector concluded that the aerodrome’s closure would not cause a significant loss of jobs and damage the local economy, the risk of closure was not as real as the owners contended. Under the National Planning Policy Framework, the proposal was inappropriate development and by definition harmful to the green belt. The very special circumstances needed to justify development in the green belt did not exist.

Moreover, she concluded that the economic benefits were significantly and demonstrably outweighed by the environmental harm to an area with a high degree of protection and one that is valued by nearby communities. The application would also not deliver a sustainable development.

Appeal references: APP/ M3645/A/13/2202134; APP/ L3625/A/13/2202137

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DECISIONS IN FOCUS HOUSING

Pickles backs inspector on two housing developments in Alcester, Warwickshire (1 S U M M A R Y Secretary of state Eric Pickles has granted the appeals for two applications to build a combined total of 350 homes with associated car parking, access, infrastructure and open space on land north of Allimore Lane, Alcester. The inspector had recommended that both appeals be allowed.

(2 C A S E D E T A I L S In the first scheme, JS Bloor (Tamworth) appealed against the refusal by Stratford-onAvon District Council to build 160 homes. The second scheme concerned an appeal

by Gallagher Estates, Pettifer Developments and Bloor Homes against the council’s refusal to grant permission to build 190 homes.

Pickles noted that the council is preparing its Local Development Framework to replace its 2006 Local Plan and that the emerging core strategy allocates the two sites for up to 300 homes. The sites had also been allocated for residential development in earlier versions of the core strategy. However, he noted that the current draft core strategy has not been subject to any masterplanning and because it has also not been through an examination in public, he gave it little weight in determining the appeals.

The secretary of state found that the council did not have a five-year supply of housing land and if the appeals were

allowed there would remain a shortfall.

(3 C O N C L U S I O N R E A C H E D Pickles ruled that the council’s housing policies are out of date and that under the National Planning Policy Framework, permissions should be granted unless any adverse impacts of doing so outweigh the benefits.

He agreed with the inspector that the proposals would have an acceptable impact on local services, facilities and employment.

He concluded that the proposals would not add to flooding or drainage problems in Alcester and dismissed the council’s claim that the density and size of the development would be detrimental to the character and setting of the town. The sites also occupy a sustainable location.

The secretary of state’s letter can be viewed at www.gov.uk/government/ uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/287057/1403-05_3-in-1_Allimore_Lane_ Alcester_2202101.pdf Appeal references: APP/ J3720/A/13/2202101; APP/ J3720/A/13/2205529

(4 A N A LY S I S [1] JOHN ACRES There are close parallels between this case in Alcester (Stratford-on-Avon DC) and

the earlier Shottery appeal in nearby Stratford-upon-Avon, where the secretary of state upheld an appeal for 800 homes (a decision which the district council subsequently challenged, unsuccessfully, in the High Court).

The Alcester site is not only allocated in the current emerging plan, but has been allocated in two previous Stratford-on-Avon local plans, so the principle of development on this land has never been in question.

The council has still not submitted its local plan, despite three previous attempts, and currently lacks a five-year supply of readily available housing land. The outcome was therefore inevitable and is a clear message to local councils to ensure that they have adopted plans in place so that they can control the future of their areas.

Perhaps elected members should think long and hard before going against the advice of their professional officers and advisers, and ask the question, why would members want to refuse planning permission on a site that they themselves have allocated?

JOHN ACRES is a director at planning consultancy Turley.

He can be reached by email: john. acres@turley.co.uk. Visit www. turley.co.uk.

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+ We’d like to incorporate your comment, insight and analysis into Decisions in Focus each month. Whether you can offer a brief obversation on a matter of interest within an inspector’s judgement or an informed interpretation of a decision, please let us know by emailing DiF at editorial@theplanner.co.uk

ROUND­UP Here are 10 more decisions that we think are worth a look this month.

All the details and inspector’s letters can be found on the Planning Portal website: www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk

SECRETARY OF STATE DECISIONS COMMERCIAL

(1) Application: Change of use from winter maintenance depot for storing salt and parking of seven gritters to an asbestos waste transfer station in Chatham. Intent is to provide a facility for safe storage and transfer of small quantities of asbestos before disposal to landfill.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: The effect on the health of residents, the effect on highway safety and the character and appearance of the area. The inspector noted the site’s operation would be subject to strict controls under an environmental permit.

Appeal reference: APP/A/13/2209020 AGRICULTURAL

near to Treborough Common in the Exmoor National Park.

Decision: Appeal dismissed.

Main issues: Effect on the landscape of the national park. The local plan forbids agricultural and forestry building where they would adversely affect the landscape.

Appeal reference: APP/ F9498/A/13/2209495

HOUSING CONVERSION

use from retail to residential, alteration to windows and to build an extension at a house in Thames Ditton, Surrey.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: Extensions to the property had been completed in accordance with earlier planning permission and the inspector ruled the new proposals were acceptable.

Appeal reference: APP/ K3605/A/13/2207264

HOUSING CONVERSION

(5) Application: Change of use of two redundant buildings in Warrington to form two detached homes.

Decision: Appeal dismissed.

Main issues: Inappropriate development that harms the green belt. Proposal conflicted with the NPPF and policies under the Unitary Development Plan.

Appeal reference: APP/ MO655/A/13/2200859

HOUSING NEW BUILD

HOUSING NEW BUILD

a barn and the raising of five telegraph poles for electricity

HOUSING CONVERSION

(7) Application: CALA Homes

(9) Application: Change of

(Midlands) applied for a partial award of costs against the Upton Historic Parkland Conservation Group. The inquiry was into an appeal against the council’s failure to issue notice of its decision within the prescribed period for the development of 24 homes with new amnion vehicular and pedestrian access at Tunnel Hill, Uptonupon-Severn.

Decision: Conservation group ordered to pay CALA the costs of the appeal proceedings.

Main issues: Inspector ruled the group introduced additional evidence and expert witnesses at a late stage in the inquiry. The group failed to ensure its witnesses were available to give evidence at the correct time during the inquiry.

Appeal reference: APP/ J1860/A/13/2199166

use of offices in the London Borough of Hammersmith into nine flats with balconies, the installation of glazing screens and amenity space.

Decision: Appeal allowed.

Main issues: Effect of proposed variation of conditions on traffic congestion and the effect on neighbours. Inspector rejected council’s case that exceeding adopted parking standards does not demonstrate a development would contribute to congestion.

Appeal reference: APP/ H5390/A/13/2205604

LEISURE AND TOURISM

AGRICULTURAL

(3) Application: Extension to

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: Noise and disturbance, highway safety, car parking. Inspector ruled holidaymakers coming to enjoy the sea and beaches are highly unlikely to create noise and disturbance. The apartments’ managers would act quickly if such incidents did occur for fear of adverse publicity on social media.

Appeal reference: APP/ B6855/A/13/2207826

(4) Application: Change of

(2) Application: An animal sanctuary has applied to build a goat and rabbit house together with fencing in Cwmbran, Gwent.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: The permission originally included a condition requiring lighting columns and floodlights to be removed within three months. Inspector ruled the lighting was not of an inappropriate design or scale, or had an adverse impact on the landscape.

Appeal reference: APP/ V6945/A/13/2209898

Main issues: Effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the area. Inspector noted the proposal is in a built-up area. Inspector ruled the new homes would create an interesting and attractive addition to the environment.

