The Planner - November 2013

NOVEMBER 2013 OFFICE TO RESIDENTIAL THE HIDDEN DANGERS // p.20 • WHAT THE FARRELL REVIEW MAY MEAN FOR PLANNING // p.28 • NEW ERA FOR THE STRUGGLING HIGH STREET // p.24 • THE MAKING OF A GREAT CITY // p.32

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

PLANNER

THE

PEER PRESSURE Lord Taylor’s mission to solve the housing crisis

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CONTENTS

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THE

NO VEMBER

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“A DECENT ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD IS A FUNDAMENTAL NEED THAT ONE OF THE RICHEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO OPT OUT OF”

NEWS

6 Housing minister role downgraded in reshuffle

7 Listed buildings out of danger but costs rising 8 Planning for Growth is on life support. Can it be resuscitated?

9 Hinkley Point: first new nuclear station in a generation 10 Poor performers in Scotland to lose funds 11 Cardiff unveils plans for 45,000 new homes

32 13

OPINION 12 Tony Fyson reduces the government’s permitted development consultation to rubble 14 David Brock: Why outlawing of judicial reviews in Northern Ireland would have been a calamity 15 Polly Reynolds: The importance of understanding ‘need’ as opposed to ‘demand’ in planning

COV E R I M AG E | PE T E R S E A R L E

FEATURES 16 Lord Taylor is a man on a mission to solve the housing crisis. Mark Smulian finds out how he plans to do it 20 More and more developers are applying to turn offices into homes. Kate Dobinson considers the impact 24 Everyone agrees the traditional high street is dying. But there’s little consensus on how to arrest the decline, as Mark Smulian discovers 28 Rob Cowan asks: Will the Farrell Review shift attitudes towards design in the UK?

QUOTE UNQUOTE

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32 With 60 per cent of the world’s population soon to be city-dwellers, The Planner look at what makes a great city

INSIGHT 37 Decisions in focus: Development decisions round-up and analysis 40 Legal landscape: Opinion, blogs and news from the legal side of planning 42 Career development: How to produce a wellwritten report

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44 Plan ahead: Forthcoming events for planners UK-wide 46 RTPI round-up: News, views and interviews from the Institute 50 Plan B: Poking fun at Pickles. And pipistrelles.

“TO QUOTE BOB THE BUILDER, ‘CAN WE FIX IT? YES WE CAN’.”

STEVE QUARTERMAIN

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PLAN UPFRONT

Leaderr Why old maxims should matter for all ministers – It’s been a funny time for planning and it’s not often that key legislation is dropped. In Northern Ireland, highly controversial proposals to relax planning regulations in designated zones and to restrict judicial reviews of planning decisions to EU or human rights law were scrapped.

Planning minister Mark H Durkhan took the brave decision to profoundly annoy colleagues in his government by withdrawing the bill, citing legal reasons.

Those legal reasons are the campaigners, interest groups and lawyers who would have been queuing up around the block to give the legislation a good kicking. The proposals clearly opened the door to challenges that they be declared unlawful and the minister made a wise move to head off such trouble at the pass. Presumably all energy will now be directed towards the full Northern Ireland reforms in planning

be kicked for something it has nothing to do with.

In Scotland, controversy rages over a proposal to introduce a penalty clause for poor performing planning authorities although it is still unclear how that will be judged. It’s the old nutshell of whether to reward improvement or punish failure. Of course, there should be sanctions for disastrous mis-management, incompetence or wrongdoing but that is at the extreme.

Whatever performance measures ministers settle on, they should be reminded of an old maxim.

You can bang on about efficiency until the cows come home but surely the point is to make people or organisations effective and that means focusing on outcomes. The implications of planning decisions can reverberate for decades and outlast the lives never mind the tenures of the average minister. And this raises another old maxim.

If you’re not heading in the right direction, every step is to the wrong place faster.

legislation in 2015.

But there is a message for ministers wherever they are: here be demons.

Justice secretary Chris Grayling should take note next time he makes illinformed comments on how a tide of hopeless judicial reviews of planning and infrastructure decisions are holding back development. The vast bulk of judicial reviews are for immigration and asylum cases. Once again, planning is a convenient football to

Huw Morris

Education education@rtpi.org.uk 0207 929 9451

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

"THE IMPLICATIONS OF PLANNING DECISIONS CAN REVERBERATE FOR DECADES."

CONTACTS Consultant Editor Huw Morris News / Content Editor Kate Dobinson kate.dobinson@theplanner.co.uk Editorial Desk Tel: 020 7880 7664 email: editorial@theplanner.co.uk Subscriptions ryan.hadden@redactive.co.uk £120 — UK £175 — Overseas For bulk copies please email for details.

RTPI Membership membership@rtpi.org.uk 020 7929 9462

Planning Aid Advice Line advice@planningaid.rtpi.org.uk 0330 929 9451 41 Botolph Lane London EC3R 8DL Media enquiries James Butler james.butler@rtpi.org.uk 020 7929 8182

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The Royal Town Planning Institute 41 Botolph Lane London EC3R 8DL Tel: 020 7929 9494 Fax: 020 7929 9490 RTPI website: www.rtpi.org.uk

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NEWS

Analysis { G O VE RNME NT

Housing minister role downgraded after government reshuffle

M

ixed messages characterised the autumn reshuffle, as David Cameron harpooned the housing minister on the same day as pumping fresh air into the second phase of his help to buy scheme.

“Invisible” Mark Prisk, so-named by Inside Housing magazine, slipped into further anonymity as he was axed after 12 months in favour of junior minister Kris Hopkins, Conservative MP for Keighly – suggesting that the role of housing minister had been significantly demoted in the government’s ministerial hierarchy.

Prisk tweeted it was “disappointing” to lose the brief but puzzled his followers by stating that he had been asked to “step aside for a younger generation” – his successor is, at 50, one year younger.

Prisk moved to housing from the business department and was deemed a quiet successor to the bellicose Grant Shapps. It’s rumoured that Prisk didn’t like the headline help to buy scheme.

It took 24 hours for the government to announce backbencher Hopkins, arguably lesser known than media-shy Prisk, as the 14th holder of the housing portfolio since 1993. The new minister is a former leader of Bradford Council, member of the armed forces and a lecturer in media studies. The lack of urgency in replacing Prisk implied that housing would be marginalised in any shortlist of core election issues before 2015.

However, it was the downgrading of the position from minister of state to junior minister that proved most symbolic of the government’s commitment to the industry. National Housing Federation chief executive David Orr welcomed Hopkins but said he was “surprised and disappointed” at the minister’s slip in status.

Nevertheless, No. 10 dismissed claims that housing has been demoted and said the fact that the

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department now has no minister of state at all is inconsequential. Others say it is more an indication of the Treasury’s increased stranglehold on DCLG. It was also dismissed by planning minister Nick Boles, who said: “You know what, are there more than 300 people in the world who know the difference between a minister of state and an under-secretary?”

Many detected a kernel of truth in his previous, tongue-in-cheek claim that if he was “still planning minister in 2013 – then shoot me”. However, his 12-month tenure has outlasted the nine-month average for a minister.

The Conservative reshuffle was markedly different from Labour’s. Emma Reynolds was appointed shadow housing minister and that means she will attend the shadow cabinet in place of Jack Dromey.

The reshuffle also saw building regulations minister Don Foster leave DCLG to take up the role of Liberal Democrat chief whip. At this year’s Lib Dem party conference he criticised government priorities after hearing that housing only receives a tenth of the investment that transport receives.

Communities under-secretary Stephen Williams, Lib Dem MP for Bristol West, has replaced Foster.

Hopkins will be responsible for local growth, cities and regeneration. Responsibilities for community rights, empty homes and sustainable development have been delegated to Williams.

Planning minister Nick Boles

"YOU KNOW WHAT, ARE THERE MORE THAN 300 PEOPLE IN THE WORLD WHO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MINISTER OF STATE AND AN UNDER­SECRETARY?"

24 hrs for the government to promote backbencher Hopkins

9 months average tenure for a minister

I M AG E S | E Y E V I N E

25/10/2013 16:47

PLAN UPFRONT

The Home Farm at Ushaw is a new entry on English Heritage’s Heritage at Risk Register for 2013

Q

HAR STATS

Listed buildings saved but costs rise The number of endangered listed buildings has fallen since 2012 but the cost of repairing them has increased, according to English Heritage.

The annual Heritage at Risk (HAR) survey found that there are now 5,700 grade I and II listed buildings at risk compared to 5,831 in 2012.

However, the average difference between the cost of repair and the end value of buildings on the register now stands at £450,000, “making it more difficult to bring them back into use”.

A total of 15 per cent of listed buildings are thought to be beyond economic repair and will depend on public subsidy to survive.

The HAR programme was launched in 2008 to monitor the overall state of England’s historic sites and pinpoints the sites at most risk of being lost as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development. It is updated every year and looks at 19 areas across the country.

Key problem areas in the buildings surveyed by a team of volunteers were doors, windows, walls, gutters and other rainwater depositories.

Approximately 6 per cent of buildings were vacant or not in use and 7 per cent were partly occupied.

Some 45 per cent of the volunteers had little or no surveying experience but make an invaluable contribution to provide the right sort of help and advice to address the problems uncovered.

Number of planned wind farms has more than doubled since 2011

The number of wind farms granted planning permission has more than doubled over the past two years, according to the Department for Energy and Climate Change.

A total of 188 new onshore wind farms

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15% Percentage of listed buildings thought to be beyond economic repair

“We also hope to support councils to make more use of volunteers and to engage the increasing number of people who share our passion for the past and want to do something tangible to secure its future,” said an HAR spokesperson.

Nearly nine out of ten local planning authorities took part in the survey of conservation areas.

Participating councils have also been inspired to use the survey data in different ways to make a difference. West Lancashire has shared the data with police and fire services to make them aware of buildings most vulnerable to crime.

45% Percentage of volunteers with little or no surveying experience

Q

n Find out what’s at risk by searching the register at www.english-heritage.org.uk/har

were given permission by planning authorities between January and August, a 48 per cent increase on the same period in 2012.

This is more than double the rate of planning permissions granted for the same period in 2011, when just 83 turbine projects were approved.

Energy firms are rushing to make more wind farm applications in order to “gorge” on an exorbitant system of green levies, said Chris Heaton-Harris, Conservative MP for Daventry. In 2012, the “big six” energy companies received wind farm subsidies in excess of £900m.

Subsidies are ultimately added to household bills and are estimated by the Renewable Energy Foundation to cost

consumers more than £1 billion a year.

Labour leader Ed Miliband pledged to freeze gas and electricity bills at the September party conference when the green levy that he previously introduced as energy secretary increased household bills by £110.

There has also been a surge in applications for new turbine sites.

Councils received 597 applications in comparison to 470 last year, and 203 in 2011.

In August, the Independent Planning Inspectorate was criticised by local campaigners for “blatantly ignoring” guidance on wind farm developments and approving plans in areas of outstanding beauty.

Blight on the countryside is also

a concern for senior Conservatives who have drawn up a four-point plan to prevent the growth of wind farm and solar power plants.

Under the new rules, ministers will personally intervene in some cases. Greg Barker, the climate change minister, will write to every council in the country to warn councils that they must not build in areas of outstanding natural beauty. If these measures do not work, re-writing of planning laws and radical steps such as a full-scale ban on future construction will be considered.

Kris Hopkins was promoted to housing minister in the autumn reshuffle and was made responsible for planning turbine projects. He has previously criticised wind farm subsidies.

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NEWS

Analysis { CONFERENCE

Planning for Growth is on life support – what will resuscitate it?

By Kate Dobinson

T

he first item on the agenda at the Royal Town Planning Institute Young Planners’ Conference may have been ominous but spirits were high.

“Autopsy of Planning for Growth suggests that I need to undertake a post-mortem and that implies that Planning for Growth is dead to study for five years. If you’re not happy where you – which it is not,” said Bob May, Turley Associates are, then move.” director. “If Nick Boles were here today I’d expect RTPI chief executive Trudi Elliot said a national him to say that Planning for Growth was working, leader with an “acute” sense of “what and at what it’s just starting to happen and it’s a bold set of level” would act as a clear reference point for young measures.” planners. “We faff around. The national government Mercy is not an option, May stressed. “If Planning needs to be clearer about its national priority. Is it for Growth is not dead, then it is being starved of transport, education, housing, what is it? You need oxygen. We need to look at the causes of failure and an effective housing minister with clout, with some we can’t defend the indefensible.” tenacity because these are long-term issues. I just The best way to tackle problem areas, from plandespair.” ning restrictions (“I had a case on my desk which Councillors don’t have a strategic vision either, said Andrew Whitaker, planning director of the had 89 conditions attached to it) to out-of-date local plans that mean local authorities House Builders Federation. “It’s up fall short of five-year supply (“there to leaders to show that vision.

Councillors don’t seem to have is not one region where the five"THE NATIONAL changed in terms of the way that year supply can be met,”) was to GOVERNMENT NEEDS they bring schemes forward for take controversial action, he said.

TO BE CLEARER Place local authorities into speABOUT ITS NATIONAL development. I don’t think you can cial measures for taking too long to do growth from the bottom up.”

PRIORITY. IS determine major applications, Pressure is being placed in the IT TRANSPORT, allow developers a bypass to go EDUCATION, HOUSING, wrong places, he said. “One thing straight to the secretary of state, we’re always focused on is the WHAT IS IT?" resist political obstinacy and numbers – we’re totally obsessed. ignore meaningless ‘grandstandThere is no silver bullet.” ing’ and ‘playing’ to the gallery in the name of The conference was shot through with the conlocalism, he insisted. sensus that planning is not the panacea to housing’s The “most mobile people in the profession” – sickness, a feeling voiced by Elliot: “A lot of the planning reforms, particularly in England, have young planners – were told not to tolerate outdated systems. “At university I was only one of two people been driven by the perception in some quarters that who chose regional planning,” May said. “You chose part of the failure to deliver the housing need is in to be here, to put yourself in massive personal debt, the planning system – I’m not sure I agree with that.

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Clockwise from top left: Young planners, BPF chief executive Liz Peace, young planner of the year Jennifer Winyard.

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PLAN UPFRONT

Hinkley Point C first nuclear power station in 20 years

Actually it’s a much wider issue, planning’s but one element of it,” she said.

“It’s never just the planning. Unless the Treasury gets behind it and frees up some of the financial tools and Defra gets behind it to make sure we have water in the right places for houses and unless the Department for Transport gets behind it, however are we going to do it?” the RTPI chief executive asked in a tone of despair.

When it later came to the business of unlocking growth, British Property Federation chief executive Liz Peace went as far as demoting planning to the status of “servant” to real estate. Planning alone will not break the economy’s “vicious cycle,” she said, calling for reduced development costs, greater use of planning performance agreements and increased borrowing power for councils to generate demand.

Satnam Choongh of No5 Chambers added to Peace’s shopping list and highlighted the inherent “tensions” stalling development. The current process is democratic, technocratic and judicial, he said.

It’s all very bitty, complained Peace. “How does planning actually help growth? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s not planning per se that’s going to make growth happen. It’s not the be all and end all; I hope that doesn’t disappoint you.”

It only increases the attraction to the industry, said a delegate from Brown & Co property business consultants, as we had another cup of tea in a room straining with avid twenty-somethings. After all, said Elliot, “it is not about your age, but about your skill sets and ability to make a difference.”

Britain will build its first nuclear power station in 20 years following months of negotiation between the government and France’s EDF Group.

Hinkley Point C (HPC)in Somerset will be the first new nuclear power station to be built since Sizewell B in Suffolk, which started generating electricity in 1995.

It will begin the process of replacing the existing fleet of nuclear stations, most of which are due to close in the 2020s, provided the £16 billion plan wins EU approval.

Ministers have agreed a “cut-price” deal with the consortium building the plant, said Henri Proglio, chairman and chief executive of EDF Group.

