The Planner September 2015

SEPTEMBER 2015 CITY REGIONS SET TO TAKE CENTRE STAGE // p.22 • ENFORCING ENFORCEMENT PLANS // p.26 • GOING UNDERGROUND : THE CROSSRAIL BREAKTHROUGH // p.30 • RTPI AWARDS 2015 YSGOL CRAIG Y DERYN, SNOWDONIA // p.40

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

PLANNER

THE

FLEMISH DIAMOND HOW JORIS SCHEERS IS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF CITY CLUSTERS IN BELGIUM AND BEYOND

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

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PLANNER 06 18

CONTENTS

THE

SEPTEMBER

NEWS

20 15

“THERE IS ALWAYS A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL COLOUR FROM WHERE YOU STUDY, THE ENVIRONMENT YOU GREW UP IN AND WHAT YOU BRING AS YOUR PERSONAL BAGGAGE”

6 ‘Fast-track fracking’ stirs up debate

7 Infrastructure and devolution key to rural productivity, says chancellor

OPINION

8 Developing green belt ‘will increase congestion’ 9 Welsh City Deal bid achieves critical mass 10 Big plans for Little Germany 11 Book your place for World Town Planning Day

12 Chris Shepley: Might is being pitted against right in this tug of war 16 Andrew Walker: Creative councils can unlock house building

C OV E R I M A G E | N ATA L I E H I L L

INSIGHT

FEATURES

16 June Andrews: The challenge of dementia 17 Richard Phillips: ‘Stop all the clocks’ – Scottish planning performance statistics 17 Simon Marsh: Homes H for people and nat nature, but definitely not ffor climate

13 QUOTE UNQUOTE

“IT TURNS OUT THAT IN BUILDING WIND FARMS TO SAVE THE POLAR BEARS, WE’RE IN DANGER OF WIPING OUT THE WHALES AND DOLPHINS” RICHARD LITTLEJOHN, CRITICISING CONSERVATION IN THE DAILY MAIL

18 Joris Scheers, president of the European Council of Spatial Planners, wants to stop Europe falling into the same traps as South America. By David Blackman 22 Benjamin Mansell and Michael Pocock look at devolution deals 26 The government wants councils to introduce enforcement plans, but so far the picture is inconsistent.

Huw Morris reports 30 Tunnelling on Crossrail is complete.

Simon Wicks was invited to take a look at what’s happening beneath Farringdon

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

30

38 Legal landscape: Opinion, blogs, and news from the legal side of planning 40 Case study: RTPI Award for Excellence in Planning for Community and Wellbeing: Ysgol Craig y Deryn/Craig y Deryn Primary School, Wales 42 Plan Ahead – our pick of upcoming events for the planning profession and beyond 44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute 50 Plan B: Let’s go boring with Brandon

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PLAN UPFRONT

Leaderr No sign of distance dying as the daily commute grinds on – Commuting – why are we still doing it? It’s 2015, and for more than two decades we’ve had futurologists and IT consultants bending our ears about the time-saving virtues of our ever more interconnected world. We were told that commuting would go the way of the dodo, eliminated for all us ‘knowledge workers’ because electronic conferencing – audio, video, web – would make the process of actually going to work irrelevant. What’s more, companies would save millions on air flights that they would no longer need to make.

We were told the same thing about exhibitions.

Why make the grim pilgrimage to some outsized shed in order to network with clients or suppliers when ‘virtual’ exhibitions would most assuredly take their place?

What those who

Martin Read suggested these false futures failed to take into account was the power of human nature. Offices provide a priceless sense of social cohesion and an actual sense of ‘company’.

Clients and suppliers, it turns out, are human beings – and people buy people.

No amount of IT is going to change the fundamental requirement for human interaction in the same space; you don’t just kill off centuries of conditioning because you’ve invented

computers.

(Incidentally, much of this misguided twaddle came to prominence in the 1990s when IT consultants also sold us the false premise of a ‘Millennium Bug’. Never in the field of software marketing has so much been spent on something so ineffectual.)

Laughably, all this travel-free workplace thinking was crystallised in the phrase ‘the death of distance’. Does it feel like distance has died to you?

Distance is in rude health, I’d suggest, aided and abetted by plenty of new transport infrastructure schemes. Crossrail is in this edition, Crossrail 2 a highly

"WE WERE TOLD THAT COMMUTING WOULD GO THE WAY OF THE DODO BECAUSE AUDIO, VIDEO AND WEB CONFERENCING WOULD MAKE GOING TO WORK IRRELEVANT"

likely proposition.

So we continue to commute daily, and in dizzying numbers. We may have more flexibility in our working hours, and the effects of IT are certainly having a great say in the make-up of our towns and cities – but the typical day’s commute, and the world of actual face-to-face meetings, are both still here.

The RTPI’s new report, Building in the Green Belt?, warns those who have suggested that there are quick wins to be had by building on green belt land - just because it is close to railway stations - that there will be knock-on effects that might add appreciably to metropolitan commuting misery. You can’t assume that the majority of these new residents will travel by train, argues the report.

It’s a timely intervention and a reminder of the need for balanced planning solutions – because whatever the experts say, the need to commute is not going to go away.

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NEWS

Analysis { ENERGY PLANNING

‘Fast-track fracking’ stirs up debate

By Laura Edgar

energy challenges we face, such as boosting the UK’s huge renewable power potential”.

The government’s recent proposal to see But Matthew Sheppard, director and head shale gas applications fast-tracked through of EIA at Turley, said the reality is that “whoever is making the planning decision still has a new dedicated planning process have received a mixed response. to work within the confines of the planning Communities secretary Greg Clark and system”. energy secretary Amber Rudd said the meas“Each case will be judged on its merits, ures would include identifying councils that with all interested parties able to contribute repeatedly fail to determine oil and gas applito that debate. This is the normal day-to-day cations within the 16-week statutory period. operation of our planning system.”

Clark could then determine subsequent Independent UK energy company Cuadapplications, with appeals recovered on a rilla said it was in the national and local case-by-case basis. interest to find out if “the continued need for natuClark and Rudd promise ral gas in the UK” can be that local people will have a ”THE REALITY IS “strong say” over the develsatisfied by its “own THAT OBJECTORS indigenous onshore opment of shale exploration, ARE LOOKING TO and remain “fully involved in resources”.

JUDICIALLY REVIEW planning decisions with any Regarding the extent PLANNING APPROVALS, to which shale explorashale applications – whether AND APPLICANTS decided by councils or govtion is just an experiment ARE APPEALING ernment”. in the UK and whether it REFUSALS. BOTH TAKE But Nick Clack, senior can be extracted ecoTHE DECISION OUT energy campaigner for the nomically, Sheppard told OF LOCAL HANDS TO Campaign to Protect Rural The Planner: “Without THE SAME EXTENT England, said the changes being able to explore and AS A CALL­IN OR could see the government appraise, it is difficult to RECOVERY“ demonstrate that the taking decisions away from – MATTHEW SHEPPARD local people, fuelling “diviindustry will be viable.”

It is known to work in sion and disempowerment”.

“Enabling broad local conversations the US, but the UK’s different geology cannot about what appropriate local energy probe better understood “without drilling and jects might be, taking full account of local ultimately fracturing the rock”, he added. environmental impacts, would be the most Campaign groups and local communities positive way forward,” he said. have expressed concern over the safety of Naomi Luhde-Thompson, planning adviser fracking, particularly over water pollution.

But Sheppard said a recent United States at Friends of the Earth, agreed. “Bulldozing fracking applications through the planning Environmental Protection Agency study system, against the wishes of local people “found there was no widespread, systemic and councils, will simply fan the flames of impact on drinking water associated with shale gas extraction in the US. The study mistrust and opposition.” She said ministers found that there have been isolated pollushould “champion real solutions to the

6

FRACKING BLITZ FEARS

Fracking exploration sites offered to firms The Oil and Gas Authority has announced 27 more locations in England where licences to frack for shale oil and gas will be offered.

Including Cuadrilla and Ineos, 12 firms have been given the exclusive right to explore for oil and gas, including fracking.

But whether exploration can go ahead is subject to local planning consent.

UK energy minister Lord Bourne said: “Keeping the lights on and powering the economy is not negotiable, and these industries will play a key part in providing secure and reliable energy to UK homes and businesses for decades to come.”

But Andrew Pendleton, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth, said opening up “huge swathes” of northern England to a “fracking blitz” would provoke more anger and controversy.

“These offered licences to frack will cause yet more anxiety for people living under the cloud of fracking, now that the government is allowing companies to drill right through aquifers that are used to supply household drinking water,” said Pendleton.

tion incidents, which seem to be the source of the reported concerns”.

Ensuring that the UK’s regulatory process is stronger, Sheppard said fracking would be done under strict conditions, having been through many different levels of authorisation and approval.

“Provided that exploration efforts are checked and monitored by the regulatory bodies, then it should be safe to both drill and fracture in the UK,” said Sheppard.

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PLAN UPFRONT

Infrastructure and devolution key to rural productivity, says chancellor Chancellor George Osborne and environment secretary Elizabeth Truss (below) have published a productivity plan aimed at boosting the economy of rural parts of England, with devolution and improved infrastructure listed as priorities.

Towards a one nation economy: A 10-point plan for boosting productivity in rural areas sets out measures, the government says, will boost the rural economy by investing in infrastructure, improving rural transport connections and simplifying planning laws for rural businesses and communities.

The plan also includes amending planning rules to allow starter homes to be built on Rural Exception Sites for the first time. Local areas will then be able to allocate more sites for starter homes specifically for people who live in the area, have existing family there or an employment connection to the area.

Ministers pass freight plan against reporter’s advice

Scottish ministers have approved in principle plans for a massive rail freight terminal at Bellshill in North Lanarkshire.

The ministers went against the recommendation of the reporter from the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals who handled the scheme’s appeal.

The proposal for an inland port providing 200,000 square metres of distribution, service and logistics facilities, co-located next to four new 775-metre Euro Standard

railway sidings, was refused by the local planning authority.

PD Stirling (PDS), which operates the existing Mossend Railhead in Bellshill, plans to expand the existing facilities by creating what is called the Mossend International Railfreight Park (MIRP).

A government spokesman said: “Having carefully considered the reporter’s report and the objections raised, ministers have decided to grant permission in principle for the expansion of the Mossend Railhead, incorporating industrial and business uses, a Community Green Network and related transport improvements.

“National Planning Framework 3 (NPF3) and Scottish Planning Policy support modal shift of freight transport from road to rail.

“Mossend, along with Coatbridge and Grangemouth, is identified as an important interchange in the Central Belt.

“Ministers welcome the potential economic benefits of the proposal.”

The reporter had argued that the project should be refused because of green belt concerns and because the proposals were contrary to the local development plan.

The ministerial decision letter insisted that loss of green belt would be offset by the proposed community green network.

Inspector blocks refusal of oil and gas drilling in Surrey The National Planning Policy Framework says rural exception sites “are small sites used for affordable housing in perpetuity where sites would not normally be used for housing”.

Osborne said the British economy has been reliant on businesses based in towns and cities for “too long”.

“We want to create a One Nation economy that taps into the potential of all parts of our country.

“That means setting the right conditions for rural communities and businesses to thrive, investing in education and skills, improving rural infrastructure, and allowing rural villages to thrive and grow.”

Truss (pictured) said the government wanted to make it as easy to run a business from Cornwall as it is in Camden.

Joe Kilroy, policy officer at the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), said the institute’s concern with the first-time buyers initiative centres on a 20 per cent discount paid for by relaxation of planning obligations.

A planning inspector has overturned Surrey County Council’s refusal of an exploratory oil and gas-drilling project on a green belt site.

Inspector JS Nixon ruled that the scheme’s benefits outweighed short-term damage, and would be appropriate in the green belt.

Europa Oil And Gas originally submitted a plan to drill at Holmwood, in the Surrey Hills area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) in 2008. The council rejected it. The Planning Inspectorate rejected its appeal, but the company successfully challenged this in the High Court in 2013. This verdict was upheld by the Court of Appeal last year, with a second appeal heard early in 2015.

The firm said the project was “mineral extraction” as defined in the National Planning Policy Framework and so exempt from tough bars on green belt development.

Nixon said national benefits, the lack of alternatives, benefits to the public and the “limited duration of the effects on the environment” were factors in allowing the scheme. Europa has an application outstanding for an underground well path at the site.

CEO Hugh Mackay said the site has proI M A G E S | A L A M Y / I S T O C K / PA

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spective resources of 5.6 million barrels of oil, with a one-in-three chance of success. “We regard Holmwood as one of the best undrilled conventional prospects in onshore UK.” Leith Hill Action Group, which is against the plan, said: “We look to Surrey County Council to ensure that, if the development proceeds, the conditions attached to the consent are… enforced so as to minimise the adverse impact on the Surrey Hills AONB.” The British Geological Survey says Holmwood and Leith Hill, at the edges of the Weald Basin, could contain up to 8.6bn barrels of oil

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NEWS

Analysis { NEED FOR JOINED­UP PLANNING SYSTEM

Developing green belt ‘will increase congestion’

The RTPI contends that creating a million new homes on green belt land near main rail lines in London’s suburbs and surrounding counties would exacerbate road congestion

By Laura Edgar Building near to train stations in London’s green belt could add putting large numbers of new homes close to railway stations. an extra 7.5 million extra car journeys every week, according to While it is difficult to predict exactly future commuting patterns, research by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). the overwhelming evidence is that people will use their cars and Building In The Green Belt? A Report Into Commuting Patterns this will result in vastly increased numbers of car journeys in and In The Metropolitan Green Belt includes analysis by the RTPI of through the green belt.” commuting data from the 2011 census, considering those already The research “underlines the need for a joined-up planning living in the Metropolitan Green Belt to see where and how they system that considers housing and transport in equal measure, are travelling to work to find out commuter patterns. and greater investment in our railways would assist in providing The RTPI finds that adding a million homes near railway a viable alternative to driving”, said David Graham, senior stations in the Metropolitan London green belt could boost car associate partner at Daniel Watney LLP. journeys each week by 3.9 million to 7.5 million.

The severe housing shortage in London and the constraints The figures challenge the assumption that building in the green of building in the city itself mean that “some of the homes belt within walking or cycling distance of will undoubtedly need to be in the green belt”. railway stations would see most new residents Therefore, Graham said, building around existing using the train to get to jobs in London. transport hubs makes sense because some of THE RESEARCH Think tanks, academics and policy the necessary infrastructure is in place.

“UNDERLINES THE commentators have, the RTPI says, considered The report “rightly points out that investment NEED FOR A JOINED­ whether green belt boundaries around in new housing, and subsequent rises in local UP PLANNING SYSTEM London should be relaxed to help alleviate the populations, can put additional strain on a whole THAT CONSIDERS housing crisis. host of infrastructure – from roads to schools, HOUSING AND In February London First, Quod planning hospitals to utilities,” said Ben Harrison, director TRANSPORT IN EQUAL consultancy and Professor Paul Cheshire from of partnerships at Centre for Cities.

MEASURE – JANET ASKEW the London School of Economics released The These concerns though, said Harrison, can be Green Belt: A Place For Londoners? planned and “must not be used as an excuse to It said the starting point for a green belt avoid tackling the housing crisis”. review should be to consider only the areas that are near to He said there are no easy solutions to the acute housing existing transport networks, “are of poor environmental or shortage, and that by “simply continuing with the status quo risks civic value” and could address the capital’s housing need. The fundamentally undermining the UK’s strongest city economies”. assumption behind such proposals, the report highlights, is that “Our research shows that building on just 2 per cent of London’s new residents will go by rail to jobs in central London, enabling green belt could provide more than 430,000 homes at suburban sustainable housing growth without adding to the strain on roads. density in close reach of train stations over the coming years.

The commuting data for Hemel Hempstead, High Wycombe, Doing so will not mitigate the need to build homes elsewhere, or Watford, Maidenhead and Bracknell, all centred on railway provide investment in other supporting infrastructure for these stations, showed that 7.4 per cent of commuters regularly travel new communities.” to London by train. Seventy-two per cent travel by car, mostly to But RTPI chief executive Trudi Elliott said the data showed jobs “within their home town and to other places not in London”. how complex the issue of commuting patterns is and how Janet Askew, president of the RTPI, said: “These figures unpredictable they are. “The green belt is an important planning demonstrate a fundamental flaw in the reasoning that there is tool. Our findings demonstrate that it is vital to have an evidence a quick fix and a sustainable solution to the housing crisis by base before you make major policy,” she said.

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PLAN UPFRONT STATISTICS

3.5­7.5m

car trips could be added each week if a million homes are built near rail stations in London’s green belt

+

7.4%

commuters go to London by train

+

72%

use private vehicle to jobs in places other than London

+

41%

outside their home town

+

9.4%

of private vehicle commuters are passengers

+

4%

of commuters travel by coach or bus

drive to jobs

+

The route to the right locations Speaking to The Planner about Building In The Green Belt? Mike Axon, founding director and board director at Vectos (transport planning and infrastructure provider), said it’s “not right to harpoon” proximity to railway stations in Metropolitan Green Belt towns when making the case for the right location for new housing.

It is also not right to come up with a number “for new car commuters based on historic, not modern, patterns”.

