The Planner September 2016

SEPTEMBER 2016 HABITAT HISTORY VANCOUVER TO QUITO // p.18 • THE UN’S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: IS THE UK ON BOARD? // p.22 • SHOULD THE NEW URBAN AGENDA PACT BE BINDING? // p.26 • RTPI AWARDS 2016: CHERISHING NOTTINGHAM // p.36

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

URBAN AMBITION HOW THE UN HABITAT III CONFERENCE COULD SHAPE PLANNING FOR A GENERATION

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Young Planners’ Conference

‘Planning for Change: Shaping our Future’

14-15 October 2016, Belfast Attendance can count towards your individual CPD O Fantastic networking opportunities O Fun social events O Lively and friendly conference O FREE study tours to 4 of Belfast’s top landmarks O 8 fascinating workshops O Plenary sessions on a wide range of topics

Book now

Conference: £135+VAT Dinner: £40+VAT 100th ticket is free See our website for further details

#YPConf2016 More details: http://rtpi.org.uk/events/young-planners-conference-belfast-2016/ p02_PLN.SEP16.indd 2

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PLANNER 08 18

CONTENTS

THE

SEPTEMBER

20 16

NEWS

6 Meeting the housing needs of disabled people

7 Most English councils lack plans for accessible homes

"BY 2030, THE URBAN POPULATION OF DEVELOPING CITIES WILL DOUBLE”

OPINION

8 Neighbourhood plans: Better guidance needed 9 Irish state digs deep to enlarge national park 10 Planning system changes impair ability to deliver good places 11 Belfast city centre revamp climbs off the drawing board

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14 Chris Shepley: The play’s the thing, so come, planners, rehearse your parts 16 Marion Frederiksen: How a city in Ecuador will shape life in the 21st century 16 Shipra Narang Sur: Habitat III – what’s in it for me?

18 Huw Morris looks at the history of Habitat

17 Zoe Green: Can UN Habitat III effect real change in our cities?

22 Will the UK buy into the UN Sustainable Development Goals that underpin Habitat III?

17 Brian Mark Evans: Why Habitat III must reflect the century of the city

26 A look at the New Urban agenda 32 Huw Morris assesses the prospects for positive change in Ecuador, where nature is legally protected 36 Case study: Nottingham heritage strategy

QUOTE UNQUOTE

“IT HAS CONTRIBUTED TO INTERGENERATIONAL INEQUALITY IN RELATION TO ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE, QUALITY HOUSING” ZHAN MCINTYRE OF THE SCOTTISH FEDERATION OF HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS, ON SCOTLAND’S NOW DEFUNCT RIGHT TO BUY

C OV E R I L L U S T R AT I O N | B E N T H E I L L U S T R AT O R

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INSIGHT

FEATURES

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

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38 Decisions in focus: Development decisions, round-up and analysis 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: Family planners: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and the ‘father of Philadelphia planning’

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PLAN UPFRONT

Leaderr Our rapidly urbanising world needs its Habitat – It is incredible to think just how far we’ve come since the second United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development – Habitat II way back in 1996.

Indeed, to realise that the phrase ‘sustainable development’ was just an abstract idea back then, yet an essential component of the National Planning Policy Framework today, is to understand the huge potential this third running of Habitat has to influence how planners across the world work in the years ahead.

That’s the reason why we’ve ensured that this edition covers Habitat III in such detail. Whatever comes out of the event in October will represent far from an overnight shift in behaviour and policy, of course – but there are planners just starting their first jobs today who will

Martin Read have their career trajectories altered by events next month in Quito. Just take a look at the aims of the sustainable development goals and you’ll realise that even the world’s most developed countries will be affected by the SDGs – and other Habitat-inspired initiatives – in time.

It’s also instructive to look at the RTPI’s role, as the weight the institute is giving it is pretty clear. Just as the institute committed to last year’s Paris Climate

Change conference, it sees Habitat III as a crucial international agreement and has been involved in a variety of initiatives in the build-up. RTPI personnel were involved in Habitat III’s preparatory meetings and also added language to the draft of the New Urban Agenda (as we report elsewhere this issue).

As a member of the World Urban Campaign, the RTPI has contributed to the WUC’s Urban Thinkers Campus events and its City We Need document.

The RTPI has also played its part as a member of the Global Planners’ Network (GPN), which has been keen to ensure that the world’s planning profession’s opinions are

“PLANNERS JUST STARTING THEIR FIRST JOBS WILL HAVE THEIR CAREER TRAJECTORIES ALTERED BY EVENTS NEXT MONTH IN QUITO”

heard in the build-up to Habitat. And, with both the Royal Institute of British Architects and Institute for Structural Engineers as its fellow founding partners, the RTPI is behind the recently formed UK Built Environment Action Group (UK BEAG) – an organisation set up to advise governments and international organisations on built environment issues from a global humanitarian perspective. Indeed, UK BEAG is to jointly host a side event at Habitat III. The world’s population has close to doubled since the first Habitat in 1976.

With numbers still rising, the issues raised in Quito affect us all – even those of us in the now highlydeveloped global north.

