The Planner - January 2022

JANUARY 2022 NEW YEAR, NEW PRIORITIES // p.4 • PLANNING AND THE SURGE IN DEMAND FOR WAREHOUSING // p.24 • IS THE AGENT OF CHANGE PRINCIPLE FIT FOR PURPOSE? // p.30 • 10 PRINCIPLES FOR PUBLIC MINDED PLANNING TECH // p.36

T H E B U S I N ES S M O N T H LY FO R P L A N N I N G P R O F ES S IO N A LS

Sound and Vision NEW RTPI PRESIDENT TIMOTHY CRAWSHAW ON HOW PLANNERS CAN BE CONDUCTORS OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT ORCHESTRA

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02/12/2021 14:35

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Through this apprenticeship your apprentices will:

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• Gain practical on the job experience in Town Planning • Gain an RTPI fully accredited degree • Become fully qualified with the RTPI as a Chartered Town Planner • Get free student membership of the RTPI during their apprenticeship The apprenticeship: • Typically takes three to six years (depending on existing qualifications) from start to finish Organisations in England can offer this apprenticeship. Large employers can fund the apprenticeship through the apprenticeship levy, while smaller organisations may be able to receive government funding - speak to your chosen Planning School for further details. You will still pay the apprentice’s salary.

A number of RTPI Planning Schools in England are offering the apprenticeship. They are listed at: www.rtpi.org.uk/apprenticeships

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CONTENTS

JANU ARY

10 NEWS 4 What the government should prioritise in 2022 7 Lichfield Lecture: Philip McCann argues that real estate market analysis is crucial to levelling-up 8 Green Growth Boards are key to levelling up and climate crisis 9 Welsh Government to change regime for second homes 10 NPF4 draft emphasises local and sustainable living 11 Newsmakers: 10 top stories appearing now on The Planner online

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“WE'VE GOT A HUGE OPPORTUNITY TO PUT PLANNING IN THE SPOTLIGHT, BECAUSE BUSINESS AS USUAL BUT WITH A HEAT PUMP JUST ISN’T GOING TO CUT IT.”

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OPINION

14 Louise BrookeSmith: Responsibility is ours 16 David Williams: Planning’s second century needs to learn from the errors of its first 16 Andrew Black: Why ‘levelling up’ is a promise the government HAS to fulfil 17 Wei Yang: The future is in our hands 17 Richard Blyth: The Environment Act 2021 is a good foundation; now let’s do more

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QUOTE UNQUOTE

“I ONCE SAID THAT I’D RATHER BE ON THE COVER OF RAILWAY MODELLER THAN ROLLING STONE – AND ROLLING STONE HAVEN’T SPOKEN TO ME SINCE” ROD STEWART RESPONDS TO A GUARDIAN READER’S QUESTION ABOUT HIS ‘EPIC’ MODEL RAILWAY

COV E R I M AG E | A N DY J ON E S

FEATURES

INSIGHT

18 The Planner’s editor Martin Read meets incoming RTPI president Timothy Crawshaw to discuss how tackling three principal objectives in an integrated way colours his approach to planning

38 Cases & decisions: Development decisions, round-up and analysis

24 Long-term factors allied to a shifting retail economy are leading to huge demand for new warehousing. Huw Morris reports 30 Why is the NPPF’s agent of change’ principle not having the desired impact? asks Sarah Clover

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42 Legal Landscape: Opinions from the legal side of planning 44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute

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50 What to read, what to watch and how to keep in touch

Make the most of The Planner by visiting our links for related content

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03/12/2021 09:10

NEWS

Report { NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

What the government should prioritise in 2022

By Laura Edgar 2021 brought us a third lockdown, the promise of a planning bill, a new housing secretary, a global climate conference, an Integrated Rail Plan and a new environment act. And on to 2022. Here’s a flavour of what the profession would like to see happen.

Planning system reforms were reportedly put on hold when Michael Gove was appointed housing secretary

Environment, nature and the climate crisis Unsurprisingly, the related issues of the health of the environment, nature and overall climate remain top of the agenda.

As transport planner Joanna Ward insists: “We simply cannot keep going the way we are.” If promises made at COP26 in Glasgow are to be realised, Ward says everyone needs to be involved in the conversation about the changes necessary – if not, fair solutions will not be found.

Addressing the climate crisis “will need brave and strong leadership from the government”.

Victoria Hills, chief executive of the RTPI, advocates for planning to be used to advance the government’s carbon reduction efforts. This, she suggests, “could be done by enshrining legal climate commitments into planning legislation such as the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)”.

In agreement, the Town and Country Planning Association's (TCPA) chief executive Fiona Howie wants climate change put at the heart of the planning system “so it can play a vital role in cutting carbon and preparing us for the impacts of the climate crisis”, which requires more than just tweaks to the NPPF. Howie adds that policy and legislation must

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development to be the driving force to deal with these twin crises, explains Kite, with funding and land use changes driving a coordinated strategy for delivery. ensure that every decision “supports Noting levels of sewage pollution communities to reach net zero” with released into watercourses and its places that “are more resilient to damage to ecosystems, as well as shocks, including severe weather”. habitats being over critical loads for The twin objectives of halting nutrient nitrogen deposition as a biodiversity loss and tackling the result of air pollution, Kite urges the climate crisis are being pursued government to “take coordinated independently of each other, believes action to deal with the main existing Ben Kite, managing director at EPR. sources of air and water pollution”.

Strategies to achieve them suffer from Also noting dirty rivers, Rosie “incredibly siloed thinking”.

Pearson, chair of the Community “Proper thought” invested in Planning Alliance, pleads for 2022 to aligning these efforts is needed in be the year ‘build, build, build’ ends, as order to “harness nature to fight it threatens community green spaces. climate change effectively on our “A land use strategy is imperative to behalf”. But, he warns, “if we get this manage the competing wrong there is a risk our pressures. Government efforts will be internally “PERHAPS DLUHC claims the NPPF does conflicted and selfCOULD MAKE this job, but we beg to defeating”.

2022 THE YEAR differ. Local authorities Biodiversity net gain OF FINISHING and the Environment through the Environment WHAT THEY HAVE Agency need funding for Act 2021 presents STARTED?” – GOOCH enforcement.” an opportunity for

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02/12/2021 17:57

PLAN UPFRONT

Other priorities n Sue Young believes mandatory standards to level up access to nature and ensure that everyone can enjoy wild places – irrespective of where they live – are needed. n Brian Berry wants a national retrofit strategy established.

“Without improvement to the UK’s draft prone homes, net zero remains a distant and wholly unsecured objective.”

Halting biodiversity loss and tackling the climate crisis need to be pursued as common goals

Queen’s Speech in May Sue Young, head 2021, but when Michael of land use planning Gove was appointed for The Wildlife housing secretary to Trusts, reaffirms the ”TAKE COORDINATED replace Robert Jenrick, trusts’ belief that a ACTION TO DEAL these reforms were new designation – WITH THE MAIN reportedly put on hold.

Wildbelt – is needed EXISTING SOURCES Brian Berry, chief to protect land of OF AIR AND WATER executive of the low biodiversity POLLUTION” Federation of Master value and to help – KITE Builders (FMB), says nature to recover. if the government is Such a designation serious about supporting smaller is “essential” if the government is to builders in their recovery from the meet its target to protect at least 30 Covid-19 pandemic, planning reform per cent of land for nature by 2030. must be a priority. “For too long, “Getting the planning system right smaller housebuilders have suffered is critical for achieving those goals, from an underfunded and slow and enabling nature to help address planning process, naturally favouring the climate crisis and tackle health larger developers.” inequalities caused by a lack of access Local planning authorities to wild spaces,” says Young. identifying small, underused plots of land in local plans would help, he adds.

Planning reform and When Gove was appointed, the levelling up Ministry of Housing, Communities Reforms to the planning system and Local Government became the were first outlined in 2020 Department for Levelling Up, Housing in the government’s planning white and Communities (DLUHC). Civic paper. A bill was introduced in the I M AG E | I STO C K / A L A M Y

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n “Fix housing targets”, says Rosie Pearson. They are “out of date, tenure-blind and environmentblind.” She wants targets for social housing, and green targets for solar panels to grey water systems in all new buildings, backed by funding. n Civic Voice wants the housing secretary to give councils funding to appoint community planning officers with the “appropriate skill set” to work with communities.

This to help make the planning system more accessible and rebuild trust in the process. n Joanna Ward calls for equality in transport and planning. Built environment professions need the powers to be able to ask “whose lives does this improve? If it’s only a small section of society, what could be done differently? This will need wider government thinking and changes in planning policy”. n Catriona Riddell advocates an approach to growth funding that recognises different organisations are responsible for different things, reflects a shared vision for growth amongst partners (and can thus direct investment to the right locations, supporting priority interventions), with clearer fiscal accountability / stronger governance.

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NEWS

Report { Voice believes that to reinforce the levelling-up agenda there needs to be a national spatial plan that sets national priorities – something the UK 2070 Commission has also called for. “This would be the place to meaningfully start to tackle the national ‘levelling-up’ agenda,” suggests Civic Voice.

On a similar note, Catriona Riddell of Catriona Riddell & Associates says the government’s priority should be to “(re)introduce a new and effective approach to strategic planning that aligns long-term spatial, economic and environmental priorities and is managed across a number of local authority planning areas”.

The planning white paper, she observes, proposed abolishing the duty to cooperate without proposing an alternative. Strategic planning is “the perfect opportunity to introduce a new approach that can help deliver on housing, climate, environment and ‘levelling-up’ commitments in an integrated way”.

The TCPA, meanwhile, wants the government to set out a statutory purpose for planning focused on delivering better outcomes for people and the environment. “Within it, the

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government should also make clear that planning must continue to operate within the public interest.”

This change “would help realise the planning system’s potential for achieving social, economic and cultural wellbeing and rebuild trust in the planning system,” explains Howie.

Infrastructure For Claire PetriccaRiding, head of planning & environment at Irwin Mitchell, infrastructure is key for 2022 – whether that be bricks and mortar or establishing the green infrastructure required to reach net zero. How the Environment Act 2021 changes the direction and focus of the development sector to deliver infrastructure while also reaching net zero is important, she says.

”(RE)INTRODUCE A NEW AND EFFECTIVE APPROACH TO STRATEGIC PLANNING” – RIDDELL

Also, “there will be an inevitable juggling act of constructing more transport infrastructure as required to level up the country,” and a requirement “to supercharge more electric vehicles and the use of renewable energy technology, against the potential views of local communities who do not want to see this level of infrastructure”, she predicts.

Local infrastructure must not be forgotten. Hills urges the government to “enable upfront local infrastructure delivery by hypothecation of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), which would allow local planning authorities to borrow against future receipts”.

Loose ends A number of policy announcements have been made over the past two years, and Nicola Gooch, a partner at Irwin Mitchell, describes the government’s attitude to planning and the environment as “somewhat frenetic”.

“This sense of urgency has not, however, extended to policy delivery,” she laments.

At the time of speaking to The Planner, she pointed out what the built environment sector is still waiting on: - Secondary legislation and template environmental covenants to enable the introduction of biodiversity net gain under the Environment Act 2021.

- Template s.106 agreements intended to standardise the arrangements for securing the minimum 30 per cent First Home discount in perpetuity.

- Updates to the NPPF – it currently does not recognise the existence of First Home exception sites, the government’s net-zero targets, or the creation of use class E. - The outcome of the consultation on the Planning for the Future white paper.

For Gooch, “the policy lacuna we are left with is decidedly unhelpful – both for developers and for local planning authorities trying to progress their local plans. Perhaps DLUHC could make 2022 the year of finishing what they have started”.

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NEWS

Analysis { Lichfield Lecture: Philip McCann argues that real estate market analysis is crucial to levelling-up

By Martin Read If levelling up is to be tackled effectively, long-standing issues of interregional governance and greater awareness of the effects of capital markets will have to be addressed, Professor Philip McCann told his audience at the 2021 RTPI Nathaniel Lichfield Lecture.

McCann, professor of urban and regional economics at the University of Sheffield Management School, believes the most important levelling-up issues are those the press is currently paying little attention to, and are mainly about interregional governance. The author of The UK Regional-National Economic Problem: Geography, Globalisation and Governance (Regions and Cities) declared the problem to be the UK’s unusual “core periphery” status; prosperous parts of the country, mainly in the South, versus the periphery, being most other places.

McCann noted that “we are one of the world’s most highly centralised societies in terms of governance, so we tend to think in one-size-fits-all national policies. But if you have national policies for everything, the country internally begins to partition and becomes more difficult to govern”.

A lot of discussions about levelling up in the press are either inaccurate or misguided, continued McCann.

“It’s not intentional. It’s just that this is a really difficult topic and understanding the data and evidence is not easy.”

As for the argument that the problem is big cities versus the rest, McCann said that “while this is true in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, it’s not the story of the UK. What we have, because of this coreperiphery problem interregionally, are huge inequalities between cities. We have some prosperous cities, many of which are large – and we have some poor cities, many of which are large. But we also have prosperous small cities, and likewise poor small cities. It’s important I M AG E | A L A M Y

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to understand we have huge differences between regions, localities and cities”.

This, coupled with Brexit and Covid-19, means the levelling-up agenda is “even more challenging” said McCann.

Fortunately, “the debate is right at the centre of all political debates now, and that’s extremely important.”

Investing in fresh perspectives For McCann, issues of markets and planning need to be central to levelling up solutions. Investors need to feel good about a place, as do potential workers and residents, while “real estate… is critical to changing the nature of a place as far as investors, banks, financial advisers are concerned”.

Real estate links short-term investments with medium and long-term decision-making. A stronger focus on markets is also important to levelling up because of new data, tracked by McCann and his colleagues, which shows that the way regions function in the financial markets has been changing since the global financial crisis.

“The important thing [to keep in mind] is that the structure of cities and the business clusters inside them has a financial analogue; how the financial markets think about a city is explicitly articulated through the pricing of investments not only into those cities,

but the [vertical market] clusters inside of those cities.”

A new global dimension Since the global financial crisis of 2008, imbalances between cities and regions have grown. Investors have taken money out of less prosperous cities, investing in more prosperous places instead.

This has led to an explosion in yield values in prosperous cities which have become “an extension of the global bond market”, with credit pouring into them at “bargain-basement prices” and the price of land “shooting up”. Poorer cities are seeing the reverse of this behaviour.

The links between place making policy and real estate / financial market performance are, said McCann, “rarely talked about in levelling-up debates.

But they have huge implications in terms of how cities grow. Anything that changes the fiscal balance of a locality can be very complicated. We need a lot more discussion about these things because at the moment they’re treated in a marginal, almost cursory manner.

We talk about powers, rules and laws – but not nearly enough about the financial and fiscal implications of those changes.”

To watch the lecture in full, visit: bit.ly/planner0122-Lichfield

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02/12/2021 15:37

NEWS

News { Masterplan unveiled for Heuston Station The 10-hectare site around Dublin’s Heuston Station and neighbouring Conyngham Road Bus Garage is set to be transformed into a “largely carfree” mixed-use development that will include more than 1,000 new homes.

A masterplan for what will be a new urban area was unveiled by the state’s public transport provider CIÉ.

