The Planner - November 2014

NOVEMBER 2014 DESIGNING WELLBEING INTO OUR CITIES // p.18 • THE DANGERS OF HIGH RISE DENSIFICATION // p.26 • THE TRANSFORMATION OF LONDON GATEWAY A COMPLEX REVIVAL // p.30 • HOW PLANNERS CAN MAKE THE MOST OF LINKEDIN // p.40

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

HONEST

BROKER Sir Michael Bear on planning’s role in the Regeneration Investment Organisation

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The RTPI Nathaniel Lich¿eld Centenary Lecture 2014 Tues 18 November 2014 Darwin Theatre, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT This year the lecture, in our centenary year, will be given by Professor Tony Travers. The debate on who and how we are governed is taking the political centre stage not only in Scotland but also in Irish, Welsh and English cities and areas. Professor Travers will discuss future trends in city and county governance and how those might develop and give an expert insight in what they might mean for citizens.

Professor Travers is director of LSE London, a research centre at the London School of Economics.

He is also a professor in the LSE’s Government Department. He has published a number of books on cities and government, including Failure in British Government The Politics of the Poll Tax (with David Butler and Andrew Adonis), Paying for Health, Education and Housing How does the Centre Pull the Purse Strings (with Howard Glennerster and John Hills) and The Politics of London: Governing the Ungovernable City.

The Annual Lecture is a thought-provoking event which aims to make a positive contribution to the debate around spatial planning in a national and international context. The lecture, given in memory of Nat Lich¿eld, draws an audience of around two hundred students and professionals from across the planning and related professions. Previous speakers have included Patsy Healey and Mitchell Silver - who was then Chief Planning and Economic Development Of¿cer in the City of Raleigh, North Carolina. Last year’s lecture was delivered by Lord Heseltine.

We expect tickets for the lecture to sell very quickly. £10 (inc VAT) £8 (inc VAT) concessions 20 free places available to students.

The lecture is once again generously supported by Dalia Lich¿eld.

To book please go to http://rtpilecture2014.eventbrite.co.uk

Professor Travers regularly broadcasts and writes for the national press, including The Guardian, The Evening Standard, The Independent, the Financial Times and The Times.

The lecture will begin at 7pm and will be followed by a drinks reception.

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CONTENTS

PLANNER 09 30

THE

NO VEMBER

20 14

NEWS

6 Labour housing review meets with mixed response

7 Move towards greater autonomy for Wales

8 Planning for people

OPINION

9 Budget boost for republic’s housing 10 Planning bill to revitalise Wales

12 Chris Shepley: My beautiful launderette gets a change of use

11 Key report on environmental impact of A5 corridor project

16 Tino Hernandez: Standing room only 16 Alexandra Jones: A manifesto for a stronger urban nation 17 Philip Barnes: Anyone for tennis?

17 Martin Hutchings : Speed will always be the focus – until there is something better to care about

QUOTE UNQUOTE

“THERE’S NOTHING MORE EXPRESSIVE THAN A ROUNDABOUT” KEVIN BERESFORD, CHAIR OF THE UK ROUNDABOUT APPRECIATION SOCIETY

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“THE THURROCK SCHEME DEMONSTRATES HOW PLANNERS AND BUSINESSES CAN WORK TOGETHER TO FACILITATE TRANSFORMATIVE GROWTH”

FEATURES

INSIGHT

18 The way we plan our cities now must benefit the nation’s future health and wellbeing, says David Blackman

38 Legal landscape: Opinion, blogs, and news from the legal side of planning

22 The Regeneration Investment Organisation celebrates its first anniversary.

Domenic Donatantonio talks to its executive chair Sir Michael Bear 26 As London’s mayor sanctions 200 more skyscrapers, the capital becomes increasingly unaffordable for most people, says Adrian Jones

40 Career development: LinkedIn for planners

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42 Plan Ahead – our pick of upcoming events for the planning profession and beyond 44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute 50 Plan B: We can barely contain ourselves

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COV E R I M AG E | D U N C A N N IC HOL L S

30 London Gateway in Essex is transforming into a world-class container terminal and logistics park. Planners tell Mark Smulian how an LDO streamlined the area’s revival

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27/10/2014 15:23

Postgraduate Study or a New Postgraduate Career in Planning Cities & Regions?

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School of the Environment at the University of Dundee MSc Spatial Planning with Environmental Assessment MSc Spatial Planning with Sustainable Urban Design MSc Spatial Planning with Marine Spatial Planning MSc Spatial Planning with Urban Conservation

Current Issues in Planning

These programmes are approved by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) as satisfying the educational requirements of the Assessment of Professional Competence to gaining full chartered membership.

Duration: 12 months full time or 24 months part-time Intake: January and September Full Details: http://uod.ac.uk/1yK7Dh5 Email: postgrad-admissions@dundee.ac.uk Further information: Programme Director Dr Dumiso Moyo d.moyo@dundee.ac.uk Town & Regional Planning, School of the Environment, College of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Dundee, Nethergate, Dundee DD1 4HN Tel. +44(0) 1382 385240

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Under the spotlight: The eight most outstanding CSJFkOH QBQFST of 2014 4 December 2014 London

Book Now

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020 3740 5828

Confere nce Ch air Cath Ranson , RTPI Pre sident

www.rtpiconferences.co.uk/40010

RTPI Conferences is managed by Kaplan Hawksmere on behalf of The Royal Town Planning Institute

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PLAN UPFRONT

Leaderr Time for a political conference revolution?

Ah, the party political conference season. What is it good for? With apologies to Edwin Starr, it’s tempting to reply: ‘absolutely nothing’ (say it again). Of course, that would be a little too hyperbolic. RTPI head of comms Tino Hernandez writes on page 16 about conference season and how it allows the institute an opportunity to put its views across to these ‘captive audiences’.

But isn’t it all the wrong way around? Because all too often what the public ‘takes away’ is the reigning and prospective political elites flying their latest kites, each policy the result of behind-closeddoors machinations. And as soon as each party’s prospective agenda is published, it’s torn to shreds by the opposition.

What we remember, sadly, are those desperate attempts by party leaders

Martin Read to look statesmanlike through their script-free or overly animated podium performances.

The events themselves rarely change format.

Indeed, the most radical departure in recent years is location. We’ve said goodbye to the seaside (Brighton, Blackpool and Bournemouth) and hello to Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. (The parties have doubtless worked their focus groups to establish how summer

holiday connotations were unacceptable to the public.)

Surely the biggest issue is that the parties' policy announcements are released through a standard set of stage-managed leaks and speeches? Response from those affected by these flights of political fancy, from the public or the professions, is always sought in retrospect.

Everyone’s playing catchup as the parties try to establish what are often flimsy points of difference between them.

So let’s ditch the conferences. Instead of politicians preaching to the converted, wouldn’t it be refreshing if each October

"EVERYONE’S PLAYING CATCH­UP AS THE PARTIES TRY TO ESTABLISH WHAT ARE OFTEN FLIMSY POINTS OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM"

was a month in which the country’s professions and trades were called on to publish their own agendas for change – and political parties were forced, in public, to respond? Imagine actual professionals proposing public policy on the TV and radio, with the political parties obliged to be on standby to respond. Policy debate would happen in real-time, initiated by those who know their subject best.

A charter for loud and discordant debate? Quite possibly, but where’s the harm in that? Planning policy in particular might benefit more than most from such a proposal. I’m a dreamer? Well, maybe. But I bet I’m not the only one.

(Finally this month, some housekeeping: next month’s edition is a young planners’ special. Go to page 14 for details of our new LinkedIn group, where we’re encouraging young planners to respond for a couple of features. Thanks in advance.)

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Average net circulation 20,646 (October - December 2013) © 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.

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NEWS

Analysis { l REACTION

LY O N S H O U S I N G R E V I E W

Labour housing review meets with mixed response

By Laura Edgar

L

ast month Labour leader Ed Miliband launched the longawaited Lyons Housing Review, making a commitment to build 200,000 homes each year by 2020.

Although some in the housing industry have welcomed the report, it has been criticised by the Liberal Democrats and housing minister Brandon Lewis.

The Labour-commissioned report recognises the extent of the housing crisis a new government will face after May 2015.

Here, The Planner takes a look at the report’s main proposals and what people have said about it.

Lyons Review: The key proposals

(1)

New Homes Corporation to drive house building, and local authorities empowered to enforce land release from developers.

(2)

Communities to be given greater ability to ensure that the homes they need are delivered.

(3)

Five new towns, including two in the South-East, to reduce pressure in the most sought-after region.

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City and New Towns (4) Garden programme to deliver required amount of homes, particularly in the long term.

(5)

New government to commit to a “genuine zero-carbon standard for new homes”.

(6)

Councils should be able to reserve a proportion of new homes in a Housing Growth Area for a two-month period, giving local people first refusal.

(7)

On larger developments, councils will ensure that the area will gain in infrastructure, including roads, schools and GP surgeries.

(8)

Local councils able to restrict sales to buy-to-let investors, as well as the ability to tackle empty homes.

(9)

Local authorities must produce a local plan that meets the needs of their community. If sufficient land is not allocated or they do not present a plan, the planning inspectorate will have powers to step in.

+ n Download the full Lyons Review at: www.bit.ly/1ryxD5Y

“We applaud The Lyons Review for looking at the housing needs of the nation in depth and for advocating that local authorities have an important role to play in planning for the homes we need” – RTPI “Policies that would result in more land coming forward for development more quickly and further assist first-time buyers would clearly provide a boost to housing supply” – Stuart Baseley, executive chairman, Home Builders Federation “Its strong support for a ‘genuine zero-carbon’ standard and reversal of the exemption for small sites is hugely welcome. Zero-carbon homes are not only better for the environment, but reduce energy bills for householders and contribute to our energy security” – John Alker, director of policy and communications, UK Green Building Council “There are at least two major issues that all political parties need to confront head on: The lack of a public sector house building programme and the lack of delivery of significant new infrastructure, which too often gets bogged down in planning inquiries for a decade or more” – Bhavash Vashi, director, Barton Willmore “There has been a systematic failure to build the homes our country needs. This is not only a fairer system, it is also one which will encourage local communities and local authorities to support the development our country so desperately needs” – Ed Miliband, Labour leader “Labour want us to pretend that the housing problems we face in Britain are nothing to do with them, but they totally failed to deal with the issue in office. The Liberal Democrats plan for 300,000 new homes a year would help clear the backlog” – Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat president “Labour are trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes. They say they can meet their housing promises and not borrow a single penny extra to pay for it – but this just isn’t credible” – Brandon Lewis, Conservative planning minister.

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PLAN UPFRONT Shepherd's Bush Market market dates back to the early part of the 20th century

European Commission gives the nod to Hinkley power plant Shepherd’s Bush Market refurbishment to go ahead Ministers have approved a £150 million regeneration project for Shepherd’s Bush Market.

The proposed 1.9-hectare development will incorporate a substantial refresh of the existing market, a new public square, refurbishment of the Bush Theatre and railway arches, and a 200-plus home housing development.

The Orion Shepherd’s Bush Ltd regeneration scheme was given outline planning consent by Hammersmith & Fulham Council in 2012, but has been the subject of an inquiry and has finally only been enabled by ministerial

backing of a compulsory purchase order (CPO) submitted by the council in 2013. The CPO is necessary to complete the acquisition of the market site, currently owned by Transport for London, and a parade of shops on Goldhawk Road.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles’ decision to back the CPO goes against the recommendation of a planning.

In his decision letter Pickles stressed that the order would only be granted if there was a “compelling case in the public interest”. He decided that the redevelopment would “significantly contribute to the achievement of the promotion or improvement of the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the area”.

Planning minister Brandon Lewis said: “This market is held in great affection by the local community. Regeneration will enable it to continue to provide a diverse range of stalls to meet their needs as well as improving the appeal for new visitors and shoppers alike.”

Revised plans for £24.5 billion Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset, agreed between the UK Government and EDF Energy, have been approved by the European Commission now that they comply with EU state aid rules.

The terms of the project financing have been modified, including a reduction in the financial contribution made by UK citizens while the state aid provided “will remain proportionate to the objective pursued”.

The commission’s decision does leave key elements of last October’s agreements unchanged: The contract will last for 35 years while the strike price remains at £92.50 megawatt hours (MWh), which will drop to £89.50 MWh if the planned power station for Sizewell goes ahead.

The changes follow doubts raised by the commission in December last year on nearly all aspects of the project – explaining the incompatibilities under EU state aid rules. The commission was also concerned about the amount of government money being provided and the nature of the contract. It has

Move towards greater autonomy for Wales The Wales Joint Exchequer Committee has met the Welsh Government in a step nearer towards devolving fiscal powers.

At a meeting on 20 October in Cardiff, the Wales Joint Exchequer Committee agreed to work together to decide whether Welsh ministers should be able to issue bonds.

The meeting and subsequent agreement form part of the new package of tax and borrowing powers being devolved through the Wales Bill.

Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Today’s Joint Exchequer Committee meeting was a crucial step in the UK’s devolution settlement and implementing the Welsh government’s new tax and borrowing powers as recommended by the Silk Commission.

“We’ve made important progress towards agreeing the mechanism I M AG E | H A M M E RS M I T H & F U L H A M COU N C I L

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by which Welsh ministers would be able to issue Welsh bonds in order to further increase their range of borrowing options.”

Stephen Crabb, Secretary of State for Wales, added that he wanted a lasting and fair devolution settlement that worked for the people of Wales.

“Along with the Wales Bill, today’s first meeting of the Joint Exchequer Committee further underlines the UK government’s commitment to deliver and strengthen this process.

“I will continue to work with the Treasury and the Welsh government to secure the best deal for Wales to boost jobs, raise living standards and attract investment.”

The arrangement was agreed

by Alexander and HM Treasury’s David Gauke, Crabb, and the Welsh government finance minister Jane Hutt.

Plans for Hinkley Point C in Somerset, drew controversy

now reinforced measures designed to share future benefits with customers.

EDF chairman and CEO Henri Proglio said: “The approval by the commission is a major milestone for the Hinkley Point C project. Building EPR reactors in the UK will provide huge benefits for both countries in terms of job opportunities, economic growth and skills, further strengthening France and the United Kingdom’s fruitful partnership.”

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NEWS

Analysis { GLASGOW REGENERATION

Planning for people

By Laura Edgar

T

he theme of legacy permeated every aspect of the RTPI Scotland Annual Conference held in Glasgow last month. Not surprising, perhaps, given the success of the Commonwealth Games in the city earlier in the year. Success, of course, that is to be measured in more than just medals, just as it was always going to be and as the Games' website explains.

It's to be measured in jobs, the development of business, encouraging people to get active and make use of the facilities available to them. It was – and still is – about planning for people.

Glasgow was announced as the 2014 host city in 2007, and since then the east end of the city has undergone heavy regeneration.

Scotland’s then-first minister Alex Salmond described the Clyde Gateway area as the epicentre of the Commonwealth Games. It is the home of the Athletes’ Village and The Emirates Arena/The Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, and its transformation is continuing.

Established in 2007, Clyde Gateway is an urban regeneration company that is working in partnership with Glasgow City Council, South Lanarkshire Council and Scottish Enterprise to deliver a number of projects to, and for, the area. Covering 2,000 acres, Dalmarnock, Bridgeton, Rutherglen and Shawfield are all undergoing physical, economic and social regeneration.

Clyde Gateway, spoken about by several speakers at the conference with reference to regeneration, is addressing problems created when industries left the area in the late 20th century, namely a fall in population and an increase in poverty and deprivation. They are about replacing the old legacy and creating a new, sustainable one in which people and place flourish.

Planning for people, and driving forward the legacy, is about reducing the unemployment rate, something that Jim Clark, senior manager of communications and company systems at CGURC, highlighted when speaking at the RTPI Scotland Annual Conference.

“We are doing everything we can possible to reduce the unemployment rate, which has come down from 38 per cent to 32 per cent in six years.”

In those six years, Clark said 3,000 jobs have been created and more, he emphasised, are still to come.

Planning for people is about making sure people can get to those jobs. Glasgow City Council is responsible for overseeing the delivery of legacy and has devised a strategy to achieve this. Included in the strategy is Accessible Glasgow.

The M74 has been completed; a new road between Rutherglen Bridge and Biggar Street has been created to provide better access

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Driving forward a sustainable legacy

840ha

Clyde Gateway area covers 840 hectares/2,000 acres across the east end of Glasgow and South Lanarkshire.

+

£80/85m

The Clyde Gateway route through the east end of Glasgow cost between £80 million and £85 million.

+

£200m

£200 million of public money committed to Clyde Gateway in the short term. This public investment paves the way for a further £1.5 billion in private development over the next two decades.

+

20yr

It is a 20-year regeneration project.

+

33ha

The Glasgow 2014 Athletes’ Village is a 33-hectare site on Springfield Road. As part of the east end regeneration it now accommodates 700 houses for sale and rent, as well as a 120-bed care home.

to the east end; Dalmarnock Station has had a £9 million overhaul and 13 km of cycle lanes have been installed. Additionally, of course, these all created new jobs as well improved access to them.

Planning for people means directly speaking to people, local people. The People’s Development Trust was established to make sure that the maximum community benefit and lasting legacy are secured from the regeneration projects and the Games 2014 within designated east end communities. The trust aims to act as a “vehicle for the involvement of local people in the regeneration.”

Everything about the trust is for the people, with the people.

Speaking in a video at the Scotland conference, Yvonne Kucuk, regeneration manager for The People’s Development Trust, said: “The most important thing from me is if we can do it, so can other communities.

“Everyday is a planning day. Building is just the start. It is about the people afterward and how we continue to change lives.”

Legacy is something left or handed down. The message from groups and organisations across Glasgow is that although the Games 2014 has come and gone, a legacy will remain.

What the next generation will get is a place for the people, built with people in mind by the people, because - as the city's brand message explains - “people make Glasgow”.

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24/10/2014 16:58

PLAN UPFRONT A capital programme for social housing could bring a largescale investment of €2.2 billion over the next three years

£11m boost to hydrogen car infrastructure Budget boost for the republic’s housing The Irish government’s latest Budget included a commitment that €2.2 billion will be invested in social housing over the next three years, with 2,500 new homes targeted for delivery next year.