It sounds “quite big” because it is for a week but it has “no context whatsoever”.

Assuming that “policy will fail and that beneficial change will not occur with advent of the new development catalyst” is the third thing he suggested is not right. “It is easy to conclude that Metropolitan Green Belt towns will be the beneficiary of the initiatives and transport education that new strategic development brings.”

However, RTPI head of policy Richard Blyth said the commuting study is based on the 2011 census data, “which is the most up-to-date data available”. The study aims to “cast light on weaknesses in proposals for development in the Metropolitan Green Belt made by a number of organisations which have received very wide exposure and give, we believe, misleading impressions of the implications of changing planning policy in very specific ways.

“We say, take the sites that are readily accessible to railway stations, undertake the case-by-case reviews, considering the design, choice, behaviour and management opportunities, and weigh demands and effects appropriately in the planning balance in the context of modern planning policy.”

Blyth emphasised that commuting patterns are “complex and not uniform”.

“We agree that radical thinking is necessary to address decades of under-provision of homes, but anyone making major proposals for changing planning policy should do the homework necessary to explain how they will work and what impact they will have,” concluded Blyth.

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Welsh City Deal bid achieves critical mass All 10 councils in south-east Wales have agreed to join forces over a bid for a City Deal for the sub-region.

Such an initiative for the city region would bring investment to the area and allow authorities to work together on ambitious projects like electrifying the South Wales mainline.

A £500,000 fund had been created to help develop the bid with each of the councils committing cash to the project.

In partnership with the Welsh Government, the 10 councils will work to develop a proposal for the UK Government for investment in the city-region economy to provide jobs and increase economic output.

Elsewhere, city deals have pro-

vided significant amounts of new funding to support infrastructure development.

Monthly meetings have been scheduled for all leaders, with Welsh Government officials in attendance, to develop the proposal, and officials have established a working group across all 10 authorities and the Welsh Government to develop a detailed business case for the city deal.

Peter Fox, leader of Monmouthshire County Council, said: “A city deal for the Cardiff region will do so much to create a successful and vibrant economic future for southeast Wales. It would unlock huge opportunities for the valley communities, our cities and rural areas.”

Councils gain victory in affordable housing battle with DCLG Two councils have won a High Court challenge over government proposals for affordable housing requirements for small-scale developments.

In November housing minister Brandon Lewis said in a written ministerial statement that for developments of 10 homes or fewer, local councils would not be able to impose affordable housing or Section 106 contributions.

West Berkshire Council and Reading Borough Council joined forces to challenge this proposal.

Mr Justice Holgate quashed the secretary of state’s decision to adopt the new policy by way of written ministerial statement and the relevant parts of the National Planning Practice Guidance.

Tony Page, lead councillor for strategic environment, planning and transport at Reading Borough Council, said the ruling was “excellent news” for everyone looking for affordable places to live.

“There is an acute and increasing need for affordable homes in Reading, which is demonstrated by the fact there are around 10,000 people on our housing waiting list, and the changes to the planning system would have made matters worse.

“The judge’s decision also means an estimated £650,000 a year will be saved for community benefit, including improvements to local roads, schools and playgrounds,” said Page.

Joe Kilroy, policy officer at the RTPI, said: “Recent research published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that s.106 is still an effective measure for delivering affordable housing. Section 106 allows planning to adhere to the principle of delivering affordable alongside market housing, and the introduction of a threshold has had a detrimental effect on the delivery of much-needed affordable housing, particularly in rural areas and areas where many housing completions are on small sites.” n For more reaction to this decision, please visit The Planner website: tinyurl.com/Planner0915-WBCRBC

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NEWS

Analysis { CONSERVATION AREAS

Big plans for Little Germany

By Laura Edgar Relaxed planning rules in a Yorkshire city are set to bring buildings in its 19th century merchant’s quarter back into use through a Local Listed Building Consent Order (LLBCO), the first in the country.

LLBCOs were introduced under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. This legislation safeguarding historic buildings retains the level of protection, but also makes it easier to manage certain changes.

The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council has been working in partnership with Historic England to introduce the first such consent order in England, which has taken 18 months from its inception to adoption by the council’s executive committee.

The project aims to bring empty and underused warehouses in Little Germany, the merchants’ quarter and a conservation area, back into use. The Planner spoke to Julian Jackson, assistant director for planning, transportation and highways at City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, to find out more about the project.

Why the Little Germany area Little Germany is a distinctive part of the city with a stock of high-quality and impressive warehouses and offices from the textile industry. Despite being empty and underused, the buildings, said Jackson, are “generally in good condition” with their shape, size and form adaptable.

“In tackling the issue of long-standing vacancy, it was decided that a more creative approach to their re-use was required and with the nearby £260 million Westfield shopping centre development progressing, it would be a timely opportunity to invest in the area as it is well located to take advantage of the retail development.”

The process of choosing Little Germany As the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 affords local councils new powers in relation to listed buildings it was felt that in the right place these could be used to assist with regeneration of the city centre. The council and Historic England decided that the “high-quality but underused listed buildings” “THE SCOPE OF WORKS in Little Germany meant it was DOES NOT GO BEYOND suitble for an LLBCO. WHAT MIGHT NORMALLY Why was this considered the best option? Residential and office space in the city centre is limited, said Jackson. Little

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BE EXPECTED TO BE APPROVED UNDER THE CONVENTIONAL LISTED BUILDING CONSENT PROCESS”

Little Germany, named after the wave of immigrants who arrived in the late 1850s for the textile trade

Germany’s space presents an excellent chance to address these issues.

Under the existing regime, though, “there is a perceived risk involved in securing planning permission and Listed Building Consent”. Because planning permission for change of use to specific uses will not be required, potential savings are offered to investors in terms of fees and planning obligations. The process, said Jackson, would also be simplified because of the reduced “perceived risk of whether planning permission will be granted”.

Royal Town Planning Institute president Janet Askew visited Little Germany as part of a regional tour of Yorkshire in July, accompanied by council representatives. She said the council’s aim to bring buildings in the area back into use could create a new mixed-use area of housing and workspaces, cafés and shops, but that it has “to be done sensitively”.

The use of an LLBCO is a “potentially clever way of attracting investment and people into the area”, encouraging regeneration, Askew told The Planner.

The lack of required planning permission for the work “will inspire people to live there and relocate their businesses alongside converted housing”.

“If this is done properly, I have no doubt that Little Germany will become a future exemplar for other historic towns,” she added.

The work involved in getting the LLBCO The council and Historic England worked with Little Germany Action, a local group that supports the initiative. The LLBCO has undergone public consultation.

Members of the public were invited to comment, as were Historic England, the Victorian Society and the West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service.

Benefits for the area “Bringing the buildings back in to use will help secure the future of the heritage assets by providing sustainable long-term uses which maintain their special interest and this will reinvigorate and bring investment to the area,” said Jackson.

Additionally, the nearly completed Westfield development means that Little Germany will be “physically more accessible and closely linked to the city centre”.

Work required Most of the buildings are in good condition, according to Jackson, and he envisages that little will need doing externally. Large spaces in the warehouses are ideal for conversion to a range of uses. The LDO and LLBCO “allows the flexibility to convert the buildings to use as offices, residential apartments, retail and a range of leisure uses”.

Consented work and alterations under the orders include internally division of spaces, introducing kitchens and bathrooms, new doorways and openings in internal walls and conservation type roof lights in rear roof slopes.

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PLAN UPFRONT

Book your place for World Town Planning Day Booking for the World Town Planning Day online conference will be available in early September.

Since 2009, the Royal Town Planning Institute and its sister planning organisations around the world have run an international online conference for the day.

This year’s online conference takes place between 4 and 6 November, with the official World Town Planning Day on 8 November.

The UK and Ireland will be able to take part from midday on 4 November, with the conference concluding at 2pm on 5 November.

The theme for the 2015 online conference is ‘Housing Regeneration: Strengthening Communities’.

The focus of the event will be to showcase and celebrate plans and policies around the world that address urbanisation and economic inequality disparities and housing pressures, including the level of affordable housing.

It will look at projects that can be replicated around the world, that are inclusive and engage with all sectors of the community.

Prices for tickets are US$50.

The conference is open to everyone, including non-Royal Town Planning Institute members. n For more information, and tickets from early September, visit the World Town Planning Day website. www.planningtheworld.net/

Belfast acts to tackle applications backlog Belfast City Council has agreed new procedures to deal with the backlog of so-called legacy planning applications facing the local planning authority as powers were transferred from the Department of Environment to the local authority.

Nearly 800 ‘legacy’ planning applications were transferred to the council with the reform of local government in April.

Although the number has been reduced to 450, a significant backlog remains.

‘Legacy’ applications will now be approved by the chair and vice-chair of the planning committee in conjunction with the town solicitor and planning officers.

Under the new arrangements councillors will receive a list of outstanding applications for consideration and will be able to request that the planning committee should consider individual applications from their own areas.

Planning committee chair, councillor Matt Garrett, said: “We hope to ease the situation for all those who have been waiting for some time to undertake work, but also to speed up the process for those who have made recent applications.

“Councillors can still highlight applications where local concerns are a priority, so I think this is good news for everyone involved,” he insisted.

I M A G E S | A L A M Y / B R A D F O R D M E T R O P O L I TA N D I S T R I C T C O U N C I L / G E T T Y

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Surge in Irish house completion rates masks problems Latest official figures on house completions indicate an increase of 16 per cent on the previous year.

But analysis of this apparent surge in building activity suggests it is happening in the wrong areas and is well below the rate needed to meet demand.

That’s the assessment of industry professionals who have commented on the figures published recently by the Department of the Environment. These showed that 5,625 houses and flats have been completed so far this year, an increase of 801 units on the same period in 2014.

Almost half of the totals are one-off properties, while there has been a sharp drop in two of the biggest Dublin local authority areas and a key commuting county.

Just 313 homes have been built in Dublin city, down 36 per cent; some 141 have been completed in south Dublin, a drop of 43 per cent, while completions have also fallen in Wicklow by 63 per cent to 183.

The country’s Housing Agency has warned that 21,000 units a year are needed every year to cater for a growing population and to meet pent-up demand.

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said almost half of all homes completed in the first six months would never be sold on the open market.

‘Housing output this year will be less than half that needed to meet demand.

It will take time to restore the industry to a sustainable level,’ said Hubert Fitzpatrick, CIF director of housing, planning and development.

Housing output fell in seven local authority areas – Dublin City, Wicklow, Wexford, Westmeath, South Dublin, Roscommon and Carlow.

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24/08/2015 11:44

CHRIS SHEPLEY

O Opinion Might is being pitted against right in this tug of war I sallied forth over the summer to the village green to watch a tug of war between “Build stuff at random” and “Build stuff in the right place”.

“At random” were the pretug favourites, armed with copious amounts of scattered brownfield land and a clutch of vacant industrial sites.

They relied on power to get their own way. “Right Place” took a more cerebral approach, and the tussle between brawn and brain looked unmissable.

The umpire crouched low, knees akimbo. A tense crowd watched, hushed in the burning sun. The village band played Abide With Me, then fell silent as he opened the bout with a cry of “tug away!”

“At random”, with Sir Eric Pickles at anchor, took an early lead. Using the technicalities of the Use Classes Order to their advantage, they soon had offices switching to housing willy-nilly. An old hospital was demolished (much to the chagrin of the patients) and Greg Clark, tugging merrily at silly mid-off, claimed that over 100 houses had been provided, though the umpire judged that owing to double counting there had in fact been only 12 – tiny – dwellings, most of them built the previous week on contaminated land.

“Right Place” saw a chance, and started to make progress.

Pointing out that many of the new houses were miles from the nearest school, pub or shop, with an incinerator next door but no buses, they impressed by arguing

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“LOGIC HAS TAKEN WING AND FLOWN TO THE TOP OF THE CHURCH SPIRE, WHERE IT IS BEING ATTACKED

BY A PIGEON” for deliberately putting things near other relevant things, rather than relying on happenstance. They pointed out the locational, financial and practical problems attendant upon a lot of brownfield land. Calling on years of experience, they took the lead with a sharp reference to garden cities.

But then they overplayed their hand by bringing climate change into play.

Sensible planning, they argued breathlessly, could reduce the need to travel and help us achieve our carbon

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reduction targets. This, as they ought to have predicted, upset George Osborne, who had been tugging somewhat ineffectually in the Stroke position. Tossing aside the rules about carbon-neutral homes, and switching all his cash from wind to fracking, he threw in a few populist irrelevancies about the green belt, muttered incomprehensibly about zoning, and took his team firmly and deliberately backwards. The crowd, unsure of what was happening, muttered uneasily.

“Right Place” found such moves hard to counter. Was planning reduced to this?

Random changes of use, avoidance of land situated near significant voters, the abandonment of affordability, and a few dodgy statistics?

The umpire was poised to attest a “profitable pull”. But

wait. The RTPI president, tugging frantically at scrumhalf, made an impassioned speech. “Logic has taken wing and flown to the top of the church spire, where it is being attacked by a pigeon,” she said. “Judgement is dancing drunkenly around the maypole, tangled in ribbons and sweat. Reasoning ricochets round the bouncy castle like a helpless kitten in a washing machine.” She went on to make a passionate plea for community, for quality of life, for green space, for comfort and convenience, for nature and nurture, for happiness and gaiety, for life. These were not to be found on some densely developed desert of disused industrial land, or in a crumbling 60s office block converted to apartments, or a scrap of leftover land beside a carpet warehouse. Don’t we care about how people live? We can, and should, and must do better.

The “At random” team was reeling. The crowd cheered as the advantage shifted and a shocked Sir Eric let the rope slip from his hands and vanished (quite a feat). But Osborne and Clark tugged on frantically and, as I went for tea in the TCPA tent, the teams were level pegging. To be continued, indefinitely.

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

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

21/08/2015 17:07

Quote unquote FROM THE RTPI PLANNING CONVENTION “It sounds disingenuous for the government to claim that local communities will remain fully involved in shale gas and oil planning decisions if these decisions are ultimately taken by ministers” NICK CLACK, SENIOR ENERGY CAMPAIGNER, CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT RURAL ENGLAND

"For too long we've trained too many hairdressers and not enough bricklayers" PETER BOX, CHAIR OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION’S HOUSING BOARD, ON THE LACK OF SKILLED CONSTRUCTION WORKERS

“Britain is currently on course to be importing about 75 per cent of its oil and gas resources by 2030 – we need more homegrown energy supplies and shale gas must play a part in that. The choice is not gas or no gas. The choice is how much we rely on gas from abroad or whether we extract more in the UK”

“It is undoubtedly in the national and the local interest to ascertain whether we will be able to he continued need satisfy the ral gas in the UK for natural g from ourr own indigenous onshore resources”

ENERGY SECRETARY AMBER RUDD, WRITING IN THE SUNDAY TIMES

CUADRILLA A, FOLLOWING THE CUADRILLA, GOVERNME ENT’S SHALE GAS GOVERNMENT’S ANNOUN N CE C EMENT ANNOUNCEMENT

“A “wicked problem” is a phrase favoured by b policymakers to describe an issue that is not only complex but highly contested and unpredictable.[…] There is no more classic example exa of a “wicked problem” than housing”

“The road to Hell, and all that. It turns out that in building wind farms to save the polar bears, we’re in danger of wiping out the whales and dolphins.

You couldn’t make it up” RICHARD LITTLEJOHN, CRITICISING CONSERVATION IN THE DAILY MAIL

MATTHEW TAYLOR, WRITING IN THE GUARDIAN

“I don’t think anyone on this planet would say it’s safe to put houses on with young children growing up there” HALSTEAD PARISH COUNCIL CHAIRMAN TERRY BROOKER ON PLANS TO BUILD HOUSING ON A FORMER MOD WEAPONS RESEARCH SITE AT FORT HALSTEAD IN KENT

“The green belt is an important planning tool. Our findings demonstrate that it is vital to have an evidence base before you make major policy” TRUDI ELLIOTT, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, RTPI I M AG E S |

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21/08/2015 17:07

CORRESPONDENCE

I Inbox

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

Daniel Scharf — West Berks and Reading BC should be congratulated on challenging Mr Pickles’ written ministerial statement that attempted to interfere with the operation of the planning system in a way that was incompatible with the existing statutory scheme.

I wonder if other authorities might be interested in challenging the contents of Fixing The Foundations, signed off by the chancellor and business secretary, that relate to land use planning?

Could it be argued that the removal of the zero-carbon homes target (combined with the demise of the Code for Sustainable Homes), without introducing any effective alternative, is incompatible with the existing statutory regime? Also the Climate Change Act 2008, s39(2) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (requiring plan-making and decisiontaking to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development), and s70(2) of the Planning Act 1990 and 38(6) of the Planning Act 2008, which requires weight to be given to both development plans and the National Planning Policy Framework that have policies and a ‘presumption’ in support of sustainable development?

The required carbon reduction of at least 6 per cent a year will increasingly rely on reducing the emissions from building. This is the one sector which could become carbon negative/solar positive. In the context of the 80 per cent of 25 million existing dwellings being EPC ‘D’ and below, it would be interesting to see the

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evidence and officer advice relied on by Osborne and Javid that shows it to be good idea to add to the substandard housing stock requiring upgrading by 2050.