The blueprint also features new cycling and pedestrian infrastructure as well as a 250bed hotel, office space, and retail and leisure uses. Two bridges will be built across the River Liffey for cyclists and pedestrians, along with 5,000 bicycle parking spaces to encourage more active travel and make the 175-year old station more accessible.

There will be improved public transport through the establishment of a new station at Heuston West, as previously announced as part of the Dart+ South West proposals.

About a kilometre of river frontage will be opened up, with improved connectivity to Phoenix Park and the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

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Green Growth Boards are key to levelling up and climate crisis The RTPI is advocating Green Growth Boards (GGBs) as vital to enable crossboundary working to address both the ambition to level up across all regions of England and the climate crisis.

The institute first suggested GGBs as its response to the planning white paper Planning for the Future, published in August 2020. The report Green Growth Boards: Communication, Collaborate, Innovate builds on this idea.

It analyses examples of crossboundary strategic planning in Liverpool, Leicester and Oxford.

GGBs, the report explains, are intended to promote cross-boundary working between local authorities and other relevant organisations to deliver better access to public transport and jobs, more affordable housing and access to green space.

The report states that the boards should be able to help to join the dots from the outset between environmental, transport, housing, water, energy, resource and health plans.

Richard Blyth, head of policy at the RTPI, said: “Communities up and down the country have long been concerned about ensuring that transport and social infrastructure is provided alongside – or preferably before – housing development.

“Added to this, we now know following Covid-19 that aspects like the quality of high streets, parks and open space on the urban fringe are key elements of how people feel about places.

“Our proposal for Green Growth Boards serves to ensure that all the key strategies for a place are brought into a single democratic and professional oversight.

“These structures can give local people a greater say over how their community is developed, which can in turn help the government level up the country.”

Read the full story: https://bit.ly/planner0122-GGBs

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02/12/2021 16:46

PLAN UPFRONT

Welsh Government to change regime for second homes The Welsh Government is consulting on changes to the planning regime for second homes and short-term holiday lets. The changes involve both policy and development management regulations.

Ministers are proposing to amend the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 to create new use classes for primary homes, secondary homes and short-term holiday lets.

This will also require related amendments to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 to allow permitted changes between these new use classes.

Amendments to Planning Policy Wales will make it explicit that, where relevant, the prevalence of second homes and short-term holiday lets in a

The changes mean that “permission would be needed to use properties as secondary homes or holiday lets”

local area must be taken into account when considering the housing requirements and policy approaches in local development plans.

Climate change minister Julie James told AMs that as a result of these proposed changes “planning authorities would be able to decide whether they wished to remove the permitted development rights through an article 4 direction”.

“If implemented, this would mean that planning permission would be needed to move homes between the different uses of primary, secondary homes and short-term holiday lets in the areas where the local authorities had decided that was what they wished to do.”

The consultation closes on 22 February 2022.

£1.4bn fix for Belfast’s wastewater infrastructure Infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon has published a blueprint setting out a £1.4 billion upgrade for Belfast’s crumbling wastewater infrastructure over the next 12 years.

The strategy, called the Living With Water Programme (LWWP), aims to deliver a longterm approach to drainage and wastewater management in the capital that will protect it from flooding, provide a cleaner and greener environment and ensure that the city of Belfast is open for business and investment.

It programme took five years to compile and involved the city council, government departments, NI Water, and other partners.

In some areas of greater Belfast

development is stymied because wastewater facilities are either at, or above, capacity.

The minister said: “This programme has identified £1.4

I M A G E S | S H U T T E R S T O C K / A L A M Y / D E PA R T M E N T F O R I N F R A S T R U C T U R E

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billion of investment over the next 12 years. It’s not an inexpensive or quick fix, but it’s an essential fix.

“It’s critical to our environment and it’s also critical if we are to unlock our development capacity right across Northern Ireland.”

NI Water’s Paddy Brow, who led the team working on the strategy, said the publication of the plan was a major milestone.

“It also marks the start of the delivery phase. We have over 50 engineers working full-time to deliver the construction works which will include upgrading six wastewater treatment works and their sea outfalls, replacing pumping stations, building new tunnels, and upgrading pipelines and sewers across the area.”

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02/12/2021 16:46

NEWS

News { NPF4 draft emphasises local and sustainable living

£96bn for Integrated Rail Plan but HS2 eastern leg is scrapped

The Scottish Government is seeking to deliver “goodquality” homes that are close to local facilities and services and future-proof local liveability.

Out for consultation, the draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) states that the country must “embrace and deliver radical change” in order to tackle and adapt to the changing climate, restore biodiversity loss, improve health and wellbeing, build up the economy and create great places.

The draft means that planning applications will have to demonstrate how they help to meet the country’s targets to cut emissions to net zero by 2045 if they are to be granted planning permission.

Applications that create more town centre homes and regenerate derelict and vacant land “will be more likely to succeed”, said the government.

The NPF4 promotes the

Transport secretary Grant Shapps confirmed that the eastern leg of HS2 will no longer go all the way to Leeds when he set out a £96 billion investment in the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP).

The eastern leg will now stop near Nottingham in the East Midlands. The original plans for HS2 would have seen London connected to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds city centres.

Although the IRP has been designed to deliver sooner, HS2 was “designed in isolation” from the rest of the transport network. It should, he said, work alongside local and regional services.

The IRP includes three new high-speed lines as the government seeks to improve rail services to and between the East and West Midlands, Yorkshire and the North West: Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) will connect Leeds and Manchester in 33 minutes, down from 55 minutes now. HS2 East will run direct from central Nottingham to Birmingham in 26 minutes, down from 1 hour 14 minutes now, and from central Nottingham to London in 57 minutes. HS2 will also run from London to Sheffield in 1 hour 27 minutes.

HS2 West will run from London to Manchester in 1 hour 11 minutes and from Birmingham to Manchester in 41 to 51 minutes compared with 86 minutes now.

The government insists that the IRP and the changes to HS2 will mean journey times from London and across the Pennines “will be the same as, similar to or faster than the previous proposals”. Under earlier plans, smaller towns on existing main lines such as Doncaster, Grantham, Huddersfield, Wakefield, and Leicester would have seen little improvement.

“Capacity on key routes will also double or treble under plans,” it says.

The IRP will see two diesel lines electrified; the Midlands Main Line and the Transpennine Main Line. The East Coast mainline would be upgraded to deliver higher speeds, and new digital signalling would slash journey times.

creation of good-quality homes that are close to local facilities and services throughout the 20-minute neighbourhood concept. They must support local liveability and reduce the need to travel unsustainably. Also, the government wants to “make better use of our spaces to support physical activity, relaxation and play”.

Energy networks should be decentralised and circular economies established. The government plans to invest in nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change while simultaneously addressing biodiversity loss.

The government’s strategy is to transform the way land and buildings are used so that every decision made makes a contribution to ensuring that Scotland is a more sustainable place.The consultation closes on 31 March 2022.

Read the full story: bit.ly/ planner0122-NPF4draft

Read the full story:bit.ly/planner0122-iRP

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I M AG E S | S H U T T E RSTO C K / G E T T Y

03/12/2021 13:00

CATCH UP WITH THE PLANNER

Newsmakers N Government is bound to planning reform, says Pincher Housing minister Christopher Pincher told the Planning Portal annual conference that the government is “committed” to reforming the planning system and that digitising the system is “crucial” to its success. bit.ly/planner0122PincherOnReform

Minister refuses proposal for Pembrokeshire solar park Welsh climate change minister Julie James has agreed with an inspector and rejected a proposal for a solar park close to the Pembrokeshire Coastal National Park after accepting that its benefits did not outweigh the harm to best-quality agricultural land. bit.ly/planner0122-solarrefusal

Spa and water park resort lined up for Glasgow

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European wellbeing group Therme has chosen Glasgow as the location for its second UK resort. The project will offer a so-called ‘nextgeneration water park’, thermal pools and spa, a health and wellbeing centre, and a vertical farm. bit.ly/planner0122-GlasgowSpa

Swanscombe named as an SSSI Swanscombe Peninsula has been selected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by Natural England’s board at a public meeting. The 260-hectare site, which lies alongside the Thamess Estuary, has received recognition for its nationall iimportance t ffor plants, l t geology, birds and invertebrates. bit.ly/planner0122-Swanscombe

Council sets up placemaking company

I M AG E S | A L A M Y / S H U T T E R S T O C K / I S T O C K / R I C H A R D G L E E D

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DfI and d Belfast B lf t City Cit Council C il att loggerheads l gg h d over York Street Interchange project Belfast’s biggest and most contentious highways scheme, the York Street Interchange project, is at the centre of an escalating row between the Northern Ireland Executive and the city council.bit.ly/planner0122-BelfastM2

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All neighbourhoods should have a parish council to aid levelling up

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Latest flooding guidance suspended for 18 months in Wales The Welsh Government has suspended for 18 months the latest advice on development, flooding and coastal erosion that was due to come into force on 1 December alongside a new flood map for planning compiled

by Natural Resources Wales. bit.ly/planner0122-flooding

Development proposed for Cork dockland Ambitious proposals to redevelop part of the South Docks area of Cork city have been unveiled. They would see a new urban quarter created in the state’s second city incorporating a 130-bed hospital, offices and new homes. bit.ly/planner0122-corkdocklands

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council is establishing a placemaking company to drive forward stewardship-led regeneration across the area. bit.ly/planner0122councilplacemaking

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A centre-right think tank has recommended strengthening the quality of governance in town and parish councils to help communities and places to level up. bit.ly/planner0122p parishcouncils

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Legislation will require new homes hom to have electric vehicle chargers Prime Minister Boris Johnson has committed to legislation that will make it mandatory for new homes to have electric vehicle charging points installed from 2022. bit.ly/planner0122-electricvehicle

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29/11/2021 16:59

LEADER COMMENT

Event UK and global events put planning in a 2022 spotlight Columns that consider likely directions of travel as we enter new years are always strange things to revisit after the fact. Few such pieces turn out to track the year’s actual events tightly, however confident their authors were when writing.

Any prediction for the year to come is certain to be outpaced by developments; some obvious in hindsight, others extraordinary and so unpredictable by definition.

The transition from 2021 to 2022 is no different, although perhaps we can at least be confident about the profession’s potential prominence in relation to national and global events..

From a UK perspective, and with ongoing pandemic response a given, we have, at time of writing, some outstanding government reports to factor into the 2022 equation. Consultation responses to the planning white paper in England, and

Martin Read the government’s adding of meat to the ‘levelling up’ bones, are certain to come.

As for that latter point, levelling up now surely has to move more from neatly elastic phrase for politicians to more of an actual structure for meaningful engagement in planning for the future. And as it does, public and political response to the theme can only become louder and more forensically considered (witness local fall-out to the Integrated Rail Plan).

A timely RTPI Lichfield Lecture from Professor Philip McCann added further fresh levelling up perspective and a fresh reminder of the UK’s uniquely challenging interregional governance issues. Levelling up, McCann suggested, stands little chance if solutions do not include consideration of our ‘core periphery’ problem, an imbalance resulting from the UK being one of the world’s most highly centralised societies in terms of governance. The effects of financial markets on how our cities and regions perform need to be factored into conversations about the policies and laws needed to bring levelling up about.

COP26 was something of an anchor event when we entered 2021, a huge conference with

“PROGRESS ON VARIOUS FRONTS BUT NO ONE CLEAR BREAKTHROUGH”

implications for us all. And while there was perhaps not as much clarity of outcome as most would have liked, that particular direction of travel is certain: net zero will continue to loom large from every possible perspective. Witness also the introduction of an Environment Act that makes biodiversity net gain a statutory requirement – a change with significant likely consequences for how local planning authorities operate.

2021 felt like a transitional year; progress on various fronts, but perhaps no one clear breakthrough. 2022?

I've set a reminder to check back this time next year.

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03/12/2021 09:12

LO U I S E B R O O K E ­ S M I T H O B E

O Opinion

Responsibility is ours “It wasn’t me, governor!”.

How often have we turned the other cheek or passed the buck or simply walked away from a tricky situation?

Ideally, however, it’s an instinct or a natural reaction to accept that you might have been wrong after all.

But more frequently it takes a heavy dose of ethics and principles and possibly the realisation that you will be found out in the end, to be the ‘bigger person’. And realistically, most people will try to get away with something if they think they could.

That is true in both a social or a professional arena. It doesn’t matter whether you and your team are the holiest of compatriots, and your employer is the planning equivalent of Mother Teresa.

Would you admit it was you who used all the milk in the departmental fridge, if you didn’t need to?

How about admitting to leaving the lights on when you leave the office? Or using all the photocopying paper and not bothering to get more from the stock cupboard?

Let’s consider stuff that is more serious. How about a few dubious expense claims or some clever accounting with a couple of cash payments for ‘services rendered’ that bear little resemblance to what you actually sell. That’s maybe a step too far.

Perhaps you have diplomatic immunity and can simply feign ignorance, or you are giving evidence to a select committee and have the audacity to mislead, or you are

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declared insane – apologies for the non-PC reference there, but there would be little chance of prosecution for lying or passing the buck. But we mere mortals are unlikely to fall into those buckets of exemption. Most of us would be held liable for our actions – or our inaction.

I could wax lyrical here about a certain US President.

Let’s call him Ronald Bump.

Responsibility was possibly something that was a tricky concept to accept – perhaps best illustrated when it came to inadvertently encouraging all those friendly tourists to make an impromptu trip to Capitol Hill without obtaining visiting tickets or queuing up.

Instead, I’d rather recall a couple of others who held the same illustrious office. “Being responsible is an enormous privilege… It’s what marks anyone a fully grown human,” said Barack Obama, perhaps

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“BEING RESPONSIBLE IS AN ENORMOUS PRIVILEGE… IT’S WHAT MARKS ANYONE A FULLY GROWN HUMAN” remembering the words of Harry S Truman, who said: “The buck stops here.”

So what about the scenario of inadvertent action – say a leaking oil tank which slowly seeps through your office wall, into the car park beyond, and then into the drainage system where it somehow affects the local water supply? Or noise from your nightclub, that is well within the local environment health regulations, but still keeps the neighbours awake.

Clearly, the first falls under the ‘polluter pays’ rules regardless of whether you knew the tank

was faulty. But what about the second? If the neighbours have small children and they approach you to explain that they haven’t slept properly in months – do you do the right thing and find a happy medium re that bass beat?

It should go without saying that if you are leading an organisation, big or small, then your head should be above the parapet and if things go wrong then you should rightly take responsibility. It might not have been you that left the lights on, or the tap running or used up the milk or played music at a million decibels until three in the morning – but if one of your team did it and you are responsible for that team, responsibility is a cloak worn in good times and in bad. When that team or individuals within it do well, you can reflect on their glory.

But in my view, the opposite goes without saying.

So, I would like to think that most of us align with Harry and Barack and only a handful are likely to follow the teachings of ‘Ronald’. And even if we think we could get away with it, hopefully others will point out the errors of our ways and spill the beans, or should that be the milk left in the departmental fridge?

