The Planner - September 2019

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CONTENTS

SEPTEMBER

08 NEWS 4 How local authorities are facing up to the climate crisis 6 Spreading the risk: The future of retirement communities 7 Wales’s NDF identifies locations for homes and renewable energy 8 London becomes a National Park City 9 Scotland’s planning revamp will take until 2021 to shape up 10 Boris Johnson appoints new housing secretary

26 OPINION

12 Louise BrookeSmith: Boris in charge: angel or devil for planning?

“WE’VE GOT ONE TRAIN LINE GOING THROUGH THE MIDDLE BETWEEN SHEFFIELD AND MANCHESTER, BUT TRAINS NEED TO STOP IN THE MIDDLE TO BE OF ANY USE TO US”

14 Richard Blyth: An integrated plan will lead to environmentally aware decisions 14 Martin Baxter: Legally enforceable targets will set the benchmark for plans and policies 15 Ben Nelmes: Only a truly independent watchdog has teeth 15 John Slaughter: Predictable requirements are necessary for fair play in business

22 QUOTE UNQUOTE

“IT'S ABOUT MODERATING, NOT GRABBING EVERY OUNCE OF PROFIT OUT OF THE GROUND, BUT SETTLING FOR 75 PER CENT OF WHAT YOU CAN GET RATHER THAN SQUEEZING IT DRY”

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FEATURES 18 What role can the planning system play in restoring ecosystems? asks Catherine Early 22 Jeremy Purseglove looks at our need to find ecological sustainability 26 Are the UK’s national parks still fit for purpose? asks Matt Moody 30 The environment and biodiversity are struggling in the face of a pro-growth agenda. Huw Morris considers a ‘lost decade’ for planning

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INSIGHT 38 Nations & Regions: Scotland 40 Cases & decisions: Development decisions, round-up and analysis 44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute

18 50 The month in planning

JEREMY PURSEGLOVE, ENVIRONMENTALIST AND ‘GLOBAL GARDENER’

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NEWS

Report { CLIMATE CRISIS

How local authorities are facing up to the climate crisis Local authority declarations of climate emergencies have become an epidemic in 2019. Huw Morris investigates It all started in Darebin, north of Melbourne, Australia. Alarmed that the previous 16 years were among the 17 warmest on record, with 2016 the hottest ever (and the third in a row to win that accolade), the city council did something radical. It became the first in the world to declare a climate emergency.

The concept has since snowballed.

Today 901 jurisdictions in 18 countries have declared a climate emergency covering a total population of 206 million citizens. It is one of the fastestgrowing environmental movements in recent years and UK local authorities are enthusiastic supporters.

Just how enthusiastic is revealed by data compiled by Climate Emergency UK: around 207 local and public authorities with a planning function have declared climate emergencies since Bristol City Council first did so last year. At the time of writing, 22 of 36 metropolitan councils, 14 of 27 county councils and 22 of 33 London boroughs have declared climate emergencies.

The data, analysed by The Planner, shows that 89 district councils and 57 unitary authorities have taken the pledge. The city regions have too: the Greater London Authority – along with the London Assembly – Liverpool and West Yorkshire are on board, while the West of England is the sole combined authority at the time of writing.

The declarations are spread across the UK, with 54 per cent of English councils declaring, followed by Wales on 41 per cent, then Scotland with 31 per cent

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To date, 901 jurisdictions in 18 countries have declared a climate emergency covering a total of 206 million people

but much more than Spain (16 per cent).

The movement aims to plug the gap on climate action left by the government and has been propelled by October 2018’s landmark report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. The special report on Global Warming of 1.5°C warned that the planet had until 2030 for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5 degrees to prevent increased risks “THIS MOVEMENT IS of drought, floods, extreme BEING LED BY EVERY heat and poverty. In its POLITICAL GROUP AND aftermath, Extinction IS INVOLVING LOCAL Rebellion protests gained PEOPLE IN PLANNING huge publicity.

THE ACTIONS NEEDED Meanwhile, a ComRes TO CUT CARBON” poll for Christian Aid in

and Northern Ireland with 18 per cent.

National governments have accepted the challenge, with the Welsh Government and Scotland’s first minister making declarations. The House of Commons took time out from Brexit in May to make the UK the first country in the world where a bipartisan parliament declared a climate emergency.

Degree of impact Around 64 per cent of the UK population live in areas that have declared a climate emergency, putting the UK towards the upper echelons of the climate emergency table – not as high as New Zealand (70 per cent),

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PLAN UPFRONT

July found that 71 per cent of the UK public saw climate change as more important than Brexit in the longterm, with six out of 10 adults saying the government was not doing enough to prioritise the issue and two-thirds believing that the prime minister should put the issue at the top of his agenda.

Cross-party accord

THE NUMBERS

207

The number of local authorities declaring climate emergencies

64%

The percentage of the UK population covered by areas declaring climate emergencies

47m

The number of UK citizens covered by the declarations

54%

The percentage of English councils declaring climate emergencies

41%

The percentage of Welsh councils declaring climate emergencies

31%

The percentage of Scottish councils declaring climate emergencies

18%

The percentage of Northern Ireland’s councils declaring climate emergencies Source: Climate Emergency UK

The UK’s local authorities are responding in droves. Many motions declaring emergencies were brought by Green Party members, but crucially they have depended on cross-party support. In Cornwall, a motion proposed by a Liberal Democrat councillor was amended and strengthened by a Labour counterpart before members from all parties backed it unanimously after a two-hour debate.

The extent of cross-party support is reflected in a breakdown of the political control of the authorities making declarations. A total of 47 councils are Conservative, 70 are Labour, 21 are Liberal Democrat, 55 have no overall control, with Independents making up two and Plaid Cymru one, respectively.

“This movement is being led by every political group and is involving local people in planning the actions needed to cut carbon through working groups and citizens’ assemblies,” says Kevin Frea, co-chair of the Climate Emergency Network and Lancaster City Council deputy leader. It has reconnected people to their councils, with public galleries packed when motions to declare are discussed and residents – including young people – speaking in the debates.

NUMBER OF ENGLISH COUNCILS DECLARING “Councils have already CLIMATE EMERGENCIES BY REGION started delivering on their declarations,” says Frea.

East 12 “They are switching to East Midlands 15 renewable energy suppliers West Midlands 18 on their estate, insulating existing homes and building London 22 more energy-efficient new North East 8 ones, planting trees and decarbonising transport.

North West 24 “It gives me hope that the South East 42 government will have to take notice soon, providing the South West 40 legislation and resources that Yorkshire 10 we need to put our climate I M AG E S | G E T T Y

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emergency declarations into practice.”

Technically, the motions are not legally binding. However, they do hold political clout and make a council more accountable for its policies for committing resources specifically to tackling carbon emissions.

Indeed, the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport estimates that local authorities can influence around 40 per cent of emissions through their planning, transport and waste functions, as well as the commissioners and purchasers of goods and services. Some councils have committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, 20 years ahead of the government’s own 2050 target. Expect the current generation of local plans to be substantially revamped and rewritten in the coming years in the absence of leadership from central government.

Observers predict policies that encourage renewable, low-carbon and energy-efficient technologies and green infrastructure, as well as the mitigation and adaptation of building density.

“This points to both the challenge and the opportunity for planning,” says Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) policy director Hugh Ellis. “Extinction Rebellion and climate emergencies are transforming the politics of planning. As a result, local government is trying to respond.

Planning has so much to offer on this agenda and now you see so many organisations get behind planning to tackle climate change.”

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NEWS

Analysis { RETIREMENT LIVING CONFERENCE

Spreading the risk: The future of retirement communities Voges, executive director of ARCO. Critically, RETIREMENT COMMUNITIES sector-specific legislation on tenures would IN NUMBERS protect operators and householders within a reformed charging model.

Event: Risk, reward, responsibility Where residents are owner-occupiers they Association of Retirement Community typically pay a service charge to the operator/ Operators (ARCO) conference, 10 July, London Over-65s in the UK. The freeholder, along with a small ‘event fee’ (a number of people aged over 75 percentage of the proceeds from the sale of A more understanding planning system and is projected to double by 2050 the home at the end of tenure). But service leasehold reform will help to provide charge increases and maintenance fees make affordable, desirable retirement living for the financial planning difficult.

UK’s ageing population.

Operators were, said Voges, beginning to This was the big message from a day spent The number of people living in experiment with fixed and capped service discussing how best to grow the UK’s UK retirement communities charges and increased event fees – of anything retirement community sector. up to 30 per cent of the sale price. Residents On the first point, a common complaint tended to favour this approach, he added. during the ARCO conference was that the “In one case more than 90 per cent of planning system struggles to classify residents opted to pay an additional 10 per retirement communities (see box, below).

The aspirational 2030 target cent on their event fee in order to have the ARCO itself is campaigning for better for retirement community certainty of a service charge that was fixed and understanding of what retirement residents outlined by ARCO in then capped.” communities offer. Its own research found that its Vision 2030 Despite being a workable arrangement, it retirement community residents consistently was ad hoc, he observed, and the UK’s reported much higher levels of wellbeing than antiquated leasehold system continues to load peers living elsewhere. risk on the leaseholder. What was needed was Sir Muir Gray, author of Sod 70! and director Savings to the UK’s health and statutory backing for new models of tenure to of the Optimal Ageing Programme, pointed social care systems that ARCO set clear expectations for both out that the UK’s retired population says will be achieved if the “THESE ARE residents and operators. has growing aspirations. Retirement 2030 target is met BUSINESSES A sustainable business model communities can meet these better YOU ARE THERE was contingent on strong than most alternatives.

TO RUN FOR customer service, shared risk and So why aren’t they everywhere?

THE FUTURE” patient investment. As Avnish Partly, operators have yet to settle on a The number of bedrooms that Goyal, chair of Hallmark Homes, financial model that will enable them will be released into the housing remarked: “These are businesses to crack the ‘middle market’, said market if the 2030 target is met you are there to run for the future.”

Katherine Rose, former group marketing director, Audley Group. Ideally, operators R E T I R E M E N T C O M M U N I T Y V S C A R E H O M E V S S H E LT E R E D H O U S I N G could run communities profitably for themselves and does not sit comfortably in either the C2 their investors, and affordably Retirement communities are neither care (residential institutions) or C3 (dwelling for residents. “What do we homes nor sheltered housing. They offer houses) use classes, but has elements of need to offer to be independent living within managed each. As such, retirement communities often compelling and deliver communities where housing is restricted to fall foul of requirements to provide returns?” she asked. older age groups. A minimal care component affordable housing, which can render Patient capital, long-term is usually provided, with extra care available. schemes unviable. At least one speaker commitment, legislation, and Operators argue that the model is poorly called for a use class change. consistency, said Michael understood in planning terms because it

By Simon Wicks

11.8m

75,000

250,000 £5.6bn

562,500

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PLAN UPFRONT

Wales’s NDF identifies locations for homes and renewable energy Welsh housing minister Julie James has published a consultation on the draft National Development Framework (NDF), a 20-year plan that sets out the type of development needed to help society be “sustainable and prosperous”.

It identifies priority areas for renewable energy generation, including large-scale wind and solar energy developments. This would replace Tan 8.

The NDF focuses on growing existing urban areas to ensure that homes, jobs and services are located in the same area, as well as delivering more affordable housing at scale and pace.

James said: “We want to promote sustainable growth in Wales, focused around existing towns and cities. This strategy is sufficiently flexible to respond to the challenges of the next 20 years.

“We are ambitious to increase the amount of renewable energy generated here in Wales, and the National Development Framework sets out where we believe large-scale renewable energy projects should be located in Wales.

“We know that Wales needs more goodquality housing, to develop renewable energy and for people to be able to access

well-paid jobs close to where they live.”

James emphasised her commitment to building more council homes, and to see “far more” affordable homes to rent from councils and other social landlords.

“I want a planning system that consistently meets all our needs, and for our villages, towns and cities to be organised in a way that makes it easier to live healthy and active lives, for us and for future generations,” she said.

The NDF features a spatial strategy, outlining where Wales will grow. It considers the major patterns of development and areas of change that the planning system at a national scale will focus on to achieve the outcomes of the NDF. It will decide where to locate nationally significant developments to maximise their contribution to wellbeing goals.

The strategy aims to promote the continued growth of three main urban clusters of cities and towns:

THE NDF AIMS TO ACHIEVE A WALES WHERE PEOPLE LIVE…

1. and work in connected, inclusive and healthy places; 2. in vibrant rural places with access to homes, jobs and services; 3. in distinctive regions that tackle health and socio-economic inequality through sustainable growth; 4. in places with a thriving Welsh language; 5. and work in towns and cities which are a focus and springboard for sustainable growth; 6. in places where prosperity, innovation and culture are promoted; 7. in places where travel is sustainable; 8. in places with world-class digital infrastructure; 9. in places that sustainably manage their natural resources and reduce pollution; 10. in places with biodiverse, resilient and connected ecosystems; and 11. in places which are decarbonised.

I M AG E | G E T T Y

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• Cardiff, Newport and the Valleys; • Swansea Bay (pictured and Llanelli; and • Wrexham and Deeside.

Large-scale employment opportunities and housing growth will feature predominantly in these areas, but “not exclusively”, the NDF emphasises.

Any development in towns and villages in rural areas would be expected to support local aspirations and need, “complementing rather than competing with efforts to grow our cities and towns”.

Dr Roisin Willmott FRTPI, director at RTPI Cymru, explained that providing a long-term spatial plan to enable Wales to make effective decisions is “essential”.

“The framework will address the crucial ‘where’ element of Welsh Government sectoral policies, such as energy and transport,” she said. “It will provide the context and evidence for taking difficult national decisions and inform long-term investment goals. This approach will enable infrastructure decisions to be better integrated to support existing and new development.”

Willmott added that it would provide an “important addition to the development plan for Wales”.