It might be a blessing in disguise that Greg Clark, the new communities secretary, did not sign up to Fixing The Foundations as it might leave him free to introduce polices that would mitigate its most damaging effects.

Daniel Scharf, MRTPI Planning consultant

Martin Taylor — In July’s The Planner, David Bissenden rightly highlights the potential of the muchmaligned bungalow to address the need for more housing for an ageing population.

Better still, but even more maligned, are park homes.

These single-storey mobile homes on a caravan chassis are built to high standards and provide an affordable alternative to standard bricksand-mortar bungalows.

But park home developers cannot compete for land designated for mainstream housing and so almost all home parks are outside settlement boundaries.

Few planning authorities will accept park homes as affordable housing as an exception to policies to constrain housing within defined boundaries.

So developers of these affordable communities are unable to compete for land allocated within settlements and unable to get permission outside settlement boundaries.

The solution is either to allocate sites specifically for park homes or to otherwise allow such development as a policy exception in

ON THEE WEB WEB @ThePlanner_RTPI ner_R ner_RTPI ne er_ _RT RT TP PI The Planner Think Tank group gro on LinkedIn is live – and we’re to invite you in. r keen k We’re always happy to receive your emails, or even physical letters (getting actual post is such an exciting novelty these days) – but The Planner’s Think Tank group is where we engage with you ahead of, during and after publication of news and features. We also use the

sustainable locations at the edge of settlements. But despite an NPPF requirement to plan for a mix of housing to suit the needs of all sections of the population, few local authorities are doing this.

Martin Taylor, MRTPI director of hotels & leisure, GVA

Wendy Shillam — Simon Wicks reports advice from Leigh Sparks on the survival of town centres (August issue). But in one piece of advice I feel he is misleading smaller retail centres. The consolidation of units to attract high street brands will, I fear, kill a high street rather than revive it.

Low-value brands will be the only type of ‘multiples’ to enter a marginal street. Once that has happened you can wave goodbye to any form of independent retail.

It takes time and effort to become a destination for specialist shops, but they

group to conduct surveys, elicit response to topical questions and amplify debates. If you’re in the RTPI’s own group, you’ll probably see us asking the odd question there as well.

So, please visit us and join the group at The Planner Think Tank. See you online.

can more easily merge with the butcher, the baker and the candlestick-maker, who will have fled if planners concentrate on multiples.

I agree with Sparks that a town centre should be green, pedestrian-friendly and offer activity beyond shopping. But I think people go in search of the interesting and different.

Think markets, bric-a-brac, street cafés. Provide services for early adopters (highspending types) who cycle rather than drive, or who want to hook up an EV, who expect wi-fi, like fresh food and will pay for artisanal.

If you need a supermarket convert an office into a shop, or an edge-ofcentre warehouse. Once consolidated, small shop units with their quirky and historic façades, will never return.

Misguided planners will not have thrown a lifeline to their town centre, but instead tied a noose around its neck.

Wendy Shillam, MA, RIBA, MRTPI

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21/08/2015 17:08

National Organization of Residents’ Associations - Chairman The Chairmanship of the National Organization of Residents’ Associations (NORA) will shortly become vacant, and applications are invited.

NORA has about 70 members and was founded in 2003 by a group of town centre residents’ associations in England & Wales which were concerned about the local threat to their environment, and needed advice on Planning, Licensing, Traffic management, Car parking, Community safety, etc.

NORA seeks and coordinates that advice, responds to consultations by government departments, and scrutinises proposed legislation, all this business being conducted electronically, with the results being

posted on the website. NORA is often consulted on government policy and this can require London meetings. It speaks for about five million people, and Ministers regularly address its AGM, usually held in London.

The position is voluntary, so there is no salary, but reasonable expenses are paid. The Chairman can be based anywhere in England or Wales.

Applications, with accompanying CV, should be sent to the Secretary, Mr Alan Grant, at: norasecretary@gmail.com by 31st Oct 15.

nora-uk.co.uk

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20/08/2015 11:52

SECTOR INFORMATION GUIDES Throughout 2015 The Planner will be publishing several A5-sized desktop reference supplements. These will be targeted at local authorities, other planners and professionals of all types seeking to get updated quickly on the services of planning consultancies in key sectors.

URBA REGE N NERA 201 TION SECT5O GUID R E

Make sure you appear in the most comprehensive directory of consultancies to the UK Planning Industry

›› Transport Infrastructure ›› Large Scale Residential IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE A PART OF THESE GUIDES PLEASE CONTACT: LEE ANNE WALSH: LEE ANNE.WALSH@REDACTIVE.CO.UK OR ALTERNATIVELY CALL ON 020 7324 2753 HPH planner ad AUGUST.indd 1

PLAN NER

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21/08/2015 11:57

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

O Opinion

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Andrew Walker is a policy researcher for the Local Government Information Unit

Councils could be the key to unlock unlocking house building.

Crucially, they also have the potential to shape places with communities through good planning and design.

But Local Government Information Unit research shows that local government is not yet in a position to play that role effectively.

After years of underinvestment in housing departments, many councils lack skills and confidence, and structural barriers often stop housing, planning, infrastructure and design priorities from aligning within organisations.

There are pockets of innovation that shows what councils could do to enable housing development in their communities. These also demonstrate the potential for councils to have a positive impact on design and to ensure joined-up planning.

Birmingham faces serious housing challenges, but is adopting innovative approaches.

A place-making strategy is enabled by the dual role of director of planning and regeneration, which draws together key portfolios that many councils hold in separate departments.

The council also has a productive dialogue with developers. It produced a ‘Housing Prospectus’ that lists all potential development sites, including brownfield,

June Andrews is professor of dementia studies at the University of Stirling

The challenge of dementia

Creative councils can unlock house building

to attract private sector investment. The prospectus covers a mix of tenures and is a key part of the council’s plan to build 80,000 homes by 2031.

And Oxford City Council set up Barton Oxford LLP, a 50/50 joint-venture partnership with Grosvenor Developments, and has won permission to deliver 885 homes on a 90-acre site owned by the council.

The council works site by site, making plots available in partnership with individual investors. The strategy gives greater control over plans, and the first round of bids for the partnership were all turned down because they did not meet design requirements set by the council. An independent design review panel was established and the council insisted that the scheme had a Master Planning Architect to guarantee standards.

Such innovation needs to be more widespread if local government is to unlock the housing development we need.

Our Under Construction report makes recommendations that may help us get there.

Councils should rethink departmental structures, address skills gaps, and consider housing as a central part of devolution packages. Councils need to show leadership, and make the most of the opportunities available.

“POCKETS OF INNOVATION DEMONSTRATE WHAT COUNCILS COULD DO TO ENABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FOR THEIR COMMUNITIES”

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l If you live to be 90 you have almost a 50 per cent chance of developing dementia. Surprisingly, most people with dementia live at home. So if you plan to live long and live well, it is wise to choose a dwelling that will allow you to live at home for as long as possible and delay the need to go into care.

We are all familiar with the design regulations that support the independence of people with a wide range of sensory and physical impairments. But people with dementia have cognitive impairment as well as physical problems.

This means having difficulty in remembering things, or in working things out, and lack of judgement – disabilities not currently covered by regulation.

This will change as regulators come to understand the unnecessary trouble and expense caused by people with dementia having to go into care earlier than needed just because their own homes are not compensating enough for the problems that face people with dementia.

Also, because the number of people with dementia will double in the next 20 years, anyone involved in housing is making a mistake if they don’t take dementia-friendly housing principles into account.

Governments know dementia costs more than cancer,

heart disease and stroke put together, so they need to keep that cost as low as they can by keeping people at home for as long as possible. They know that by the time you need four hours of home care, it is less expensive to put you into care.

If public spending tightens, as seems likely, even private homeowners should be really interested in dementia-friendly housing. Personal resources soon disappear when anyone has to go into a care home. Even a short postponement of that necessity could save a family a six-figure sum. So how can you find out how to do this?

The Dementia Services Development Centre at the University of Stirling provides free information based on research as well as international expert consensus about what works to make a difference. And 2015 is the year-long Dementia Festival of Ideas, and housing and planning professionals can engage with experts from around the world at the International Dementia Conference*. The principles of dementia-friendly design make beautiful buildings and places where any of us would love to live. Let’s do it.

“ANYONE INVOLVED IN HOUSING IS MAKING A MISTAKE IF THEY DON’T TAKE DEMENTIA­ FRIENDLY HOUSING PRINCIPLES INTO ACCOUNT”

* The International Dementia Conference is at the NEC Birmingham on 3-4 November, http://ubm.io/1L2D2zb

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21/08/2015 17:08

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

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

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Richard Phillips is a director of WYG in Edinburgh

‘Stop all the clocks...’

– Scottish planning performance statistics

Recently published performance statistics on Scottish local planning authority decision-making reveal an increased use of ‘stopping the clock’.

Developers need to be aware of this process whereby Scottish planning authorities can remove a period from the total determination time for an application.

For the year 2014/15, 32 Scottish local authorities reported that they had stopped the clock for 955 applications. This compares with 766 applications in the previous year.

Some do it more than others, with certain types of applications more badly affected. In 2014/15 housing applications were hit the hardest, with 47.8 weeks on average removed from decision times.

This represents 6 per cent of all applications for local housing.

The government says valid reasons to stop the clock include: c Inactivity while the land transaction is on hold; c Applicant failing to provide amended drawings on time despite repeated requests and meetings – presumably this could include the failure to provide further information; c Site survey required for European Protected Species that must await a particular season; and c Delay in consultation response from an external consultee.

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What does this mean? Significantly, this process eases the pressure on planning authorities to address any delay in dealing with an application because their performance figures will not be affected.

But it could unnecessarily delay a decision. There also needs to be transparency. The authority should notify applicants when the assessment clock has stopped and why, and when the clock is restarted.

In doing so, there needs to be confirmation of whether this alters the period in which the applicant can appeal against the non-determination of the application.

But stopping the clock could be an advantage to an applicant. It is preferable to a refusal where amendments or more details are needed to make it acceptable.

Now, stopping the clock on applications emphasises the importance of the applicant in project managing the application process – including through the use of processing agreements – as well as front-loading the process with effective pre-application talks and a sound evidence base. Collection of performance statistics should not be used to delay delivery of development, otherwise this is a case of the tail wagging the dog. Nor, perhaps, as WH Auden says in ‘Stop all the Clocks’, “prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone”?

“SOME SCOTTISH PLANNING AUTHORITIES STOP THE CLOCK MORE THAN OTHERS”

Simon Marsh is head of sustainable development for the RSPB

Homes for people and nature, but definitely not for climate

George O Osborne wants “sweeping new changes” to planning laws, to deliver the homes the country needs. The new ‘zonal’ system will give automatic planning permission on all suitable brownfield sites, removing “unnecessary” delays.

The RSPB accepts that there is a pressing need for a significant number of new homes in England.

From nature’s perspective, the issue is where and how they are built: avoiding sensitive wildlife sites and so that they are great for nature as well as people.

But Osborne’s plan raises concerns. In principle, redevelopment of brownfield land is a good thing; in practice, it depends on a number of factors. It’s not so great if the site is far from public transport, if it’s subject to flood risk, or if it’s valuable for wildlife.

The RSPB is campaigning against a large housing development on old MoD land at Lodge Hill in Kent, a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its nightingales, as well as its grassland.

A public inquiry is to be held.

Lodge Hill epitomises the danger of thinking all brownfield is ripe for development.

Wildlife and Countryside Link recently published guidance on brownfield land of high environmental value, which should be useful for all planners and developers thinking of uses

for brownfield land.

What about how the homes will be built? The Productivity Plan also abandons the long-standing target that by 2016, all new homes should be zero-carbon rated.

This is extremely disappointing – a result of an unjustified obsession with deregulation and focus on housing numbers at the expense of the health of the planet, not to mention the lower costs of energyefficient homes.

The new housing bill will include plans for a statutory brownfield register. It is essential that the bill should exclude from this register land of high environmental value, and any development requiring either Environmental Impact Assessment or Habitats Regulations Assessment.

There must also be an opportunity for the public to be involved in deciding what gets on to the register because the public often knows the value of sites better than anyone else.

Finally, I must mention the RSPB’s partnership with Barratt Developments, and particularly our work with them at Kingsbrook, Aylesbury.

It’s not a brownfield site, but by working together we hope to create a new community where nature is woven into the development to benefit people and nature alike.

“THE PUBLIC MUST BE INVOLVED IN DECIDING WHAT GETS ON TO THE BROWNFIELD REGISTER”

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21/08/2015 17:09

INTERVIEW JORIS SCHEERS

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AD OF

JORIS SCHEERS HAS SEEN UP CLOSE THE CHAOTIC EXPANSION OF LATIN AMERICA’S EMERGING MEGA­CITIES. THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL OF SPATIAL PLANNERS TELLS DAVID BLACKMAN THAT HE IS DETERMINED TO HELP EUROPE FIND A BALANCE BETWEEN REGULATION AND CREATIVITY IN PLANNING

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urope faces profound challenges.

Every day brings fresh heart-rending tales of immigrants seeking to get into the European Union, the most visible face of the population pressures facing the continent. Add in the interlinked challenges of economic competitiveness and environmental sustainability, and it is clear why negotiating space on the crowded continent is becoming harder.

Step forward, Joris Scheers, recently elected president of the European Council of Spatial Planners, which holds its biennial conference in Dublin in mid-October.

There the theme will be on how technological trends, such as digitalisation, are influencing mobility and work patterns. Scheers hopes it will raise the profile of spatial planners in a debate that is too often dominated by multinational companies like Microsoft and Siemens.

But the 53-year-old spent much of his early career in a very different environment – Latin America, where his early academic work focused on the influence of the coffee industry on spatial development.

During his dozen years or so of flitting between Europe and South America throughout the 1990s, he helped to establish urban planning institutes in both Bolivia and Ecuador. His extended stays gave him a close-up view of some of the world’s fastest-growing cities.

“These cities are really booming and becoming strong urban areas with a lot of potential,” notes Scheers.

There is a flipside to these emerging megalopolises, however; the large shanty towns that surround them. Such communities may look like dystopias to the tidy Western planning mind, but Scheers sees merit in their almost ad hoc development.

“Regulation is always part of our culture in Europe as planners, but informality is extremely powerful,” he explains. “The potential of informality, building up your house, and the creativity involved in organising yourself and your community – we have lost that. We are so organised and drilled in terms of urban planning.”

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INTERVIEW JORIS SCHEERS

Planning for equality

Europe’s new urban networks

But he is careful not to romanticise the often-anarchic planning regime that characterises these new cities and which enables “Regulation is always the shanty towns to grow up around them – part of our culture in informality and creativity are also products Europe as planners, of poor governance. “The problem with these but informality is extremely powerful” kinds of mega-cities is very, very weak government,” he says.

Being a sociologist as well as a planner, Scheers is aware of how spatial planning is more than a purely technocratic exercise. It can also help to create and embed social and economic imbalances.

“The spatial decisions and developments you make are related to your social and political organisational choices,” he says. “Local plans are the result not only of technicians, but how our local society looks at how it should work and develop.

“These are the questions planners have to ask; if I draw the line like this, who’s going to benefit, where is the added value going?”

Planning can never be a purely technical exercise, he points out. “There is always a social and cultural colour from where you study, the environment you grew up in and what you bring as your personal baggage.”

To help those seeking to plan those fast-developing cities, where the bulk of world population growth is taking place, he has been developing a new set of urban and regional planning guidelines for the United Nations, which will be showcased at the global organisation’s Habitat 3 conference next year.

His work for the UN reflects how, unlike many academics, Scheers has always retained a foot in what he described as “down-to-earth, day-today” planning.

For much of his career, the father of two has worked part-time for the regional government of his native Flanders in Belgium. He enjoys the mix. “I love to play through different scales from academic to down-to-earth, real planning on the ground.”

Currently, he is working as the part-time head of an advisory council on spatial planning for the city of Leuven, where he is also visiting professor at the university’s architecture department.

The city, which has a settled population of around 100,000 topped up by 50,000 students during term time, encapsulates many of the themes close to Scheers’ heart.

He describes it as part of a “Flemish Diamond” of cities, which also contains Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent. “If you put it together, it’s five to seven million people,” he says, adding that it is one of a number of urban networks in Western Europe that also include the Netherlands Randstad, the Ruhr and the north of Italy.

These urban networks are playing an important role in what he calls the “metropolitanisation” of Europe that, Scheers says, is in turn fuelled by greater mobility.

In some of his classes at Leuven nowadays, barely 5 per cent of the students are Belgian. As he points out, would have been unheard of 30 years ago, when he was studying.

Within these networks, urban centres will increasingly function in a similar way to how neighbourhoods have within cities, says Scheers.