Dr Louise Brooke-Smith is a development and strategic planning consultant and a built environment non-executive director I L L U S T R AT I O N | J O H N H O L C R O F T

02/12/2021 16:26

Quote unquote FROM THE RTPI AND THE WEB

“I once said that I’d rather be on the cover of Railway Modeller than Rolling Stone – and Rolling Stone haven’t spoken to me since” ROD STEWART RESPONDS TO A GUARDIAN READER’S QUESTION ABOUT HIS ‘EPIC’ MODEL RAILWAY Q

“We now know, following Covid-19, that the quality of high streets, parks and open space on the urban fringe are key elements of how people feel about places” RTPI DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH RICHARD BLYTH IN SUPPORT OF GREEN GROWTH BOARDS

“We have to step forward as planners, policymakers and politicians at the local level to use planning to make sure the worst excesses of climate change don’t impact on our lives too much” JOANNA AVERLEY, ENGLAND’S CHIEF PLANNER, SPEAKING AT THE PLANNING PORTAL ANNUAL CONFERENCE

“Planning reform must have climate change at its core.

Otherwise we run the risk of developing a system that fuels, rather than tackles, the climate crisis.”

“Whilst we have been working on our upgrade plans we have watched billions poured into HS2 building work from London to Birmingham. It is time for the North to have its fair share.”

LOCALIS REPORT PLAIN DEALING BUILDING FOR FLOOD RESILIENCE

S H U T T E R S T O C K / I S T O C K / U K PA R L I A M E N T

“The “Th e reality for around half the population of the UK is that quality of life and living standards are about the same as Alabama – one of the poorest of the United States”

I M AG E S |

LOUISE GITTINS, INTERIM CHAIR OF TRANSPORT FOR THE NORTH, ON THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE INTEGRATED RAIL PLAN

PROFESSOR PHILLIP MCCANN WITH ONE OF SEVERAL PUNCHY COMPARISONS MADE DURING THE ANNUAL NATHANIEL LICHFIELD LECTURE

“This is a hammer blow for the North East and the very opposite of levelling up. I’m not sure what our area has done to deserve such contempt” MARTIN GANNON, CHAIR OF THE NORTH EAST JOINT TRANSPORT COMMITTEE, ON THE INTEGRATED RAIL PLAN

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02/12/2021 17:11

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

O Opinion

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David Williams MRTPI is a freelance planning and regeneration specialist

Planning’s second century needs to learn from the errors of its first

The first century of ‘formal planning’ was largely dominated by market-led suburbia and utopian redevelopment. Neither has improved the performance of our towns and cities.

In the 20th century, suburban sprawl increased the total urban area sixfold when the population only rose by 65 per cent. Instead of compact cities protecting us against extremes of climate, suburbs have exacerbated the climate catastrophe with cars replacing public transport.

Utopian planning partly derives from Le Corbusier’s schemes to develop ‘buildings for the future’. His scheme to destroy and rebuild the whole of inner Paris with slabs and tower blocks displays his manic vision – only fully realised perhaps in China.

But our own ‘Big Brother’ needlessly destroyed whole neighbourhoods as slums.

During the 1970s, ‘general improvement areas’ (GIAs) saved many remaining terraced neighbourhoods, with their local economies and social life.

Unfortunately, after 1979, these were quietly dropped. Perhaps developers and housebuilders persuaded the government that GIAs ‘distorted’ the market.

Ironically, slum clearance required compulsory purchase.

Andrew Black MRTPI is founder of Andrew Black Consulting

Why ‘levelling up’ is a promise the government HAS to fulfil

And with double irony, our current ‘urban regeneration’ programme is destroying those estates that replaced the ‘slums’ – also with CPOs. None of this is sustainable.

For its second century, ‘formal planning’ should be more pragmatic and largely local.

Instead of trying to build 300,000 new homes a year, when only 100,000 are needed, focus on housing the homeless and increasing supply of social housing with less disruptive and cheaper conversions and smaller infills.

Instead of ‘wasting’ perhaps £40 billion on the national regeneration programme, let local authorities use that money to tackle waiting lists, support local builders and social housing providers, set up local rent tribunals and tax second homes, etc.

And instead of ‘creating place’, planners should focus on improving existing heritage. Not just listed buildings and conservation areas, but the whole built fabric. Our buildings and streets are a resource that we should maintain, adapt and reuse rather than rebuild. Yet conservation is charged 20 per cent VAT, while new urban megaliths pay zero. Sustainable?

Think local. Act local.

“FOR ITS SECOND CENTURY, ‘FORMAL PLANNING' SHOULD BE MORE PRAGMATIC, LARGELY LOCAL AND ABSOLUTELY SUSTAINABLE”

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2 BLOG

BLOG

Over the past year the phrase ‘levelling up’ has made its way into the planning lexicon. So what is next for levelling up and, more importantly, how will we measure its success?

The government announced its intention in the Queen’s Speech to introduce a levelling-up white paper. We then need that white paper to turn into policy and action; after all, we are still awaiting actions from the government on 2020’s planning white paper.

In terms of success, the Local Government Association has said as part of levelling up that ‘Building Back Better’ should mean ‘Building Back Local’. One of the issues with levelling up is that it involves central government directing growth to regional areas in a system designed for localism.

A number of local authorities paused work on their local plans following the previous musings over greenfield sites by the prime minister during his conference speech. Let’s not forget that adopting a local plan is an extremely time-consuming, resource-intensive, politically driven and expensive process for a local authority.

Who blames them for taking

a breather if the government looks as if it might move the goalposts? But if government is going to level up housing and planning across the country then surely a system that is local authority-centric, rather than regional, is destined for trouble.

One thing is for sure: ‘levelling up’ cannot just be another failed political slogan.

It has to mean something to a lot of people, in addition to being radical and meaningful for communities.

But, as Michael Gove has alluded to, levelling up relies on so much more than just planning and his own department.

For levelling up to be successful, it isn’t just planning and the built environment that must level up across the country, but also social care, healthcare, education, infrastructure, and energy, to name but a few.

The government has set itself a huge task and as of the new year, only three years to deliver on it. Sure, levelling up might be longer term than just one Parliament but if things don’t start to feel different for communities on the other side of the blue wall at the time of the next election then there might be trouble ahead for Boris.

"LET’S NOT FORGET THAT ADOPTING A LOCAL PLAN IS AN EXTREMELY TIME­CONSUMING, RESOURCE­ INTENSIVE, POLITICALLY DRIVEN AND EXPENSIVE PROCESS"

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02/12/2021 17:43

Have your say Would you like to see yourself in these pages?

Get in touch by email – editorial@theplanner.co.uk Topical, inspirational, angry or amusing – we consider all relevant comment

3 BLOG

Dr Wei Yang FRTPI is the 2021 RTPI President and will be succeeded

by Timothy Crawshaw for 2022 during January

The heyday of the planning profession is coming. The future is in our hands

I have been asked to summarise my presidential year in 330 words. It’s less than one word per day, where shall I start?

(Editor’s note – this is true, although it transpires that the true number of words for these opinion pieces is typically around the 420 mark.

Apologies Wei!) The journey of my RTPI Presidency started from the day I wrote my manifesto in summer 2019, as I strongly believe we need a revival of spirit and a modernised planning profession.

The Chain of Office was passed on to me virtually by our 2020 President Sue Manns on 20 January 2021. The inauguration was the most watched one in the RTPI’s history. Maybe it’s a testament to mark a special moment – a time to reimagine planning.

My core activities during the year were focused on articulating the vital role planning profession can play to tackle multifaceted challenges - climate change, biodiversity decline, public health crisis and social inequalities. I took the message that the ‘planning profession has a positive solution to offer - a place-based systems approach’ to COP26, Conservative Party Conference,

and many events I spoke in the UK and internationally.

My presidential year was combined with virtual and physical engagements, which enabled me to set up the Digital Task Force for Planning with Professor Michael Batty aiming to unlock the full potential of the planning profession in the digital era.

I also had the privilege to visit all of the RTPI nations and regions in person, apart from Northern Ireland, which I only visited virtually due to travel complications.

My favourite movement was planting a cherry tree at Letchworth Garden City. It expressed my gratitude to our pioneers, my hope for our young planners, and my wish that one day the planning profession will take a leadership role to plan the world that we need for people, for nature and for the future.

Finally, I hope that our 2022 President Timothy Crawshaw has a fruitful year. I would also like to thank everyone who supported me during my presidential year. I have drawn so much inspiration from you all. I have no doubt that the heyday of the planning profession is coming. The future is in our hands.

“MY CORE ACTIVITIES DURING THE YEAR WERE FOCUSED ON ARTICULATING THE VITAL ROLE PLANNING PROFESSION CAN PLAY TO TACKLE MULTIFACETED CHALLENGE”

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

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4 BLOG

Richard Blyth FRTPI is head of policy and research for the RTPI

The Environment Act 2021 is a good foundation; now let’s do more

For the first time in a generation, the UK Parliament has passed an act on the environment. It makes biodiversity net gain (BNG) a statutory requirement. It is encouraging to support nature recovery, but I am concerned that the use of a statute risks making balanced decisions on planning more difficult, by skewing them legally in favour of a particular outcome. There are also reportedly difficulties in applying BNG to small enterprises.

The RTPI is concerned that local planning authorities may not be adequately resourced to handle BNG when it is mandatory.

But we welcome the creation of the Office for Environmental Protection.

Local Nature Recovery Strategies are a welcome commitment to the idea of local government leading on planning for the environment. The longer-term aim should be to get them to cover the whole environment (including water, flooding, soil and air quality), incorporating existing mechanisms into a coherent approach. They might then adopt a new title: Local Environment Improvement Plans (LEIP). A LEIP would develop a shared understanding of the environment. It would:

n provide an up-to-date assessment of the state of the environment; n show where it is in a favourable/unfavourable state; n assess causes and drivers for improvement; n include modelling of trends; and n show designations and other spatial rules.

It would also create a shared strategy to improve the environment by: n collating local needs, expectations and preferences; n providing a basis for marrying environmental needs with the place-based needs of other parts of government/ society/economy; n showing opportunities for nature’s recovery and environmental improvements; n agreeing priorities and plans for improvement; and n reporting on where collaboration is needed or measures from higher tiers of government.

“LOCAL ENVIRONMENT IMPROVEMENT PLANS WOULD MEAN THAT THE ENVIRONMENT REALLY COUNTED AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT”

LEIPs would provide the rationale for having a lead director on environment sitting with a lead director on housing on a Green Growth Board. They would show that environment counted at the highest local government level; assist public involvement in environmental planning; and better align this with planning for housing and transport.

J ANU AR Y 2 0 22 / THE PLA NNER

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02/12/2021 17:43

INTERVIEW: TIMOTHY CRAWSHAW

TH R EE TO TH E FORE TIMOTHY CRAWSHAW HAS A STRONG BELIEF IN PLANNING’S ABILITY TO TACKLE THREE KEY OBJECTIVES — INEQUALITY, HEALTH AND WELLBEING, AND CLIMATE CHANGE ­ IN AN INTEGRATED WAY. MARTIN READ WENT NORTH TO MEET THE NEW RTPI PRESIDENT

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03/12/2021 10:45

I M AG E S | A N DY J ON E S

INTERVIEW: TIMOTHY CRAWSHAW

im Crawshaw seems a force of nature: in the literal sense, through championing environmental interests; and metaphorically, through zest for planning and what he sees as the profession’s golden opportunities ahead.

Energy personified; he chairs the Tees Valley Nature Partnership and, until recently, the Historic Towns and Villages Forum; serves as interim Steering Group Member for the North East of England Climate Coalition; runs his own planning and development consultancy and works as an associate consultant for APSE Energy; and teaches, too, providing training courses while lecturing at Northumbria and Newcastle Universities.

Add to that his project work in Belarus, Moldova and Ethiopia for the United Nations Development Programme and you get the impression of someone unafraid to leave his comfort zone in pursuit of fresh opportunities to expand his knowledge and make the world a better place.

This is where I’d typically ask where on Earth he finds the hours, but this list isn’t finished yet: somehow, Crawshaw uses his down time to perform in his own band, ‘Glittering Sky’. Oh yes, he’s recently worked as an actor, too.

While not bringing a specific personal manifesto to the RTPI presidency, there is a Crawshaw credo based on planning’s ability to address, in unison, three core themes: “Levelling ip, climate change, and health and wellbeing; the interaction between these three poles is where my interest and practice lies. The incidence of all of these factors, and the impacts of these on life chances, are central to why I am a planner.”

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consultancy in the early 2000s.

Creative by nature, it is specifically his love of music that resonates, with the philosophies of David Bowie, Jim Morrison and Morrissey all getting a mention as we talk. But it’s with Brian Eno that we start.

“The Planner recently reported Eno saying ‘Think like a gardener, not an architect; create beginnings not endings’ - and to me that is so poetic, and so interesting, coming from the point of view of a musician.”

The process of creating music can be considered analogous to that of planning, he says, including giving space to the possiblity that things can just ‘happen’.

“Modern electronic composition is a lot about, ‘Well, that just feels right, that sounds right’. I think that’s why all that out there (he points to Darlington’s Horse Market) is so funky. Because it’s just kind of happened; people have worked within a general framework rather than being tied down.

There's nothing more monotonous than some of the most heavily design-coded places.”

He goes on: “It’s head, hand and heart.

There’s a lot of a craft to our work and I think that can get lost sometimes if it’s all codified so much that it squeaks.”

This organic sensibility comes out in Crawshaw’s attitude to technology, too. “With planning it’s all about using the power of computers to understand the order in the chaos, not to tie everything down to either a blockchain in terms of ownership and management, or even to present a sterile vision of a place to people – because typically that vision won’t be what you actually get.

Sometimes it’s actually about finding the beauty in the patina of a place and finding a common way of understanding this.”

Hitting the right notes

Creative input

Within minutes of meeting in his native Darlington, Crawshaw is pointing out the landmarks, explaining how the town has changed during and since his ten year tenure as Darlington Borough Council’s built and natural environment manager.

He animatedly describes the negotiations he faced driving through the Town Centre Fringe Masterplan and, though now based in Richmond in North Yorkshire, he clearly remains fond of his old stomping ground.

So what are his roots? Crawshaw spent much of the 1990s in jobs ranging from graphic design to bookselling, market trading and working for the probation service.

He also trained as an architect during this period before running his own eco-design

“As with many planners, I got into the profession to make the world a better place,” Crawshaw recollects.. “I was initially nudged towards engineering by my father [an ex-RAF man who worked as an engineer at Darlington Wire Mills], although I came to realise that just didn't speak to me in the creative sense.”

Studying art at technical college opened his eyes to other possibilities (his teacher was a fan of Antoni Gaudi). In a subsequent interview for architecture school he found himself, when asked why he had applied, looking out at the Mancunian Way, still an over-engineered scar across the cityscape, and exclaiming “I want to sort all that out!”

It was revelatory, a realisation that he

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03/12/2021 10:46

INTERVIEW: TIMOTHY CRAWSHAW CURRICUL U M VITAE

instinctively knew there was something fundamentally wrong with how things had been planned and constructed. “There’d been no regard for green infrastructure, heritage, street patterns. It had ended up as a mess.” Naturally, he’s seen this kind of thing frequently since. “And still people ask ‘Why is it not working? Why are people displaying anti-social behaviour?

Why did somebody get mugged over there?’ Because you've created an environment which people don’t know how to navigate or behave in, somewhere hostile, alien; a classic concrete jungle.”