“But it will take time to be absorbed into the local development plans adopted by authorities across Wales. The first strategic development plan under development in Wales in the Cardiff Capital Region is, however, at such a stage where it will be able to incorporate it.” n The consultation closes on Friday 1 November 2019. It can be found here on the Welsh Government website. bit.ly/planner0919-WalesNDF

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NEWS

News { n a city where all can enjoy high-quality green spaces, clean air and clean waterways, and where more people choose to walk and cycle.

A shortlisted entry in the London Wildlife Trust's National Park City Wildlife Photography Competition

London becomes a National Park City London has been awarded the status of a National Park City, the first capital city in the world to be designated as such.

The declaration was made in July by the National Park City Foundation in recognition of London’s open spaces, waterways and natural environment.

The National Park City Foundation was set up by the National Park City campaign group and led by environmentalist Daniel Raven-Ellison and World Urban Parks.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s election manifesto committed him to making the capital a National Park City, and updating the London Plan to require ‘greening’ in new developments through an Urban Greening Factor.

Signed by Khan, the London National Park City Charter sets out key actions to

make London a city where people, places and nature are better connected, and matches the longterm goals for Khan’s environment strategy. By signing the charter, the mayor has confirmed that he shares the collective ambition, responsibility and commitment to deliver on making London: n greener in the long-term than it is today, and where people and nature are better connected; n protect its core network of parks and green spaces; n rich with wildlife; n a city where every child benefits from exploring, playing and learning outdoors; and

James Harris, policy and networks manager at the RTPI, told The Planner that the designation is a positive move that demonstrates the critical role of urban green and blue infrastructure in boosting climate resilience, air quality, biodiversity and wellbeing.

“While London’s strategic and local plans will continue to provide the formal basis for protecting and enhancing nature, planners may see greater awareness and engagement reflected during public consultation or negotiations with developers. Furthermore, planners should view the anticipated annual progress reports from the National Park City Foundation as a valuable platform to champion the role of their profession in making cities greener and more sustainable.”

Nick Thompson, senior director at planning consultancy Lichfields, noted that London is already a city where parks and green infrastructure “are a very important component” in defining its quality, character and appearance.

“The presence of tree-lined streets and smaller spaces adds to the park quality of the city. The opportunity to add parks of any real size could be achieved by bold planning and development of scale, involving, in particular, looking at the urban fringe. More central opportunities will generally be of a smaller scale.”

Ireland’s fast-track planning regime looks set to be toughened up Developers making use of Ireland’s fasttrack planning regime for major housing schemes may be given just one year to start building or risk losing their permission.

That is in prospect as housing and planning minister Eoghan Murphy considers extending the scheme – and potentially changing and toughening elements of the initiative.

He established a review group earlier

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this year and is due to report to the Dáil later this month.

The fast-track regime for so-called Strategic Housing Developments (SHDs) was introduced in July 2017 and was intended initially to apply until the end of this year, with the possibility of extending the arrangement to 2021.

According to the latest progress report published by An Bord

Pleanála covering the period January 2018 to June 2019, a total of 100 valid applications were received, 70 applications were decided, and permission granted in 50 cases for 12,339 housing units and 7,573 student bed-spaces.

All applications and pre-application consultations were decided within the relevant target period of 16 or nine weeks.

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PLAN UPFRONT

Scotland’s chief planner John McNairney envisages “an ambitious programme of change”

Scotland’s planning revamp will take until 2021 to shape up Scotland’s chief planner John McNairney has forecast that it will take two years for the country’s new planning system to be up and fully running now that the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 is on the statute books.

That is his estimate of how long it will take to formulate the statutory guidance, and develop and publish the suite of new regulations needed to flesh out the act.

In a letter to interested parties, McNairney pointed out that the legislation includes provisions for regulations on development planning,

development management, performance and fees.

He explained: “We are currently considering the timing and priority attached to each of these to inform a coherent forward work programme.

“The act includes new requirements for statutory guidance relating to a wide range of matters, including regional planning, engagement, development management and the role of the chief planning officer.

“As with regulations, we are considering what needs to be progressed initially, as well as matters that

will develop over a longer timescale.”

McNairney pointed out that, alongside the act, his division has been progressing a sustainability appraisal of permitted development rights and expects to consult on a phased work programme on this.

He added: “We are

considering transitional arrangements, particularly for development planning, and expect to issue further interim advice on this in the coming weeks.

“Clearly, this is an ambitious programme of change and we expect it will take

around two years for the details of the new system to take shape.”

A timetable for the work programme will be published this month. n The full letter can be found here on the Scottish Government website: bit.ly/ planner0919-ScotPlan

Belfast planners probe Airbnb and student accommodation issues Belfast City Council has begun a review of Airbnb and student accommodation in the capital.

A council spokesperson told The Planner: “Following discussions with members of the planning committee, the planning service is currently undertaking a review of short-term holiday lets to understand their planning status and context.

“This review will also consider purpose-built I M AG E S | W I N G L I / S H U T T E RSTO C K / J O H A N L E Y

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student accommodation to understand how, and if, new developments are maintained for that use.

“After members have had an opportunity to discuss the emerging issues in the weeks ahead, it is anticipated that a final report will be published in the autumn.”

This move follows increasing disquiet among councillors and housing experts over the growth of the lightly regulated internet

accommodation rental sector. The BBC recently reported figures from analytics company Audrina that suggest there has been a 40 per cent increase in the number of Airbnb and HomeAway bookings in Northern Ireland over the past year.

Already in south Belfast there is concern that former long-term private lets are being transformed into ultra short-term Airbnb properties.

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NEWS

News { RTPI calls on new government to restore planning’s status Robert Jenrick

HOMES AND ENERGY IN NUMBERS

60%

60 per cent of UK construction SMEs are struggling to hire bricklayers

21%

21 per cent of survey respondents reported a reduced workforce

Esther McVey

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appointed a new cabinet after taking over from Theresa May. It includes Robert Jenrick as the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. The MP for Newark takes over from James Brokenshire, who was in office from April 2018 until 24 July 2019.

Esther McVey will serve as a minister at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Her responsibilities include housing and planning. Jake Berry becomes minister of state for the Northern Powerhouse.

RTPI calls for planning resources

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the North and the West Midlands.

Victoria Hills, chief executive at the RTPI, said she welcomed Jenrick, who steps into the role “at a time when the country is crying out for positive change”.

“We look to him to work with us and others to urgently bring back a robust, forward-looking planning function that can propel the country to tackle the economic, social and environmental challenges ahead.

“Our latest study, along with others, has demonstrably shown that the current level of resourcing is unsustainable and unable to support the delivery of 300,000 homes a year. It has also been shown that when you do value and invest in planning you reap huge returns, including substantial income for local authorities.”

Jenrick’s ‘top priority’ should be to give back proper resources and status to the planning function, said the RTPI. Its letter to the new housing secretary says that further tinkering with the planning system will not lead to faster delivery of affordable homes. The institute explained that a focus on planning and its speed has distracted the government from wider understanding of housing issues such as affordability and deliverability.

The RTPI highlighted its recent research, Resourcing Public Planning. It shows that the total net investment in planning in England is now just £400 million a year, which equates to £7 per person and is 50 times less that that spent by local authorities on housing welfare.

The study identifies stark regional imbalances that entrench inequality. Total spending on planning per person in the South East and East of England was found to be double that spent in regions such as

• Theresa Villiers has been made environment secretary, taking over from Michael Gove, who becomes Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. George Eustice has also been made an environment minister, alongside Thérèse Coffey who will be a minister at the department.

• Johnson has appointed Andrea Leadsom as business, energy and industrial strategy secretary. Kwasi Kwarteng will work alongside her, as will Jo Johnson.

• Grant Shapps replaces Chris Grayling as transport secretary. Chris HeatonHarris and George Freeman have been appointed transport ministers.

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I M AG E S | G E T T Y

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O T HE R A PP OI N TME N TS I N CL UD E :

77%

77 per cent of builders say material prices will increase over the next six months

54%

…of SMEs are struggling to hire carpenters/joiners Source: The Federation of Master Builders’ State of Trade Survey for Q2 2019

17.1%

Wind provided a record 17.1 per cent of the UK’s electricity in 2018, with 9.1 per cent from onshore wind and 8 per cent from offshore

33%

Overall, renewables generated a record 33 per cent Source: Digest of UK Energy Statistics, published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

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LEADER COMMENT

Opinion onn Biodiversity and the need for a paradigm shift – Collectively we have been presiding over the unremitting loss of biodiversity that our planning and environmental systems have failed to tackle.

Unprecedented temperatures and extreme weather events demonstrate unequivocally that the problem does not reside ‘elsewhere’. It is here, it is us and it is now.

This calls for a wholesale paradigm shift. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) must move from preventing, reducing and offsetting to enhancing and improving.

We must also tackle the multitude of failings whereby micro-decisions (non-EIA development) are having a profound environmental effect. We need a standard of environmental enhancement that is mandated by law; leaving it to choice is no longer an option.

Stephanie McGibbon and Neil Harwood The ecology profession has been at the vanguard of this change. Not only is biodiversity widely recognised as underpinning human health through the provision of ecosystem services such as medicines, clean air and water, but it also plays an increasingly important and recognised role in contributing to improved health and physical and mental wellbeing. Access to diverse green spaces is essential for our health. Planners and environmentalists alike play a key role in addressing the increasing separation of society from nature.

Good practice guidance was recently published on implementing biodiversity net gain and a British Standard on this is being developed. The rise of net gain is occurring in tandem with everincreasing engagement from the public on issues affecting biodiversity (the ‘Attenborough effect’). In addition, the political and systemic opportunities arising from Brexit, with respect to agriculture and the way in which we incentivise land management, could help us to address ongoing biodiversity declines across the wider countryside.

To achieve what is needed, there must be a prevailing

"THE EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT OUR PLANNING SYSTEM FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IS FAILING"

culture of ambitious organisations and passionate people at the helm, to continue to drive these key agendas forward. Arup’s work on Wild West End needs to become the norm, not the exception.

Our planning system for environmental protection is failing. Time is running out. To quote Michelangelo “the greatest danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark”.

Stephanie McGibbon F.IEMA CEnv. MRTPI and Neil Harwood M.CIEEM CEnv are associate director and associate director (ecology) for Arup, with Stephanie also a fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA). Just as ours is an environmentally themed edition this month, the IEMA magazine Transform looks at planning’s enviromental role in its September edition.

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

O Opinion

Boris in charge: angel or devil for planning?

In common with his predecessors, the new prime minister may be tempted to review the planning system in pursuit of housebuilding targets. If so, Louise Brooke-Smith has a few morsels of advice I was asked recently whether today’s planning system is a help or hindrance to house building. My response was that I felt it actually had very little to do with the system.

In simplistic terms, the planning regime is based on well-founded principles of protection from poor development that has a negative impact and encouragement for good development that respects sustainable goals.

It’s a type of Good Omens* for the built and natural environment. For those Amazon aficionados, perhaps David Tennant and Michael Sheen should take over as secretary of state for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Treasury in any future government?

The good news is that the trend of using planning as a whipping boy for all the frustrations of the development industry is slowing. Perhaps there is a correlation between the recent tweaks to the system and the industry getting on and building. But the question is: will that continue if Boris takes a shine to the planning system to score some quick goals?

It’s a given that something has to give with the current regime. Poorly funded planning departments and a lack of professional staff, whether in

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the public or private sector, are elements for which there is no magic money tree – so let’s stop moaning about them.

Tearing up the current system and starting again is also highly unlikely – the elected members of Middle England would be up in arms. So we are forced to fiddle with what we have.

Many have reviewed the system, from Kate Barker, to Nick Raynsford to Oliver Letwin. Other reviews are currently underway and, while we await their publication, we live in hope that the system be changed effectively so it really can be seen as an enabler.

Should it be via more permitted development rights to remove the catfights in most local authority planning committees? Or should there be a more fundamental increase in local planning authority powers, as per the Letwin findings?

“REINSTATING STRONG LEADERSHIP THROUGH CHIEF PLANNING OFFICERS MIGHT BE MORE ATTRACTIVE ­ A BIT LIKE BRINGING BACK THE ALL­ POWERFUL SISTER TO HOSPITAL WARDS” Sir Oliver’s review of build out rates had mixed reviews at its interim stage, but many came to see it as a reasonable study with logical proposals for policy changes with a capital ‘P’. Price, place and product are key factors – whether people want to pay that price in that location for that house. It can’t help if design is homogenous and the market is restricted. So Letwin’s suggestion of varying the product, introducing effective design guidance and

space standards, endorsing tenure variation and capturing more land value to spend on affordable provision might have legs in this new Boris world.

The idea of public sector development companies might be anathema to some, but reinstating strong leadership through chief planning officers might be more attractive – a bit like bringing back the allpowerful sister to hospital wards.

With Boris at the helm, he may well turn to the planning system to make an impact.

Any revised planning regime would still need to be properly resourced, but a mix of strong planning leadership, a sprinkle of market realism through local authority development companies, and a presumption in favour of schemes that comply with strategic land allocations and effective and realistic design and space standards, could indeed produce a strong, enabling planning system.

Until then, the frustrations of the development industry may well rumble on. * Amazon/BBC TV series about an angel and a demon who team up

Dr Louise Brooke-Smith is a development and strategic planning consultant and a built environment non-executive director

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Matter of act THE PROMISED ENVIRONMENT ACT AIMS TO CREATE A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR HOW THE UK GOVERNS ITS ENVIRONMENT POST­BREXIT. BUT THERE’S PLENTY OF DEBATE OVER WHAT SUCH AN ACT SHOULD CONTAIN, WRITES SIMON WICKS

The proposed Environment Act has the potential to enshrine in law a set of principles and actions that could help the UK take a massive step towards protecting and improving its environment post-Brexit.

Currently in draft form, the Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill is due to be presented to MPs later this year. It has already been through pre-legislative scrutiny and consultation,, to which the government consultati responded in late July.

In publishing the draft bill last December, the government promised that it would “put environmental ambition and accountability at a new the h h heart off government” ” and d “create “ framework for environmental governance”.