“The key terms include a “strike price” of £89.50/MWh. This

price benefits from an upfront reduction built in on the assumption that the developer would be able to share the first of a kind costs of the reactors across the HPC and Sizewell C sites. If the EDF Group does not take a final investment decision on Sizewell C, the Strike Price for HPC would be £92.50/MWh. “The developer would separately be required to put money into a fund from the first day of generation to pay for decommissioning and waste management costs associated with HPC.” The 430 hectare site – reducing to 165 acres once operational – will generate enough electricity to power nearly six million homes, bring 900 permanent jobs to the area and create around 25,000 jobs during

construction.

HPC will be the equivalent of 130,000 hectares of solar farms and 250,000 of onshore wind farms, according to the Department for Energy and Climate Change.

“For the first time, a nuclear power station in this country will be built without money from the British taxpayer,” said energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey.

Somerset County Council said the Chinese-designed site would be a “massive boost” for the county’s “entire economy”.

However, two judicial reviews by the Irish counterpart to the National Trust, An Taisce, and Greenpeace, have been launched against the decision.

The two cases will be heard in the High Court in December.

HINKLEY IN NUMBERS

£100m contribution annually to the local economy during peak construction of £2bn during project lifetime

25,000

new employment opportunities created during construction

7%

9,000,000

tonnes of C02 avoided each year, equivalent to roughly 2m cars

1995 last time UK opened a new nuclear power station

3.2 gigawatt power plant with two reactors

of UK’s electricity is enough for 5m homes

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25/10/2013 17:43

NEWS

Analysis { SCO T L AND

Carrot or stick?

A controversial Scottish Government proposal to slash funding to poor performing planning authorities cuts to the heart of the debate of how to raise standards. Huw Morris reports.

No-one condones poor planning performance but how to tackle it is generating much heat in Scotland. It all boils down to the familiar debate of whether to use a carrot or a stick.

First the carrot. The Scottish Government has increased planning fees by a whopping 20 per cent. With more resources in the system, Scottish planning minister Derek Mackay believes now is the time to get serious about performance.

Hence the stick. Under a proposal in the Regulatory Reform Bill, Scottish ministers will introduce a “penalty clause” to allow them to alter planning fees for authorities they consider have not performed satisfactorily.

Mackay is a firm believer that the penalty standards of educational attainment. Given clause will drive standards. Ironically, he told a this, we feel that it is imperative that a national Scottish Parliament economy, energy and tourism continuous improvement programme, including committee meeting in September: “if I were a a knowledge portal, should be put in place, council leader – which I was – I would probably involving all players in the planning system.” not like the mechanism”. However, it will improve Convention of Scottish Local Authorities “behaviour and outcomes, and there will be no development, economy and sustainability loss of income because planning authorities will spokesperson Stephen Hagan step up to the plate”. says the proposal fails to RTPI director of Scotland and recognise the complexity Ireland Craig McLaren disagrees, "EFFECTIVE of planning and that its saying “it will be counterPLANNING IS ABOUT performance often depends productive to withdraw funding CREATING POSITIVE upon others. “Planning relies from planning authorities that SUSTAINABLE on the interaction of a range need to improve”. Use incentives OUTCOMES FOR OUR of stakeholders: the applicant, not penalties and reward good COMMUNITIES" national agencies, and local performance, he argues. communities, as well as the How the Scottish Government planning authority,” he says. “Effective planning will assess whether a planning authority has is also not just about time taken to reach “passed” or ‘failed” is unclear. McLaren says there decisions. It is about creating positive sustainable is no indication of the timeframes for measuring outcomes for our communities. Already 93 per performance. “Are planning authorities to be cent of planning applications are approved. The assessed over a year or a number of years? penalty clause would only serve to increase Does the assessment need to show a continued financial uncertainty in a local authority’s trend before ministers intervene? It would be funding arrangements. Our view is that planning unthinkable that an education service would have fee levels which are being kept at a level below its budget cut because of failure to meet national

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Q

IN FIGURES

20%

The Scottish government has increased planning fees by a whopping 20%

93%

7Q

Already 93% of planning applications are approved

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PLAN UPFRONT

Cardiff prepares for 45,000 homes by 2026

The debating chamber at Holyrood, home of the Scottish government

England’s are still not adequate to cover costs of the service.”

So what are the alternatives? Malcolm MacLeod, chair of Heads of Planning Scotland (HOPS), says his organisation is working with the Scottish Government on planning performance frameworks. “We need to make sure these are used as a clear record of quality of planning decision-making, as well as speed of delivery.”

HOPS is also working on performance standards that can be reached through best practice and benchmarking. “That is our preferred approach obviously, without the need for any penalty.”

Emma Hay, senior project manager at the Improvement Service, says HOPS’s frameworks are “a good starting point for understanding the components of a high-quality planning service and taking targeted action to continuously improve”. The Improvement Service offers a national skills development programme for staff and members, covering leadership and technical skills. “People are at the heart of high-quality public services and with the right support a lot can be achieved,” she adds. “Naturally this needs resources, be it effective use of current resources or additional resources.”

I M AG E S | G E T T Y

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Cardiff’s biggest expansion for more than 50 years has been unveiled.

The plan is for 41,100 homes to be built by 2026 as the city’s population is forecast to rise by a quarter to more than 400,000.

The number of new homes was revised and cut by 4,000 following consultation, but it would still be the city’s biggest regeneration for half a century.

The plan includes scope for 4,500 homes to be built between Lisvane and Pontprennau in north east Cardiff, 5,000 in the north west, 2,000 north of M4 junction 33 and 1,300 east of Pontprennau link road.

A further 650 homes could be built south of Creigiau.

The proposals, agreed by Cardiff Council’s draft Local Development Plan, outline that 18,250 homes need to be built on vacant green field

sites and 27,600 on brown field areas.

The strategy has to go before the council’s joint scrutiny committee and full council first, and then a public consultation in October 2013.

If approved, it will be implemented in

HS2 will bring north “into the orbit of London” High Speed 2 (HS2) has the potential to change the geography of the UK and create a new mega-city region, according to an independent transport policy think-tank.

The report by the Independent Transport Commission (ITC) supports the proposed national high-speed rail link that could “bring the Midlands, Manchester and Yorkshire into the orbit of London”.

HS2 is due to be

Douglas Oakervee

delivered in two phases, with the initial London to Birmingham phase of the line scheduled for completion in 2026.

It has been immensely controversial as a succession of reports question its cost, value and viability.

The Spatial effects of High Speed Rail: Capturing the Opportunity

Cardiff: Set to swell by 45,000 new homes by 2026

October 2015 and act as a framework for Cardiff’s development over the next 11 years.

report, however, said that HS2 merely needs “reframing” to highlight the “better convenience, employment and connectivity”, on offer.

The government also needs to demonstrate how to bring local and regional services to the line and provide “seedfunding” to help these city-regions, ITC said.

“We must stop prevaricating over the rights and wrongs of each individual project and develop an integrated transport and infrastructure plan,” said Douglas Oakervee, the outgoing chairman of HS2, at the Institution of Civil Engineers.

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TONY FYSON

O Opinion Shop life The government intends to encourage the “creation of new homes from old shops” by designating the change a universally “permitted development”. A consultation document presented the proposal but without offering any very clear-cut reason to support it, other than the regime’s mission to remove the unnecessary “burden on business” that the need for a planning application is always assumed to impose.

Consultations like this are weakened by an honourable but self-defeating urge to anticipate the points that may be raised against a policy, even if no convincing answer to them is available. Thus in attempting to justify the bald assertion that the new policy will “support both the high streets and housing agendas”, the government admits that deciding where it will operate best is difficult and muses that “shops that are no longer viable” are likely to be in “secondary locations”.

The observation might be thought to indicate a need to be selective.

Muddled consultation Our local market town’s retailing community is only too aware that a small scale shopping centre in a place with a housing shortage is as vulnerable to disintegration in the face of piecemeal change as to damaging competition from our edge-of-town supermarket.

The government appears to assume that reconciling the interests of residents and shopkeepers is easily done

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declares that the new right would be subject to a prior approval system that not only covers design of a conversion but also allows “account to be taken of the potential impact on the economic health of the town centre” and on the local character of the area. This, presumably, is an acknowledgement of the Portas Report’s suggestion that many shopping locations should revive as ‘character areas’. But it then adds “we wish this to be a tightly defined prior approval” and comically appears stumped for “specific wording which would achieve that”. A policy favouring diversification of shop unit uses might help.

Small town process

without the moderating influence of a plan that restrains and channels change. They should have sent an incognito representative to the upstairs gathering at the Cherub Inn when we called a public meeting on the future of our little mixed-use square and battle lines over traffic, parking, deliveries, pedestrianisation and late night revellers were instantly drawn.

Leaving aside the effect of a rental market that is disgracefully unresponsive to the declining fortunes of small shops, this muddled government consultation successively concedes that local authorities can already use development orders to free up changes of use and recognises that “defining what sites would or would not be appropriate” for the change is “challenging”. It recalls that the National Planning Policy Framework asks local

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"HIGHER HOUSING OUTPUT IS VITAL OTHERWISE ECONOMIC RECOVERY WILL LEAD TO HIGHER PRICES" authorities to encourage residential development on appropriate sites but suggests that there is no “precise and consistent term” defining the right sites to be given a permitted development designation. With a heroic leap of logic it concludes that it is “therefore proposed to introduce a national permitted development right”.

The confusion does not end there. Having observed that “there is scope for local planning authorities both to go beyond, or to restrict, the operation of national permitted development rights”, the government

If the government’s real motivation is to maximise the quantity of housing available, it would do better to re-focus attention on underused accommodation above shops. We are only going to achieve a rational contraction of shopping through planning control that limits residential conversions mainly to peripheral areas.

This process has been fostered for decades in small towns like ours, but uncontrolled conversions could spell disaster for any priority programme of town centre revival based on shops and the jobs that come with them.

Tony Fyson is a writer on planning matters

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

25/10/2013 16:50

Quote unquote FROM THE WEB AND THE RTPI “We're a long way from an overall housing market bubble emerging.”

CHIEF UK ECONOMIST OF IHS GLOBAL INSIGHT, HOWARD ARCHER

“If Planning for Growth is not dead, then it is being starved of oxygen.”

TURLEY ASSOCIATES DIRECTOR BOB MAY

“IT’S ALMOST LIKE GOVERNMENT THINKS IT CAN SPREAD OUT A LITTLE OF THE FUNDS AROUND EVERY INITIATIVE AND THAT WE WON’T NOTICE.”

“To quote Bob the Builder, 'Can we fix it? Yes we can'.”

DCLG CHIEF PLANNER STEVE QUARTERMAIN AT THE RTPI'S YOUNG PLANNERS' CONFERENCE

“We’re totally obsessed ed with house numbers.” ” HOME BUILDERS S FEDERATION PLANNING DIRECTOR ANDREW WHITAKER

BPF CHIEF EXECUTIVE LIZ PEACE

"IF WE DON'T HAVE HOUSES FOR LOCAL PEOPLE THEY WILL GO ELSEWHERE. THAT MEANS THERE'S A REAL ECONOMIC HIT AND THERE WON'T BE THE PEOPLE TO DO THE LOCAL JOBS.” NATIONAL HOUSING FEDERATION SOUTH EAST MANAGER WARREN FINNEY ON GRAVESHAM COUNCIL’ S REVISED HOUSING PLANS

49%

IGLOO REGENERATION CHIEF EXECUTIVE CHRIS BROWN ON A PROPOSED DESIGN LEAGUE TABLE FOR DEVELOPERS

“Wind farms are value for money.

They only get paid when generating electricity.”

ENERGY SECRETARY ED DAVEY

Increase in onshore wind-farms given planning permission, according to DECC

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“DESIGN IS NOT SUBJECTIVE.”

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

O Opinion

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David Brock is an author, lecturer, speaker and retired planning solicitor, blogging at bit. ly/1259xqL

With the late October withdrawal of the Pl Planning Bill by the minister M Mark H. Durkan, Northern Ireland has had a lucky escape.

The Bill, which had passed through four of its six stages in the Assembly, became controversial when in June the Assembly passed a DUP and Sinn Fein amendment restricting judicial review of planning decisions.

It would have made challenges to planning decisions possible only on the grounds of breach of European Union or human rights law.

A planning decision taken in breach of any other law would have stood.

If the Bill had been passed, it would have meant that laws of fairness, requiring notice and consultation, requiring the decision maker not to take into account irrelevant matters and to take into account everything which is relevant, would have been unenforceable. Of course some of those may overlap with human rights and some aspects of European Union law, but I rather doubt that the proponents were hoping they had encapsulated all of them in their amendment. It would have neutered the rest of planning law. It is similar to the ouster provisions we saw in the last century.

They culminated in the 1968 House of Lords judgment in Anisminic v. Foreign Compensation Commission where a challenge was allowed despite an ouster clause saying that no decision of

Peter Taylor is partner and head of planning at DLA Piper. Amber Nixon is a trainee solicitor at DLA Piper.

Neighbourhood plans in an existential world

A lucky escape for Northern Ireland

the FCC should be called into question in any court of law. Their Lordships held that a decision not taken in accordance with the legal requirements was not a decision at all; it was void. But why now create a problem and then have to rely on the Anisminic approach?

The Bill was criticised by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Northern Ireland government itself had obtained legal opinion from David Elvin QC to the effect, I understand, that the Bill would have made the planning system in Northern Ireland unlawful: the Alconbury litigation held that the availability of judicial review to challenge the government’s planning decisions was what ensured that the planning system complied with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to a fair trial when rights are determined.

The law – and the practice of the liberties it protects – can be messy. But it protects us from greater chaos and tyranny, and it applies to everyone. As the great Lord Denning used to say: “Be you ever so high, the law is above you”.

And as the minister said: “Although the executive and, indeed, any minister responsible for planning, might not always welcome [judicial review] challenges, it is fair to say that such a process is a fundamental right of citizens.” The Rule of Law is vital.

“IF PASSED, THE BILL WOULD HAVE REMOVED THE RIGHT TO HOLD THE NI GOVERNMENT TO ACCOUNT FOR PLANNING MATTERS”

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Neighbourhood plans: what’s not Neighbou to like like? Local communities having a say in what is developed in their local patch. Localism empowered; development embraced. Take this vision from the adopted Exeter St James Neighbourhood Plan: “St James will be known for its strong community, rich urban character, attractive green streets and thriving natural environment. St James will be known... as one of the best parts of the city in which to live.”

Sounds good. But for a neighbourhood plan to be legally and policy compliant it must be in general conformity with the strategic policies of the Local Plan. As we still have vast swathes of the country without an up-to-date Local Plan, how can a n e ighb ou rh o o d plan meet this requirement? Difficult.

In the Tattenhall & District Neighbourhood Plan, objections were raised to Policy 1 requiring individual developments to be limited to 30 dwellings. Local Plan Policy HO1 which previously set out policies relating to the scale of development lapsed in 2009.

Nigel McGurk, the independent examiner, reported: “A number of house builders with specific reference to lapsed Policy HO1 of the adopted Chester District Local Plan agreed with one another that Policy 1 did not meet the Basic Conditions because it could not be in general

conformity with a policy that doesn’t exist. Whilst I have read Sartre, I struggled a little with the existentialist nature of this. However, after contemplation with a cold towel on my head, I am satisfied that being in general conformity with something that doesn’t exist is not a test relevant to this examination.”

Any examination that involves the philosophical musings of Jean-Paul Sartre is of course to be welcomed. And the Wikipedia definition of existentialism: “a sense of disorientation in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world” describes many aspects of the planning system.

Back to Tattenhall: Mr McGurk said the plan should proceed to a referendum. Several house builders have rushed to the High Court to obtain an injunction against Cheshire West & Chester Council suspending a ballot on the Tattenhall Neighbourhood Plan.

By contrast, the examiner into the Dawlish Parish Neighbourhood Plan reported that it should only proceed to a referendum once the strategic policies of Teignbridge District Council had been settled.

Until councils get their Local Plans in order and up-to-date, neighbourhood plans will continue to struggle to proceed to adoption. Compliance with a plan that doesn’t exist? Perhaps a step too far even for Jean-Paul Sartre.