The development through its design and materials would respect the character and identity of its surroundings.

Appeal reference: APP/ DO840/A/13/2204120

(6) Application: Three new

(8) Application: Change of

homes and associated works at Par in Cornwall.

Decision: Permission granted.

use of a nursing home to six holiday apartments in Swansea.

COMMERCIAL

(10) Application: Installation of adverts on illuminated post signs at a children’s day nursery in Hove, East Sussex.

Decision: Permission granted with consent for five years.

Main issues: The effect of the adverts on visual amenity.

Inspector ruled the position, size, design and illumination of the signs do not intrude on the wider area.

Appeal reference: App/ Q1445/H/13/2203015

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LLegal landscape PROTECTING LOCALLY VALUED ASSETS As a measure to give local communities greater control over the protection of valued local facilities and other sites, the Localism Act 2011 provides community groups with the opportunity to nominate a local asset (such as a local pub) for listing as an Asset of Community Value (ACV).

The local planning authority must list any nominated building or other land as an ACV if it considers that (i) its current or recent use furthers the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community and (ii), it is realistic to think that its future use will do the same (whether or not in the same way). Listings so far have included woodlands, churches, village shops and libraries.

The listing of an asset as an ACV provides the community with an opportunity to safeguard its future. First, an asset’s status as an ACV should be treated as a material consideration in the determination of any planning application for development that would involve its loss. Second, if the owner of an ACV puts it up for sale, the community group can request a sixmonth moratorium on the sale and thereby gain time to raise funds and negotiate buying the asset.

But the path to success for a community group is

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Saskia Molekamp not straightforward. The biggest challenge is raising sufficient funds to buy the ACV. There have been some success stories, for example, a community group in Nunhead managed to buy its ACV (the

“THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS RAISING SUFFICIENT FUNDS TO BUY THE ACV”

Ivy House pub) by way of loan finance, grant funding and a community share issue, but in other cases this has simply not been achievable.

Furthermore, the ACV could be lost through conversion for a different use without being put up for sale. Conversion under permitted development rights would not require an application for planning permission and so the planning authority and the local community would have no say over the change of use, unless the authority had issued an article 4 direction or

otherwise restricted the use of permitted development rights.

There is an alternative source of protection for community facilities outside of the Localism Act. In order to comply with the National Planning Policy Framework, local plans should seek to safeguard local services and community facilities against unnecessary loss, and planning authorities must have regard to such policies when considering a planning application that threatens the future of a community facility. However, the detail of the policies tends to require that the future viability of the community facility is taken into account together with any alternative facilities, so this does not offer absolute protection.

Although neither local policies nor an ACV listing can offer fail-safe routes for protecting locally valued assets, they do seek to strike a balance for all parties by elevating the importance of such land or buildings while acknowledging issues of viability and the rights of private landowners. Whether these provisions are fit for purpose no doubt depends on which side of the fence you find yourself.

– SASKIA MOLEKAMP Saskia Molekamp is a solicitor specialising in planning law at Mills & Reeve LLP

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LATEST POSTS FROM THEPLANNER.CO.UK/BLOGS

B LO G S This month… green belt changes and why the government must give local decisionmaking a chance

L E G I S L AT I O N S H O R T S Garden cities – wake up and smell the roses – Ian Green

After the “will they, won’t they” of recent months, the government has finally pledged support for the garden city idea, or rather, it has committed to pump-priming the infrastructure needed to get the stalled, but already consented, Ebbsfleet development moving ahead under the banner of “garden city”. To do this, the government is to set up an Urban Development Corporation for the area. In terms of new schemes, the government is shortly to publish a prospectus setting out how local planning authorities (LPAs) can develop “their own, locally led proposals for bringing forward garden cities”.

Ebbsfleet is clearly as far as the government itself is prepared to go.

But what is the likelihood of garden cities being realised at the local level?

Ministers are always keen to point out that the government’s planning reforms are all about devolved power and local decisionmaking, but ultimately, this has to operate within the scope of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). That the NPPF is a relatively high-level document should be good news for sustainable development and

localism, allowing for flexibility and the balancing of material considerations with local needs and circumstances, by local decision-takers. But in spite of the rhetoric, the government is quick to assert its own interpretation when it is politically expedient to do so.

Indeed, this March has been another busy month for national policy and guidance.

On 3 March and in response to the inspector’s report on the Reigate and Banstead Core Strategy (and the media/public/ colleague furore that ensued), Nick Boles wrote to the Planning Inspectorate, seeking to clarify the government’s position on NPPF green belt policy, making it clear that neither the secretary of state nor his inspectorate should bear any responsibility for LPAs choosing to build in the green belt (this is certainly one way of interpreting “localism”). So far, fair enough, but, in doing so, the minister has inevitably added to the perceived weight of green belt policy (and possibly other NPPF policy constraints) in terms of displacing the presumption in favour of sustainable development. His intervention may yet cause Reigate and Banstead to drop its green belt changes. So much for brave, local decision-making.

This was underlined by changes to the National Planning

Policy Guidance (NPPG) introduced in its full version, published online just a few days later.

Possibly in response to the court decisions in the Hunston cases (St Albans), the NPPG now includes a paragraph within its Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) guidance providing that unmet housing need is unlikely to constitute the very special circumstances needed to support inappropriate development of the green belt. This begs the question as to whether unmet housing need can reasonably amount to the exceptional circumstances needed to justify changes to the green belt through the local plan. If unmet housing need cannot justify green belt release then what can?

Green belt is but one example of the typical constraints to development that are likely to be relevant to new settlements/ garden cities and which present policy considerations within the NPPF and now the NPPG. Others include flood risk, brown/greenfield land use, landscape and biodiversity. If the government wants to see LPAs bring forward garden cities, it will need to stop playing politics with its policy and give local decisionmaking a chance.

Ian Green is a legal director in the Planning Team at DLA Piper LLP.

Government unveils more permitted development rights reforms The government has published its response to proposals for amending the General Permitted Development Order for granting permitted development rights. The consultation, carried out between August and October last year, made several proposals for new permitted development rights.

Under its proposal for shops and financial and professional services to change to residential, the government has decided the regulations will only apply to premises in such use on 20 March 2013 when details of the proposals were first announced.

It has also decided there will not be a prescribed maximum number of flats to allow flexibility to suit local circumstances and individual premises.

The consultation had earlier proposed a maximum of four flats but this was ruled out amid fears that the limit “may encourage owners to create accommodation that was unsuitably small’.

In future, a shop can only change to a bank or building society and not then change to betting or payday loan shops without planning permission.

The new rights should also apply to listed buildings.

Under the reforms, offices, hotels, residential institutions and leisure can be changed to become schools and nurseries. Agricultural buildings will also be allowed to change to residential use or become schools and nurseries but the new rights will not apply in National Parks, the Broads, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, conservation areas and World Heritage Sites. Total demolition and new build will not be allowed for historic barns but limited alteration to enable a change of use will be permitted.

Prior approval will take into account the loss of a shop and whether there is a realistic prospect of it becoming another retail use. Prior approval will be required for design, transport and flooding risk.