Among the notable measures included in the draft bill are: • Nine principles, as outlined in the EU Withdrawal Act, that will form the bedrock of legislation and policy post-Brexit, when EU environmental rules cease to apply. These include, for example, exa x mple, the ‘polluter pays’

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“THE GOVERNMENT PROMISED THAT IT WOULD PUT ENVIRONMENTAL AMBITION AND ACCOUNTABILITY AT THE HEART OF GOVERNMENT”

principle and public participation in decisionmaking; • Making it a legal requirement for government to have an environmental plan. In this case, the current government’s 25 Year Environment Plan would acquire statutory status; and • The creation of an Office of Environmental Protection (OEP), an independent watchdog charged with ensuring that government and public bodies comply with environmental law.

Two Parliamentary select committees have conducted pre-legislative scrutiny of the bill and criticised its contents on several counts.

The Environmental Audit Committee suggested that the bill “severely downgraded” environmental protection post-Brexit, saying that there was no presumption within the bill that EU protections would not be reduced.

Both this committee and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee expressed doubts about the promised independence of the OEP, flagging up the bill’s failure to make

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ENVIRONMENT ACT

the watchdog accountable un nt ntable to Parliament (as opposed to government mentt only). o In addition, the Environmental nvironme mental Audit Committee was concerned cerned that hat the draft bill excluded greenhouse emissions e gas emission ons from its definition of environmental is, nmental law. law Th This iss, it argued, would mean the OEP would have ve no powers to force government and public bodies odies to mitigate climate change.

Other organisations, such as Brexit & Environment, were concerned that there was too little onus on politicians to act in accordance with the principles set out in the bill, as opposed to simply “having regard to”, with the option of dispensing with them if they were not considered relevant to a particular decision.

Voluntary vs mandatory

A glory of the British spring, bluebell woodlands face multiple threats, including habitat loss and invasive species

ASSURANCES FOR AN ENVIRONMENT ACT

1. Define shared objectives for the environment.

2. Establish predictable processes for government to ensure appropriate policies are in place.

3. Include clear principles for incorporating the environment during policy development.

4. Provide for a unified spatial framework for achieving environmental objectives alongside j g ide other social and economic conomic objectives.

5. Include clear and responsibilities nd stable responsibilit lities for specified activities. s.

6. Provide for independent ependent oversight oversi sight of government progress ress and action. actio ion.

7. Support a coherent rent approach approa roach at UK level.

Read the seven assurances ssura rances for an Environment Act in i detail on the IEMA website: bit.ly/seven-assurances /sev ven-assurances

“TWO SELECT COMMITTEES HAVE CONDUCTED PRE­ LEGISLATIVE SCRUTINY OF HE BILL AND THE CRITI CRITICISED ITS CON CONTENTS”

In late July, the government responded to the consultation with promises to reinforce “the independence and accountability” of the OEP, to take a mandatory approach to biodiversity net gain, and to legislate on conservation covenants, as well as measures relating to waste packaging and waste and recycling (read the response at: bit.ly/ environment-bill).

Throughout the two-year process, a coalition of influential organisations working across the natural environment, business and the built environment has monitored and commented on its progress.

The Broadway Initiative was formed to “generate ideas and proposals for worldleading arrangements to govern the environment after EU exit”. It has set out seven “assurances” about measures and principles that it would like to see embedded within the Environment Act (see box ‘Assurances for an Environment Act’).

Among the supporters of the Broadway Initiative are the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA), Brexit & Environment, the Home Builders Federation, Water UK, the Wildlife Trusts – and the RTPI. We invited four representatives of Broadway Initiative members to outline their particular ‘asks’ for an Environment Act. The RTPI, IEMA, ‘a Home Builders Federation and UK the H Sustainable Investment and Finance Association Sustain offer their thoughts over the page.

n Find out more a about the Broadway Initiative at www.iema.net/broadway www.iema.net/bro

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VIEWPOINT

A matter of Act

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Richard Blyth is RTPI head of policy, practice and research

An integ gra integrated plan will willl lead l to environ nm environmentallya ware decisions dec d aware

Earlier th yearr, we were this year, delight ghted to join n other oth leading delighted business, enviro onme environmental, academic and professional profes p groups in settin ng out the key setting elements that are a in a clear and coherent Enviro onme Act. Environment We did this b becaus because we wholeheartedly y supp support a holistic and long-term lo ong-te approach to sus sustainability – the proposed act must give society strategic predictability on the long-term pathway for the environment.

We believe this predictability can be delivered in various ways, such as by designing environmental targets that command public and business legitimacy and ownership, clarifying where responsibilities lie as early as possible, and using the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) to hold the UK Government to account for ensuring policies are adequate for meeting environmental goals.

However, given that environmental matters do not stop at national boundaries, the act should also allow for the establishment of a post-Brexit environmental watchdog, which encompasses a common framework of principles and enforcement actions that applies across the UK. This framework must be agreed with all Parliaments / Assemblies within the UK and should be able to call all governments to account.

Leaving the EU allows for

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2 OPINION

OPINION OPINIO O PINI

Martin in Baxter is chief y advisor for the policy Institutte of Environmental Institute Manage ement and Management Assessm ment Assessment

Legally enforceable targets will set the benchmark for plans and policies

a rethink on some aspects of local environment planning.

At present, there are dozens of local environment plans in England (and in the English seas) that each require planners’ engagement.

We are of the opinion that this patchwork could be integrated into a single terrestrial plan, with coordinated links to a marine plan. This would assist the integration of decision-making about the environment

“THIS PATCHWORK OF LOCAL ENVIRONMENT PLANS COULD BE INTEGRATED INTO A SINGLE TERRESTRIAL PLAN, WITH COORDINATED LINKS TO A MARINE PLAN” with planning for housing, economic growth, health and wellbeing, transport and more. It would also make it much easier for local communities to engage with the process.

The proposed Environment Act is a wonderful opportunity to put sustainability at the heart of the United Kingdom’s economic model – it’s an opportunity that we must not waste.

The forth forthcoming Environment Act com comes at an important time as the UK prepares to leave the EU. In effect, it is being viewed as an ‘environmental constitution’.

The act will be substantial and include important aspects of environmental principle and governance, as well as legislating in areas that have significant public interest, such as air quality and plastic waste.

Together with climate change, these are significant long-term challenges that will require concerted effort and investment to make the necessary improvements.

Politicians are in the headlights as the public demands immediate action with results to what are deep-rooted systemic problems.

It is vital that the act sets an ambitious, long-term objective for protecting and improving the environment as we leave the EU, creating a coherent framework to put sustainability at the heart of our economic model and enable all parts of society to plan, invest and collaborate to substantially improve the environment on which we and future generations depend.

For all sectors to play their full part in a way that is also consistent with business success, there needs to be a coherent and predictable legal framework, including a process by which long-term environmental targets will be established in regulation and environmental improvement plans to ensure we’re on track

to meet objectives and targets.

A national, top-down driven approach can only take us so far; the governance framework in the act also needs to connect to local decision-making. Local environmental improvement plans, which set out in an integrated way what needs to be protected and what needs to be enhanced, would provide communities with an opportunity to help set priorities for their environment, while giving predictability to

“THERE NEEDS TO BE A COHERENT AND PREDICTABLE LEGAL FRAMEWORK, INCLUDING A PROCESS BY WHICH LONG­TERM ENVIRONMENTAL TARGETS WILL BE ESTABLISHED IN REGULATION” businesses when siting and designing new infrastructure and development.

The prize of a progressive new Environment Act, which provides the legal framework for enhancing the natural environment over a generation, is one that everyone should want to see and the IEMA will continue to work with government to ensure this is achieved.

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Have your say Our commentators represent Broadway Initiative members What’s your view? – email editorial@theplanner.co.uk

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Ben Nelmes is head of public policy at the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association

Only a truly independent watchdog has teeth

The UK’ UK’s new government faces o one of the most tumultuous periods in British politics in a generation. But ministers have an opportunity to raise their eyes from the daily internecine distractions of government and secure the long-term future of our natural environment, and to promote towns and cities that are more green and more liveable for future generations.

In the autumn, the government will introduce the first major piece of environmental legislation for a decade.

The Environment Bill is designed to deal with the questions that leaving the EU raises for protections for the UK natural environment. It will establish a new framework for UK environmental protection, including: a new set of environmental principles to guide policy development and a watchdog to hold public authorities to account, as well as targets and metrics on air pollution, waste and recycling, and biodiversity.

But environmental ry and lawyers, industry tary select two Parliamentary ave warned committees have rnment’s that the government’s ed wat tchdog is too proposed watchdog o ensure ensu ure standards are weak to akene ed after the UK not weakened EU We agree, and leaves the EU. ticullarly concerned are particularly wat atchdog whose about a watchdog g is set by y the funding

4

OPINION

OPINION OPINI ON

John Slaughter is director of external affairs for the Home Builders Federation

Predictable requirements are necessary for fair play in business

government departments it will be scrutinising. Investors and businesses need clear targets, which are robustly and consistently enforced.

Investors in new recycling businesses, for example, may be irked if targets can be ignored with no penalty.

If we want a world-leading environment, we need a world-leading Environment Bill. The new environment secretary has an opportunity

“WE ARE PARTICULARLY CONCERNED ABOUT A WATCHDOG WHOSE FUNDING IS SET BY THE GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS THAT IT WILL BE SCRUTINISING” to make her department’s proposals more ambitious before the bill is introduced in Parliament later this year.

She should take it, and act to p protect our environment with its treasure treasured natural spaces and iconic British species speci for future generations. generations

The new Environment E Bill is an excellen excellent opportunity to reset our i regime for environmental protection and enhancement once the UK leaves the EU. With much of our current environmental legislation and regulation stemming from Brussels, it is vital that the bill establishes a clear and streamlined domestic regime for the future, which both provides increased coherence for the implementation of existing requirements and an effective strategic framework for new measures, such as those envisaged under the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.

HBF and its members recognise the growing desire on the part of the public and politicians to take action to combat the environmental challenges we face and want to play our full part in ensuring a successful response.

To help us do so, the bill needs to provide a governance framework for future environmental action that gives homebuilding and other sectors of the economy long-term confidence that it can invest on the basis of clear and consistent requirements.

The proposed Office of Environmental Protection (OEP) must therefore have effective oversight of all relevant bodies to ensu ensure a consistency and coherence cohere ohere ence of o approach that is clearly y linked to t the achievement of the environ environment improvement plans p pla ns and a targets targ that the government g gov go overn ov nment w will also provide for through thr roug gh the b bill.

We would wish to see this future regime ensure full predictability for the industry on n future steps and nd timescales to enhance our environment and an a level playing g field across the th country in implementing plementing ng action.

In addition, governance governan ance needs to be founded unded on o truly collaborative principles princip iples whereby the OEP (and gover government) vernment) is charged through gh its duties to positively engage ga a with industry, age civil society y, NGOs NG GOs and others in discussions ns to develop proposals

“THE BILLL NEEDS TO ENSUREE THAT BIODIVERSSITY BIODIVERSITY C NET GAIN CAN HLY BE SMOOTH SMOOTHLY IMPLEMEN NTED IMPLEMENTED ROUGH THE T THROUGH ING G SYSTEM PLANNING HAT IN A WAY THAT VEL CREATES A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD” for future plans and d targets.

On a more detailed level, the bill’s provisions mandating biodiversity net gain for new development will be important for homebuilders. The bill needs to ensure that this new requirement can be smoothly implemented through the planning system in a way that creates a level playing field nationally.

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JEREMY PURSEGLOVE HAS SPENT A LIFETIME CREATING HABITATS THAT WORK FOR BOTH PEOPLE AND NATURE. THE ENVIRONMENTALIST TELLS SIMON WICKS HOW WE URGENTLY NEED TO FIND A SUSTAINABLE BALANCE TO PULL THE WORLD BACK FROM THE BRINK

E

Sparing and sharing Though broadly optimistic, the book highlights the fathomless greed of human beings who will destroy nature for a profit.

Purseglove reserves particular disdain for the intensive farming practices destroying the British landscape that did so much to shape his imagination.

“In our generation, money and technology have driven this ferocious change in the landscape,” he laments. “But I'm old enough to remember the landscape of the 50s and 60s. And it is shocking to see – there’s a photograph in the beginning of my book of the cereal field of the little tiny trees, back there, and they are the last of the hedges. It’s appalling, particularly if that’s done with subsidy.”

Farming is at the heart of the book and of Purseglove’s manifesto for change. His grandfather was a farmer and, though nostalgic for the habitats that traditional land

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verything starts with a garden. Nowadays, it’s a 17th century cottage garden within sight of Rutland Water nature reserve. Rich, lush and sensual in the summer heat, its thick ranks of poppies, globe thistles, dahlias and bergamot simmer with bees. A large red dragonfly darts purposefully above the recently dug pond while Jeremy Purseglove enthuses about how he has created much of this in just a year since .moving from Cambridge with his wife, Sue. As a child, however, the ‘garden’ was the majestic Botanic Garden in Singapore, where his father was chief botanist and where a young Purseglove began to nurse a lifelong love of plants and habitat. This he has converted into a near 50-year career as an environmentalist indulging his love of “landscapes, gardens and wild habitats” and, as he writes in the recently published Working with Nature, “looking for practical ways to protect them”.

Describing himself as a “broker for nature conservation with civil engineers”, he explores the complex relationships between human beings and their natural surroundings and seeks thoughtful compromises that allow the two to co-exist.

“Fred Pearce (science journalist) called me a ‘global gardener’,” he beams. “I find it rather nice.”

‘Gardening’ has taken him from the peatlands of Yorkshire to the cocoa farms of Trinidad. Working with Nature records the best of these experiences, offering case studies that show how, even amid the ravenous growth of intensive farming, what remains of wild nature can be allowed to flourish alongside human beings. It’s a conscious cultivation of habitat.