“AN EXAMINATION INVOLVING THE PHILOSOPHICAL MUSINGS OF JEAN­PAUL SARTRE IS OF COURSE TO BE WELCOMED”

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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

Polly Reynolds is a planning solicitor at Veale Wasbrough Vizards

planning interest”. Its use in the National Planning Policy Framework is consistent with this. As such, the developer’s evidence showing demand for a highly exclusive golfing facility was self-defeating – the fewer people benefiting, the lesser the need.

In granting planning permission against the advice of its planning officers, the council had erred in law by misunderstanding the meaning of “need”.

Regarding breach of protected landscape policy and green belt policy, the council again ignored its officers’ recommendations.

In such contexts, development may be considered “inappropriate” and only permitted in “very special” or “exceptional” circumstances where there is an overriding “need”. In granting planning permission, the council made no reference to these factors.

There are lessons from this case for local planning decision-makers and applicants for planning permission. Where local policy requires evidence of a “need” for different types of development, the bar is inherently high. Planning officers need not only to have a firm grasp of the provisions of the NPPF and their own local policy, but must also ensure that they are able to communicate the fundamental principles of planning law to their development control committees should the need arise.

“EVIDENCE OF DEMAND FOR AN EXCLUSIVE GOLFING FACILITY WAS SELF­DEFEATING – THE FEWER BENEFITING, THE LESSER THE NEED”

c Breach of green belt policy c Failure to demonstrate “need” in breach of local policy c Breach of policies on protected landscape.

The legal argument largely revolved around the “need” for golfing facilities, as required to be demonstrated under the Local Plan, as opposed to purely private “demand”. The developer submitted that demand for the proposed golf course was sufficient. But this argument was dismissed.

The legal meaning of the word “need” in a planning context equates to “what is in the public

Dr Michael Harris is deputy head of policy and research at the Royal Town Planning Institute. This is an abridged version of an article first published on the RTPI website: http://bit.ly/1drOiXz

What’s at stake with changing the census?

“Need” vs private “demand” in planning policy

The case of R (on the application of Cherk Cherkley Campaign Ltd) v Mole Valley District Council concerned a planning application for a hotel and spa complex along with an 18-hole golf course on green belt land.

The site lies partly within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is also adjacent to a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Although the proposed development was a departure from the Local Plan, the application was not called in for inquiry.

Subsequently, and going against the recommendations of its planning officers, the council granted planning permission by a narrow majority.

The campaign group applied for judicial review on eight grounds, succeeding on:

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The census censu is facing change. The Office for f National Statistics (ONS) is consulting on two suggested approaches for the future – a primarily online census, or one using existing government and private data, and compulsory annual surveys. The first would still be taken every ten years; the second would produce a population ‘snapshot’ annually. Why propose change now? The reason seems to be cost. In 2011, the census cost £482 million and needed 40,000 staff. This was 35 per cent more in real terms than in 2001 and costs are likely to increase again by 2021. The ONS predicts that a full census would cost about £625 million. An annual sample would require £460 million over ten years.

The government has also said that compiling existing data would produce more accurate and timely information.

It’s true that a census every ten years can mean a time lag in critical data: the 2011 census discovered 480,000 more people than expected. But Danny Dorling, professor of human geography at Oxford University, has argued that moving away from the existing approach would make it harder to track significant social changes, leaving councils “flailing in the dark when it comes to strategic decisions and informed budget-setting”.

Dorling argues that smaller sample surveys already provide

“inferential statistics”, while the census enables more comprehensive analysis. Dorling cites the example of Ludi Simpson and Stephen Jivraj at the University of Manchester who used 2011 census data to show that ethnic minority groups had become more dispersed despite rising numbers – in contrast to media reports claiming that higher numbers meant greater ethnic polarisation.

According to this view, if the census were to be replaced with annual surveys, reliable statistics would only be produced down to local authority level; at present, data can be available for areas with populations as small as 100125 people. This could make it impossible for authorities to plan and deliver services for local populations, especially in highly populous and diverse areas.

There are also issues that are especially pertinent to planners – whether, for example, abolishing the census in its current form would undercut efforts to promote spatial thinking in policy beyond planning. Population data played a major part in the development of planning as a profession. There is more at stake than saving money alone.

“IT COULD MEAN THAT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR AUTHORITIES TO PLAN AND DELIVER SERVICES FOR LOCAL POPULATIONS”

The ONS consultation runs until 13th December: bit. ly/1dCJls6

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NOT CONTENT WITH PLOUGHING THROUGH REAMS OF NATIONAL PLANNING POLICY GUIDANCE TO UPDATE IT, CHAIR OF THE NATIONAL HOUSING FEDERATION LORD TAYLOR IS ON A MISSION TO SOLVE THE HOUSING CRISIS, AS MARK SMULIAN FINDS OUT

PEER PRESSURE

PHOTOGRAPHY | PETER SEARLE

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ne must perhaps be a true literary enthusiast to wade through Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor has trawled through documents equivalent to five times that celebrated novel’s length in his quest to rationalise the National Planning Policy Guidance.

With his team’s work nearly complete – and with guidance up to 50 years old about to meet its doom – he thinks he has not merely produced a coherent set of guidance for planners and developers, but something that could help realise his hope of a new generation of garden towns and villages.

Lord Taylor is careful to draw a distinction between the guidance review – which he undertook at the government’s request – and his own ideas for solutions to the housing crisis. But he does think that the arrival of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the Localism Act and the rationalised guidance at least create a climate in which the critical undersupply of homes can be tackled.

A duty, not an option As Matthew Taylor, he became Liberal MP for Truro in 1987 aged only 24, but retired in 2010 to raise his young sons in Cornwall. He was given a peerage and became chair of the National Housing Federation.

The Labour government appointed him to review rural housing in 2008, and the Coalition then asked him to make sense of planning guidance. “I did wonder if it was really doable, given the urgent need to do it quickly,” he recalls.

“The NPPF was bedding in but none of the guidance behind it had been brought up to date, and we had to spend time with DCLG officials trying to identify what the guidance was; simply getting copies of some of it was difficult. Worse, much was written as individual documents and had never been coherently put together and it was very difficult to keep up to date.”

Lord Taylor says he sought to “create a modern planning guidance suite that could be used by planners, developers, advisers, lawyers, and up to a

CV

HI G H L IG HT S

point the general public. “I hope it will be easier to use, with far less contradiction and unnecessary confusion,” he explains.

Exactly how the guidance will be updated remains to be decided, but the comment period ended in October and, subject to any final changes, Lord Taylor expects to see it issued this winter.

“It will be online, so there is no reason why it should be allowed to decay again,” he says.

The guidance covers developments of all kinds, but Lord Taylor’s passion is housing.

“Just as education is a basic need that no local authority can refuse, so having a decent roof over your head is a fundamental need that one of the richest countries in the world should not be able to opt out of,” he says.

He thinks too many councils have “opted out” of meeting housing need through fear of the local political consequences, and that this is because the country has been relying on the wrong development in the wrong places.

“I’m a fan of NPPF and I don’t know anyone who would want to revert to what was there before. It sets a framework and I hope the guidance will support that. The NPPF complements localism – and I believe in local decision-making – but it’s also about being clear about what that should be.”

MATTHE W TA Y LO R

Born: London, 1963 Notable fact: Became 'Baby of the House' when elected as an MP in 1987, aged 24 In politics: 1985

2012

1985 1986 1987 1999 2001 2007 2010 2012 Graduated from Oxford with degree in politics, philosophy and economics

18

Appointed economic policy researcher to Liberal Treasury spokesman David Penhaligon

Became MP for Truro following Penhaligon’s death in a car accident

Became Lib Dem shadow chancellor

Co-wrote Lib Dem general election manifesto

Appointed by Gordon Brown to conduct review on sustainable rural communities

Stood down as MP, awarded life peerage as Lord Taylor of Goss Moor and became chair of the National Housing Federation

Conducted review of National Planning Policy Guidance for the government

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“JUST AS EDUCATION IS A BASIC NEED THAT NO LOCAL AUTHORITY CAN REFUSE, SO HAVING A DECENT ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD IS A FUNDAMENTAL NEED”

For Lord Taylor, localism is about identifying housing needs and addressing them through local decisions, and “local authorities do not have the option to not identify need”. He concedes that some heavily urban places, or areas with many environmental designations, will be unable to meet housing needs in their locality, but says the duty to co-operate between councils means exactly that – a duty, not an option.

“If you cannot meet needs locally, they do not disappear,” he says. “The NPPF is not just about processes, but outcomes, and you cannot evidence the duty to co-operate without evidencing the outcomes that arise from it.

“More importantly, it’s ongoing, so just because you’ve got your local plan in place you cannot ignore newly arising needs from neighbouring authorities.”

Those who want localism “must accept the flipside is that they must have a means across local authorities to address need. Otherwise, we will very quickly return to top-down diktat, because homelessness and lack of affordable housing through under-provision will get worse and, in the long run, no government can live with that,” he warns.

Lord Taylor thinks planning lies at the root of housing undersupply – not because the planning system or those in it are intentionally obstructive, but because there is a huge political incentive for councillors to reject development.

Community concerns He dismisses the New Homes Bonus, saying: “I’m a sceptic that the solution is to bribe local authorities with cash to build more. Councillors’ priorities tend to be concerns of their community rather than the financial accounts of their authority. You might argue the two run together, but on the doorstep they don’t.”

The problem, as Lord Taylor sees it, is that attempts to build a few hundred homes at a time as small extensions to established settlements tend to involve building on open spaces immediately adjacent to existing homes, precisely the locations most likely to antagonise current residents.

“The fundamental issue is we are not delivering through the planning system anything like the number of sites to meet the demographic need we face and the demand for new homes,” he insists.

“If you look at the way the system has operated, there is a huge political incentive not to consent to very many homes in places of greatest demand, because it’s unpopular to build homes at the end of people’s gardens.

“It’s been argued that the most sustainable way to build is to ‘donut’ existing communities, with the result that we are building on the spaces that are most important to people. I’m not blaming planning; it’s how the system was set up.”

Even if the right developments were given consent, there would remain the problem that the scale of building required to meet demand would exceed the capacity of the house-building industry and its finance in any foreseeable timescale.

Lord Taylor’s solution is to create developments large enough to be built over a long enough term to attract finance from pension funds and other sources. This approach would bring in money on the “THE FUNDAMENTAL scale needed to build greenfield settlements ISSUE IS WE ARE of several thousand homes, similar to those NOT DELIVERING pioneered by the garden cities movement THROUGH THE rather than the post-war new towns.

PLANNING SYSTEM “Towns with estates crammed round the ANYTHING LIKE edges are not more sustainable than new THE NUMBER OF communities. Far from it, as they generate SITES TO MEET THE traffic and are politically toxic,” he says.

DEMOGRAPHIC NEED”

“Piecemeal development of that sort does not create a long-term investor model, you need large-scale development with certainty over many years.”

New towns The development of 'new town' projects would generate sufficient value to pay for the public and private services one would expect in a new community, Lord Taylor suggests.

They would also meet sufficient demand to ensure that development in existing urban areas could be largely confined to brownfield regeneration, he suggests. The peer rejects arguments that there is too little land available.

“Around 9 per cent of England is built on, and while you wouldn’t develop on green belt or national parks, there is plenty of country not built up and new settlements would take a tiny proportion. Even if you put it all in the south-east, less than 1 per cent of land would be taken,” he says.

“We need a debate not about how you resist the next tranche of homes but what would be the ideal delivery of homes needed over 15-25 years.

“If a town just thinks about the next 300 homes, they fight that battle, but over 20 years there might be thousands of homes needed and people who would say ‘no’ to sporadic development might prefer a well-designed new neighbourhood or community.

“Although local plans in theory raise eyes to the longer term, that tends not to happen because people’s attention is on the latest planning application.”

Lord Taylor is involved with the promotion of an eco-town at St Austell in Cornwall, which he cites as an example of his thinking being implemented.

“Previous eco-towns failed because they were not offered as alternatives to towns being surrounded by new estates. But as an addition, there was no gain for the community, only pain, and they were a top-down national project rather than a grassroots delivery of a solution to local need,” he explains.

If things had turned out differently, Lord Taylor might be the housing minister now – he was senior enough in the Liberal Democrats for ministerial office. But he says: “With the boys going to school in Cornwall I did not wish to be in London all week. I did wonder if I’d regret it, but I haven’t for a moment.

“What brings me to housing is the impact I saw on so many people in Cornwall, where desperately high house prices and desperately low wages leave people struggling to afford a home.

I can see no way as things are that my three sons will be able to afford a home of their own.”

Could new greenfield settlements solve the housing shortage? If developers and councils want to try, they’ll now have a sensible body of guidance behind them.

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R E S I D E NTI A L

A SURGE IN APPLICATIONS TO CONVERT OFFICE SPACE INTO HOUSES IS PROVOKING PREMATURE CONSTERNATION IN LOCAL AUTHORITIES – CRUNCH TIME WILL BE IN 2016, SAYS KATE DOBINSON

VACANCY { I M AG E | A L A M Y / S H U T T E RSTO C K

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21% Percentage of England’s office that is empty and which could be transformed into 250,000 houses

18% Percentage of empty offices in Brimingham, England’s second largest city

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x

croll down Eric Pickle’s Twitter feed and there is an Instagram of the communities secretary’s face squashed into a snow globe. The souvenir is used by Birmingham City Council’s policy team as a paperweight, and perhaps as a reminder that the planning world is there to be shaken up.

Snow globes traditionally show a scene in miniature. For the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), England’s offices are 21 per cent gloomy, boarded-up shells. But, if vigorously shaken up by the newly-extended permitted development (PD) rights, it’s hoped that they will be transformed into 250,000 family-friendly houses surrounded by swathes of green belt and thriving shops, with retail consultant Mary Portas popping by to cut the red tape holding back housing supply – at its lowest since the Second World War. Or it could be, were it not that the Great Flexibilities for Change consultation that enables the new PD and closed on 15 October has proven as explosive as the homemade device that was thrown through the window of planning minister Nick Boles’ offices in June. But is the outcry justified at such an early stage of the process?

To recap, The Town and Country Planning General Permitted Development Order 1995 was changed in May to allow offices (B1a) to be converted into homes (C3) without slow and costly planning permission, for a test period of three years. Under the new terms, the planning authority has 56 days to complete its prior approval process – which allows local residents to have their say, claims the DCLG – and if the applicant is not notified within the time limit, they are free to go ahead with the conversion.

Applications can only be delayed if there is an impact on transport, noise pollution or a risk of contamination or flooding.

Opt outs In Birmingham, England’s largest city outside London, 18 per cent of offices stand empty. Here, the city council is said to be working positively with developers to convert the ten upper storeys of Canterbury House, an empty 12-floor office block in the city’s central Jewellery Quarter, into 120 flats.

However, some 165 out of 326 councils applied to be exempted from the new rules. Of the 17 that had their wish considered, three – Brighton and Hove and the London boroughs of Islington and Richmond – are using article 4 directions. This regulation overturns permitted development rights and reinstates planning permission and the local authority’s control.

Pickles’ vision is myopic, say resistant local authorities worried about a raft of social and economic ramifications, particularly in London. For starters, new housing means a strain on schools,

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doctors and parking. Local authorities also stand to lose thousands in planning fees and they resent the government taking away their decision-making ability and undermining “localism”.

But the cause of most consternation stems from a survey of 46 planning authority teams that found that a quarter of the applications so far made to convert offices to housing are for premises that are still in use by businesses. Concern is building that perfectly healthy businesses will be turfed out of their homes, potentially at a cost to local economies.

“Offices will be lost, not just where they are empty and potentially redundant, but also where they are occupied but break clauses in leases allow landlords to change them into residential,” says Mike Kiely, president of the Planning Officers Society (POS).

“The release of redundant offices must be carried out in a planned way so that a balance is struck between the need to provide housing and the need to maintain employment. To pass this over to a permitted development regime and market forces will not deliver that balance. The main driver will be higher values and in most areas, particularly London, that means residential. A key role for planning is to provide a stable investment platform. Permitted development undermines that role.

“The other risk is that even where planning authorities are willing to allow offices to be converted into residential there is high risk that poor quality conversions will put off investors.”