Greater flexibilities for change of use: report on responses to the consultation is available at www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/291662 Greater_flexibilities_ for_change_of_use_-_report_on_responses_to_the_ con___.pdf

Neighbourhood forum’s challenge on site exclusions rejected The Court of Appeal has rejected a judicial review of Wycombe District Council’s decision to exclude two development sites from a neighbourhood forum’s area.

The council had approved a local resident’s association’s application to became a forum but excluded two sites from its area – a mixed-use redevelopment at Handy Cross and the former RAF Daws Hill base. Mr Justice Supperstone had ruled that the council acted within its powers to exclude the sites in March last year.

The Court of Appeal has now ruled that the power given to a planning authority to decide whether a smaller area is appropriate for designation was a broad one. Dismissing the appeal, Lord Justice Sullivan said: “If the discretion is not so confined, any decision by the local planning authority as to appropriateness must take into account the factual and policy matrix that exist in each individual case at the time the decision is made.”

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INSIGHT

Career { D E V E L O P M E N T C SHARING THE KNOWLEDGE

Mentoring can be a rewarding but tricky path for both parties. Kate Dobinson talks to those in the know about how to manage the ethical, emotional and practical issues to get the best out of the experience

A

A mentor’s job is ultimately to challenge a planner to be critically reflective of their work and progress.

This idea of reflection is based on the principle that gaining experience alone is not the most efficient means of developing competence. A good mentor then will encourage a planner to prioritise taking time out from the day-to-day pressures of work to consider what they have done, what they have learned and how this might affect their ability to act in future.

A mentor provides an independent and objective sounding board that means a planner does not have to go through these ideas in isolation. The effect can be seen on paper – a job promotion, for example. But it could be the problem-solving, confidence boost or increase in communication that enables positive change to happen.

As being reflective involves questioning one’s experience rather than just taking it for granted, a mentor will facilitate and explore key questions and encourage the person being mentored to record their findings. What have I learned from this? What would I repeat or do differently this time? How will I go about achieving this?

level of experience and emailing it to membership@rtpi.org.uk.

Equally, anyone interested in becoming a mentor can also volunteer via a similar electronic form that can be found at: http://www.rtpi.org.uk/ membership/become-an-rtpi-member assessment-of-professionalcompetence/mentoring-in-the-apc/.

Alternatively, the RTPI membership team has noted a developing trend for mentors accessible primarily through email. This approach would appeal to prospective mentors who find email exchanges less constraining on time.

This also means that volunteer mentors from one area of the country could have the opportunity to be an “electronic mentor” to a young planner living elsewhere in the UK, or overseas – perhaps a resident of an area lacking in suitable potential mentors.

+ What makes a good mentor?

(1) Commitment and belief in the benefits

(2) Gives honest feedback in a constructive way

(3) Guides and advises without being dictatorial

How do I find a mentor?

It is up to planners to find their own mentors, but they may request assistance from the RTPI by downloading a form that details their 40

(4) Patient and good at listening (5) Ability to inspire confidence and trust

(6) Entirely confidential

We spoke to three young planners to find out what works best for them PET ER RO WE —

Find a mentor that isn’t so senior PETER ROWE IS A SENIOR PLANNER AT TURLEY ASSOCIATES n During my time as a licentiate member I had two mentors, both of whom had considerable town planning experience. While they were both inspiring and knowledgeable, I now question whether support from a newly chartered town planner could have been more helpful. Due to the seniority of my mentors, it was difficult to organise regular mentoring sessions.

Consequently it was important to motivate myself to reflect upon my own professional development – not always easy. Also, my mentors achieved their chartered membership via a different process and could not always answer my APC-related questions and concerns.

I achieved chartered membership in 2012, but relied heavily on the RTPI to guide me. A dedicated mentor would have benefited me. In June 2013 I

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INSIGHT

Career { D E V E L O P M E N T C SHARING THE KNOWLEDGE

Mentoring can be a rewarding but tricky path for both parties. Kate Dobinson talks to those in the know about how to manage the ethical, emotional and practical issues to get the best out of the experience

A

mentor’s job is ultimately to challenge a planner to be critically reflective of their work and progress.

This idea of reflection is based on the principle that gaining experience alone is not the most efficient means of developing competence. A good mentor then will encourage a planner to prioritise taking time out from the day-to-day pressures of work to consider what they have done, what they have learned and how this might affect their ability to act in future.

A mentor provides an independent and objective sounding board that means a planner does not have to go through these ideas in isolation. The effect can be seen on paper – a job promotion, for example. But it could be the problem-solving, confidence boost or increase in communication that enables positive change to happen.

As being reflective involves questioning one’s experience rather than just taking it for granted, a mentor will facilitate and explore key questions and encourage the person being mentored to record their findings. What have I learned from this? What would I repeat or do differently this time? How will I go about achieving this?

level of experience and emailing it to membership@rtpi.org.uk.

Equally, anyone interested in becoming a mentor can also volunteer via a similar electronic form that can be found at: http://www.rtpi.org.uk/ membership/become-an-rtpi-member assessment-of-professionalcompetence/mentoring-in-the-apc/.

Alternatively, the RTPI membership team has noted a developing trend for mentors accessible primarily through email. This approach would appeal to prospective mentors who find email exchanges less constraining on time.

This also means that volunteer mentors from one area of the country could have the opportunity to be an “electronic mentor” to a young planner living elsewhere in the UK, or overseas – perhaps a resident of an area lacking in suitable potential mentors.

+ What makes a good mentor?

(1) Commitment and belief in the benefits

(2) Gives honest feedback in a constructive way

(3) Guides and advises without being dictatorial

How do I find a mentor?

It is up to planners to find their own mentors, but they may request assistance from the RTPI by downloading a form that details their 40

(4) Patient and good at listening (5) Ability to inspire confidence and trust

(6) Entirely confidential

We spoke to three young planners to find out what works best for them PET ER RO WE —

Find a mentor that isn’t so senior PETER ROWE IS A SENIOR PLANNER AT TURLEY ASSOCIATES n During my time as a licentiate member I had two mentors, both of whom had considerable town planning experience. While they were both inspiring and knowledgeable, I now question whether support from a newly chartered town planner could have been more helpful. Due to the seniority of my mentors, it was difficult to organise regular mentoring sessions.

Consequently it was important to motivate myself to reflect upon my own professional development – not always easy. Also, my mentors achieved their chartered membership via a different process and could not always answer my APC-related questions and concerns.

I achieved chartered membership in 2012, but relied heavily on the RTPI to guide me. A dedicated mentor would have benefited me. In June 2013 I

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KATE DOBINSON is news and content editor of The Planner

M E N T O R S ’ FA Q joined Turley and have been impressed with the level of support provided to licentiates. Each licentiate regularly meets a mentor who has experience of the APC process. The mentor can ensure that the licentiate properly reflects upon their professional development, and is equipped with the competencies and experience to be elected as a chartered town planner.

I am now a mentor and looking forward to guiding my colleagues.

DE R M OT MO NAGHAN —

Engage a mentor early “DIANA CHALLENGED ME TO BE CRITICALLY REFLECTIVE” n I have been a planning consultant with the Belfast-based consultancy Michael Burroughs Associates for more than five years. I undertake a wide variety of spatial planning work throughout the UK and Ireland, including preparation of feasibility studies, planning applications, appeals, enforcement appeals, development plan representations and evidence for civil proceedings.