It’s gardening.

THE

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INTERVIEW: JEREMY PURSEGLOVE

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L I VI NG

WI T H

NA T UR E

“My father was a botanist. For as long as I can remember plants and flowers have been at the centre of my life.”

The son of a botanist – and grandson of a farmer – Purseglove was born in Uganda in 1949 and spent a postwar childhood in the Botanic Gardens at Singapore, the Weald of Kent and a colonial bungalow in Trinidad.

He first pursued his love of literature at Bristol University before embarking on an MSc in landscape ecology design and maintenance at Wye College. By 1977 he was working as work as an ecologist with Severn Trent Water Authority.

From 1989 until retirement in 2014 he was an environmentalist with Mott McDonald, travelling the UK and the world “looking for practical ways to protect landscapes, gardens and wild habitats” from the damage caused by human intervention. He has taught environmental engineering at the University of Cambridge since 1990.

Working with Nature is part-memoir, part-blueprint, partmanifesto. It is written in a lyrical style that pays homage to Purseglove’s own inspirations – the great landscape poets of the English language.

Purseglove’s world is tangible, sensual and beautifully described. “Veils of warm rain” “hum”, “swarm”, “consume” and “dissolve”; “amid the glittering ranks of birch, the mysterious nightjar churrs to his mate”; rainforests are “swathed in their moist cocoon of ferns and orchids”.

“The words are the key, aren’t they?” he says. “Words and then images are the way to the revolution [in consciousness].

Without them, man would still be crawling around.”

In the book he spells out a more prosaic step to this revolution in consciousness: “The way to change the world is to produce convincing examples of good practice and then promote them as standard practice.” n Working with Nature, published by Profile Books, illustrates the point beautifully. bit.ly/planner0919-workingwithnature

management created (think wildflower meadows and bluebell woods), he is under no illusions about how tough it can be.

Yet it is preferable to the industrialised farming that rips out hedgerows and marginal grazing land to create gigantic monocultures in pursuit of profit at all costs.

Purseglove argues instead for a kinder, naturally richer and more sustainable approach to land use built on principles of ‘land sparing and land sharing’; for the ‘set aside’ of a minimum of 10 per cent of farmed land for nature. He’s seen it work having designed a scheme in a palm oil plantation in Singapore, the last local stronghold of the Sumatran tiger.

Closer to home he cites the Allerton Project, a research farm run by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust in Leicester. “They are not playing at it and they still have managed to do it [make a profit],” he stresses. “It's about moderating, not grabbing every ounce of profit out of the ground, but settling for 75 per cent of what you can get rather than squeezing it dry.”

Such approaches support the development of complex ecosystems that enable landscapes to be productive in perpetuity.

For Purseglove the cycle of interdependence reaches its zenith in

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INTERVIEW: JEREMY PURSEGLOVE

the rice and bamboo farms of Bangladesh. Here he describes how farmers have created an ideal habitat for species that can jointly function as pest control, food and market produce. Meanwhile, the farmers use the bamboo to build homes. . Nothing is wasted and everything has its place within a functioning, shared – and cultivated – ecosystem.

Return to the wild The emphasis on gardening is also an emphasis on the conscious management of habitat. What about the trend towards rewilding by triggering natural processes of habitat creation? A Rewilding Britain report recently suggested a quarter of the UK be tIn the book, Purseglove seems cautious, even though he has himself been involved in a full-scale landscape restoration project at the National Trust’s Wicken Fen reserve in East Anglia.

“I’m totally for it. It’s great,” he exclaims, to my surprise. “But I think it is one of the ways of looking after landscapes, not the only way. The parallel would be walking down the street. I love the front gardens of houses, but if every front garden was done to a formula it would be boring.

“I like to see the individual stamp on a landscape. If everyone followed the rewilding step, it would just be another formula.”

He goes on: “What I don’t think is that rewilding is anything you could say is a recipe for everywhere, particularly on a small island.

I also love more managed landscapes.

“There is a thing about the total wild which is fabulous but doesn’t necessarily apply, like in Leicestershire or Rutland where you might have the hedges and orchards and an ideal integration of it.”

Integration is a watchword in the pursuit of the healthy balance that allows us to take what we need from nature without spoiling it. Land management, Purseglove reminds us constantly, also creates beauty – for example the wildflower meadows and bluebell woods that might underpin our sense of personal or even national identity.

Though ‘natural’ only in an oblique sense, they are intensely valuable and worth preserving, not least because they make nature accessible. By comparison, the totally wild landscape, as Purseglove explains in reference to landscape restoration at Humberhead Peatlands in Yorkshire, can be impenetrable.

Yet threats to nature are everywhere, from agricultural subsidies that encourage industrial farming to predatory land grabs in states with weak governance. How do we address these?

We talk about the regime proposed by Defra that would give subsidies to farmers and landowners for delivering ‘public goods’ such as flood prevention or wildlife protection. We talk, too, about the fragility of UK farming in the wake of Brexit and what this might mean for our landscape (it could go either way, we decide).

Purseglove argues the case for well-governed certification schemes for sustainably produced goods that can use the power of the market to regulate excessive greed. He is a fan of environmental impact assessments that add rigour to decisions about landscape harm, supporting the principle of environmental net gain. Pragmatically, his argument is that we cannot stop human exploitation of landscape - but we can regulate it and educate people to do it as well as possible.

In terms of planning, he bemoans the abolition of regional spatial plans and calls for a return to spatial planning.

Thinking must be done at the scale of landscape, in which “joined-up areas” cross administrative boundaries; “the way to get it right is not little isolated fragments, but corridors and links”.

Purseglove also cites the promise of clean energy and synthetic foods. I counter that it’s hard to be hopeful with threats to nature coming from all sides. But Purseglove is optimistic; it’s in his nature.

He has seen and made it work. The Extinction Rebellion movement is “terrific”. There is a growing environmental consciousness all around.

It’s not yet too late to save the world, but time is running out. What is needed, above all, is “love and understanding” to overcome “our own dislocation between the commodities we consume and the way they are produced”.

“I have met countless numbers of farmers and landowners who really do love their land,” he writes in Working with Nature. “This love, which in the dry language of a report would be described as sense of ownership, is surely the redeeming factor that may save the landscapes which can be managed in partnership with nature all over the world.”

“I like to see the individual stamp on a landscape. If everyone followed the rewilding step, it would just be another formula”

n Simon Wicks is deputy editor of The Planner

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N AT I O N A L P A R K S

Over the hill?

SEVENTY YEARS SINCE THE ACT THAT BROUGHT TTHEM INTO BEING, SOME QUESTION WHETHER THE UK’S NATIO NATIONAL PARKS ARE LIVING UP TO THEIR FOUNDING PRINCIPLES. PRINCIPL MATT MOODY ASKS: ARE NATIONAL PARKS FIT FOR PU PURPOSE?

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The Lake District National Park provides a haven for rare plant and animal species, ecies, including red squirrels, white-clawed d crayfish, fi h otters, water lobelia and peregrine falcons

I

n May 1945, as victory in Europe came into view and Britons turned their thoughts to what would follow, a report presented to Parliament by the civil servant John Dower concluded: “There can be few national purposes which, at so modest a cost, offer so large a prospect of health-giving happiness for the people.”

The subject of Dower’s report was not the NHS, but national parks. The National Parks Act was passed four years later, described as “a recreational gift to Britain’s returning servicemen and women”. Plans to address years of popular demand for access to the countryside had finally been put into motion (see box: National parks: A brief history).

As the 70th anniversary of the legislation that created them approaches, the UK’s 15 national parks are one of our great post-war achievements and they remain popular – the Lake District alone receives more than 19 million visitors each year. However, the parks, and the authorities that manage them, are not free of challenges in the 21st century.

Accessible to all?

The two purposes

I M AG E | I STO C K

National parks have two “statutory purposes”, which were updated in the 1995 Environment Act: • To promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the area by the public; and • To conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage.

One criticism sometimes levelled at national parks is their accessibility. Although it’s a bit of a stereotype, says John Scott, director of planning and conservation at the Peak District National Park Authority, “when you’re out and about, you do see a lot of white, middle-class, older people. I think for some people the idea of having a day in a national park can be quite intimidating”.

A related problem is that national parks continue to be difficult to visit without a car.

City dwellers, who are more likely to be younger, more ethnically diverse and carfree, are less likely to visit.

In 2018, the Campaign for National Parks (CNP) detailed how car-free access to national parks could be improved. Its report highlighted the importance of publicising sustainable transport options, noting that the parks generally needed to do better.

Despite the Peak District’s unique location close to urban centres like Sheffield, it is still under-publicised, according to Scott: “There are bus services to places within the park,

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N AT I O N A L P A R K S

Heathland is a national priority habitat in the South Downs National Park

but they don’t promote the fact that you’re entering a national park. They’re just regular buses doing regular trips.”

The authority has responded with the Hope Valley Explorer initiative, funding a local bus company to take visitors arriving by train to park landmarks, with on-board commentary to provide information about the area. “We want to link up our key attractions with the train station,” says Scott. “Previously you would arrive and think ‘what do I do now?’”

In the South Downs, the park authority has engaged with local health services to promote the wellbeing benefits of the countryside. Although a trial allowing GPs to formally “prescribe a national park” has not yet been expanded across the country, doctors have informed patients about services offered by the authority, such as guided walks.

Some things are beyond the control of park authorities, though. In the Peak District, Scott says: “We’ve got one train line going through the middle between Sheffield and Manchester, but trains need to stop in the middle to be of any use to us.”

Given the large number of organisations and authorities sharing responsibility for the provision and promotion of transport in many national parks, the CNP has said that park authorities should take a “strategic lead role” in coordinating access for visitors.

Conservation quibbles With their statutory purpose to conserve and enhance the natural environment, most people imagine national parks are havens for wildlife.

In reality, RSPB research has shown that in 2016, only 25.3 per cent of sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) in national parks were in a favourable condition – compared to a national average of 38.5 per cent.

Tim Slaney, director of planning for the South Downs National Park, says that while national park authorities have direct levers to control planning matters, other functions that affect wildlife conservation are beyond their control: SSSIs, for example, are the responsibility of Natural England.

For Corinne Pluchino, chief executive of the CNP, park authorities are “uniquely placed” placed to drive innovative conservation projects, but they nee need more powers to help them do it.

Slaney, on the othe other hand, stresses the advantages of collaboration.

“If we want to collab clear a stream, for example, we’ll need to talk e

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"WILDLIFE IS DECLINING IN NATIONAL PARKS AS IT HAS BEEN ACROSS THE COUNTRYSIDE MORE WIDELY, AND IN SOME CASES THERE’S EVEN EVIDENCE THAT THAT RATE OF DECLINE IS FASTER”

to the Environment Agency, the landowner, and possibly the water board. In one sense that makes it more difficult, but on the other hand, we find that by working in partnership, the effects are longer lasting.”

Both agree on the wording of section 62 of the Environment Act 1995, which requires public authorities to “have regard to the purposes of national parks” in their decision-making. The CNP is calling for a “much stronger wording” – for example, requiring public bodies to “further” the national park purposes. “This change would give NPAs more powers by implication,” says Pluchino, “and would make it much harder to justify activities that harm the purposes of the parks”.

NATIONAL PARKS: A BRIEF HISTORY

Poets and artists have depicted Britain’s countryside for centuries, but one of the most notable early examples of the thinking that would lead to the National Parks Act came from a 19th-century Romantic poet. William Wordsworth described the Lake District as "a sort of national property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy".

A bill seeking to enshrine the freedom to roam into law was brought before Parliament in 1884.

It was voted down, but public demand for countryside access grew as early 20th-century industrialisation accelerated.

In 1932, a mass trespass of Kinder Scout in the Peak District increased pressure on government. At the end of the Second World War, a report by John Dower formalised support for national parks. A committee led by another Liberal MP, Arthur Hobhouse, prepared the legislation and, in 1949, the National Parks Act passed into law.

Hobhouse proposed a total of 12 national parks. By the end of the 1950s, 10 had been designated. It was a further half century before the last of the 12 – the South Downs National Park – was established in 2010.

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N AT I O N A L P A R K S

NEXT STOP NATIONAL PARK CITIES?

In May 2018, then environment secretary Michael Gove set up a review that will be instrumental trumental in the government’s approach to reforming national i nal parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty. The h review, led by journalist and former prime ministerial speechwriter Julian Glover, is due to publish a full report this month (September 2019).

A July interim update for the secretary of state touched on many of the issues identified by national park authorities as areas in need of reform. Speaking of the “national zeal, fire and vision” that brought the system into being in 1949, Glover states that those working in protected landscapes “have not been given the tools, the funding and the direction to do the job we should now expect of them”.

In July, with a week-lon week-long festival launched by Sadiq Khan, Kha London became the world’s fi firrst ‘National Park City’ (NPC) – or “large urban semi-protected area managed and se through both formal and informal means tto enhance the t natural capital of its living landscape”.

More a statement of intent than a formal designation, London NPC intends to “help people enjoy London's great outdoors more, and make the city greener, healthier and wilder”, pledging to make at least 50 per cent of spaces in the city “green or blue”. While efforts to improve London’s natural environment have been welcomed, some have questioned the impact

of these plans on its housing crisis.

Paul Swinney, policy and research director at the Centre for Cities, says: “London is an everchanging city with a growing population, and the way that it uses land should reflect this. Air pollution and quality of life are important urban issues, but it is difficult to see how we could build much needed new homes while dedicating over half of London’s land to ‘green and blue’ space.”

Concerns have also been raised that the name “national park city” might dilute the special status of existing national parks and cause confusion among the general public.

National landscape service Among the recommendations is a ‘national landscape service’ to “address our fragmented, marginalised and often misunderstood system which leads to duplication, wasted resources and diminished ambition”.

Echoing the work already underway in the South Downs, Glover proposes more links between national parks and the NHS – “two great institutions from the post-war settlement”. Like John Dower in 1945, he notes the “huge potential to improve physical and mental health at low cost”.