Working on relationships

“Like a painter with a palette, as a planner you’re the person - if so empowered – to bring all these elements together. That’s where our training comes in, allowing you to understand and challenge the nuances of what’s being put in front of you. Looked at another way, planners are the conductors of the built environment orchestra.”

Unsurprisingly, the new president “absolutely” supports the RTPI’s campaign for chief planning officers. “I fundamentally believe having someone close to a chief executive in a local authority is key, with the skills to use that connection to keep planning as a solution to all sorts of problems front of mind.”

Here’s where Crawshaw believes those three core elements – driving out inequalities, promoting wellbeing and tackling climate change - can find their champion in the hands of an adequately empowered planner. “Deal with all three successfully and you've got a fantastic place to live,” he says; “get them wrong and problems get worse. It’s that simple.”

Working to these three core aims, says Crawshaw, forces a fresh approach – “You can't just apply the standard economic answers” – and in the week of COP26, he summarises the moment succinctly: “We've got a huge opportunity to put planning in the spotlight, because business as usual but with a heat pump just isn’t going to cut it.”

Crawshaw speaks often about the value of interconnectedness; between the elements that make up Darlington’s lauded Healthy New Town Design Principles, for example, or in the way the built environment professions must work together to deliver effective placemaking. He seems keen to reach out to others, writing recently about how he believes planners should lead on the ‘multi and trans-disciplinary working’ between universities, communities, private and public sectors necessary to jump-start the retrofitting environmental solutions.

The role of planners as leaders and innovators is a recurring theme. Naturally, he sees elevating planning’s status as a key component in combating climate change. ”It's one thing offsetting your emissions but quite another to marshal everything so that you don’t need to use so much energy in the first place. That CRAWSHAW ON: means not putting the UNITING TO wrong thing in the INNOVATE wrong place, and that “WE NEED AN means transport or APPROACH TO designing buildings to, INNOVATION as the NPPF states, take SUPPORTED BY full advantage of the THE QUADRUPLE resources of a site.”

HELIX OF PUBLIC He’s certainly not SECTOR, PRIVATE averse to pushing SECTOR, ACADEMIA, planning into the AND COMMUNITIES role of leading on WORKING much of this. While COLLABORATIVELY holding huge respect AROUND A for both engineers and architects, he sees it PARTICULAR ISSUE, as the job of planners SOLVING IT TOGETHER to knit together the AND SCALING IT UP.” perspectives of the built environment disciplines.

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A performance art All of this presents an expansive view of the chief planning officer’s potential role. One that, to me, feels like it demands a resilient and resourceful character, who’s a technically gifted planner too. Someone like him, I ask? I get a wry smile in return.

Crawshaw suggests that a chief planner's role has a performative aspect, like a musician perhaps. ”It seems to me that being able to pick things up and run with them, to hold to an idea and be confident, is key.

Buddhists say ‘first thought best thought’,

Born: Darlington, 1968 Education: BA(Hons) Architecture, Manchester 1988-1992 RIBA Part I; MA Urban Environmental Design, Leeds Metropolitan University 2003-2005

1990 Assistant architect, Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council

1994 Self-employed greetings card designer and publisher

1996 Community service supervisor, N Yorks Probation Service

2001 Principal Partner, Air Communique Design Marketing

2003 MD of Geomatrix

2005 Urban Design Officer, Darlington Council

2006 Conservation and design group leader, Kirklees Council

2008 Sets up Timothy David Crawshaw Urban Design

2008 Presenter for Trevor Roberts Associates

2009­2018 Built and Natural Environment Manager, Darlington Borough Council

2010 Design and sustainability executive, Tees Valley Unlimited

2013­2019 United Nations’ Development Programme – consultant and team leader on projects in Ethiopia, Moldova and Belarus; consultant on climate change, green cities, financing and innovation hubs

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CRAWSHAW ON: THE RTPI PRESIDENCY “I SEE IT AS A MASSIVE PPORTUNITY TO SERVE AND CHAMPION A PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTE THAT HAS BEEN A GOOD HOME TO ME AND A NATURAL PLACE FOR INNOVATORS AND PROGRESSIVE THINKERS. I FEEL LIKE I'VE GOT PEOPLE AROUND ME WHO SUPPORT WHAT I'M TRYING TO ACHIEVE. IT’S PUTTING SOMETHING BACK.”

but often we end up prevaricating so much about analysis. If we’d listen to our hearts we’d have a lot more poetry to talk about in terms of the space and the ability to articulate why we’re doing this.”

For chief planning officers, “I think we're going to have to try to develop a cohort of people at a certain stage of their planning career who have perhaps three-quarters of what they need to take that next step.”

A late starter himself, Crawsahw welcomes the planning apprenticeship as a route into the profession – but, he adds, “I also think there might be value in another form of training programme that works for those who are mid-career”, something to reinvigorate and refocus planning professionals.

“If you’ve got people in their late 30s or 40s and they’ve had perhaps a local plan that didn't go so well, or a workload they can’t cope with, they might get a bit lost and the profession could lose them. We could sell the idea of ‘It's okay to reboot’.”

“When the chief planning officer role does happen we’ll need to fill a skills gap.

It's going to take time, but it goes back to the Chinese proverb: ‘When's the best time to plant a tree? 20 years ago’. You've got to have a bit of belief and hope in the future.”

In general, he says, “the important thing is for planners to display transparency in their decision making, also being brave enough to challenge the views of others.”

The data dimension Crawshaw acknowledges the capacity of technology to reveal patterns otherwise unseen, but insists it must be underpinned by reliable, open, data.

“I’m working on the Healthy Happy Places programme, funded by the Academic Health Science Network for the North East and North Cumbria to look at how we create a multi-sector approach across health, public health, architecture, planning and communities.

One of the things we’re exploring is the development of an innovation hub and collaborative platform for both professionals and communities.

"For example I can just about, on a good day, go and get the Public Health England (PHE) Fingertips data for my neighbourhood. Anybody who doesn't know how to access that sort of stuff is going to struggle. We're going to peel back to find out exactly what's going on in terms of deprivation, health outcomes and the baseline position. This extends as far an environmental risks, such as air quality, which may be an unseen issue in a neighbourhood.

“But you also need to layer on top of that the lived experience of the community, allowing direct user feedback on how things are right now, the impact of new proposals and feedback on the finished planned

‘product’. So when we’re combing all of this data it becomes the canvas upon which, when a planning application comes in, everyone can really understand the landscape.”

He references OpenStreetMap, an open source product allowing communities to map the unmapped; such platforms give greater visibility to, for example, infrastrucure needs and sapce-based social issues.

He is confidentof tech’s ability to fuel further engagement and trust in the planning process. “This more direct connection will provide a lot more nuanced understanding, and therefore more nuanced conversations, about what will really make places better.”

Media spotlight Crawshaw has become a regular webinar host during the pandemic with wider aspirations to broaden the public presentation of planning in the media. He hopes to blog routinely as president, would like to see planners more often referred to in radio debates and sees value in some form of television show in which the planning process, and not just its results, is the star. This could be a magazine format show in which inpsectors' decisions legal processes and the everyday work

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INTERVIEW: TIMOTHY CRAWSHAW

of planners is highlighted, alongside academic input; a show with a lightness of touch too, with features on how developments have ended up as they are and which display an understanding of the relationship between planning, environment and health.

For now, though, “I’m developing a podcast, a citizens’ guide to planning, where I talk about it all from a layperson's perspective.”

Healthy approach Darlington has been a pilot area in the NHS England Healthy New Towns Programme since 2016, with Crawshaw co-authoring the Darlington Healthy New Town (HNT) Design Principles.

Fusing existing a policy with RTPI, TCPA and Public Health England best practice, this intends to provide a framework for creating places that support health and wellbeing while continuing to attract growth and investment.

He’s now working with a qualified clinical psychologist (who has subsequently completed a degree in urban planning and architecture) in the Healthy Happy Places team for the

CRAWSHAW ON: ARTICULATING THE VISION “FUNDING WON’T COME UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS YOU WANT TO DO. THAT’S WHAT I FIND NOW WITH TOWN CENTRE MASTERPLANS; THERE IS MASSIVE DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL, BUT YOU STILL NEED TO CLEARLY ARTICULATE WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO KEEP IT GOING, A NEW AGENDA OR VISION OF WHAT THAT PLACE CAN BE.”

North East and North Cumbria, “where we’re currently making connections with fellow professionals who can influence health outcomes from their work in planning and design”.

The logic of the Integrated Care System, into which this work falls, appeals to Crawshaw’s interconnectivityfirst mindset. “It really is the ‘everything machine’. It's not got statutory powers

Our pictures were taken at the National Trust property, Ormesby Hall – a venue lauded by Crawshaw for the way it showcases the value of green space to the local communities of Middlesbrough and Redcar.

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yet, but it will have. It’s about bringing together local authorities, the NHS, Public Health, the voluntary sector and social eneterprise to think about what we can do to improve health and wellbeing outcomes in a place based approach. The Healthy Happy Places Programme is becoming a kind of movement where we're looking at system change in terms of big organisations.

It’s these anchor institutions – the NHS, National Trust, National Parks – that can show true leadership in tackling those inequality, climate change, health and wellbeing questions.” ”If you can go and see it being done somewhere else and it can be replicated, then we've got real opportunities to bring forward systems change rapidly, so anchor institutions have a responsibility to lead. Take the NHS and its hospitals – it needs to be thinking about how these relate to the wider community. Are there opportunity to share energy or use of the grounds for community uses?

This knack of drawing people together is also evidenced in Crawshaw’s role at Tees Valley Nature Partnership where he’s using his UN international experience to inform operating models that will secure investment in the natural environment. In this he’s working closely with the The North East and Tees Valley Combined Authorities, and local and central government.

“Basically we're trying to establish the concept of integrated strategic planning across the sub-region, because [...] planning at scale provides confidence for investment. Broadly speaking we are engineering a framework for the Nature Partnership to be a key player in delivering the local Nature Recovery Strategy and biodiversity net gain. We are reimagining what a nature partnership does by looking at the whole picture.”

Crawshaw seems a lighting rod for innovative projects. Asside from nature, healtha nd wellbeing, he is also invovled in an emerging concept around the deep retrofitting of existing neighbourhoods.

I don’t think I ever did get a satisfactory answer to how he finds the time, though he did say he felt like a free climber without a rope. (“If I looked down and thought about it, I’d probably fall off.”) In summary, Timothy Crawshaw’s ‘You’ve got to be in it to win it’ attitude is likely to make his term as RTPI president a lively one.

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WAREHOUSING

STOCK

ANSWERS

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WAREHOUSING

LONG­TERM FACTORS ALLIED TO A SUDDENLY SHIFTING RETAIL ECONOMY ARE LEADING TO HUGE DEMAND FOR NEW WAREHOUSING, WHICH IN TURN IS PUTTING HUGE PRESSURE ON THE PLANNING SYSTEM. HUW MORRIS REPORTS

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he letter from Whitehall was a breakthrough. For John Downes, it was one door closing with another opening. He began his career as a junior mining surveyor down the pit at Parkside Colliery on Merseyside, aged 16. Downes would later join the team disposing of redundant colliery sites following the mass closures of the 1980s and 1990s. He eventually moved to developer Langtree, where he led a management buyout six years ago.

Today he is chairman of Parkside Regeneration, a joint venture between Langtree and St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council, which is resurrecting his first workplace as a major logistic hub and warehouse.

The proposal, which along with an application for a major link road vital to Parkside’s future, became a recovered appeal in ministers’ intrays for most of 2021 (See Why the Government approved Parkside).

In November 2021, the letter signed by building safety and fire minister Stephen Greenhalgh, on behalf of levelling-up and communities secretary Michael Gove, said yes to both recovered appeals.

“It’s been a long road, but we got there,” says Downes. “This is very personal to me. I started my career at Parkside as a 16-year-old and it brings that journey full circle. At its peak the colliery employed more than 2,000 people and to replace that lost work is hugely satisfying.”

Two other recovered appeals were decided on the same day as Parkside and its link road. The government also granted permission to a hybrid application by Omega St Helens and TJ Morris for a logistics building

I M AG E | G E T T Y

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with floor space of 81,570 square metres, comprising a warehouse of 77,084 square metres with office development as well as outline permission for manufacturing and logistics capable of accommodating up to 123,930 square metres of development. The 75-hectare site in predominantly arable farmland is entirely within the St Helens Green Belt, to the south of the M62 between junctions 7 and 8.

Less successful was Peel Investments (North)’s application for up to 167,225 square metres of floor space at Haydock. This fell foul of green belt rules, was rejected by St Helens and had the refusal rubberstamped by the government.

“THE UK MIGHT HAVE USED UP ALL ITS WAREHOUSE SPACE WITHIN A YEAR”

A race for space The recovered appeals show just how demand for warehousing is exploding. Research by Savills for the UK Warehousing Association (UKWA) shows that the number of warehousing units has risen by 32 per cent since it reported on the sector six years ago.

A trend towards bigger warehouses is propelling this rise with demand for units of 92,903 square metres, an increase of 242 per cent.

Third-party logistics companies are now the leading occupier, while online retailers have increased warehouse occupancy by 614 per

cent. For every extra £1 billion spent online, another 7,199 square metres of warehouse space is needed to meet demand.

“We are seeing tremendous growth in demand for space,” says UKWA chief executive Clare Bottle. “The pandemic has certainly accelerated demand for more online shopping, but there are many other longer-term factors driving a race for industrial space: from the growth of biotech and other high-tech manufacturing to supply chain changes coming from our new trading relationship with the EU and the world.”

UKWA says every 250,000 new homes creates one million new delivery points, driving the need for fundamental change in the planning system. Research

by Turley for the British Property Federation in 2019 first revealed the inextricable link between housing and employment space.

This shows there is 6.4 square metres of warehouse floor space per home in England. To maintain this ratio and match the government’s target of 300,000 homes a year would require 1,913,802 million square metres of additional warehouse floor space annually – equivalent to 280 football pitches each year. This ratio will likely need to increase with the continuing growth of e-commerce and demand for last-mile delivery.

The retail factor Turley’s economics director Amy Gilham says the figures are “a marker” of the relationship between homes and warehousing across England.

“The ratio provides a tool to enable local planning authorities

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WAREHOUSING

across the country to better understand and plan for their current or emerging role within the national logistics network. This is a considerable step forward in ensuring the volume of warehouse space we need is enabled and that the pace of change within the logistics sector is acknowledged.”

However, there is a danger that this could soon run out of steam, according to real estate services firm Cushman and Wakefield – so much so that the UK might have used up all its warehouse space within a year.

Available warehouse space in the UK has fallen below 4,645,152 square metres, the lowest level since the company started tracking the sector in 2009. This is roughly the same amount of space already taken up by businesses in the first nine months of 2021.

E-commerce businesses such as Amazon, as well as manufacturing and logistics companies, are driving the demand, with companies taking up more storage space because their supply chains have been battered by Brexit and Covid-19. Indeed, e-commerce

and post and parcel firms occupied an average of 557,418.24 square metres between 2015 and 2019. This has risen to 1,393,545.6 square metres in the past two years. Cushman points out that Amazon accounted for more than half of e-commerce-related usage this year.

The Office for National Statistics backs up these figures. The share of UK retail spending online rose from 19.1 per cent in February 2020, ahead of the first pandemic lockdown, to a peak of 37.1 per cent in January, before sliding back to 25.9 per cent last month.