“Where we used to have neighbourhoods with a

C V

HIG HL IG HT S

J OR I S S C HE E R S Born: 1962, Bornem, Belgium Education: Masters and PhD degrees, University of Leuven Timeline: 1986

2015

1986­87 1999­02 2002­ Research Founded the present assistant, Centro de Institute of Urban and Regional Planning, Leuven University

Planificación y Gestión (Centre for Planning and Management) in Bolivia

1990­02

Visiting professor, department of architecture, Leuven University Institute of Engineering

2003­10 2006

Academic supervisor to the PlanTel project in Ecuador, which aims to strengthen local and regional territorial planning

Worked on UN-Habitat/ UNEP midterm reviews of Senegal and Cuba for the Global Sustainable Cities Programme

2007­ present President of the Leuven City Spatial Planning Advisory Board

2012­14 UN-Habitat expert for the elaboration of International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning

2015

President, European Council of Spatial Planners

Director, UMSS University (Bolivia) and UCSG University (Ecuador)

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Connecting cables

specific character, we might have cities within a network with a specific character.”

For example, he says that within the Flemish Diamond, Antwerp plays the role of port, while Brussels is the administrative and political centre, and Leuven its knowledge economy hub.

Sprawling inequality

“The real issue is cities and neighborhoods are constantly changing, pushing out young families to other areas. We should pay attention to the culture and spirit of those cities”

As this sector of the economy grows, the development pressures on the city have intensified, fuelling the growth of urban sprawl – producing themes that mirror our own experiences of urbanisation in the UK. “Despite a lot of good investment in city centres, upgrading public spaces, you still see a kind of suburbanisation going on that we don’t seem to be able to stop,” he says.

“The real issue is cities and neighbourhoods are constantly changing, pushing out young families to other areas. We as planners should pay attention to the culture and spirit of those cities.”

This poses particular problems for lower-paid workers. Besides the university, Leuven’s other big employer is the Stella Artois brewery, whose employees find it increasingly hard to compete in the city’s housing market.

“Blue-collar workers find it more difficult to find a decent spot to live, more powerful people are taking over,” he says.

But while urban networks may be operating on a bigger scale than in the past, people still live in actual neighbourhoods. The ‘challenge’ he says is how to bring what is often increasingly multicultural populations together in the same public spaces.

But the value of spatial planning, he adds, is that it can bring an integrated way of thinking to policy discussions that often take place in a vacuum.

In his new role Scheers will also be championing spatial planning at a European Commission level. The EC lacks a dedicated planning directorate, meaning that the issue tends to be considered at a national level.

“Nations have a very important role to play, but a lot of decisions and investments are made on an EU level. There’s a need to think about airports, ports, etc, on that scale.”

In the UK, of course, spatial planning has been downgraded to the level of individual districts following the abandonment of regional strategies.

Although anxious to avoid offending British sensibilities, he observes: “Cities can take over, but if they don’t, we might have a serious problem.”

He is heartened, though, that the Latvian government, which currently holds the presidency of the European Council of Ministers, has put an update of the European Spatial Development Perspective, the commission’s

Barely two decades ago, Medellín was a byword worldwide for urban dysfunction, as Colombia’s second city became the epicentre of the country’s cocaine trade.

But the intervening years have seen the city take big strides. Its showpiece cable car project is Joris Scheers’ personal favourite spatial planning project.

The scheme was dreamt up by Medellín’s urban authorities as a way of connecting up the city’s poor barrios. The trouble was that Medellín’s topography, which is characterised by hills, meant that traditional Western-style metro systems would not work.

As a result they plumped for cable cars, which could ride over the city’s hillsides and valleys.

In addition, the city’s planning authorities have located public libraries and social welfare facilities next to the cable car stops.

Scheers, who has spent much of his career working in Latin American cities, is hugely impressed by the cable car initiative.

“It’s wonderful the way that we can have specific solutions for specific problems, having in mind a clear vision how urban inclusion should be allowed to materialise.

“It’s fantastic how they have shifted from a really dangerous and problematic city to a city that is really growing well.”

A DUBLIN BIENNIAL The ECTP-CEU (European Council of Spatial Planners – Conseil européen des urbanistes) will be holding the 11th Biennial of Towns and Town Planners in Dublin from 14-16 October.

Making Cities Work – Technology in Planning Practice will feature sessions on ICT, urban mobility, city leadership, mapping and information systems, and spatial planning and energy. n Find out more at http://www. biennialdublin2015.com/

1999 planning policy framework, on its policy agenda.

He realises that the commission faces more pressing issues.

“We should be hopeful, although humble – we know that spatial planning is not the biggest issue.”

Nevertheless, he believes that spatial planning can help Europe to address some of its bigger issues, like migration and the economy.

“We are in a difficult period, but I see a positive trend; keeping it on the agenda is the main task.”

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CI T Y D E V O LU T I O N

DNA DEVOLUTIONARY

AS PARLIAMENT RETURNS FROM THE SUMMER RECESS, TRANSFER OF POWERS TO CITIES AND REGIONS WILL RETURN TO CENTRE STAGE. BENJAMIN MANSELL AND MICHAEL POCOCK OF PINSENT MASONS TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT’S ON OFFER AND WHO’S LOOKING TO ACQUIRE GREATER POWERS

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The draft Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill has given the government’s devolution agenda great momentum. The bill, announced in the Queen’s Speech on 27 May, will enable cities or regions to transfer powers away from Whitehall over a range of matters, including planning.

The powers to be granted under the draft bill are generic. For instance, section 17(1) states that “The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for a function of a public authority that is exercisable in relation to a relevant local authority’s area to be a function of the local authority”.

In essence, the government may transfer public authority functions to any council that wishes to embrace devolution.

There is not a single mention of planning with the draft bill. That is because the powers that are to be transferred, including planning, will be depend-

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CORNWALL

NEWCASTLE

LEEDS

SHEFFIELD

BRADFORD

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“THERE APPEARS TO BE A SIGNIFICANT APPETITE AMONG OTHER ‘CORE’ CITIES TO DEVOLVE POWERS” I M AG E S | I STO C K / A L A M Y / S I L E N T FOTO / A N DR E W T U R N E R

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CI T Y D E V O LU T I O N

ent on any ‘devolution deal’ that cities or regions strike with the government.

Therefore, devolution will not be uniform nationwide, and some cities or regions may reach a devolution deal that does not include planning powers.

Mayoral accountability?

What does seem certain is that a mayor will have to be elected in return for the devolution of powers. As George Osborne noted earlier this year: “It’s right people have a single point of accountability.

Someone they elect, who takes the decisions and carries the can. So with these new powers for cities must come new citywide elected mayors who work with local councils. I will not impose this model on anyone. But nor will I settle for less.”

The House of Lords has amended the draft bill to remove this provision. However, given the Conservative majority and the support of senior figures, it appears that when the bill reaches the House of Commons after the summer recess, this clause will be reinstated. The only exception to this stance is where it would be inappropriate to elect a mayor – for example, outside of cities.

Any newly elected mayor will have a slightly different position from that of the Mayor of London. The Mayor of London sits above the 32 London boroughs and is held to account by the London Assembly, a body directly elected by all Londoners.

Future mayors outside of London will instead sit within the framework of local government. This means that the local council leaders for the designated conurbation or region will act as a ‘cabinet’, which will be able to pass or block a proposal through a simple majority. There will be no democratically elected assembly to ensure that the mayors are directly held to account by the public.

In addition to an elected mayor, other proposed checks and balances have been introduced by the House of Lords to ensure the accountability of devolution. These are: c An annual report on the progress of

devolution should be provided to Parliament “as soon as practicable after 31 March each year”; and c Before the second reading of any bill, a minister must publish a ‘devolution statement’ confirming that the provisions of the bill “are compatible with the principle that powers should be devolved to… the most appropriate local level except where

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those powers can more effectively be exercised by central government”.

Devolution deals and planning Three ‘devolution deals’ have been struck to date in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Cornwall. Greater Manchester is at the forefront of the devolution agenda and has frequently been labelled as George Osborne’s devolution ‘pet project’.

It was the first devolution deal (announced on 3 November 2014) and also contains the widest-range of devolution powers set out to date. These include planning, policing, housing, fire services, healthcare and bus services. The West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Cornwall devolution deals appear to be a ‘starting point’, with more powers to be announced in the future.

There appears to be a significant appetite among other ‘core’ cities to devolve powers.

There has been speculation that other cities such as Birmingham, Nottingham and Bristol are seeking devolved powers, while Sheffield and the North-East Combined Authority have confirmed they are in discussions with the chancellor.

There is perhaps some hesitation among most councils to jump straight into devolution; they will instead wait until the bill has been given Royal Assent and see how successful the existing devolution deals are and which powers should be sought.

How devolved planning policies sit alongside the National Planning Policy

Framework (NPPF) will need to be scrutinised, because there is significant scope for conflict between regional powers and national policy. Of course, regional planning powers will need to be seen to fit in with the NPPF. For instance, the GMCA has confirmed that the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework “will be developed in line with NPPF policies”. However, given the brevity of the NPPF, there is scope for matters of detail to be loosely described as within the scope of the NPPF. This could be a lawyer’s paradise and the potential for legal challenge will be a real concern.

Co-operation and conflict in city regions The GCMA played a significant role in obtaining Greater Manchester’s devolution deal. Formed in April 2011, pre-devolution, it comprises the leaders of the 10 constitu-

“THE GMCA DESCRIBES ITSELF AS “A UNIQUE MODEL OF GOVERNANCE FOR A CITY REGION” AND IT DOES NOT APPEAR THAT THERE IS ANOTHER MULTI­COUNCIL BODY NATIONWIDE THAT OPERATES SO CLOSELY”

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Greater Manchester’s devolution deal depends on its creation of an elected mayor

ent councils in Greater Manchester.

There is a strong history of co-operation between the constituent councils and it is highly unlikely that such a comprehensive deal could have been agreed if the councils did not work in tandem. The GMCA describes itself as “a unique model of governance for a city region” and it does not appear that there is another multi-council body nationwide that operates so closely on key policy matters.

Other cities and regions may follow suit in forming or strengthening their city region body. However, old local rivalries and possible disputes over who will gain most from any devolution deal may hamper any alliance. This raises the possibility of devolution on a small scale; could powers be devolved to a single council or will

CASE STUDY

Manchester: Devolution details The newly elected Mayor of Greater Manchester “would hold the ultimate responsibility over new housing, planning and policing powers”.

Planning and housing policies announced to date include: c Creation of a statutory spatial framework for the city region that will act as the framework for managing planning across Greater Manchester. This will need to be approved by unanimous vote of the mayor’s cabinet, and will be in line with the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework being developed by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). c A Greater Manchester Land Commission. This will have an overview of all publicly owned land in the region, including that owned by the public sector.

It will co-ordinate how the land can be used to support Greater Manchester’s wider ambitions and address any barriers to such land being developed.

c The ability to create Mayoral Development Corporations that can drive regeneration and advance complex development schemes. Any such development corporations would have to be agreed by the leader of the Greater Manchester local authority area in which it would have powers. c Compulsory purchase powers, subject to the agreement of the leader of the local authority in the relevant area.

As the bill has not yet been finalised, not all powers and budgets have been devolved to Greater Manchester immediately. Some matters such as planning and transport await the enactment of parliamentary legislation and an elected mayor. On 29 May 2015, the GMCA selected Tony Lloyd, Greater Manchester’s Labour police and crime commissioner, to act as the interim mayor, with an election for the first directly elected mayor scheduled for 2017.

the government only grant powers to a collection of councils?

If the devolution agenda continues to press ahead, there will be an uneven spread across the country. There will be variation between those that ‘do’ and ‘don’t’ embrace devolution, and between the areas that have gained devolved powers. Could the result be a US-style differentiation in laws across the country?

It is unlikely to reach this stage, but there may be significant regional imbalances that will influence decision-making; if it is far easier under the devolved policies to build homes in Greater Manchester than in Leeds, Yorkshire-based house builders may switch their attention across the Pennines.

And will the bill achieve its desired effect in promoting a more balanced economy or will it lead to greater inequality? Devolution is widely perceived to be a step in right direction, as councils will be able to mould policies to suit local circumstance. But whether councils will have the resources, expertise and finance to make the most of devolved powers is unknown.

The future of devolution George Osborne predicted recently that “devolution has just begun”. How far he is willing to stretch the devolution mandate will be tested, initially by Greater Manchester, but latterly by other cities and regions. Sir Howard Bernstein and Sir Richard Leese, chief executive and leader of Manchester City Council respectively, have publicly stated that their ultimate aim “is for full devolution of all public spending in greater Manchester”.

Whether it is Manchester or any of the other cities considering devolution, it is clear that the devolution bandwagon is starting to gather real impetus and there are significant opportunities for the regional cities to shape their future.

Planning is at the heart of the proposals and the devolution of key planning powers will allow regional cities to take greater control over their development and infrastructure aspirations.

c A Housing Investment Fund worth £300 million over 10 years, with the aim of delivering 10,000 to 5,000 houses.

MICHAEL POCOCK is a partner and BENJAMIN MANSELL is a solicitor at Pinsent Masons

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E N FO R C E M E N T A C T I O N

A NEW

ERA THE GOVERNMENT IS ENCOURAGING PLANNING AUTHORITIES TO INTRODUCE ENFORCEMENT PLANS, BUT SO FAR THE TAKE足UP IS LIMITED AND THE PICTURE INCONSISTENT. HUW MORRIS REPORTS

I L L U S T R AT I O N | A N D R E A M A N Z AT I

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“WE WANT THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE RULES TO KNOW THAT WE’RE CRACKING DOWN ON THOSE THAT DON’T”

"C

inderella service” and “blaze of publicity” are hackneyed phrases often attached to planning enforcement. Yet recent events at two London pubs show just how quickly the change from one to the other can take place.

The Carlton Tavern in Maida Vale, which was the only building in its street to survive the Blitz, was bulldozed while under consideration for listed status.

Westminster Council ordered the owners to rebuild the pub “brick by brick”, an event widely covered by the press. Meanwhile, the Alchemist, a Victorian pub in Battersea, suffered the same fate, with the London Borough of Wandsworth ordering a similar clampdown.

Such high-profile stories highlight the importance of enforcement in maintaining public confidence in the planning system.

“While you see the more glamorous enforcement stories in the news that catch the public’s imagination, quite often we find authorities are incredibly inconsistent with their approach,” says Pinsent Masons’ solicitor George Wilson.

“There are certain breaches you hear about and think why aren’t they enforcing that?

“The resources are not there, and not just for the enforcement teams but for the planning teams as a whole. Yet we expect

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E N FO R C E M E N T A C T I O N

POLICY

Enforcement – the legal overview Section 171A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 defines a breach of planning control as the carrying out of development without the required permission or failing to comply with any condition or limitation granted under the permission. Any contravention of the limitations or conditions to permitted development rights, under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 also constitutes a breach of planning control against which enforcement action may be taken.

Paragraph 207 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) describes effective enforcement as important to maintaining public confidence in the planning system, but says such action is discretionary and authorities should “act proportionately” in responding to suspected breaches.

However, the NPPF does not specifically require authorities to introduce an enforcement plan. It says they should consider publishing one to “manage enforcement proactively in a way that is appropriate to their area”.

An enforcement plan should say authorities will monitor planning permissions, investigate allegations of unauthorised development and take action where appropriate.

The European Convention on Human Rights’ Article 1 of the First Protocol, Article 8 and Article 14 are also relevant to enforcement action. Authorities should look at the potential impact on the health, housing needs and welfare of those affected by the proposed action as well as those affected by a breach of planning control.

The Do’s and Don’ts of an enforcement plan A sizeable part of John Silvester’s practice is advising authorities on their enforcement plans. Here are his do’s and don’ts.

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DO’s

DON’TS

(1) A good enforcement service

(1) What makes a bad plan? It’s

is one that demonstrates a willingness and ability to change in relation to regular communication with residents and town/parish councils; and with the essential requirements of national policy, recommended best guidance and the good practice of other authorities.

(2) A good enforcement plan should clearly set out the main principles of planning enforcement; establish clear standards and expectations of users; identify close working with local residents and shared responsibilities with town/parish councils; it should also show cooperation between service areas that are essential to deliver an effective enforcement service.

easy to say it is the opposite of a good one. Not necessarily on every count, but it can be significantly lacking in principal areas.

(2) A bad service is one that doesn’t meet the basis requirements. Put simply, one that does not set clear standards, is not clear and open with the provision of information, is not helping business by advising on and assisting with compliance, does not have a clear complaints procedure; does not ensure that enforcement action is proportionate to the risks involved; nor does it demonstrate consistent enforcement practice.

them to keep an eye on everything.”

This message is gaining some momentum in Whitehall, with the government wanting a new era of enforcement plans.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which replaced Planning Practice Guidance 18 and Circular 10/9, does not specifically require planning authorities to introduce an enforcement plan, but encourages them to do so (see legal box). Yet since the onset of the NPPF in 2011, only a quarter of authorities have such a plan.

To tackle this, the government has launched a £1 million fund offering grants of up to £10,000 towards authorities’ legal costs providing they have had an enforcement plan in place for three months.

However, the fund alone will not encourage the three-quarters of authorities without a plan to get a move on. What’s holding them back?

Inform, negotiate and enforce Dave Westhead, chair of the National Association for Planning Enforcement and enforcement lead officer at Stockport Borough Council, says the service often comprises no more than two or three officers. “A lot comes down to resources, with the enforcement team the smallest part of the planning service,” he says.

Westhead urges enforcement officers without a plan to “do it yourself” – even copy Stockport’s 13-page document, launched after consultation in 2012 and which the borough aims to be part of the local development framework and examined by a planning inspector to give the service extra clout. Examination is likely to cost £12,000, but it shows how seri-

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ously enforcement is taken.