I became a chartered member of the RTPI in 2012 following the APC process.

I was mentored by a senior member of the firm, Diana Thompson MRTPI, who was the 2011/2 chair of the RTPI NI Branch and had served on the Young Planners Network Steering Group.

Diana was an experienced planning professional with whom I work with on many projects and is an active member of the RTPI who sets herself high standards of professionalism.

She was aware of the assessment criteria and identified examples of cases that I worked on that helped show my competency in these criteria.

Diana challenged me to be critically reflective of my work and progress. Her guidance was an undoubtedly significant factor in the success of my application and recognition as a top 10 APC candidate.

I would encourage licentiates embarking on the APC route to chartered membership to engage a

A colleague you directly manage asks you to become her mentor. How do you react?

There are no restrictions on who is an appropriate mentor. You should feel free to act as a mentor if you are both happy with the arrangement. But employees are encouraged to think beyond their line manager to maximise the support available to them and minimise possible conflicts. A line manager can also be too close to offer objectivity. You might suggest a “mentor swap” with another team – with you acting as mentor to a colleague in another department, and that person’s line manager acting as mentor to your employee. Your employee can also look for a mentor through the Young Planners Network.

Your mentee is resisting your advice – what do you do?

First, question your own attitude; to what extent is challenging your mentee a useful way of supporting him or her? Could this become intimidating? You must strike a healthy balance of challenge and support. You are not there to tell your mentee what to do, but to make suggestions about how you think they might improve, which he or she is free to follow or to reject. Is there an alternative to your original suggestion that you can both agree on? Perhaps there are background concerns you’re not aware of. Engage in open discussion, making it clear that you are willing to support your mentee to find an appropriate solution.

You’re not getting along with your mentee – what should you do?

Re-establish what each of you hopes to get from and achieve in this process and try to realign your goals. It could be that he doesn’t have a commitment to mentoring. If your mentee wants to “go it alone’” then, ultimately that is his decision. Such circumstances are seldom anyone’s fault, so do try to avoid assigning blame – either to your mentee, or to yourself in feeling that you have somehow failed in the mentoring role. Mentoring is based on a two-way relationship and, as with all relationships, sometimes these don’t work out. Your mentee is free to identify an alternative mentor if he wishes – and you are free to take on the mentoring role for another candidate. Such circumstances arise only very rarely but, in the event that this happens, do try to reflect on your previous relationship and take some of the experiences forward into your next pairing.

The direction that your mentee receives from his line manager isn’t constructive – what do you do?

You have no reason to doubt what your mentee tells you, but remember it is only one side of the story.

The most productive way is to support your mentee to approach his line manager himself. There may be a formal structure for doing this in place, such as an appraisal; alternatively, it might be appropriate for him to set up a meeting or informal discussion with his line manager. As his mentor, you may be able to suggest helpful and constructive ways of putting his case across. If your mentee is a licentiate, encourage him to keep his logbook up to date as an evidence base. Ensure that you are circumspect in your response, and avoid criticising the individual or employer. Rather than siding with your mentee, it is more helpful to support them in considering how they might want to resolve their problem or concern – at all times being mindful of the Code of Professional Conduct.

mentor early in the process to acquire similar direction and assistance.

J ENN Y A DA M S —

I’m surprised how much I’m learning as a mentor JENNY ADAMS IS A CHARTERED PLANNER FOR ARUP IN LONDON n I was assigned a mentor as soon as I began as a graduate planner at Arup.

Not only has my mentor Katie supported me specifically by guiding me through the APC process, but she has also helped me navigate both daily work issues like juggling multiple projects as well as make more proactive strategic decisions about the direction of my career.

At Arup the team works on a wide range of projects, and Katie’s advice has helped me to make sure I balance

gaining broad planning experience with beginning to develop a specialism around the more specific areas of planning I am interested in, such as masterplanning. This role continued even when I was working abroad for nine months in South Africa last year.

Although Katie is chartered, I don’t think a mentor has to be, as their role is much greater than the APC. Katie is someone with whom I feel I can discuss all my professional aspirations and concerns in complete confidence and who helps me to reflect proactively on my professional decisions.

Being at Arup three-and-a-half years, I have now become a mentor to a graduate planner who joined the team in September. It is different being on the other side of the mentoring relationship, but equally valuable. I’m surprised at how much I’m learning from it too, and the importance of providing open and insightful advice.

It has also made me realise how much Katie provided a good model for me to try to emulate with my mentee.

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INSIGHT

Plan ahead P The shape of things to come With 2014 marking the RTPI's centenary, its Planning Convention will ask – what are the big challenges on the horizon that will shape the next 50 years?

By Kate Dobinson

Keynote speaker Anil Menon (pictured below) will kick-start the conference with its theme of Meeting the Challenge: How will planners shape the future?

Informed by key RTPI policy papers prepared for the centenary year, Planning

Convention 2014 will examine the contribution that every planner should and can make to the solutions we need.

Issues discussed by speakers at convention range from delivering both quality and quantity in housing, building healthier communities and overcoming constraints upon economic growth such as infrastructure and market failure. Expert practitioners will discuss what these challenges will mean for the quality of life for communities in different parts of the UK. The convention also includes study tours across the capital.

These take place on the day before, with attendees advised to visit the RTPI website for details (or check the Twitter hashtag #plancon14 for updates).

Send feedback to editorial@theplanner.co.uk Tweet us @The Planner_RTPI

Also on the bill This year's Planning Convention has a packed and flexible programme offering outstanding opportunities for networking and debate. The following topics will feature across workshop and plenary sessions throughout the day:

c Trudi Elliott, CEO, Royal Town Planning Institute Transport and Infrastructure: c Keith Mitchell, chairman, Peter Brett Associates c LLP Corinne Swain, OBE Fellow, ARUP Housing: c Rachel Fisher, head of home and land, National Housing Federation c Philip Barnes, group land and planning director, Barratt Homes Economic growth: c William Anderson, principal, vice-president and director

of economics and planning for AECOM, US West and president of the American Planning Association (APA) c Paul Buchanan, partner, Volterra Health and Sustainable Urbanisation: c Rachel Stancliffe, director of the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare c Prof Kevin Fenton, national director for Health and Wellbeing, Public Health England for the morning session c Dr Ann Marie Connolly, director of health equity and impact, Public Health England for the afternoon session Governance: c Professor Michael Parkinson of Liverpool John Moores University c Tony Travers, director of the Greater London group, London School of Economics

Anil Menon – smart and connected As the president of smart and connected communities at technology giant Cisco, Anil Menon is seen as one of the most innovative speakers about the environmental and social challenges we face in the future.

Menon joined Cisco in 2009 as President, Smart+Connected Communities (S+CC). In his dual role as Cisco’s deputy chief globalisation officer, he uses business, technology and planning to kick-start these solutions around the world.

Lake Nona in Orlando, Florida, was one of eight global cities (and first in the US) to be modelled by Cisco into a “smart and connected” place by pulling buildings, transportation, utility and civic systems together in working partnership. It now houses 25,000 people and $2 billion in new hospitals and a medical school, and a community college is also planned.

THE PLANNING CONVENTION Where? Central Hall, Westminster When? 24 June 2014 Theme: Meeting the Challenge: How will planners shape the future?