The unprecedented urbanising of our planet and the coming of super/smart cities will mean increasingly complex international agreements with powerful local impact. Planning will surely be critical to their implementation.

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Average net circulation 19,072 (January-December 2014) © The Planner is published on behalf of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) by Redactive Publishing Ltd (RPL), 17 Britton St, London EC1M 5TP. This magazine aims to include a broad range of opinion about planning issues and articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the RTPI nor should such opinions be relied upon as statements of fact.

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NEWS

Analysis { SPECIALIST HOUSING

Meeting the housing needs of disabled people

By Laura Edgar There are 11.6 million disabled people in the UK, 1.8 million of whom have an identified need for accessible housing – 580,000 of them of working age.

Research published by Papworth Trust and accessible housing consultant Habinteg, conducted by teams at the London School of Economics and Ipsos Mori, suggests that one in six households with an identified need do not have all the accessibility features they need. This equates to 300,000 homes, including 140,000 working-age households.

The authors of No Place Like An Accessible Home say working-age households are less likely to have the features they need than older households.

And people with an unmet housing need – disabled people living in inaccessible homes – are also “four times more likely to be unemployed or not seeking work due to sickness/disability” than people without special needs.

Vicky McDermott, chief executive at Papworth Trust, says building more accessible homes is a “fundamental part of future-proofing the housing market” with short-term investment and a longterm positive impact on other services.

No Place Like An Accessible Home suggests several key priorities, including:

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b

Developers should look again at their target markets and products to see if they are missing out on a significant market opportunity, and

b

Government departments should collaborate to probe the relationship between the lack of accessible housing and joblessness. As part of the government’s drive to reduce the employment gap for disabled people, understanding the role that appropriate housing plays will be “crucial”.

Adapting properties not viable Part of the issue, explained Nick Marr, co-founder of estate agency web service TheHouseShop.com, is that existing housing stock is “so poorly categorised” with regard to accessibility that disabled home-hunters “really struggle” to identify the few accessible properties that are available.

Marr told The Planner that adapting existing homes is “not a viable option when thinking about scale”. Most of the UK’s housing stock, particularly period properties, wouldn’t meet the criteria to be deemed “visitable by persons using a wheelchair” and it would be “costly and disruptive” to adapt these homes.

The focus, suggested Marr, should be on future-proofing all new-build housing by incorporating access and inclusive design from the outset. That doesn’t mean all new homes should be fully wheelchair accessible, but they should be “easily and cheaply” adaptable.

Independent living helps the economy

and the disabled community in particular are unaware of the rules that require developers to include accessible units in new developments, says Marr.

There are also problems in effectively marketing accessible homes to the disabled community.

“If a developer cannot sell or rent their accessible units, then they can justifiably argue that they should not be forced to design and build accessible homes – and this would be a catastrophic loss for the disabled community.”

Marr urged developers to cater to this sector “because there is a solid business case for doing so”.

Speaking to The Planner, Emily Bird, policy leader at the National Housing Federation, said there is an urgent need for the future funding model for this “vital” kind of housing and support.

“The housing association sector must be able to continue to deliver the kind of good-quality housing that helps people stay healthy and independent,” she added.

n You can read No Place Like An Victoria Pinoncely, research officer at the Accessible Home here: tinyurl.com/ RTPI, said the inability to live planner0916-accessible-homes independently and to participate in society and Providing accessible the economy “hurts housing would benefit individuals, but also disabled and elderly people, says the RTPI’s society and the economy Victoria Pinoncely as a whole”.

“Inclusive planning means planning for everyone, regardless of age, ability, gender or background, and providing accessible housing would benefit not only disabled people, but also other groups such as the elderly.”

A large part of the problem is that the public

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PLAN UPFRONT

Most English councils lack plans for accessible homes Just 3 per cent of councils outside of London have policies in place to deliver and monitor the number of accessible homes built.

Data obtained by Freedom of Information requests returned by 266 councils (82 per cent of English local authorities) asked if councils had planning policies to build to the accessible Lifetime Homes standard and, if so, how many homes have been built in the past six years.

There are 1.8 million disabled people across the country and just 7 per cent of homes in England are fully accessible, not including London. Since 2014, the London Plan has regulated to ensure that all homes are built to the Lifetime Homes standard, with 10 per cent higher wheelchair accessible standards.

If London’s 32 councils are included in the figures, 8.2 per cent of councils have “robust” accessible housing plans, said Habinteg Housing Association.

But Habinteg said there are councils that deliver best practice on accessible homes planning, monitoring and delivery.

It says councils including Leeds, Reading, Sevenoaks, Leicester, Peterborough and Eastleigh are providing a “strong example” to others on long-term planning frameworks.

Paul Gamble, chief executive of Habinteg, said: “With many councils yet to formalise their local plans ahead of next year’s deadline, there’s a clear opportunity to address the significant shortage of

“THERE ARE COUNCILS THAT DELIVER BEST PRACTICE ON ACCESSIBLE HOMES PLANNING”

accessible homes to rent and buy nationwide and meet projected demand. The government, he continued, has “rightly placed” enhanced accessible housing standards into building regulations for the first time. The default, however, is “inadequate” for many disabled people. The higher accessible standards remain purely optional, while levels of inaccessible housing could rise as the population ages.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. From Leeds to London, Eastleigh to Leicester there are councils that are doing the right thing. They are planning to build accessible homes and measuring the numbers built to ensure their policies are delivered.