Local authorities will resume building houses and flats for the first time in five years.

The units will be financed through a mix of direct exchequer financing, use of public-private partnerships and a special investment fund that will provide finance to voluntary housing bodies.

Some €800 million will be spent in 2015, a 40 per cent increase on the current programme, said environment minister Alan Kelly, adding that, overall, some 7,500 new homes will come on

Planners critical to healthy cities, says report Planning has a critical role in tackling health problems that could cost the world close to £30 trillion over the next 20 years.

That’s the conclusion of a new RTPI report arguing that planning is critical to healthy urban futures.

Launched at the RTPI Scotland Annual Conference on 7 October, Promoting Health Cities cites 2011 World Economic Forum figures claiming that worldwide health challenges, including noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and mental health, could cost an estimated £28 trillion over the next 20 years.

Promoting Healthy Cities calls on UK nations:

stream next year.

Some 3,000 homes will be leased, another 2,000 provided under the Rental Accommodation Scheme, 946 will be built or acquired by local authorities, 1,000 vacant units will to be brought back into use, and another 550 units will be provided for people with specific needs.

Kelly said mixed-tenure housing would be delivered, and he stressed that there would be no return to oldstyle ‘council’ estates.

A ‘large proportion’ of the new homes will be in the greater Dublin area, Wicklow, Meath and Kildare, but homes will also be built and delivered in counties where a need has been demonstrated, said ministers.

RTPI president Cath Ranson said: “As our ways of living are becoming more complex we need to develop more integrated strategies for healthy placemaking. That may involve providing space for walkers and cyclists, provision of play spaces and green spaces, access to healthy food, or enabling cooler environments for people where temperatures may rise. Health and wellbeing need to be at the core of how we design and develop cities.” n Promoting Healthy Cities (pdf): http://bit.ly/1Fx633X

I M AG E S | A L A M Y

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(1) Six to eight existing hydrogen refuelling stations upgraded using £2 million;

(2) A £3.5 million contribution by the government, matched by the industry, for the creation of four to seven hydrogen refuelling stations, including mobile stations, those on standalone sites and the integration of some onto petrol forecourts; and (3) £2 million for public sector fleets to encourage 40 hydrogen en e n FCEVs to be deployed.

need to work together to address the e location of health services and improve ove accessibility.

(2) To gather greater intelligence on the social and economic determinants of health to guide planners’ decisions and investments in their areas.

(3) To reform and strengthen institutions to ensure integration of health policies.

(4) To acknowledge that poor health can arise from communities’ lack of power and control over their environment, and involve communities ties in health decision-making.

(1) To develop more integrated strategies for healthy placemaking.

Health providers and urban planners

Business minister Matthew Hancock has announced that up to £11 million of funding will be made available for hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

The investment will help to establish an initial network of up to 15 hydrogen refuelling stations by the end of next year, with £2 million of the funding going to public sector hydrogen cars.

The announcement follows the news that Toyota has chosen the UK to be one of the first markets for its FCEV when it goes on sale next year.

The newly announced funding will see:

The The government said Britain had become one of the best places to build cars. The value of exported cars now outstrips imports for the first time in a generation.

Hancock said: “Hydrogen cars present us with a huge economic opportunity and can bolster our internationally renowned automotive industry. We want to make the UK one of the best places in the world to design, manufacture and sell ultra-low emission vehicles.

“Government will work in true partnership with industry so the potential benefits are realised by businesses and consumers across the UK.”

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24/10/2014 16:59

NEWS

Analysis {

"An exciting period for planning in Wales" - Carl Sargeant

PLANNING (WALES) BILL

Planning bill to revitalise Wales

By Laura Edgar

Welsh planning minister Carl Sargeant introduced a new planning bill on Monday, 6 October. It is intended to streamline the system and deliver more homes, but the bill has met with varying responses So what does the bill propose and who is saying what?

What is the planning bill’s primary aim?

To make the planning system a more streamlined one that supports the delivery of more homes, jobs and infrastructure. The reform also aims to make sure the planning system is fair and resilient.

What does the bill propose? c Introduction of a National Development Framework, a legal framework for Welsh ministers to prepare a national land use plan. c Public consultations should take place as early as possible on major development to make sure that the planning system is quick. c Planning applications that are nationally significant to Wales will be decided upon by Welsh ministers, including projects that are between 25 and 50 megawatts. c Planning issues that extend beyond one local authority should be tackled at a sub-regional level. They will be considered through Strategic Development Plans. c Breaches of planning control will be dealt with by a more effective enforcement system so that communities can see prompt action taking place.

The bill proposes early public consultations – how will the community be involved?

Developers will be provided with a framework on how best to engage the community to ensure the effectiveness of the consultations.

What is the Strategic Development Plan?

The Strategic Development Plan will be prepared by a planning panel comprising of local authority, community and environmental representatives as well as those with business interests. The plans will address larger-than-local cross-boundary issues including housing supply, identifying areas for economic growth and regeneration.

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What did the planning minister say when he launched the bill?

Sargeant explained that planning is at the heart of Welsh communities and that this bill marks the beginning of an “exciting period for planning in Wales”.

“I’m delighted to introduce this landmark bill, the first of its kind in Wales, which will see the planning process strengthened from top to bottom, resulting in an effective, enabling system which best serves the people of Wales and is fit for the 21st century.”

Is everyone in support of the bill?

The bill has received some criticism. Plaid Cmyru shadow minister for sustainable communities, energy and food, Llyr Gruffydn, has warned that the bill risks creating a top-down planning system and weaker democratic accountability. “This bill is a golden opportunity to better empower communities within the planning process, but the Welsh Government is in danger of squandering that opportunity.”

Is there a consultation on the planning bill?

The National Assembly for Wales’s Environment and Sustainability Committee has asked the public for their views and is now reviewing the responses.

What has the committee said about the bill?

It is questioning whether its proposals can be achieved through existing laws. Alun Ffred Jones AM, committe chair, said: “Planning is one of those issues that touches every aspect of our life, from house prices and the length of our daily commute to national issues such tackling climate change.”

“Therefore, it is important that we get this bill right, as the planning process provides us with the tools to balance the competing demands that are being placed on our communities.

What do the experts think?

Speaking to The Planner, Mark Roberts, director of Barton Willmore’s Cardiff office, explained that there is a balance of positive and negatives in the bill. “It is positive to have strategy reintroduced into regional planning – it makes sense to have housing, transport and infrastructure considered at a regional level. However, there will be a time lag in its implementation. The planning bill is at stage one and the government hopes it will be passed next summer.

“This system is not just about the system itself. Will it be matched by the expertise and the skill set to make it more efficient? It will be fruitless doing this if it is not backed up.”

“OVERALL, THE BILL IS FOLLOWING QUITE CLOSELY WHAT WE HAVE SEEN HAPPENING IN SCOTLAND IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS” B A RT O N W I L L M O R E :

I M A G E | S I M O N R I D G WAY

27/10/2014 11:20

PLAN UPFRONT

1.4m

The number of homes that will be powered by four wind farms planned for the Forth and Tay region

Key report on environmental impact of A5 corridor project published A key consultation on the environmental impact of the A5 Western Transport Corridor Scheme, Northern Ireland, the Province’s longest-ever road project, has begun with publication of a report on the effect on the Tully Bog Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

The new route is one of five key transport corridor upgrades identified in the Regional Transportation Strategy (RTS) for Northern Ireland.

It is set to improve safety and journey times, as well as business, trade and tourist routes.

The scheme also represents a significant link in longer-term plans to improve connections between Dublin, Londonderry and Donegal.

The 36-hectare Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) in County Tyrone is a compact, relatively undisturbed lowland raised bog that is among the most intact examples of an SAC in the west of Northern Ireland.

It is one of nine environmentally sensitive sites affected by the highway project, all of which have been assessed in four reports that look at impacts and proposed mitigation measures. This is the last report to be published. The others included an assessment of the impact on the Rivers Foyle and Finn SACs.

Four major wind farms approved for Scotland Four offshore wind farms, together capable of powering close to 60 per cent of Scotland’s 2.4 million homes, have been approved by ministers.

The wind farms are in the Forth and Tay region – Neart Na Gaoithe, Inch Cape Offshore Limited, Seagreen Alpha, and Seagreen Bravo. The developments are subject to strict conditions and environmental impact monitoring.

Energy minister Fergus Ewing said: “The budget for offshore wind (and other less established technologies) in the first of these rounds scheduled for autumn is £235 million, thought to be enough to support around 800 MW of offshore wind in UK waters.

“I am determined to ensure that communities all over Scotland reap the benefit from renewable energy, which will help to reduce climate emissions.

“I also want to see the right developments in the right places. The design and location of any onshore and offshore wind farm should reflect the scale and character of the landscape or seascape and should be considered environmentally acceptable.”

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1.4

2,567

2.284

135

13,612

offshore wind farms

gigawatts (GW) of energy will be produced

Connecting Manchester and Leeds would drive growth, says report A new Centre for Cities report singles out improved rail links between Manchester and Leeds as the first major step in turning the ‘Northern powerhouse’ political rhetoric into reality.

Fast Track to Growth – Transport Priorities For Stronger Cities, which is supported by the Department for Transport,

million homes will be powered

million tonnes of carbon saved

says that connecting Manchester and Leeds – two of the most successful cities in the North – by rail would create a significant Northern economy that would be attractive to businesses and therefore able to drive growth.

This, the report explains, would complement and strengthen investment already planned, including HS2.

Improved connections that are faster and more frequent would enable businesses to share knowledge and services, and 90,000 highly skilled local workers would find an increased number of job opportunities that are higher paid and more professional, it adds.

Alexandra Jones, CEO at Centre for Cities, said: “The Manchester-to-Leeds

Between 2,567 and 13,612 jobs will be created during construction

route currently takes almost twice as long to travel as the longer distance between London and Milton Keynes. The capital’s rail connections to neighbouring cities have played an important part in building strong and successful economies across the South-East, and the evidence strongly suggests that Manchester and Leeds would benefit enormously from quicker and more frequent connections. This is a critically important, well-overdue upgrade that should be the first stage of delivering on the government’s ambition to build a Northern powerhouse.” n Fast Track To Growth – Transport Priorities For Stronger Cities: http://bit. ly/1uzLBXm (pdf)

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27/10/2014 11:20

CHRIS SHEPLEY

O Opinion My beautiful launderette gets a change of use “Dropped one, I think,” said Mrs Braithwaite. Her husband’s trousers circled languidly in the background, while Mr Khan crawled round the floor looking for a missing sock. “Or maybe I knitted when I should have purled. Either way, there’ll be a hole in little George’s pyjamas.”

“Never mind all that,” said Mrs McTavish. “Have you seen CLG Technical Consultation on Planning, July 2014?” There was a bit of a silence. Mr Khan explained that he generally did read CLG consultation documents, but he’d been in Llandudno. Mrs Braithwaite said she’d been concentrating on Proposal M, Equipment Housing for Sewerage Undertakings.

Mrs McTavish produced the offending document and pointed out that the government was proposing to allow the change of use of launderettes to “social venues such as cinemas, music or concert halls, gyms and swimming pools” * – without the irritating need to apply for planning permission.

She read out Proposal G, entitled “Supporting the diversification of leisure uses on the High Street”, amidst an astonished silence. Which was followed by sighs of wonderment and dismay.

They all agreed that Associated Wash Houses, who owned the launderette, would seize on this. Admittedly it would be difficult. It was tiny; there were only eight machines and three dryers. Mrs Braithwaite tried to imagine it being used as a music or concert hall. Quite apart from the smell of washing powder, surely the orchestra would

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“A COUPLE OF STROKES WOULD PROPEL EVEN THE WEAKEST SWIMMER FROM THE FRONT DOOR INTO ELSIE’S OFFICE AT THE BACK” fill the space; presumably the audience would have to stand on the pavement outside. A swimming pool would be better – water was, after all, the essence of the establishment; but a couple of strokes would propel even the weakest swimmer from the front door into Elsie’s office at the back.

And would she be able to wash Mr B’s pants in the pool?

Mr Khan spotted that there were exclusions from the policy; but none seemed to apply to them. The launderette was not a scheduled

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monument, nor in a military explosives storage area. It had not been a Site of Special Scientific Interest since the time the council controversially ordered that unusual mould to be cleaned up. It was just a little shop on the High Street, the centre of their social life and the source of cleanliness, which Mrs Braithwaite had been told was next to godliness, although she had always suspected that proper godliness required a bit more than a clean jumper.

Mrs Braithwaite noted that, as usual, the Portas Review had been used to justify the change – but that had referred to “surplus” retail space in the High Street. There was nothing “surplus” about the launderette.

Mr Khan supposed that inhabitants of the Westminster Village had little or no experience of launderettes and had no appreciation of their significance to ordinary folk. The idea of that nice Mr

Cameron sitting on a hard chair watching his chinos spinning around seemed somehow unlikely.

Mr Khan fed coins into the spin dryer, and added that the proposal also applied to the Michael Gove Amusement Centre down the road. He often popped in there of an evening, for a bit of a flutter. CLG talked about such places becoming “boutique venues” such as art house cinemas and small fitness centres with personal trainers. He thought this might very well be the first time personal trainers had cropped up in a technical planning document. He wasn’t sure what an art house cinema was – it probably involved a lot of rudeness. Much nicer, surely, to play with that little crane thing and try to grab a gobstopper?

They admired the ingenuity of CLG in coming up with such strange ideas. Mr Khan agreed to draft the usual response.

Mr Braithwaite’s trousers came to rest. Mrs McTavish’s laundry span merrily on its way. George’s pyjamas began to unravel. * This is real. I didn’t make it up.

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

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

24/10/2014 17:03

Quote unquote FROM THE WEB AND THE RTPI

“Between 1948 and 1978, local authorities were responsible for building more than 90,000 homes a year. Last year it was just 1,000” SIR MICHAEL LYONS, INTRODUCING THE LYONS HOUSING REVIEW

“The most recent ecent official statistics show how that green belt development is at its lowest rate since modern records began in 1989” PLANNING AND HOUSING MINISTER BRANDON LEWIS

<- “There’s nothing more expressive than a roundabout”

“WE WILL BUILD GREAT CITIES WHEN ARCHITECTS DESIGN SYMPATHETIC BUILDINGS THAT TREAT END-USERS LIKE FRIENDS, RATHER THAN INERT MASSES”

KEVIN BERESFORD, CHAIR OF THE UK ROUNDABOUT APPRECIATION SOCIETY

MARC KUSHNER, CO FOUNDER OF ARCHITECTURE WEBSITE ARCHITIZER

“ PERMITTED DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS FLY IN THE FACE OF LOCALISM, ADD FURTHER CONFUSION TO THE PLANNING SYSTEM AND UNDERMINE THE PREMISE OF A LOCALLY PLAN LED SYSTEM” PETER BOX, CHAIR OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION’S ECONOMY, ENVIRONMENT, HOUSING AND TRANSPORT BOARD

“Planners are not supposed to become one-size-fits-all land-use fashion designers” RICK BROWN, BLOGGER AT WWW.PANETHOS.WORDPRESS.COM

“The target of 200,000 new homes per year is ambitious, but it is a necessary ambition” BRIAN BERRY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE FEDERATION OF MASTER BUILDERS I M AG E S | COR B I S / S H U T T E RSTO C K

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24/10/2014 17:04

CORRESPONDENCE

I Inbox

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

James Brebner During the current debate about the 'garden city', has sufficient effort been spent on defining what the term might actually have meant originally- as well as what it should mean today?

I suggest "garden" was intended to evoke "environmental quality", an expression not in use at the end of the 19th century.

(Indeed, the first edition of the Oxford Pocket Dictionary (1924) does not even include 'environmental').

This is not to say that introducing plenty of vegetation was not seen as important. Unwin, taking inspiration from the Arts and Crafts movement, interpreted the concept in a particular way, creating a kind of timeless, semiurban and quintessential England in which the "garden" became also verges and village greens. And it is this romantic view that has since dominated most people's perception of the concept.

The use of the word "garden" now conveniently helps us to add ecological concerns to the overall concept. This is recognised in the list of principles set out in Huw Morris's article in the June issue. But reading between the lines, some of these principles still seem to reflect the idea of Unwin's low or mediumlow density settlement that is demanding in land and encourages the use of the car.

A merit of the debate around the garden-city concept is that it reintroduces the idea of environmental quality along with that of coherent design.

Only a plan-led approach can achieve this.

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But where, realistically, could neighborhoods or towns which reflect the Government's new guidelines be located other than in the Green Belt ? There are at least a few possibilities besides Ebbsfleet. I would suggest the Rochester docks (Kent), although the risks of flooding would need to be studied.

There is also the South Road area in Southall (Ealing) which might extend westward into Hillingdon. These sites may not offer the incentive of land use capture but there are another two that might Hendon Golf Course (Barnet) and Sunningdale Park Golf Course, Bromley. Below perhaps the suggested 15,000, at least in the short term,

they have nevertheless the merit of being where people want homes and are close to London's transport network.

routinely and in what format our content on enforcement issues will take.)

James Brebner MRTPI

Bob Hawkes

Neil Whittaker I note with interest the article on deliberate concealment on page 47 of the October edition. I feel that enforcement matters should be given greater exposure in the magazine as whilst often ignored, enforcement is an integral part of the planning system and invariably does give rise to very interesting stories / articles.

Neil Whittaker MRTPI

(Neil, we agree – we're currently discussing just how

Could I make a plea that you find a way to differentiate between articles that appeared in the paper copy of your magazine and those that didn't? Your site would be much easier to use if I could type in ‘The Planner - August 2014’ and see a list of that edition’s content.

Bob Hawkes

(Bob, we're looking into making a number of such changes to the web site in the weeks ahead - we'll let you know when these changes come online.)

O N THE WEB @ThePlanner_RTPI

The Planner Think Tank group on LinkedIn went live last month – and we’re keen to invite you in.