“WE SOMETIMES GET FOREIGN VISITORS, WHO WILL ARRIVE AT OUR OFFICE CAR PARK HAVING FOLLOWED DIRECTIONS ON GOOGLE, THINKING OUR OFFICE IS THE NATIONAL PARK, AND NOT EVERYTHING THEY’VE BEEN DRIVING PAST ON THE WAY” JOHN SCOTT, PEAK DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK

The Peak District National Park is a haven for rare plant and animal species, including otters

On accessibility, the report accepts that “more must be done for citizens who do not know the countryside or who do not always feel welcome in it”, stressing that authorities must go further in encouraging a diverse range of first-time visitors.

It also proposes structural reform, with Glover noting that “time after time we have heard and seen that boards are too big, do not do a good job in setting a strategic direction and ambition, and are unrepresentative of both society and, at times, of the things parks should be leading on, such as natural beauty, climate change and diversity”.

Seven decades after they came into being, and with the reform on the horizon, are national parks still fit for purpose?

“When these purposes were put in place, the original legislators could not possibly have anticipated the impact that post-war economic development – intensive agriculture, increased traffic and a growing demand for natural resources – would have on national parks,” says Pluchino.

“We believe that the original purposes and duties were right, but the powers and mechanisms available to park authorities – and wider relevant legislation – need to be updated so these purposes can be delivered”.

With a preoccupied government and a looming Brexit deadline, will Glover’s reforms be realised?

n Matt Moody is a reporter for The Planner

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P O LI T I C A L R I S K S

BY MOST MEASURES, THE ENVIRONMENT AND BIODIVERSITY ARE STRUGGLING IN THE FACE OF A PRO­GROWTH AGENDA. HUW MORRIS CONSIDERS A ‘LOST DECADE’ FOR PLANNING

S

cities, loss of habitats to development, and a ince the Apollo 11 Moon landings or focus on developing brownfield sites, despite The Beatles’ last public the fact that they can be rich in biodiversity. performance, half of the UK’s “You have different priorities at play. On the wildlife has disappeared. It’s a one hand, you want to intensify our cities and sobering thought. The landmark not have them sprawl into the countryside, State of Nature 2016 report, compiled by but on the other, that intensification can lead more than 50 conservation organisations, to biodiversity loss – so it’s not simple.” branded the UK as “among the most naturedepleted countries in the world, with 13 per cent of native species under threat of Pro-growth policy extinction and 53 per cent in decline.

In a nutshell, the NPPF sets out a pro-growth It’s unlikely to improve when the next State agenda, particularly for housebuilding, rather of Nature report is published later than a definition of sustainable this year. In March, the Joint development as set out by the “THERE IS A Nature Conservation Committee United Nations. This has led to a PROBLEM WITH A predicted that the UK will miss “nightmare for the environment SYSTEM WHOSE almost all of the 2020 nature and social justice”, according to OBJECTIVE IS TO Town and Country Planning targets it signed up to a decade BUILD AS MUCH ago at the global Convention on Association (TCPA) policy AS POSSIBLE Biological Diversity. Meanwhile, director Hugh Ellis. alarming warnings of the threat of WITHOUT “A wider definition of climate change come not as single WORRYING ABOUT sustainable development would WHERE OR TO spies, but in battalions. take in a more intelligent thought WHAT COST” All this poses a fundamental process about where and what question. Despite a planning you were going to do, but the system that aims to balance government didn’t want that complex and competing factors, because it assumed wrongly that why are so many environmental planning regulations were the and biodiversity signs pointing reason why we weren’t building to disaster? enough homes,” he says. “We had too little Planning has a bit part, but the major villain planning, not too much, but no-one has ever of the piece for biodiversity loss is intensive had the nerve to say that. farming. “There are lots of checks and “Policies have prioritised housing growth balances in the land-use planning process for over everything else. There has not been a dealing with biodiversity, but land-use creative response to get to grips with design planning only controls where new that might have incorporated biodiversity. development happens and has no say in There is a real problem with a system whose intensive agricultural practices,” says objective is to build as much as possible RTPI policy and networks manager James without worrying too much about where, to Harris. “These are separate worlds, but there what design or to what cost.” is a problem with urbanisation and It should have been all so different. The biodiversity loss.

Climate Change Act 2008 was widely “The National Planning Policy Framework regarded as progressive legislation for setting (NPPF) does have lots of good words and a carbon budget and a statutory duty to policies about protecting biodiversity, but consult the Committee on Climate Change. despite that there is loss of green space in “While this set a platform on which action

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LOST WORLDS The decline of traditional farming practices has been blamed for widespread species loss in the UK

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could have been taken, it was never translated into any applicable set of actions that should have been taken,” says Estelle Dehon, a leading junior on environment and planning law at Cornerstone Barristers. “That was held in a different sphere from the day-in, day-out decision-making around planning.

“The two didn’t seem to interact. Whenever arguments were made that the secretary of state has this duty and, if you approve a development such as a coal mine or fracking that’s not compatible with it, the answer was always that this is a national question for governments and, whatever the greenhouse gas impact, it is not going to prohibit development because governments can always take action in other areas.

“There are great paragraphs in the NPPF about taking viable action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but decisionmakers never interpreted them and were never required to interpret them as a direct basis for refusing greenhouse gas impactful development,” adds Dehon. “That’s partly because of the nature of how sustainable development was defined and interpreted, which came from a very specific, prodevelopment paradigm.”

Barn owl numbers have fallen with the change to more intensive and mechanised farming practices

Austerity impacts It’s not the only problem. A lost decade of austerity has hit planning hard. The National Audit Office noted last year that local authority spending on planning and development has fallen by more than 50 per cent in real terms since 2010-11. Moreover, Natural England’s ability to protect important sites has also been hammered, with its budget slashed from £242 million in 2009-10 to £100 million by 2017-18, and staff numbers falling from 2,500 to around 1,500.

“Planners are so overwhelmed, particularly with the government’s emphasis on housing, that biodiversity loses out within the general planning balance,” says Riki Therivel, a partner at sustainability consultants LevettTherivel. “Given the cuts and morally depressing context generally, many have moved on. It’s not just the loss of expertise, but the confidence that goes with it, especially if you’re at a planning inquiry or examination where you need to have the expertise to counter developers with lots of money.

“We can see this with biodiversity net gain.

At best, you see a net gain target of 20 per cent, but until somebody says they are going for 50 per cent or 100 per cent net gain, it’s

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Druridge Bay opencast mine Banks Mining’s proposal for an opencast mine at Druridge Bay, Northumberland is widely seen as a test of the government’s credentials on climate change. The scheme would extract three Druridge Pools million tonnes of coal, and 20,000 tonnes of nature reserve fireclay and sandstone. is a nationally It would create at least 100 full-time jobs, important site invest £87 million into the region’s economy, for waterfowl and keep a total of £200 million within the UK including the economy by not importing coal that would goldeneye otherwise come from overseas suppliers.

Supply-chain contracts to local businesses are worth £48 million.

The scheme was approved by Northumberland County Council in July 2016, and recommended for approval by the Planning Inspectorate. But it was turned down in March 2018 by then communities secretary Sajid Javid, citing the “substantial” adverse effect on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

The High Court quashed this decision last November, forcing a government review of its refusal. A decision had been expected in May, but in June the then communities secretary James Brokenshire said he needed more time to assess the proposal’s effects on greenhouse gas emissions.

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The white-clawed cra crayfish is under tthreat from a non-native species WELL­BEING OF FUTURE GENERATIONS (WALES) ACT 2015

Wales has a very different interpretation of sustainable development. The legislation’s bold ambition is to improve social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing. This obliges public bodies to consider the long-term, work better with people and communities, look to prevent problems, and take a more joined-up approach to such issues as climate change, poverty and health inequality.

“This gives a blueprint for a more sensible approach and defines sustainable

development in a different way to the NPPF,” says Estelle ys Est telle Dehon of Cornerstone Barristers.

“Although touches on the same spheres of tho oug u h it touc economic, omic c social and environmental, and also includes cultural, it specifically requires the decisionmaker to think long-term and, in particular, about climate impact and low-carbon society and biodiversity.

“In every decision the public body takes, it has to take into consideration how the objectives in the act are being maximised. It’s a very different way of going about it.”

“LAND­USE PLANNING ONLY CONTROLS WHERE NEW DEVELOPMENT HAPPENS AND HAS NO SAY IN INTENSIVE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES”

“Decarbonisation means not just the location of housing and jobs, but plans that deliver a massive shift from cars to public transport, walking and cycling; they need to think about the location of district heat and hydrogen networks, of solar and wind power. They need to be plans with accompanying infrastructure at a big strategic scale, such as a big city region, and will need the power and heft to bring different players to the table to deliver these huge ambitions.

“Arguably there hasn’t been a city in the world that has cracked this yet,” adds Harris.

Ellis calls for “intelligent subversion” among England’s planners, noting the gauntlet thrown down by activists Extinction Rebellion, while around 207 local authorities have now declared climate emergencies in the aftermath of May’s local elections. This may transform the politics of planning.

“This points out the opportunity and reinforces the inertia behind planners. The climate emergency declarations are from external campaigns; they have not come from planning,” says Ellis. “Now you see so many organisations getting behind planning to tackle climate change.

“Intelligent subversion means saying you want a climate target in your plan and realising you have an immense amount of legal support for that position. The fact most plans don’t have it makes most plans unsound in law.

“What we are trying to subvert is terrible for people, a disaster for the environment and doesn’t deliver the houses we need anyway.”

going to be 20 per cent at best. Until somebody sets a precedent, we’re not taking the risk to set it higher.”

Which leaves local plans. Ellis estimates that no more than 20 per cent have any kind of carbon target “and that’s generous”. Recent RTPI research on smart energy called for more political clarity and a refresh of the NPPF or a written ministerial statement to ensure smart energy and climate change have equal status with planning for housing, transport and economic growth. All this has been given fresh impetus by the government’s change to the Climate Change Act by enshrining in law a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“A local plan that meets a net zero carbon target by 2050 requires a strategic plan that covers multiple local authorities because there are so many inter-dependencies between different areas and sectors,” says Harris. “Plans that deliver net zero carbon or major biodiversity gains won’t just look where new development goes. They need to be integrated very closely with the entire infrastructure needed to achieve that.

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n Huw Morris is consultant editor of The Planner

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RTPI AWARDS CASE STUDIES

GREEN WAYS THREE WINNING PROJECTS IN THIS YEAR’S RTPI AWARDS FOR PLANNING EXCELLENCE ILLUSTRATE HOW PLANNING WITH AN ENVIRONMENTAL EDGE CAN IMPROVE ECOSYSTEMS, BOOST HUMAN WELLBEING AND EVEN FUEL COMMUNITY PRIDE, AS RACHEL MASKER DISCOVERS BREATHE EASY Award: Excellence in Planning for Health and Wellbeing Project name: Cuningar Loop Urban Woodland Park Key players: South Lanarkshire Council, Clyde Gateway Regeneration Company, Forestry Commission Scotland Thousands of trees have transformed a derelict industrial wasteland on the banks of the River Clyde into a popular woodland park.

For decades, the broken landscape was largely off-limits to the surrounding communities of Rutherglen, Dalmarnock and Parkhead in Glasgow’s East End, which are among the most deprived in Scotland. The land was poisoned and scarred by illegal mining and quarrying before becoming a landfill site.

Today, a remarkable renaissance is taking place. The £5.7 million Cuningar Loop, part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games legacy, has become a ‘green lung’ in the middle of an otherwise heavily urbanised area – a perfect place to enjoy the fresh air, get some exercise or just relax.

Nature had already begun to rewild the site. The decision to retain existing woods enhanced by the planting of I M AG E | F IONA F Y F E / U N T I T L E D PR ACT IC E

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life expectancy is seven years below the UK average. GPs prescribe riverside walks and there are river runs for all ages and abilities.

The planning-led project involved partnership working between South Lanarkshire Council, Clyde Gateway Regeneration Company and Forestry Commission Scotland. Judges noted that it was a “transformational project that had an impressive inclusive approach with all stakeholders both pre- and post-application. With a strong vision, it not only benefits the local community, but is a driving force for delivering economic and social benefits to the area as a tourist destination”.

A GREENER OUTLOOK 15,000 new trees, including native oak and silver birch, preserved biodiversity while giving an established woodland feel from the outset. The 15-hectare park features an extensive network of paths, a new riverside boardwalk and adventure play areas. Exciting recreational opportunities include Scotland’s first outdoor bouldering park, a woodland workout and a bike skills area.

Since the Cuningar Loop opened in 2017, it has attracted more than 317,000 visitors – smashing its target of 100,000 visitors by 2021.

South Lanarkshire Council says the urban park has helped to improve public health and wellbeing in an area where average

Award: RTPI Excellence in Plan Making Practice Project name: Wandle Vistas Key players: Fiona Fyfe Associates, Untitled Practice, Living Wandle Partnership team (client), Studio April (graphics), Bobbin Productions (film) Stretching 20 miles from the North Downs in Surrey to the London borough of Wandsworth, where it joins the Thames, the River Wandle’s once dark and dirty water is being restored to a healthy chalk stream and green corridor.

As the local and wider London landscape is constantly changing, Wandle Vistas aims to celebrate and protect through the planning system the valley’s most distinctive views.

The River Wandle’s once dark and dirty water is being restored to a healthy chalk stream and green corridor

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RTPI AWARDS CASE STUDIES

The Stirling Enhanced Landscape Mitigation Project includes more than 30 green network schemes for local communities, including new walking and cycling routes

“The challenge of the Valley – Croydon, Sutton, “MINISTERS project was to identify Merton and Wandsworth – ENCOURAGED what makes a Wandle vista signed up to its 10 planning SPEN TO unique; what gives a view CONSIDER MORE principles. in Wandle Valley its special Peter Massini, Greater INNOVATIVE sense of place,” said landLondon Authority’s green MEASURES scape architect Fiona Fyfe, infrastructure principal IN TERMS OF who jointly led the project policy officer, said: “The DEVELOPING A with Untitled Practice.