“We’re keen to work with local authorities on this and urge all councillors and officers to look to these exemplar local authorities to ensure that their local plans properly consider demand for accessible housing,” he concluded.

Go-ahead for 1,500home neighbourhood in Derry

Shake-up of telecommunication infrastructure permitted development mooted in Scotland

Derry City and Strabane District Council has approved outline proposals for a new neighbourhood of up to 1,500 dwellings and associated facilities.

The scheme is earmarked for land at Galliagh, north of Skeoge Link Road on the north-west edge of Derry city.

It is zoned as H1B in the Derry Area Plan 2011.

The council has negotiated its first Section 76 Planning Agreement, working together with the developers, Moore Construction, Department for Infrastructure, TransportNI, Translink and the education authority, to ensure the comprehensive development of this site.

In addition to the 1,500 dwellings, there is provision for a school, neighbourhood facilities including local shops and services, roads, a public transport link and public open spaces with fully equipped play areas throughout the site.

The neighbourhood would tie in with the housing already approved for the adjacent zoned lands at H1B/C, where construction of several hundred homes is under way.

The Scottish Government has begun talks about expanding certain existing permitted development rights for Electronic Communications Code Operators (ECCOs).

The consultation also considers the introduction of new permitted development rights for building or installation of groundbased masts for ECCOs, subject to a prior approval procedure.

Proposed changes to planning legislation on electronic telecoms infrastructure (masts, cabinets and antennas) is involved.

These plans form part of the Scottish Government’s response to recommendations made in recently published independent research and set out in the Mobile Action Plan published on 12 June.

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Following the independent review of planning, a separate but related workstream is being progressed in tandem with this consultation to look at extending permitted development rights more generally.

Also set out in the Mobile Action plan is the administration’s commitment to develop a new telecommunications advice note to replace the current note on radio communications – this would sit alongside any new legislation.

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NEWS

Analysis {

Neighbourhood plan groups don’t always know what to ask – basic instruction would be useful

NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANNING

Neighbourhood plans: Better guidance needed

By Laura Edgar Earlier this year, a bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech to speed up the planning process and minimise delays in meeting the government’s ambition to see a million homes created during this Parliament.

According to the background notes for the speech, the Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill would, among other things, include “streamlined processes supporting neighbourhoods to come together to agree plans that will decide where things get built in their local area”.

It would “further strengthen neighbourhood planning and give even more powers to local people and strengthen it by making the local government duty to support group more transparent and by improving the processes for reviewing and updating plans”.

That’s what the government wants, but with more than 200 plans made, what do you think can be improved about neighbourhood planning?

Available guidance does not mitigate the learning curve Developing a neighbourhood plan is “challenging” for local communities, who often have “limited” planning experience and resources. Matthew Kinghan, associate director, and Tom Hyde, senior consultant, Nexus Planning, told The Planner there is little guidance available at a national level provided by central government.

They believe that guidance published

by Locality* is “more useful”.

Malcolm Carter of Ashton Keynes

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Parish Council, has been working on the area’s neighbourhood plan for over three years now, following guidance from Wiltshire Country Council, Locality, and Planning Aid England.

Working on the plan, he said, has been a “steep learning curve” for a small group of community and council members who have no planning policy creation experience.

“What guidance is available is good, but that does not mitigate the learning experience that inevitably has to be accepted. Locality sponsored planning aid is valuable, as are the Locality grants, which we used to commission AECOM to produce some plan documents,” he said.

Colin Smith, chairman of Lee Wootton and Guy’s Cliffe Parish Council, also worked with AECOM to develop conceptual layouts of what sites could look like. But he said neighbourhood plan groups don’t always know what to ask – clarification and basic instruction on this would be useful.

The RTPI explained that Planning Aid England has helped more than 270 groups develop plans and continues to provide and improve a range of free online resources to help with preparation**. These include podcasts and guidance notes on the various aspects involved, which have been put together by chartered planners with expertise in neighbourhood planning.

Important neighbourhood plans are responsive Kinghan and Hyde suggested that government guidance could include examples of policies and also

differentiate between policies and actions.

“Communities would benefit from direction in terms of the possible scope of neighbourhood plans and planning policies. Guidance would help manage expectations and resources.”

Additionally, guidance parameters for engaging with the private sector would be “beneficial” while guidance should also be available on the contents of a neighbourhood plan.

Kinghan and Hyde don’t necessarily want to see a standardised structure imposed on plans, but “local authorities sometimes have to consider more than one neighbourhood plan and they can be completely different in layout and contents. With their limited resources, this creates a further strain on them”.

Carter said it could be “confusing to decide what form of neighbourhood plan structure is best to adopt”.

“Many other neighbourhood plan examples can be found, but I do think a recommended structure and format would be helpful.”