Find out more: www.theplanningconvention.co.uk/

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DIARY

LISTINGS Talks, conferences, training, master classes – everything you need to keep on top of the latest thinking and developments in the planning world.

NORTH­EAST 16 April – Local planning in a changing policy environment Grappling with the NPPF, maintaining a five-year housing land supply and demonstrating that policies and proposals are deliverable are pressures that can hamper effective local planning. This event will advise how to navigate the issues and will also focus on the role of neighbourhood plans.

Venue: Newcastle-UponTyne Details: http://bit. ly/1cr0cuJ 22 May – The Planning Project: Past, present and the future The Global Urban Research Unit has organised this one-day seminar to be held at Newcastle University, addressing questions such as “Why do we need planning?”, “Are planning institutions fit for purpose?” and “What might the future look like for cities and for planning?”.

Venue: Newcastle-UponTyne Details: http://bit. ly/1oaA26e

NORTH­WEST 29 April – Getting to grips with minerals and waste Considering the implications of post-NPPF reforms on minerals and waste planning, including updates on a range of minerals and waste planning issues, including guidance and local plans, using a casestudy approach to highlight examples of best practice.

Venue: Stockport Details: http://bit.ly/ Ko6XXY 03 April – Community Infrastructure Levy The government is wedded to CIL, at least for the time being, with changes promised to deal with the issues that have arisen with

its practical application.

With ever more local authorities bringing forward charging schedules, CIL is really starting to bite and this event will consider the impacts of CIL on development and how to formulate and pursue permissions to manage CIL liability and cash flow.

Venue: Manchester Details: http://bit. ly/1d4K3kW

YORKSHIRE 16 April – Delivering the homes we need How should the local plan process deal with increased housing requirements? What role is neighbourhood planning and the community right to build required to fulfil?

And how should we plan for affordable homes, the needs of travellers and for an ageing population?

Venue: Leeds Met University Details: http://bit. ly/1atrHE6 13 May – Rebuilding Hull: The Abercrombie Plan and beyond Heavily bombed during the Second World War, Hull secured a dynamic city plan early on, prepared by eminent planners and architects Edwin Lutyens and Patrick Abercrombie.

Find out why so little is known of it, why it was not implemented and discover whether the city is better off as a result.

Venue: The Guildhall, Hull Details: http://bit. ly/1cN6GIV

EAST MIDLANDS 30 April – Planning for health Discover how to work proactively with health organisations on securing new facilities like GP surgeries, manage open spaces effectively and explore the relationship between place and

DON’T MISS RTPI Planning Convention 2014 Meeting the challenge: How will planners shape the future?

What are the planning challenges that are set to shape the next 50 years?

Led by Anil Menon, Cisco president of globalisation and smart and connected communities, an expert panel will address how to deliver quality as well as quantity in housing and how to overcome constraints upon economic growth, such as infrastructure and market failure.

Date: 24 June Venue: Central Hall, Westminster London Details: www.theplanningconvention.co.uk/

encouraging healthier lifestyles.

Venue: Cambridgeshire Details: http://bit. ly/1hHjK2N 14 May – Garden cities and sustainable urban extensions Letchworth was a revolutionary step change in town planning. The city’s plans and development attracted the interest of many people from Europe and beyond. This conference will assist delegates who are involved in major development or “sustainable urban extensions” to make these more sustainable and attractive to residents, visitors and workers, as Letchworth did.

Venue: Letchworth Garden City Details: http://bit. ly/19RFYh2

WEST MIDLANDS 11 April – How to deliver sustainable economic growth and the evolving role of LEPs Has the business of Westminster and the government been too housing-focused? As economic recovery begins, are we in place to deliver the buildings and land for economic growth? There are an increasing number of Growth Plans emerging and LEPs are taking an ever more active role. The seminar will examine the evolving changes and roles that consultants, local authorities and LEPs play, as well as the legal points. With local elections just over a month after this seminar it will also be interesting to hear the messages and initiatives emerging.

Venue: Walsall Details: http://bit. ly/19OV6bK 16 May – Sustainable communities – Bournville and Lightmoor This is an opportunity to compare the mature planned community of Bournville with its new counterpart in one of the New Towns, Telford, Lightmoor, being developed by Bournville Village Trust.

Venue: Bournville Details: http://bit. ly/1d50tK5

SOUTH­WEST 16 May – Planning for renewable energy EU and UK government targets continue to drive investment in the renewable energy sector with a variety of new technologies emerging. This session will examine the challenges that this poses for the planning system, particularly in the light of current consultation, which puts greater emphasis on building regulations, and also explores the potential contribution of community-led projects as a means of overcoming local opposition.

Venue: Plymouth Details: http://bit.ly/JNJ1N7

SOUTH­EAST 03 April – Localism and neighbourhood planning Planning Aid England and RTPI South East join forces again to provide a comprehensive insight into Neighbourhood Planning.

Delegates will receive an overview of the technical side of the topic and recent developments, as well as

hearing from those who have first-hand experience of the process.

Venue: Oxfordshire Details:http://bit. ly/1kfgkto 08 May – Brighton Rock Centenary Lecture Professor Janice Morphet will talk on the subjects of infrastructure, LEPS and sub-regional development.

Venue: Brighton Details: http://bit. ly/1d0pe8X

LONDON 29 April – Essential communication skills for planners: How planners can speak so people will listen Planners often have complex information to communicate that needs to be listened to and understood. How can you grab attention and get your message across? How can you make your message compelling, persuasive and powerful, ensuring that people do not just listen, but understand and act upon it too?

Venue: Hatton Garden Details: http://bit. ly/1bDz5fR 11 June – Project management skills for planners This seminar is for everyone who has to manage projects or assignments to meet challenging targets under time and resource constraints. It aims to teach you how to apply a systematic approach to projects, capture the customer brief and identify, analyse and manage risks.

Venue: Hatton Garden Details: http://bit.ly/ Nb35LE

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NEWS

RTPI {

RTPI news pages are edited

by Tino Hernandez at the RTPI, 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL

Worldwide planning for a better future JUDITH EVERSLEY, THE RTPI’S INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS OFFICER, ON THE NEW LEAFLET THAT PUTS PLANNING AT THE HEART OF POLICYMAKING AROUND THE WORLD To celebrate the RTPI centenary we are publishing a leaflet for the public to explain the good that planning and planners can do around the world. It’s a complement to the detailed policy papers on key issues such as urbanisation and health, planning for enterprise and growth, and governance, as well as the film How Do We Plan Our World? that explains to school and community audiences what planning is.

The centenary is a wonderful opportunity to do this. When rapid urbanisation is a challenge in many countries, it is salutary to think of that time 100 years ago when it challenged the UK. The masses who had flocked to industrial cities lived in overcrowded insanitary conditions. The 1909 Housing, Town Planning, &c Act was the basis for tackling those conditions. The foundation of the Town Planning Institute followed soon afterwards.

International message The international message we want to share is that planners all over the world have developed ways to manage urbanisation. Thinking spatially and using analytical, creative, advocacy and implementation skills can balance competing interests in plans and projects, deliver high-quality development, and protect valuable built and natural environments.

Over the decades these methods have been refined, updated and built into planning education so that the professional planner’s approach meets today’s challenge of making good places.