Price pressure However, Ian Fergusson, associate director at planning consultancy Turley Associates, is concerned that allowing local authorities exemption from PD could push office costs beyond the reach of many small businesses. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is exempted, he

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notes, while neighbouring Hammersmith and Fulham is not. “I have heard that office rates are now rising in Kensington and Chelsea,” Fergusson says, the implication being that dwindling availability in general means charges go up in exempted boroughs where more offices exist.

“Councils for a long time have been very vigorous and imposed controls,” he says. “Richmond is one of these councils and has seen the most PD applications made there – there is something of a correlation between the two. However, there is also a correlation in places where there is the highest difference in values between offices and residential, such as Brighton and Kingston. Any landlord would want to explore whether residential use would be better.”

The developer may still make planning contributions voluntarily in addition to being required to make compulsory ones, he adds. “The community infrastructure levy (CIL) will still be payable. Is a developer not going to make any wider contribution to the area [beyond CIL?]? In most senses that’s not what developers want to do. They want to increase the sale value. They want to spend money to upgrade the building and its surroundings.”

Ian Fletcher, director of policy at the British Property Federation, bats away the “what ifs”.

“The balance of ‘vacant’ to ‘in use’ offices seems about right to me,” he says. “A case of glass halffull or half-empty? If 25 per cent of offices are not in use, then 75 per cent are – which I think is quite a positive reflection that many former redundant buildings are being brought back into use, and some at the end of their life as offices are being converted quickly, rather than left empty for periods of time.

“The previous policy was always treading a delicate balance between the national need for housing and growth on the one hand, and local authorities’ autonomy to set their own local planning policy on the other,” he adds. “We supported targeted exemptions and the end result

“THE RELEASE OF REDUNDANT OFFICES MUST BE CARRIED OUT IN A PLANNED WAY SO THAT A BALANCE IS STRUCK BETWEEN THE NEED TO PROVIDE HOUSING WITH THE NEED TO MAINTAIN EMPLOYMENT”

was probably about right in exempting the central activities zone in London, but very few areas beyond that.”

Crunch time At present the planning system is in a state of flux, says Alex Morton, head of housing planning at think-tank Policy Exchange. “The new system is still in embryonic form and it will be several years before it can be fully implemented,” he explains. “The result is a planning ‘hiatus’, as local authorities apply the brakes while they wait to see what the new system entails.”

THE BACKGROUND What’s changing?

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Permitted development rights are consent to carry out certain classes of development without an application for planning permission, as granted under the terms of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995.

Planning permission is not necessary when present and proposed uses fall within the same class. For example, a shoe shop can be changed to a pet shop without permission.

On 30 May 2013, the Order was changed to allow offices (class B1a) to be converted into homes (class C3) without planning permission for a three-year trial period that ends on 30 May 2016. However, this does not apply to areas in 17 exempted local authorities.

Developers must apply to the local authority to assess any possible contamination or flooding risks, transport and noise pollution issues. The council has 56 days to complete a prior approval process, which includes a “light touch” neighbour’s consultation scheme. If the applicant is not notified then they are free to go ahead with the conversion.

Fergusson agrees that the subject of converting offices to homes has “excited people but “the big crunch time” will be in 2016, the deadline for change of use conversions under PD rights.

“We’re still two-and-a-half years away from this.

How many have actually begun? The barristers will enjoy themselves because they will write lots of letters and the local authorities will say that they don’t have the resources to investigate.

We’re at the early stage where some of the fine details have not been explored at all.”

Although the headlines have been about the number of permitted development applications that have been submitted, says Kiely, “the crucial indicator is how many are implemented”.

KATE DOBINSON is news and content editor of The Planner

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S T R E ET WHAT NEXT FOR THE STRUGGLING HIGH STREET? MARK SMULIAN EXAMINES THE LATEST THINKING AND HOW THE USAGE MIX IS CHANGING IN THE LIGHT OF SOCIAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL TRENDS

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etting shops have replaced bakers, payday loans are offered where potatoes were once sold and there’s a coffee shop instead of Comet.

Welcome to the high street of 2013, where a combination of the growth of online retailing and out-of-town shopping centres has led to rapid change in what was the hub of many communities.

One knows issues are becoming important when those who try to influence policy turn their attention to them, and in September alone the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), think tanks Policy Exchange and Centre for Cities, and retail industry veteran Bill Grimsey all produced reports that tried to map a future for the beleaguered high street.

But the most obvious question to ask is: why try

to save the high street at all? If changing consumer patterns make it redundant, is there any better purpose in "saving" it than in saving municipal horse troughs, or other things of which few now have any need?

The Policy Exchange's report was a broadside against the "town centre first" policy, but among the other reports there was a consensus that high streets could and should be saved. There was also agreement on the basics of how to do this: that high streets should be hubs of all manner of services and activities, not just shopping.

Planners could find themselves having to try to implement such ideas if local politicians come under pressure from the public to turn around the fortunes of high streets.

CBI senior policy adviser Tom Thackray says: “The high street does not have a future as it is, but high streets are important to the local economy and if businesses are attracted there you get an agglomeration effect.

“Retail is likely to play a diminished role in some locations so we need to look at different facilities there.

“Planning restrictions could be relaxed but we do not want a free-for-all; the potential for relaxation comes where the local authority has a clear plan.”

The CBI would also like to see business improvement districts, where these exist, direct the

MARK SMULIAN Mark Smulian is a freelance journalist specialising in planning and regeneration

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development of town centres by taking on neighbourhood planning powers.

Paul Sweeney, author of the Centre for Cities report, says: “City centres have lost jobs, not just retailing, to out-of-town locations in small cities.

And if people don’t go there to work, they don’t go there to shop either.”, Sweeney says those who work in knowledge-based high skilled industries – the kind policymakers often say the future economy will depend upon – value face-to-face contact and want to be near to customers and even competitors, as happens in major city centres but not in small cities.

“If high streets do not get those industries they will decline and we have to consider the implications for the UK if those are the jobs we want to develop in future,” he says.

Struggling city centres often lack modern office space and Sweeney suggests local development orders could be used to encourage provision of new offices and demolition of redundant ones.

Former Iceland chief executive Bill Grimsey published his own report on high streets and

promptly became involved in a public dispute with Mary Portas – television’s "Mary Queen of Shops" and the public face of a government drive to rescue high streets.

Grimsey’s report says: “It was clear to me that Portas had failed to highlight to the government the dramatic structural changes impacting the retail industry through the convergence of changing consumer behaviour driven by technology and that brought about by the prevailing economic conditions.

“My frustration led to public criticism of both Mary Portas and the government for using this serious issue ... to lay the grounds for a lucrative TV makeover show about the Portas Pilot towns.”

Portas retorted that “PART OF THE NEW HIGH STREET Grimsey was talking AGENDA WILL BE ASSISTED BY “rubbish” and said she GREATER FLEXIBILITY IN THE was “trying to identify PLANNING REGIME, PARTICULARLY a new high street THE CONVERSION OF SURPLUS which is multi-funcSHOPS TO RESIDENTIAL”

P O R TA S P I LO T S

MA R Y

Results have been mixed. Market Rasen’s Mr Big (Market Rasen Business Improvement Group) has been a notable success in increasing footfall and finding uses for empty buildings, says West Lindsey District Council’s head of strategic growth Grant Lockett.

In its annual report group chair Sara Scott says: “We thought our core challenge would be tackling ‘grot spots’ and filling vacant premises.

“But the real challenge has been one of confidence, conviction and co-

POR T A S

The Portas Pilots were set up with government backing to regenerate high streets chosen after an application process.

The first 12 were:

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operation. We’ve had to work hard to get people to believe that our town could be better.”

Croydon’s Portas Pilot has been embroiled in local controversy over the slow rate at which the group in charge has spent money to revitalise the Surrey Street Market area.

A council spokesman says: “The town team is the responsible body and the most frequent accusations levelled against them is that they have not spent all the money.

“But they are people who run local

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businesses who have just found themselves in charge of a significant amount of public funds and I think they would say they are still finding their feet.

“There’ve not been any grumbles from the council and it's better that something happens that works than that the money is spent quickly for the sake of it.”

The pilot seeks to broaden the market beyond its traditional fruit and vegetable offer and to tackle stall vacancy rates of up to 40 per cent.

Some places that missed out on being Portas Pilots have their own initiatives. Stroud District Council’s In Our Town campaign, for example, promotes retailing in Dursley, Painswick, Stroud and Wotton-underEdge and offers a local loyalty card.

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H O W H I G H S T R E ET S C H A N G E D Figures from accountancy firm PwC and the Local Data Company give an impression of how high streets changed in the first half of 2013.

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tional and about more than shopping".

So far, so unedifying, but were the two really so far apart?

Grimsey says: “You cannot save the high street as a retail destination. The only way is to make town centres and high streets into community hubs with... housing, education, entertainment, leisure and some shops to bring people in, then high streets might have a chance.”

Carnage among famous shopping brands such as JJB Sports, Comet and Blockbuster suggest this is “the high street’s last chance”, he adds.

Grimsey though is opposed to using the planning system to try to cosset high streets by restricting out-of-town retailing. “It is quite wrong to try to use the planning system to protect something that is going anyway,” he says.

Rob Lucas, chief executive of planning consultancy Turley Associates, says: “Decline is inevitable, requiring the place of the town centre and high street to be reshaped in form and function, not fixed in the past.

“Part of the new high street agenda will be assisted by greater flexibility in the planning regime, particularly the conversion of surplus shops to residential. A high street core needs to be retained for retail and town centre uses to maintain vitality.”

The Policy Exchange argues that the "town centre first" policy hits low-income households since it decreases the availability of large, lowerpriced retailers.

It proposes that councils “which preside over poorly run high streets but which have the potential to flourish” should have their powers transferred to management companies run by retailers – though other councils would be left in peace – and that badly located high streets should be turned over to residential use.

Lucas says: “There have been calls from some parties to abandon the well-established ‘centres first’ policy and sequential testing of retail and other uses. I sense this is borne out of a misunderstanding of the policy.

“Removing any locational constraints would not assist with the regeneration of the high street or deliver sustainable development. Adding new uses in clusters to centres would be welcome.”

Through all these reports runs the idea that a high street has to be the focus of multiple services and activities if it is to flourish.

Indeed, it may be the out-of-town centres that have more to worry about as the internet cuts a swathe through shopping for consumer goods, clothes and bulk food purchasing.

Grimsey predicts this will be the next challenge for planners: “Out-of-towns will be empty soon as more people buy online. You are going to see empty ones on these low-grade sites, and that will be a whole other issue.”

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REVIEW SHOW SIR TERRY FARRELL'S ALL­ENCOMPASSING REVIEW OF GOVERNMENT'S ROLE IN THE DESIGN OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT IS FAR FROM THE FIRST OF ITS KIND. HOW MIGHT THIS ONE DIFFER FROM ITS PREDECESSORS? ROB COWAN INVESTIGATES

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ROB COWAN is a planning author, blogger and cartoonist. He is also director of Urban Design Skills.

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n March this year, creative industries minister Ed Vaizey asked heavyweight architect planner Sir Terry Farrell to make recommendations to inform the Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) approach to promoting high standards of design. The announcement of the review came just days after the latest job losses at Design Council CABE caused by that same department’s withdrawal of financial backing.

The invitation left some in the planning world scratching their heads. After years of CABE advising the government on how to promote high standards of design, Farrell was being asked to do the same job, but with minimal resources.

Still, Farrell and his team thought they should take on the challenge, and a fair number of individuals and organisations have responded to the Farrell Review’s call for evidence.

The brief was wide. The DCMS asked the

review to look into four areas of the government’s role in promoting design quality in architecture and the built environment, including economic benefits and heritage(see page 31).

Mixed reception Some commentators complained that most of the specific questions in the review’s call for evidence were narrowly focused on architecture.

Landscape Institute president Sue Illman wrote: “In a world confronted by rapidly expanding urban populations, scarce resources, environmental and economic challenges, it is disappointing to learn that the review asks no questions about the role of government in creating sustainable environments or about transport, infrastructure, SMART cities, green infrastructure, water-sensitive design, place-making or many other established features of progressive urban design.” Other commentators were confident that Farrell could be relied on to rewrite the brief where necessary, and to consider whatever evidence came his way.

Many people saw the Farrell Review as a chance to move on from Lord Rogers’ Urban Task Force, which published its influential Towards a Strong Urban Renaissance in 1999. Few seemed to remember the 2011 Bishop Review, which

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reported on "how good architectural, landscape and urban design can be achieved” but whose recommendations, the RTPI reminded Farrell, seemed to have been ignored. Peter Bishop, himself may want to revisit them in his role as a member of the Farrell Review’s expert panel. He is clearly a glutton for punishment.

Policy peeves The Farrell Review’s call for evidence asked: "Would having a formal architecture policy (as some European countries do) help to achieve improved outcomes? What might be the potential aims of such a policy? What might the benefits be and how they could be measured?" Architecture policy is a live issue in north west Europe, and Scotland has had an architecture policy for ten years, but there has been little interest in England.

Scotland’s architecture policy sets out aspirations but has had little noticeable effect. It has now been updated as Creating Places and with – in the words of Scottish culture secretary Fiona Hyslop – "a stronger emphasis on 'place' than ever before".

The Dutch were among the first to adopt a national architecture policy, in 1991 with the name Space for Architecture. This was revised in 1996 as Architecture for Space. The emphasis moved from promoting architecture to helping architecture create public benefit, and it included planning and urban development in its focus. A new version, Shaping the Netherlands, followed in 2001, matching policy with major projects.

A forum organised by the Farrell Review at New London Architecture in August showed little interest in the idea of an architectural policy, however. Former RIBA president Sunand Prasad wrote of the NLA discussion: "Crudely put, the argument goes: good people can work round bad polices but good policies cannot work round bad people". When English representatives attended the European Forum for Architecture Policies, Prasad said, they used to say that England had CABE instead of an architecture policy. CABE initiatives such as trying to build a nationwide network of design champions were expected to put committed people in place.

Now that Design Council CABE is a shadow of the former CABE, the role of policy needs to be considered. If an architecture policy does little more than state that design standards should be high and that we should make the most of our world-renowned design industry, it will achieve little. Where policy does influence architecture and design is in the planning system. What the National Planning Policy Framework says, what the DCLG’s guidance explains, and how both are interpreted by ministers, planning inspectors, lawyers, planners and many others, will all have an enormous effect on what is actually built, and on the quality of architecture and urban design.

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Does the DCMS know that, or is it under the illusion that architecture is something separate?

Whichever the case, Farrell, guided by the large amount of evidence submitted to him, will no doubt be hoping to put ministers right.

Confusion by design The RTPI’s evidence to Farrell dismissed a formal architecture policy as "unlikely to have a significant impact". Design quality, it said, "is not primarily about architecture – important as that is – but about the public realm. Most of the architecture that gets built is inevitably 'background'."

This is a controversial view among planners.

Some feel that in focusing on the quality of the public realm, planners abrogate their responsibility to the quality of buildings themselves.

Perhaps surprisingly, not even RIBA’s evidence favoured the government introducing an architecture policy. Creating Places was a matter for collaboration between several professions, RIBA said. "The government should produce a built environment design policy, which should be led by a new chief government built environment « Learning from design adviser and overseen by a minister within others? The Dutch the cabinet office with a cross-cutting role to national architecture embed good practice across government." policy and Lord Rogers' 1999 report There is a strange confusion between archieach set out a tecture, design and planning. Architecture comprehensive vision policy seems sometimes to be imagined as for urban design. being different from planning policy, even when the planning policy concerns design. The DCLG’s new online planning guidance says, as PPS1 did, that "Good planning is indivisible from good design". But the rest of that guidance certainly does not give that impression.

The guidance discusses design as “GOOD PEOPLE CAN WORK ROUND BAD POLICES BUT GOOD POLICIES CANNOT though it were based on different princiWORK ROUND BAD PEOPLE” ples, and spoken and written about in a different language. Yet design in planning is nothing more or less than the process of determining the physical form of buildings and spaces. A great deal of confusion might be prevented if "high-quality design" were translated as "high-quality development". Then we would know that this is a matter for planning.