The RTPI and Planning Aid England both emphasised that it is important that neighbourhood plans are I M AG E S | G E T T Y / A L A M Y

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PLAN UPFRONT

Irish state digs deep to enlarge national park A national park on the fringes of Dublin looks set to be enlarged now that the state has stepped in to buy nearly 2,000 hectares of mountainous land.

Regional economic development minister Michael Ring has announced that National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has agreed to sell a swathe of land in the Dublin Mountains to the National Parks & Wildlife Service.

The land in the Dublin uplands, in an area known as the Featherbeds, will be added to the Wicklow Mountains National Park, expanding its total size to 22,000 hectares.

The minister said he wanted to reassure locals who have been concerned that the land would be sold to a private party that might want to develop houses or wind turbines there.

The move comes after weeks of pressure on the government to buy the land bank, valued at €2.5 million. The land takes in Kippure down to Glenasmole Valley and

responsive to the community’s needs so they will be different in different areas.

“However, neighbourhood plans similarly formatted to local plans – e.g. with policies clearly distinguished in the text, accompanied by short, reasoned justifications – makes it easier for the public and developers to follow and understand them.”

Cross-departmental cohesion needed The government says it wants to use the bill to help to deliver more homes.

The RTPI said house building is a cross-cutting issue, with many factors influencing the rate of building.

“The government should task all of its departments to consider the ways in which their activity helps or hinders house building.” n * Locality is a network of communityled organisations and associate members. Its guidance can be found here: http://locality.org.uk/resources/ quick-guide-neighbourhood-planning/ n ** Planning Aid England resources can be found here: http://www.rtpi.org.uk/ planning-aid/

Bohernabreena Reservoir, and is among the largest tracts to come on the market in recent years.

More than 90 per cent is in a special conservation area, meaning it cannot be used for development. Locals were concerned it could be used to erect wind farms, and a number of offers to purchase are understood to have been made.

The state had reservations about the asking price of €2.5 million, which is the equivalent of the entire 2016 budget for the national parks and wildlife.

At the time of going to press, the deal had not been completed.

Planning Excellence Awards – entries open this month The RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence 2017 will open for entries on 12 September.

The awards celebrate the positive contribution planners and planning make in society, highlighting examples in the UK and Ireland. For the first time ever, it will be free to enter all 14 categories.

UK Government approves North Wales overhead power line Greg Clark, the new business and energy secretary, has approved proposals for an overhead power line in North Wales.

The scheme, the subject of a Development Consent Order application, involves a new 132 kilovolt link between Clocaenog Forest and St Asaph in Denbighshire.

Power company SP Energy Networks proposed the scheme to connect a number

The awards will be presented at a ceremony on 15 June 2017, at Milton Court in central London. n For more information and details on how to enter, visit: www.rtpi.org.uk/excellence

of new wind farms to the area’s electricity distribution network.

The line would stretch for 17.4 miles within Wales.

Its path lies outside the boundaries of sensitive areas such as the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Snowdonia National Park.

The so-called Option B route has been given consent.

There was pressure for the scheme to be undergrounded for all or part of the route, but in his decision letter the secretary of state made it clear that he believes that this would be uneconomic.

But he said there was a “compelling case” for the scheme. n The decision letter can be found here: tinyurl.com/planner0916-wales-powerline

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NEWS

Analysis { VALUE OF PLANNING

Planning system changes impair ability to deliver good places

By Laura Edgar Local government budget cuts and continual changes to planning policy and regulation have limited the ability of local planners to ensure more and better development, concludes a new RTPI report.

Based on research conducted by the University of Glasgow and the University of Sheffield, Delivering The Value Of Planning warns that as a result, public sector planners have been stripped of the powers and resources to perform leadership and coordinating roles.

A lot of the change has been based on “flawed” evidence and analysis and therefore “led us further in the wrong direction”. Some argue for further reform and deregulation, but the report says this would “perpetuate the failure to properly diagnose the weakness in our current system”.

In England particularly, continuous changes and cuts to local government budgets have resulted in a system that is more complicated and more uncertain, with a reduced ability to ensure that development is well planned and connected to transport and facilities. There is also a narrower range and number of affordable housing to rent or buy. This contrasts with other parts of Europe, where planning is “better able to promote growth and development because it is proactive, strategic, and properly resourced”.

A survey of planners in England, which features in the report, found that 73 per cent of respondents believe constant change to the planning system has reduced their ability to deliver good places.

In addition, 53 per cent think changes have hindered housing development, while nearly 70 per cent say they are less able to deliver the benefits of planning compared with 10 years ago.

Proper resourcing is crucial RTPI president Phil Williams says: “For too long planning has been relegated to a reactive, bureaucratic function, instead of being able to plan strategically to drive development, jobs and growth. We are hearing from our members a clear sense that deep budget cuts and constant changes have hindered their ability to operate strategically and perform a leadership role.”

He said it is crucial that council planning teams are properly resourced so that planners can operate strategically. “We want to see closer integration of planning activities with councils’ economic development and devolved areas of responsibilities to guide private sector investment and keep up the momentum for building”.