In the leaflet we set out the issues facing us: rapid urbanisation, pollution, climate change, poverty and inequality. Planning doesn’t have all the answers but it can address these complex interrelated challenges.

This role for planning has been recognised in key

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How Do We Plan Our World? has been developed to help promote a better understanding of what planners do. It is also being used in schools as part of the RTPI’s Future Planners initiative, a key centenary project. See a clip at: www.rtpi.org.uk/planningaid/planning-explained/

international statements: Planning Sustainable Cities (the 2009 UN Global Report on Human Settlements), The Future We Want, the document that emerged from the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20), and the final communiqué from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka last November.

Clive Harridge’s article in February’s issue of The Planner details the importance of this development.

In recognising the need for ‘a holistic approach to urban development and human settlements that provides for affordable housing and infrastructure and prioritises slum upgrading and urban regeneration’ (The Future We Want, paragraph 134), such international declarations make the case for planning. They will influence negotiations for new Sustainable Development Goals to replace the Millennium Development Goals that expire in 2015.

Examples round the world To illustrate our international message we have chosen examples where planning has made a positive difference: Bringing people together across the divide in Cyprus and between Germany and Poland; consulting locals in the renovation of Vienna’s beautiful but ageing housing stock; bringing commuters from the city back to their hillside homes on innovative outdoor escalators in Colombia; winter-proofing Siberian Yakutsk; encouraging local participation to develop plans in Zambia; and conserving a historic environment in Cornwall.

Planners work to improve people’s health, wellbeing and quality of life.

Depending on local conditions and traditions, they may work on housing, employment, transport or infrastructure, taking into account the wider natural environment and the need to engage with local people. Working in differing systems and often under severe resource constraints, they co-ordinate the development of thriving human settlements. Look out for the leaflet at RTPI centenary events. It makes the positive case for planning, putting places at the heart of policymaking, at home or overseas.

n To obtain the leaflet see the RTPI website at www.rtpi.org.uk/international

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Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk

RTPI (switchboard) T: 020 7929 9494 F: 020 7929 9490

Registered charity no.

262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841

RTPI SHORTS

Tessa Coombes Post-graduate student

INFORMATION FOR EMPLOYERS Employers play a pivotal role in supporting education and training opportunities for their planning employees.

The RTPI website highlights various ways in which employers can support the training and professional development of their planners. Being a professional is synonymous with expertise. All chartered planners make a

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

(1) What do you currently do?

I am currently taking a year out from work after being made redundant from my previous job as director of policy and strategy at Business West.

I am using this as a positive opportunity to improve my knowledge and challenge myself. I am now halfway through a taught MSc in public policy at the University of Bristol. A truly fascinating and challenging experience at my age!

n For more information please visit www.rtpi.org.uk/education-and-careers

(2) If I wasn’t in planning, I’d probably be….

Either a politician or I’d work for a think tank. I spent eight years as a local councillor in Bristol and enjoyed many of the challenges, but would love to have had a go at the national stage – to try and bring some sense to the planning and sustainability debate.

(3) What has been your biggest career challenge to date?

That’s a tricky one. Chairing planning committees was always both challenging and entertaining, trying to keep the debate to planning issues and coming to compromise or solutions on some very difficult schemes, often in the face of much public protest. But actually I’d probably say that as I have been something of a champion for sustainable development over the years, both as a politician and in work roles, promoting that agenda has been the biggest challenge.

commitment, through the Code of Professional Conduct, to maintaining and developing their expertise throigh continuing professional development (CPD).

As an employer who is investing in training and professional development, we believe it is important to understand this commitment in order to effectively support your planning staff.

Can you please help us?

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

(4) What attracted you to the profession?

A fascination with cities and how they work has always been an interest, encouraged by a geography teacher and by studying urban morphology as a school project. That was enough to make me decide to do a planning degree and the rest is history, really.

(5) What single piece of advice would you give someone starting out in a career in planning?

Enjoy it – it’s a brilliant career with so many different opportunities to learn and develop your skills, ideas and experience. A planning degree prepares you for a whole range of career destinations and opportunities, so think flexibly about your career and about what you have to offer. It’s rarely if ever boring being involved in planning!

(6) If you could change one thing about the planning profession, what would it be?

Easy – public perception! It never ceases to amaze me how warped most people’s view is of planning and planners is and the misconceptions they hold about planning, mostly encouraged by negative media coverage and politics in my view.

The RTPI is interested in making contact with the following members: Mr John Oldham, Dr Annabel Jane Barker, and Mr Leslie Clark.

We would be very grateful if these three RTPI members could, as a matter of some urgency, contact Mrs Sandra Whitehead of the RTPI on 01503 240815 or email her at sandra. whitehead@rtpi.org.uk, or write to the RTPI, 41 Botolph Lane, London, EC3R 8DL.

RTPI RESEARCH POSES QUESTIONS FOR LEPS AND LOCALISM AGENDA New research published by the RTPI poses questions for Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and the localism agenda in England.

Commissioned through the RTPI’s Small Project Impact Research (SPIRe) Scheme, the report examines the role of LEPs and questions whether the localism agenda, as currently reflected in policy, is in danger of undermining the ability of LEPs to plan as effectively as possible for growth.

Dr Michael Harris, deputy head of policy and research, said: “While the role of

LEPs in planning is still developing, there are increasing concerns that the shift from regional planning to localism has left a ‘planning vacuum’ in some areas which, left unfilled, could undermine the government’s efforts to promote growth and sustainable development.”

The report, written

by Lee Pugalis MRTPI, Northumbria University, and Alan Townsend MRTPI, Durham University, reviews the development of LEPs so far and considers the potential of alternative strategic planning mechanisms.

n For more on the report visit www.rtpi.org.uk/ knowledge/research

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NEWS

RTPI { RTPI Scotland: Keeping politicos in the loop CRAIG MCLAREN, DIRECTOR OF RTPI SCOTLAND, REVEALS THAT TAKING THE PLANNERS’ CASES TO THE DECISION­ MAKERS DOESN’T HAVE TO BE CONFRONTATIONAL. HERE, HE OUTLINES HOW PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING ARE REACHED

Members often ask me how the institute engages with politicians, given the important role that they play. My answer is that we do this in many different ways, with different types of politicians and in different settings.

We put a lot of effort into working with ministers and have a good and productive relationship, for example, with Derek Mackay, the Minister for Local Government and Planning. He works with us to develop new approaches and will listen to what we say. That said, he doesn’t shy away from challenging us on what we do and how we do it, and has been keen to ensure that planning authorities improve their performance on planning application-processing times in particular. He attends discussions we organise such as the Scottish Forum for Planning, which brings together 16 national organisations to discuss key issues. Ministers also frequently take part in our events – in the past year Mackay has spoken at the RTPI Scotland Annual Conference, the Scottish Young Planners’ Conference, a careers development event and a West of Scotland chapter seminar.

We are also involved in working or advisory groups chaired by ministers, including the High Level Group on Performance. This influential group works to drive up performance in planning authorities and explores approaches to resourcing and measuring performance. We are also represented on

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other ministerial-chaired groups such as the Community Empowerment Bill Reference Group and the Scottish Biodiversity Forum.

But our engagement doesn’t just focus on ministers. We ensure that MSPs are aware of the issues faced in planning. We provide briefings for relevant debates as well as giving written and oral evidence to parliamentary committees.