The Farrell Review’s call for evidence asked, innocently: "Britain has some of the best architects and designers in the world but that does not automatically mean that standards of architectural design in England are as good as they could be: why is this?" The Planning Officers Society provided the answer. "Many of the development proposals that come before local authority planners have had little, if any, input from those

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THE REVIEW The Farrell Review will look at four main areas and make recommendations to DCMS where appropriate:

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DESIGN Q UA L I T Y

ECONOMIC BENEFITS

Understanding the Government’s role in promoting design quality in architecture and the built environment

The economic benefits of architecture — maximising the UK’s growth potential

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leading practitioners," it pointed out., citing "housing schemes where the design of houses is more likely to be dictated by a house builder’s marketing team and accountants". It added that "even where top-class professionals are used, they are only brought in to front up the initial outline application. Once the planning authority has been impressed by the design team and permission secured, that team is no longer retained".

The Urban Design Group’s evidence blamed short-termism. "Many commercial developers focus on cost reduction, and employ a form of value engineering that reduces short-term costs at the expense of quality and long-term value," it told Farrell. "[Some] political administrations look for instant results rather than understanding that a town or a city is a project that unfolds over decades and centuries, and requires longterm political drive and determination." The RTPI noted the "current pressure on councils, real or perceived, to approve any development that might generate employment and investment".

At an event in Newcastle in July with the Farrell Review panel, built environment professionals agreed that "you can’t procure architecture like you procure paperclips". They pointed to the value of architecture centres in helping non-professionals to understand design.

C U LT U R A L H E R I TA G E

Cultural heritage and the built environment

Statements of sense Much of the evidence submitted to Farrell is a patient restatement of good sense that has been expressed many times before. There is not a great deal of point in the review restating it again. The Farrell Review will carry weight if it comes up with a set of concrete proposals that people who are committed to raising standards of design can get behind, and which will survive as a focus for campaigning beyond the next general election.

Architecture centres, design champions, design review, inter-professional collaboration, design guidance, neighbourhood planning and public education are all candidates. They have all been tried, notably by CABE, with varying degrees of success. The present government is unlikely to reinvent CABE or anything like it, or even, per-

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“SCOTLAND’S ARCHITECTURE POLICY HAS RECENTLY BEEN UPDATED WITH THE TITLE CREATING PLACES AND WITH ‘A STRONGER EMPHASIS ON 'PLACE' THAN EVER BEFORE” FIONA HYSLOP Scottish culture secretary

E D U C AT I O N P Promoting education, outreach, and skills

haps, to accept that raising design standards is a job for government.

Many of those who submitted evidence to Farrell cited Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands as places where design is taken seriously. The trouble is that those countries have long traditions of being receptive to challenging new design. Positive public attitude was not created overnight by government programmes or policies. In the UK, by contrast, there is a deep suspicion of modern architecture and its perpetrators. In the CABE years, many felt that progress had been achieved in changing attitudes, but that confidence seems to have disappeared.

Farrell’s team, facing a deadline of early 2014, will be wondering how to link up with the Construction 2025 review, the Housing Standards Review and the Taylor Review of government guidance. The challenge will be to make sense of the infinite complexity of factors that shape places. As is always said in such circumstances, it is a historic moment. Good luck to Terry Farrell and his team in rising to it.

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WITH 60% OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION SET TO BE LIVING IN CITIES WITHIN THE NEXT TWO DECADES, EXPERTS ARE ASKING WHAT MAKES A GREAT CITY. HUW MORRIS LOOKS AT THE LATEST RESEARCH

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HUW MORRIS is consultant editor of The Planner

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oston’s long-time mayor, Thomas Menino, believes building consensus with the local population and business community is key to defining his city’s future. “Get everyone engaged. listen to the neighbourhoods,” he says. “The story of change is not about the mayor, it is about engagement.

Make people believe and understand you’re making their lives better.”

Menino’s insight was canvassed by global management consultancy McKinsey as part of a major project to tackle one of this century’s major global planning challenges: what makes a great city?

It’s a question planners, politicians, businesses, economists and academics have struggled with down the ages. Now McKinsey has consulted civic and community leaders in more than 30 cities around the world.

Already half the planet’s inhabitants live in cities

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and this is set rise to 60 per cent by 2030. Largescale urbanisation presents the enormous challenge of managing expanding cities while driving economic growth, cutting pollution and safeguarding resources. McKinsey is interested in what leaders do to make their cities great. It concludes that there is no single method but leaders balance three guiding principles (see Triple transformation, right).

Firstly, they go for smart growth while safeguarding the environment and ensuring all of the community enjoys the fruits of prosperity. Secondly, they do more with less. Finally, they win support for further change by delivering results quickly.

The city as business Great city leaders look at where their competitive advantages lie and back clusters of companies that drive growth. London’s East End, for example, has Tech City, a cluster of digital and creative companies that has grown from 11 to 300 within three years.

Dubai’s focus on infrastructure has transformed the city into a business and tourist centre that now boasts 120 of the Fortune Global 500 companies.

Meanwhile, New York has formulated a sustainability plan to attract the most capable workforce and dynamic entrepreneurs. The plan incorporates 400 targets to improve public safety, green areas and mobility, to be met by the end of this year.

ES,

Triple change: the three things leaders do to transform their cities McKinsey’s message is that successful leaders think of investors and businesses as clients. Many cities make this an explicit policy – Bogota’s investment agency offers free support, including fact-finding visits and administrative help with permits and regulation compliance. It works: in 2010-11 direct foreign investment rose by 27 per cent.

smart (1) Achieve growth -> -> -> ->

Adopt a strategic approach Plan for change Integrate environmental thinking Insist on opportunity for all

The city as regional centre Planning is a massive issue, not just for growing and changing populations but for their impact on transport systems, schools, hospitals and other urban infrastructure. Plans have to be adapted over time but the most effective cities think about wider regional growth and how they need the co-operation of nearby areas and regional service providers.

Without this more expansive view, McKinsey warns, there will be local competition and arguments not just over roles and responsibilities but over who pays for what infrastructure investment and who benefits. In Germany, the city-state of Berlin is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg. Both states have joint authorities, courts, offices, institutions and agencies, chief among them a Joint Spatial Planning Department, which sets land-use and transport policies.

McKinsey suggests smart growth heralds a planning process that is essentially a dialogue between top-down regional planning and a bottom-up approach led by smaller organisations. In Ile de France, the Paris metropolitan area, municipal and county leaders set a regional plan with targets up to 2030. This co-ordinates transport, land use and housing. The plan has been modified thousands of times after consulting local bodies.

Planners are advised by McKinsey to keep it flexible. Plans are a set of guiding principles to help planners test new proposals rather than documents that decide the future once and for all. San Francisco’s planning department has a “live” plan based on promoting the city’s vision of “protecting, preserving and enhancing the city’s economic, social , cultural and aesthetic values”. But the plan does not specify usages for specific plots. Projects are assessed individually with the overarching principles in mind.

more with (2) Do less -> -> -> ->

Assess and manage costs rigorously Explore partnerships Introduce investment accountability Embrace technology

support for (3) Win change -> -> -> ->

Craft a personal vision Build a highperforming team Create a culture of accountability Forge stakeholder consensus

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I N FO

x

Cities for people

50% Half of the world’s population - 3.6bn people - live in cities

60% By 2030, 60% of the population - or 5bn people - will live in cities

x

However, unless the environment is integrated into the economic decision-making then long-term growth and resources come under threat. New York’s Empire State Building is now a landmark of green construction thanks to a retrofit that slashed greenhouse emmissions by 100,000 tonnes and put it among the most energy-efficient US commercial office buildings. Istanbul meanwhile dedicated 42 kilometres of road lanes to a rapid bus transit system that now arrives at 30-45 second intervals and services 620,000 passengers a day.

Some cities are opting to build green districts while others are going for high-density communities. Chicago is focusing its new housing and commercial developments around existing or extended rail line, with 75 per cent of homes within walking distance of public transport by 2040. China’s western megacity, Chengdu, is building a “prototype city” for 80,000 residents no more than 15 minutes’ walk away from any one location.

Successful leaders insist on opportunities for all residents and do not confine help to business. Boston’s train line had only three stops between the central business district and the southern outskirts, leaving some of the city’s poorest areas 4.8kms from the nearest transport access. The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority built four new stations that revitalised communities along the line. In Hong Kong, the government makes developers provide affordable public housing in return for building commercial properties. In Singapore, 80 per cent live in government-subsidised housing.

“MANY CITY LEADERS HAVE A VISION FOR THEIR PLANS BUT THEIR REAL VALUE LIES IN CHANGES PEOPLE SEE IN THEIR LIVES” information online about pending changes to its land-use plan to get feedback from residents.

Of course, many civic leaders have a vision for their city but their real value of their plans lies in the changes people see in their lives. Delivering swift results is vital but leaders need high-performing teams of officers and a working environment where employees are accountable for their actions. Pilot programmes are important for winning public support as leaders cannot afford many mistakes if they are to maintain goodwill. New York’s Mayor Bloomberg’s scheme to make Times Square pedestrian-friendly was initially a pilot.

McKinsey acknowledges that leaders will be at different starting points in their journey to make their cities great. They will have different priorities and different mandates. But the consultancy says whatever the ambition, delivering results is the only fuel for change and that ultimately hinges on embracing the three principles.

-> How to make a city great is available at www. mckinsey.com/insights/urbanization/how_to_ make_a_city_great

CASE STUDY

Beyond planning

1bn

people live in slums today

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Planning alone cannot make a city successful.

Few are awash with cash, so rigorous cost efficiency is a hallmark.

Private-public partnerships are highlighted in the report, although McKinsey admits this is not always the right solution. Investment accountability is crucial, with infrastructure projects evaluated to ensure they meet specific goals, such as job creation, tax revenues, carbon reduction and access to social services. Cities are also embracing smart technology – Berlin posts

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Copenhagen Copenhagen is now ranked as Europe’s most sustainable city. Each district has a centralised heating system that uses waste from electricity generation to heat buildings. A world-class infrastructure includes an extensive and expanding subway system, bus networks and a suburban rail system.

All residents live within 400 metres of public transport. The city is also famous for its bicycling infrastructure and has 388kms of routes with 50% of commuting trips made by bike. Copenhagen is also upgrading its water networks. Water leakage is now 5% compared with an average of 20-25% for other European cities.

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INSIGHT D E C IS IO N S IN F O C U S ..................................................... P .36 L E GAL L AN D S C A P E ............................................................. P .4 0 C ARE E R D E VE L O P ME NT ................................................... P .4 2 P L AN AH E AD . . . . . . ........................................................................ P .4 4 RT P I N E W S. . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................................ P .4 6 P L AN B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................................ P .5 0

WELCOME TO INSIGHT Each edition of The Planner will include a range of thought-provoking feature articles.

Insight is where you'll find our regular departments – our events, professional development, legal and planning decision analysis pages. You're welcome to contribute to or comment on any of our Insight pages – get in touch by email at editorial@theplanner.co.uk

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INSIGHT

DiF { D

DECISIONS IN FOCUS

Decisions in Focus is where we put the spotlight on some of the more interesting, offbeat and significant planning appeals of the last month – alongside your comments. If you'd like to contribute your insights and analyses to future issues of The Planner, email DiF at editorial@theplanner.co.uk Banbury town centre

HOUSING

Pickles backs inspector on four major housing schemes in Cherwell (1 S U M M A R Y Secretary of state Eric Pickles has granted the appeals of four major applications to build a combined total of 375 homes in Cherwell, Oxon.

The material considerations in the case were: c the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) c Cherwell District Council’s emerging pre-submission draft local plan (PSDLP) c revised housing land supply statistics submitted by the council.

(2 C A S E D E T A I L S The first scheme by Mr M Horgan and Barwood Strategic Land II LLP concerned an application to build 145 homes on land east of Bloxham Road, Banbury.

The second application by Taylor Wimpey was to build up to 70 homes, public open space, a pond, earthworks to aid surface water drainage, landscaping, car parking and a pumping station on land adjoining Bourne Lane, Hook

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Norton.

The third application by Mintondale Developments was for up to 85 homes with associated infrastructure south of Milton Road, Bloxham.

The fourth application

by Gladman Developments was for up to 75 homes with landscaping, open space, highway improvements and associated access at land off Barford Road, Bloxham.

The applications were refused because the areas were unsuitable for development and the sites were contrary to policies in Cherwell’s local plan. The refusals were subsequently overturned on appeal by inspectors.

(3 C O N C L U S I O N R E A C H E D The secretary of state applied the presumption in favour of sustainable development in line with the NPPF after concluding that Cherwell District Council had yet to demonstrate a proven five-year supply of housing land. The secretary of state also gave little weight to the PSDLP because it had yet to be submitted for examination.

Figures submitted by the council for land availability were also given limited consideration because they had yet to be subject to independent examination.

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Appeal references: APP/ C3105/A/12/2178521; APP/ C3105/A/12/2184094; APP/ C3105/A/12/2189191; APP/ C3105/A/2189896

(4 A N A LY S I S [1] KEITH FENWICK What is perhaps most remarkable about the recent series of four SoS-recovered decisions in Cherwell is the very unremarkable nature of the decision letters themselves.

Followers of housing land supply decisions (from both inspectors and the SoS) will recognise the methodical un-dramatic approach to the reasoning behind each of them.

In total the applications were

for some 375 dwellings, being promoted on four different sites within the district, all of them greenfield sites, all beyond existing settlement boundaries. From the developer point of view, the success of the appeals owed much to demonstrating that the council’s existing local plan policies were out of date, and that there was not a five-year housing land supply. In so doing, this provided the key to unlocking the door of the “presumption in favour of sustainable development” contained in the framework.

From there the arguments were “normal” development management type issues about sustainability, culminating in the application of the planning balance established at paras 7

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Warrington town centre

and 8 of the framework. The test is not that there would be “no harm” caused by the appeal proposals, but that on balance, any harm that is caused is outweighed by the benefits.

The issue of “prematurity” ahead of the production of both an emerging local plan and a neighbourhood plan was raised. But as addressed in previous decisions (including that of the High Court by Justice Males, in respect of Tewkesbury Borough Council v SOS DCLG), the weight to be attached to plans which have not been submitted for examination is very limited.

This is perhaps the key point emerging from all four decisions; localism will only gain traction where councils (and neighbourhoods) are swift to recognise their responsibility to produce up-to-date, sound plans. The SoS has shown a consistent willingness to allow appeals, where councils and communities have not done this expeditiously.

From the developer’s perspective, I would suggest these types of successful appeal will become less frequent for three reasons; a) the growing proximity of the next general election with a desire of government to avoid potential local political fallout of unpopular decisions b) the increased number of local plans (and to a lesser extent neighbourhood plans) being submitted and found sound, thereby providing a robust defence to challenge c) the recovering national economy making reliance on the house building sector as a driver of economic recovery less important to government.

KEITH FENWICK | Director, Alliance Planning | Birmingham

CHANGE OF USE

Appeal allowed for hot food takeaway in Warrington town centre (1 S U M M A R Y The case concerned an application for the change of use of a shop in Bridge Street, Warrington, to a hot food takeaway. The main issue in this case was the effect of the proposed change of use on the vitality and viability of this part of the town centre.

The inspector, David Kaiserman, noted the high level of empty shops in the immediate vicinity of the site and concluded that “anything that results in its reduction ought to be viewed positively”.

He allowed the appeal and granted planning permission for the change of use.

(2 C A S E D E T A I L S Bridge Street is an important thoroughfare that retains some Victorian buildings reflecting its earlier role I M AG E | F L I C K R & RO N S AU N D E R S

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as the main route into the town from the south.

After visiting the site, the inspector concluded that the contribution this part of Bridge Street makes to the town centre’s retail offer is not what it once was.

He noted that a significant number of shops were currently vacant with roughly the same number made up of eating and drinking establishments.

However, the site is designated within the unitary development plan as part of the primary shopping area and therefore resists changes from retail to non-retail uses.