“It is also vital that local authorities work more closely with each other and the private sector to address land supply issues and provide the certainty the market needs,” he added.

The report says the policy debate on planning in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland “has generally been more positive and constructive, but even in these contexts planning in many ways remains undervalued, under-resourced and underused as a positive

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The report cites Brindleyplace as a triumph of urban renewal

enabler and facilitator for development”.

It features five case studies that show how planning “can deliver good housing and economic growth”, including Brindleyplace in Birmingham – a large-scale, carefully planned urban renewal that has preserved the area’s heritage while revitalising it to attract new business and leisure uses, and Norwich Riverside – a large mixeduse regeneration project that has transformed an old industrial site.

Delivering better outcomes Planners need to talk much more about how better economic, social and environmental outcomes can be delivered through wellplanned development, and less about planning procedures and processes, it says. And national and local government must consider particular powers, resources and expertise that planning services and agencies require to consistently deliver better outcomes.

The value of planning needs to be analysed on the extent to which it delivers the economic, social and environmental elements.

Public sector, private sector and community leadership needs to be stronger. The public sector can think about places first by enjoining agencies, government bodies and service providers to identify and deliver the best outcomes across different policy areas.

The report says the private sector can open up large-scale developments to market forces within the context of appropriate masterplanning frameworks. “On these sites, private developers could be given the freedom to deliver new homes, by competing on quality, building and design standards, and price.”

It recommends building on local community efforts to stimulate growth, manage development and create settlements through models such as community land trusts, community development corporations like in the US, and garden cities. n Delivering The Value Of Planning can be found here (pdf): tinyurl.com/planner0916-value-planning

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PLAN UPFRONT

Belfast city centre revamp climbs off the drawing board Communities minister Paul Givan MLA has announced a multi-million pound investment to improve Belfast city centre’s streetscape, from Castle Place to the new University of Ulster campus on York Street.

The public realm scheme, designed by a team led by McAdam Design, would see the area transformed to include new paving, street furniture, lighting and public artwork.

The Department for Communities is contributing more than £20 million to the scheme. It forms phase three of the city’s so-called Streets Ahead programme, which aims to regenerate the entire city centre.

Belfast City Council has also agreed

The council has outlined its “exciting vision” of “a world-class city”

to contribute £5 million.

Givan said: “This latest phase will deliver a high-quality, sustainable public realm scheme in the north of the city centre that will make a significant contribution to the wider regeneration works in the area.”

The estimated cost of this phase is £27 million and the works are expected to take about two years, starting in spring/summer 2017.

Planning permission for the scheme was granted by the city council last November (2015).

RTPI partners with Planning Portal on jobs The Planning Portal, home of the national planning application service for England and Wales, has joined forces with the RTPI and is to work with The Planner Jobs, delivered by Redactive Media Group, to promote planning vacancies online.

The Planning Portal processes more than 2,000 applications through its service each working day. Commercial director Sarah Chilcott said: “Planners in private practice and at local authorities are key customers for us and a tie-up with the biggest publishing brand in planning makes perfect sense for them.”

RTPI managing director Phil Pluck said: “Working with the Planning Portal will give professionals in the built environment the opportunity to view the best planning jobs in the market on the official job board of the RTPI. “Employers looking to recruit qualified planning professionals will have access to a strong pool of highly targeted candidates as a result of the Planning Portal/RTPI collaboration.”

Clark approves ‘world’s largest’ offshore wind farm The business and energy secretary Greg Clark has granted development consent for what will be the world’s largest wind farm – Hornsea Project Two – off the Yorkshire coast.

When complete, the offshore wind farm, which went through the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project process, is expected to deliver up to 1,800 megawatts (MW) of low-carbon electricity to around 1.8 million homes.

Hornsea Project Two could create up to 1,960 construction jobs and 580 operational and maintenance jobs.

If the wind farm is built to full capacity, the investment would total around £6 billion.

Comprising 300 wind turbines, the farm will be located 89 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast and will connect to the grid at North Killingholme in North Lincolnshire.

Clark said: “The UK’s offshore wind industry has grown at an extraordinary rate over the last few years, and is a fundamental part of our plans to build a clean, affordable, secure energy system.

“Britain is a global leader in offshore wind, and we’re determined to be one of the leading destinations for investment in renewable energy, which means jobs and economic growth

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Hornsea Project 2 is expected to deliver up to 1,800 MW of lowcarbon electricity

right across the country,” added Clark.

The government said it expects 10 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind installed by the end of this decade, while 10 GW of new offshore wind in the 2020s could be installed as costs come down.

Clark’s decision was made in line with a recommendation from the Planning Inspectorate, which found that there would be “no significant adverse effect on historic seascape or seascape arising from the visual impact of the project”.

S E PTEMB E R 2 0 1 6 / THE PLA NNER

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22/08/2016 10:41

CORRESPONDENCE

I Inbox

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

Two minutes with Mark Ames

Simon Dobbs — Ghislaine Halpenny (May 2016) brought a wonderful breath of fresh air to potential developer-planner relationships conflict. But where she says “…both public and private sectors have the same aims” she avoids setting out the essence of the conflict.