For example, the National Planning Framework and Scottish Planning Policy have been scrutinised by Parliament in the past couple of months. As part of this, RTPI Scotland Convenor Stephen Tucker gave oral evidence to the Local Government and Regeneration Committee; we submitted written evidence to four committees and sent briefings to all MSPs for the plenary debate. We are also exploring how we can support MSPs to gain a better understanding of the planning system and the issues faced.

Parliamentary Cross Party Groups (CPGs) bring together practitioners, policy-makers and politicians, and so are useful mechanisms to to raise the profile of key issues. RTPI Scotland works closely with the CPGs on Architecture and the Built Environment (I am treasurer) and on Towns and Towns Centres, for which I act as adviser to its convenor, Margaret McCulloch MSP. I recently presented to the CPG on rural policy on the role of WE PUT A LOT OF planning in supporting EFFORT INTO rural economic WORKING WITH development.

MINISTERS AND We published a HAVE A VERY manifesto for the GOOD AND Scottish general PRODUCTIVE election in 2011 and RELATIONSHIP used this to raise WITH DEREK issues with a number MACKAY of MSPs. And we are holding a reception at the Scottish Parliament in March to celebrate the institute’s centenary. This is kindly hosted

by Sarah Boyack MSP, a past convenor of RTPI Scotland.

We also have a positive relationship with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and have worked closely with it in the past year to re-establish the Politicians in Planning Network (PIPA). Although PIPA is open to politicians at all levels of government, it is most popular with those involved in local government. In the past year we have held discussions on the National Planning Framework, Scottish Planning Policy and fracking, and feedback reveals that these have helped to increase councillors’ understanding.

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STEP CHANGE

BOOK! NOW

RTPI members discuss their big career-changing decisions

RTPI AWARDS FOR PLANNING EXCELLENCE Join more than 400 other planning and built environment professionals on 23 June at the networking event of the year on the night the RTPI celebrates and rewards outstanding achievement in planning.

Chaired by Sir Terry Farrell, one of the world’s leading architect-planners, the RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence are the premier awards for planning.

Our one-hour awards ceremony at the recently refurbished Shaw Theatre in the Pullman London St Pancras will reveal the very best planning projects, strategies and processes, individuals and teams that help make great places.

Wine and canapés follow the ceremony in the Noble Suite, offering an evening of high-quality networking that is not to be missed. Great discounts are on offer if you bring your team or clients.

“I’M FULLY AWARE THAT ULTIMATELY, THE ‘BUCK STOPS HERE’ ”

Jane Hirst Managing Director,

To book your ticket (£35 +VAT, group discounts available) go to www.rtpi.org.uk/awards.

BOYER PLANNING

The RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence 2014 are sponsored by AMEC, British Land, GVA and the National Planning Forum and supported by the London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.

I’ve fallen in love with planning again. That’s the outcome of my career-changing decision to leave a much-loved job with Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners (NLP) and take up the position of managing director at Boyer Planning. I needed a new adventure and that’s when my step change decision was made. It was one of the biggest decisions I have ever made – but I haven’t regretted it for a moment.

I’d gained a lot of experience in a number of different positions in my previous role. One memorable challenge was when I set up a new office in Newcastle. Initially, we just had a couple of people and a fax machine. Four years later we were the largest independent planning consultancy in the North-East.

But after 20 great years in one company everything started to feel a bit too comfortable; and although change is scary, I want my working life to be full of challenges. I also felt the desire to use the skills I’d developed in a new environment. I needed to make the right move, both for me and the company I would be joining.

I was appointed managing director at Boyer Planning last September. It’s a change for me, but also a big change for the company. The last founding partner at Boyer, David Lander, is about to retire, signalling the end of a fantastic era and the beginning, I believe, of a very exciting one. The responsibilities I carried was a real change at the beginning. It was a steep learning curve. Perhaps no one ever fully realises the full extent of the responsibilities they are taking on until they arrive in the job.

With the board, I’m responsible for deciding the direction of the business and ensuring everyone is moving the same way. I aspire to ensure every decision is a team decision, but I’m also fully aware that ultimately, the ‘buck stops here’. The focus at Boyer Planning is one of growth and diversification. The upturn in the economic climate is offering fantastic opportunities to planning consultancies and I’m making sure the team is grasping them with both hands.

RTPI MEMBERSHIP SURVEY RESULTS The RTPI has published key results from its 2013 membership survey and has set out how the institute is responding to the views of members.

The institute would like to thank all of those members who took the time to share their views.

During a four-week period, 5,718 members completed the survey – a response rate of 25.3 per cent.

The in-depth survey provided very strong evidence about how valued MRTPI is by members, employers and clients. The results also indicate very clearly what members want from their institute.

The membership survey is the first part of a new programme of research by the RTPI into the “state of the planning profession”. This work will generate intelligence on the wider planning profession, and support the RTPI’s work in representing members and the profession more effectively. n Key findings from the survey can be viewed at www.rtpi.org.uk/knowledge/research/projects/ membership-survey

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Recruitment { Head of Planning Salary: £52,263 - £56,119 per annum Location: City Centre Full-time, Permanent

Leicester City is undergoing transformation through delivery of the City Mayor’s Economic Action Plan which has unlocked substantial private sector investment. New public squares, extensive new pedestrian/cycle friendly streets and major transport infrastructure schemes are being delivered alongside new business workspaces, redevelopment of the famous Market and a new visitor centre to celebrate the discovery of the remains of Richard III. Regeneration of the Waterside and enhancement of the historic environment are also key council priorities.

The Planning, Transportation and Economic Development Division brings key disciplines together in one place to lead the council’s efforts to promote regeneration and growth. The Head of Planning is a key post in the division, combining all planning and conservation functions.

We are looking for an experienced and proactive individual able to creatively lead the planning team, working closely with other services, to support the Council’s economic and environmental priorities.

For an informal discussion please contact the Service Director, Andrew Smith on 0116 454 2801.

For more information or to apply please visit www.leicester.gov.uk/jobs Closing Date: 27th April 2014.

Post Number: X5518/0314RK

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25/03/2014 13:59

WE CAN HELP YOU FIND YOUR PERFECT JOB

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Access to job seekers via: • Print • Online • Email

theplanner.co.uk/jobs

C O N TA C T Contact the recruitment team on 020 7880 7665 or email david.barry@redactive.co.uk

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25/03/2014 15:52

ADVERTISEMENTS

Eden District Council administers one of the most beautiful areas in England.

Nestled close to the Scottish border, the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, served by the historic market town of Penrith, enter our District and you will discover charming, characterful villages and tranquil countryside.

Senior Planning OfƂcer

Planning OfƂcer

Permanent contract; 37 hours per week Salary £27,323 - £28,922 (Subject to Job Evaluation) Plus an Essential Car User Allowance of up to £963 per annum.

Permanent Contract; 37 hours per week Salary £24,892 - £26,539 (Subject to Job Evaluation) Plus Casual Car User Allowance.

(Development Management)

The Council is looking to recruit an enthusiastic and proactive person to join our team, delivering and implementing planning policies that reyect the Council’s priorities and vision. This post offers the opportunity to live in a most attractive part of the Country and play an important part in promoting economic growth while preserving the charm and character of the area.