Of course, we’re always happy to receive your emails, or even physical letters (getting actual post is such an exciting novelty these days) - but our new Think Tank group is where we’ll be engaging with you ahead of, during and after publication of our news and feature content. We’ll also use the group to conduct surveys (sparingly), elicit a response to regularly posed topical questions, and to boost the debate generated by the team. If you’re already in the RTPI’s own group, you’ll probably see us asking the odd question there as well.

Our first couple of discussions will centre around young planners – their heroes and influences, as well as the things they’d do

to improve the profession. Are you young?

Then we encourage you to visit The Planner Think Tank, join in and make your point.

See you online.

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

O Opinion

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Tino Hernandez is head of marketing and communications for the RTPI

As we head he towards the general election election, and the life of this governme ernment runs down, there was an extra buzz at this year’s party conferences.

For the past six years the institute has attended the conferences with a small team. Each is member-led, this year by Cath Ranson (Lib-Dems), Peter Geraghty (Conservatives) and Janet Askew (Labour), giving us the opportunity to forge even stronger relationships with key politicians (and their advisers) through our own events and attending several fringe meetings.

We just don’t meet with ministers, senior MPs and council leaders once a year at the conferences. The RTPI is active throughout the year as part of our core mission to promote the art and science of planning and includes work with politicians in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Northern Ireland.

In the relaxed atmosphere and informality of the party conferences you get access that you would normally only dream of. I spent an hour in conversation, for example, with a former planning minister and deputy chair of the Conservative party over a cup of tea in a hotel lobby as we both waited for a meeting.

Ministers at conference are civil servant-less. The political advisers themselves are too busy worrying about what Newsnight, the Daily Telegraph or the BBC’s

Alexandra Jones is chief executive of independent urban research organisation Centre for Cities

A manifesto for a stronger urban nation

Standing room only

Nick Robinson are saying about their masters to stand over ministers and the shadow ministers as they would anywhere else.

Two years ago I discussed planning policy with the secretary of state as we went through the long process of getting into a venue. In the conference security bubble the normal rules of engagement no longer apply.

For the RTPI, with a programme of engagement over the course of the year, the party conferences are an excellent chance to put our views across to a captive audience. This year we held policy breakfasts to discuss ‘Where next for planning?’ that were kindly sponsored by Savills.

Plus we partnered with the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) for open lunchtime debates on ‘How can planning help deliver the infrastructure we need?’ We also published papers on English strategic planning and a summary on our policy work to date. The result? Fully booked breakfasts.

And it was standing room only at Labour and almost 100 for the Conservatives, demonstrating the importance of planning and the effort we put into organising our events.

The downsides? Experience teaches you to steer clear of the mountains of free pizza on offer at most events, the meaty skewers with indeterminate sauces, and anything with mayonnaise.

“THE RTPI IS ACTIVE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR AS PART OF OUR CORE MISSION TO PROMOTE THE ART AND SCIENCE OF PLANNING”

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This year yea has seen politicians across tthe spectrum affording more a attention to cities policy than ever before. As we head into the 2015 general election knowing we need a sustained recovery, it has never been more important to make long-overdue changes to the ways that cities are empowered to drive growth.

London continues to grow as an international powerhouse, but cost-of-living pressures and strains on infrastructure are taking a toll, particularly on the lowest paid. In the North, although some cities – such as Manchester – are reaping the rewards of good leadership and a solid strategic plan, many others lag behind, facing the challenges of high unemployment, poor skills and sluggish markets.

While some of these factors reflect long-term external influences, they also show the limitations of a We s t m i n s t e r - d o m i n a t e d approach to policy-making.

Across the nation, cities need more funding, greater powers and improved flexibilities to target their local challenges.

For all the supportive cities rhetoric of the political parties this year, there has been scant detail on how they intend to achieve their stated ambitions.

When announcements are made, too many focus on amounts of funding, which usually come with strings attached, rather than the most critical

component to effect change – cities having greater flexibility over how and where money (capital and revenue) is spent.

Centre for Cities has been championing the economic development of cities for almost 10 years and we have not seen a more exciting period – one where big change seems genuinely possible. But the gap between rhetoric and reality remains great, and for this reason we have released a manifesto that sets out the practical ways to connect the two.

At its heart it calls for the creation of a Cities and Prosperity Act within the first year of a new Parliament. This would be enabling legislation with a presumption in favour of devolution, giving cities the chance to manage transport, strategic planning, finance and skills.

All they will need to do is ask for these powers, and have democratically accountable leadership in place at the level of the economy, which creates the scale and resources to coordinate and deliver local growth. This means cities can move as quickly or slowly as they wish, and that there is no need for additional legislation every time more innovations are desired.

Ensuring that transport, housing and skills policies respond to local needs is an important step to making the most of UK city economies.

“CITIES NEED MORE FUNDING, GREATER POWERS AND IMPROVED FLEXIBILITIES”

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24/10/2014 17:04

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

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Philip Barnes is group land and planning director for Barratt Developments Plc

Martin Hutchings is a project manager for the Planning Advisory Service

Speed will always be the focus… until there is something better to care about

Anyone for tennis?

For those thos believing that growth of our cities ci is a sustainable way to add address the housing crisis, it could be a frustrating six months ahead. Urban containment appears nailed on as we approach the election. Witness the new planning guidance, which some see as emphasising green belt ahead of housing need.

But perhaps it’s not that simple. Though the guidance is new, the policy isn’t; it simply reiterates paragraph 14 of NPPF. Indeed, since the guidance was issued ministers have stressed there is no change to national policy.

So what’s going on?

Preparing for an election is most people’s guess.

New housing is unpopular, so the guidance will help MPs in green belt constituencies to argue against development. For those who believe urban containment to be worthy of critical review this is a time for building up evidence ready for conversations with a new government. There is already good evidence out there.

In terms of the Metropolitan Green Belt, Quod Planning did some great work highlighting the 20,000 hectares of open land in the green belt that is within 10 minutes’ walk of a rail or Tube station. That could accommodate a million homes.

Similarly, the London School of Economics identified 32,500 ha of land inside the M25 with a

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capacity for 1.6 million homes.

Yet the Greater London Authority has written to the local authorities beyond the green belt for assistance.

And in Manchester, Barratt commissioned research that showed the green belt is 45 per cent bigger than the conurbation.

If the Manchester green belt was a tennis court, then land for 1,000 new family homes would measure five inches by five inches.

At 1,000 new homes a year in the green belt it would take 900 years to build on half of it.

Meanwhile, between 2000 and 2010 Manchester grew its population by three times the amount of Munich, but grew its urban area by five times less.

In Oxford we have a global opportunity to create a worldleading location where science meets academia and business.

Instead, we seem to be planning the future of the city on the basis of it being a market town that must be constrained. It has a housing need for 28,000 homes but capacity for 8,000. None of its neighbours appears keen to release green belt to facilitate this required growth.

So maybe it’s head down for now in the hope that we can start an intelligent debate in the middle of 2015.

If it really is too politically toxic, what about a Royal Commission on green belt?

“IF IT REALLY IS TOO POLITICALLY TOXIC, WHAT ABOUT A ROYAL COMMISSION ON GREEN BELT?“

The curr current speed-based, target-drive get-driven performance system leaves even the most customer-focused planning service with just one way to demonstrate its value; how quickly it issues decisions. It doesn’t measure if the service attracts investment, helps customers and communities, uses information and resources well or makes good decisions.

Local government planning has had a largely passive relationship with government when it comes to change. Energy is spent understanding, implementing and reporting rather than creating the agenda. The threat of designation still drives the “How can we get quicker?” question, but we need to ask ourselves new questions: “How do we measure and deliver value and quality?” And “How do we resource in an unpredictable world?”

The Planning Advisory Service (PAS) is working with the sector to develop the Planning Quality Framework (PQF) to equip councils to start understanding these challenges. It refocuses performance measurement and customer service efforts to understand what customers require of a quality service, as well as making timely decisions.

It’s a chance for councils to present evidence where it truly adds value to the planning process, and the transparency to show

what it is doing about wasted time, effort, and many of our less customer-focused practices. The framework is being used and developed by 30 councils that see it as the first step towards a rounded performance regime.

The PQF isn’t about creating another data industry. It allows councils to present a more powerful picture using data most of them already collect. The framework re-presents it and makes comparison possible. It measures the simple facts on: a.The work: variety and volume of applications. b. Outcomes: what do we say “Yes” to most often, and what happens to everything else? c. Income received, resources required, and an estimate of the development investment the applications managed by the service represents. d. How much of what we do adds value and how much creates waste? e. How quickly we do things from validation to decision. f. All of the above compared with peers and best in class.

The PQF could turn into one of PAS’s most ambitious projects. The framework is easy to engage with, and gets more value from data and customer satisfaction work than is now going on. The next phase is to work with the sector to use the results to stimulate change and new ways to manage planning.

“LOCAL PLANNING HAS HAD A LARGELY PASSIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOVERNMENT WHEN IT COMES TO CHANGE”

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H E A LT H Y C I T I E S

A PICTURE OF HEALTH THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC IS IN PART A LEGACY OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND THE LOSS OF GREEN SPACES, SO THE WAY WE DESIGN AND PLAN OUR CITIES NOW MUST IMMEDIATELY BENEFIT THE NATION’S FUTURE HEALTH AND WELLBEING, SAYS DAVID BLACKMAN

T

here was a time when planning and public health were joined at the hip, two wings of the same late-Victorian crusade to remedy the squalid condition of Britain’s industrial cities.

Providing healthier environments for ordinary people was one of the key drivers behind Ebenezer Howard’s garden city vision.

But during the 20th century the two disciplines went their separate ways. Public health became part of the NHS, therefore increasingly the domain of clinical professionals. Planning, meanwhile, became a function of local government.

And so it remained until about 10 years ago, when concerns over rapidly rising rates of obesity forced public health professionals to consider more deeply the impact of the built environment.

Only last month (October), Simon Stevens the chief executive of NHS England labelled obesity, which results 40,000 in deaths a year across the UK, as “the new smoking”.

Just under a quarter of the UK population is obese, a disproportionate share of whom live in

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the poorest neighbourhoods. The Marmot Review of health inequalities, published in February 2010, found that those living in such areas were also most likely to be exposed to poor environmental conditions, such as inadequate access to green space and higher pollution levels.

Since then, as part of the coalition government’s reforms of the NHS, local government has regained exclusive responsibility for public health. As a result of these changes, public health is firmly back on the back on the planning agenda and vice versa.

The cost of poor health Reflecting this increased focus on the issue, the RTPI has just published a new report that examines how better urban planning can help to improve public health.

The case is clear for tackling the environmental roots of ill health. Promoting Healthy Cities estimates that the cost of the five leading non-communicable diseases – cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, cancer, dia-

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{ I M A G E S | A L A M Y / I L L U S T R AT I O N S O F L O N D O N B Y G U S TAV D O R É

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H E A LT H Y C I T I E S

betes and mental ill health – could be £28 “WE NEED TO trillion worldwide over the next 20 years.

CREATE CITIES If unchecked, it warns that the costs of THAT MAXIMISE these diseases “will be increasingly unsusHEALTH ALONGSIDE tainable for formal health systems, but also ECONOMIC GROWTH, societies generally”.

BY MAKING HEALTH The NHS already spends an eye-watering AND WELLBEING ONE £5.1 billion on curing obesity-related OF THE PRIMARY illnesses.

FACTORS” But the RTPI report concludes that better-planned cities can play a major part in nipping these costly health problems in the bud.

“We need to create cities that maximise health alongside economic growth, by making health and wellbeing one of the primary factors in how we design, develop and manage urban environments,” the report says.

But it is taking those who are working on the ground time to catch up with top-level changes, according to the RTPI research. It says that efforts

to promote better public health through the planning system are “undermined by the institutional division between planning and public health… ‘Health’ needs to be better understood and included in policy decisions outside of healthcare and public health, including by planners”.

This conclusion chimes with Professor David Hunter, professor of health policy and management at Durham University. He believes that many clinically trained public health professionals think of the issue in excessively narrow terms, such as getting people to smoke and drink less, rather than considering more complicated environmental factors.

“They don’t really get public health in the round,” he says. “They may get it at the individual lifestyle level, but not in the wider sense.”

For a long time, meanwhile, car-centric planning policies undermined efforts to encourage healthy lifestyles, argues Dr John Middleton, vice-president of the UK Faculty of Public Health.

He says: “So much of post-war planning was geared to travel by car that we have made many areas so impersonal people are afraid to walk.”

Newham’s fast food crackdown

Planning for health

Since 2012, when it played host to the Olympic Games, the London Borough of Newham has rejected no fewer than 22 applications for new takeaways.

The fast food crackdown was part of the council’s London 2012 Olympic Games legacy effort to create healthy neighbourhoods, as outlined in its core strategy.

This involves using planning powers to increase the number of walking and cycling routes, creating and improving open spaces and leisure facilities, as well as curbing the number of takeaway outlets opening in the borough.

The council tried to create a 400-metre exclusion zone for takeaways from secondary schools when drawing up its draft strategy.

However, the groundbreaking policy was blocked by the Planning Inspectorate, which ruled that although the “objective of the policy is laudable”, the clause should be removed as it would restrict even “healthy” takeaway stores opening.

Councillor Clive Furness, who advises Newham mayor Sir Robin Wales on health issues, said: aid: “We We are committed to ensuring that Newham is a healthy city and have used our planning powers to this effect. However, we have been blocked by government from taking further steps to restrict unhealthy eateries in our borough.”

This setback has not stymied the council’s curb, though – just three of the 22 refusals of permission have subsequently been overturned on appeal.

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But public health professionals are under growing pressure to take a wider angle view of their role. The agency Public Health England has included a number of indicators with a spatial dimension in its ‘outcomes framework’ for measuring councils.

Equally, planners are becoming more aware of health issues, thanks to the National Planning Policy Framework, an entire section of which is devoted to the topic. This requires planners to promote healthy communities, use evidence to assess local health and wellbeing needs, and work with public health organisations.

The planning process can also mobilise resources for tackling public health issues, such as through section 106 contributions, adds RTPI research officer Victoria Pinoncely, who wrote the healthy cities report.

“Planning at the moment is under-used as a resource to address this issue,” she says.

The integration of public health into local government should help to break down silos, believes Dr Middleton. “In principle, it makes it more possible because public health and town planners are located in the same councils.”

Within individual councils, public health is becoming more closely integrated into the work of planning departments. A number of councils, such as the Greater Manchester authority of Stockport, have created joint planning and public health posts.

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24/10/2014 17:06

Long live Copenhagen n

“PUBLIC SPACES NEED TO BE RECLAIMED: IT’S A SOCIAL BENEFIT AS WELL AS A HEALTH BENEFIT AND A CRIME­REDUCTION BENEFIT”

There are almost as many bikes as people in Copenhagen – a testament to the city’s efforts to promote two-wheeled transport.

According to Copenhagen municipal council’s website, the Danish capital’s 650,000 inhabitants own between them 550,000 bikes.

This is more than five times the level of car ownership.

The high rate of cycling partly reflects the Danish love affair with two-wheeled transport, but is also a result of concerted policy by Copenhagen council, which has been a World Health Organisation Healthy City since the mid-1980s.

But the earnest people of Copenhagen are clearly not content to rest on their laurels. The city’s most recent public health policy plan, entitled Long Live Copenhagen, flags up as a concern that one in four of the city’s population feel they are not in ‘very good’ shape.

New development should facilitate play and other physical activity, states the document, which advocates the opening of pocket parks and other open spaces.

It also says heavy traffic through the city should be isolated to specific roads and limited as much as possible, while movement on foot and by bike is eased by a network of interconnected paths throughout the city. These include a growing network of dedicated cycle bridges that loop over the main roads. The city’s planners even have an eye on what happens indoors, with stairs favoured over elevators within the city’s new and refurbished buildings.

Stockport Council is now introducing a new system that includes public health advice in relation to planning applications. John Pantell, the authority’s lead councillor on public health, says Stockport wants to take a “more strategic view” on how the planning process can facilitate healthier lifestyles.

Prof Hunter acknowledges that for cashstrapped planning departments it is an undoubted bonus to receive the injection of resources from one of the few parts of the public sector yet to suffer budget cuts.

“The fact that they have come in with a ringfenced budget when every other budget has been cut makes them particularly attractive.”

Michael Chang has run a series of workshops for the Town and Country Planning Association’s healthy communities programme. He says planners are already promoting public health goals, such as encouraging the provision of cycle routes and allotments, without labelling it as such.

More to do But they can do more is the message from the RTPI report, which says good planning and design can reshape the urban environment in ways that improve health outcomes.

Dr Middleton agrees. “Public spaces need to be reclaimed: it’s a social benefit as well as a health benefit and a crime-reduction benefit.”

Improved lighting, easier street crossings, traffic-calming measures and better landscaping can all make streets more attractive places to walk.

For those planning new developments, street patterns that connect places rather than create barriers à la cul-de-sacs, will also encourage walking. Similarly, the report recommends that access should be provided to local public facilities and spaces for play, sport and recreation. That includes walkable green space, which it says is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular conditions and reductions in circulatory diseases.

Improved health also has an economic benefit. It can be no coincidence,

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as the RTPI research cites, that the 20 per cent most affluent wards in England contain on average five times more parks or green space than those at the opposite end of the wealth spectrum.

Planners are also taking on board nutrition issues. The West Midlands authority of Sandwell has taken steps to curb the growth of so called ‘food deserts’ – neighbourhoods where households are unable to access fresh food on public transport or foot. And many councils, such as Newham in London, are using their development control powers to curb the proliferation of takeaways near schools (see case study, left).

Taking on a new area of concern, like health, may be a challenge for council planners, who face the constant challenge of how to do more work with ever-shrinking resources. But as the fathers of town planning recognised, the longterm benefits from healthier environments are a prize worth pursuing.

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24/10/2014 17:07

INTERVIEW SIR MICHAEL BEAR

The Regeneration Investment Organisation celebrates its first anniversary this month. Domenic Donatantonio asks its executive chairman, Sir Michael Bear, former Lord Mayor of London, how key figures in the planning system are ngineer, developer, ambassador, former Lord Mayor, government helping global financial envoy and knight of the realm, Sir Michael Bear brings a wealth powerhouses to invest in of experience for a job that requires persuasion and nurturing of the globe’s leading UK regeneration projects investors.