“If the government’s aspiration is to decarbonise the freight sector then more planning support is needed,” says Bottle. “Forcing businesses to take warehouses in sub-optimal locations due to a shortage of supply and choice will restrict and hamper the sector’s efforts to decarbonise.

“In any future reforms the UKWA would like to see a strengthening of national planning policy to support industrial and logistics growth and provide explicit guidance on how the spatial needs and land requirements

An aerial view of the Amazon fulfilment centre in Swansea

for key sectors should be determined and delivered.

“Decision-makers at all levels must recognise the value of logistics as part of the wider industrial sector and as an economic contributor both in its own right and in supporting other sectors and meeting societal demands.”

For Downes, Parkside’s resurrection heralds well-paid technical jobs and the potential to capitalise on Liverpool Freeport’s growth.

“Everyone in the borough will benefit from this investment, not just because they’ll possibly know young people accessing apprenticeships and training opportunities, or relatives finding work at Parkside, but because the site will generate millions of pounds a year in rateable income for investment in social care and other vital public services.

“This is a ‘win’ for the whole borough.” n Huw Morris is consultant editor with

The Planner I M AG E S | G E T T Y / S H U T T E RSTO C K

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Why the government approved Parkside For 34 years, Parkside Colliery was an epicentre of work and production.

The site, which still looks like a colliery and spoil tip, is within a borough where undesignated land is a scarcity. But it has a long and tortuous history of luckless searches for alternative uses.

St Helens says there is no comparable site in the North West for its proximity to rail, road, a public transport interchange and a population of some magnitude.

The major logistics hub at Parkside – alongside its accompanying proposal for a link road – includes up to 92,900 square metres of employment floor space. The application site is around 47.9 hectares to the east of the A49 Winwick Road and west of the M6.

The applicants had to persuade planning inspectors and ministers that their proposal meets three criteria:

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10-year average take-up, this is around eight months’ supply. Given the leadin time to bring a warehouse into operation, there is no immediately available supply in the region. The council warns that it is inevitable that companies will move away from the North West if this demand is not met.

Within St Helens, there are no St Helens has a population of 179,331 allocated sites above 3.7 hectares. with 1.5 million people living in Within adjoining boroughs there the wider Liverpool City Region. are few sites capable The region is the of accommodating most deprived in England, with “THE UK MIGHT HAVE development of Parkside’s size. Wigan St Helens ranked USED UP ALL ITS and Warrington have as the 26th most WAREHOUSE SPACE no immediately deprived out of a WITHIN A YEAR” available sites. Halton, total of 326 local West Lancashire authorities. and Knowsley do No fewer than 10 – but these are all neighbourhoods substantially farther in St Helens are away from the M6/M62 intersection among the 10 per cent most deprived and the Greater Warrington area, and neighbourhoods nationally with six serve a smaller market. neighbourhoods within the 1 per Releasing green belt land is cent most deprived nationally. The inevitable if the council is to deliver borough has high levels of benefit a minimum of 215.4 hectares of dependency above the regional and employment land. The Parkside national averages, with the proportion development is seen as so important of children in low-income families that it is identified as a strategic higher than that in England and the allocation with 79.57 hectares.

North West as a whole. It is generating Regeneration benefits include significantly fewer jobs – just 1.96 bringing a former industrial legacy per cent growth between 2015-18, site, suffering from a history of compared with 5.06 per cent in the antisocial behaviour, back into North West. active use; creating 1,300 jobs; and The council and applicant point to adding £80 million a year to the latest supply and take-up statistics local economy. Granting planning revealing an extremely limited permission, the government agreed development pipeline of units and that these benefits carried additional suitable development sites. Current weight given the site’s proximity to grade A supply is only 154,712 square highly deprived areas. metres in nine units. Based on the economic investment in St Helens is of critical importance the need for such investment is so important that green belt land should be used that Parkside is the right location for that investment.

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I N FO G R A P H I C : W A R E H O U S I N G I N T H E U K

The race for space IN 2021, SAVILLS PUBLISHED THE SIZE AND MAKE­UP OF THE UK WAREHOUSING SECTOR ON BEHALF OF THE UK WAREHOUSING ASSOCIATION. THE REPORT, AN UPDATE OF A 2015 ANALYSIS, ILLUSTRATED HOW RAPIDLY THE WAREHOUSING LANDSCAPE IS CHANGING. HERE ARE SOME OF THE KEY FINDINGS. READ THE FULL REPORT: BIT.LY/PLANNER0122­SAVILLS

THE BIG PICTURE

2015

428 MILLION SQUARE FEET

2021

566 MILLION SQUARE FEET

+138

MILLION SQUARE FEET

2015­2021

242% MILLION SQUARE FEET

An expansion in super-sized warehouses has driven growth in the sector: the number of warehouses of 1 million square feet or more increased by 242 per cent from 2015-2021. They now make up 9% of the total stock

Since 2015, the total volume of warehousing in the UK has increased by 32 per cent, or 138 million square feet.

WAREHOUSING REFLECTS CHANGING CONSUMER HABITS

THIRD­PARTY LOGISTICS/ TRANSPORT 75M SQ FT (2015) TO 106M SQ FT (2021)

340,000 sq ft

RETAIL (ONLINE) 8M SQ FT (2015) TO 60M SQ FT (2021) Online retail experienced the biggest growth in warehousing needs between 2015 and 2021, reflecting a radical change in consumer buying habits. The sector’s warehousing requirements expanded by a massive 614%, from 8m sq ft to 60m sq ft.

FROM 217,000 SQ FT IN 2015 Warehouses are getting bigger in general. The average warehouse size has increased from 217,000 sq ft in 2015 to 340,000 sq ft in 2021.

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Third-party logistics has overtaken high street retail as the biggest occupier of warehouse space in Britain, with 106m sq ft of warehousing in 2021, reflecting a 42% growth in footprint.

RETAIL (FOOD) 62M SQ FT (2015) TO 68M SQ FT (2021)

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Source: The size and make-up of the UK warehousing sector - 2021 (Savills, on behalf of the UK Warehousing Association)

STORAGE BY REGION NORTH EAST 10M SQ FT (2015) TO 17M SQ FT (2021)

EAST MIDLANDS 78.5M SQ FT (2015) TO 114M SQ FT (2021)

2015: 428m sq ft total 2021: 566m sq ft total EAST MIDLANDS

WEST MIDLANDS

The East Midlands is the logistics heartland of the l UK, U with 114m sq ft of warehousing, an increase w of o 45% between 2015 and 2021.

2

The East and West Midlands now provide 35% of Britain’s warehouse space.

SOUTH EAST 63M SQ EAS FFT (2015) TO 84M SQ FT (2021)

LONDON 31M SQ FT ( 015) TO 37M (2 (2015) SQ FT (2021)

EAST OF ENGLAND The East of England saw a 41% increase in warehouse space over the period, compared with 28% in the West Midlands. Savills observes that there seems to be a shift eastwards.

EAST OF ENGLAND 18M SQ FT (2015) TO 25M SQ FT (2021 (2021)

WEST MIDLANDS 66M S FT (2015) TO 85M SQ FT (2021)

NORTH EAST The North East experienced the biggest percentage increase in warehouse space over the period (75%, from 10-17m sq ft), largely driven by large-scale fulfilment centres opened

by Amazon.

LONDON AND SOUTH EAST Between them, London and the South East experienced a 29% increase in warehouse space to a combined volume of more than 120m sq ft.

NORTH WEST 66m sq ft (2015) to 80m sq ft (2021) YORKSHIRE AND HUMBER 47M SQ FT (2015) TO 64M SQ FT (2021) SCOTLAND 21m sq ft (2015) to 22m sq ft (2021) WALES 7.2 (m sq ft (2015) 7.8m sq ft (2021) SOUTH WEST 22m sq ft (2015) to 31m sq ft (2021)

FUTURE SPATIAL IMPACTS

RETAIL (HIGH STREET) 84M SQ FT (2015) TO 89M SQ FT (2021) By comparison with online retail, the growth in warehousing requirements for traditional retail has been slight, with just a 5% increase in footprint.

Manufacturing

£1bn

Online retail

£1bn

= 175,000 sq ft = 575,000 sq ft Earlier research by Savills has indicated that for every additional £1bn invested in manufacturing processes, an extra 175,000 sq ft of warehouse space is needed.

Research from Prologis indicates that for every extra £1bn spent online, a further 775,000 sq ft of warehouse space is required.

MANUFACTURING 33M SQ FT (2015) TO 44 M SQ FT (2021)

Housebuilding with road access

AUTOMOTIVE 12M SQ FT (2015) TO 19 M SQ FT (2021)

Changes in retail habits and expansion of the logistics sector will have a significant impact on road use and place design. Savills observes that “While we hear a great deal about building 250,000 new homes each year over the next five years, the fact that this will create a million new delivery points seems to have been largely overlooked”.

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A G E N T O F C H A N G E P R I N CI P LE

When noise

A N N OY S

THE ‘AGENT OF CHANGE’ PRINCIPLE WAS INTRODUCED TO THE NPPF FOLLOWING CAMPAIGNS TO PROTECT SMALL MUSIC VENUES. BUT IT MAY NOT BE HAVING THE DESIRED IMPACT, SAYS SARAH CLOVER

T

he introduction of the ‘agent of change’ principle into the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in 2018 was heralded as a major breakthrough in the protection of music and entertainment venues; but it is questionable whether the celebrations were justified.

The policy amendments were welcomed

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as if they were binding law. But the agent of change principle is policy only and, arguably, existed prior to 2018 without being particularly effective.

It is certainly true that more attention is being paid to the principle in its current iteration in paragraph 182 of the NPPF; but it is a flexible, if not vague, tool and its application in planning decisions is inconsistent, even chaotic. Practitioners

are at the cutting edge of this developing concept and – to a large extent and jointly with decision-makers – are making it up as they go along.

Yet the need for the agent of change principle is undoubted. Our modern imperative for regenerating brownfield, urban spaces to provide new housing nearer to work and transport hubs brings new residential development ever closer I L L U S T R AT I O N | M I C H A E L PA R K I N

02/12/2021 16:01

has depressingly consistent consequences. to longstanding noisy businesses that were never established with sensitive neighbours Noisy entertainment venues obtain premises licences from licensing in mind. departments on the basis that they are The conflict in interests is obvious and approved in areas that are expected to be has been thrown into even sharper focus noisy. Planning departments grant planning by the after-effects of the Covid lockdowns. permission to residential developers who Residents who have tasted previously encroach into those noisy areas which are impossible levels of tranquillity in their often ripe for regeneration and investment. town and city settings are now reluctant to The incentives for any party in that give it up to go back to ‘normal’. Many who exercise to protect the noisy businesses imagined that they would enjoy vibrant may not be high. Planning authorities need and loud city living failed to factor in their housing and economic input. Developers consistent need for sleep and respite. The need profit. The agent balance can be very hard of change principle to achieve and the best “THE AGENT OF comes with a price tag, opportunities to achieve it CHANGE PRINCIPLE which might detract always exist at the outset COMES WITH from the viability of the of development, not years A PRICE TAG, development, or may after everybody has settled WHICH MIGHT come out of the pot in.

DETRACT FROM THE intended for affordable housing or other Noise as nuisance VIABILITY OF THE planning obligations.

A failure to get this right DEVELOPMENT”

Residents move into their new homes, expecting to enjoy the benefits of central urban locations. Over time, their attitude to noise changes, perhaps as life’s burdens, joys and tragedies change their priorities.

People have babies, change jobs, suffer in health, but, rather than contemplate moving, they attack the source of their disturbance – very often with effective results.

Noise nuisance complaints are dealt with by yet another department of the local authority and the environmental health officers are under a statutory duty to assess the levels and impacts of noise, without particular consideration for the licensing or planning decisions that have gone before.

In the absence of any agent of change protection, the statutory noise nuisance regime will take its standard course, and this can prove devastating for the noisy businesses that have remained consistent throughout.

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A G E N T O F C H A N G E P R I N CI P LE

Change agent: Protection in principle The agent of change principle has only ever been reflected in policy to date. What would a statutory principle in primary legislation look like? n The principle would need to be flexible enough to cover all the potential scenarios in which the relevant land use conflicts might arise. n The principle would need to have enough precision to allow decisionmakers to impose clear directions and restrictions on development. n Legislation would need to impose positive duties upon decision-makers and upon developers.

Discretion is unlikely to be effective or consistent. n The duties would involve identifying agent of change scenarios and giving the potential conflicts appropriately detailed analysis, with expert input where required. n There are suitable precedents in the protection of heritage assets and the environment. When the assets are defined in statute they acquire mandatory protection, and decision-makers are under a duty to give that high priority or risk an unlawful decision. n Failures by developers to identify and implement the statutory protections would constitute offences.

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Anticipating these conflicts before the status quo is ever disturbed is clearly the solution, but the particular form that the solution should take is less clear.

There are many possible approaches.

The obvious ones involve insulating the new-build, which will offer the most opportunities to mitigate against incoming noise, with design and building materials, including glazing. This can be achieved with planning conditions, with collaborative acoustic reports usually informing the specifics.

Sometimes, this alone would not be enough, however, and a combined approach can include insulating a particular venue against the escape of its noise, often from a building that was never designed to contain it. In some situations, the incoming developer has offered to incorporate a bespoke new home for the noisy business as part of the mixed use. In other situations, the developer has offered financial compensation to the noise source, to use in such ways as they see fit, to protect themselves.

It should be borne in mind that, in the cases of future complaints of noise nuisance, noise sources have the defence of “best practicable means” at their disposal, if they have done all they can in their particular situation to prevent their sound output causing a nuisance.

One good deed...

Taking that legal protection to the next level, developers have tried to employ

Entertainment venues can generate noise oth inside and outside the venue.

‘deeds of easement’ to offer comfort and protection to noise sources. This is a more complicated and uncertain tool.

Developers lean toward them because it costs them little, but the comfort to venues is also small.

The idea behind a deed of easement is that the developer confirms in a legal document that the noise source shall have the right to continue at the same levels without being at risk of legal challenge or noise nuisance claims arising from the new development. The landowner and developer can be party to the deed, as well as the noisy business.

The difficulty is that the future occupants of the new units are not party to the deed, and, unless they are notified in the terms of their tenancies, will not be aware of the deed, let alone

Various forms of noise mitigation are available to venues, from soundproofing to modern forms of sound containment.

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But what does it mean?

feel bound by it. The ‘poster child’ for deeds of easement, the Ministry of Sound in London, for whom the remedy was essentially invented, found itself on the receiving end of complaints within five years.

Such deeds are, as yet, untested in the courts and have yet to prove themselves against any challenges based upon statutory rights or duties under the noise nuisance legislation.

There is no doubt that the appetite for developing more densely in urban areas will continue. It ticks a lot of sustainability boxes, including bringing people closer to their places of work, education and leisure, and reducing the need to travel, with consequent environmental benefits.

The measures required to make this city living compatible with businesses that have been in situ for a long time, without previously having any need to respond to the sensitivities of residents, are not keeping pace with the rate of change. In reality, all affected parties, including the regulators and decision-makers are only relatively recently waking up to agent of change consequences and attempting to front-load them into planning decisions, rather than just dealing with the enforcement fallout further down the line.