Applications are judged on the effect they would have on the attractiveness of the town centre as a shopping destination, a policy approach carried forward into the emerging core strategy.

In making its judgements, Warrington Borough Council sought to prevent the proportion of non-retail units rising above 10-20 per cent. It also aimed to avoid a situation where there would be more than two adjacent non-retail uses. The council concluded

that in the worst case the proportion of units in nonretail use would rise to 64 per cent if the appeal was implemented, while the most conservative element would be 41 per cent.

(3 C O N C L U S I O N REACHED The inspector found the figures do not separate active non-retail units from those which are simply vacant.

He found that while the change of use would not be the council’s first choice for the site, this remains an “aspiration in the face of current realities”. He also noted that the premises have been on the market since September 2011.

The inspector allowed the appeal on the grounds of securing a positive use for the site and ensuring some footfall and the presence of an active frontage. Any changes to the design of the shop-front will need written council approval.

Appeal reference: APP/ M0655/A/13/2198097

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DiF { D (4 A N A LY S I S [1] GRAHAM STALLWOOD The appeal highlights the difficulty of retail policies based around shop unit percentages, the changing needs of the market and the difference in outlook between locally focussed councillors wanting units to remain in retail use versus the national drive for growth.

Even with a well-emerged core strategy, the inspector supported the vacant unit being brought into active use, contrary to emerging policies, as it is better to have some activity rather than none.

The view here was that the council’s first choice of retail use was only an “aspiration in the face of current realities”. “A class” uses are looking increasingly ripe for radical reform to more of a free town centre use class, allowing freedom to change without planning permission.

Local plan inspectors may also increasingly be asking whether councils should be looking to shrink some town centres as a positive way to manage them rather than continue holding out for high streets that will never reach their former glories.

GRAHAM STALLWOOD | Head of development management | The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

[2] RICHARD SHEPHERD Large-scale retail development at Golden Square in Warrington town centre has occurred subsequent to the adoption of the development plan and has resulted, to some degree, in a shift in the focus of retail provision in the town.

As a consequence of this, the inspector found that the 38

DECISIONS IN FOCUS area surrounding the unit, whilst situated within the defined primary shopping area, actually performs no more than a secondary retail role in practice.

Moreover, the inspector also noted that there was currently a particularly high preponderance of vacant units proximate to the appeal premises.

The decision to allow the appeal is informed by these “current realities”.

Such an approach is in accordance with the spirit of the government’s Planning for Town Centre Practice Guidance which suggests that the status of sites at application stage should be determined with reference to current patterns of retailing and other uses across a town centre. Due to the changes that have occurred and the apparent prospect of the unit remaining vacant if the appeal was to be dismissed, the inspector was able to conclude that the best means of helping to safeguard the future vitality and viability of Warrington town centre is to allow the use of the unit for a hot food takeway.

This would appear to be a pragmatic approach which reflects the increasing need for town centres to provide a varied experience in order to compete with alternative forms of retailing.

Accordingly, local planning authorities may wish to give consideration to the wider benefits which could result from the reoccupation of empty units when applying – or, indeed, assessing the need for – policies which restrict non-retail uses within primary shopping areas.

RICHARD SHEPHERD | Associate at WYG

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CHANGE OF USE

Appeal to extend cocktail bar’s opening hours allowed (1 S U M M A R Y The application to the London Borough of Bexley sought a change of use from a snooker hall to a cocktail bar, without complying with a condition attached to the planning permission granted on appeal.

The condition in dispute states that the opening hours should be restricted to 12.00-24.00 Sundays to Thursdays, 10.0001.00 Fridays, Saturdays and public holidays and 12.0001.30 Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The appeal was allowed.

(2 C A S E D E T A I L S The main issue was the effect of the new opening hours on local residents, particularly with noise and disturbance.

The cocktail bar has been on the site under earlier planning permission and then a permission granted at appeal allowing extended opening hours. The site is within the main commercial area of Bexleyheath.

The proposal was to further extend opening by another hour on evenings before bank holidays, except for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. (3 C O N C L U S I O N R E A C H E D The inspector noted that there are several other establishments with late opening hours in the area. He said that although there are two flats on the upper floor of an adjacent building, the difference in opening hours would be negligible.

He concluded that the increase in opening hours

Appeal reference: APP/ D5120/A/13/2194037

would not unduly harm the living conditions of local residents and that the proposal accorded with policies of the council’s unitary development plan. It also accorded with the National Planning Policy Framework’s emphasis on securing a good standard of amenity for existing and future occupants of the buildings.

(4 A N A LY S I S [1] MIKE O'BRIEN Changes to legislation to allow extensions to the licensing hours of A3/A4 establishments have resulted in conflict in many town and village centres due to increased noise and disturbance. Subsequent applications to bring existing planning conditions which stipulate opening hours in line with the licensing framework are contentious.

Bexley Borough Council failed to provide any evidence of historic or existing complaints relating to noise from the establishment. This, coupled with the fact the appellant demonstrated that management measures are in place to minimise noise and disturbance from patrons, convinced the inspector that no demonstrable harm to the living conditions of local residents would result from allowing the appeal.

MIKE O'BRIEN | Principal planner at WYG

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

ROUND­UP Here are 14 more decisions that we think are worth a look this month.

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

SECRETARY OF STATE DECISIONS

HOUSING NEW BUILD

conditions of future residents in the standard of accommodation provided.

Appeal reference: APP/ C1055/A/13/2196876

(1) Application: Building of a free school and sixth form plus the development of 350 houses in Stockton-on-Tees.

Decision: Secretary of state agreed with inspector’s recommendation that the appeal be allowed and planning permission granted.

Main issues: Whether any harmful impacts on the green wedge, the character and appearance of the area and recreational opportunities. Secretary of state also noted the council could not demonstrate a fiveyear supply of housing sites.

Appeal reference: APP/ H0738/A/13/219538

LEISURE AND TOURISM

(4) Application: Construction of ten holiday chalets plus ancillary office and caretaker’s flat with environmental city garden in Greenwich.

Decision: Appeal dismissed.

Main issues: The character and appearance of the local area, living conditions of future occupiers with regard to natural lighting and outlook and accessible accommodation.

Appeal reference: APP/ E5330/A/13/2195797

HOUSING NEW BUILD COMMERCIAL

(5) Application: A two(2) Application: Six wind turbines at treading Field, South Holland.

Decision: Secretary of state agreed with inspector’s recommendation to dismiss the appeal and refuse planning permission.

Main issues: Impact on nearby homes.

Appeal references: APP/ D0515/A/12/2181777 and APP/A2525/A/12/2184954

storey extension to an existing building in Tintern, Chepstow.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: The effect of the proposal on the existing building, its surroundings and an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Appeal reference: APP/ E6840/A/13/2201413

COMMERCIAL

PLANNING APPEALS (6) Application: Change of HOUSING NEW BUILD

(3) Application: Change of use from a guest house to a high standard house in multiple occupation in Derby.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: The living

use of a former plant hire depot to Class B1 (C) in Winchester.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: Impact of noise and disturbance on nearby residents.

Appeal reference: APP/ L1765/A/13/2195914

HOUSING NEW BUILD

(7) Application: Construction of two four-bedroom homes with associated access and parking in Malvern.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: The character or appearance of a conservation area, impact on adjoining residents and effects on existing trees.

Appeal reference: APP/ J1860/A/13/2194469

HOUSING NEW BUILD

(9) Application: Installation of railing and decking to upper terrace on a villa in Camden.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: Character and appearance of the building and conservation area Appeal reference: APP/ X5210/A/13/2194177

AGRICULTURAL

(10) Application: Change of use of land for the siting of six mobile homes for seasonal agricultural workers in Canterbury.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: Effect on the character and appearance of the countryside, justification for the development in its location and required conditions.

Appeal reference: APP/ X2220/A/13/2196124

HOUSING NEW BUILD

(11) Application: Change of use of open space to residential land enclosed

with a 1.8 metre high fence in Tadley, Hampshire.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: Effect on the character and appearance of the area.

Appeal reference: APP/ H1705/A/13/2197401

HOUSING NEW BUILD

(12) Application: Use of land for building three homes outside of Wigton, Cumbria.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: Whether residential development in the countryside is acceptable and impact on the character and appearance of the area.

Appeal reference: APP/ G0908/A/13/2190954

AGRICULTURAL

(13) Application: A home for an agricultural worker at a nursery in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: Appeal site is within the green belt.

Functional need for the development that could not be accommodated in another way.

Appeal reference: APP/ W1905/A/13/2196268

HOUSING NEW BUILD

(14) Application: Conversion of a large detached house into a home for five children up to the age of 12 in Stockport.

Decision: Permission granted.

Main issues: Effect of the change of use on local housing supply.

Appeal reference: APP/ C4235/A/13/2195850

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INSIGHT

LLegal landscape FRACK UK – SMALL EARTHQUAKE IN STRASBOURG Mid-October newspapers were full of energy. Sorry, words about energy. Or rather words about politics about energy.

The Daily Telegraph, when not reporting “senior ministers” distancing themselves from poor presentation on HS2 ahead of the Supreme Court hearing, was full of bluster about wind turbines. This followed earlier headlines about the EU having put a stick in the spokes of the fracking bandwagon.

So what has really happened in Strasbourg? The answer, from a fracking perspective, is rather less than happened last July. Even if not as significant as the anti-fracking lobby claims, it is still very significant.

EIA compromise On 9 October, MEPs voted on proposals to amend the 1985 EIA Directive, prompting EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnick to comment: “This paves the way for much-needed changes that will modernise the current Directive…improving its effectiveness and streamlining administrative processes.”

Even though a range of modifications to the EIA Directive are closer to becoming reality, the hot news concerned shale gas.

Following a narrowly-won vote, the European Parliament backed proposals to add shale gas extraction to the list of mandatory EIA projects under Annex 1 of the EIA Directive.

The decision prompted a Friends of the Earth press

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Tim Pugh release heralding campaign success. Nevertheless, even disregarding the long road yet to be trodden, the vote resulted in less, not more, EIA regulation for shale gas exploration than previously proposed.

In July, the European Parliament Environment Committee backed a proposal to pull all “exploration, evaluation and extraction of crude oil and/or natural gas trapped in gas-bearing strata of shale or other sedimentary rock formations” within the ambit of Annex I mandatory EIA. But last week’s compromise decision

"AT THE LEAST, THIS WOULD NECESSITATE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO DCLG GUIDANCE"

was that only shale oil or gas “exploration, limited to the phase involving the application of hydraulic fracturing, and extraction of crude oil and/ or natural gas” would require mandatory EIA. In principle, initial investigations involving drilling only, without hydraulic fracturing, would fall outside Annex I and still be capable of being screened out from initial EIA. To the extent that it was a step back from the July position, the decision was a victory for the fracking lobby.

A change to guidance DCLG’s July 2013 guidance states: “Whilst all applications must be assessed caseby-case, it is unlikely that an Environmental Impact Assessment will be required for exploratory drilling operations which do not involve hydraulic fracturing unless the well pad is located in a site which is unusually sensitive to limited disturbance occurring over the short period involved. [Mineral planning authorities] should not take account of hypothetical future

activities for which consent has not yet been sought, since the further appraisal and production phases will be the subject of separate planning applications and assessments.”

Even so, if the amended EIA directive were adopted in its current form, it would require change in the UK. DCLG’s July 2013 guidance states that even applications for the production phase of extraction (even if involving fracking) would only fall within Schedule 2 of the UK EIA regulations if in a sensitive area or above stipulated thresholds. Still they could be screened out of EIA. If, as proposed by the EU, extraction of any quantity of oil or gas using hydraulic fracking techniques is placed within Annex I of the EIA Directive, then EIA for either exploration or extraction involving fracking would, regardless of location, become mandatory.

At the least, the proposals would necessitate significant changes to DCLG guidance.

In practice, they would also remove any potential for authorities to grant permissions for more than a non-fracking exploration phase without an EIA. It may take months for the revised EIA Directive to grind through the Council of Ministers to become law.

Then the aftershocks from fracking-induced tremors in Strasbourg look set to reach the UK. In the meantime, anti-frackers will argue more loudly for EIA wherever exploratory drilling occurs.

– TIM PUGH Partner, Berwin Leighton Paisner Tim is a planning and environment specialist with wide experience in environmental impact assessment.

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LATEST POSTS FROM THEPLANNER.CO.UK/BLOGS

B LO G S This month, Stephen Ashworth welcomes the acknowledgement of need in development, while Scott Stemp pinpoints a worrying trend in poor presentation of evidence.

LEGAL SHORTS HOUSING NEED

A victory for need – Stephen Ashworth Not location, location, location. Instead, “objectively assessed needs”. There has been a spate of decisions in which these key words in the NPPF have been critical. Waverley has just been advised to jettison its emerging plan because a new housing market survey has made it clear that the present plan is not meeting “objectively assessed needs”.

Gravesham received a note from their examiner saying that their plan was potentially unsound for the same reason. Need has been an issue in Bath for two years or more in a debate about what housing market area applies in and around Bath, and whether there is a separate “need” for affordable housing that has to be calculated and accommodated.

These three little words have, finally, given some spine to the planning system. They have made it clear that planning should be about meeting human needs if they can be met sustainably. That requires difficult local decisions about how housing, commercial and retail needs should be accommodated. In some places there are genuine environmental and physical barriers, and the need will instead have to be met

in adjoining towns and cities. What is clear from the run of decisions is, thankfully, that no-one can shirk their responsibility and everywhere, in the near future, “objectively assessed needs” will have to be addressed in local plans and in planning decisions.

Properly, localism will then be a local choice about how needs are met; not about whether they should be met.

Stephen Ashworth is a partner at Dentons. Blog: bit.ly/1ahG6UL

IN COURT

Paucity of evidence – Scott Stemp The past few weeks have been taken up by a sudden rash of prosecutions for breach of various planning controls, in particular a number of Tree Preservation Orders matters, in which I have been mostly instructed for the defence.

And in just about every case the same thing has happened: the manner in which the prosecution have gathered and presented their evidence has completely ignored basic rules of evidence, procedure and wellknown case law. Which results in an easy (and predictable) win for the defence, with prosecutions

stayed, defendants discharged and (sometimes) awards of wasted costs against the prosecuting authority.

The most astonishing thing about it all was how fundamental some of the mistakes have been: (1) Including witness statements in bundles that were to be put before a tribunal of fact – a classic giveaway that whoever advised on the contents of the bundle does not know criminal evidence and procedure (2) Seeking to rely on evidence of motive, knowledge or intention in a strict liability case – this evidence is inadmissible from the outset (3) Charging defendants with contravening provisions which were not in force at the time the alleged offences were committed – check your commencement dates before issuing the Informations and Summons.

The obvious point being that, had the prosecution instructed a lawyer who regularly practised in criminal law none of those results would have gone the defendants’ way. In the meantime, I’ll keep on taking the low-hanging fruit while I’m instructed for the defence…

Scott Stemp is a barrister at 12 College Place. Blog: bit. ly/1drhzl8

Pickles overturns Suffolk solar farm approval Communities secretary Eric Pickles has overturned a planning inspector’s decision to grant planning permission for Lark Energy’s proposed 24MW solar farm at Ellough, Suffolk.

The move follows the developer’s successful appeal against Waveney District Council’s refusal to allow the project. However, Pickles has refused planning permission arguing that the increase in the amount of renewable energy generated by the scheme did not outweigh the additional harm caused to the character and appearance of the area.

The council had previously granted planning permission for a 14MW solar farm on the same site. Although Pickles acknowledged that the appeal scheme would generate a greater amount of renewable energy, he felt that the fact “should not automatically override environmental protections and the planning concerns of local communities”. n Details: bit.ly/18iRtsE Appeal reference:APP/T3535/A/13/2193543

High Court rejects green wedge appeal Developers have lost an appeal in the High Court for a major housebuilding scheme on Stephenson Green in north west Leicestershire. Mrs Justice Lang dismissed an appeal by William David and Jelson Homes to build on farmland known locally as the Whitwick Green Wedge, which separates Whitwick from Coalville.