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Bear is the executive chairman of The Regeneration Investment Organisation (RIO) at UK Trade and Investment. RIO, launched by the Prime Minister in November 2013, is a one-stopshop acting as the ‘honest broker’ in directing international investors to a £100 billion pipeline of UK regeneration opportunities.

Planning plays a key part in the process. Working for the main body of RIO are chief operating officer and former CABE director and qualified planner, Nahid Majid and planning and infrastructure specialist Peter Paddon. RIO also has an advisory board, featuring the RTPI’s Peter Geraghty and chief planner Steve Quartermain.

Bear was Majid’s former chair when they were both at Bethnal Green City Challenge and Cityside Regeneration, where she was capital projects manager.

RIO oversees 180 projects worth around £100 billion. The organisation has a constantly updating online portal of schemes, available to view at www.ukti-regeneration.com.

“My role is a bit north of MD,” says Bear. “I run the company with a chief operating officer Nahid Majid below me. In order to tap into best practice we have an advisory board, which I chair, and we have people all across business featuring in it.”

Born in Nairobi in 1953, Bear qualified as a civil engineer from Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, before moving to the UK in 1978. He worked with some of the biggest names in construction and in the 1990s was a key figure in the redevelopment of Spitalfields Market before his more high-profile ambassadorial duties for the capital.

As Lord Mayor of the City of London from 2010-11, Bear acted as an

THE HONEST BROKER

PHOTOGRAPHY | DUNCAN NICHOLLS

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ambassador for the financial profession, both nationally and internationally. He travelled the world, at one point visiting 25 countries in 100 days, with the rank of a cabinet minister overseas.

In 2012 he was knighted for services to regeneration, charity and the City of London and was asked by Lord Green to join UKTI to further infrastructure links between UK and China. He chaired a UK/China Infrastructure CEO Forum and also sat on a strategic advisory group for UKTI. “RIO brings together in one place most of the experiences I have had in my working life,” says Bear. “It’s about making places, working with communities, building infrastructure and developments. I think they wanted somebody who came from a delivery background because RIO {

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INTERVIEW SIR MICHAEL BEAR

is about delivery, it’s not about policy. They wanted somebody who had actually dug holes, put brick on brick, worked with local communities, understood planning and the process of delivery, somebody who had acted “I THINK as an ambassador, someone who understood THEY WANTED finance because this is very much investSOMEBODY WHO ment-driven, and someone who had run CAME FROM businesses.”

A DELIVERY RIO has a UK-wide brief and is seen by BACKGROUND government as a major engine for the creaBECAUSE RIO IS tion of opportunities and jobs for the country.

ABOUT DELIVERY, “We help investors navigate through our IT’S NOT ABOUT rather complicated system of planning and POLICY” delivery of regeneration projects,” says Bear.

“We act as the honest broker, so we review projects and we’re able to be objective and portray opportunities and risks without any other agenda.

“Planning is the key enabler of regeneration and therefore is at the heart of making things possible to happen.

“The most important thing about planning is that it will provide certainty and clarity of what can happen and enable investors to be able to assess risk and return.”

Shovel-ready projects RIO was set up to identify a pipeline of regeneration projects that are ‘shovel-ready’ and are investment grade.

“To be shovel-ready they must have planning, they must have the ability through local support and local policy to actually commence, and planning certainty is the key element of this because it provides for an investor, predictability and transparency,” says Bear.

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HIG HL IG HT S

S I R MI C HA E L B E A R Born: 21 January 1953

“We have £100 billion worth of schemes across the country, 40 per cent are shovel-ready and those are the ones that are in our pitch book and ready to go out. The others are at various stages, though we have some investors who say that we actually would like to take a planning risk because they’ll get it cheaper if there’s less certainty.

“Certainty, return and risk all have a relationship which investors need to understand.”

Long-term views Bear explains that investors can take a long-term view on a project, even up to 10 years ahead. In such schemes RIO would suggest a local partner.

“We won’t look at anything below £100 million,” says Bear. “But there could be job lots, because we tend to find that’s what investors are interested in. They could look at five £20 million schemes in an area.

“Some are under offer, on some we’ve signed exclusivity agreements, and with others we have added to the pipeline through our regional managers who are working with the Local Enterprise Partnerships and the regions.”

The main investors come from China, the Gulf States, Hong Kong, Canada and the US. In its latest newsletter, RIO says its project pipeline has grown by 68 per cent since June, with 90 per cent outside London. Collectively, they could generate 550,000 jobs.

By asset class the projects break down to 90,000 residential units, 67 million square feet of commercial space and 39 million sq ft of industrial space.

Currently, RIO has 38 shovel-ready projects with a value of £30 billion and opportunities for 170,000 potential jobs.

One of RIO’s biggest successes in the first 12 months was the £800 million Manchester Air-

Timeline: 1974

2013

1974 1981 1987 1991 2003 2005 2012 2013 Qualified as a civil engineer from Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg

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MBA at Cranfield.

1985 Headed international construction division at Balfour Beatty

Managing director of Iberia Developments, a joint venture between Balfour Beatty and London and Edinburgh Trust

Chief executive of Spitalfields Development Group for regeneration of the area

Elected as a common councilman for the City of London

Elected as an alderman for the City Corporation.

Ward of Portsoken

2010 Elected as Lord Mayor of the City of London

Knighted for services to regeneration, charity and the City of London.

Asked by Lord Green to join UKTI to further infrastructure links between UK and China

Joins RIO as the executive chairman

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RIO and its advisory board

port City business park scheme delivered in “CERTAINTY, December 2013.

RETURN AND “We got Beijing Engineering and ConstrucRISK ALL HAVE tion, one of the biggest developer contractors A RELATIONSHIP in China into the Manchester City Airport WHICH development,” says Bear.

INVESTORS NEED “They were part of the consortium that TO UNDERSTAND” includes Argent, Carillion and Manchester Pension Fund.

“With them comes not only Chinese funding, but also the potential for Chinese occupiers, and the potential for Chinese flights to Manchester Airport. Manchester was very happy with that. That sent a signal to the Chinese that they were welcome and their expertise was valued.”

Another recent success for RIO has been the Shrewsbury Flax Mill project.

Work to turn this iconic industrial building into a major tourist destination with offices and a cafe began in September 2014.

The first phase is the demolition of the silo on site, which is now taking place.

“Investors are more comfortable with RIO because it has been through our check and balance of project information,” says Bear.

“So they know these are serious opportunities with full government support. Foreign investors are very receptive to being steered in the direction of partnership and local expertise. Especially on planning because planning is key to delivery.”

RIO understandably has to reassure and guide foreign investors through the demands of the planning system. But Bear insists that projects must progress on merit.

“RIO gives the real hard facts on how to make things happen in a system which requires a lot of process,” says Bear. “There are no shortcuts.”

The UKTI created RIO in November 2013 to help international investors access large regeneration projects in the UK. RIO is administered by UKTI, with an independent advisory board made up of people from British business and government.

RIO is the main contact for international investors looking at industry-backed UK development opportunities. “But funding for such projects will often come from a number of sources, such as UK investors, lottery funding and even grant funds,” says former RTPI president Peter Geraghty, who sits on the RIO advisory board. Southend-on-Sea’s head of planning and transport is not the only planning heavyweight on the board: It also features chief planner Steve Quartermain.

Geraghty says bodies such as the RTPI provide advice and oversight to understand nuances in the planning system. “I would say planning’s biggest success in the opening year of RIO has been that it is seen as integral to the regeneration process and facilitating the delivery of outcomes,” he says.

“Planning plays a fundamental and influential role in bringing about regeneration and creating the stable conditions to encourage investors and developers to make sound investment decisions. That’s why, I believe, RIO chief operating officer Nahid Majid, a trained planner, recognised the importance of having a senior planner on the board.”

The board meets quarterly; the last meeting was held at Battersea Power Station.

“RIO does due diligence for bona fide projects and investors,” says Geraghty. “If there was a planning issue, we would look at ways to deliver it. An investor would produce a project initiation document, RIO would then assess it. Everyone wants to invest in London but RIO’s remit is UK-wide. Foreign investors don’t always understand the planning system. Our role is not to exclude UK investors but to make it easier for investors outside the UK to fulfil their aspirations. The important thing is that these schemes are sustainable. We look at things in the broader sense, such as social and educational provision or how workers will get to the site.

“Planning is normally thought of as way, way down the line. Planning really needs to be at the outset.”

RIO advisory board members Michael Newey, RICS president 2013-2014; John Herbert, global head of real estate & hospitality, HSBC; Jonathan Harris, senior MD real estate group in Macquarie Capital EMEA; Jon Milward, partner, Deloitte; David Partridge, managing partner, Argent; Bill Oliver, CEO, St Modwen; Professor Michael Parkinson CBE, Liverpool University; Chris Murray, Core Cities; Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive, Manchester City Council; Sir Edward Lister, deputy mayor, GLA; Philip Cox, DCLG; Stephen Dance, Treasury; Steve Quartermain, DCLG; Neil McIvor, office of Deputy First Minister for Northern Ireland; Duncan Sutherland, Sigma; Greg Ward, City of Edinburgh Council; David Prout, director-general, HS2; James Price, director-general, Welsh Government.

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ATTACK THE BLO

k The destruction of Heygate: a premeditated social disaster

As the billions financing London’s ‘Boris behemoths’ – 200 more towers are planned by the mayor – are mostly escaping taxation elsewhere in the world and the South Bank becomes a European version of Dubai, we are heading for disaster because the capital is no longer affordable for most citizens, says Adrian Jones

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24/10/2014 17:11

n The commemoration of council housing through public art in Hackney

OCKS

“THERE ARE LOTS OF WAYS TO DELIVER HIGH­ DENSITY HOUSING WITHIN THE TRADITIONS AND NORMS OF LONDON HOUSING: TERRACES, MANSION BLOCKS AND, YES, POST­WAR COUNCIL ESTATES”

N m Creating an atomised society: non-places and shallow architecture

owhere are our dysfunctional economy and the impotence of planning more painfully evident than in the emerging skyline of London.

Here, more than 200 new towers over 20 storeys high have consent or are projected over the next few years, and will transform what was a great prospect of a great city into a third-rate version of Shanghai or Dubai.

How on earth did this happen? Wasn’t there a plan? Well, yes, there was, but it wasn’t much good because of the conceit of successive mayors about London being the pre-eminent world city.

And the boroughs – strapped for cash and eager for capital receipts and S106 – got caught up in the excitement too. After all, why should Peter Rees have all the fun with his Cheesegraters and ‘Walkie Scorchies’? Well, because one of these is actually a fine addition to the skyline – the problem is not towers per se, but their location and their quality of design.

It didn’t help that we are in hock to China and the Gulf States, and also in the ideological grip of anti-planning politics, but the ‘world city’ hubris ironically ends up with London’s lack of power to shape its own future. So all these limp priapic icons are foisted upon us – nearly all residential towers for the absentee super-rich; see Vauxhall NO VEMB E R 2 0 14 / THE PLA NNER

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k Developer-led waterside housing: windswept balconies and poor public realm

Reach and you just despair.

One of the silliest excuses for this planning disaster – from Boris Johnson and his claques – is that more towers are needed to avoid greenfield sprawl. Well, he is right about the need to increase density, but pock-marking the capital with skyscraper citadels is not the way to do it.

As many studies show, including those of the mayor and CABE [formerly the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment], there are lots of ways to deliver high-density housing within the traditions and norms of London housing: terraces, mansion blocks and, yes, post-war council estates. But these plans are about quality and habitability, not puerile braggadocio.

Urban ghost city If there were a plan for Britain’s future, it would certainly involve taking the pressure off London by promoting jobs and investment in provincial cities. But in any scenario London is bound to be a magnet, especially for the young and for international migration. Stasis is not an option, but presently we are hurtling towards disaster because London is the city where all the good jobs are, but where workers can no longer afford to live. It is a truth universally acknowledged that more genuinely affordable homes are needed.

And these need to be close to jobs and facilities – not exported way beyond Transport for London’s Zone 5.

London used to be quite good at this, thanks to its remarkable legacy of public housing. But decades of government attrition – selling council houses and not replacing them, starving surviving public housing of investment – has had a hugely negative impact. Planners are partly complicit in this, often sharing populist prejudice against Modernist architecture, supinely accepting the environmental determinist fallacies of Oscar Newman and Alice Coleman and uncritical in their advocacy of the mantras of New Urbanism.

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All of this has lent respectability to a deliberate policy of publicly funded gentrification of public housing.

The Heygate scandal is only one of the most outrageous examples of what has been going on across London in the name of ‘regeneration’ and the creation of ‘mixed communities’.

Southwark spent £44 million moving tenants, most of who wanted their flats to be refurbished, out of the estate and sold the cleared site to Lend Lease for only £50 million. Its ‘Elephant Park’ redevelopment will double the density, but only 3 per cent of the new homes will be social rented; densification certainly, but at an unacceptable price.

The redevelopment masterplan from Make says all the things you would expect: it will “create a thriving and sustainable urban quarter… a network of quality spaces… deliver quality architectural design and distinctiveness using a variety of architects”, among many other good intentions.

However, the height and massing plan shows reality only too clearly; great tall slabs of buildings and taller towers crowding in on the green and public spaces. It is a familiar package of property greed passed off as urban design.

What is noteworthy in the plan is the way that environmental determinist dogmas are so confidently asserted as revealed truth in order to justify public interventions and public funding that ends up marginalising the poorest and creating even more inequality in a dangerously unequal city.

The post-war modernists who built the estate also had their certainties, at times misplaced, but their ethos and objectives were at least laudable.

Some of the new architecture of Elephant Park may indeed be good and London’s cosmopolitan vitality could embrace the new ‘streets’ but what sort of London are we really creating?

Such is the scale of the housing crisis engendered by decades of neoliberal theories that many parallel policies are needed to address the problem. New settlements may be one of them. What is good about the ‘Uxcester’ model – grafting a new town onto a ‘mature’ city – is that it is taking the garden city idea seriously and has a holistic plan including land acquisition and betterment. It is not just the fig leaf evocation of garden city chintz intended by the government, which is why planning minister

l Golden Lane Estate: post-war council flats could be this good

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D E N S I FI C AT I O N

Hong Kong comes to Deptford k York Way, King’s Cross: We can create dense welldesigned urban neighbourhoods if we really want to

Brandon Lewis immediately rejected it. But Uxcester does little for the urgent needs of Londoners. Nor is spraying the scruffy fringes of the green belt with standard Home Builders Federation cul-de-sac estates for longdistance commuters going to be the solution. The real answer is to have more homes within the capital. And of course London’s overall density is low compared with other ‘world cities’ competitors.

The thing about densification is that it can be done incrementally and within the framework of a real city structure and, if done well, can enhance established communities and improve local facilities.

So it is no coincidence that so much good, innovative, award-winning new housing is to be found not in large-scale regeneration or greenfield sites but in smaller developments responding to constraints, character, continuity and complexity of the existing city. Yes, more schools, NHS facilities and better public transport are required, but that applies everywhere an expanding population has to be housed.

Carbuncle Cup competitors But bringing forward sites under the current system is expensive and slow, not because of planning but because the public interest has been made entirely subservient to property interests. The circus around the Community Infrastructure Levy and S106 is displacement activity around this reality.

Planning, architecture and urban design are in reality now peripheral to built environment outcomes. So this is how we end up with dystopian Stratford High Street. This is why the crassness of Strata and the Vauxhall Tower will soon be joined by many more Carbuncle Cup competitors.

At present the planning profession seems too cowed and process-focused to confront this – to imagine, debate and promote alternative visions of cities. Well, if you’ve been kicked for 30 years…

But planning needs some of its old radicalism back.

As with garden cities, the big issues are not style but the economics of site assembly and community control of assets. This is the way to enable more affordable housing as well as good design, and to make planning relevant.

ADRIAN JONES is the author (with Chris Matthews) of Towns In Britain, published by Five Leaves, and the blog jonestheplanner.co.uk.

He was formerly director of planning and transport for the City of Nottingham and a member of CABE’s national Design Review Panel.

From Tower Bridge through Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Surrey Docks and Deptford, almost to Greenwich, the Thames is now lined with a monoculture of new apartments, condominiums and lofts.

New esplanades required as ‘planning gain’ mean you don’t have to buy a billion-pound penthouse to get those ‘stunning’ if sanitised river views.

This is an extraordinary change in 30 years, which with Docklands probably represents as dramatic a transformation of London as the rebuilding of so much of the Cockney inner city after the war. But the rationale for the huge new riverside developments of recent years is a lot more opaque than post-war reconstruction — it is ‘regeneration’ itself.

Convoys Wharf is by far the biggest, most mouth-watering, development opportunity remaining west of Greenwich. Part of the Tudor naval dockyard, it is now a derelict site, but one with inconveniently extensive archeological remains and the listed Olympia building, an iron-framed warehouse from 1846, right in the middle. After various abortive development proposals Terry Farrell, the government’s design guru (dubbed ‘Civic Realm Hero’ by The Planner), was wheeled in to produce a new, even bigger, development masterplan.

This involves 3,500 flats in three towers — one 46 storeys, the other two 38 — with lower blocks up to 14 storeys crowding around the Olympia warehouse: Hong Kong comes to Deptford.

There were lots of issues, not just urban design and conservation, but affordable housing, transport and accessibility – the site is poorly served by public transport.

Lewisham and local communities were rightly unhappy, and asked too many difficult questions, so the developers referred the application to the mayor under the new planning-lite system.

Boris Johnson waved it through only the day after Farrell published his Review of Architecture, Planning and Urban Design, exhorting the importance of place, design quality and community involvement. Ironic or what?