Vistas project not MORE HOLISTIC, Wandle She added: “We wanted only provides guidance on GREEN NETWORK how to access the vistas to promote the vistas, so APPROACH” people visit them and raise and ensure they are considawareness to make people ered in the spatial planning proud of the landscape process, it also shows how where they live.” vistas can promote better Financed by Living Wanplan-making by providing dle Landscape Partnership citizens and decision-makScheme 2013-18, the project resulted in ers with a stronger sense of the landscape of which they are a part.” a community-inspired film, interpretive map and technical planning document.

With the help of volunteers, a longlist THE POWER OF NETWORKS of views was whittled down to 10 covAward: Excellence in Planning for the ering the length of the Wandle Valley Natural Environment from downland to delta. Panoramic Project name: Stirling Enhanced Landviews – or vistas – were chosen that tell scape Mitigation Project the story of the Wandle Valley. Most are Key players: Ironside Farrar, Scottish within or have sight of its green corriPower Energy Networks, Central Scotdors. They include Beddington Farmland Green Network Trust, Stirling Council, Scottish Government lands nature reserve on a former landfill site and restored chalk grassland at Roundshaw where skylarks nest.

It was a controversial 137-mile overhead Meanwhile, the technical report sugpowerline through some of the Scottish gests practical ways to enhance viewHighlands’ finest scenery. points and green infrastructure. All The upgraded line was needed to plug four boroughs covering the Wandle a series of renewable electricity projects

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in northern Scotland into the grid. Ministers approved the powerline, which stretches from Beauly near Inverness to Denny near Falkirk, despite furious protests about towering pylons marching through mountain landscapes.

After a public inquiry, the Scottish energy minister overruled demands for the 400-kilovolt Beauly-to-Denny line to be buried underground at Stirling, but tasked Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) to pay for environmental and landscape improvements.

“Significant and heartfelt opposition to the line was focused on the section around Stirling,” said Ian Dooner of Ironside Farrar, planning and engagement consultant for SPEN. “Scottish ministers applied several conditions requiring mitigation proposals within this area and encouraged SPEN to consider more innovative measures in terms of developing a more holistic, green network approach.”

As a result, a partnership group was formed comprising SPEN, Central Scotland Green Network Trust, Stirling Council (planning) and the Scottish Government (Energy Consents Unit).

Communities were consulted to capture ideas and set priorities that were important locally.

“Engagement has been extensive, resource-intensive and committed, in large part to recognise the need to rebuild a level of trust and support from local groups following a contentious planning period,” says Dooner.

This led to more than 30 green network projects for local communities, including new walking and cycling routes. In addition, woodland, tree and hedge-planting enhanced the biodiversity of affected areas.

In their analysis, the judges commented: “This was an impressive landscape mitigation project involving innovative community engagement and impressive collective working.

“The planners went above and beyond.”

n Rachel Masker is a freelance journalist specialising in the built environment

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Training courses

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Training calendar September - December 2019

September Enforcement of planning decisions Challenges of waste management

3 5

Project management for planners

10

Environmental Impact Assessments

17

The planning system explained

18

Project management for planners

19

Understanding developers and development ďŹ nance

24

An introduction to planning law

25

Writing skills for planners

26

October Local plans: policy and practice

1

Environmental Impact Assessments Leadership for planners

Boost your career with expert training.

3 8

Affordable housing: policy and practice

10

Planning and design: making better places

15

Sustainability Appraisal: Current and emerging issues

17

Project management for planners

22

Writing skills for planners

23

We provide high-quality training for all professionals in the planning environment. Our wide selection of informative masterclasses and briefings are designed and delivered by our team of industry experts who will support your learning and keep you up to date with the latest developments.

November Understanding developers and development ďŹ nance Current issues in planning

14

Project management for planners

20

Environmental Impact Assessments

21

Communication skills for planners

26

Giving evidence at inquiries

27

Planning law update

28

rtpi.org.uk/training training@rtpi.org.uk + 44 (0)20 7929 8400 @RTPIPlanners #RTPICPD

December Business skills for planners

4

Sustainable drainage and climate change

5

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N AT I O N S &REGIONS

W H AT ’ S H A P P E N I N G I N S C O T L A N D ?

HERE’S A ROUND­UP OF KEY PROJECTS AND EVENTS IN THE REGION IN 2019

Scotland

The A9 dualling between Perth and Inverness

IN THE PIPELINE

A9 dualling Just 30 miles of the 110-mile A9 between Perth and Inverness is dual carriageway, even though it is the main link between the Highlands and the central belt of Scotland. This £3 billion scheme will see the remaining 80 miles dualled in 11 sections over the six years to 2025. Aside from the obvious benefits of reducing journey times for the 40,000 vehicles that use the road each day, the project is likely to have direct benefits for five industries: food and drink, tourism, energy, life sciences and forestry – and wider economic benefits in the order of £1bn annually. bit.ly/planner0919PerthInverness

Whitelee wind farm ‘super battery’ The 50-megawatt ‘super battery’ for Scottish Power’s Whitelee wind farm will be able to store power generated by the farm’s 215 turbines at Eaglesham Moor near Glasgow. Half the size of a football pitch, it will be the biggest battery in Europe, able to reach full charge in just half an hour. It will be able to be fully discharged or discharged in bursts to balance demand on the National Grid – even when the wind isn’t blowing. It’s expected to be fully operational by the end of 2020. bit.ly/planner0919-WhiteleeWind

Talgo train factory in Longannet, Fife Spanish train manufacturer Talgo has selected the site of a decommissioned power station on the north shore of the Firth of Forth as the location for a 6,500-square metre factory. The company hopes to build high-speed trains for lines across the UK, including HS2. The factory could provide 1,000 direct jobs. bit.ly/planner0919-FifeTalgo

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RECENT SUCCESSES

TECA (The Events Complex Aberdeen) The £333 million events complex (rebranded as P&J Live) opened in August and contains a 12,500-seat concert arena, alongside conference rooms, exhibitions halls and two hotels. A joint project between Aberdeen City Council and Henry Boot Developments, it’s next to Aberdeen Airport and is set to attract an additional 4.5 million visitors to the city each year. www.pandjlive.com/

Dargavel Village, Renfrewshire Winner of the RTPI’s 2019 award for Excellence in Planning to Deliver Homes (Large Schemes), Dargavel Village brought together five housebuilders to create a variety of homes on a former Royal Ordnance Factory site on the edge

of Bishopton in South Renfrewshire. The 479-acre site, owned by BAE Systems, will have 4,000 houses when complete in 2034, along with a primary school, retail and leisure space, healthcare facilities and a 1,300-acre woodland park.

Broomlands Primary School, Kelso The redesign of Broomlands Primary School has been praised for creating more space and light, and fostering a collaborative learning environment for teachers and pupils. With its long spikes on the roof (said to imitate traditional pitched roofs) that provide shelter for outdoor learning, it’s also a striking building that promotes a sense of pride in its own right. The design won a Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland award this year. bit.ly/ planner0919-Broomlands

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Regional contact details: scotland@rtpi.org.uk

See more on Scotland at the Nations and regions gateway bit.ly/PlannerGateway

SHETLAND Q&A: RESTORING THE CAIRNGORMS

Cairngorms Connect is the largest habitat restoration project in the UK. Anne McCall, director of RSPB Scotland, George Campbell, RSPB director for north Scotland, and Jeremy Roberts, the RSPB’s programme manager for Cairngorms Connect, answer the questions What are the origins of the Cairngorms Connect project? What's the projected timeline? The four partners (Wildland Limited, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and Forestry & Land Scotland) began talking in 2014 about the ways in which our shared management objectives meant we could establish a seamless landscape for wildlife.

We drew up a memorandum of understanding in 2016.

We have a 200-year vision, primarily based on the time we think it’ll take for forests to expand to the natural ‘treeline’.

Why do this? We are restoring habitats across 60,000 hectares (13

The project’s habitats support 5,000 recorded species. There is plenty we want to do to improve their prospects.

We are reducing over-grazing of moorlands, woodlands and peatlands by deer, preventing erosion of damaged blanket bogs; halting drainage of bog woodlands, removing invasive non-native conifers, and removing floodbanks and canalised sections of rivers.

And we are promoting forest expansion to its natural limit, restoring natural hydrological processes to around 1,000 hectares of floodplain and restructuring plantation forests to boost deadwood habitats.

ORKNEY WESTERN ISLES

GRAMPIAN HIGHLANDS TAY S I D E

Ab e rd e e n

Gl a sgow Edinburgh BORDERS DUMFRIES A N D G A L L O WAY

COMING UP

RTPI Scotland Annual Debate – 5 September, Glasgow Details to be confirmed.

Visit www.trpi.org.uk/scotland for updates

IMAGE | CAI RNGORM CON N ECT / BIG PICT URE S COTLAN D

UN Sustainable Development Goals Workshop – 26 September, Aberdeen An evening event with short presentations and discussion about the Sustainable Development Goals and how they relate to planning practice. bit.ly/planner0919-UNSDGS/ per cent of the park area). Bigger, connected habitats are better for wildlife. Plants and animals don’t recognise ownership boundaries – the boundaries that are important to wildlife are where management changes; where habitats are in better or poorer condition, and where survival gets easier or more difficult.

Big habitats are also more robust in the face of climate change impacts.

What processes are you stopping and what are you setting in train?

Any messages to planners?

Landscape-scale restoration projects are less relevant to local development plans, and more relevant to strategiclevel plans. For example, the Cairngorms Connect project features as a key strategy in the Cairngorms National Park Partnership Plan, which is very welcome. http://cairngormsconnect.org.uk Read the full version of this interview at: bit.ly/planner0919-cairngorms

RTPI Scotland Annual Conference – 1 October, Glasgow The conference looks at how place-based approaches are being undertaken, how they are impacting on the ground, how they are coordinated and delivered, and how stakeholders have been engaged in their development. bit.ly/planner0919-ScotCon2019/ NEXT MONTH:

The South East S EPTE MBMAY ER 2 0 18 19 / THE PLA NNER

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CASES &DECISIONS

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

NPPF footnote justifies Lake District wind farm extension An inspector has given the first interpretation of footnote 49 of the NPPF in ruling that an application to extend the life of a Lake District wind farm until 2028 constituted 'repowering' and, therefore, did not require community support.

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Rebecca Windemer, PhD researcher at Cardiff School of Geography and Planning ( “The Kirkby Moor appeal provides the first interpretation of footnote 49 of the NPPF regarding the definition of repowering. Repowering commonly refers to the removal of the existing turbines on a site and their replacement with new turbines often of a different number and height, involving a full planning permission.

( “Life extension commonly refers to the increase in duration of the planning permission of a wind farm (as many UK wind farms are permitted for a period of 25 years), commonly involving a section 73 application.

( “The appeal confirmed that, when

LOCATION: Grizebeck, Lake District AUTHORITY: South Lakeland District Council

INSPECTOR: Philip J G Ware PROCEDURE: Inquiry DECISION: Allowed REFERENCE: APP/M0933/W/18/32

repowering of existing wind turbines.

The parties disagreed on whether or not the proposal could be considered ‘repowering’. The appellant argued that although a new

permission would be created, the wind farm itself would be the same one created in 1992, and the application was for repowering. On this basis there would be no requirement to meet the obligations of footnote 49.

The council contended that because the original permission had expired in 2018, the application ought to be treated as a proposal for a wind farm. However, the NPPF provides no definition of ‘repowering’.

In the absence of national guidance, inspector Philip J G Ware sided with the appellant, who had “persuasively argued” that “repowering is an umbrella term in the wind industry covering replacement, replanting and extension of life”.

considered as a form of repowering, a life extension proposal is not required to be located in an area identified as suitable for wind energy development in the development plan or demonstrate that the planning impacts identified by the affected local community have been fully addressed and that the proposal has their backing.

( “This is likely to set a positive precedent for the life extension of UK wind farms, which are often capable of operating beyond their 25­year consent life.”

In the planning balance, the inspector acknowledged the “very strongly held views” of local people who had opposed the scheme.

Notwithstanding these, he ruled that the public benefits he had found outweighed any harm the wind farm would cause for the rest of its life.

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

The appeal concerned Kirkby Moor wind farm on the south-west edge of the Lake District National Park. The facility, which comprises 12 wind turbines, was approved by the secretary of state in 1992, subject to a condition requiring their removal within 25 years of first being brought into use.

The turbines came into operation in August 1993. The appellant proposed a revised decommissioning date of March 2028. The council refused the application on the grounds that the benefits arising from the facility would not outweigh the “continuing harm” it was causing to the surrounding landscape.

The subsequent appeal led to a week-long inquiry, at which a local group called Kirkby Moor Protectors was granted Rule 6 status.

The appellant’s case rested on footnote 49 of the NPPF, which states that wind energy development will only be acceptable if it is in an area identified as suitable for wind energy in the local development plan, and it has the backing of the local community, except for applications for the

EXPERT ANALYSIS

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These are just a few of the 40 or so appeal reports that we post each month on our website: www.theplanner.co.uk/decisions

Opposition to 1970s shopping centre regeneration dismissed An inspector has approved a radical regeneration of a 1970s shopping centre in Swanley, Kent, despite ‘consistent opposition’ from local people, ruling that without ‘decisive action’, the area would fast decline.

Brokenshire turns down ‘incongruous’ tower near Kew A ‘highly intrusive, incongruous and alien’ 32-storey tower block within sight of Kew Gardens World Heritage Site, West London, was refused by the former secretary of state, against the advice of his inspector.

The appeal concerned plans for the ‘Chiswick Curve’, a part 32-storey, part 25-storey tower in Chiswick, West London.

Its first five floors would contain a café/restaurant and office space; the rest would provide 327 flats. It would sit within the setting of three conservation areas and the Kew Gardens World Heritage Site, though just outside of its buffer zone.