There is much that can be done at the right time, which is at the beginning of the process. As technology develops, there will be even more options to make conflicting land uses compatible with each other. Awareness of the I M AG E S | A L A M Y

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“SUCH DEEDS ARE, AS YET, UNTESTED IN THE COURTS AND HAVE YET TO PROVE THEMSELVES AGAINST ANY CHALLENGES BASED UPON NOISE NUISANCE LEGISLATION”

issues among all parties at an early stage is essential, however, and that is the area of most rapid development.

Often, it is the noise sources who are the best informed of the dangers and consequences of new development arriving on their doorstep, as they have been educated about the potential impacts upon their business.

They have the greatest incentive to intervene, as developers and planners may have other priorities in the planning balance. Once the issues are squarely on the table, then they can be tackled appropriately.

The current weakness in the system is that it is still only policy.

Do we now require primary legislation to put these important issues on a firmer footing?. n Sarah Clover is a barrister with Kings Chambers, specialising in licensing, planning and the agent of change principle. She is a trustee for the Music Venue Trust.

Many associate ‘agent of change’ with the idea that developers of residential units in a noisy area should install mitigation to guard against future complaints, particularly to protect existing businesses such as music venues. It is far more than that. There are many ways to control the relationship between new development and extant noise sources, which provide employment and entertainment that enriches our lives. It’s important we get that relationship right.

The agent of change principle appears in a number of forms in planning policy and guidance, but has no definition within statutory law. The NPPF was amended in 2018 following a private members’ bill tabled

by John Spellar MP to introduce an agent of change to the Planning Act 1990.

The government instead chose to implement additions to the NPPF because of difficulties in introducing primary legislation at that time. Paragraph 182 now reads: “Planning policies and decisions should ensure that new development can be integrated effectively with existing businesses and community facilities (such as places of worship, pubs, music venues and sports clubs). Existing businesses and facilities should not have unreasonable restrictions placed on them as a result of development permitted after they were established. Where the operation of an existing business or community facility could have a significant adverse effect on new development (including changes of use) in its vicinity, the applicant (or ‘agent of change’) should be required to provide suitable mitigation before the development has been completed.”

The principle is unspecific, but is being used creatively, from insulating new builds and noise sources, to negotiating financial exchanges, planning conditions, section 106 agreements, deeds of easement and more.

This variability is both strength and weakness, as practitioners struggle for precedents and consistency in an evolving area. The goal is any arrangement that secures harmonious future co-existence of noise sources and receptors. Conversely, if that appears to be unachievable, the agent of change principle has been proving effective as a reason to refuse development entirely, and there is now a notable body of appeal decisions demonstrating this in action.

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A G E N T O F C H A N G E P R I N CI P LE

When noise annoys: the Three times ti th agentt of change principle was used to protect a music venue 2021: The Vestry, Chichester R (oao) Parkview Homes Limited (Claimant) v Chichester District Council (Defendant) & Sussex Inns Ltd (Interested Party) [2021] EWHC 59 (Admin) The interested party operated the Vestry as a nightclub and music venue. The claimant was granted planning permission to convert the neighbouring property into residential units. The Vestry sought to protect its position with a s.73 variation to its own planning permission to regularise its operation.

The council’s environmental health team concluded that the residential development could probably be mitigated against sound coming from the Vestry, but it would be challenging. The council only sought to address this challenge by requiring the Vestry to achieve certain sound output limits, without specifying how this could be done or pinning the methodology down in conditions.

The judge overturned the council’s decision on the basis that officers clearly acknowledged the importance of ensuring the protection of residential amenity from noise but failed to identify a clear path to achieving this.

2019:1000 Trades,, Birmingham In December 2019, 1000 Trades, a licensed live music venue in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, relied on the agent of change principle to resist conversion of the office block next door into residential development. Until 2016, the council had always confirmed prior approval for permitted development at this site. The developer needed to reapply, but the council refused.

At appeal, the developer claimed that proposed mitigation works would protect future residents, as well as the operation of local licensed businesses. The sound insulation they proposed would be adequate and residents would sensibly keep windows closed at times of high noise output from their musical neighbours.

The inspector disagreed, saying: “The mitigation proposed is compromised by its reliance on the actions of a third party, namely the future occupiers, which is beyond the control of either the appellant (the developer seeking to build the flats) or the council.”

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2014: Ministry of Sound, London A deed of easement to protect noise output was first used between the Ministry of Sound nightclub and the owners of Eileen House in Southwark in 2014.

The residential development was important enough as a symbol of urban regeneration for the Mayor of London to mediate a solution. The consequent deed purported to grant an easement to the nightclub, conferring g the right to continue to create the same levels of sound across the developer’s land nd with no risk of complaints from new residents.

But future residents are not signatories to the deed and have statutory rights to complain about noise, which regulators must pursue. The first complaint came within five years. The use of deeds of easement in this context is as yet untested in courts and will have to contend with competing private law rights in nuisance law and regulatory law rights bestowed by local authorities in planning and licensing. These rights are complicated to mediate, as was fully recognised by the Supreme Court in Coventry v Lawrence [2014] UKSC 13.

I M AG E S | A L A M Y

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10 PRINCIPLES FOR PUBLIC­MINDED PLANNING TECHNOLOGY A NEW WAVE OF DIGITAL PLANNING INITIATIVES IS CHANGING THE WAY PLANNERS WORK. BUT TO WHAT END? AS CLAIRE DANIEL EXPLAINS, PLANNERS MAY NEED NEW PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE THEM THROUGH THE EMERGING DIGITAL LANDSCAPE In 2021 the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) adopted 10 principles to help the profession navigate digital transformation.

These represent the start of a coherent conversation in Australia about the likely impacts of digital change.

In creating them, we have joined a global conversation already under way in the UK. The principles form a strong foundation for PIA’s plantech work but we also hope they will be useful more broadly as we all work to protect the integrity of planning processes and achieve the best outcomes for our communities and places.

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Planners must be prepared for widereaching change to their daily work We don’t want to be caught out by technology that will automate bureaucratic and administrative tasks that occupy a large proportion of planning work. We also want to be able to take advantage of new capabilities to improve how planning is done.

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Planners must be central to the design of digital planning infrastructure Digital systems are increasingly shaping how we communicate and make decisions. It is

The UK’s plantech pioneers The UK Plantech community is always generous with sharing its experiences and expertise.

In sharing these principles, Claire Daniel would like to acknowledge the influence of Stefan Webb, Euan Mills, Paul Downey, Natalie Record, Will Squires, Nissa Shahid, Jack Ricketts, James Harris, Alastair Parvin and more.

I M AG E | I STO C K

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LANDSCAPE P36 TECH P38 DECISIONS P42 LEGAL P 5 0 W H AT ' S O N important that planners are involved in the design process to ensure that new applications are fit for purpose and allow planners to do their best work.

Digital thinking: Australia vs UK Although many principles are the same in the application of tech to planning between Australia and the UK, practicalities are different.

A large portion of Australia’s planning system consists of prescriptive zoning and development codes: these are potentially easier to digitise and thus increase the urgency of addressing impacts from automation.

Australia also has state governments, an intermediate level of government with authority to determine standard planning processes.

On the other hand, with less obvious pathways to digitisation, the UK may have an easier time of reinventing a more civic-centred digitally enabled system, and is backed by a larger network of civic innovation organisations who are considered world-leading in this type of work.

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Digital planning infrastructure should be public infrastructure built with open technology It is easy to focus on specific and novel applications, such as digital twins, but widespread innovation will be reliant on an open foundation of machine-readable rules, data, transactions, and content.

Where public funding is used in the development of new digital tools, these should be provided as open source.

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Ambitious programmes can be implemented to improve social and environmental outcomes The automation of administrative and bureaucratic tasks provides us with an opportunity to reallocate our time to more important and challenging work, such as planning for climate change. It is important that we are active in shaping this transition, as we should not assume that it will happen automatically.

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Outcomes for communities and places must be considered alongside efficiency of approval processes in the development of digital planning systems Most digital planning initiatives have been driven by efficiency improvements to development management systems.

But the speed at which a development is approved tells us nothing about how sustainable it is – or how it contributes to the broader community. These considerations need to be included upfront in the design of digital systems.

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Ethics, accountability and transparency must be built into digital decision systems Planning is public purpose work. We make decisions on public resource allocation with and on behalf of the community and therefore need to make sure that the technology we use is governed in the public interest and supports democratic decision making.

We need to ensure that assisted or automated decision-making systems and

models, whether in policy development or development management, are open source, decisions are explained in plain language, and that accessible pathways are open for appeal and human review.

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Digital planning applications should be developed in a humancentric way Too often in the design of planning systems we have addressed only what we as the administrators need, resulting in long and complex policies, forms and processes that are difficult for anyone without a planning degree to navigate.

As with good urban design, good digital design puts the user at the centre. We need to do that, too, as we digitise our interfaces to the community.

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Communication of planning content and processes to nonplanners should be reimagined Digitisation projects offer us a chance to reimagine how we communicate planning. Digital platforms allow us to develop tools to help people to navigate the planning system, get the information they need and have agency in decisionmaking processes.

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Collaboration should be prioritised in the development of underlying digital planning infrastructure When it comes to digital planning there are many common problems faced by planning authorities at all levels of government, and even planning

organisations, worldwide. Collaboration will result in better solutions and save unnecessary duplication.

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A culture of innovation and sharing should be promoted Innovation relies on our ability to freely share our work, ideas and mistakes. As professionals working within public and private organisations, political and commercial considerations often restrict us from doing so. We need to change this if we are to realise the full value of a digital planning system that works for our communities and places.

If there is one thing planners should take away, it is that their role in digital transformation extends beyond office productivity; it requires us to consider how values are encoded into digitised systems to guarantee good planning outcomes.

Despite differences in the planning systems in Australia and the UK, the need to use open technology for greater transparency and accessibility is the same.

Above all, as our more mundane tasks are automated, we must be intentional in how we orientate our work to tackle the bigger issues of sustainability that affect us all.

n Claire Daniel is an urban planner and computer programmer undertaking a PhD at the University of New South Wales.

She chaired the NSW PlanTech group that developed the first draft of these principles.

To read more about the principles visit the PIA website: bit.ly/planner0122-plantech

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CASES &DECISIONS

A N A LY S E D B Y H U W M O R R I S / A P P E A L S @ T H E P L A N N E R . C O . U K

Recovered: Pincher backs inspector and rejects Tulip development Housing minister Christopher Pincher has dismissed an appeal for the Tulip building after agreeing with an inspector that the proposal would cause considerable harm to the Tower of London.

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Joel Semakula is a barrister with Landmark Chambers

( “Of greatest interest to me was how the decision dealt with design and sustainability issues which we see cropping up more and more. As to design, developers will take heed of the emphasis placed on the recent revisions to the NPPF which the secretary of state considered made clear that design quality is fundamental to what the planning and development process should achieve. ( “In addition, this appeal will serve as warning to developers who conduct review panels with the local community as part of the design process but fail to have regard to the outcomes from these processes.

LOCATION: London EC3A 5AX AUTHORITY: City of London Corporation

INSPECTOR: David Nicholson PROCEDURE: Recovered appeal DECISION: Dismissed REFERENCE: APP/ K5030/W/20/3244984

is “not whether some aspects would be left untouched, but the importance of what would be affected”.

The open sky around the White Tower would be severely affected and the extent to which the scheme’s

height and location would detract from the ToL would be significant. The proposal would also disrupt the sensitive balance between the City and the WHS. Pincher said the WHS’s significance as a whole “would not be drained away but the contribution provided by its setting would be much reduced”, agreeing with the inspector that the weight given to this level of harm “should be very considerable”. There would also be harm to the settings of other heritage assets.

The minister added that the Tulip would appear different and separate from the rest of the “cluster” of nearby tall buildings. The scheme would “appear to challenge for the dominance of the cluster rather than seek to

( “In this appeal, the issue of design quality was connected to the sustainability of the scheme.

Developers should pay close attention to the secretary of state’s finding that little thought had been given to how the building would function over its extended lifetime and the concerns raised that there were no plans for its reuse once it had served its purpose or for its demolition.

Read the full comment on our website bit.ly/planner0122­tulip

merge into it”, and would have a significant impact on the setting of the ToL as seen from the South Bank.

The proposal would conflict with several policies under the New London Plan and the local plan, and the appeal scheme should not gain support from the NPPF. The appeal was dismissed.

I M AG E S | G E T T Y / A L A M Y

Inspector David Nicholson had rejected the appeal

by Bury Street Properties (Luxembourg) against the refusal by the City of London Corporation. The appeal site area is around 0.29 hectares covering 20 Bury Street and the area to the north and east of 30 St Mary Axe, popularly known as The Gherkin.

The scheme, designed

by Foster + Partners, would involve demolishing and replacing buildings and structures on the site with a mixed-use visitor attraction of 305.3 metres in height. This would include viewing areas, an education and community facility, restaurant and bar, a groundfloor shop, and a two-storey pavilion building comprising the principal visitor attraction entrance.

Following a direction by the Mayor of London, the City of London refused the application, citing the scheme’s impact on the Tower of London World Heritage Site (ToL WHS) and its design, among other reasons.

Making the decision on behalf of communities secretary Michael Gove, Pincher said the key point for understanding the significance of the ToL WHS

EXPERT COMMENT

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40 or so appeal reports are posted each month on our website: www.theplanner.co.uk/decisions. Our Decisions Digest newsletter, sponsored by Landmark Chambers, is sent out every Monday. Sign up: bit.ly/planner-newsletters

Dorset housing scheme allowed on ‘tilted balance’ Permission has been granted for an outline application for 114 homes in Dorset, an inspector deciding it was sustainable development under the ‘tilted balance’.

LOCATION: Stalbridge, Dorset AUTHORITY: Dorset Council

Government dismisses the Westferry extension appeal Plans for a mixed-use development at Westferry Printworks in East London have been dismissed in a recovered appeal for its harm to the area’s character and designated heritage assets.

The Westferry Developments scheme would have comprised 1,524 homes, shops, offices, workspaces, financial services, restaurants, cafés and bars on a 5-hectare site bounded on its southern side by the Millwall Outer Dock, beyond which are predominantly residential areas. Five towers would have ranged from 18 to 43 floors at up to 155 metres in height.

The site is 1.4km from the Greenwich World Heritage Site (WHS) and would be visible from London Bridge towards the Tower of London WHS and grade I listed Tower Bridge.

The appeal had been recovered by former communities secretary Robert Jenrick, who had overturned an inspector’s rejection of the scheme before that decision was quashed by the High Court last May and the appeal redetermined.

In a letter on behalf of secretary of state Michael Gove, minister for rough sleeping Phil Barber said the proposal’s scale, height and massing would harm the area’s appearance.

As the council’s latest housing delivery test result is less than 75 per cent of that needed, and because a five-year housing land supply can no longer be proved, LOCATION: Westferry Road, London paragraph 11(d) of the NPPF indicates that AUTHORITY: London Borough of Tower Hamlets permission should be granted. But failure to INSPECTOR: David Prentis preserve the settings of the Old Royal Naval PROCEDURE: Recovered appeal College and Tower Bridge, both grade I listed, and DECISION: Dismissed the WHS sites, meant that the scheme’s benefits did REFERENCE: APP/ not outweigh its harm.