“If the enforcement team doesn’t write it, you have to get the policy team to do it and they might have other priorities,” he adds. “My advice is to write it yourself as it will probably be in plain English that people can understand. It doesn’t have to be a long document. If it’s too long people stop reading it. And make sure it’s directed at somebody who might be the subject of a complaint or is carrying out a development.”

Slowly but surely, the shape of enforcement plans is emerging. Last month Elmbridge Borough Council – which reported that it had 951 active cases,

471 of them more than 12 months old – unveiled a ‘direct action’ policy. The basis of the revised process is to “inform, negotiate and enforce”. Once the council is aware that a planning control has been breached it will inform the responsible party and then negotiate for up to 28 days to resolve the issue. If the breach remains after that time the enforcement team will issue a notice and take direct action.

Where appropriate, the council will be able to enter land to correct a breach for example where a resident has built an extension without gaining appropriate planning consent, or where a business makes changes to the use and appear-

CASE STUDY

Wokingham – a case study Wokingham Borough Council’s enforcement service receives around 700 requests to investigate each year, although half of these turn out not be planning control breaches.

John Silvester Associates was commissioned to review the service and found that although the team was hardworking and committed, several improvements could be made.

Chief among them was improving communication, managing expectations of stakeholders by publishing a clear statement of what the service can achieve well as proactively involving ward members and town and parish councils.

Challenge of resources

In response, the authority has prepared an enforcement plan backed up by more staffing and resources, especially dedicated legal support and IT. The plan includes a charter setting standards of service, a commitment to keep customers information and a zero-tolerance approach to breaches that significantly harm safety and amenity.

“The profile of the service is higher and we are managing expectations so people understand the council’s priorities and what it can and can’t do,” says head of development management Clare Lawrence. “We are also less risk-averse to taking action than we were before.”

“WITH THE CUTS TO BUDGETS, IT IS A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES AND WHETHER ENFORCEMENT IS ONE OF THEM”

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ance of a property without planning permission. In these instances the council will seek to recover any costs it incurs.

Elmbridge says correcting a breach could involve demolition of unlawful structures.

Direct action will be used alongside prosecution and injunctions to stop lengthy negotiations.

“We know residents are sick of living near properties that don’t have planning permission,” says cabinet member for civic pride Dev Sharma. “We want those who follow the rules to know that we’re cracking down on those that don’t. We’re sending out a strong message that you need to follow the rules and take pride in our borough, or face the consequences.

“The new planning enforcement policy has real teeth and will stop lengthy planning breaches negotiations. Through direct action, we will be able to go in and put the breach right, and charge the owner the cost.”

Nationally, the inconsistent approach to enforcement plans is heralding an emerging checklist of ‘do’s and don’ts’ (see box 2).

John Silvester, a planning consultant who is also a troubleshooter on enforcement plans, offers one best practice tip for authorities must do above anything else.

“The plan should be drawn up in consultation with local residents and businesses, in particular users of the enforcement service,” he says. “Some authorities have been preparing and adopting such a plan in splendid isolation.”

But the challenge of resources keeps rearing its ugly head. In an era of austerity, enforcement has been vulnerable to the axe in some areas particularly where authorities failed to appreciate its significance. Compounding this is the question of priorities, given the government’s recent warning that it will intervene if authorities do not have a local plan in place by early 2017. So far 64 per cent of authorities have adopted a local plan, according to government figures.

“An enforcement plan manages expectations by setting out the authority’s priorities but it remains to be seen whether they work,” says Wilson. “With the cuts to budgets, it is a question of priorities and whether enforcement is one of them.

If an authority does not have a local plan in place, will the resources go to that instead?”

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CROSSRAIL

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On 26 May tunnellers working on the huge Crossrail project beneath the streets of London made their final breakthrough, at Farringdon. After three years and 42 kilometres of boring, tunnelling is complete. The Planner’s Simon Wicks was invited to take a look at what’s happening beneath Farringdon

W H AT LIES B E N E AT H PICTURED: Tunnel boring machine (TBM) Victoria rests in situ at the point of breakthrough six storeys below ground in Farringdon. Stripped of its cutting head, the £10 million, 148-metre behemoth is being dismantled and returned to the surface through the shaft at Stepney Green. The parts will be reused by German manufacturer Herenknecht.

THE NUMBERS

42km

10%

+

+

OF TUNNELS BORED BENEATH LONDON

10

NEW CROSSRAIL STATIONS

+

3.4

INCREASE IN RAIL CAPACITY FOR LONDON

£42

BILLION ESTIMATED ECONOMIC IMPACT FOR UK

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See over for details

MILLION TONNES OF MATERIAL EXCAVATED

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CROSSRAIL

“It’s an enormous success for British engineering” THE MACHINES

EIGHT tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) have been used on the Crossrail project, each given, by tradition, a woman’s name. The machines weigh in at approximately 1,000 tonnes and are designed by maker Herenknecht to deal with complex geology; six have been built to bore through London clay, sand and gravel; two shorter TBMs (110m) were ‘slurry’ machines designed to dig through wet chalk and flint of the Thanet sand of south-east London.

“We bought the best machines in the world from Herenknecht,” says Farringdon project manager Linda Miller.

“They drive with exacting precision like I’ve never experienced before, to within a millimetre in places.”

THE STATIONS

TEN new Crossrail stations will be built in central London, Docklands and southeast London, at Paddington, Tottenham Court Road, Bond Street, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf, Custom House, Woolwich, Abbey Wood.

There will be 40 stations on the Crossrail routes from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. Existing stations will receive facelifts and upgrades, not least longer platforms to accommodate Crossrail’s 200m-long, 12-coach trains with a carrying capacity of 1,500.

THE IMPACT

THE TUNNELS

THE EIGHT TBMs have bored 42km of tunnel in three years, with Ellie setting the record of 72m in a single day between Pudding Mill Lane and Stepney Green. Tunnels are 6.2m in diameter and the deepest point in the network is 42m at Finsbury Circus.

More than three million tonnes of spoil has been excavated out of an anticipated total of seven million tonnes. Ninety-eight per cent will be reused, and three million tonnes has already been shipped to Wallasea Island in Essex, where the RSPB is building Europe’s largest manmade wetland reserve

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QUICKER journeys will mean travel from Heathrow to Liverpool Street in 36 minutes and Paddington to Canary Wharf in 17 minutes. Two hundred million passengers a year are expected to use Crossrail, and it will increase London’s rail capacity by 10 per cent.

According to a 2011 report by Crossrail, the new service will bring an additional 1.5 million to within a 45-minute commute of the capital’s central business district. One hundred thousand jobs could be created across the Thames Gateway and the total economic benefit to the UK over 60 years could amount to £42 billion in additional GDP. “Were in good shape,” says Crossrail programme director Simon Wright.

“We’re 65 per cent complete, on time and within the funding envelope.

“We’re fitting out stations and we’re already laying track in the old Victorian Connaught tunnel that we’ve converted for use to Crossrail. It’s an enormous success for British engineering.”

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INSIGHT

DiF { D

DECISIONS IN FOCUS

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

Planning permission intact despite flaw in EIA screening (1 SUMMARY The Supreme Court says a legally defective screening opinion, which concluded that a proposal was not Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) development, could not be remedied by subsequent assessment of the proposal’s effects and the development of mitigation measures outside of the EIA regime.

Despite this legal flaw in the process, the Supreme Court exercised its discretion not to quash the planning permission.

(2 CASE DETAILS North Norfolk District Council granted permission for construction of two silos for barley and a lorry park on a site close to the River Wensum, a Special Area of Conservation and a European site under the Habitats Directive. Despite concerns that the development could cause pollutants to enter the river, the EIA screening opinion concluded that no EIA was required. That conclusion was agreed to be legally defective, as the

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When to apply an EIA screen – the river Wensum in North Norfolk

council had insufficient knowledge of mitigation measures necessary to remove the risk of pollution.

The council subsequently required the applicant to develop various mitigation measures, which ultimately satisfied consultees and allowed approval of the application. The Supreme Court was asked to consider if the council had correctly complied with Habitats and EIA Regulations procedures.

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(3 CONCLUSION REACHED The court held that the habitats regulations, while requiring a high standard of investigation, did not require a formal assessment at a particular time when deciding an application.

The fact that the council had not considered whether an assessment under the regulations was required at an earlier stage did not affect the legality of the grant of planning permission.

But on considering compliance with the EIA Regulations, the court held that the flawed screening exercise had not been remedied by subsequent steps taken to secure appropriate mitigation measures. So the council had not been entitled to conclude that no EIA was necessary.

The Supreme Court noted that the decision as to whether a proposal is EIA development should be

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based on the characteristics and effects of the proposal as presented to the authority, not by reference to steps subsequently taken to address those effects. Furthermore, while mitigation measures can be considered at the screening stage, they should, where appropriate, be included in the environmental statement.

Despite this finding, the Supreme Court did not quash the permission. The failure to subject the proposal to an EIA assessment had not prevented the fullest possible investigation of the proposal and involvement of the public. A different process would not have resulted in a different decision and the interests of the applicant were not prejudiced.

The Supreme Court said, “in future cases, courts considering an application for permission to bring judicial review proceedings should have regard to the likelihood of relief being granted even where an irregularity is established”.

(4 ANALYSIS

(1 SUMMARY Communities secretary Greg Clark has agreed with the recommendation of an inspector that two appeals lodged by Hunston Properties Ltd against the decision of St Albans City & District Council should be refused.

[1] SASKIA MOLEKAMP This decision highlights the need for local authorities to undertake the EIA screening exercise in accordance with the letter of the EIA legislation, rather than rely on any analogous assessment exercise outside of the EIA regime.

The fact that concerns were resolved to the satisfaction of Natural England and other consultees did not mean there had been no need for an EIA and did not cure the procedural irregularity of failing to treat the proposal as EIA development.

Those looking to bring judicial review proceedings should note the Supreme Court’s comments on the circumstances in which it would exercise its discretion to refuse relief, namely where the correct process would not have resulted in a different decision and where the applicant’s interests had not been prejudiced.

SASKIA MOLEKAMP is a solicitor at Mills & Reeve LLP

Appeal Ref. R (on the application of Champion) v North Norfolk District Council [2015] UKSC 52

HOUSING

Green belt care home deemed inappropriate

(2 CASE DETAILS The first appeal was for 116 dwellings of which 35 per cent were to be affordable, along with a 72-bedroom residential care home and open space and tennis courts.

The second appeal was for 85 dwellings, the formation of new accesses to Harpenden Road, two tennis courts and public open space.

The decision finally handed down on 11 August, was the culmination of a long and litigious process. A previous planning inspector issued a decision refusing the two appeals in March 2013 but this was overturned following a successful High Court action.

Following the quashing of that decision in December 2013, a second inquiry was reconvened in July 2014.

The appeals considered the

assessment of the effect of the developments proposed on the openness and purposes of the green belt; the effect on the character of the surrounding area; and whether the harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, would be clearly outweighed by other considerations, so as to amount to the very special circumstances necessary to justify the proposals.

In accordance with paragraph 89 of the National Policy Planning Framework, the appeal proposals amounted to inappropriate development in green belt.

Both proposals were to bring some social and economic benefits with the care home beds providing for a growing need in modern purposebuilt facilities combined with the communal benefits that would be undertaken to mitigate the effects of the development.

But these factors did not weigh heavily in the balance of the decision.

There were also concerns about the environmental

The secretary of state judged a proposed development of housing and care home as not exceptional enough for the St Albans green belt site

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The applications concerned the erection of 116 homes and a care home and an application for 85 homes in Harpenden Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire, both in green belt.

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INSIGHT

DiF { D limb of sustainability and the inspector felt that the harm in landscape and visual terms were such that the developments could not be seen as sustainable.

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED The inspector decided that the social and economic elements of sustainability of the proposals were capable of being provided by any housing development in a green field, green belt location. They were not, he inspector ruled, matters that should be considered as being very special of themselves or contributing significantly to very special circumstances. Thus, while the minister agreed with the planning inspector that there was a significant shortfall in the council’s five-year housing supply, the harm to the green belt had not been outweighed and the hurdle of very special circumstances was not overcome.

A further High Court challenge may be lodged following this decision, but the developers may not

DECISIONS IN FOCUS have the stomach for further litigation which, even if successful, could result in another pyrrhic victory.

very special circumstance required to justify development within the green belt.

(4 ANALYSIS [1] POLLY REYNOLDS

POLLY REYNOLDS is senior associate at Veale Wasborough Vizards

This decision took over a year to issue following the closing of the reconvened appeal in July 2014.

Certainly for developers with aspirations to develop within the green belt, such delays in the decisionmaking process will be a cause of immense concern. The threshold of demonstrating and persuading decisionmakers that very special circumstances are such so as to be considered sufficient to justify development in the green belt is proving to be a very high one. Any such proposals are likely to be fiercely defended at every stage of the decision-making process. With no guidance on the matter it is difficult to know what combination of circumstances would be sufficient to give rise to the

Appeal Refs.

APP/B1930/A/13/2201728 APP/B1930/A/12/2180486 APP/B1930/A/11/2164231

HOUSING

Urban extension was sustainable (1 SUMMARY The appeal was against a failure to give notice within the prescribed period of a decision on an outline planning application for the development of up to 340 dwellings (including affordable homes) and B1 offices and a medical practice on an urban extension site at land west of Trewennack in Helston, Cornwall.

The inspector felt that an urban extension to Helston formed a sustainable development

(2 CASE DETAILS Although Cornwall Council acknowledged that it could not show a five-year supply of housing, there were two main issues why it would have refused outline planning permission, had it retained jurisdiction.

The first was that residential development on this site would represent a significant extension of Helston beyond its natural eastern boundary, resulting in a poor relationship with the town itself, the urbanisation of open farmland, and harm to the character and setting of the town.

The second stems from what was seen as the poor relationship with the town and is whether the location was an unsustainable one because of the distances to the town centre and other services and facilities and the consequent reliance on journeys by private car.

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED The appeal was allowed.

Inspector John Gray concluded there was no conflict with any of the paragraphs in the NPPF cited by the council in its defence.

He said the development would bring economic benefits, including muchneeded affordable housing, employment during construction and then from the proposed office and surgery space and local spending by the new residents.

There would be the loss of what was presently open land – but he ruled that the proposal would not be an incongruous appendage to Helston.

Appeal Ref. APP/D0840/A/14/2229258

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

ROUND­UP Here are seven more decisions that we think are worth a look this month. All the details and inspector’s letters can be found on the Planning Portal website: www.planningportal.gov.uk

APPEAL DECISIONS HOUSING

Application: Appeal against refusal of conversion of property from HMO into 5 self-contained flats 3 x 1-bed and 2 studio flats), at Withington, Manchester.

Decision: Appeal allowed.

Main issues: Grounds for refusal refer to the area’s character, and the impact of noise on neighbours. The council also said space in the flats was limited, that each would have only a shower room, not a full bathroom, and that to put a flat on the top floor it is necessary to build dormers. It argued that this was over-development and would fall below its ‘London Standard’. Allowing the appeal, Inspector Alison Partington said that the flats must be adequately noise insulated to safeguard the amenity of future occupiers.

Appeal reference: APP/ B4215/W/15/3028124 Application: Appeal against refusal to grant permission to build 43 dwellings without complying with a condition on a previous permission for a new watercourse to reduce flooding risk at a site in Driffield, East Yorkshire.

Decision: Appeal allowed.

Main issues: The site forms the first phase of a wider residential allocation in the local plan. A flood risk assessment for the whole site informed a drainage strategy that seeks to restrict surface water discharge from the site to an agricultural rate. But the FRA did not take account of flooding to existing property nearby, which arose from run-off from a school site.

Inspector Anne Jordan said

that while works to mitigate the flood risks are necessary for development on the appeal site, the specific measures set out in the appealed condition were not the only way to secure it. She imposed a further condition on the appellant to deal with surface water flow from the school site.

Appeal reference: APP/ E2001/W/15/3033494 Application: Appeal against refusal of permission for 9 detached 4-bedroom houses, at land in Bidford-on-Avon, Alcester, Warwickshire.

Decision: Appeal allowed.

Main issues: The site is green field land outside the builtup boundary of Bidford-onAvon in a residential area.

Key issues were whether the proposal would lead to a lack of social cohesion and be unsustainable under the NPPF. The council accepts it cannot show a five-year supply of housing sites, but said the proposal did not have a mix of unit sizes to meet demographic trends.

But Inspector Elaine Benson thought the plans offered an efficient use of land and would fulfil a socioeconomic role amounting to sustainable development.

Appeal reference: APP/ J3720/W/15/3007977 Application: Appeal against refusal to permit development of 35 houses (a third affordable) at Crewe.

Decision: Appeal allowed.

Main issues: The site is an L-shaped parcel of grazing land of 1.28 ha, north of Haslington village. The grounds of a primary school run along the southern boundary. It is in open countryside, with a high density of woodland and

medium settlement. Supply of housing land was not up to date so Inspector Karen Ridge attributed little harm to council policy objectives for the scheme. It slightly harmed the rural landscape, leading to an increased sense of suburbanisation, but would be sympathetic to existing housing.