Inspector Paul Griffiths noted that the council had intended the derelict site to be the location of a landmark building marking the “gateway to West London”. Given its sensitive setting, however, the council had set a height limit of 60 metres on any such building. The Chiswick Curve would top out at 109 metres.

Griffiths noted “the potential to bring forward an outstanding piece of architecture, and an important feature of the skyline, at London’s most important gateway”, calling it “a public benefit of massive proportion”.

The housing secretary did not agree that the proposal would bring a “massive uplift” to the area. While he agreed that the proposal would cause less than substantial harm to heritage assets, he disagreed that the LOCATION: Chiswick potential benefits would outweigh this harm, when AUTHORITY: Hounslow Borough Council held to the test under paragraph 196 of the NPPF. INSPECTOR: Paul Griffiths Brokenshire also disagreed that the PROCEDURE: Recovered appeal building’s design would be of the “highest architectural DECISION: Dismissed quality”, as required by the London Plan.

REFERENCE: APP/ Concluding that the E5900/W/17/3190685 scheme’s merits would not outweigh the harm to three conservation areas and a World Heritage Site, he refused the appeal.

In 2017 plans were submitted by developer U+I to replace the existing shopping centre with residential blocks up to 11 storeys high containing 303 homes, 4,000 square metres of commercial floor space, and close to 1,000 square metres of community floor space, along with a multistorey car park.

Inspector Paul Jackson called the largely concrete existing buildings “dated and architecturally unremarkable”. Noting that the tallest of the replacement buildings had been revised following consultation to reduce its bulk, he found that it would not “dominate” the area. Instead, he found, it would create an “urban focus” in the townscape.

In the planning balance, Jackson noted the “strong community spirit” in Swanley, acknowledging that local people had consistently resisted the scheme during the planning process. He agreed that the scheme would represent “a significant and substantial change in

LOCATION: Swanley AUTHORITY: Sevenoaks Council INSPECTOR: Paul Jackson PROCEDURE: Inquiry DECISION: Allowed REFERENCE: APP/ G2245/W/18/3200270

the nature of the town centre that will affect the way many people experience their dayto-day lives”.

But he considered that, “without decisive action, the centre [was] extremely likely to continue to decline”.

Noting that the council could not demonstrate a fiveyear supply of housing land, he engaged the ‘tilted balance’ of NPPF paragraph 11.

Concluding that the scheme’s benefits outweighed its adverse impacts, he allowed the appeal.

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C&D { C Truly ‘innovative’ carbon-negative AONB home blocked

AUTHORITY: Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

INSPECTOR: Jonathan Parsons PROCEDURE: Written submissions DECISION: Dismissed REFERENCE: APP/M2270/W/18/3210068

The appellants sought permission to build a contemporary country house and ancillary gate lodge on land near Brenchley, within Kent’s High Weald AONB. They applied under NPPF paragraph 79, which allows homes of “exceptional quality” in isolated locations.

The house would comprise “a series or cluster of contemporary-designed pavilions, arranged along a slender spine-glazed link”, above a lower level of accommodation within

800 homes approved for Birmingham windfall site The housing secretary has allowed a housing scheme on land not allocated for homes in the Birmingham Development Plan, dismissing concerns that it would ‘undermine public confidence in planning’.

There was no dispute that the site, a former golf course, was unallocated, having been passed over by the examining inspector of the council’s development plan, which was adopted in January 2017. The parties disagreed on whether or not the site could be considered a windfall site.

The council referred to paragraph 68 of the NPPF, which expresses support for sites of small and medium size to be used as windfall sites. The appellant referred to the NPPF glossary, which defines such sites as “sites not specifically identified in

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the development plan”, with no reference to size.

The council also argued that the site had been considered for allocation when its plan was being prepared, but had

a rammed earth exterior.

It would be strategically positioned on a downward slope towards a 1970s pond at the base of the site.

The building would use cross-laminated timber, sweet chestnut and cork insulation, while its glazing would maintain “excellent daylight levels”, noted inspector Jonathan Parsons.

Integrated hybrid solar energy and battery storage systems would support the scheme’s potential to become carbon-negative.

Parsons acknowledged that the scheme was the result of pre-application discussions with the council, the AONB unit, an independent design panel and other bodies. He agreed that the design would be “truly innovative and outstanding”.But he ruled that the house’s “bold rectilinear configuration” facing the pond would not be sensitive to the area’s key characteristics, bringing about a marked change of character from undeveloped field to dwelling, and dismissed the appeal.

been rejected in principle by the examining inspector.

It suggested that if “large housing sites not allocated for that purpose are brought forward by means of ad hoc planning applications”, public confidence in the planning system would be undermined.

Inspector Paul Singleton had ruled that there was nothing in the NPPF definition to support the council’s view that a site of 35 hectares should not be

treated as a windfall site.

Rejecting the council’s other argument – noting that the only reason the examining inspector had given for not allocating the site was the absence of full traffic and residential amenity assessments – the [now] former housing secretary approved the plan.

I M AG E S |

LOCATION: Brenchley, Kent

ALAMY / ISTOCK / SHUTTERSTOCK

An inspector has rejected comprehensive plans for a ‘paragraph 79’ home in the High Weald AONB despite its ‘truly outstanding and innovative’ design, criticising its ‘bold rectilinear configuration’.

LOCATION: Northfield AUTHORITY: Birmingham City Council INSPECTOR: Paul Singleton PROCEDURE: Recovered appeal DECISION: Allowed REFERENCE: APP/ P4605/W/18/3192918

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DECISIONS DIGEST{

SUBSCRIBE to our appeals digest:

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

Disabled access to church does not justify harm Plans to make a grade-II listed Manchester church wheelchair-accessible by replacing a historic window with a new door and ramp have been blocked by an inspector, who found the harm to historic fabric unacceptable. bit.ly/planner0919-DisabledAccess

Thirty­foot advertising screen with living wall would harm public realm

No 'h 'healthy' takeaway where quarter of children are overweight

Plans for a digital advertising ng screen and living wall in Aldgate, central London, would obstruct pedestrians and harm openness, an inspector has ruled, dismissing the structure’s purported air qualityimproving features. bit.ly/planner0919-Aldgate e

A hot hot food takeaway serving only ‘healthy foo food options’ will not be allowed in an ar area where one in four 11 and 12-yearold olds is overweight. bit.ly/planner0919Takeaway

ub Flats on site of burnt­out pub rk’ would be new ‘landmark’ ree A development of 35 flats, three rodetached houses and a microub pub on the site of a Margate pub ide destroyed by fire would provide a new ‘landmark building’ on the tor corner of two streets, an inspector 19has ruled. bit.ly/planner0919ub b Micropub

Private 16,500­square metre lake would harm AONB An inspector has rejected plans to create an artificial private lake in Kent with a footprint of more than 16,500 square metres, citing harm to the special qualities of the High Weald AONB. bit.ly/planner0919-Weald

V yl record sales do not justify Vinyl Peckham cocktail bar

Staircase position would create 'unconventional' accommodation An inspector has refused plans for a mansard roof extension to create a onebed flat in Hackney, ruling that even if the flat met minimum space standards, the positioning of iits staircase would create a 'cramped' layout. bit.ly/planner0919-Staircase bit.ly

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Re Revised plans to build 252 units of student accommodation in Norwich’s central conservation No area can go ahead, an inspector are has ruled, a year after the ha original application was rejected ori at a appeal for harm to living conditions. con bit.ly/planner0919-Norwich bit

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An inspector has refused plans to use a vacant retail unit in Peckham as a cocktail bar despite the appellant’s plan for an “ancillary” retail offer of vinyl records and cocktail-making equipment, citing harm tto the protected frontage. bit.ly bit.ly/planner0919-Peckham y

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NEWS

RTPI {

RTPI news pages are edited

by Will Finch at the RTPI, 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL

University of Hertfordshire becomes latest RTPI-accredited planning school

RTPI President Ian Tant (left) with University of Hertfordshire vice-chancellor Quintin McKellarx

The RTPI has formally granted accreditation to the University of Hertfordshire’s Sustainable Planning Master’s degrees.

Completion of an accredited course will allow future University of Hertfordshire graduates to progress towards chartered membership of the RTPI. RTPI president Ian Tant made the announcement during a Highways UKhosted conference held at the university, which called for more integrated strategic infrastructure planning.

Ian said: “I am delighted to announce that the University of Hertfordshire has gained RTPI accreditation for its postgraduate Sustainable Planning programmes, including specialist teaching that integrates planning and transport.

“We warmly welcome the university into the RTPI family and look forward to working with it to ensure that planners are able to develop the skills they need to create sustainable places and infrastructure, to protect the environment and to unlock development potential.”

The University of Hertfordshire – which will also be appointing a professor of planning in the coming months – becomes the RTPI’s latest accredited Planning School, and the first since the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2017.

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Quintin McKellar, vice-chancellor at the University of Hertfordshire, said: “I am delighted that the prestigious RTPI has given accreditation to our Sustainable Planning Master’s degrees. The course leaders have worked incredibly hard developing course materials and creating relationships with industry in order for our students to graduate with strong career prospects.”

The university’s MSc in Sustainable Planning programme for 2019/2020 consists of three courses: MSc Sustainable Planning, MSc Sustainable Planning and Environmental Management, and MSc Sustainable Planning and Transport.

Tweet of the month CEO of the Campaign for Better Transport @darrenshirley tweeted:

“Great to catch up today @VictoriaRTPI! Looking forward to cooking up our future collaboration with the RTPI on #transport and #planning”

IN NUMBERS

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For the latest from the RTPI, follow us at @RTPIplanners

The number of RTPI­accredited Planning Schools around the world. For a full list, visit http:// bit.ly/planner0919­accredited I M AG E S | RT P I

14/08/2019 10:30

Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk

RTPI (switchboard) T: 020 7929 9494

Registered charity no.

262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841

MY VIEW ON… THE RTPI’S ROYAL CHARTER RTPI President Ian Tant celebrates 60 years since the Queen ‘graciously approved’ the grant of a Royal Charter to the Institute On 14 September 1959, the Town Planning Institute received its Royal Charter, a special mark of distinction limited to bodies pre-eminent in their field. To obtain a Royal Charter, organisations must exist not solely to advance the interests of their members but also, and primarily, to advance the public interest.

Although a Charter does not confer the right to use the title ‘Royal’ (the Town Planning Institute only became the Royal Town Planning Institute in 1971), incorporation by Charter is a prestigious way of acquiring legal personality and undoubtedly reflects the high status of the organisation.

What the Town Planning Institute’s Charter also did was to allow its members to call themselves Chartered Town Planners. This is so important - it’s undoubtedly been a badge of merit for me throughout the 37 years since I gained my MRTPI. The prestige and respect in which the RTPI is held is in large part a result of the hard work, thought leadership and contribution we bring to planning as RTPI members - but there is certainly an additional caché attached to the fact that we are more than just ‘town planners’.. n Follow Ian on Twitter at @ianet55

POSITION POINT

DECARBONISATION OF HOMES IN WALES DR ROISIN WILLMOTT, DIRECTOR RTPI CYMRU RTPI Cymru has recently made recommendations to Welsh ministers as part of the Decarbonisation of Homes in Wales Advisory Group In Wales there are a total of 1.4 million homes that are responsible for 27% of all energy consumed and 15% of all demand-side greenhouse gas emissions, making it an area that needs to be addressed to contribute significantly to the reduction of carbon use.

Of course, planning currently has limited tools to directly achieve this, but there are links to the requirements of new housing that must not add to the problem.

The advisory group’s report, Better Homes, Better Wales, Better World, calls on political parties in Wales to make a strategic commitment to national residential decarbonisation and recommends that the Welsh government should set ambitious housing targets to meet its ambition of achieving net zero-carbon by 2050.

To download the new report, visit g http://bit.ly/planner0919-decarbonise

PLACEMAKING AND ECONOMIC PRODUCTIVITY TOM KENNY, RTPI POLICY OFFICER The RTPI has responded to a call for evidence from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Building Communities on how planning and placemaking can lead to greater economic productivity.

Our response cited the wide range of evidence that RTPI has produced on the link between the planning and productivity, and stressed that well-designed places that take note of placemaking principles are more productive places.

In recent years, we have published a wide range of research to evidence this, including a 2018 report, Settlement Patterns, Urban Form and Sustainability, which described how strategic planning can shape settlement patterns and urban form to increase economic productivity.

We also used case studies of Dutch, German and French towns and cities in 2015 to explore how proactive planning can improve the quantity and quality of development in the built environment.

Read the full response at http://bit.ly/0919-APPGresponse I M AG E S | JON E N O C H

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NEWS

RTPI { RTPI N E W S

RTPI Elections: voting now open As the RTPI celebrates 60 years of its Royal Charter, chief executive Victoria Hills MRTPI has called on members to vote in this year’s elections.

The RTPI is the only body in the UK to grant chartered status to planners, the highest professional and ethical standard. Since 1959, it has continuously raised professional standards, promoted the planning profession and influenced planning policy.

It is now the largest planning institute in Europe with over 25,000 members.

Victoria said: “As we celebrate this anniversary, we are asking members to ‘be the change you want to see’ in the Institute, so I’m thrilled to see an increase in the number and, crucially, diversity of candidates.. These elections are an indicator of the health of the Institute.

“While there have been strong increases in female and younger members nominated, we will continue to work on encouraging an ever more diverse cross-section of our

membership to get involved, particularly BAME members.

“I now call on our members to ‘be the change’ and cast their vote for the candidates they think have the vision, commitment and passion to play an effective and productive role in our governance.”