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LO N D O N G AT E W A Y

CASE ST UDY

LONDON GATEWAY IS A MAJOR DEVELOPMENT IN THE THAMES ESTUARY. A PORT SINCE THE 16TH CENTURY, AND FORMERLY THE SITE OF SHELL HAVEN OIL REFINERY, IT IS BEING TRANSFORMED INTO A WORLD­CLASS DEEP­WATER CONTAINER TERMINAL AS WELL AS ONE OF EUROPE’S LARGEST LOGISTICS PARKS. COUNCIL PLANNERS AND LANDOWNER DP WORLD TELL MARK SMULIAN HOW THE THURROCK LDO HELPED TO STREAMLINE A COMPLEX REVIVAL OF THE AREA’S FORTUNES

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A NEW ESTUARY ACCENT

Development of the 210-hectare London Gateway site has been enabled through the use of a local development order

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Edith Maersk, the world's secondlargest container ship, became the biggest vessel ever to enter the Thames when it docked at London Gateway in October

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“THERE IS A LOT OF

anaging a project that will bring thousands of jobs to an area is a problem COST AND EFFORT with which any planner might be happy to engage.

UPFRONT – AT LEAST Although south Essex is hardly the UK’s most deprived region, Thurrock A YEAR OF WORK Borough Council has been keen to secure the promised 11,000 to 13,000 FOR ONE OF THESE new jobs from the new London Gateway port and its adjacent logistics park [LDOs] – BUT IT’S A to boost the local economy.

WIN­WIN, AS IT GIVES Planners faced the question of how to accommodate a logistics park that would take CERTAINTY” up to 10 years to build, with the possibility of a large number of planning applications that would, with some exceptions, all be for roughly similar warehouses.

The solution, which won the RTPI planning excellence award 2014 for ‘outstanding planning to deliver growth and employment’, was to use a local development order (LDO).

These are powers that grant planning permission to specific types of development within a defined area.

This step has indeed reduced the complexity of planning activity needed over the next 10 years – the order’s lifespan – though it introduced considerable additional complexity at the outset.

All concerned think this was worth the effort to give certainty to developers that if they comply with the order they can proceed – although they do not minimise the work potentially delaying the development, and so agreed with landinvolved in such a complex exercise. owner DP World – which also owns the port – to opt for an LDO. LDOs clearly have a role in major projects, but perhaps That decision, though, opened up a further set of complexities. should not be lightly undertaken.

The story is taken up by head of planning and growth Andrew Award judges said the use of an LDO had “proved instruMillard, David Bull, director of planning and transportation, and mental in unlocking economic growth and providing cerprincipal planner Matthew Gallagher. tainty and sustainability of economic investment”.

As Bull explains: “Having an LDO for the logistics park meant They added: “The Thurrock scheme demonstrates how we did not need to go for permissions for 30 separate developplanners and businesses can work together to facilitate transments and for site, road and other issues. If we had to do all of formative growth development. those individually it would have become very complex.

“Planners have used creative thinking to tackle barriers to the site’s development using the ‘planning toolkit’, working “The LDO allowed the S106 agreement to be a single one giving with partners in key organisations.” clarity at the beginning, although it was a lot of work upfront, but we’ve not given up on quality nor on democratic oversight. It is just that that happened in advance rather than as each project Unwieldy procedures comes along.”

The LDO took effect in November 2013. It allows the developGallagher says with the LDO in place Thurrock can and has ment of up to 829,700 square metres of commercial floor space approved application notifications within only 28 days. on the 210-hectare site of the former Shell Haven oil refinery.

It permits the development of B8 (storage and distribution), B2 (general industry) and B1 (research and development and light industrial) buildings, together with associated infrastructure and ancillary uses.

Outline planning permission for the logistics park was originally granted in 2007.

Since then, though, the site’s planning status had been complicated by submissions from a number of applications to vary planning conditions, reserved matters for infrastructure and the partial discharge of planning conditions.

Thurrock faced a set of complex and unwieldy procedures,

{

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LO N D O N G AT E W A Y

“If what they want doesn’t comply with the LDO, then it is not permitted,” he says. “The point is that the detail is upfront and so we have a streamlined process with a 28-day turnaround. The first project was submitted by May and is on site.”

Protected species invade LDO preparation process also involved upfront neighbour engagement, because although few people live immediately near the site, public consultation was needed in Corringham, the nearest town.

This was mainly about traffic issues, given the volume of HGVs expected to be travelling to and from the logistics park.

Thurrock has also negotiated with DP World and the South East Local Enterprise Partnership over the roads on which these lorries will travel, securing £90 million for widening and new links.

There is also a travel plan policy to try to reduce road movements to the park and make improvements at Stanford-le-Hope, the nearest station.

Ecology was another important issue as the park is near protected habitats.

To complicate matters, once the old oil refinery had been cleared, the park site was promptly colonised by water voles, reptiles and other protected species from the nearby marshes.

“There had to be efforts to find and relocate them and it took two to three years to clear it,” says Gallagher.

Millard notes that without the LDO there would have been a lot of section 73 consents dealing with ‘misapplying’ previous conditions and “that would have been very complex”.

The order was accompanied by a design code, a code of construction practice, plans for ecological mitigation and management – and a travel plan. These documents were output-based to keep them as succinct as possible, with justifications for setting the standards to be applied placed in a series of technical background documents including those on drainage, lighting, remediation and archaeology.

Many others were involved in bringing the LDO to fruition.

Emma Barnett, a director of Adams Hendry Consulting, says her firm proposed the initial idea of an LDO after DP World appointed it to advise on the implementation of the outline planning consent.

She says: “The original consent granted in 2007 was subject to 96 conditions, a number of which had to be discharged prior to the commencement of any development on site.

“To meet the commercial requirements of prospective occupiers it is also likely that there would be a need to amend and update the conditions attached to the outline consent, whose complexities would likely be compounded by further Section 73 consents.”

Consultancy Peter Brett Associates worked on the order in support of Thurrock.

Dotting i’s, crossing t’s John Parmiter, a consultant at the firm, led on the process of technical auditing of environmental and transport matters and

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“PLANNERS HAVE USED CREATIVE THINKING TO TACKLE BARRIERS TO THE SITE’S DEVELOPMENT USING THE ‘PLANNING TOOLKIT’, WORKING WITH PARTNERS IN KEY ORGANISATIONS”

negotiations with landowners.

“You could say that planning permission for the site was there with an S106, so why not get on with that?” he says.

“But the sheer scale of the project and the need for investors to keep applying for planning permission variations would have meant that every time anyone wanted to build a warehouse they would have had to wait for an outcome.

“It’s nine million square feet to fill, and that would have been bad for developers and occupiers.”

One hurdle for the LDO was the environmental issue arising from the proximity of the protected marsh habitat.

“Habitats regulations are written in such a way that we could not have an LDO if there were significant affects on it. Our assessments found these were not significant, and it was signed off as such by the Environment Agency and Natural England, but that

all took time.”

Parmiter also worked on lorry management routes and links to the M25 to keep heavy traffic off local roads.

“The LDO was a very big piece of work and the government was on board as this was one of the biggest inward investments in the country, but it was still a roller coaster ride.”

Something as complex as an LDO raises formidable legal issues.

Paul Shadarevian, of the Cornerstone barristers’ chambers, headed the legal team.

“It was one of the most complex I’ve known in planning,” he recalls.

“There was already a harbour empowerment order which set onerous conditions for infrastructure, which applied to the port rather than the logistics park, but their infrastructure overlapped with the park’s and it was important that the two dovetailed.

“It also had to dovetail the S106 agreement and we also had to ensure the order was beyond challenge by anyone concerned about the nearby wildlife habitats.”

Preparing the LDO was an exercise that required all involved to “dot all the ‘i’s and cross all the ‘t’s”, says Shadarevian.

Where might LDOs be usefully applied in future?

Parmiter says they are “best for very large sites where there is one owner, or only a few owners”.

Millard concludes: “I gave a talk to the Planning Advisory Service on the lessons learnt and the main one is that one size does not fit all. There is a lot of cost and effort upfront – at least a year of work for one of these – but it’s a win-win, as it gives certainty.”

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24/10/2014 17:17

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23/10/2014 09:17 23/10/2014 09:48

INSIGHT

DiF { D

DECISIONS IN FOCUS

Decisions in Focus is where we put the spotlight on some of the more significant planning appeals and court cases 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 An application to build 91 homes on the former GKN Sports Ground in Chesterfield has been allowed at appeal

HOUSING

New dwellings on sports ground allowed on appeal (1 SUMMARY An appeal has been allowed and outline planning permission granted for development of 91 residential dwellings and an area of designated public open space on the former GKN Sports Ground in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.

(2 CASE DETAILS Two key issues were under consideration – firstly,

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whether the existing open space was surplus to requirements (having regard to policy CS9 of the county’s Core Strategy (CS)2 and the NPPF). The appeal site is privately owned, not currently used as playing fields and not intended to be accessible to the public.

The second issue was the effect that the lack of a fiveyear housing land supply has on the weight attached to policy CS9 and the application of paragraph 14 of the NPPF. (3 CONCLUSION REACHED Inspector Mark Dakeyne concluded that the appeal site, as existing open space, had been clearly shown to be

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surplus to requirement. Said Dakeyne: “I can understand the council taking a cautious approach to existing open space, particularly given the prominence within its strategies to improve participation in sports and active pursuits due to issues of poor health and obesity in theborough and the framework’s core planning principle of improving health, social and cultural wellbeing for all.

However, the prospects of the site contributing to such provision are very limited.”

This factor, he continued, ought to be taken into account in judging whether the site can be declared as surplus. “The council’s

proposals, through its local plan or other strategies, such as those relating to open space, need to be deliverable.”

As for the housing land supply position, the council’s inability to demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable housing sites meant that the relevant development plan policies for the supply of housing should not be considered up to date.

APPEAL REFERENCE: APP/ A1015/A/14/2214996

HOUSING

Pickles rubberstamps decision to build on BRE green belt (1 SUMMARY The secretary of state has agreed with inspector Frances Mahoney’s decision to allow, on appeal, the construction of new dwellings at the BRE site in Garston, Watford, Hertfordshire.

(2 CASE DETAILS A public local inquiry was

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Plans have been green-lit for up to 100 homes on green belt at the Building Research Establishment’s site in Garston, Hertfordshire

held in April to consider an appeal against the decision by St Albans City & District Council to refuse planning permission for the demolition of existing buildings and construction of up to 100 new dwellings, associated facilities and access at the BRE site. The inspector had recommended that the appeal be allowed and planning permission granted, subject to conditions.

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED Noting that the proposals were for the redevelopment of a previously developed site, the secretary of state agreed with Mahoney that her conclusion – that the appeal proposal was not inappropriate development nor harmful to the green belt – was reasonable. He further agreed with the inspector that there was no reason to question the position, agreed by the main parties, that the council did not have a fiveyear supply of housing land and that there was an acute need for housing (including affordable housing) within the district. The development would contribute to unmet housing need within the district as well as supplying much-needed affordable housing; both of these factors “should weigh positively in the balance of the decision”.

Environmentally, the secretary of state suggested that it should be possible

“to achieve an acceptable design of development which would not materially harm the character and appearance of the surrounding area”.

APPEAL REFERENCE: APP/ B1930/A/13/2207696

MINERAL EXTRACTION

Mineral extraction and wetland scheme is denied (1 SUMMARY A development that would have involved mineral extraction, processing and the importation of sand, gravel and reclamation materials from Denham Park Farm – with restoration to agriculture and the development of a small wetland area – has been dismissed.

(2 CASE DETAILS Key to this case was the potential effect of the proposed development on groundwater quality/ quantity and whether the proposed development would be inappropriate development in the green belt. The proposed development would have involved excavation of sand and gravel from the site and the stripping and I M AG E S | PE T E R W H I T E / B R E / I STO C K

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storing of soils and other associated operations and works. Excavated material would have been processed, requiring the erection of plant and the provision of silt lagoons, fuel storage and other ancillary buildings and equipment. The plant would also be used to process sand and gravel excavated from the nearby Denham Park Farm (DPF) quarry, located in Buckinghamshire.

In order to restore the land to its former level, the void excavated on the site would have been filled with a claytype material excavated for the purpose from DPF, and re-covered by the stored soils. (New access to the A412 would have been constructed to allow for exporting of the processed material.)

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED The filling of the void proved to be one of the key issues.

In dispute was the question as to whether the fill material should be considered ‘waste’ in the context of applying the planning and environmental protection regimes – and thus whether the infilling should be regarded as a waste disposal operation.

In his summary, inspector

Jonathan King said that the Environmental Agency took the view that the material must be considered as waste and the operation as waste disposal – based on definitions contained within the European Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC (WFD) and on judgments in the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ). He was satisfied that the proposed infilling of the void should be regarded as ‘landfill’, consistent with the inclusion of landfill in the WFD definition of ‘disposal operations’ as an example of ‘deposit into or on to land’.

The inspector further held that the appellant had also not provided sufficient information to demonstrate that harm to groundwater would not be caused, while in terms of the green belt “other considerations do not outweigh the potential harm to the green belt by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm. Very special circumstances do not exist”.

APPEAL REFERENCE: APP/ M1900/A/14/2218970

Proposals for mineral extraction works on wetlands in Hertfordshire have been blocked

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INSIGHT

DiF { D

DECISIONS IN FOCUS HOUSING

Scheme needing agricultural-toresidential use change gets go-ahead (1 SUMMARY Agricultural land in Warkworth, Northumberland, has been allowed a change of use. Construction of 37 residential dwellings, private gardens, access roads and public open spaces was allowed on appeal.

Plans for an array of 35,000 solar panels across 14 hectares in Godalming, Surrey, was deemed harmful to the green belt

SOLAR ENERGY

Solar park deemed inappropriate (1 SUMMARY An appeal against a development that would have given 25 years’ permission for up to 35,000 ground-mounted solar panels, with landscaping and associated infrastructure, has been dismissed.

(2 CASE DETAILS The development would have comprised an array of up to 35,000 solar panels on a site of about 14 hectares. The site is currently arable farmland and is entirely within green belt. Although the panels would have been limited in height, Guildford Borough Council said the proposal would comprise substantial development where none presently exists. The council also cited adverse effects on the landscape (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Area of Great Landscape Value) on neighbouring amenity – the solar park

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would have been visible in short and long distance views from within the AGLV. (3 CONCLUSION REACHED The appellant drew attention to a similar scheme granted permission by South Gloucestershire Council, in which the council decided that the benefits of the scheme, in terms of renewable energy generation, outweighed the identified harm. But in this case inspector Andrew Hammond ruled that harm by virtue of inappropriate development in the green belt would be substantial. Added to this would have been the ‘significant harm’ resulting in loss of openness and further harm to the AGLV and setting of the AONB. The benefits of the scheme, he said, did not outweigh the totality of harm enough to justify the development on the basis of very special circumstances.

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED Dismissing concerns about access and claims that the scheme was too ‘car-centric’, inspector Anthony Wharton allowed the appeal. He said the proposals would “widen the choice of high-quality housing in Warkworth by providing a good range of well-designed homes”. New residents would, he said, bring economic benefits to the area and, through the construction jobs generated, result in the planning system performing an ‘economic role’ in sustainable development as required by the NPPF. The council had contended that the development would be in an unsustainable location with limited access to local services, contrary to Core Strategy (CS) policy S3, as well as to NPPF sustainability objectives. But Wharton said he considered it to be within “a reasonable walking distance from the existing services and facilities”.

APPEAL REFERENCE: APP/ P2935/A/14/2213611

Proposals for 37 new homes would widen the choice of high-quality housing in Warkworth, according the inspector

APPEAL REFERENCE: APP/ Y3615/A/14/2212923

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(2 CASE DETAILS The 2.5 ha site is to the south-west of Grade I listed Warkworth Castle and the core of the village, which lies within a curve of the River Coquet. Main issues included two aspects of sustainability – site location (access to services, transport links and car use) and flood risk.

Also at issue was the effect that the proposal would have on the character and appearance of the village, in particular the density of the scheme and whether it related well to the scale and function of the village. How the scheme would affect the setting of the Grade II listed

Old Barns Farmhouse, to the west of the proposed site, was also a factor.

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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 eight 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

APPEAL DECISIONS

COMMERCIAL

(1) Application: Appeal against a refusal to grant permission for a change of use from offices to nine residential units in Muswell Hill, London.

Decision: Appeal dismissed.

Main issues: There is a significant level of parking stress, with limited onstreet parking available.

The parking demand that would be generated by the conversion – in an area which is congested both in terms of parking and traffic – would result in a significant increase in congestion.

Appeal reference: APP/ Y5420/A/14/2215128

applications for permission to redevelop a car park with a part three, four and fivestorey building of 43 flats, landscaping and car parking at Greenhill Way, Harrow.

Decision: Appeals dismissed.

Main issues: The two plans differ in design. Both propose a single block of apartments, set in a similar position on the site some five storeys high, with private and communal gardens. However, the scale and massing of the development would dominate the street scheme, be at odds with the scale and character of nearby dwellings, and would harm the character of the area.

Appeal references: APP/ M5450/A/13/2209948/APP/ M5450/A/13/2209903

HOUSING CONVERSION HOUSING NEW BUILD

(2) Application: Appeal against a refusal to grant planning permission for the erection of 16 affordable dwellings on green belt land at Mickle Trafford, Cheshire.

Decision: Appeal allowed.

Main issues: The Strategic Housing Market Assessment shows a substantial need in the area. The appellant proposes an arrangement where local people in need would be given first refusal.

A planning condition can be imposed to ensure that the dwellings would be affordable and for local needs. The housing is also limited in size compared with nearby development.

The visual impact would be minor and no highway safety issues arise.

Appeal reference: APP/ A0665/A/14/2214437 (3) Application: Refusal of two

(4) Application: Alterations to an existing student accommodation building and construction of a five-storey (plus basement extension) for 49 new bedspaces at Southwark, London.

Decision: Appeal allowed.

Main issues: The appeal site is occupied by a seven-storey (plus basement) building with a Y-shaped floorplan.

It has been converted to student digs, having previously been a police section house. Works would involve building a five-storey extension, with basement, on the north side. It would be a substantial addition to the building, but its siting would be such that for close neighbours only oblique views would be possible.

A daylight and sunlight assessment prepared in accordance with Building Research Establishment guidance was satisfactory.

the harm would not be overly significant, the emphasis of the local plan is to protect the landscape from any harm.