E5900/W/19/3225474 The appeal was dismissed.

INSPECTOR: Richard Aston PROCEDURE: Inquiry DECISION: Allowed REFERENCE: APP/ D1265/W/20/3265743

Land Value Alliances had appealed against Dorset Council’s refusal of its scheme, which included 2,000 square metres of employment space and a shop, outside the settlement boundary of Stalbridge.

The North Dorset Local Plan aims to focus development towards the main towns of Blandford, Gillingham, Shaftesbury and Sturminster. Separate policies focus growth towards 18 larger villages, including Stalbridge, where the emphasis is on meeting local rather than strategic need.

The appellant had argued that the policies are out of date, and any harm is

outweighed by the need for market and affordable housing in the context of a 3.3-year housing land supply.

Inspector Richard Aston said that key to the appeal is the weight given to the scheme’s adverse impacts and benefits in the ‘tilted balance’. The policies do not set out blanket restrictions on development and allow for proposals in the countryside where they meet rural needs. Up to 114 homes would contribute towards addressing the shortfall, he said. Provision of 40 per cent affordable homes in Stalbridge would address the area's high level of need.

Harm and conflicts from the proposals would “simply not be as significant as the council contends” and not demonstrably outweigh benefits when assessed against policies in the NPPF considered as a whole.

As such the proposal would be the sustainable development for which paragraph 11d)ii. of the NPPF indicates a presumption in favour. The inspector allowed the appeal.

Read the full story: bit.ly/ planner0122-stalbridge

Read the full story: bit. ly/planner0122-westferry

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C&D { C Gove backs dismissal of Kent scheme over harm to landscape

Riverside Area of Local Landscape Importance (ALLI) as defined by a Local Plan policy and is a valued landscape under the NPPF. Gove agreed with the inspector’s finding that the scheme would have a substantial adverse landscape and visual impact.

The harm would not only be to its landscape importance but also to its function as a green buffer, bringing the scheme into conflict with several local policies.

About 96 per cent of the land at the site is classed

Canterbury tale of Whitstable oysters ends in appeals triumph Appeals by three Whitstable companies against enforcement action over special trestles built to cultivate and farm the town’s world-famous oysters have succeeded, with planning permission granted.

Whitstable Oyster Company, Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company and Whitstable Oyster Trading Company had appealed against enforcement notices by Canterbury City Council.

The Whitstable oyster has a globally recognised and controlled Protected Geographical Indication.

The trestles lie between the mean low-water mark and the mean high-water mark on the foreshore of the Swale Estuary opposite the town. The estuary falls within a Special Protection Area (SPA), a Site of Special

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Scientific Interest (SSSI), a RAMSAR site and a Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ).

During the course of the appeal and inquiry, the appellants and Natural

LOCATION: Rainham, Gillingham, Kent AUTHORITY: Medway Council REPORTER: Mrs JA Vyse PROCEDURE: Recovered appeal DECISION: Dismissed REFERENCE: APP/ A2280/W/20/3259868

England agreed on the development’s likely effects on the ecology of the SPA and RAMSAR site. Natural England no longer believed the trestles would have an adverse effect on sites protected by the Habitats Regulations 2017 or the SSSI and the MCZ. Canterbury, therefore, had no planning objections to the trestles. But the parties agreed that the notices should not be withdrawn because the appellants would then have to begin applying for planning permission again.

As most of the oyster farm lies outside control of the planning regime, inspector Katie Peerless saw no reason to refuse permission on the grounds of harm to the area’s ecology or to the wider protected designations.

The trestles boost the town’s economy and oyster

as either grade 1 or grade 2. Gove agreed that there is a good prospect for the land to be farmed “in such a way that it realises a reasonable profit”. The loss of a significant area of highquality land would bring it into conflict with paragraph 174b) of the NPPF. Gove opted to dismiss the appeal owing to its significant landscape harm and severe impacts on the road network.

SHUTTERSTOCK / GETTY / ALAMY / ISTOCK

Inspector JA Vyse had dismissed the appeal by AC Goatham & Son against Medway Council’s refusal of its redevelopment of land off Pump Lane. The scheme consists of up to 1,250 homes, a local centre – with final uses to be determined at a later stage – a village green, a primary school, a 60-bed extra care facility, an 80-bed care home and access.

The appeal site is outside any settlement boundary and lies in open countryside. The site also forms a significant part of the Gillingham

Read the full story: bit.ly/planner0122-medway

I M AG E S |

Communities secretary Michael Gove has accepted an inspector’s recommendation and dismissed an appeal for a major development near Rainham after finding that the scheme would contravene local and national policy.

production accounts for 15 per cent of the total value of oyster exports from the UK each year so, she ruled, the appeals should succeed.

Read the full story: bit.ly/ planner0122-oyster

LOCATION: Whitstable Beach, Whitstable Foreshore, Kent CT5 1EG

AUTHORITY: Canterbury City Council INSPECTOR: Katie Peerless PROCEDURE: Inquiry DECISION: Allowed REFERENCE: APP/ J2210/C/18/3209297; APP/ J2210/C/18/3209299; APP/ J2210/C/18/3209300

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DECISIONS DIGEST{

SUBSCRIBE to our appeals digest:

https://subs.theplanner. g co.uk/register

Takeaway change of use allowed ed with children’s health condition on Planning permission has been granted for the change of use of a commercial unit to a takeaway food restaurant in Bradford after the contending ng parties agreed a condition that it would only offer deliveries. es. bit.ly/planner0122-takeaway bit.ly/planner0122-takeawa yp ay y

Minister refuses permission for St Helens Green Belt warehouse Outline planning permission for a major warehouse in the St Helens Green Belt has been refused after a minister decided the proposal significantly conflicted with national and local policies. bit.ly/planner0122-sthelens

Helicopter hangar approved app as essential to rural business

Minister approves crucial M Merseyside link road M

A plan for the change of use of land near Aylesford in Kent to build Ayle a helicopter hangar has been approved after an inspector said the proposal was justified and essential to the running of a quarry.

Planning permission has P been granted for a single b carriageway link road on c Merseyside after a minister M ruled that the scheme r would be crucial to the w regeneration of the former r Parkside Colliery as well as P the t wider economy. bit.ly/planner0122-mersey b

Government endorses Parkside de Colliery regeneration on The first phase of the regeneration on of the former Parkside Colliery ry on Merseyside has been granted ed planning permission after ter the government approved the he recovered appeal. al. https://bit.ly/planner0122-colliery ry y

Secretary of state allows Herne Bay community proposal Levelling-up and communitiess secretary Michael Gove has allowed a proposal for a major mixed-use development at Herne Bay in Kent after deciding that the scheme complies with the development plan. bit.ly/planner0122-herne

Pincher denies permission for Brighton Marina scheme Housing minister Christopher Pincher has backed an inspector’s recommendations and dismissed an appeal for a residential-led, mixed-use development at Brighton Marina Outer Harbour. bit.ly/planner0122-marina

R Romford marquee passes sspecial test for green belt ddevelopment

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Planning permission has been granted for a major extension to Warrington after ministers supported an inspector’s decision to allow an appeal. https://bit.ly/planner0122-warrington

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Government backs 1,200 home extension to Warrington

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A temporary marquee in Romford’s green belt has been R granted planning permission g ffor ‘very special circumstances tto justify the development’ by promoting the inclusion of the p Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic B ((BAME) community. bit.ly/planner0122-romford b

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LLegal landscape OPINION

Biodiversity net gain will have to overcome many uncertainties The mandating of biodiversity net gain in the Environment Act 2021 presents significant challenges to developers, landowners and local authorities, says Alice Davidson. It’ll take political will to overcome the uncertainties surrounding the scheme The Environment Act 2021 represents a significant shake-up of procedures for many – from the ecologists, who view it as the most important conservation policy initiative in 30 years, to the government, for whom this is a major plank of the 25-year environment plan. And, of course, for the developers and landowners whose deals and developments will be looked at in a different light.

From November 2023, revisions to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 require a mandatory 10 per cent biodiversity net gain (BNG) on new development.

The legal requirement for a minimum of 10 per cent to be implemented in under two years is already affecting land sales and masterplanning. Many of its implications remain unknown.

The first is the extent to which BNG will be provided on-site (as meadows, wetlands, allotments and green roofs); off-site (by the developer purchasing, creating and managing habitats or paying a landowner to do so); or through the purchase of biodiversity credits to fund off-site habitat

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recent investigation by the enhancements.

BBC, only 17 per cent have an Defra estimates that 75 in-house ecologist. per cent of habitat creation Farmed land (77 per could take place on-site. cent of the UK’s landmass) This is the second unknown: is thought most likely to each planning application accommodate off-site BNG, is unique. The propensity through a contract between for ‘greener’ developments developer and landowner. to attract higher prices (or But the selection of land alternatively for higher for this purpose will be densities to be achieved dependent on its proximity on developable areas of to the development site: the site), the suitability of adjacent land attracts sites for biodiverse features, a higher the resulting score under viability (and Biodiversity therefore “CAN WE Metric 3.0. planning SUCCESSFULLY Landowners gain), the CREATE HOMES FOR impact on land FIRST TIME BUYERS face dilemmas based on transactions, WHILE CREATING unknowns. not to mention HABITATS FOR The shake-up the availability FROGS?” of farming and costs of offfollowing site provision cessation of (which no the Common doubt will Agricultural change with Policy has led to a plethora increased demand) – these of options to diversify, are all significant factors. from ELMs payments to Local planning authorities alternative energy. But will be the arbiters of BNG hosting BNG credits is a but their motivations will 30-year commitment and a vary depending on the significant undertaking at relative demand for green times of considerable change. spaces and housing and the The propensity of BNG to weight given to biodiversity halt biodiversity loss (which, in their local plan. Needless as a product of climate to say, already overstretched change is an ambitious target local authorities will be in itself) depends on many affected; according to a

factors: the need for a joinedup approach across local authorities, a willingness by developers not to ‘play the system’; a robust process for verifying and enforcing biodiversity in the long term.

It is also dependent on competing political ambitions. Until now, the predominant issue in planning was the housing crisis. Can we successfully create homes for firsttime buyers while creating habitats for frogs? Can 10 per cent more biodiversity be achieved without a 10 per cent hike in house prices?

There are many unknowns to be addressed before November 2023.

Alice Davidson is an associate director at Boyer.

In brief The new environment act mandates 10 per cent biodiversity net gain from November 2023 It’s unclear what form(s) this will take Success will depend on local authority resourcing, collaboration, robust monitoring and the balancing of political goals.

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EVENTS

CASES

LEGISLATION

NEWS

ANALYSIS

NEWS Permission for 39 homes granted on appeal quashed by High Court The High Court has quashed a decision by a planning inspector to allow a developer to build 39 homes near Clitheroe owing to a misreading of policy.

Developer Oakmere Homes (NW) Limited sought to build on land near Clitheroe. Alongside the homes, plans featured landscaping, associated works and an access route from the junction of Chatburn Road and Pimlico Link Road.

Had the council determined the application, it said the planning committee would have rejected it for being in an unsuitable location. The core strategy seeks to protect the open countryside from development.

Policy DMG2 supports the core strategy’s DS1, which sets out that development proposals in principal settlements such as Clitheroe should “consolidate, expand or round-off development so that it is closely related to the main built-up areas”.

Development should be in keeping with the existing settlement.

Inspector Graeme Robbie allowed the appeal against the council’s failure to give notice of a decision within the prescribed period. He also concluded that the development would consolidate development in a manner closely related to the main built-up area of Clitheroe.

In the case, Ribble Valley Borough Council maintained that the inspector had erred in law, deciding that he had misinterpreted local planning policy set out in the area’s core strategy.

Judge Bird considered the planning inspector’s decision to be “firmly rooted in a misunderstanding of the policy and so must be quashed”.

Judge throws out ministerial intervention over County Cork development plan A High Court judge has upheld a challenge by Cork County Council over a ministerial direction requiring it to ditch a change to its development plan on retail policy. The action had been requested by the Office of the Planning Regulator in what was the first flexing of its strongest power.

Regulator Niall Cussen said the change to the development plan was premature and should not have been made prior to an updated joint retail strategy for the entire Cork metropolitan area, as required by ministerial retail planning guidelines. The council insisted that its proposed plan changes took account of the vitality/viability criteria for city and town centres in government planning guidelines.

Mr Justice Richard Humphreys said the minister and the planning regulator had made a fundamental mistake, adding that specific planning policy requirements (SPPRs) were mandatory, but otherwise the duty in relation to them is to “have regard to them, not to comply with them”. He complained that the OPR and the minister had tried to “turbocharge non-binding guidelines” by drawing the conclusion that non-compliance contributed to a conclusion that the council was in breach of section 10 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 relating to setting out an overall strategy for sustainable development.

The judge added: “While it sounds slightly metaphysical, the duty therefore, is to have regard to the minister’s view that certain things should be done. That is fundamentally different from a duty to do those things. The basic problem for the OPR and the minister here is that the council did not fail to consider and have regard to the minister’s views as set out in the guidelines.”

It would, he said, be helpful for the practical functioning of local government if there was a “clear and workable distinction between matters that local authorities are required to have regard to and matters that are mandatory”.

The OPR told The Planner: “The Office of the Planning Regulator notes the outcome of the High Court judicial review between Cork County Council (applicant) and the Minister for Housing Local Government and Heritage, Ireland and the Attorney General (Respondents) and the OPR (Respondents) [2021 No.189 JR] on Variation No.2 of the Cork County Development Plan 2014 concerning retail outlet centres. The office is… studying the judgment and its implications and will be making no further comment at this time.”

LEGAL BRIEFS Court of Appeal agrees to hear nitrate neutrality case An expedited appeal will reconsider the ruling of Mr Justice Jay in R (Wyatt) v Fareham Borough Council concerning advice from Natural England around the impact of new housing on nitrates in the solent, reports Local Government Lawyer. https://bit.ly/planner0122-nitrate

NPF4 - Planning for housing in Scotland Burges Salmon’s Lynsey Reid analyses the likely impact of Scotland’s fourth National Planning Framework on housing delivery, with emphasis on targets, 20-minute neighbourhoods, affordable housing and housing for the elderly and disabled. https://bit.ly/planner0122-reid

Consultation: Planning legislation and policy for second homes and short-term holiday lets in Wales The Welsh Government is inviting comment on proposals to restrict second homes and short-term holiday lets in Wales. The consultation closes on 22 February 2022. https://bit.ly/planner0122-holiday

Online CPD masterclass: Environmental Impact Assessments Starting 26 January 2022, this RTPI CPD masterclass will take place over eight weeks, with two interactive webinars and learning resources hosted on the RTPI Learn platform. https://bit.ly/planner0122-eia

The Landmark Listen: Planning Podcast - Episode 1 Catch up with the launch episode of Landmark Chambers’ new planning podcast, in which barristers Sasha White QC and Anjoli Foster discuss the pros and cons of virtual inquiries, with an eye on quality of advocacy, questioning, presentation of evidence and equality.. https://bit.ly/planner0122-landmark

A final assessment of COP26 Writing for The Planner, Estelle Dehon of Cornerstone Barristers offers her breakdown of the Glasgow Climate Pact, touching on transparency, the preservation of the 1.5 degrees goal, climate finance, carbon markets and fossil fuels. https://bit.ly/planner0122-cop26

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NEWS RTPI news pages are edited

by Dominic Brady at the RTPI, 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL

RTPI announces three new Fellows The RTPI would like to congratulate Claire Day, Professor Mee Kam Ng and Jeremy Youle, who have all earned fellowships with the Royal Town Planning Institute.