The developers had claimed the inspector and the Secretary of State had misinterpreted and misapplied the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and failed to apply its presumption in favour of sustainable development. The claimants also allegedly failed to find that a policy to protect the green wedge from development was inconsistent with the NPPF and out of date.

The judge said that the inspector was entitled to conclude that the council’s proposed “area of separation” policy was intended to maintain the physical separation of settlements. She concluded the scheme was not sustainable development because of its adverse effect on the Coalville air quality management area and the loss of 25 hectares of most versatile land. She also ruled that the green wedge policy was neither irrelevant nor outdated.

Right to contest scheme launched Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander has launched a right to contest scheme that will allow members of the public and organisations to challenge government departments to release land that is currently in use.

Alexander said that if ministers are convinced a site can be used in “a more economically valuable way – for business for homebuilding – then we will sell that land on the open market”.

Alexander added that the government is also carrying out a strategic land review inviting local authorities and industry to identify further surplus or redundant land which can be sold “to support construction and local growth”.

He said independent estimates had suggested the public sector owns around 40 per cent of developable sites and 27 per cent of brownfield land suitable for housing.

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INSIGHT

Career { D E V E L O P M E N T C A

SHARP

R EPOR T

Reports are planners’ bread and butter.You don’t have to be Shakespeare to write a good one, but you do need a clear framework, a lively style and a capacity to write crisp analysis. Kate Dobinson shares five tips to enable you to be the toast of town planning when putting pen to paper.

S

itting at a desk and cranking out a lengthy formal report when you could be on site, meeting developers and advising councillors – it’s not exactly what you may have envisaged as an undergraduate. Writing a report will always be somewhat exacting, but "formal" need not be code for "boring". Report writing can actually be uncomplicated, creative and satisfying.

Pitfalls await even the most experienced of planners, however. The potential audience for a report can be very broad and many readers will not share your depth of knowledge or level of educational attainment. So, whatever you’re writing, it’s important to balance the need for clarity with the need for technical accuracy and credibility, without being either too simplistic or too jargon-heavy. It goes without saying that every report has to be thoroughly fact-checked to avoid mistakes, too.

Judy Goodwin, facilitator for the RTPI’s Writing for Planning Professionals training course, recommends defining your audience, purpose and objectives clearly at the outset and then getting the logistics organised as early as possible. We’ve broken the RTPI’s guidance into five manageable chunks, from defining the topic to presenting a case and making recommendations.

(1) Do your research Check with your organisation whether they have a standard template to follow but bear in mind that it will probably need relevant adjustments. Then soak up as much information as possible: speak to the public, developers

"PRESENTING AND ARGUING A CASE IS AN ART REQUIRING SKILLS THAT NEED TO BE LEARNED"

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M O R E I N FO Building the body

Sample schedule The way to create a schedule is to work backwards from your publication date. This is a very basic one-month schedule built around working weeks that lays out milestones for any document. Your schedule might be longer – or much shorter!

Publication:

December 5

To print:

December 3

Sign-off:

December 2

Design/layout:

November 28-29

Copy sign off:

November 27

Copy approval (fact-checking, feedback from key stakeholders, amends):

November 25-27

Copy writing:

November 15-22

Research:

November 6-14

Planning:

November 4-5

and planning officers (on site if you can); make more detailed enquiries to research bodies, trade unions and professional associations; and sift through and read academic papers.

section. However, in the world of commerce, an executive summary appears at the front of a report, so consider this as an option.

Do include: b the subject of the report b the scope of the study and its purpose b your methods used b results and recommendations.

Don’t include:

(2) Structure it correctly

b the background to the study b complex figures b anything not contained in the full report.

Your report should be broken down into the following components:

(4) Organise your team

ba

front page that includes some or all of: title and subtitle, author(s) and organisation, who the report is for, the date of publication b a table of contents b introductory pages outlining the purpose of the report and summarising your main findings b the main body of the report, in sections, setting out the facts that lead the reader to a logical conclusion (see Building the body, right) b concluding pages drawing together your main arguments and recommendations, which may contain conclusions on the present situation, problems and options, as well as recommendations for the future b supplementary pages, including references, bibliography, further reading, glossary, appendixes.

(3) The executive summary This is 200-400 words long and will include your purpose, main conclusions and recommendations. Write your executive summary last. It’s convention in many types of planning document to summarise the findings and recommendations either at the end of the report or at the end of each

If the report is to be produced by a team of people, you must clarify your roles – who will do what?

Will there be multiple writers or just one? You might appoint an editor to collate the information, ensure a uniform style and avoid repetition in the report. In terms of logistics, fix a printing date and create a schedule that works backwards from that.

The main body is the most important part of any report, but it’s also the most daunting to plan and write.

The trick is to break the big task into smaller, more manageable jobs. Start by asking yourself what your main purpose is and jot down a list of your initial ideas for chapter topics to get a sense of your journey from start to finish. Next, brainstorm a more comprehensive list of ideas, highlighting key themes, and allocate them to your initial chapters. These will form the basis of your research and help you to delegate tasks to your team (if you have one) and create your schedule.

In general, your order of chapters and the development of points within chapters should follow logical steps from one topic to another and flow naturally towards your conclusion. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that you should highlight your most important or interesting points close to the beginning of the report.

This is one reason why having an executive summary at the start of a report makes sense.

(5) Make it reader-friendly A planning report is not a work of art but a functional document. As such, it must be tidy, accessible and inviting. To achieve this, you might like to use pull-out quotes or experiment with fonts to emphasise important points. Make sure that your text is well-spaced for ease of reading and that there is plenty of white space, too, so the reader doesn’t not feel overwhelmed by text. It’s also a good idea to break up chunks of text with photos, maps, graphs and graphics – but make sure they have explanatory captions.

Find out about forthcoming planning training courses at www.rtpi.org.uk/events Find out about Judi Goodwin’s writing training courses at www.unleashyourwritingpower.com/

KATE DOBINSON is news and content editor of The Planner.

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INSIGHT

Plan ahead P Growth in high gear The planning world is awash with initiatives like HS2 and Local Enterprise Partnerships.

But what's the best way to create regeneration and renewal?

Planners are not the “enemies of enterprise”, says RTPI president Peter Geraghty.

“They are not the town hall bureaucrats who obstruct economic growth. On the contrary, they provide policies and land allocations and coordinate delivery. They make things happen.”

The phrase, coined by David Cameron in 2011, may have lingered on but planners are not standing idly by.

“How can planning policy accelerate economic growth?” is one of the key questions at the Institute of Economic Development (IED) and Regeneration and Renewal Annual Conference 2013, entitled Going for Growth.

The IED has been committed

KATE DOBINSON is news and content editor of The Planner

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to demonstrating the value of economic development work for local and regional communities for more than 30 years. This year, former deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine will head up an impressive list of speakers, one year on from presenting his No Stone Unturned report.

A skills deficit, creaking infrastructure, weak investment in business, devolved power and the perceived regional divide in the UK are perennial challenges for enabling economic development.

A newer issue is the effectiveness of the Single Local Growth Fund and this will be addressed by Bernadette Kelly, directorgeneral for markets and framework at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

What Whitehall considers a compelling bid to the fund and what government can do to help Local Enterprise Partnerships that fail to win significant sums from it are also on the morning’s agenda.

Kelly will be joined by Dr Sue Baxter, the deputy director of the EU programme at BIS, and will talk about the new European landscape.

But how planners can enable the growth agenda is specifically addressed at midday. Planners are responsible for both stimulating and supporting growth and must not only spot opportunities but mediate competing interests. However, they must be given the resource and authority to do so.

Matthew Spry, director at Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners, and Marc Hume, director of renewal and recreation at the London Borough of Bromley, will ask whether the planning system is accelerating the rate of growth

10 economic strategy warning signs The Centre for Local Economic Strategies says there are 10 danger signs for councils’ economic strategies:

(1)

Focus on development and equality as well as growth.

Most economic strategies are still fixated on growth, yet it is also about equality and social relations.

(2)

Ease emphasis on traditional economic concerns. Too many strategies focus on the ‘hard’ economics of small business start-ups and availability of land or premises, for example, rather than neighbourhood renewal and environmental sustainability.

(3)

Focus on social and employment issues. There is a lack of relationship between the economy and social issues, such as worklessness.

(4)

Acknowledge the economy in non-economic local strategies.

Non-economic strategies are not strategically drawn together within a local authority area’s Sustainable Communities Strategy. This leads to inefficiency, policy mismatch and a lack of clarity.

and consider how to create a cultural change that will affect policy and remove barriers.

Directly afterwards, Martin Blackwell, chief executive for the Association of Town Centre Management, will promote the vitality and viability of town and city centres. He will explain how they can house business and investment to become vibrant, inclusive,

(5)

Increase connection between economic development and land use planning. Planning is not in all cases imbued with local economic thinking and progression.

(6)

Collaborate with the third sector. They are a key facet of local economic life.

(7)

Beware devolution.

Strengthening sub-regional government threatens correct identification of very specific local and sub-local economic issues and may damage the interests of secondary town centres and rural areas.

(8)

Focus on the availability of investment capital. Many local economic strategies have poor recognition and associated policy in relation to the availability of investment capital and financing more generally.

(9)

Foster an innovative and risktaking culture. Many strategies lack a clear policy on creativity and entrepreneurialism, but they are key aspects of economic strength.

(10)

Demonstrate accountability and evaluation of strategies.

There should be a clear democratic connection between citizens and economic planning.

competitive communities.

Diane Savory, chair of Gloucestershire LEP and Nigel Jobson, head of property of SuperGroup, will then provide the new high street toolkit.

This session will highlight innovative approaches to boosting growth through town management and strategies for reinvigorating town and city centres.

G O I N G FO R G R O W T H What: The IED Annual Conference Where: etc.Venues, Victoria, London When: 20 November Theme: Delivering sustainable growth Details: http://bit.ly/17McEnz

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DIARY

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

NORTH 18 November – Renewable Energy and the Historic Environment Seminar offering delegates up-to-date advice on current case law and legal implications of the impact of development on the setting of historic assets.

Venue: Bridgewater Place, Water Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS11 5DR Details: http://bit. ly/1a2YU7V Contact: Yorkshire@rtpi. org.uk 20 November – Infrastructure Planning One day conference with a variety of speakers looking at how to make sure that planning for infrastructure delivers the best for all communities.

Venue: Ship Canal House, 98 King St, Manchester Details: http://bit. ly/166ujZH 27 November – New Developments in Transportation Conference for planners and transportation professionals providing insights from industry experts into new advice and guidance.

Venue: International Centre for Life, Times Square, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4EP Details: http://bit. ly/17hbWEG 29 November – RTPI North West AGM Including elections for 2014 and presentation of the Planning Achievement awards.

Venue: Co-op, Angel Square, Manchester Details: http://bit. ly/1a2Z8vU 2 December – North East RTPI AGM Items include the 2013 Annual Report, elections for appointments to the Regional Management Board and Regional Activities and Policy Committee for 2014.

Venue: Central Square South, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3XX Contact: Kay.lough@rtpi. org.uk RSVP required.

DON’T MISS RTPI Nathaniel Lichfield Lecture 2013 The Rt Hon Lord Heseltine will discuss the growth agenda with respect to cities and how pioneering city leaders can develop visions for growth. This is a particular area of interest that the RTPI will be developing further in their Policy Futures work as part of the Centenary in 2014.

Date: 12 November Venue: University College, London WC1E 6BT Details: http://bit.ly/HhtSTR

EAST 8 November – East of England Planning Law Update Popular annual event that provides an opportunity to take stock of this year’s changes to planning law.

Venue: Downing College, Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 1DQ Details: http://bit. ly/1c0nIkh 27 November – Planning and Delivery/Viability One day conference helping policy and development management planners to develop their understanding of issues associated with delivering quality places.

Venue: HCA Offices, Eastbrook, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BF Details: http://bit. ly/166uG6A

SOUTH 21 November – RTPI South East Planning Awards Evening The awards event provides an insight into the best planning practice that the region has to offer.

Venue: University of Surrey Sportpark, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7AD Details: http://bit.ly/17fha1j 6 December – Reimagining our high streets How can we bring back the bustle to the high street?

(See our feature, p.24.)

This session will showcase the wide-ranging actions that planners are taking to re-imagine the high street.

Please note that this event includes a walking tour.

Venue: The Guildhall, Bath, Bath and North East Somerset BA1 5AW Details: http://bit.ly/ H4BMiy

January 31 – Neighbourhood Planning and Local Plans, working out the relationship Session will review progress and emerging best practice in community-led planning.

Venue: Somerset County Cricket Club, The County Ground, Taunton, Somerset Details: http://bit. ly/18PwYbo

WEST MIDLANDS 19 November – Planning for climate change Climate change is and will continue to be a major issue that planning has to address. This session will explore the broader based approaches to dealing with climate change.

Venue: HCA, 5 St Philip’s Place, Queensway, Birmingham, West Midlands B3 2PW Details: http://bit. ly/1eNp6IP

LONDON 6 November – Time Management for Planners Masterclass giving a practical approach to time management and helping participants develop their own systems.

Venue: The Hatton (etc Venues), 51-53 Hatton Garden, London Details: http://bit. ly/17hckCW 12 November – Effective communication skills How can you grab attention, hold it and get your message across?

Masterclass addressing the need to be listened to in

conversation, in meetings and when speaking in public.

Venue: The Hatton (etc Venues), 51-53 Hatton Garden, London Details: http://bit.ly/ HjD8pI 14 November - Essential Finance Skills for Planners With increasing budget restraints, the need for effective financial management skills are greater than ever. This masterclass will provide an insight into practical skills which will make a difference.

Venue: The Hatton (etc Venues), 51-53 Hatton Garden, London Details: http://bit. ly/1aa1uPr 27 November – Negotiation Skills for Planning Professionals Whether it’s a Section 106 agreement, a pay rise or where to go on holiday, we use negotiation skills all the time. This one day programme will help you to use negotiations as a way to build on and strengthen relationships.

Venue: The Hatton (etc Venues), 51-53 Hatton Garden, London Details: http://bit. ly/18PxyGb

SCOTLAND 7 November – Planning – at the forefront of the renewable energy agenda?

Energy plays a vital role in Scotland’s economy.

Planning plays a crucial role in the delivery

of sustainable energy generation and planners need to be kept informed of the development of the energy sector. Three speakers offer a range of perspectives.

Venue: William Soutar Theatre, AK Bell Library, York Place, Perth PH2 8EP Contact: lorna.sim@ tayplan-sdpa.gov.uk 21 November – Delivering Better Town Centres – Places for People With the evolution of the digital world, how can town centres meet the challenges facing them?

The publication of the National Review of Town Centres External Advisory Group Report sets the ball rolling.

Venue: Highland Council HQ, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX Contact: lynn.clarke@ highland.gov.uk 01463 702291

WALES 6 December – RTPI Cymru Annual Review Cardiff Bay Come and hear the RTPI Cymru Annual Review, as well as witness the change of Chairs and learn what will be happening next year – 2014, the RTPI’s Centenary year.

Venue: Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff CF10 5AL Details: http://bit. ly/1898A3l

NORTHERN IRELAND 13 November – Responsibilities of Planning Committees Training event for councillors aimed at considering the roles and relationships of elected members and officers dealing with planning committees.

Venue: Oxford Island National Nature Reserve Craigavon, BT66 6NJ Details: http://bit. ly/17hdSwW

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NEWS

RTPI {

RTPI news pages are edited

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

Charter your course to success MARTINE KOCH, RTPI HEAD OF MEMBERSHIP, SAYS THE ASSESSMENT OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE (APC) IS RIGHTLY A THOROUGH AND RIGOROUS PROCESS BUT THERE IS PLENTY OF GOOD ADVICE VIABLE TO HELP CANDIDATES TO BE SUCCESSFUL. New members are the lifeblood of any professional institute. If you are thinking of making a submission or you are considering it in the future this article will help advise on what you will need to do. Achieving Chartered status of the RTPI remains extremely popular and we are a world leading brand. Each year around 500 Licentiate members apply for Chartered membership of the RTPI via what we call the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC).