Appeal reference: APP/ X1545/A/12/2179784

Appeal reference: APP/ A5840/A/13/2210967

ENERGY

(5) Application: Appeal against refusal to grant permission for a single wind turbine with maximum blade tip height of 77m, formation of access and associated infrastructure on farm land at Launceston, Cornwall.

Decision: Appeal dismissed.

Main issues: The proposed turbine would impinge on living conditions of the neighbouring properties, with regard to noise.

Residents nearby suffer noise from an existing turbine – a second would result in culmulative harm.

The development would also adversely affect the character of a generally tranquil area. Also, the Planning Practice Guidance makes it clear that the need for renewable energy does not automatically override environmental protection.

Appeal reference: APP/ D0840/A/14/2211697 (6) Application:Appeal against refusal to grant planning permission for installation and operation of a single 50kW wind turbine with a hub height of 24.6m on agricultural land at Althorne, Essex.

Decision: Appeal dismissed.

Main issues: The area is a lowlying arable landscape rising gradually away from the River Crouch. There are settlements outside the designated areas but only isolated properties.

This absence of development contributes to a tranquillity that is typical of the coastal area. The turbine would give the impression of an evolving energy landscape. Although

(7) Application: Erection of a single wind turbine with a tip height of 77 metres with associated infrastructure at Launceston, Cornwall.

Decision: Appeal allowed.

Main issues: The council’s strategy for these types of areas – gently rolling hills and open valleys – is for small or medium clusters or single turbines up to “medium” scale . The turbine would be prominent in the landscape, but while it would be clearly visible, the large-scale and undulating nature of the landscape is such that the proposal, in isolation, would not result in unacceptable visual intrusion.

Appeal reference: APP/ D0840/A/14/2217741 DOMESTIC

(8) Application: Appeal against refusal for a change of use of agricultural land to residential curtilage and retention of gym/games room (in situ).

Decision: Appeal refused.

Main issues: The property is a detached dwelling with a large paddock/garden area and a field adjacent. There is a flat-roofed structure that looks like a former shipping container forming a gym/ games room with windows, together with a small, decked and fenced area. It comprises an incongruous urban feature, out of keeping with the open, rural appearance of the rest of the field.

Appeal reference: APP/ M1005/A/14/2221740

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INSIGHT

LLegal landscape PLANNING TO SAVE THE WORLD If we are to save the environment – and our species – then we need to rethink our fixation with traditional economic growth Standing in front of an audience of predominantly commercial and public authority planners and lawyers, explaining that our legal and planning system is threatening our survival as a species is no easy thing. But that was my task last month at the Joint Planning Law conference.

At first glance the claim might seem 'tabloid’. Sadly, the science bears it out only too well. According to the IPCC, for a two-thirds chance of staying below two degrees of warming we have roughly 20 years of greenhouse gas emissions left globally.

We need to peak our global emissions before 2020 and cut emissions rapidly thereafter, doubling our investment in renewables.

Research by organisations like Carbon Tracker shows that this means we need to leave the vast majority of existing proven fossil fuel reserves in the ground and forbear from extraction of unconventional sources of fossil fuels.

And yet we find ourselves in a situation where traditional economic growth remains the overriding imperative, where renewable technologies face rough policy terrain and our government is actively encouraging unconventional fossil fuel extraction such as

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Gita Parihar shale. Friends of the Earth’s campaigning is rooted in this environmental reality.

We don’t oppose or support projects or policies to annoy or support developers or public authorities, but on the basis of whether they lead us towards – or away from – breach of the key environmental limits that threaten our survival as a species.

“ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PROCEEDS ON THE BASIS THAT THE QUALITY OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT IS OF LEGITIMATE CONCERN TO EVERYONE”

As a grassroots organisation, we see the role of communities and individuals in taking action as vital, and public participation as key to ensuring a sustainable future.

Legal instruments such as the Aarhus Convention recognise that one of the best ways to protect the environment is through public legal rights of access to environmental information, public participation in development decision-making and access to justice.

One of many examples of the pressure on exercise of these rights, alongside the constant deregulatory reform of the planning system, can be found in the recent government consultations on restricting judicial review. judicial review’s importance as a check and balance to ensure that authorities act within the law was sidelined and the statistics presented in the consultations certainly didn’t support claims that

it is the non-governmental organisation (NGO) ‘go to’ tool of choice.

Environmental law proceeds on the basis that the quality of the natural environment is of legitimate concern to everyone and recognises that if our wildlife, commons and forests, oceans and atmosphere are to be protected then, in the words of Lord Hope, “someone has to be allowed to speak up on (their) behalf”.

Senior members of the judiciary, such as Baroness Hale, have recognised the important public interest function performed by NGOs that bring cases.

“Obstructive” planning judicial reviews have been cited as the reason for introducing a six-week time limit for planning challenges and a planning court with a prescribed policy objective of speeding up cases. Again, there is no evidence for this in terms of increased planning case numbers.

These measures prioritise an efficient system that provides certainty for developers over the ability of the public to participate in development decisions and ensure their environmental integrity.

Our current fixation with growth as an end in and of itself is placing severe strain on our ability to stay within the environmental limits that science demands. A rebalancing that recognises the importance of procedural and substantive rights to protect the environment must take place.

GITA PARIHAR Gita Parihar is head of legal for Friends of the Earth. This column is based on a paper she delivered to the Joint Planning Law conference in September http://www.jplc.org/ papers/

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LATEST POSTS FROM THEPLANNER.CO.UK/BLOGS

B LO G S This month… Power crisis, what power crisis?

The election is coming and UKIP has other parties on the run in England so until next May, expect Mr Pickles to play to the Nimby gallery over wind turbine applications

L E G I S L AT I O N S H O R T S Too much hot air over turbines Stephen Bate Wind turbines. These are the two words that currently drive any right-minded, middleEnglander into a frenzy of meetings, posters, petitions and lobbying.

Wind turbines are the planning pariah.

They are visually prominent, noisy, inefficient, unhealthy and anti-social. They kill birds and bats and are only built to gain government subsidies, and to line the pockets of greedy farmers.

Against opposition it is a wonder that any wind turbines ever get constructed. Perhaps there are some more enlightened local authorities. Perhaps some councillors don’t believe all the ‘urban myths’ bandied about by the anti-turbine zealots.

Or, if the truth be known, perhaps there are some planning committees who actually understand what material planning considerations they should be focusing on when they determine a turbine application.

Turbines are a prime force of sustainable development, generating renewable energy. They tick all the NPPF boxes!

At too many committees I have attended – with an officer recommendation for a turbine – members

continue to debate issues to which they should pay no regard.

This leads to refusals on spurious non-planning grounds or – if the council is particularly canny – on the grounds of landscape and visual impact. Those councils know that they can’t be done for costs simply for having a subjective opinion on such matters.

‘So what?’ say the councils, you can always appeal. And we do. But the appeal process is so unwieldy that by the time there is a positive decision, the feed-In tariff has probably dropped by another 10 per cent or grid costs have doubled.

The inspectorate has a significant backlog of turbine appeals.

Site visits are often programmed over six months after the start date. Decisions can take another three months following the visit. All this adds unacceptable delay to an otherwise time-precious process.

At one time an appeal was able to take the decision away from the politicians. It was wholly independent.

The predictable influence of middleEnglanders on planning committees would be somewhat diluted during the appeal process, which rightly focused on technical planning considerations. Alas, no more. Eric Pickles has now added a political dimension to the decision process by recovering a significant number of turbine appeals. This action is

causing even longer delays. The recovered appeals are not just wind farms, but also include smaller single turbine proposals. How do such proposals have a national impact?

Not content with just delaying the result, Pickles has also meddled with the pre-application process. Wind turbines are the only form of development that requires the applicant (in England) to engage with the community before submission.

Why? In my experience local communities use the consultation process just to have a whinge. There is rarely any constructive feedback or positive engagement. The cynic in me considers that this approach is purely there to galvanise the anti-turbine groups.

They can then ready their posters, petitions and lobbying for when the council formally consultants them.

The government has to be seen to be supporting their vote-winning, rural populace. There is an election to be won in nine months’ time. UKIP is on the doorstep. What a marvellous chance to set the planning record straight and support the Nimby opposition.

Until May, wind turbines will continue to be the planning pariah.

Stephen Bate, BSc(Hons) MRTPI, planning manager at Hallmark Power Stephen@hallmarkwind. co.uk

Redhill airport plans overturned at Appeal Court Plans to replace the grass runway at Redhill Aerodrome in Surrey with tarmac were scuppered after a High Court ruling was overturned in the Appeal Court.

The scheme had been refused permission by Tandridge District Council and Reigate and Banstead Borough Council and subsequently by a planning inspector, but then allowed by a High Court judge.

However, Appeal Court judges, Lord Justices Sullivan, Tomlinson and Lewison, overturned the decision and said they would allow an appeal by the Secretary of state against the earlier decision.

Redhill Airport had argued that the changes would boost business and employment in the area. But the planning inspector said environmental harm would outweigh the economic benefits.

Courtroom discussion revolved around the phrase ‘any other harm’ from the NPPF, and the case was being viewed as a test case on how applications that encroached on green belt should be handled.

Judgement reserved in Casement Park stadium case Judgment has been reserved in a High Court bid to stop a new 38,000-seat GAA stadium being built in west Belfast.

The proposed £77 million Casement Park development is the subject of dispute after the Mooreland and Owenvarragh Residents’ Association (MORA) issued proceedings against environment minister Mark H Durkan’s decision to approve the plan.

MORA argued that the new build, replacing an existing 32,600-seat stadium, would be too large for the area and increase traffic congestion. Their legal representatives claimed the development would be an “injustice” if given the go-ahead. Counsel for the planning service warned that GAA fans would be stuck with a “crumbling and decaying venue” if it didn’t.

Mr Justice Horner said he needed to study all of the arguments before delivering a verdict.

Camra wins second judicial review in pub battle A High Court ruling has quashed a decision by Bradford City Council to allow listed building consent for alterations to convert the former Cock and Bottle pub in Barkerend Road, Bradford, into a restaurant.

The building’s Victorian interior is listed as Grade II and appears on the Campaign for Real Ale’s (Camra’s) inventory of historic pub interiors. The body had won a judicial review against the council’s decision earlier this year – the first time Camra had brought such a case.

However, the council again gave permission, prompting a second review – which Camra also won.

Camra chair Colin Valentne said: “This is a landmark case of national importance and is an important step in our fight for the protection of Britain’s few remaining heritage pubs.”

Bradford Council’s planning committee will re-determine the issue.

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INSIGHT

Career { D E V E L O P M E N T C LINKEDIN FOR PLANNERS

LinkedIn is considered to be the social media site for professionals. But, asks business and marketing journalist Rachel Miller, how do you use it, and what does it offer planners?

L

inkedIn has become the de facto social media site for professionals, with more than 15 million users in the UK, and ambitious planning professionals are taking full advantage of all the opportunities it offers.

LinkedIn is far more than an online CV — the so-called “Facebook for business” enables you to make valuable connections, keep up with industry news, learn from others, and recruit the best staff. In short, it can help you do your job better.

But LinkedIn is also a powerful career-building tool, helping you to grasp new opportunities and build your reputation in a fast-moving and highly competitive world.

Here’s how to get the most out of LinkedIn:

(1) Make sure you can be found The first thing people do after meeting a new business contact is to check them out on LinkedIn. If they can’t find you, they may not take the professional relationship any further — you’ve just made it too hard for them. They may even be wondering whether you are a bona fide professional.

Your LinkedIn profile has to work hard — make sure it is compelling, up-to-date and has a professional picture. If you run your own consultancy, you can also set up a Company page and highlight examples of your work on Showcase pages.

(2) Get networking Building a following on LinkedIn takes time and discipline. When you meet useful contacts — including 40

clients, partners, suppliers and other planning colleagues — always follow up with an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Keep in touch by responding to their posts and sharing useful content with them. It’s best to be helpful rather than sales-y.

LinkedIn’s advanced search function allows you to search for new contacts using keywords and you can also find people using their email addresses. If you want to connect with someone you haven’t officially met, it’s worth asking a mutual contact to introduce you.

(3) Join professional planning groups LinkedIn discussion groups allow you to become part of the wider planning conversation and to find out what’s going on in your area. A good place to start is by searching for your local RTPI group. There are also RTPI groups for specific communities such as young planners and transport planners.

(Search for and join 'The Planner Think Tank' – our new LinkedIn group.)

Being a part of these industry groups can raise your profile, but they are places to share, not to show off. It’s worth taking your time before you make any comments so you can gauge the culture of the group. Once you get involved you’ll need to keep checking in with the group on a regular basis.

You can also set up your own groups if you want to position yourself as a thought leader in a particular area.

(4) See how you rank against your peers Premium members of LinkedIn can use the ‘Professionals Like You’ function — as well as the ‘How You Rank’ feature — to see how they stack up against their sector peers and to find the cream of the crop. Check out the best profiles to get inspiration for your own and start making valuable new connections.

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l (5) Use content and endorsements to build a following One of the best ways to establish your credentials — beyond your CV — is to post and share useful content.

LinkedIn has started to open up its publishing platform to key bloggers and soon that feature will be open to every LinkedIn member. It’s also worth encouraging your network to endorse you for your skills — the best way to do this is to endorse others. You can also ask contacts for testimonials and recommendations.

(6) Find the best new recruits — or a new role Whether you are looking to make a move yourself or you need to recruit a new member of your team, LinkedIn can help. The site has become one of the most important tools for recruitment because it lets you see beyond the CV. If you are recruiting, look for mutual connections on LinkedIn so that you can find out more about a candidate from a trusted contact.

LinkedIn is often the first place you will find out about new job opportunities and specialist recruiters post details of planning jobs on the site. But getting a new job is not just about checking out LinkedIn’s job tab.

You’ll need to be getting everything else right on LinkedIn too — your profile, recommendations, contacts and discussion groups — to maximise your chances.

(7) Advertise to a niche audience The best thing about advertising on LinkedIn – unlike other social media sites — is that you can target your ads.

For private-sector planning firms, a well-targeted campaign linked to a top-notch landing page on your website could bring in valuable new business. Your targeting can be based on sector, location, company size, job title, skills and even LinkedIn discussion groups so you can be certain that your advert is reaching the right people.

n How I use LinkedIn: the private consultant David Bainbridge “I have been using LinkedIn for the past three years and it has proved to be an incredibly useful professional tool. I frequently use the LinkedIn mobile app on my iPhone and access the site at least once a day Monday to Friday and sometimes on a Sunday as well.

Primarily, I use it to maintain my professional profile and to manage my growing network of contacts. But I also use it in a number of other ways. I regularly check updates from my connections on the home page, including likes and comments. I also check status updates — useful when people change jobs or take on new project roles.

I find the updates from other planning professionals absolutely invaluable — they help to contribute to current best practice and debate in the property world and in planning and development in particular.

LinkedIn has been directly useful to me in my work, especially where I have found out about planning consultations and where I have been able to follow contacts that have moved jobs.

In addition, I regularly post my own updates about planning and development matters, including consultations, appeals and court cases.

I am active within several discussion groups on LinkedIn, including our own Bidwells Planning Services group. Other groups that I belong to include Property Week and Estates Gazette. I have also used LinkedIn to flag up vacancies within Bidwells.”

David Bainbridge is partner in the planning division of Bidwells.

n How I use LinkedIn: the public sector planner Phill Skill “Initially, I joined as I was getting requests from consultants and planning agents and felt I might be missing out on the next big thing.

Since joining I have been underwhelmed by its relevance to the public sector planner. It appears to be a professional version of Facebook, somewhere members can share the joy of their latest appeal success or acquisition.

The local authority planner’s

l LinkedIn etiquette

Do • Introduce connections to each other; • Disable notifications when you are making lots of changes to your profile page – otherwise your connections will get a bunch of annoying updates; • Nurture your contacts by replying to messages promptly and responding to their updates; and • Write recommendations for people that you rate.

Don’t ✘ • Make your connection requests look like spam with a one-size-fits-all approach – come up with a personal message every time; • Ask new contacts or strangers to endorse you; • Talk about your social life. LinkedIn is not Twitter or Facebook — no one wants to hear about what you had for lunch or what you did last night; • Post too much. It can be annoying.

successes and achievements are traditionally subservient to that of the council. Whilst private sector colleagues have but one master – the applicant – it is more difficult for those of us who serve the community and the client. To crow about a successful project, even awardwinning ones, may be seen by others on LinkedIn as a slap in the face to the local community, and vice versa.

The public sector planner has to be circumspect about his affiliations and it is increasingly difficult to take part in exaggerated linkages. Once we’d swap business cards. Today we swap LinkedIn details so we can accumulate the largest number of ‘friends’. I only link to people I have met and share an understanding with.

But LinkedIn does allow users to see connections and associations – who is happy to work with whom. This can be used to draw up shortlists for tendering, but in this electronic world more councils are moving to e-procurement where local connections are less important.

As my days in the public sector draw to a close, I am more likely to use LinkedIn to prepare for consultancy, as I do for getting on the conference circuit.”

Phill Skill is head of planning at Stroud District Council

Planning-related discussion groups on LinkedIn n The RTPI The RTPI’s main group has more than 9,000 members, but there are a variety of regional and young planners’ groups, too, as well as groups for health and transport planners, and those preparing for APC. n The Urban Planning Group A private group with more than 42,000 members that is open to anyone working in the urban planning professions. n City and Town Planning This private group is dedicated to discussions about city and town planning and has more than 10,000 members. n UK-based Town Planning Professional Group This group is 3,000-strong and it is open to planning professionals (members of the RTPI and graduate planners) in the private and public sector. It also has a job board that features new town planning roles.

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INSIGHT

Plan ahead P Talk of the town

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

High street retail vacancies rates remain stubbornly high

How do we revive declining high streets and town centres?

It’s one of the great challenges for contemporary town planners, as Sheffield Hallam’s Josie Wilson explains

By Simon Wicks In an era of out-of-town retail parks and emergent e-commerce, modern high streets are as likely to be characterised by betting shops, charity stores and the same old chains as by thriving and varied independent retailers.

Too many are peppered with empty units, too.