Chartered Fellow is the highest professional membership grade offered by the RTPI and is only awarded to Chartered members who have made a major personal contribution to the planning profession for the benefit of the public.

Claire Day, Director and Co-founder of Hybrid Planning & Development Ltd, said: “The RTPI is an organisation I’ve admired all my life; my father was a member for 62 years and his influence led me to a career in planning.

Collectively, the RTPI is the most incredible resource of knowledge, ideas, best practice and like-minded planners, and I’m so honoured to now represent the organisation as a Fellow.

“It’s my intention to use this position to continue promoting the profession

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and attracting new talent, especially young women, into the industry.

“There is so much positive change we can make – not just for future generations but in shaping communities, environments, and sustainable places to live, work and play.”

Mee Kam Ng, Vice-Chairman, Department of Geography and Resource Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong, said: “I am deeply honoured to be elected as a Fellow of the RTPI. This honour not only represents an acknowledgement of my works over the past few decades but it also serves as strong encouragement to my continued commitment to spatial planning practices that endeavour to bring about an ecological and humane urbanism.”

Jeremy Youle, Professional Lead for Local Plans, Planning Inspectorate, said: “I am very proud to have been elected and I would like to thank those who nominated me. I have been privileged

to work with some fantastic planning professionals in the inspectorate and in local and national government.

“Being a planner can be tough because we often find ourselves in a whirlwind of contention and complexity.

However, it’s an important job and one which offers the chance to make a real difference.”

RTPI President Wei Yang, herself a fellow of the Institute, said: “I would like to congratulate Claire, Mee Kam and Jeremy on this achievement.

“The award of RTPI Fellowship recognises the significant contribution to planning and the planning profession that these three individuals have made.

I look forward to congratulating the new Fellows in person in the future and presenting their Fellowship certificates in due course.” n For more information on becoming a Chartered Fellow of the RTPI, visit: bit.ly/planner0122-fellows

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Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk

RTPI (switchboard) T: 020 7929 9494

Registered charity no.

262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841

MY VIEW ON… THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT’S 4TH NATIONAL PLANNING FRAMEWORK Barbara Cummins, Convener of RTPI Scotland considers the potential impact of the Scottish Government’s draft fourth national planning framework “I am sure that planning professionals across the country will very much welcome the direction of travel signalled through the draft document. There is much to support in its commitment to tackling the climate crisis through the draft’s policies saying that significant weight should be given to the global climate emergency in development, to minimise emissions and to enhance biodiversity. We welcome the importance being attached to place-based approaches, especially by embedding the 20-minute neighbourhood approach and having

stronger presumption against out-oftown retail. However, if these policies are to have the impact we want, there is a need to ensure that there is both a capital investment programme working alongside the NPF and an investment in planning services to ensure we have the planners we need to deliver them.

“It is also good to see the collaborative ambitions of the draft through the importance it attaches to human rights, engaging communities and working across organisations, and to using planning to support community wealth-building. In delivering this draft the Scottish Government has worked closely with the profession and others, building on their thoughts and

knowledge. We would like to see this develop further through the discussion and consultation on the draft and call on planners, politicians and people from all walks of life to contribute to a constructive and stimulating national debate that will ultimately shape the future of Scotland.”

POSITION POINTS

HOLIDAY HOMES IN WALES ROISIN WILLMOTT, DIRECTOR, RTPI CYMRU AND NORTHERN IRELAND RTPI Cymru supports the Welsh Government’s three-pronged approach incorporating taxation measures, a registration scheme and planning measures. We also support ongoing actions to address housing supply and affordability.

While an amendment to the Use Classes Order could offer a relatively quick change and appear to offer the solution, this would be difficult to evidence and enforce. It would also need to be applied across the whole of Wales in a blanket approach and not provide the targeted approach needed.

Our recommendation to the Welsh Government would be to focus their efforts on the planning measures to bring forward legislation to change the definition of development, to include short-term holiday lets.

Read the RTPI’s full report on Welsh holiday homes: bit.ly/planner0122-waleslets

FUNDING THE SCOTTISH PLANNING SERVICE CRAIG MCLAREN, DIRECTOR, RTPI SCOTLAND Limited resources and ambition to support planning to deliver quality outcomes can create a vicious cycle of low-quality development and reduced confidence in the planning system and local authorities.

In total, we estimate that to undertake its core statutory functions the planning system requires at least £86 million over the parliamentary term. While much of this essential resource can be met with an increase in fees, over £24 million needs funding from the Scottish Budget over the parliamentary term. This would equate to an approximately 40 per cent net revenue increase to the planning system over the next five years but in terms of budgetary asks for the annual increase of local government block grants and funds, it would equate to just 0.01 per cent of the total Scottish Budget 20/21.

Read the RTPI’s full briefing paper: bit.ly/planner0122-scotplan

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NEWS

Awards opening soon with a refreshed approach Now in their 45th year, the RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence continue to recognise and reward the brightest talent in the profession; the most outstanding projects, teams and people helping to transform economies, environments, and communities. Entering the Awards for Planning Excellence offers is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate your professional achievements and showcase your work.

For 2022, we’re refreshing the awards to provide a more seamless entry process. The open for entries and closing date are the same across the RTPI. The entries will be judged locally with the winners being presented in a series of

ceremonies across the nations and regions in the summer.

The winners and topscoring entries across all categories will go through to the national finals, culminating in a national ceremony towards the end of the year, where we will announce all our overall category winners as well as award the Silver Jubilee Cup to the project deemed the most outstanding of all the project category winners.

The Awards for Planning Excellence are free to enter. You can start your entry on our online platform from 10 January

until mid-March, saving and making as many changes as you like until the entry deadline. We wish all entrants the very best of luck. n For more details visit: bit.ly/planner0122-excellence

Chief planners of tomorrow The RTPI’s Chief Planners of Tomorrow scheme for the first half of the year is now under way and applications for the second half of 2022 will soon be open.

Chief Planners of Tomorrow is a work-shadowing scheme offering RTPI Young Planners the chance to step into the shoes of a chief planning officer for the day.

The aim is to give participants opportunity to: • Learn from the best – those who currently hold senior leadership roles in local authorities.

• Understand what it’s like to be ‘at

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the top table’' – the challenges and opportunities.

• See how strategic decisionmaking processes are made at the top level.

The initiative builds on work undertaken by the RTPI to champion good leadership in planning and to provide our chief planners of the future with development opportunities.

To apply, or for more information about the scheme please contact: chiefplanners@ rtpi.org.uk

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NEW MEMBERS

Ballot on governance changes opens this month

NEW CHARTERED MEMBERS Congratulations to the following planners who were recently elected to Chartered membership of the RTPI

London Henry Brown Adam Garcia Maria Gumpert Isabel Pan Paul Harwood Farhana Hussain William Palmer Max Tolley Shanali Counsell Orla Murphy Laura Tinker James Wells South East Peter Davis Zarreen Hadadi Olivia Hazell Joseph Kelly Luqmaan Kholwadia Kayleigh Taylor Senjuti Manna

Following an announcement last year about proposed changes to the RTPI’s governance structures, members are now invited to cast their votes.

The proposals involve changes to the size of the RTPI’s Board of Trustees, a recalibration of the General Assembly and a series of changes to the Institute’s byelaws and regulations.

The ballot is open from 5 January to 2 February 2022.

Both the Board of Trustees and the General Assembly strongly recommend that members should vote in favour of the resolution.

These changes will bring the Institute into line with current best practice guidelines issued by the Charity Commission, increasing transparency, accountability and good governance.

The RTPI says that a smaller Board of Trustees will mean more efficient and agile decision-making and that the changes will also give both the Board and the General Assembly renewed focus on the major issues that affect the profession.

The announcement of the ballot follows an independent review by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and a lengthy consultation process with members. n For more information on the proposed changes please visit: bit.ly/planner0122-changeballot

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South West Natasha Abbott Anthony Cogan Oliver Haydon Katherine Pelton

Emma Reid Daniel Thorning Christopher Bedekovic Edward Snook Sean Williams East Midlands Jennifer Blair Christopher Green William Lloyd Molly Phillips Nicola Reyman Jennifer Harris East of England Vanessa Gordon Ruth Gunton Nicole Norman Charlotte Powell Ben Burgess Samantha Jones Jack Wilkinson North East Patrick Johnston Robin Edge

West Midlands Chantal Blair Louise Dale North West Christie Fraser Hannah Rodger Robert Clarke Scotland David Haney Erin Hynes Wales/Cymru Emily Currie Bradley Ferguson Northern Ireland John Bronte International Yeung Mei Cheung Ho Chung Lok Tai Joon Sik Kim Eloise Rousseau

IN MEMORIAM John Frederick Norman Collins OBE DipArch(Birm) SPDip RIBA FRTPI Mr Collins, former President of the RTPI between 1980-82, passed away peacefully on 23 October 2021. He was a devoted husband, father to six, grandfather to thirteen and great-grandfather to three, and a wellrespected friend and colleague to many more. n For Mr Collins’ full obituary please visit: bit.ly/planner0122-collins

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Reach out to our audience of membership professionals There’s never been a more important time to reassure the planning community that their skills are in need.

board offers the attention The Plannerr job b oard off fers you an opportunity it to t attract tt t th tt ti of a guaranteed, dedicated audience of membership professionals, and reassure them that you are still looking to recruit.

Whether you have vacancies now, or will be looking to recruit at a later time, remind our readers what sets your organisation apart, and let them know your plans.

You might also consider advertising in The Planner magazine, and ensure you are seen by the profession’s top-calibre candidates and kept at the forefront of their minds. Show them that you are here, your brand is strong, and your organisation needs them.

For more information and rates, contact us now on: T: 020 7880 6232 E: jobs@theplanner.co.uk RECR DPS Jan21.indd 2

02/12/2021 12:23

Here is a selection of the most recent opportunities from a few of those organisations working with The Planner to recruit the best quality candidates in the marketplace.

Planning Officer

Historic Building Conservation Officer

Salary: Grade 7, SCP 23­27 £27,741 ­ £31,346 Location: Newport

Salary: Grade 9, SCP 31­35 £34,728 ­ £38,890 Location: Newport

Planning Opportunities Salary: £23,080 ­ £46,845 Location: North Lincolnshire

Assistant Planning Officer Salary: £26,393 ­ £31,484 Location: Edinburgh

Head of Planning Consents Salary: circa £100,000 + benefits package Location: London

Validation Officer ­ Planning Salary: Grade 6, SCP 18­23 £24,982 ­ £27,741 Location : Newport

To a dve r ti s e pl ease em ai l : the pl a n n e r jobs@redact ive. co. uk o r ca l l 0 2 0 7 880 6232

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theplanner.co.uk/jobs 02/12/2021 12:23

Activities

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CONTENT THAT'S WORTH CHECKING OUT

A digest of planning-related material. Each month our work takes us around the internet in search of additional detail for our stories, meaning we invariably come across links to items we think you’ll find educational, entertaining, useful or simply amusing. Here’s our latest batch.

What’s caught our eye RTPI Regional English Awards for Planning Excellence 2021 For the RTPI it’s been English regional awards season recently, with president Wei Yang introducing each of the online ceremonies. This specific link takes you to the ceremony c ffor the South East’s awards E ceremony, c but from b tthere you can go on c tto access all nine regional n events if you e scout around the institute’s now very active YouTube channel. Plenty of strong projects to admire. bit.ly/planner0122-regions

The Lakes with Simon Reeve More celebrities treading the landscape as Simon Reeve travels through the Lake District National Park and Cumbria.

In this episode, changes are apparently coming to the ancient Lake District landscape and Reeve talks to people with different visions for the future of England’s biggest national park. bit.ly/planner0122-lakes

Studies on China’s High-Speed Rail New Town Planning and Development Afocus on high-speed rail (HSR) and town planning, considering the issue from the perspectives of economic cooperation at a regional level, HSR-based economic growth point at a city level, and mixed land use and building environment in the periphery area of HSR stations. Case studies help illustrate practical planning principles and suggestions for area development.

Publisher: Springer ASIN: B07T84XTDW

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Paris' Grand Plan to Become Europe's Greenest City From the Champs-Élysées through to the Eiffel Tower, this video by Tomorrow's Build (owned and operated by The B1M Limited) suggests that the French capital, which is now just two-and-a-half years away from hosting the Olympic Games, is getting “the mother of all makeovers”. k ” A particularly well-shot video, just five minutes long, considers how planners intend to green the city over the coming years. bit.ly/planner0122-paris

Best 20 Urban Planning Podcasts The idea here is that the best urban planning podcasts have been isolated and ranked by traffic levels, social media followers, domain authority and freshness. A good way of bringing the best to the surface, and a useful filter if you’re looking to kick back over the festive period with useful content from across the globe. bit.ly/planner0122urban

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LANDSCAPE

Collaborative Happiness: Building the Good Life in Urban Cohousing Communities

Revolutionary Voices in Housing, Then and Now – 18th January In 1936, Elizabeth Denby gave a lecture to a sessional meeting of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), collating research into the experience of those rehoused in subsidised housing built after the First World War to outline areas where the design and planning was not fit for its intended purpose. Eighty-five years later, this event highlights initiatives, groups or individuals thinking just as ambitiously and acting decisively on what subsidised housing could or should be. bit.ly/planner0122denby

Understudied and under-recognised in policymaking circles, urban co-housing communities situate wellbeing as simultaneously social and subjective, while catering for groups of people so diverse in age. This book looks at two such urban communities, considering how they provide an alternative model in an increasingly urbanised world marked by crises of both social and environmental sustainability.

ASIN: B09125SCRQ Publisher: Berghahn Books; 1st edition

Urban planning songs In celebration of incoming RTPI president Tim Crawshaw’s love of music, here’s Spotify’s Urban Planning Songs playlist.

Among the obvious (We Built This City by Starship), incredibly there’s a proto-punk track dedicated to Jane Jacobs, a jungle track entitled Le Corbusier – as well as Burnham Plan by Larry Jakus, which celebrates in song the influential 1909 in city ci plan of Chicago that C one Daniel o Burnham put B together. to bit.ly/ b planner0122p ssongs

The Language of Cities Author Deyan Sudjic seeks to decode the underlying forces that shape our cities, from resources and land to the ideas that shape conscious elements of design, whether of buildings or space. He considers the differences between capital cities and others and why we often feel more comfortable as Londoners, Muscovites, or Mumbaikars than in our national identities.

Publisher: Penguin Books ISBN: 9780141980591

What we’re planning Our February edition is our annual careers issue, in which we’ll be finding out about a career that crosses sectors with Hannah Hickman and reporting on the results of our annual Careers Survey, this year focusing on the changing workplace.

Oh, and get this – it’s also the 100th edition of The Planner as well. Quite how we’re going to celebrate this momentous occasion we were not entirely sure of at time of going to press – but please do keep an eye out on our online channels.

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If undelivered please return to: The Royal Town Planning Institute 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL

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