Appeal reference: APP/ R0660/A/14/2226935 TRAVELLERS SITE

Application: Appeal against refusal of planning permission to build an eightpitch gypsy and travellers’ site on land at Doncaster.

Decision: Appeal dismissed.

Main issues: The urban site is disused land between the main railway line into Doncaster and a busy road.

It is designated as public open space protected from development except in exceptional circumstances.

The proposal was opposed on highway grounds, flood risk, its effects on the environment and its suitability for homes. Even applying weight to the unmet need for such sites locally, Inspector Karen Ridge ruled that the harm to highway safety overrode other factors.

Appeal reference: APP/ F4410/A/14/2215981 HOUSING

Application: Appeal against refusal to permit replacement of existing building with a mixeduse development of 101 apartments and employment space at Ware, Hertfordshire.

Decision: Appeal allowed.

Main issues: Inspector Anthony Lyman said the proposal met NPPF requirements – providing

a sustainable mixed-use scheme of employment space and 101 homes where there was a shortfall in fiveyear housing land supply. The development would make use of old railway land and a postwar industrial building.

Appeal reference: APP/ J1915/W/14/3001912 COMMERCIAL

Application: Appeal against refusal to permit reconfiguration/extension of existing office building with an additional storey, reconstruction of façade, retail space at ground floor, installation of additional access at the rear, and internal and external alterations in Aldersgate Street, City of London.

Decision: Appeal allowed.

Main issues: The City of London Corporation later adopted its Local Plan 2015 and resolved to grant permission for a similar application that changed the ground floor retail into a larger reception office, altered fenestration, and increased landscaping. But Inspector R Allen felt a retail unit would not be out of line with nearby premises. As the building is deeper than the adjoining residential block, there was overlooking from its southern elevation windows on residents already. But the proposed western terraced area on level 7, which would extend level with the southern elevation of the building, is far enough from neighbours to not harm privacy, and restricted use hours would address privacy issues posed by windows at the southern elevation at level 8.

Appeal reference: APP/ K5030/W/15/3003027

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INSIGHT

LLegal landscape UNSOUND, SOUND LOCAL PLANS WILL NOT SOLVE THE HOUSING CRISIS The Conservative manifesto made a bold commitment that ‘everyone who works hard should have a chance to own their own home. To achieve this we need to build a lot more homes. The planning minister’s Ministerial Statement on 21 July sought to highlight that in 2014-15, councils granted permission for 261,000 new homes, a level that could meet the 232,000 new homes a year required to meet projected needs.

But the statistic nearly always brushed under the carpet is annual housing completions.

Only 125,000 new homes were completed. For the gap to narrow, a sustained period of planning permissions above 230,000 homes a year is required.

Central to achieving this will be local authorities having up-to-date local plans that meet identified housing need in full.

The announcement that all NPPF-compliant local plans must be in place by early 2017 is likely to help boost significantly the supply of new homes, but this is not without some concerns.

In practice, the NPPF’s 12-month transitional

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Dominick Veasey period was always going to be more aspirational than achievable. With the 2017 date, a repeat of the process following the 2004 Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act, whereby many councils applied to save their old local plan policies in the absence of having updated documents will, it is hoped, be avoided. The plethora of saved policies still around today is testament to this.

"EVERYONE WHO WORKS HARD SHOULD HAVE A CHANCE TO OWN THEIR OWN HOME"

The government must stand firm on its 2017 deadline. Where no plan has been produced the development sector would be well placed to assist the government and local communities in determining appropriate levels of growth.

This sector-led analysis could be subjected to community engagement and then ratified by the Planning Inspectorate.

It is imperative that only local plans which meet identified housing needs in full are adopted. Where shortcomings [in plans] are identified, inspectors should look to resolve these through either pausing to allow further work to be undertaken, or by using

the ‘adopt and review mechanism’.

Given the time it is taking for most local councils to get their first NPPF-compliant local plan in place, there is a danger that in the drive to get plans adopted, some containing requirements too low to meet the full identified housing need will be allowed to creep through under the promise of undertaking an early review. A generation of unsound, sound local plans could be born that continue to frustrate the delivery of much-needed housing for at least a further five years, if not longer.

The government must seriously consider the implications of the ‘adopt and review mechanism’ on significantly boosting the delivery of housing. We cannot keep putting off until tomorrow the difficult housing number and delivery questions. If we do, there is a real risk that housing completion statistics will be stuck at only 50 per cent of what is required forever.

Dominick Veasey is an associate at planning and regeneration consultancy Nexus Planning

n This is an abridged version of the article. To read the full version visit our website at: www. tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-LegLan

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LATEST POSTS FROM THEPLANNER.CO.UK/BLOGS

B LO G S Planning has entered the crowdfunding arena as campaigners in environmental disputes throw open their appeals to the nation

L E G I S L AT I O N S H O R T S Grantham bypass legal challenge fails

Crowdfunding giving access to justice

A housing group has failed in its legal challenge to get permission for a relief road in Lincolnshire quashed.

South Kesteven District Council in Grantham approved the bypass – and a housing development

by Buckminster Estate – in 2013. But Lincolnshirebased Larkfleet Homes, which wishes to develop a nearby site, said the environmental impact of the two projects should have been considered together.

But the Court of Appeal said there was a robust case for the road even if the houses were not built.

CEO of Larkfleet Homes, Carl Hick, said the company would reconsider its options.

The relief road gained district council approval two years ago, and work is set to start. Buckminster Estate’s 3,700-homes scheme could start in 2016.

Lincolnshire County Councillor Richard Davies, cabinet member for highways, said: “The continued and unwarranted challenge has plagued this road since it was first granted permission.”

Jennifer Chappell

Entrepreneurs are now crowdfunding commercial litigation through charitable portals such as Crowdjustice and Invest4Justice.

There are websites out there for all kinds of funding, from charitable donations to mainstream investments, but crowdfunding for legal disputes has not been harnessed until now.

Crowdfunding for litigation is an interesting idea, particularly when the crowd is funding litigation where the donors have no financial interest in the outcome.

Is it likely that donors will want to fund public interest litigation out of the goodness of their hearts? Or is there enough interest in areas such as environmental and planning law for a precedent to be set that others can benefit from?

Crowdjustice is the UK’s first legal crowdfunding website.

Funders can support cases by pledging money towards legal costs for cases that are of general public interest. Current cases funded on the platform include a criminal appeal by five fisherman jailed for an alleged involvement in drug smuggling off the coast of Yarmouth and a planning dispute in

Daventry challenges appeal rulings Lancashire involving landfill.

Environmental legal disputes are certainly an area of controversy that could benefit exponentially from crowdfunding.

Residents in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, are raising funds to launch a judicial review against plans to extend a landfill site treating hazardous waste from construction projects.

Plans to triple capacity at the site have been approved by the government, which has classified the site as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, but local residents claim their views were not taken into account.

Conventional funding for litigation is scarce and recent cuts to legal aid have left local protestors unable to fund the judicial review. Since the landfill case was listed on Crowdjustice’s platform, the whole of the UK has been asked

to take up the fight on behalf of Skelmersdale and more than £6,000 has been raised for legal costs. The case will directly affect other communities where developers potentially use the planning process to set aside local objections and avoid local planning processes.

Crowdfunding and social media are now forces to be reckoned with, and entrepreneurs are tapping into ‘people power’ to give access to justice for all.

Daventry District Council has launched legal challenges against two appeal decisions granting permission to housing schemes it rejected.

Its move follows the government’s withdrawal of an exemption from affordable housing contributions and vacant building credit for small housing developments after the High Court ruled it unlawful.

The first appeal pertains to a 121-home proposal in Weedon. The council is challenging how the inspector dealt with a local plan policy that requires affordable housing for developments of five or more dwellings. The second is over a five-home scheme in Barby. The inspector said it would be unreasonable to ask for affordable housing as the council could not show a five-year housing land supply. He said the affordable housing exemption in the Planning Policy Guidance was a material consideration that he gave “significant weight”.

Elizabeth Wiseman of Pinsent Masons said that when Mr Justice Holgate ruled earlier this year it was thought it would spark legal challenges. “It will be interesting to see the outcomes of these two challenges are, and if they lead to further certainty for developers of smaller sites,” she said.

Ruislip regeneration plan to go-ahead

Jennifer Chappell is a senior associate in real estate at Bircham Dyson Bell

The High Court has dismissed a judicial review of Hillingdon Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a multimillion-pound regeneration of the old Arla Foods site in South Ruislip, West London.

In July it confirmed that the council’s decisionmaking process was sound and rejected both grounds for a judicial review raised by Sainsbury’s.

Hillingdon Council approved redevelopment of the site in October 2014. The scheme includes homes, a cinema, an Asda supermarket and restaurants.

Sainsbury’s wanted the decision to go for judicial review, saying the council had been inconsistent in its decision-making process and misapplied policy.

Council leader Ray Puddifoot said: “The fact that the judge made no criticism of the council’s handling of the application speaks highly of the skill and judgment of our planning department.”

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CASE STUDY

L EARN ING C URV ES

CASE ST UDY

AWARD: RTPI AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PLANNING FOR COMMUNITY AND WELLBEING PROJECT NAME: YSGOL CRAIG Y DERYN/CRAIG Y DERYN PRIMARY SCHOOL, WALES KEY PLAYERS/PARTNERS: SNOWDONIA NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY, GWYNEDD COUNCIL, DANTONB3 ARCHITECTURE.

T H E PROJ ECT Emotions run high whenever schools are forced to close and this is all the more compounded when it happens in a rural area.

Craig y Deryn Primary School is located against a backdrop of hills, mountains and the iconic ‘Birds rock’ (Craig y Deryn) from which it takes its name.

Ultimately, it is a response to severe pressure that is threatening the long-term sustainability of communities within the Snowdonia National Park and other sparsely populated areas in Wales.

Gwynedd Council’s 21st century schools programme replaced four school buildings within the communities of Abergynolwyn, Bryncrug, Llanegryn and Llwyngwril, all within, or on the edge of Snowdonia National Park. Cabinet member for education Gareth Thomas said the aim was to ensure that “all children have access to modern facilities, no matter where in the county they live”.

The project faced a massive challenge right from the beginning – how to keep residents and local businesses on board and gather their views on the scheme just as emotions were raw at the school closures.

“People thought they could keep them open, but these were Victorian schools that were unsustainable for carbon emissions and their size,” says Snowdonia principal planning officer Huw Roberts. “Our role was telling the community that we are try-

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ing to give them the best facility once the application came in and that we were trying to get the best possible solution.”

At one stage, planners were handling more than 40 phone calls a week, while the application raised more than 300 objections and one letter of support. Yet the partners noticed that written feedback from those who attended public exhibitions was more balanced. The public liked the design proposals and the idea of a modern and sustainable teaching environment. But people were still angry at the principle of the closures. Here is where the planning skills and resources were focused.

A series of public meetings were held when the idea of school reorganisation was first ventured. This was backed up by a detailed programme of consultation meetings, workshops and exhibitions spearheaded by the client and project architect.

Later meetings were held with head

“THE CHALLENGE WAS ALL ABOUT MAINTAINING A GOOD LEVEL OF EDUCATION AND ACCESS TO SERVICES FOR THAT COMMUNITY,”

teachers, staff and representatives of the four communities to set down and agree design principles. These provided a valuable forum for the communities’ concerns to be understood. The planning authority remained at arm’s length, but always available to advise on procedure, policy and legislation. All the sessions were conducted bilingually, but many took place in the Welsh language alone. Three widely advertised consultation days were timed to allow written feedback and to incorporate the public’s feedback into the evolving design proposals. These were also arranged to take place before and after a peer review by the Design Commission for Wales.

Gwynedd produced newsletters updating residents at key stages of the project. The public’s feedback was collated in a document submitted with the planning application to satisfy policy and planning guidance documentation on good practice.

Snowdonia’s planning officers held regular meetings with pressure groups, the community council, landscape consultants, biomass experts, individual objectors and residents. These meetings were held at various places across the park including a planning surgery in Aberdyfi to ensure that the widest possible number of people could have their voices heard. Where specific technical concerns were raised – particularly about the installation of a biomass heating source – an independent review I M AG E S | G E R A I N T RO B E RT S B 3 , A RC H I T E C T S /

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J U D G E S’ C O M M E N T S “The planners were clearly at the centre of delivering a successful outcome in extremely challenging circumstances.

This involved robust site selection based on sound planning criteria then preparing a development brief which had to be consistent with the statutory purpose of the national park and compatible with a wide range of specific local and national policies.

“The process followed and skills deployed by the planners involved have directly contributed to the quality of the scheme delivered.

“Despite all the negativity surrounding the school closure programme the outcome has been a positive and sustained one for the wellbeing of four communities.”

were distributed and information posted on websites to keep residents informed.

THE OUTCOMES

was sought to offer impartial guidance on flue emissions.

After the planning process was completed, the focus of community involvement turned predominantly to monitoring role to ensure that the project was meeting the community’s approval. This also fielded any enquiries, complaints or requests for information during the scheme’s construction. Both the client and selected main contractor held weekly ‘drop-in’ sessions on site for community representatives or interested individuals. Regular newsletters

“The Victorian schools were unsustainable for carbon emissions and their size,” says Snowdonia principal planning officer Huw Roberts

G W Y N E D D C O U N C I L / K E I T H O’ B R I E N, S N O W D O N I A N AT I O N A L PA R K A U T H O R I T Y

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National parks contend with the myth that new development should always be resisted despite an obligation on the park authority to “foster the economic and social wellbeing of local communities”. The result is an iconic building that shows a major development is achievable in a national park.

The school sustains Welsh as the primary language, which is essential to the cultural identity of the community, a move that predates recent planning legislation. A total of 110 pupils attend the school, which is now oversubscribed, while high-speed fibre optic broadband is helping boost education and business opportunities for adults. The building is also a hub for social services, public sector bodies and other organisations, allowing the community the type of access they would otherwise be excluded from in a remote location.

“The challenge was all about maintaining a good level of education and access to services for that community,” says DantonB3 Architecture’s senior associate Geraint Roberts. “The amount of investment is considerable, but it is providing not just a learning hub but a community facility for the wider population.”

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INSIGHT

Plan ahead P

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

Joint venture

THE PROGRAMME The Planning Court is One Year Old – Mr Justice Lindblom, lead judge of the Planning Court

The Joint Planning Law Conference is one of the highlights of the conference calendar for property professionals.

This year housing dominates the agenda, as organiser Mary Cook tells The Planner “It’s a prestigious event,” says Cornerstone barrister Mary Cook of the annual Joint Planning Law Conference.

“The speakers are lawyers, academics and professionals.

Whoever they are, they are all respected in their field.

“And they each produce a paper, given out after the presentations. These are a work of art in themselves.”

For 43 years the “Oxford conference” (so-called because it always takes place at an Oxford University college) has drawn together lawyers, barristers, property professionals, planners and politicians to discuss the issues of the day in land use and property development.

It’s ‘joint’ because it is jointly run by and for the Law Society, the Bar Council, RICS (Royal institute of Chartered Surveyors) and the RTPI, with each body taking it in turns to organise the event.

And it’s “special”, according to Cook, who is chair of

“YOU’RE BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER WHO MIGHT HAVE MET ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE ROOM OR THE COURT, SO IT’S AN OPPORTUNITY TO DISCUSS THINGS IN A NON­ADVERSARIAL WAY” 42

How Many Houses Should We Plan For? – Dame Kate Barker, non-executive director of Taylor Wimpey Grow Your Own Garden City: How We Doubled the Size of Uxcester – David Rudlin, URBED From Consent to Construction – Clare Fielding, partner Wragge, Lawrence, Graham and Co; Mike Kiely, director of planning, Croydon Heritage Assets and their Setting: Views from a Lawyer and a Practitioner – Nigel Hewitson, partner BrookStreet des Roches; Dr Nigel Barker, planning and conservation director, Historic England Legal Update – Saira Kabir Sheikh QC, Francis Taylor Building After dinner speakers: Liz Peace; Ben Page, Ipsos MORI

Co Cook: “It’s an opportunity to discuss things in a nonad adversarial way”

the organising committee this year, because it crosses boundaries to bring the property professions together over three days in a sociable setting (informal gatherings include two black-tie dinners, a cocktail reception and a tour of Oxford’s film locations).

“You’re bringing people together who might have met each other on opposite sides of the room or the court, so it’s an opportunity to discuss things in a non-adversarial way,” notes Cook. “You get to know people.

That helps us.”

What’s more, the Chatham House Rule that applies during the event leads to lively discussion during Q&As. Attendees can talk freely – and there’s much to talk about. This year’s programme, topical as ever, has a “constant refrain” of housing. “Because there is such a shortfall it’s beginning to impact on many aspects of life,” says Cook.

At least three of the

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presentations, from Kate Barker, David Rudlin, Clare Fielding and Mike Kiely (see box), deal directly with the challenge of providing housing to our growing population.

This year it’s presented

by Saira Kabir Sheikh QC of Francis Taylor Building. “She will have lots to talk about because there have been lots of cases. Post the NPPF there have been a whole string of them, and not a week goes by when you might find a decision coming from the Court of Appeal on a planning matter.

You can expect the paper to be more in depth than the presentation.”

So, aside from the quality

presentations, the in-depth papers and the networking, why should you come?