Our high streets, the barometer of healthy, economically robust communities, are not at all well. They may even be terminally ill. Despite the best efforts of fashion and retail guru Mary Portas and Mr Pickles, the prognosis is poor.

“It’s the most obvious way to see if a place is vibrant or not, whether it’s suffering with this ongoing depression,” says Josie Wilson, principal lecturer in Sheffield Hallam University’s department of the natural and built environment.

“Particularly up North it’s not very good. If there are signs of recovery it’s not really happening in the north of England.”

“IF YOU DON’T OPEN UP THESE PLACES PEOPLE WON’T GO INTO THEM”

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Even so, says Wilson, the North does provide a case study for an urban revival.

Leeds is undergoing substantial city centre regeneration, with high-profile schemes improving public space, increasing pedestrianisation and supporting independent retail.

The aim is to bring people into the city centre, and keep them there. “They’ve done some interesting things,” observes Wilson. “They seem to have a joined-up approach to pulling it together.”

Although she acknowledges that Leeds has the advantage of being a regional administrative and commercial centre, Wilson says there are still lessons for smaller towns to learn – and she’s hoping that a representative of Leeds City Council will be talking at an event she is organising with RTPI Yorkshire in Sheffield on 4 December.

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Regenerating Town Centres – Planning For Business, Retail And Public space is a daylong conference that invites planners to consider what can be done to restore vibrancy to the heart of our urban settlements.

“Why aren’t we doing it well? What else can we do?”

Wilson asks. “We need to stop blaming regional shopping centres [such as Leeds].”

We also need to stop bemoaning the loss of trade to out-of-town retail parks.

“Maybe if people want the Meadowhalls of the world that’s what we should be giving them.”

Instead, the challenge for planners may be what to do with the spaces left behind.

How do we reinvent them as viable community centres – if we choose to do so at all?

“It’s about making places interesting to live in so people can engage in those places.

What do people want? Do they want a 24-hour culture? Do they want their shops to shut at 5.30pm? For people like me, for example, who work in the city centre, I want shops that I want to walk round.”

Speakers lined up for the event include the “provocative” Julian Dobson of Sheffieldbased think-tank Urban Pollinators, brand strategist Sara Scott of Brandthing and DCLG’s Stephen Biddulph.

Planners, says Wilson, “can tie together regeneration schemes, they can talk to people and get people to support things”. But, she warns, they need “the right policies” in place.

“How do we make places work? And how do we carry on making them work? If you don’t open up these places people won’t go into them.”

R E G E N E R AT I N G T O W N C E N T R E S : P L A N N I N G FO R B U S I N E S S , R E TA I L & P U B LI C S P A C E

Where: Showroom and Workstation, Sheffield S1 2BX When: Thursday 4 December 2014 Theme: Town and city centre regeneration Find out more and book at: www.bit.ly/1cNdV3j

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DIARY

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

YORKSHIRE 20 November – Rebirth of Leeds Riverside: by accident or design Yorkshire’s Greatest Planning Achievements: the 1990s. Seminar on urban design challenges faced by the Waterfront regeneration programme.

Talks from city council design experts and developers, followed by a walk round the Waterfront.

Venue: Civic Hall, Leeds Details: www.bit. ly/1rn18MM 4 December – Regenerating town centres The economic success of localities is often judged by whether high streets and neighbourhoods feel vibrant. This conference will assess the role of regeneration schemes and planning frameworks in supporting economic growth (see Plan Ahead).

Venue: Showroom, Sheffield Details: www.bit. ly/1cNdV3j 4 December – Remaking public realm for the millennium Yorkshire’s greatest planning achievements: the 2000s. Sheffield used cultural industries as a catalyst for employment creation, city identity and in developing social cohesion. This event will give an opportunity to see the Millennium Galleries and Winter Gardens.

Venue: Sheffield Hallam University Details: www.bit. ly/1uEg9Y1

NORTH EAST 26 November – Affordable housing: a story of needs, economics and politics Exploring the life cycle of affordable housing planning and delivery including assessing need, understanding viability, delivery and management considerations.

Venue: Centre for Life, Newcastle Details: www.bit.ly/1tYOVig 1 December – North East RTPI AGM The meeting will receive the management board’s annual report for 2014 and there will be elections to committees for 2015.

Venue: Eversheds, Newcastle Details: www.bit.ly/ZNC4nj

NORTH WEST 19 November – Infrastructure planning: making the connections Infrastructure development remains a cross-party political priority, with extensive media coverage on nationally significant projects (NSIPs) regime, the Planning Inspectorate, and major proposals. This seminar will provide an update for those concerned with NSIPs. Venue: Pinsent Masons, Manchester Details: www.bit.ly/1f0lyqB 27 November – Urban agenda debate Join RTPI members and urban designers to help define the design agenda in the North West for the next 20 years. The last of three debates hosted by the region for the centenary.

Venue: Victoria Gallery & Museum, Liverpool Details: www.bit.ly/ ZGkfWY

EAST MIDLANDS 28 November – Manufacturing jobs for the future Multi-professional debate hosted by the University of Derby. Key speakers: Pauline Latham MP and Prof John Coyne.

Venue: Kedleston Old Road, Derby Details: www. bitly/1mslFPM 5 December – Demographic and climate change Multi-professional debate

DON’T MISS The RTPI Nathaniel Lichfield Lecture 2014 – Future trends in city and county governance The debate on who governs us, and how, is taking the political centre stage – not only in Scotland but also in Irish, Welsh and English cities. In this year’s lecture, Professor Tony Travers will discuss how future trends in city and county governance might develop and what they might mean for citizens.

Travers, from London School of Economics’ Government Department, heads research centre LSE London and is author of books that include The Politics Of London: Governing The Ungovernable City.

The lecture is again generously supported by Dalia Lichfield.

Date: 18 November Venue: Darwin Theatre, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT Details: www.bit.ly/ZGh5m0

hosted by University of Lincoln. Key speakers: Councillor Rick Metcalfe and Karl McCartney MP. Venue: The Think Tank, Lincoln Details: www.bit.ly/1s7t1nL

SOUTH WEST 25 November – TPN Local Sustainable Transport Fund Hampshire Lecture

By March next year, Hampshire will have invested £50 million in sustainable transport infrastructure through the DfT’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund. This lecture provides an overview of the major programmes and innovative projects.

Venue: Winchester, Hampshire Details: www.bit. ly/1x8rm5M

EAST OF ENGLAND 2 December - Current issues in delivering development Presentations and discussions to enable policy and development management planners to gain more understanding of ‘live’ issues associated with delivering quality places.

Topics include: alternative housing models; design codes, and garden suburb principles.

Venue: South Cambridgeshire District Council, Cambridge Details: www.bit. ly/1nyTDm9

LONDON 10 November - The Fourth Revolution: the global race to reinvent the state Is Britain falling behind in

the global race to reinvent the state? Economist editor-in-chief John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, co-authors of The Fourth Revolution, present this public lecture.

Venue: The London School of Economics Details: www.bit.ly/1rrtReV 25 November – Project management for planners This seminar will meet the needs of everyone who has to manage projects, tasks, or assignments to meet challenging targets under time and resource constraints with a short, introduction to the ideas, methods and techniques..

Venue: The Hatton, London Details: www.bit. ly/1msgSxN 27 November – Positive planning for economic growth Briefing to help planners keep up to date with government policies in support of sustainable economic growth. It will consider the value added by the planning system and clarify the government’s ‘Planning for Growth’ policy framework.

Venue: The Hatton, London Details: www.bit. ly/1DA7gW2 2 December – Environmental Impact Assessments The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations require developments with potential to harm the environment to be rigorously assessed. This workshop covers the relevant legislation.

Venue: The Hatton, London

Details: www.bit. ly/1s7B8Rk 3 December – Giving evidence at inquiries Masterclass providing techniques to prepare for inquiries, present evidence and deal confidently with cross-examination.

Venue: The Hatton, London Details: www.bit. ly/1wk5G7v 4 December – Current issues in planning Round-up conference bringing together the eight best papers from RTPI conferences and briefings, as voted for by delegates.

The sessions will provide a lively forum for discussion..

Venue: The Hatton, London Details: www.bit. ly/10qBywv 8 December – Building capacity in urban communities Public lecture, Dame Tessa Jowell will draw on her experiences at the heart of government to discuss the role of capacity building and social integration in cities.

Venue: London School of Economics, London Details: www.bit. ly/1wuLAbG

WALES 28 November – RTPI Cymru Centenary Dinner Join us as we celebrate the RTPI’s centenary. The black-tie evening will include: wine reception, announcement of the Wales Planning Award, three-course dinner, musical entertainment.

Venue: The Hilton, Cardiff Details: www.bit.ly/1reOa07

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NEWS

RTPI { Strategic planning in England A NEW POLICY PAPER FROM THE INSTITUTE MAKES A VERY STRONG CASE FOR ENGLISH STRATEGIC PLANNING, SAYS RICHARD BLYTH, RTPI HEAD OF POLICY AND PRACTICE The “duty to cooperate” requires English local planning authorities to undertake meaningful discussions around strategic planning matters, but it is not a duty to agree. In our paper we argue that the duty to cooperate is not working as widely as it should, given the importance of strategic planning matters and a new way forward is needed.

The UK government has been making progress with a broader decentralisation and strategic agenda through changes including combined local authorities, City Deals and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). While these changes have encouraged plans for economic growth they have often failed to adequately consider housing. There are two common fragilities: on the one hand, overambitious strategic economic plans that are not supported by local communities, do not have the necessary housing supply and do not consider environmental issues; and on the other, City and Growth Deal money allocated to areas that have not reached agreement on how to meet their share of national housing need.

These problems arise from insufficient coordination at local level between local planning and LEPs, and arguably from an over-generous attitude on the part of government. To correct this Growth Deals should be conditional on local authorities having agreed housing distributions consistent with the housing proposed by local authority groupings.

The range of strategic planning experience over the past 80 years, such as The Greater London Plan (1940s) or the West Midlands Planning Advisory Conference (1980s), suggests that although there are benefits to having statutory strategic planning, voluntarism does not prevent effective strategic planning.

Given this, more can be achieved within the current administrative framework than has been to date, provided there is sufficient incentive (this incentive must be much more than the new homes bonus and much more clearly attractive to the range of communities in LEP areas). The upheavals caused by repeated changes to the system have contributed to delays in housing supply and in addressing other strategic issues. Matters are now so urgent that we cannot afford the protracted delays that would be created

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RTPI news pages are edited

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

by changing the system again through primary legislation.

LEPs have been largely designed from the bottom up with strong business and local government involvement. Significantly, LEPs correspond broadly to the scale at which much strategic planning needs to take place. Therefore, most LEP areas are generally viable areas to undertake strategic planning and where they are not, in time, boundaries should be aligned.

So the RTPI proposes that starting now, local authorities should form voluntary groupings in geographic areas of city-region or county scale (aligned with local enterprise partnerships).

Local authorities in these groupings should agree housing numbers and other strategic matters in alignment with Strategic Economic Plans and City Deals. In return LEPs should align their plans with housing and environmental issues in discussion with local communities. Central government should reward such cooperation with visible, strong but conditional incentives in housing, transport, health and skills/education capital spending.

Given the complex economic and social geography of England there are areas where wider cooperation and collaboration than at city-region/ sub-regional level is needed. In some areas cooperation between city regions and county areas would be necessary, for example among the city regions of Liverpool, Greater Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds, and between London and the South-East.

We consider that strategic planning is likely to be on an evolutionary journey and while our proposals are for immediate implementation, we should be thinking in future of complete coverage of combined authorities across England coterminous with LEPs. Single deals should replace city deals and growth deals and Strategic Economic Plans should be signed off by combined authorities. As we move forwards combined authorities should have responsibility for various budgets, starting with housing and transport and moving on to education and health and consideration should be given to empowering them to have tax raising (or lowering) powers, probably based on property tax.

n Strategic Planning in England: Beyond “Cooperation” is available at http://bit.ly/ Englandplan The RTPI is producing a further policy paper on strategic planning in UK and Ireland to be published in December

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Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk

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

Registered charity no.

262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841

RTPI SHORTS

Polly Barker Planning Consultant ATKINS, LONDON

(1) What do you currently do?

Our team works on a variety of types of projects worldwide, but my involvement over the past 12 months or so has been focused on the preparation and coordination of large-scale planning applications and environmental impact assessments (HS2 and Bristol MetroBus), and more recently I have been working on evidence-based projects, such as sustainability appraisals, employment land reviews and strategic site finding for a major house builder. My primary interests lie in the economic and social development of worldwide cities.

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

A teacher. I had secured a place for secondary geography teaching course in 2009, but I withdrew at the last minute as I decided it wasn’t for me.

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

I worked as a core member of the HS2 Country North Environmental Statement team, working on the community assessment. The project was huge and owing to the sheer scale of the project (the environmental statement was 50,000 pages) and the multiple iterations, cross-discipline and cross-consultancy working it was a full-time project for over a year.

THREE PROJECTS SCOOP TOP PLACES IN PRESTIGIOUS PLANNING AWARDS D AWARERS The winners of the RTPI East of England Regional Planning Achievement Awards WINN were announced at a ceremony at Girton College, Cambridge, attended by 90 people.

The overall winner was ‘The Spinney, Peterborough’, a major refurbishment of a children’s play centre, entered by Peterborough City Council and Stewart Milne Group. Second place was awarded to Terence O’Rourke for ‘Trumpington Meadows, Cambridge’, an urban extension of up to 1,200 houses and apartments. Third place went to Southend-on-Sea Borough Council for ‘The Forum, Southend-on-Sea’, a new building creating an educational and cultural hub. Paul Maison, RTPI East of England chair, said: “The eight projects shortlisted illustrate the creativity and professionalism of planners, local councils, public sector partners, planning consultants and developers. We have entries from each county in the region ,,, ranging from planning policy initiatives and individual sites to masterplans covering major developments.” n For more details visit www.bit.ly/ RTPIEastE

(4) What attracted you to the profession?

While studying geography throughout college and university I was always interested in cities and urban development, particularly the processes of gentrification and regeneration. After working for a business improvement district for a year, I realised that planning was a good way to develop a career in this field.

(5) How did you get involved with the RTPI’s student meetings at UCL and Kingston University?

I was contacted by the RTPI directly and asked as a graduate of UCL if I would be interested to give a careers talk to both under and postgraduates. After presenting, I was also told there was a similar talk at Kingston University, and as I was a graduate from there also (I studied my undergraduate degree there) it was great to return.

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

It’s perhaps a long-term aspiration but, given the current dysfunctional position with developers and land banks, where development will not come forward when land prices are falling, I think that more power and finance should be given to councils to enable them to release land through compulsory purchase and develop it themselves, bringing forward investment for affordable homes. This would also offer the opportunity for councils to better support self-build so that we can compete with our European neighbours for better quality homes.

MEMBERS IN WALES WELCOME THE NEW PLANNING BILL RTPI Cymru has welcomed the planning bill as a positive step forward in revising the existing system to deliver for Wales.

Emma Langmaid, RTPI Cymru chair, who will represent the institute at the Wales Planning Forum to discuss the bill, said: “We are pleased that many of those provisions have carried through into the bill published today, including those our members strongly argued for, including proposals for a National Development Framework and Strategic Development Plans.”

Cath Ranson, RTPI president 2014-15, said: “We strongly believe there is a need to embed a new proactive and confident culture within planning in Wales, to boost economic prosperity and to create better places for our communities to live and work.

Planners, politicians, consultees, developers, and the general public all have a role to play in achieving this.

We look forward to scrutinising and responding to the proposals in more detail shortly.” n For more information visit www.bit.ly/ RTPIWalesBill

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NEWS

RTPI { Proud of planning, proud of planners

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT DR PETER GERAGHTY EXPLAINS WHY HE FELT THE PROFESSION NEEDED A NEW CAMPAIGN TO CELEBRATE THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PLANNING AND PLANNERS AND HOW THE INITIATIVE HAS GONE GLOBAL When I became president in January 2013 I pledged myself to promote the positive aspects of planning and those who practice it. This was the basis of an idea that ultimately became my campaign known as ‘Proud of planning, proud of planners’.

I felt that the perception being given in the general media and political circles, particularly in England, of planning as a purely bureaucratic procedurebased activity just had to be challenged. I thought that the perspective of planning practice as an activity undertaken substantially by a local authority as a mechanistic process belies and undervalues the power of planning as a sphere of professional activity.

This national lack of ambition for planning in England is doing the country and the wider world a disservice. The ever-decreasing role being prescribed for planning practice is endangering the future of the profession because it stifles creativity, it inhibits imagination and, perhaps most concerning of all, it makes it less attractive as a profession to future students. Jacob and Vanstiphout in a recent Guardian article asserting why “Britain should be proud of its planners”; are right when they say “that even at the darkest moments, when our built

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-> The population of the UK is expected to increase by 46 per cent by 2060

environment seems subject to uncontrollable forces that imagination – both professional and popular – can invent new ways out.”

More than half of the world’s population lives in cities, and this is expected to reach 70 per cent by 2030. The population of the UK is expected to increase by 46 per cent by 2060. At the same time, the average population in the UK is becoming older.

By 2061, more than a quarter of the UK population will be 65 or older. The RTPI’s international goals of advocacy, capacity building and communication are achieved through networking, including through its partnership with the Global Planners Network, membership of the European Council of Spatial Planners and the Commonwealth Association of Planners. The RTPI is also an active participant in the World Urban Forum.

Five per cent of our members live and work overseas spread throughout 82 countries. This international context is recognised in our recent publication: The World Wide Value Of Planning.

I think it is now timely to bring the ‘proud of planning’ message to an international audience.

We should use the message to raise the profile and awareness of planning as a profession and its role in providing solutions to the major challenges that face us at home and abroad.

We have an obligation as planning professionals to promote the art and science of planning in the public interest. We must get the public to believe in planning again and to realise the undoubted benefits it brings. There is great planning practice internationally and now is the opportunity to showcase that practice. Although in England the discussion is around a single garden city in Kent, India is promoting 100 smart cities throughout the country and by 2025 China intends to build 10 cities each the size of New York. Across Africa new cities are being planned in Kenya, South Africa and Ghana. In New Zealand, Christchurch is being rebuilt as greener, more accessible and safer city. Many of these projects will have inputs from UK planning practices, engage UK professional planners or borrow from the UK tradition and experience of planning.