The main requirement of the post is to lead one of two teams of planners in the processing of planning and other applications, reporting to committee, undertaking enforcement investigations, preparing and presenting evidence at prosecutions and appeal hearings and responding to general planning enquiries. There is a requirement to regularly travel around the District to fulwl the requirements of the post for which an essential user car allowance is available and the post the holder must be able to travel independently around the district.

(Policy)

The Council is looking to recruit an enthusiastic and proactive person to join our team, delivering and implementing planning policies that reyect the Council’s priorities and vision. This post offers the opportunity to live in a most attractive part of the Country and play an important part in promoting economic growth while preserving the charm and character of the area.

The main requirement of the post is to carry out work on our new Local Plan.

We will soon publish our draft Local Plan and an opportunity is offered to join our small planning policy team who will steer this through to adoption in 2015. The work offers an excellent opportunity to be involved in all aspects of plan-making, from the drafting of policy, to creating the evidence base and monitoring systems to support it. There is a requirement for travel around the district from time to time and in order to effectively fulwl these requirements the post the holder must be able to travel independently around the district.

There is also a requirement to work occasional evenings and weekends as required to carry out the duties of the post (once or twice a month).

For more information including the job description, person speciwcation, general terms and conditions and an application form; visit our web site on www.eden.gov.uk/jobs or email human.resources@eden.gov.uk Telephone (01768) 212210 or apply in writing to Human Resources, Town Hall, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 7QF. Please note all applications must be made on the Council’s standard application form and CV’s will not be considered. No agencies please.

The closing date for applications is 10am on Monday 14 April 2014. Interviews will be held on either 01 or 02 May 2014.

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25/03/2014 12:22

Senior Planner (Enforcement & Appeals) £33,998 - £40,254 (Ref: WE-SO02417) Southend is home to 170,000 residents, 7 miles of waterfront, an international airport, a university, and has great transport links to London and surrounding areas. Voted Council of the Year in 2012, recent projects have included the development of London Southend Airport, a university and college campus, and an award winning pavilion on the world’s longest pleasure pier. There are many more exciting projects in the pipeline.

This role presents an opportunity to work on a varied caseload covering all aspects of Development Management. You will be the Council’s lead on appeals, including hearings and public inquiries, as well as dealing with a range of enforcement cases and planning applications, including major schemes. You will also be required to deputise for the Team Leader, and thus develop your management skills. Qualified to degree level (and preferably MRTPI) you will be able to demonstrate a proficient knowledge and experience of managing a caseload of applications and appeals. Your own vehicle will be essential to the role.

For an informal chat about the role please contact Dean Hermitage (Group Manager for Planning), or Phil McIntosh (Team Leader) on 01702 215004. To apply please see www.southend.gov.uk/jobs - Closing date 18th April.

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25/03/2014 10:12

AP R IL 2 0 14 / THE PLA NNER

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25/03/2014 15:52

INSIGHT

Plan B P

OF HOMININS AND HIPSTERS

LICENSED TO PHIL The BBC Two series Permission Impossible cast a much-needed light on planning and the work of planners.

But much more than this, it has also given us Phil Skill, who turns out to be a highly amusing man.

Phil and his colleagues will appear in a forthcoming issue of The Planner. To whet your appetite in the meantime, here are a handful of choice quotes from Stroud’s new planning celebrity.

“Little did I know but the BBC appears to have a database of anyone they have ever used. My entry apparently says, ‘Gobby planner who will comment on anything’.

‘Gobby planner who will comment on anything’

THE NAKED ALIEN

Recently we encountered a juicy piece in The Argus (Brighton’s daily redtop) about a group of residents and their battle to have the council force a neighbour to put frosted glass in their bathroom windowpanes which, it seems, absolutely everyone is peering into (before throwing their hands up with offence).

There are so many things wrong here that it’s hard to know where to start. There’s the fact that the bathroom is part of an illegal extension; the clear glass that gives all and sundry “unwanted views” of their neighbours’ nakedness; the council’s failure to act, despite years of complaints; the judge’s description of the council’s lack of action as “perverse”.

But finally it comes down to a single quote from a disturbed

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Close enough, I suppose.”

“Obviously most of what we do isn’t televisual – who wants to see planners reading planning policy documents?

"All we see is a plan, a fee and consultation letters to neighbours.

What we should see is a future father who needs to provide for his pregnant partner, a dutiful son who wants his frail mum to live with them. Its not about the process but about the results.

Remember this; it helps.

“I’m still considering an agent, but then I look in the mirror and realise I have a perfect face for radio. At least I drive a cool car.”

Phil Skill (even your name is marvellous), you have the Plan B seal of approval.

We salute you.

Plan B was invited to pen a witticism or two about the discovery of 420,000-year-old elephant remains at Ebbsfleet, the would-be site of a new garden city. We considered various angles and approaches, then read the following paragraph on Archaeology. co.uk: “The new evidence from Ebbsfleet provides the best record yet of Clactonian remains from the Hoxnian Interglacial, and proves that Britain was resettled – after local extinction during the great Anglian glaciations of c 478,000-425,000 BC – by hominins who did not use handaxes.”

Perhaps we have a peculiar sense of humour, but Plan B feels entirely unable to top this morsel of unintentionally satirical genius. Just pretend you know nothing and read it again.

It’s beautiful.

It’s also making us wonder what a Hoxtonian interglacial might look like. Sweaty hipsters sunning themselves in the balmy marshland of New London while trying to maintain their cool? They don’t use handaxes, obviously, but they do look fabulous in plaid shirts and fake spectacles.

For those of you in need of guidance, here’s ‘How to be a hipster in 28 steps’: www. wikihow.com/Be-a-Hipster.

Twenty-eight steps? Plan B can do it in three.

(and, some might say, disturbing) neighbour: the unpermitted extension, she said, was like a “spaceship landing at the bottom of her garden”. These naked aliens, eh? They really will have to learn about clothes if they’re going to stay awhile.

Finally, this really is th e architectu University re school at in Indiana, Ball State U SA. And, ye Why is it th s, it’s a joke at the scho . Good one, ol of archit worst­desig though. ecture is al ned building most alway on campus? s the

I M AG E S | B B C | I M AG E S O U RC E | S H U T T E R S TO C K

25/03/2014 16:53

Providing support for members and their families The RTPI Trust exists to provide support to members of RTPI and their families ZKR DUH LQ JHQXLQH ¿ QDQFLDO KDUGVKLS We offer “in kind” assistance, such as advice and counselling, to help a member and their family through a crisis.

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The Trust may also support individual students who are seeking a career in town planning but have barriers to undertaking the studies they need because of genuine ¿ QDQFLDO SUREOHPV For more information on how WKH 7UXVW FDQ KHOS \RX SOHDVH visit the RTPI Trust page on

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24/03/2014 15:05

24 June 2014 • Central Hall Westminster • London

Join us at the most important planning event of the year for:

D Conference sessions with expert speakers on housing, transport & infrastructure, economic growth and health & urbanisation

DA variety of guided study tours DExhibition and networking opportunities

RTPI members just

£195+VAT

Call 020 3740 5696 | Visit www.theplanningconvention.co.uk

RTPI Conferences and the Planning Convention are managed by Kaplan Hawksmere on behalf of the Royal Town Planning Institute

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24/03/2014 14:41