The aim of the private sector is profit. The duty of the Planning Authority is the public good. These two aims are potentially incompatible unless there is an overlap which allows development to proceed. Ms Halpenny appears to sweep this dilemma under the carpet in the interest of compromise – but unless it is brought into the open, misunderstanding is inevitable.

But both private and public sectors have a fallback position. The private developer will walk away if he can’t make a profit, while the Local Authority could in theory pick up the opportunity to do the development themselves.

It is this last card that is missing in the present neoliberal climate, without which essential development will not proceed.

Simon Dobbs (MRTPI)

Re: Jo Davis — Our report last month on GVA senior director Jo Davis’s RTPI convention presentation (‘How well have we done in accommodating growth?’) contained a couple of unfortunate errors.

Speaking of a joint GVA/ RTPI project to assess planning consents in 12

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OLIVER GREENFIELD is convenor of the Green Economy Coalition (GEC), an alliance of organisations lobbying for a fairer economy and sustainable development. The GEC is one of a number of bodies that have jointly published Global Goals That Work – a guide to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals within a reformed economic system.

Explain the background to the GEC “The GEC is a diverse network of collaborating organisations – from civil societies, NGOs and businesses, to UN functions and professional institutes. The impetus for the GEC came about partly from the failure of the Copenhagen climate negotiations in 2009, and the realisation that getting all governments to sign up to climate action would be very difficult if it was always framed as economic growth versus climate action. We needed a new narrative – and parts of the UN system thought that a green economy was a way of breaking this deadlock.

“The conclusion that we all [the GEC’s stakeholders] shared is that if you are going to tackle economic reform, you don’t do it on your own – you do it as a movement.”

What do you hope to achieve, and how can planning help with this?

“Our goal is prosperity for all within one planet’s limits,

English city-regions, Davis said that “75 per cent of schemes allocated were within a 10km radius of major employment clusters, but only 13 per cent were within walking distance of a transport hub”. We reported that as a 1km radius.

within which urbanisation and built infrastructure are becoming increasingly important. The world’s urban population is projected to increase dramatically over the next 25 years (4.9 billion people by 2030, roughly 60 per cent of global population).

This closely coincides with the time frame we have to almost fully decarbonise the global economy, and with 60 per cent of the built infrastructure for 2050 still to be built we need to get sustainable cities right early in that process.

“We have welcomed Global Infrastructure Basel to the coalition to help us work through these issues.”

How can sustainable cities help towards a green economy?

“City administrations are increasingly proving themselves to be innovative jurisdictions that can take strong action on climate and green economy, ahead of slower corporations and national governments. The C40 Cities network is an

Davis also said that: “it takes us generally as long to deliver 50 units through the planning system as it does to deliver 500 units. Those consents are often reactionary and opportunist, and not strategically thought out.”

We reported that last

excellent example of this leadership and we see this becoming more and more important as the world urbanises and more and more decisions are decentralised down to city level.

“Cities are also increasingly places where the turnaround time between green economy polices/investments and improvements in public services are especially quick – environmentally sustainable transport solutions or retrofitting of buildings can bring more rapid improvements and returns for citizens than elsewhere or at national levels, where there are time lags and more diffuse impact.”

So we can’t rely on national governments and corporations to be the drivers of this kind of economic reform?

“Green economy needs a people-driven movement, and cities can be the hubs. The GEC's view of green economies is broader and more inclusive than a sectoral-driven model – a green economy needs to be wanted by people, which means it must work for people. This makes fairness, inclusion and green jobs central to the agenda – and cities are the best place to start to build this movement and deliver on these areas.” n Green Economy Coalition: www.greeneconomycoalition. org n Download Global Goals that Work: For Business, Government and People: www.bit.ly/2asiAfh

comment as being taken from a report on the GVA/RTPI study; in fact, it was what Jo Davis herself said during her presentation.

Our apologies for both errors; the online version of Jo Davis’s report reflects the above changes – Ed.

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22/08/2016 11:00

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16/08/2016 10:04 17:02 24/03/2014

CHRIS SHEPLEY

O Opinion The play’s the thing, so come, planners, rehearse your parts Hard on the heels of the dismal Housing and Planning Act came another, at the time of writing, pretty vague bill messing around with planning again. We shall before long, unless Brexit signals other priorities, have had 10 years of constant change. The government’s aim to simplify the planning system has rendered it more complex, the promised surge in housing completions has not yet even dimly materialised after six years of ad hoc interference, and the prospects remain poor.

I have sought in these columns to bring a little wit to these proceedings, but I tire (as the reader must long ago have done) of musing on this repetitive incompetence. Shakespeare wrote perceptively of the government’s planning policies in Much Ado About Nothing: “These paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humour”.

So I thought I’d write about something more cheerful, prompted by the ubiquity this year of Shakespeare who, were he alive today, would be celebrating the 400th anniversary of his death.

This year is also the 40th anniversary of the Theatres Trust Act. This act was passed in 1976, and created the Theatres Trust – a fine organisation dedicated to “promote the better protection of theatres”.