“If you are a chartered town planner, you have a huge amount to learn by attending the conference,” says Cook.

“You can work out who the go-to lawyers are and the ones you can work with. You can establish the latest case law in your key area.

“You take away professional relationships, the papers and solutions to problems you will encounter as a practitioner,” she adds.

And there’s one more thing: “I personally think it’s great fun as well as being intellectually stimulating.”

C O M I N G T O G ET H E R What: Joint Planning Law Conference Where: New College, Oxford When: Friday to Sunday, 18-20 September 2015 Find out more and book: tinyurl.com/Planner0915OX-1809 I M AG E | V IC K I CO U C H M A N

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DIARY

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

LONDON

SOUTH EAST

23 September – Understanding developers and development finance This masterclass uses lectures, workshops and exercises to help you think like a land buyer. Discover the practical application of development economics.

Venue: The Hatton (etc Venues), 51-53 Hatton Garden, London Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-LO-2309

24 September – Planning for an ageing population This one-day seminar on how to best accommodate an ageing population.

Experts from a range of relevant backgrounds will share their experience.

Venue: Old Court House, 118 Church Street, Brighton, BN1 1UD Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-SE-2409

24 September – Renewable and lowcarbon energy planning This one-day workshop seminar covers the key renewable energy planning policy drivers and the practical implementation process from both the LPA and private consultant’s perspective. Speakers will also cover some of the technologies involved.

Venue: The Hatton Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-LO-2409

EAST OF ENGLAND

29 September – POCA in planning enforcement Local planning authorities are increasingly making use of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to seek confiscation orders to deprive a criminal of the benefit received as a result of planning crime.

Venue: The Hatton Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-LO-2909 30 September – Building communities – delivering growth and regeneration This summarises the fundamental issues affecting delivery and quality of new development. It takes a step-by-step approach in understanding a full range of aspects of the development and design process to urban infill projects and how to deliver viable developments and a legacy of quality developments.

Venue: The Hatton Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-LO-3009

25 September – East of England gala dinner & wwards presentation evening Speaker is Kelvin MacDonald, director of Spatial Effects, senior visiting fellow of Dept of Land Economy, Cambridge University, a CABE enabler and registered IPC commissioner.

Venue: Girton College, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, CB3 0JG Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-EE-2509

WALES 5 September – YPC visit the National Lido of Wales A day at the restored Grade II listed National Lido of Wales. A bike ride from Cardiff to the Lido along the Taf Trail will also be organised. More details to come closer to the event.

Venue: National Lido of Wales, Mills Street, Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taff Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-WA-0509 15 September – West Wales Chapter: The view from The Ombudsman and Planning Inspectorate This inaugural event of RTPI Cymru’s West Wales Chapter will hear from the Public Sector Ombudsman for Wales and the Planning Inspectorate.

Venue: Civic Centre, Oystermouth Road,

DON’T MISS Sir Patrick Geddes Commemorative Lecture by Wulf Daseking: The Freiburg approach to sustainable urbanism Wulf Daseking is Professor at the University of Freiburg’s Institute of Sociology. He was chief planning officer in Freiburg between 1984 and 2012, where his main focus was on Rieselfeld, Vauban and inner city planning, the project Soziale Stadt (“Social City”) project, public spaces and citizen participation. He has been involved in the development and implementation of more than 100 development plans and has staged 80 public design competitions. Wulf lectures to universities including Kaiserslautern, Darmstadt and Stuttgart. He is a member of: the Architectural Association of the State of Baden-Württemberg; the Association of German Architects; the Academy of Urban Development and Regional Planning in Berlin; the Forum Building Culture; the German Association of Cities / Working Group on Urban Planning and the German Sustainable Building Council advisory board. He is also an honorary member of the Academy of Urbanism.

Date: Tuesday, 22 September 2015 Venue: The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh EH1 2NE Details: tinyurl.com/Planner0915-ED-2209

Swansea SA1 3SN Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-WA-1509

YORKSHIRE 15 September – Bradford: Renaissance This seminar will showcase the powerful motivation driving this renewal phenomenon. To book a place, contact yorkshire@ rtpi.org.uk.

Venue: Bradford Council, Jacobs Well, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD1 5RW Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-YO-1509 24 September – Professional practice: adapting to current changes This considers reforms including the National Planning Policy Framework, National Planning Practice Guidance, neighbourhood planning and new procedures for appeals. The chief planner at DCLG will be attending.

Venue: The Hospitium, Museum Gardens, York YO1 7FR Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-YO-2409

EAST MIDLANDS 8 September – East Midlands APC briefing Presentation on the APC guidance that will be

required for submissions from November. Open to all licentiates and mentors.

Venue: Nottingham City Council, Station Street, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG2 3NG Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-EM-0809

WEST MIDLANDS 14 September – Preparing for public inquiries and examinations in public A training day led by barristers from No 5 Chambers, exploring the procedures necessary to prepare participants for a public inquiry or examination in public. For planners at all levels from the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Venue: De Vere Venues, 5th Floor, Colmore Gate, Birmingham, West Midlands B3 2QD Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-WM-1409

NORTH WEST 16 September – RTPI NW golf day Stableford competition followed by a 2-course meal. The event is sponsored by Emery Planning Venue: Mottram Hall, Wilmslow Rd, Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-NW-1609

23 September – Urban design Planning officers are increasingly under pressure to make decisions regarding the design of new homes in challenging circumstances. The day examines what tools are available to inform decision-making.

Venue: The Racquet Club, Liverpool Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-NW-2309

NORTH EAST 9 September – Young Planners: end of summer BBQ Spaces are expected to go fast so book early. RSVP required.

Venue: The Bridge Tavern, 7 Akenside Hill, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3UF Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-NE-0909 16 September – Localism in action: delivering neighbourhood planning The session will consider aspects of neighbourhood planning including how it is being delivered, how those with interest can work together effectively, how expectations are managed and provide best practice examples.

Venue: Centre for Life, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4EP Details: tinyurl.com/ Planner0915-NE-1609

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NEWS

RTPI {

RTPI news pages are edited

by Josh Rule at the RTPI, 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL

Making local enterprise partnerships powerful players in devolution

BY MIKE HARRIS, DEPUTY HEAD OF POLICY AND RESEARCH

There’s no doubt that from a slowish start Local Economic Partnerships (LEPs) have become increasingly important to promoting economic growth in England.

But if they are to fulfil their potential as powerful players in devolution, then uncertainty over their role, as well as weaknesses in funding and expertise, will need to be addressed.

The abolition of regional plans by the UK Government left the major question of which institutions, if any, would pick-up strategic economic planning.

The government’s answer in England, at least to the economic part, was LEPs – private sector-led partnerships intended to encourage local growth and enterprise. What remains less certain is the planning part.

LEPs are voluntary partnerships between businesses and local authorities established in 2011 to help determine economic priorities and lead growth and job creation in local areas. The 39 LEPs provide a business perspective on planning, among other matters, and LEPs’ priorities and decisions can have important implications for both local and strategic planning.

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G r Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP rec recently received £178 million of EU funds to boost local growth plans

New research published by the RTPI provides the first comprehensive review of how LEPs have developed in relation to their potential for strategic planning.

The Government initially outlined several planning roles that LEPs could perform in England. But what has really enhanced their role has been the requirement on them to develop Strategic Economic Plans as part of the process of negotiating Growth Deals with central government. As a result, the role of LEPs in planning has also been increasing.

The findings suggest that LEPs are not a solution to statutory strategic planning at the sub-national level, nor do they claim to be. LEPs themselves have no wish to take on statutory planning powers or responsibilities. But given their make-up and broad remits, LEPs could work across areas such as planning and bring together different partners, becoming effective brokers of cross-boundary strategic issues such as housing and employment.

Inevitably, the activities of LEPs vary considerably between areas, but the evidence is that this is starting to happen.

More than half of LEPs intend to align or pool local authority growth funding, particularly in relation to housing, transport, economic development, regeneration, planning and infrastructure.

Nineteen LEPs refer in their plans to joint contracts or collective decision-making arrangements with local authorities, and 17 to combined authorities or ‘economic prosperity boards’.

The somewhat opaque remit and lack of firm institutional foundations of LEPs has been helpful in enabling some of them to play different roles depending on the context, which was surely part of the UK Government’s localism agenda for England. But this has also limited LEPs’ ability to help devise and coordinate place-based strategies.

To fulfil their planning potential LEPs would need a stronger, clearer planning remit, as well as more understanding and expertise in planning matters.

Inevitably, resourcing and capacity are major barriers to this.

Another report published earlier this year by the RTPI highlighted the serious disconnect in parts of England between some LEPs’ plans for job growth and local authorities’ housing plans. The RTPI argued the need for LEPs to align their economic plans with local authorities’ joint housing provision plans. The Government could encourage this in England through future rounds of the City/Growth Deal process, for example, by seeking and rewarding a greater integration between LEPs’ economic strategies and the housing provision in local plans. The institute is continuing to examine the planning role of LEPs. RTPI South West has commissioned further research on the six LEPs in the region and their potential to play a bigger role in the planning and development. n This research was conducted for the RTPI by Lee Pugalis, Nick Gray and Ania Ankowska of Northumbria University, and Alan Townsend of Durham University.

See: www.rtpi.org.uk/knowledge/ research/projects/small-project-impactresearch-spire-scheme/planning-forgrowth-the-role-of-leps/

I M AG E | G E T T Y

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Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk

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

Registered charity no.

262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841

3 POINT PLAN A planner explains how they would change the Northern Ireland planning system

Jennifer Mawhinney Senior Planner MICHAEL BURROUGHS ASSOCIATES The challenge to the new localised system in Northern Ireland is to instil certainty against the backdrop of fresh legislation, the imminent Strategic Planning Policy Statement and area plans for all 11 councils. Resourcing is a key issue, but department guidance for councils and councils’ own published guidance has been piecemeal to date.

Statutory periods for making decisions are a tried-and-tested mechanism in the UK and don’t conflict with aims of sustainability when taken with the ethos of pre-application and community consultation also instilled in statute. The 2011 Planning Act claims to be a tool to drive us into recovery, but it lacks teeth on this issue.

Third-party right of appeal should be integral to a system whose sole purpose is to act in the public interest. Argument that third-party right of appeals are counterintuitive to efficiency is misplaced. Over time this appeals process will help refine the discretionary elements of the system leading to consistency in the localised system and would be kept in check through the award of costs and careful prescription.

YOUR INSTITUTE, YOUR QUESTIONS NICK PEERS, TRANSPORT MANAGER, PROPERTY SERVICES GROUP

Why should I vote in the RTPI elections? How can I find out more about the members who are standing?

1 GIVEN the recent changes to the system, greater certainty is needed through published council guidance

2 BETTER enforcement of the statutory times periods for making planning decisions

3 THIRD­PARTY right of appeals should be integral to act in the public interest in the planning system

POSITION POINTS

RETHINKING PLANNING OBLIGATIONS: ACHIEVING A BALANCE BETWEEN HOUSING, NUMBERS AND AFFORDABILITY Joseph Kilroy, Policy Officer The RTPI co-hosted the launch of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report. The study concludes that Section 106 alone will not deliver enough affordable homes. While s106 plays an important part in solving the housing crisis, it was always intended as a supplement to affordable housing funding. The research can therefore be seen as an invitation to think of innovative ways to complement what is one part of the solution to affordable housing shortage.

n www.jrf.org.uk/publications/rethinking-planningobligations-balancing-housing-numbers-and-affordability

SUSANNAH GLOVER, GOVERNANCE OFFICER It is your chance to elect those members who you think are best able to influence the direction of the institute and make decisions about its future. As a chartered member, it is your right to vote and it is important to play an active role in the governance of the institute that represents you as a professional planner.

The president, for example, represents you, not just in the UK but internationally. We want to have the best possible people representing the RTPI and your vote will help ensure this. There will be information about the candidates available on our website plus all members, who are eligible to vote, will be either emailed or have a letter sent to them outlining who is running for election.

FIXING THE FOUNDATIONS: CREATING A MORE PROSPEROUS NATION Joseph Kilroy, Policy Officer The Productivity Plan announced plans to grant automatic permission in principle on sites identified on registers of brownfield land suitable for housing. Establishing the principle of development is helpful, but the notion of what is ‘suitable’ needs to be defined. A lot of land is not suitable, for example, being in remote locations. Just because land is suitable (in principle) for development does not mean that development at any scale is appropriate. There needs to be a means by which the impact on neighbours (and the contribution to) infrastructure is handled. Placemaking rather than housing delivery is the heart of the matter.

n www.gov.uk/government/publications/fixing-thefoundations-creating-a-more-prosperous-nation

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NEWS

n

RTPI {

CHARTERED MEMBERS JOINED APRIL­JUNE 2015

INTERNATIONAL IN FOCUS: RTPI MEMBERS WORKING AROUND THE WORLD

Jiaqi Chen, Planner/Consultant Citynet International Architects & Associate GUANGZHOU, CHINA After witnessing poor, rundown towns being transformed into beautiful places, I decided that planning was a way to positively shape the world around me. Little did I know I was signing up to 16-hour days! In my current role I analyse regional development policies and strategies, and identifying land for developers to apply for a permit to develop a project. I am also involved in creating conceptual plans and urban design frameworks for towns and cities for the government to devise regulatory and site plans.

The city government, led by

Huangpu H u interchange, Guangzhou

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the mayor, plays the largest role in decision-making in the planning process here, re, but many involved are not trained as professional planners. On top of this, as the government changes every five years, so do the planning system and regulations. The planning system could be improved by becoming more independent and stable so that there are less regular changes.

We need to continue to build the standing of the planning profession so that our advice holds greater weight. Planners need to be more involved in the decision-making.

The accreditation of the RTPI is highly appreciated by the government and developers. In China, planning only became a professional career 20 years ago, but the country has huge demand for it owing to rapid urbanisation. Many landmark projects were designed by foreign designers and planners with RTPI certification.

Congratulations to our newly elected Chartered Members between April and June 2015 “Many congratulations to all of our new Chartered Members. Employers rightly recognise the hallmark of professional expertise and integrity conferred by charter status. Being a chartered member of the RTPI makes you part of a community at the forefront of planning” – Janet Askew, RTPI president.

Daniel Allen Daniel Andrews Michael Aronson Lucy Claire Atkins Hannah Austin James Cameron Austin-Fell Craig Baxter Jim Bweavan Thea Francesca Billeter Rachel Emily Bird Susie Helen Bishop Susannah Byrne Poppy Carmody-Morgan Alison Challis Silvia Chan Joanne Louise Christopher Katerina Christou Ian Church Anna Clare Helen Clarkson Peter Cleveland James William Edward Cogan Felicity Gemma Copplestone Felicity Crawford Alexander James Cresswell Grace Crook Alison Dalton Matthew Daniel James Dawber Daniel Mark William Di-Lieto Sara Dilmamode James Donlon Kirsty Dougal Roderick Stephen Dowell Michael Doyle Michael Duncan James Isaac Durant Benjamin Michael Elvin Thomas Charles Evans Arwel Owen Evans Daniel Evans Matthew Eyre Stuart Flaherty Emma Flanagan Sarah Christine Fox Robert Michael Gaskell Gemma Gearing James Stuart Gibson James Patrick Murray Gilliland Victoria Rosalind Griffin Sarah Bethan Griffiths Neil Matthew Harvie Jack Nicholas Haw Robert James Heard Jenny Henderson Jessica Elizabeth Hobson Neil Andrew Holdsworth Michael Holloway Ralph Howden Jane Margaret Iannarelli Adam Jackson Gwennan Teleri Jenkins Simon Johnson Mhairi Louise Johnson Jaine Eleanor Jolly Chris Jones Iwan Wyn Jones Daniel Jones Sara Kamali Jaskiran Kaur Gillian Mary Kavanagh Susan Caroline Keal

Alexia Zoe Charlotte Kemp Jason Alexander Kennedy Bhavna Kerai Graeme King Alice Elizabeth Rose Kirkham Mark Laird James Andrew Leadbeater Thomas Owen Ledingham Amy Lee Andrew Lightstone Jonathan Locke Katie Lomax Alison Maguire Nicola Malone Helen Mansley Alice May Melissa McGinley Matthew Benjamin Mortonson Philip George Moule Hollie Leanne Nicholls Rachel Sarah Noke Lauren Park Thomas William Parkinson Gemma Paterson Ross Pattenden Kathryn Amy Pearson Gillian Margaret Peebles Emma Penson Jacqueline Phillips Sarah Phipps Samantha Pigden Gregory Pitt Struan Power Justin Quiney Patrick David Reid Joan Reid Caroline Hannah Richardson James Roberts Sean Rooney Andrew Oliver Rushmer Elizabeth Russell Ross Sandbach Sarah Marie Scannell Ben Shaw Claire Shearing Gavin Shirley Duncan Ewan Smart Anthony Smith Callum Smith Rebecca Elizabeth Smith Nick Smithson Jonathan Alastair Stewart Thomas John Stocker Philip Peter Storey Hannah Stutchbury Elizabeth Jane SutherlandThomas Liam Tate Alys Thomas Lauren Thompson Hayden Charles Todd Sarah Elizabeth Todd Pamela Turner Elizabeth Verdegem James Weir Anthony Whitaker George Andrew Wigan Ruth Eleanor Wilkes James Williamson Megan Catrin Wilmott Louise Yandell Sarah Young

I M AG E | I STO C K

21/08/2015 17:15

RTPI Y ACTIVIT E PIPELIN Current RTPI work – what the Institute is doing and how you can help us

RTPI SHORTS

RTPI IDENTIFIES KEY NEW LEARNING PRIORITIES The RTPI has identified eight topics to help members plan their CPD to meet the challenges facing planners: KNOWLEDGE Understanding and practising in a market economy b Health and inclusive planning b Delivering housing to meet national needs b Understanding land as a resource b

EMPLOY AN RTPI APPRENTICE Do you want to help school-leavers onto the career ladder or open up career progression for existing staff and retain expertise? The RTPI has developed an accredited apprenticeship in town planning technical support. With Havering College and Chichester College in place for the London and the South-East regions and a range of public and private sector employers on board, the apprenticeship is set for an autumn launch. The RTPI would like to expand this scheme across the UK next year including the development of a degree apprenticeship if there is employer support. Apprenticeships are becoming increasingly popular with young people and are a valuable recruitment tool for employers. n To participate contact careers@rtpi.org.uk or see http://www.rtpi.org.uk/ apprenticeships

GREAT NORTH PLAN ROUNDTABLES The RTPI and IPPR’s Great North Plan roundtables have been continuing with successful events held in Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle.