There is an opportunity to show how planning is transformational and can improve the lives of people using international experiences. We cannot leave it to those with a lack of ambition for the profession, politicians or the popular press to articulate what planning is about and what it can achieve. We must all be proud of planning and proud of planners and now is the time to say so. n Support the campaign by visiting www.facebook. com/ProudofPlanning

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RTPI IRELAND CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF PLANNING Members in Ireland recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, which came into effect on 1 October 1964, with a special seminar.

Marion Chalmers, chair of RTPI Ireland, said: “The planning system has done much for Ireland over the past 50 years. We want to build on this and continue to show the value that it brings in creating great places, promoting sustainable development and driving economic growth.

Given this, it is appropriate that we are looking forward to a new planning bill, which provides the opportunity to ensure that the system continues to play these roles effectively. RTPI Ireland will be working to make sure that we make the most of this opportunity.”

Key speakers at the seminar included Niall Cussen, currently principal adviser (planning) in the water and planning division of the Department of the Environment Community and Local Government.

1,000 MEMBERS DOWNLOAD FREE ARTICLES Planning Theory And Practice, the RTPI’s peer-reviewed academic journal, has published a special issue for the RTPI’s centenary which also includes RTPIcommissioned essays on the future of professional planning, 100 years from the founding of the institute.

Around a thousand RTPI members have already downloaded the essay collection.

These essays ask critical questions about the future of professional planning and call on planners to act as leaders in facing future challenges, such as climate change and social justice.

This issue was edited by RTPI fellow Kevin McDonald, who asks three big questions for the profession in the 21st century: what are the purposes of planning; who planners should be serving; and how the profession can develop. n The essays are available at www.bit.ly/ PTPfree

Ruth Richards Head of Department URBAN ENVIRONMENT AND LEISURE STUDIES

(1) What do you currently do?

I lead the teams of staff that deliver the planning, housing, tourism, sociology, criminology and politics courses at London South Bank University. Covering such a wide range of courses is a challenge, especially as a large number are professionally accredited. I still teach some classes, including planning law, and have recently also been appointed as the chief examiner for planning law for the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives.

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

Running a teashop. As a teenager I had a Saturday and holiday job in an old-fashioned cake and teashop. I loved it and was taught to bake and ice cakes as well as running the business.

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

When I was the director of Planning Aid for London we represented local residents and friends of a cemetery in opposing a redevelopment scheme. This included three public inquiries and fighting a private bill through Parliament. The most challenging moment was giving evidence to the House of Lords’ Select Committee. I am glad to say that the worst parts of the development were refused even though we couldn’t stop it all from going ahead.

(4) What attracted you to the profession?

When I left university I had never heard of planning, however, I got a temporary admin job in the planning department of the London Docklands Development Corporation. I was enthralled by the urban regeneration process and the role that a planner can take in making change happen. This inspired me to qualify and I went on to work more closely with local communities in my role at Planning Aid.

(5) What is the best thing about your job?

Teaching and inspiring young planners. I love to see students develop and achieve in their chosen profession, and some of them stay in touch often years after they have graduated. Many are now in high-profile positions, leading teams and dealing with complex development schemes.

(6) What do you like to do away from work?

My allotment and garden are my chill-out zones – places where I can get away from everyday stresses and relax. I also enjoy walking around the City and East London, exploring interesting urban areas and seeing how the old and the new interact.

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

I occasionally come across planners who do not feel confident in their positions and therefore resort to taking a very bureaucratic position. I would want them to be more helpful to those they interact with and be more proactive in finding solutions to the issues raised.

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Recruitment { Stroud’s famous industrial heritage and beautiful countryside featured in the BBC TV series, The Planners. It is a challenging blend of urban and rural and managing the district’s development, from the steep-sided valleys to the expanse of the Severn Vale, and demands a balance between the needs of advancing technology for a growing population and our obligations to future generations, the environment and local heritage.

Principal Planning Officer £23,945p.a. | 37hrs per week | Permanent

Stroud District is an extraordinary place, stretching from the ports of the Severn Estuary to high-technology industry in Stroud itself, and the centuries-old legacy of farming in the Cotswolds. The Planning team is at the front line when it comes to supporting the continuing improvement of and investment in the district whilst protecting its unique architectural and cultural heritage.

To help us continue to improve our service, a new post has been created for a Planning Officer. We’re looking for a reliable, detailoriented operator with experience developing and delivering effective planning advice. In addition, you will need: • • •

A degree in a planning-related subject Membership of the RTPI or IHCA or be otherwise eligible for membership Strong IT skills

If you have any queries regarding the role contact John Longmuir, Development Manager, on 01453 754219 or vist www.stroud.gov.uk/jobs Closing date: Thursday 4 December 2014 | Interview Date: Wednesday 17 December 2014 We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from people with disabilities, people from ethnic minority groups and people from all sections of the community.

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WE CAN HELP YOU FIND YOUR PERFECT JOB

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• Jobs by email • CV upload • Tailored searches

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

theplanner.co.uk/jobs

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

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27/10/2014 10:39

ADVERTISEMENTS

SOUTH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE COUNCIL Development Management

Team Leader (Major Projects Team) £39,168 - £44,832 per annum • 37 hours per week, permanent • Ref: PD15 Lewis & Co is a leading and ambitious planning consultancy based in Brighton. Due to the successful growth of the business we are currently looking to expand our friendly team of consultants to work on development projects across the south east.

2 x Senior Planning Officers £29,040 - £33,615 per annum • 37 hours per week, fixed-term contract until 15/06/2017 • Ref: PD09 £29,040 - £33,615 per annum • 37 hours per week, 18 month fixed-term contract • Ref: PD21

We are seeking an enthusiastic senior planner, planner and graduate planner to join our busy team of planning professionals. You will be required to assist our Directors on a wide range of large projects and will be tasked with managing planning applications and appeals. Additional duties will involve attending site visits, preparing written planning statements and providing planning advice to clients. The post holder will have excellent writing and communication skills

An excellent opportunity has arisen for a Development Management Team Leader in our busy Major Projects Team and also two Senior Planning Officers in our Minor Developments Team.

South Northamptonshire may be a rural district, but it’s far from being a quiet backwater. There is considerable pressure for development, and a range of different planning applications and enforcement matters, both urban and rural. Some of the key projects include sustainable urban extensions to Towcester, Brackley and Northampton, town centre developments at Towcester (to include new Council offices), major commercial developments at Northampton and Silverstone (the home of the Formula 1 British Grand Prix) and High Speed Rail 2.

The successful candidate will be expected to be a student or full member of the Royal Town Planning Institute with 1 to 3 years planning experience.

Please send CV to Paul Burgess at paul@lewisplanning.co.uk All applications and enquiries will be dealt with on a confidential basis.

The Team Leader will be required to manage the Major Projects Team, including overseeing a number of complex and large scale major applications/projects, staff recruitment, staff development, appraisals, performance review and monitoring. You will also take on a small caseload,Lewis & CO QPV.indd to include the more complex applications.

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The Senior Planning Officers will be expected to deal with a range of major, minor and other applications. The main task will be to ensure high standards of design and sustainable development within the District following Development Management principles.

South Northamptonshire is an extremely attractive district, characterised by traditional Lime and Iron stone villages centred around the historic market towns of Brackley and Towcester and is nestled between Milton Keynes, Northampton and Banbury in the heart of England. It has been ranked as the third most desirable place to live in the UK, according to the 2013 Halifax quality of life survey.

For more information please contact Robert Fallon, Development Services Manager, on 01327 322047 or Paul Seckington, Development Management Team Leader (Minor Developments) on 01327 322341.

To download an application pack and apply for these posts, please visit www.southnorthants.gov.uk/jobs or contact Human Resources on 01295 221528.

Closing date: Noon Friday, 21 November 2014.

Interview date: Week commencing 1 December 2014.

All posts politically restricted and available on a full-time basis only.

NO AGENCIES Committed to Equal Opportunities

/jobs

nts.gov.uk

northa www.south

Planner/ Senior Planner – West End ,London An ambitious experienced Planner is required by Signet Planning, an independent highly regarded, specialist planning consultancy. We are expanding in London and are looking for a commercially aware Planner/ Senior Planner to join our existing team in the West End. This is an opportunity to work on interesting projects, with clients ranging from national and regional developers, Premier League Football clubs, retailers, pub companies, power companies and numerous other organisations.

The role will involve managing your own projects, taking the initiative, and providing support and assistance to Associates and Directors on large regeneration projects and others in London and the South East. This is a great opportunity for a planner with at least 2 to 3 years experience, and with membership of the RTPI/RICS, to further their career as part of our London office growth.

We offer a competitive salary and benefits and pride ourselves on caring for our staff and involving them in the business.

We look forward to hearing from interested applicants. Please send a covering letter and CV by email to Rosalyn Chadwick, chadwickr@signetplanning.com ,

by Friday 14th November. www.signetplanning.com I @signetplanning

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INSIGHT

Plan B P

MINE’S A LARGE ONE, MINISTER

WE CAN BARELY CONTAIN OURSELVES Snoozebox, whose president is ex-racing driver David Coulthard, has applied for planning permission to build an 80-room hotel at Bridge of Don in Aberdeen.

Nothing unusual about that – except the hotel will be constructed from shipping containers (SNOOZEBOX, geddit?).

This is somewhat to the consternation of local councillor Muriel Jaffrey, who is quoted

by The Scotsman as saying “a company like this must realise that Bridge of Don isn’t simply a dump”.

Perhaps Ms Jaffrey doesn’t realise that there’s a fairly lengthy history of building from shipping containers and some

of the structures, which include offices, designer homes and even a bank in Germany, are really quite beautiful. It’s not just about dumping some metal boxes on a parcel of land and charging people cash to sleep in them.

Containers have also been in the news

BEWARE OF BAFFLING BOVINES

Planning minister Brandon Lewis received a mention on BBC One’s satirical news quiz Have I Got News For You when panellists were discussing the tabloid sting that nailed minister for civil society Brooks Newmark.

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elsewhere this month, with the BBC happily reporting the arrival at the Thames Gateway of the Edith Maersk, apparently the world’s second-largest container ship. The 397-metre long vessel carries up to 15,500 containers.

Plan B, ever mindful of the potential connections between

apparently unrelated events, suspects the Edith Maersk may not be a container ship at all. In fact, we reckon it’s a floating hotel, and the world’s largest at that. If Ms Jaffrey ever fancies a cut-price cruise for the more open-minded traveller, r, she might wish to book k a cabin.

Planning minister Brandon Lewis was also in the news this month for receiving a special chairman’s honour at the British Beer and Pub Association’s annual awards for 2014.

Lest we forget, before he became planning and housing minister, Mr Lewis was, among other things, community pubs minister. Presumably this was one of the most sought-after briefs in Westminster and meant that he could spend the day in the pub and claim he was working.

Or have we misunderstood how these things work?

Anyhow, the erstwhile minister for boozing received the award for his “outstanding work for the industry”. This included “confronting the range of regulatory challenges that pubs face”, “championing the cause of lower beer duty”, and “putting pubs at the heart” of high street renewal.

Obviously, we applaud Mr Lewis for supporting Britain’s pubs. But Plan B has also provided “outstanding” support to pubs, particularly The Lamb in a small corner of south-west London. Don’t see any awards, though. Typical. It’s one rule for them and another rule for the rest of us, eh?

If you recall, during the Tory Party conference, Newmark sent a nudie picture of himself to a young female ‘researcher’ who, it turned out, was actually a male tabloid reporter. Oops.

Mr Lewis wasn’t mentioned in any derogatory way, but rather because he had been one of several MPs baited by the journalist on Twitter using a fake profile for ‘Sophie Wittams’. We’re pleased to say the minister didn’t fall into the honey trap – although whether that’s because he’s an astute man or a moral one is impossible to say.

Amusingly, the Daily Beast reported that most of the other ‘targets’ simply ‘exchanged pleasantries’ with the alleged Miss Wittams.

We are intrigued to note, however, that one “wrote to her about his Jack Russell terriers”.

We’re sure this isn’t a euphemism. Anyone know if the planning minister has pet dogs?

The only reference to animals we can find on his Twitter feed is mention of a cow that closed the A40. There’s no suggestion that Mr Lewis put it there himself as a protest against green belt development.

I M AG E S | A L A M Y / J O H N B E L L E R BY

24/10/2014 17:20

Local Planning & Highway Authorities

HS2 Conference: Building in the benefits at the local level

Governments & Government Agencies

Planning & Transport Consultancies

Traffic & Highway Engineers

Developers

Programme PROGRAMME 08:45Registration Registration and Coffee 08:45 and Coffee 09:30 Chairperson’s opening 09:30 Chairperson’s opening remarksremarks Richard - chairman of the Department for Richard BrownBrown - chairman of the Department for Transport’s Franchise Panel Transport’s Franchise AdvisoryAdvisory Panel Richard Brown 09:40Keynote Keynote Address address 09:40

Patrick McLoughlin* - Secretary of State for Transport Lord Deighton* - Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Transport Chair HS2 Growth Taskforce 10:00 HS2 – more than a railway 10:00 Keynote Speech Jim Steer - Director, Greenguage 21 Sir David Higgins* - Chairman of HS2 Ltd 10:20 Q&A 10:20 Q&A Robert 10:30 Refreshments 10:30 Refreshments Goodwill Robert Goodwill MP - Under Secretary of State for

25thNovember November 2014, 25th 2014 Regent’s London Conference Centre, London, NW1 4NS

SESSION 1: Actions to realise local HS2 growth potential

SESSION 1: Actions to realise local HS2 growth potential Unlocking City Growth

10:45

10:45

11:00

Unlocking City Growth

Andrew Carter - Deputy Chief Executive, Centre for Cities Sir Albert Bore* - Leader, Birmingham City Council Securing business growth

11:00

Securing Business Growth

Roger Marsh - Chair, Leeds City Region LEP Roger Marsh* - Chair, Leeds City Region LEP 11:15 Creating opportunities for development 11:15 Creating opportunities for development Chris Garden – Head of Stations Development, HS2 11:30 Q&A 11:30 Q&A

Andrew Carter

SESSION 2: Realising the widerbenefits economic benefits of HS2 SESSION 2: Realising the wider economic of HS2 11:45 benefits of HS2 of HS2 11:45The wider The wider benefits Roger Marsh Richard - UK Head of Infrastructure, Richard ThrefallThrefall - UK Head of Infrastructure, Building and Building and Construction, KPMG Construction, KPMG 12:00Making Making theofmost of HS2 release capacity release the most HS2 capacity 12:05 opportunities opportunities James - Chair of Yorkshire the WestIntegrated Yorkshire Integrated James Lewis Lewis - Chair of the West Chris Transport Authority Transport Authority Garden

t Overview )PX XJMM )4 CPPTU UIF FDPOPNJD GPSUVOFT PG Looking at the benefits HS2 is promised to deliver, with the north? reference back to evidence from similar projects in the t 8IBU CFOFöUT DPVME $JUZ 3FHJPOT BOE -PDBM UK and mainland Europe, and recent experience from Authorities from thiswillproject?

Crossrail and HS1, reap this conference capture lessons t learned 8IBU HSPXUI BOE SFHFOFSBUJPO MFTTPOT TIPVME and ensure that LA’s, LEPS, developers, transport consultants arefrom awareother of the practical they need to be learnt UK rail steps projects? take to make this project a success story for their regions, t 8IBU BDUJPOT EP -&1T MPDBM BVUIPSJUJFT BOE local communities and businesses. the development industry need to take now to get the most out of this once in a lifetime Audience opportunity?

This conference is aimed at public and private sector planners, transport planners, economic development and regeneration project managers and will also be of interest For further details to local decision makers,visit councillors, senior officers, business representatives, LEP and LTB members, rail and www.ptrc-training.co.uk/Events/HS22014 bus operators, passenger groups and transport journalists.

To book your place email the Events Team Fees: on info@ptrc-training.co.uk or call on Standard £299 + VAT 020 7348Fee: 1970

CILT Member/Local Authority/Charity Fee: £225 + VAT

12:15Freight Freight Highopportunities speed opportunities for improvement 12:25 - high-speed for improvement Maggie Simpson - Executive Director, Freight Group Maggie Simpson - Executive Director, Rail Freight Rail Group 12:30PanelPanel session with presenters from sessions 1 and 2 session with presenters from sessions 1 and 2 12:45 Networking Lunch 13:00 13:15 Networking Lunch

SESSION 3: Making The Local Connection

SESSION 3: Making the Local Connection 14:15 Kings Cross, Stratford and Ebbsfleet regeneration James 14:15 Kings Cross, Stratford and Ebbsfleet regeneration Lewis David Joy - Managing Director London Continential David Joy - Managing Director London Continental Railways Railways 14:35Crossrail Crossrail - fusion the urban realm - fusion with thewith urban realm 14:35

Sam Richards - Head Urban Integration, Crossrail Sam Richards - Head of Urbanof Integration, Crossrail 14:55 Q&A 14:55 Q&A 15:10 Refreshments 15:10 Refreshments Maggie The right conditions for rail based growth 15:20 15:20 The right conditions for rail based growth Simpson Dave Arquati - TFL Dave Arquati - TfL 15:40 Funding and governance - developing local growth 15:40 Funding and governance - developing local growth capacity capacity Alex Pratt - Chair, LEP Network Management Board Alex Pratt - Chair of the LEP Network Management Board 16:00 Q&A 16:00 Q&A 16:15 Chairperson’s closing remarks David Joy 16:15 Chairperson’s closing remarks 16:30 Post-conference networking 16:30 Post-conference networking * Invited

Supported by

Organised by Organised by

Alex Pratt

in association with CILT(UK) in association with CILT(UK)

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23/10/2014 14:01

The new politics for planning 7 July 2015 London %RRN QRZ WKH À UVW 50 RTPI members save £25

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23/10/2014 09:36