Planners will know that it is a statutory consultee – its view must be sought on any application affecting theatres (and on local plan consultations). I was a trustee

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“THOSE FAMILIAR WITH PLACES SUCH AS THE BRIGHTON HIPPODROME, OR THE DERBY HIPPODROME, WILL KNOW THAT THERE ARE STILL SERIOUS PROBLEMS” for a while, followed by Ann Skippers.

I guess that most readers, needing as they do a degree of taste and artistic appreciation to do their jobs well, and a soupçon of intelligence to appreciate the finer points of this magazine, will from time to time be the patrons of theatres and playhouses. They will presumably be grateful that the trust, reacting to the loss of theatres in the middle of the last century (such as the St James’s, Granville

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Theatre in Fulham, or the London Opera House), has successfully stemmed the loss of these precious buildings.

Places like the Royal Court in Liverpool and theatres as widely spread as Stockport, the Isle of Wight, Sutton and Felixstowe might not exist, at least in theatre use, without these efforts. Even where there have been losses, adequate replacements have frequently been provided.

But those familiar with places such as the Brighton Hippodrome, or the Derby Hippodrome, will know that there are still serious problems being constructively tackled locally with the trust’s support. There is something called TBAR, which is neither an instrument of torture, nor a thing for pulling skiers up hills so they can fall back down again. The Register of Theatre Buildings at Risk

has some long-standing top 10 entries, but even some of those (such as the wonderful Palace Theatre in Plymouth), now have prospects of revival.

This is a good news story. One of very many which show what can be achieved by constructive and committed people using the planning system. One that demonstrates that so-called ‘red tape’ can be a totally positive thing.

It is much too easy to ridicule regulation; the term has become shorthand for any rule that, however sensible or beneficial, gets in someone’s way. It is true that it accretes.

But saving theatres is just one example of the riches that planning ‘red tape’ has given us. By tempering the economic headless chicken with the environmental cool head; by placing beauty, culture, community and the environment alongside financial imperatives, planning has given us a quality of life we would not otherwise have enjoyed.

Further deregulation must be careful, not wanton. “It was always the trick of our English Nation, if they have a good thing, to make it too common” (Henry IV Pt 2).

Think of that next time you’re at the theatre, minister.

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

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19/08/2016 16:36

Quote unquote FROM THE RTPI AND THE WEB

“There are a large number of countries who do not improve at all, despite economic growth” MICHAEL COHEN, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AT NEW YORK’S NEW SCHOOL AND AUTHOR OF RESEARCH, SHOWING THE POOR RESPONSE OF GOVERNMENTS TO HABITAT II

“There are more tree surgeons than local planners in the UK. There’s a real skills shortage” JOHN REYNOLDS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN RETAIL MARKETING, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

“The time it takes to travel, on hugely dated infrastructure, between our great regional cities is a national disgrace” TOM KIBASI, DIRECTOR, IPPR

“It has contributed to intergenerational inequality in relation to access to affordable, quality housing” ZHAN MCINTYRE, POLICY LEAD, SCOTTISH FEDERATION OF HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS, TALKING TO THE PLANNER ABOUT RIGHT TO BUY IN SCOTLAND, WHICH HAS NOW ENDED

The government should “press on with bold devolution and to adopt a comprehensive national housing strategy that invests in homes for all rather than just home ownership for the few” SIR MICHAEL LYONS

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

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“Local people won’t suddenly be bribed into accepting this unpopular practice, which poses risks to people and the environment” TONY BOSWORTH, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH CAMPAIGNER, TALKING ABOUT PROPOSALS TO GIVE FRACKING PROCEEDS TO LOCAL RESIDENTS

S EPTE MB J UER NE 2 0 116 6 / THE PLA NNER

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

O Opinion

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Marion Frederiksen is international policy and research officer for the RTPI

How a city in Ecuador will shape life in the 21st century

For the first time in 20 years, nationa national leaders are meeting to discuss how we will live in the future. The United Nations Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador, in October, is meant to agree a path for urban development over the next few decades.

At stake is how we manage rapidly growing cities to make them liveable, successful and safe.

All this has to be summed up in one document: the New Urban Agenda. It needs to set out the principles for how countries develop their cities and towns, and ultimately what a sustainable urban planet looks like.

The draft agenda calls for more resourcing for local authorities, better management of towns and cities and less corruption. It promotes mixed-use development, accessible green spaces and better urban-rural links. It urges cities to adapt to climate change, tackle air and noise pollution, and generate more renewable energy. It also emphasises participation and cultural respect.

The RTPI has been working to make it clear that none of this will be achieved without planning. This goes to the heart of what it is to be a planner. Understanding how places work and what they need. Thinking for the long-term. Acting in the public interest. Involving the public.

If the New Urban Agenda is agreed – and there have been

some tensions in the run-up to Quito – then we have a roadmap for sustainable development in the 21st century.

If not, or if we don’t invest in planning sufficiently to implement it, then for developing countries the consequences will be severe – from a lack of decent housing to fewer jobs, more poverty and disease, lack of services, and political and civil unrest.

We also need the New Urban Agenda in the developed world.