Participants have been discussing the most appropriate strategic planning framework for the north of England. We are still looking for evidence from planners to share their thoughts about whether we need a Great North Plan and what it should look like. n Evidence can be sent to infrastructure@ippr.org and on Twitter using the hashtag #GreatNorthPlan. Deadline is 30 September 2015.

RTPI SCOTLAND WANTS TO HEAR FROM PLANNERS ABOUT CREATING A FAIRER SCOTLAND The Scottish Government has initiated a discussion about what can be done to create a fairer Scotland to help it to produce a strategy promoting social justice. RTPI Scotland wants to hear from planners about where planning can help and what it needs to be able to do this. This will help RTPI Scotland to engage more effectively in the debate with the government and others to promote the role planning can play.

You can read more about Scottish Government’s ‘Creating a Fairer Scotland’ on the RTPI Scotland blog: https://rtpiscotland.wordpress.com/2015/07/15/planning-for-afairer-scotland/ n To contribute to RTPI Scotland’s response contact Scotland@rtpi.org.uk

2015 YOUNG PLANNERS CONFERENCE: LAST CHANCE TO BOOK Young planners – don’t forget to book your place at this year’s conference to be held in Southampton on 9 and 10 October. The conference will explore the theme of ‘Planning For Successful Places’. The Saturday afternoon study tours will allow delegates to experience examples of best practice from the South Coast. Locations include: Southampton’s Cultural Quarter, which aims to bring a vibrant, dynamic and cultural heart to the city; a major new regeneration scheme, Centenary Quay; the planned new redevelopment to the Station Quarter and Western Gateway; and the historic nearby city of Winchester. Conference tickets are £135 + VAT. Also don’t miss the black tie gala dinner, which will be held on Friday 9 October. Tickets are £35 + VAT. n For more details visit: www.rtpi.org.uk/ypc

SKILLS Communication, mediation and negotiation Effective decision-making Management and business skills Ethics

b b b b

Colin Haylock, past RTPI president and chair of the RTPI Learning and Practice needs working group, said: “Whilst the RTPI is not prescriptive about what or how our members learn, the institute holds a large amount of information about the ongoing learning needs of practitioners drawn from many sources. The Learning and Practice Needs Group analysed this and added some new dimensions including – ‘horizon scanning’ – to identify emerging and longer-term future practice challenges”.

The RTPI will provide resources on these topics for members. They will be reflected in continuing professional development events, we will produce RTPI Guidance on a range of topics including Ethics and Starting in Private Practice, and there is a dedicated section of the website. n Visit http://www.rtpi.org.uk/cpdpriorities

INSURANCE FOR INDEPENDENT CONSULTANTS Clients are increasingly litigious and claims are on the rise. As a new consultant with a tight budget, it is vital that you manage clients’ expectations carefully to minimise risks. Here are a few tips.

(1) Note down calls with clients, the advice given and any agreed verbal actions. This can help reduce risk, identify unproductive use of time, and assist in justifying charges.

(2) Maintain a transparent paper trail to help defend against complaints.

(3) Clearly define the duties to be undertaken. This can be achieved through formal Terms of Business, which are invaluable to address the expectations of both parties.

(4) Avoid absolutes that, for example, warrant what will be achieved or that a specific result will be delivered.

(5) Include a proviso that you will use “reasonable skill and care”. This can help avoid indemnity clauses for anything other than matters arising out of your negligence.

(6) Give clear limitations of liability, including the period of liability, but exclude liability for Consequential Loss.

(7) Specify which law is applicable to the agreement (i.e.

English/Scottish law). n Members who do not clearly set out their Terms of Business to a client may be in breach of the RTPI’s Code of Professional Conduct. For more information contact Jayne Morris at Perkins Slade on 0121 698 8021 or j.morris@perkins-slade.com

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ADVERTISEMENTS

Recruitment { EXPERIENCED PLANNERS?

Come and meet us – we have a lot to offer!

Senior Planner – Salary up to £33,992 per annum (x 1 post) Principal Planners – Salary up to £38,220 per annum (x 2 posts) Stroud district council are searching for passionate Senior and Principal Planning Officers who want to make a difference. You will be working predominantly on larger development proposals or managing appeals and enforcement case work.

With the highly effective support of dedicated case management officers working alongside planning officers and an efficient business support team you will be able to concentrate on achieving high-quality decisions. This coupled with opportunities for personal development and the ability to lead on a diverse range of exciting proposals including football stadia, large urban extensions, supermarkets and several mill conversions make these positions stimulating, challenging, and rewarding, you will not be held back!. We have a robust five year land supply and our new Local Plan is likely to be adopted towards the end of the year with a number of allocated sites due to come through the planning application process shortly.

Our move towards a paperless office provides opportunities for remote working and site visits with complete access to the council’s systems. Our Offices are productive open-plan working environments in a converted textile mill, alongside a newly restored canal with free car parking and a staff restaurant. The posts offer, access to a contributory pension scheme, a strong team ethic, a culture of supportive management with training opportunities and a good relationship with our District Councillors.

Stroud HPH.indd 1

Interested? Then come along to our open day for prospective applicants. It will give you the opportunity to ask any questions, have a tour of some of our sites and take a look at how we work.

The Open Day is taking place on 23rd September at our Ebley Mill offices. Please contact Barbara Lello on 01453 574942 to let us know you would like to see how we do things and have a tour of the District For an informal discussion, contact Barry Wyatt on 01453 754210. For an application form and how to apply, please visit: http://www.stroud.gov.uk/jobs.

Closing Date:28th September 2015 Interview Date: w/c 5th October 2015 We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

BRETT GROUP

17/08/2015 16:56

PLANNING GENERAL MANAGER MINERALS/WASTE/EIA BACKGROUND GROUP PLANNING DEPARTMENT ROBERT BRETT HOUSE, CANTERBURY, KENT Competitive package

PLAN YOUR NEXT MOVE

on the move • • • •

See latest job listings Create job alerts by email Save and email jobs from mobile Apply for jobs by saving your CV to your profile • Keep track of your activity

» Go to www.theplanner.co.uk/jobs 48

THE ROLE • Key member of the Group Planning Department, a close-knit professional team, handling all planning and development matters for the Company’s operating divisions.

• Liaise with managers in these operating divisions to understand their planning requirements and implications for their business strategies.

• Develop a deep understanding of local issues and lead engagement with local people.

Negotiate planning solutions with landowners, regulators and planning authorities.

• Prepare and manage delivery of planning permissions and variations for new and existing mineral sites, concrete batching plants and other ancillary operations, including rail depots.

• Provide comprehensive “in house” knowledge of National and Local plan policies and issues and the submission of Brett representations into these.

• Project manage preparation of planning applications, delivery of permissions and variations, details pursuant, ROMP and S106 Agreements.

• Prepare and provide support and advocacy of applications and proposals to public meetings, public inquiries and EIPs/LPA/MPA committees, aggregates working parties and other community forums and advisory panels.

THE REQUIREMENTS • Chartered Town Planner with at least 5 years experience of minerals/waste/EIA planning, gained in a public authority, industry or consultancy.

• Thorough knowledge of planning and environmental law, EIA regulation and planning procedures. Well-honed problem solving skills and demonstrable creativity in devising workable solutions.

• A determined and tenacious project manager, disciplined in achieving deadlines and with strong IT skills.

• The position will be based at the Brett Group HQ in Canterbury.

If you feel you meet the job criteria, please send a CV with covering a covering letter to: Helen Fuller at Brett Group, Robert Brett House, Ashford Road, Canterbury, Kent CT4 7PP or email Helen.Fuller@brett.co.uk Closing date: October 1st , 2015 Brett Group operates an Equal Opportunities Policy www.brett.co.uk

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ADVERTISEMENTS

Planning Officers £27,123 - £30,978

Job Ref: WLV000000845

37 Hours per Week Fixed Term Contracts for 1 Year Wolverhampton is a Millennium City with a thousand years of history, located on the north western fringe of the West Midlands conurbation, with the beautiful countryside of Shropshire and Staffordshire on the doorstep and excellent transport links to Birmingham, London, Manchester and Liverpool.

In Planning we have developed a more effective and less bureaucratic way of working that benefits both our Planners and those who want to develop in the city, providing a faster and more streamlined service that is boosting business confidence and investment, and producing high quality development.

We are looking for 2 enthusiastic Town Planners. These posts would be suitable for recent Planning graduates as this is an ideal opportunity to gain valuable experience. If you are working towards eligibility for membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute or well advanced on either a planning degree or well advanced on a planning post graduate qualification you are also welcome to apply.

If you wish to apply you are encouraged to contact Stephen Alexander, Head of Planning on 01902 555610 for an informal discussion.

www.knowsley.gov.uk

Place - City Assets - Planning

Apply online at www.wmjobs.co.uk/our-employers/ wolverhampton-city-council/ CLOSING DATE FRIDAY 11 SEPTEMBER, 2015

Knowsley is at the heart of the Liverpool City Region, fantastically located just 15 minutes from Liverpool City Centre and 30 minutes from Manchester, with superb motorway, rail and air connections, offering fantastic growth, investment and development opportunities across a range of development sectors. More than half of the Borough is designated as Green Belt, and its townships and rural areas are rich with environmental and heritage assets.

A rich tapestry of opportunity for planning involvement and support.

Planning Policy Manager PMG 1 - 3/SCP 350 - 360 • £43,130 - £58,659 pa [Subject to Senior Manager’s Review] • Job ref: CVP 520 The Planning Policy Manager will lead a professional team, developing planning policy, meeting legislative and national policy requirements and helping to establish the framework to deliver the corporate priorities of the Council, which include business and housing growth. The Council’s Core Strategy has now reached an advanced stage, and we are now seeking an experienced and motivated planner to lead an ambitious programme of Supplementary Planning Documents, future sub-regional work and project management of the Council’s next Local Plan.

A planning qualification and membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute together with management experience and a proven track record of leadership and delivery are essential for this role. If this is you, what are you waiting for?

www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/jobs

Principal Conservation and Design Officer

Planning and Building Control

Pay Band L/SCP 38 - 39 • £32,778 - £33,857 pa • Job ref: CVP 521

Planning Officer/Senior Planning Officer(Development Management) 2 YEAR FIXED TERM CONTRACT Salary (Career Grade) £26,293 - £31,846 (depending upon relevant experience) Uttlesford is an attractive district in North Essex. The district is under considerable development pressures and is currently responding positively to the Government’s growth agenda.

We require an experienced Town Planner, preferably a Corporate or Licentiate Member, with a positive “can-do” approach to development, to handle a varied caseload including large development planning applications.

The successful candidate will be able to work with minimum supervision and support the Team Leaders.

In your application you should demonstrate that you are the person we seek by giving evidence that you meet the requirements of the post.

We are aiming to appoint at the upper levels of the post.

For an informal discussion about this post, please contact Karen Denmark, Development Management Team Leader (South) 01799 510495 or Maria Shoesmith, Development Management Team Leader (North) on 01799 510556 If you are interested in this post please telephone our 24 hour recruitment answerphone on 01799 510666 quoting reference GDC001/1004 for an application form and information pack, or alternatively visit our website at www.uttlesford.gov.uk to download an application form.

The closing date for completed applications is Monday, 14 September 2015 by 12 Noon.

It is intended that interviews will be held on 24 September 2015. CVs will not be accepted.

We positively welcome applicants from all sections of the community.

The Principal Conservation and Design Officer will provide support to the wider Planning Service, particularly focussing on policy formulation and design advice to development management.

The Council is currently experiencing major growth in the residential sector, and this post will have a key role to play in raising the quality of our urban design, environment and legacy – all are key Service priorities. You will also be expected to play an active role supporting the regeneration plans for the Borough’s three town centres, to pursue delivery of the Council’s Historic Environment Strategy, (including the stewardship of 122 Listed Buildings and 15 conservation areas), and provide support to the Prescot Townscape Heritage Initiative team. You will promote greater understanding and enjoyment of the built historic environment across the Borough and develop partnerships with the many heritage based organisations in the area.

A relevant degree qualification in Architecture, Building Surveying or Planning, a postgraduate qualification in Urban Design or Building Conservation and membership of a professional institute (ie RTPI, RIBA, IHBC, RICS) together with management experience and a proven track record of leadership and delivery are essential for this role.

For an informal discussion on both jobs, please contact Stuart Barnes (Head of Planning) on 0151 443 2303.

Applications from all sections of the community are positively encouraged to

Closing date posts: Sunday, 20 September 2015. ensure thatfor ourboth workforce reflects the communities in which we work.

Knowsley MBC is a smoke free working environment.

For a full application pack please visit our website http://www.knowsley.gov.uk/jobs/ knowsley-council-vacancies.aspx

Please note that the Council does not accept Curriculum Vitae (CVs) or hard copy paper application forms for these vacancies.

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INSIGHT

Plan B P

I M AG E S | E V E R E T T / R E X / S H U T T E RSTO C K / J OH N ST U R RO C K

BORING WITH BRANDON

50

For this issue, we got up close with one of the eight huge tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) used to plough through the earth beneath London during the construction of the Crossrail tunnels.

The one we met was called Victoria. By convention, the machines are all given women’s names – chosen by public suggestion and vote. Aside from (Queen) Victoria, we also have: (Queen) Elizabeth; Ada (Lovelace), the first computer programmer; Phyllis (Pearsall) creator of the A-Z; Jessica (Ennis) and Ellie (Simmonds), Olympic medallists; and Mary and Sophie, wives of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his son Marc Isambard Brunel respectively.

Naturally, more boring machines will need to be built for Crossrail 2, so we figure we need to get the ball rolling early on their names. Plan B suggests we do away with the frankly chauvinist practice of naming machines after women only, and title them after Communities and Local Government ministers who, after all, are integral to shaping and maintaining our built environment.

That gives us Greg, Young James, Mark, Marcus and Susan*. And what better name for a boring machine t wouldn’t Brandon could there possibly be than Brandon? Thinking about it, The Boring Machine make a rather fun, educational animation series for children about the adventures of a cheeky tunnelling machine as it bores the holes that will enable us to ride swiftly across London; a Thomas The Tank Engine for the 21st century, replete with a fat controller? It’s a winner, surely? *The percentage of DCLG ministers who are women is actually lower than the percentage of Conservative MPs who are women, which stands at a measly 29 per cent. Baroness (Susan) Williams isn’t even an MP, meaning there’s not one elected woman representing the Department of Communities and Local Government. Just thought we’d point that out.

T H E P L AN N E R \ SE PT E M B E R 2 0 1 5

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BEWARE THE PLANNING HOBBITS Nuts/entertaining story of the month must surely be the crowdfunding campaign run, allegedly, by architects and structural engineers, to raise £1.85 billion to build a life-sized replica of Minas Tirith somewhere in the south of England. Apparently, this is a city from The Lord Of The Rings – you know, one of those spiky things shrouded in mist that looks a gothic fantasy poster in Athena.

Plan B was never a Lord Of The Rings fan, preferring the wit of Asterix, the imagination of Roald Dahl and the fancy of Spike Milligan to the pompous literalism (and really bad writing) of Tolkein. But each to his own.

Besides, it’ll be a spectacular endeavour should it succeed. Not because they will have raised £1.85 billion in pledges (as The Planner goes to press, they are around £1.85 billion short of their goal). But because they will have negotiated the vagaries of localism and overcome the inevitable protests from the burghers of whichever shire whose green belt they’ve commandeered to realise their grand and useless vision. Undone by Hobbits? Surely not?

Mind you, if they were to call it Minas Tirith garden city…

Seriously, if you want to pledge a tenner for a fantasy city in the south of England, go here: www.indiegogo.com/projects/realise-minas-tirith

n Got a name for a boring machine? Tweet us - @ThePlanner_RTPI 21/08/2015 17:15

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PLANNER RECR Sept15.indd 51

21/08/2015 14:45

Planning for Successful Places

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21/08/2015 11:54