You can help the RTPI continue its mission to advance the art and science of planning for the benefit of the public as we face challenges such as climate change, population and political changes by voting in leaders who can bring new perspectives. n For more information, and a full list of candidates, visit http://bit.ly/0919-electionsGA RTPI’S NEXT VICE PRESIDENT Kathrine Haddrell MRTPI and Dr Wei Yang MRTPI are the two candidates to be the next vice president. To hear their thoughts on why they would be an effective vice president, visit http://bit.ly/0919-electionsGA

Vice presidential candidates Kath Haddrell (l) and Dr Wei Yang

POSITIONS OPEN FOR ELECTION Board of Trustees n Vice president n Nations and regions trustee n Three corporate trustees n Young planners trustee General Assembly n 14 chartered members n One legal member n Three students/licentiates How do I vote?

Look out for a letter or email from mi-voice, this year’s election provider, and make

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY

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The RTPI has appointed specialist diversity and inclusion consultant Brook Graham to draw up an action plan to help increase the diversity of the planning profession, in consultation with members across the regions and nations.

The action plan will help drive forward and implement the RTPI’s diversity and inclusivity statement, launched last year, and will be informed by research into barriers to getting involved with the profession, as well as benchmarking studies with other professional sectors.

Sue Manns, RTPI board champion on

diversity and inclusivity, said: “A planning profession which is more representative of society is crucial to bring about more inclusive and accessible design, housing and public environments.

“The work of Brook Graham will help us gain a better understanding of what progress has been made, what the gaps are and where the important levers for change might be. More importantly, it will align our diversity actions with the Institute’s corporate priorities and external best practices to bring positive change to society.”

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sure you vote by 5pm on 26 September.

What happens after voting closes?

Candidates will be notified of results during the first week of October. Candidates will be asked to express their interest in serving on a RTPI Committee for 2020 between 7 October and 30 November.

Induction for elected candidates takes place on 10 December.

RTPI TRUST BURSARIES The winners of this year’s RTPI Trust Bursaries have been announced. The four undergraduate students will each receive £2,000 to help fund their planning studies.

This year’s winners are Connor Burns (University of Liverpool), Roberta Jegorova (University College London), Amy Marshall (University of the West of England) and Ffion Middleton (Cardiff University).

The RTPI Trust Bursary was set up in 2016 to help high-achieving students from diverse backgrounds or those living with a disability to access planning as the first step towards chartered membership.

14/08/2019 10:30

G PLANNIN AHEAD MEMBER NEWS

Key dates for 2019 The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) officially came into force on 1 January 2016 and aim to mobilise global efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight SEPT inequality and tackle climate change. This Arup-led workshop in Aberdeen (free for members) will involve short presentations and a ‘global café’ series of activities for delegates to participate in, providing an opportunity to discuss various aspects of SDGs and how these relate to professional practice.

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n To book your place at this fascinating event, visit http://bit.ly/0919-sustainable This year’s Independent Consultants Network (ICN) Conference takes place in Bristol and has the theme of ‘Small steps, big results’.

Highlights of the OCT conference include an introduction from RTPI president Ian Tant, a look at the Certificate of Lawfulness of Existing Use or Development by planning lawyer Graham Gover, and a legal update from Richard Humphreys QC. Planning Inspectorate director of operations Graham Stallwood will also be in conversation with ICN steering group member John Lynch. The event is sponsored by Planning Portal, Terra Quest and Six Pump Court.

3­4

n For more information and to buy tickets, visit http://bit.ly/019-independent Join us at the 2019 edition of the RTPI’s prestigious annual lecture – named after Prof Nathaniel Lichfield – which will be held at the London School of Economics.

NOV This year’s lecture will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Skeffington Report into planning and public engagement, regarded by many experts as one of the most important documents in the history of post-war British urban planning.

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n For the latest news about this event and to book your ticket, visit http://bit.ly/0919-lecture

NEW CHARTERED MEMBERS East of England Myles Smith Sarah Tudhope East Midlands Stuart Howden Richard West London Katharine Bramson Nicholas Goddard Dylan Kerai Alex Kitts Anna Murray Kenya Sharland Sarah Temple Prashanna Vivekanandarajah Hannah Walker Edward Waters Ashleigh Wilson

Jorge Nash Emily Pugh Natalie Rowland Simon Taylor South West Alexander Cave Nicola Finley Elise Power Wales Cai Parry Louisa Slator West Midlands Rachel Mythen Catherine O’Toole Yorkshire Jay Saggerson

North East John Aynsley North West Claire Booth Joseph Romero Scotland Mhairi Grossett Paul Lawson Ross Lee Kirsty Strang South East Stephanie Baker Areena Berktold (nee David)

IN MEMORIAM It is with regret that we announce the deaths of the following members. We offer our sincere condolences to their families and colleagues.

Wales David Gill

North East John Suckling

Overseas Peter Robinson

North West Jeffrey Chambers John Millar

Scotland Eric Young Stephen Beebe James (Jim) Miller

South East David Damer Sewell

East of England Desmond Kealey

Yorkshire Clifford Barnett

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If a job role’s worth filling…

Don’t just take our word for it - here’s what our customers are saying about Planner Jobs, the official planning recruitment service of the RTPI “We got a good number of applications for the planning of·cer posts and, having a brief look through the submissions, the candidates are from various necks of the woods.

Placing the advert with you has certainlyy helped us to reach a wider audience.”

MAY 2018 – MATTHEW PARRY DAVIES, DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT MANAGER, WIRRAL COUNCIL

“I have to say that the calibre of planners we have had apply through The Planner has really improved over the last three months.”

“I’m pleased to say we were able to appoint to this role (senior planner) and had a good calibre of applications. an Many of them, including the successful Ma candidate, were from yourselves, so ca thank you.” th AU AUGUST 2018 – ALEXANDRA KELLY, RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT, KINGSTON BOROUGH COUNCIL CO

JULY 2018 – CJ OBI, UK HEAD, TOWN PLANNING AND REAL ESTATE, OSBORNE RICHARDSON

“I am pleased to say that following our advertisement with The Plannerr we have successfully recruited high calibre candidates to each of the three vacant posts. There was also signi·cant response to the advertisement from which we were able to shortlist suitable candidates. This is due in no small way to the quality of the advertisement itself and its circulation. I would like to place on record my thanks for your support and assistance, and the professional manner in which dealt with our requests.”

OCTOBER 2018 ALAN N COLEMAN, HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT PLANNING & ENFORCEMENT DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, WORCESTER CITY COUNCIL

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OCTOBER 2018 – TOM VENABLES, PLANNING DIRECTOR, PRIOR + PARTNERS

“We have had really positive results with the adverts we have placed in The Planner. Our two new principals started with us this week, and we have had a series of interviews off the back of the advert.”

JULY 2018 KEVIN JAMES, SUPPORT TEAM MANAGER, AYLESBURY VALE DISTRICT COUNCIL

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NOVEMBER 2018 – DEAN TRANTER, ACCOUNT MANAGER, JUPITER ADVERTISING

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S e ar ch t h e p l a nne r.co .uk/ jo b for the best vacancies

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RECRUITMENT ADVERTISEMENTS To advertise please email: theplannerjobs@redactive.co.uk or call 020 7880 6232

Deputy Planning Manager Career Grade Planning Officer – Principal Planner

The PERFECT PLACE to find the latest town planning vacancies Planner Jobs is the official jobs board for the Royal Town Planning Institute Planner Jobs has an average of jobs posted every month!

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Management Grouping: Chief Executive Team: Development Management Salary: Up to £49,755 Including choices and market premium Contract: permanent 36 hours per week Job Refs: Deputy Planning Manger – CEX0000104 Planning Officer – Principal Planner – CEX0000105 This is an exciting time for the London Borough of Bexley; we are at the heart of regeneration and change as London moves east. Bexley is planning for unprecedented growth and development.

We are seeking to attract an ambitious and capable Deputy Planning Manager capable of deputising for the Area Team Manager, presenting at Committee, signing off a range of planning applications under delegated powers and managing a caseload of strategic and high-profile planning applications.

We are also looking for a Planner (Career Grade from Planning Officer to Principal Planner).

Providing and supporting you to move through the career grade as your experience develops is something we pride ourselves on.

Investing in people and career development is extremely important to us, so we offer a range of dedicated training opportunities.

Relevant planning qualifications and eligibility for membership of the RTPI are required.

You will be ambitious for new opportunities and want to work as part of dynamic and friendly team to meet the Borough’s growth ambitions.

If you are looking for an exciting challenge in a flexible, modern and accommodating working culture, come and join us on our Journey.

For an informal chat about these posts, please call Robert Lancaster on 020 3045 3342.

Bexley is a London Borough with big growth ambitions across the Borough and along Bexley Riverside. We also have award-winning parks, open spaces and listed buildings. We work in a modern office environment in the heart of Bexleyheath.

What we offer: • Relocation Package up to £8,000 • Our Choices Flexible Benefits Pack/age includes lease car and cash options to the value of £2,370 per annum • Career Average Revalued Earnings Pension Scheme • Performance Related Pay • 25 / 27 days Annual Leave (rising to 28 / 30 after 5 years’ service) plus Bank Holiday Entitlement • Annual Leave Purchase Scheme • An excellent working environment at our fantastic new offices • Opportunities for flexible working with excellent ICT facilities • MyChoice Staff Benefit Scheme – Includes Childcare Vouchers, Cycle to Work Scheme, access to high street shopping vouchers and online discount codes.

Your Application: • Closing Date for your application: 20/09/2019 • Please visit https://jobs.bexley.gov./uk/w/rlive to find out more and apply. CVs will not be accepted unless they are submitted with a completed application form.

CVs will not be accepted unless they are submitted with a completed application form.

theplanner.co.uk/job

This post is considered by the authority to be a customer-facing position; as such it falls within scope of the Code of Practice on English language requirement for public sector workers. The council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the JD/Person Specification. These will be applied during the recruitment/selection and probationary stages.

Follow us on Twitter @LBofBexley and @BexleyCareers

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THE MONTH IN PLANNING The best and most interesting reads, websites, films and events that we’ve encountered this month WHAT WE’RE READING 1...

The Grotton Papers – now online!

Rejoice, rejoice!

The Grotton Papers – a priceless tome indeed – has been made available in PDF form for free via the RTPI website.

Chris Shepley, Stephen Ankers and David Kaiserman’s much-celebrated satirical take on planning is, as the authors would have it, “a seminal planning text” which is “almost certainly y the most popular book ever written about planning”. 2019 represents the fortieth anniverary y of its first publication, hence its availability online. e.

This brilliantly witty book “changed the course of planning for a generation; shifted the Paradigm; and (some would argue) made John Prescott possible”. Since 1979 it has become “more e relevant today than ever”.

The uninitiated should think of this as the Private Eye of the planning profession (and indeed, it has every bit as much ‘bite’ as the Eye).

If nothing else, the sheer amount of detail that went into creating the planning history of Grotton through the ages has to be seen to be believed. This book is a true labour of love, and a timely reminder that some things never change.

Download it here: bit.ly/planner0919-Grotton

WHAT W WE’RE PLANNING Mark Pr Prisk MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Housing and Planning, is the subject of our October edition interview. Then, in November, our Planning Young Planners’ special edition will be produced in league with the RTPI’s annual Y North East Ea region (where the annual Young Planners’ conference is taking place).

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LANDSCAPE

WHERE WE'RE GOING...

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING...

Crossrail: Where Did It All Go Wrong?

Well, quite. This Channel 5 documentary tracks the troubled project from the beginning, “revealing exactly why it went off the rails”. Channel 5’s video player informs us that the documentary will be available to view until May 2024. Perhaps they expect the drama to continue yet further. bit.ly/planner0919-Crossrail

Each month the RTPI runs a range of free or low-cost events up and down the UK. Here’s our pick for the next few weeks. See the full calendar here: www.rtpi.org.uk/events/events-calendar Custom and Self Build in planning. A better way to make homes and communities?

5 September, St Mary’s Mill, Chalford Organised by Gloucestershire Young Planners, this event will see speakers introduce the Right to Build Act, national planning policy, local policy examples and an introduction to the trade body NACSBA. bit.ly/planner0919-Build

WHAT WE’RE READING 2...

Modern Cities: Ten Variations

The Planning Fringe 11 September, Sherwell Centre, Plymouth University

William Solesbury, who has worked as a town planner, researcher and public policy analyst, identifies 10 types of city that are the product of the modernisation of the world in the past 200 years, addressing how said modernisation has changed the economic, social and political context in which cities have developed. His book draws on news reports, guidebooks, film and fiction and personal travels.

As Plymouth hosts the 13th European Biennial of Towns and Town Planners 2019, this event aims to explore the fringes of planning practice and especially how it engages with wider society.

How does planning engage with current and future generations? What can we do to improve this interaction?

How do we make planning fit for the difficult questions which lie ahead?

What is the role of design within planning?

Available from cambridgescholars. com/modern-cities

bit.ly/planner0919-Plymouth

RTPI Northern Ireland Annual Conference 17 September, Europa Hotel, Great Victoria Street, Belfast The Department for Infrastructure’s Living Places guide aims to clearly establish the key principles behind good place-making – a tenet central to the work of planners. This event will consider key aspects of places and encourage discussion between built environment professionals, to enable the application of the Living Places’ principles to be understood and

embedded in development proposals.

(Please note: Closing date for bookings is 6th September.) bit.ly/planner0919-Conference

RTPI Scotland Annual Conference: Changing Places – Collaborating to make a difference 1 October 2019, The Emirates Arena, Glasgow The new Planning Act, the Place Principle, the Place Standard and community planning show that public policy and planning practice in Scotland is aiming to become more place-focused and collaborative.

This year’s conference looks at how place-based approaches are being undertaken, how they are impacting on the round, how they are coordinated and delivered and how stakeholders have been engaged in their development. bit.ly/planner0919-Scotland

National Association of Planning Enforcement (NAPE) Annual Conference 2019 6 November, Allia Future Business Centre, Peterborough United FC A full day of hot topics at the forefront of planning enforcement including: drones, preparing a notice, permitted development rights, planning law, a Planning Inspectorate and more.

(Please note this conference is only open to NAPE members.) bit.ly/planner0919-Enforcement

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

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