There are a number of ways to achieve Chartered Town Planner status, depending on your education and experience. The APC combines a minimum of two years' professional experience with an RTPI-accredited degree. We take submissions four times a year. Closing dates for applications are usually on the last Friday in January, April, August and November.

Before applying for the APC, you must be a Licentiate Member of the RTPI for a minimum of one year. As a candidate, you will be asked to submit a 5,000 word application demonstrating your experience and how you have developed your competency in a planning role. Your application will then be assessed by RTPI-accredited assessors who will consider whether you have addressed all the criteria and demonstrated that you have acquired the appropriate knowledge, skills and reflective practices to be elected to the RTPI as a Chartered Town Planner.

There are a variety of resources to assist you with your application. APC candidates can download guidance, application forms and other useful information from the RTPI website.

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We also provide guidelines, 'Preparing your APC submission 2013', which sets out detailed instructions on how to complete the APC. For further information on the APC process visit www.

There are three parts to the submission, rtpi.org.uk/membership each with equal weight. First, a Practical If you have specific queries Experience Statement details the Licentiate about the APC please send them to membership@rtpi. member’s experience. Secondly, a Professional org.uk Competence Statement comprises case studies that demonstrate the Licentiate member’s competence against a set of criteria. Thirdly, a Professional Development Plan sets out the Licentiate member’s strategies to improve knowledge and skills in the future.

Earlier this year, the RTPI highlighted a number of APC candidates whose excellent submissions in 2012 were nominated by their assessors as good examples. These impressive young planners’ tips to help the next generation of Licentiates get to grips with the APC process are available on the membership section of the RTI website and are well worth a look.

It is not possible to summarise all their advice in this short article, but I would like to highlight a few gems that I think are particularly helpful: - Attend the APC workshops in your area: these are really useful in terms of the guidance provided.

- Read the guidance and particularly the assessment criteria very carefully and continually refer back to this to ensure what you are writing is relevant.

- Wait until you are ready. Don’t hesitate in delaying your submission if you’re not confident that it can demonstrate a sufficient level of experience.

- Make sure you write in your own style.

- Make the most of your mentor.

- Demonstrate how you have developed as a planner.

- Complete your log book monthly, and be disciplined about updating it.

- Do not adopt a tickbox approach to the assessment criteria.

- Talk about your submission to your peers and more established members of the profession.

- Be reflective and self evaluate your performance at all times.

The RTPI is here to support you, so if you have any queries about the APC process please contact us on the email address above.

MARTINE KOCH Head of Membership

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Editorial E: rtpi.news@rtpi.org.uk

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

Registered charity in England and Wales no.

262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841

RTPI SHORTS

Dr Lee Pugalis Reader NEWCASTLE BUSINESS SCHOOL, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY (Want to tell your story? Please get in touch)

(1) What do you currently do?

An awful lot of reading! This is interspersed with teaching, supervising doctoral students, external engagement and research. The latter involves leading several projects in the UK, Europe and Africa, including examining Local Enterprise Partnerships, analysing EU Territorial Cohesion Policy and appraising World Bank slum alleviation programmes. I'm also working on a book about ‘Enterprising Places’.

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

Strictly speaking I no longer work in planning; my latest role is concerned with entrepreneurship. However, ‘once a planner, always a planner’ and I will always retain an active interest in the shaping of places. My extracurricular roles, such as advising community-led partnerships and activities undertaken as Vice Chair of the Urban Design Network, help me to stay involved in planning practice.

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

Managing a County Council economic development team during the height of the recession and the organisational restructuring that followed was a particularly turbulent period. Nevertheless, working with different communities – whether those with a more social, environmental or business stake – has been the greatest challenge.

ADVICE ON… CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Continuing Professional Development(CPD) is an ongoing process of learning through planning and reflection through which professionals maintain and develop their expertise. All members of the RTPI (apart from retired members) make a commitment to CPD. The RTPI is not prescriptive about the types of activity that count as CPD, recognising that you are the best person to assess the value of an activity to your professional development. However,

nothing should be automatically accepted as CPD unless you have personally learnt from it.

When considering whether an activity counts as CPD you should initially refer back to your Professional Development Plan (PDP) to see whether it will help your development objectives.

We also understand that you may come across unexpected opportunities for CPD that you had not planned for in your PDP.

n For further advice on CPD visit www.rtpi.org.uk/ education-and-careers

(4) What attracted you to the profession?

The grand notion of a ‘master planner’ was alluring during my formative years. After successive SimCityTM triumphs as a teenager, a career in planning presented itself as the obvious choice.

(5) What single piece of advice would you give to someone thinking of moving from planning practice into an academic role?

Those with rich on-the-ground experience are typically recruited by universities for their practical expertise, but this can quickly diminish – especially when planning faces perennial reform. Retaining strong links with practice is crucial, not least for cajoling those working on the frontline to share their experiences with students!

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

The ‘proud of planning and proud of planners’ campaign is a great initiative and long overdue. When Hollywood producers start to cast their leading action heroes as charismatic planners then we know that we are heading in the right direction. Until then we’ll have to be content with the hapless planning hero, Sam Pinkett, in the comedy thriller The Wrong Mans.

RTPI NORTH EAST HAS MAJOR PLANS TO CELEBRATE THE CENTENARY School visits, a lecture with a high-profile speaker, a themed reception and a historical exhibition are among the north east's proposed centenary activities in 2014.

Four ‘challenge days’ will take place, aimed at young people embarking on their GCSE options to engage them in matters that concern the built and natural environment.

A timeline exhibition will chart the history

and celebrate the achievements of planning over the past 100 years.

Sir Peter Hall will speak at the annual Thomas Sharpe Lecture in May. Other events include a 100km bike ride and a special planning quiz with a dinner concluding the celebrations in October.

Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners and Barton Willmore are kindly sponsoring the centenary programme.

n For further information on Regions and Nations centenary plans visit www.rtpi.org.uk/centenary

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NEWS

RTPI { Elections: Please use your vote ANDREW TAYLOR, CHAIR OF THE RTPI BOARD OF TRUSTEES, URGES ALL MEMBERS TO VOTE IN THIS YEAR’S ELECTIONS AS 39 CANDIDATES VIE FOR POSITIONS. I am very proud to be both a member of the Institute and also to be chair of the RTPI Board of Trustees. When I was elected chair some people were perhaps surprised that I set as two of my key aims to encourage more candidates to stand for RTPI positions and to get more of our members voting in these elections. I said I was passionate about trying to achieve this. I certainly make no apologies for issuing such a call to action because I believe the widest possible involvement in the Institute is vital. I hope everyone will join with me and spread the word that it is election time and that we are asking all our members to consider voting this year.

Of more than 250 professional bodies in the UK and Ireland, I believe we have one of the longest and proudest histories, and that the Royal Town Planning Institute is genuinely led by its members and has been for nearly a century. We rely on active members to enable the Institute to function and develop, and we need as many of our members as possible, even if you cannot become a very active member, to have a say over who they want representing them on our various bodies and therefore to help to steer the Institute.

When I set out my plans to increase involvement, one very well-intentioned member said: "Oh Andrew, it’s all very laudable but everyone says that" and concluded: "but they don’t really do anything about it". Well, as I hope some of you may have noticed, I have tried to do something about it. I have encouraged our marketing and communications team to promote the elections as much as possible. I helped to put together a dozen profiles of members who have in the past been willing to put themselves forward for election to explain what they did and what

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ANDREW TAYLOR Chair of the RTPI Board of Trustees Depending on your type of membership, you have until 18 November to vote for positions ranging from Vice-President to members of the General Assembly.

Up for grabs 39 candidates are standing for 19 positions this year: Vice-President Elected by Fellows and Ordinary members, the Vice-President will become President in 2015.

Board of Trustees Elections for Board members are staggered to ensure continuity. The General Assembly is the Electoral College for Board elections. Four corporate member positions are due for election this year.

General Assembly Due for election are 14 corporate members elected by the members, and one Legal Associate elected by the corporate members and Legal Associates.

they have got out of a closer involvement with the Institute. I also took part in an elections podcast with our Vice-President Cath Ranson and I have written to all RTPI chairs asking them to act as voting champions during October and November.

I tried to show through the case studies that we have people from all walks of life and all sectors of the planning profession. One of the great things about the RTPI is that we are not a closed shop or cosy club. We do rely on new blood and fresh ideas to keep the Institute and its work relevant and vibrant. Each election sees new people elected, as well as some long serving members re-elected “THE RTPI'S who ensure continuity STRENGTH COMES and carry a significant FROM MEMBER amount of knowledge INVOLVEMENT. WE of planning and the HOPE YOU'LL BE history of the Institute.

INVOLVED BY I was delighted that USING YOUR more people came VOTE” forward this year and that we have 39 candidates standing for positions.

I have always believed that there is a difference between joining an organisation and participating in it. The Institute’s strength comes from members’ involvement and we hope that you will be involved in the governance of the Institute by using your vote in the elections.

Of course, there is no obligation to do anything but by now you should have received your ballot paper, and a great way to participate in the RTPI is to cast your vote at election time.

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STEP CHANGE

RTPI members discuss their career-changing decisions GET INVOLVED: HAVE YOUR SAY Watch out for your local RTPI annual general meeting in the coming months. The AGM is an important event because it's your chance to hear what has happened in your area and to get involved in its governance. It is also a great opportunity to find out more generally about the RTPI and a place for you to meet some of our active members. Your views and opinions are welcome and we are always looking for new volunteers to assist in running events and helping in the regions and nations. Some AGMs will provide a speaker and refreshments. c South East - 21 November; East Midlands - 22 November; North West - 29 November; North East - 2 December; Yorkshire - 3 December; Ireland - 4 December; London - 5 December; RTPI Cymru - 6 December; Northern Ireland – 12 December; South West - Apr 2014(tbc); East of England – May (tbc); West Mids – May (tbc). n For further information, visit www.rtpi.org.uk or email Charles.veal@rtpi.org.uk

“I AM REALLY PROUD OF WHAT I HAVE ACHIEVED AS A PLANNER WITHIN THIS INDUSTRY”

Brett Spiller Group Planning and Estates Manager NEW EARTH SOLUTIONS

NETWORKS, GROUPS AND FORUMS: MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION The RTPI supports a number of special interest networks, groups and forums.

These encourage informed discussion and sharing of good practice and information between members and the Institute on specific topics and professional issues.

There are a dozen such bodies, including: - NAPE (Planning Enforcement), which promotes and enhances the role of planning enforcement in the profession.

- Young Planners, which provides events, networking and resources for planners in the early stages of their career.

- RTPI-CIH Planning for Housing Network, which develops policy, knowledge and good practice for the RTPI and CIH. - Independent Consultants’ Network, for RTPI members who work as sole practitioners or run their own small planning practices.

- Transport Planning, a member-driven forum for transport planners and those with an interest in transport issues - Politicians in Planning (PIPA), which aims to influence planning policies and press decision-makers to address current planning-related issues effectively.

n For further information visit the Knowledge pages on the RTPI web site.

“My biggest career decision undoubtedly came seven years ago when I decided to move as a planner into an industry that I believed was about to undergo a major transformation – waste management – and so it proved to be the case. At the time, many of my colleagues thought I was taking a major risk with my career but it has proved the best decision I have made regarding my professional life.

“I was working as a planning manager for a local authority and saw the opportunity to move into an industry that I thought was at an embryonic stage, with new technologies emerging to divert waste away from landfill. That might seem obvious now but it wasn’t then. Back in 2006 most waste went into landfill and we were only beginning to see the early impact of European policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“I thought the industry was going to need good planners and that it was an opportunity for planners to make a real impact at a time when there was going to be an explosion in developing new alternative technologies.

“To come in right of the start of that was very exciting, but it was also a chance to influence the direction of an ambitious company.

New Earth Solutions regarded planning as central to their business which immediately impressed me. I particularly enjoyed the switch back to a delivery role and the sense of purpose that came with it.

Not only did I get to see the fruits of my labour – with a network of waste management and energy facilities on the ground – but I got to see the environmental benefits of their ongoing operation.

“The role has grown. I remain passionate about engaging with local communities and the company sees planners as absolutely integral to the business. I like to think that the planning team will actively contribute to its ongoing growth.

“I am really proud of what I have achieved as a planner within this industry and have never regretted my decision”.

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INSIGHT

Plan B P D ATA D A Z E

MR PICKLES: CUT OUT FOR VEGAS? Plan B’s photo of the month features communities secretary Eric Pickles squished between a pair of scantily dressed Las Vegas showgirls (it’s a rather clichéd shot: you might call it a cheesy Pickles sandwich). Fear not – the libertarian political heavyweight wasn’t enjoying some ill-advised ‘personal time’ during a factfinding trip to assess the state of planning

in the USA’s capital of hedonism. As far as we know, he wasn’t in Las Vegas at all – but his cardboard cut-out was.

Picklesroadtrip. com also features the besuited big guy in the shower at the Cosmopolitan hotel, posing like a tourist before the Golden Gate Bridge, hunting alligators in Louisiana and, er, strutting his stuff on Muscle Beach. His bizarre

HUW'VE GOT TO SMILE

appearances at US tourism hotspots are the inspiration of British students James Johnson and Daniel Falvey, who took Mr Pickles on a coast-tocoast road trip across the States this summer.

What’s perhaps even stranger than a life-sized cardboard MP for Brentwood and Ongar crossing the USA is the fact that that his chaperones insist this is no prank, but a heartfelt homage to their favourite Tory politician. “As

We received a good deal of feedback from readers following last month’s launch issue of The Planner and we’re pleased to say it was almost universally positive and very useful (thank you). One comment was a little left-field, however: “I think you can allow yourself a hint of a smile on page 5 of your next issue Huw!” Our consultant editor Huw Morris has gone to great lengths to appear statesmanlike as befits his status as the doyen of planning journalists.

While it’s true that Huw is more likely to pitch up to the office with tie askew and a look of vexation rather than omniscient certainty, we’ve no plans to change his byline picture for the time being. As a special treat, though, here’s a shot of a grinning Mr Morris with a cardboard cut-out of Eric Pickles.

Ah, the wonders of Photoshop.

Photosh

Conservatives and Mr. huge fans of Mr Pickles, his outlook and his work to modernise and maximise value in our public services, we hope this blog goes some way to document the great man’s adventures across the land of our great Atlantic neighbour,” they earnestly declare.

We’ll take your word for that, guys.

Perhaps you also tried to sell the Houses of Parliament to the owner of Caesars Palace while you were out there? If nothing else, the blog demonstrates that the Rt Hon Mr Pickles has a sense of humour – the final picture in the collection sees him posing with himself in Westminster. A double W helping of Pickles? h Can we have more C cheese with that c please? p

HANGING ON FOR A STADIUM

As a lifelong Liverpool Football Club supporter, Plan B is following plans to redevelop Anfield stadium with more foll than passing interest. The latest twist in this long-running tha saga is the discovery of bats in the main stand. sag Pipistrelles and chripera have both been recorded in the vicinity of the ground in P recent years and even observed by surprised supporters flying over the pitch during rec evening games. Should the presence of a roost in the stand be confirmed, eve tthe club will have to make provision for these protected species before submitting a proposal pr to increase the stadium capacity to 60,000.

The temptation to pun is overwhelming and the Daily Mirror set the tone with the headline “Kop a load of bat!”. Plan B prefers to speculate on whether newly sign signed Italian maestros Pipistrelle and Chripera will be playing at left and right bat resp respectively. Rumour also has it they may be joined by the flying Hungarian winger Noctule, though his reputation as a goal hanger might count against him. And finally, Noc we ask: is there any truth in the rumour that LFC are trying to tempt midfield enforcer David Batty out of retirement? We’re here all week… enf

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£1m+ Average asking price for a house in three London boroughs, according to Rightmove: Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham.

Q

10.2%

Average increase in the asking price for houses across London in one month between September and October.

Q

60%

More expensive to own a home in the country than in towns and cities, according to Halifax.

9.4

The average house price in the Cotswolds is 9.4 times local gross annual average earnings, making it the least affordable rural area in Britain.

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