Obviously, our housing pressures are not as severe, our public health challenges not as pronounced. But the New Urban Agenda sets us a challenge as well, one that equally requires recognition and investment in planning and planners.

We too have a shortage of affordble homes, and strained public transport. We too need to plan for an increasing, and ageing, population. We too need better infrastructure, and better public health.

Sea levels are also rising, with many cities at risk. In the shadow of climate change, we need to chart a new course for genuinely sustainable development, or face more frequent and destructive floods, heat waves and diseases as global temperatures rise.

If we fail to make the New Urban Agenda real, we stand little chance of meeting climate change obligations nationally or globally.

“IN THE SHADOW OF CLIMATE CHANGE, WE NEED TO CHART A NEW COURSE FOR GENUINELY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT”

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Dr Shipra Narang Suri is vice-president of the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP) and of the General Assembly of Partners towards Habitat III (GAP)

Habitat III What’s in it for me?

plan For planning, and planners, the Habitat III conference brings good news. Planning seems to be back in fashion.

The New Urban Agenda (Surabaya draft) has at least 25 references to planning, starting from the Quito Declaration to the Quito Implementation Plan all the way through to Follow-up and Review, in addition to a sub-section in the segment on Effective Implementation (para 90-120) dedicated to planning and managing urban spatial development).

First, it implies that planning is again being seen as a central instrument for equitable and sustainable development, to combat climate change and increase resilience in urban, rural or peri-urban settlements, growing or shrinking cities, and in developing or developed economies.

Second, planning is no longer being seen as a technical activity, but a political process of engagement, negotiation and co-creating the city. And finally, it is now an area of interest to local authorities and local leaders, who are recognising its potential to transform their cities.

For planning professionals to capitalise on these opportunities, we need to ask ourselves tough questions. Has planning evolved in a way that it can meet the challenges of climate change, disaster risk, conflict and previously unforeseen levels of migration?

Is it flexible enough, strategic enough, efficient enough? Are we using the right tools, and are we able to make the most of the technology revolution sweeping the world? Do we have the capacities to deliver what is being demanded of us? And are we listening to, responding to, collaborating and partnering with the inhabitants of the cities, towns, regions, villages that we are planning for?

For bodies such as ISOCARP, and the RTPI, now is the time to think about what we will do to implement the planning provisions of the agenda. Some actions to consider include: advocacy, focusing on national and local governments to influence long-term change in planning approaches and statutory planning systems; consolidating experience and knowledge to make successful projects replicable and scale them up; capacity-building of planners, along with support and reform of planning education; and partnering with other professionals and stakeholders to make planning more responsive.

The agenda can be a catalyst for change, but the other ingredients – commitment, creativity and collaboration – must emerge from the planning community to transform our cities.

“PLANNING IS NO LONGER BEING SEEN AS A TECHNICAL ACTIVITY, BUT A POLITICAL PROCESS OF ENGAGEMENT”

ISOCARP is a member of the Global Planners Network, along with the RTPI

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

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

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Zoe Green is a manager in the cities and urbanisation team at PwC

Can UN Habitat III effect real change in our cities?

Understa Understandably, there are many people with high expectations of the New Urban Agenda, the outcome document that the UN hopes will guide the urbanisation policies of member states.

This is because it makes clear the UN view that cities hold the key to a sustainable future and global prosperity.

There are certainly negatives in unplanned growth, not least the emergence of reactive policy decisions that aim to make the best of a bad situation. Congestion, urban sprawl, pollution and crime are all intensified when settlement size increases.

There is also the toll that rapid urban growth can have on infrastructure, the environment and the social fabric, in addition to the shared cultural values of existing and new communities.

Yet, whilst a laudable aspiration, it’s fair to question whether the New Urban Agenda will influence government policies effectively. Will it, for example, genuinely help to develop better ways to manage urbanisation?

Early drafts suggest that the agenda is more a pledge of goodwill. Read it. You’ll see page after page replete with phrases such as “we call for”, “we commit to”.

The rhetoric is great, but we must question the reality. It is not a legally binding document and implementation rests on the ‘good intentions’ of national and largely city governments to enact the principles, despite the fact

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that no city mayors are invited to the conference.

All cities are contextually different and experiencing different rates of urbanisation alongside different challenges. The capacity of governments to act is important and it is right for events such as this to raise the challenges faced. But we must recognise that situations, responses and outcomes vary across the world.

Quite simply, UN Habitat is not operating at the right level to effect the scale of change it aspires to.

Rather than pledges from governments, we need a conference to strengthen the institutional, governmental and financial frameworks for cities, not a glitzy talking shop. Rather than offering another long list of commitments or repeating a lot of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, we need an event where cities are actively involved in meaningful debate.

The UN should consider working with bodies such as the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy to talk specifically about the challenges faced. The C40, a network of the world’s megacities focused on addressing climate change, provides a similar group. Each of these is already doing good work.

Although it can’t hurt to have some more commentary on the subject, whether the result of the benefits will justify the thousands of flights to be made to Quito remains to be seen.

“THE RHETORIC IS GREAT, BUT WE MUST QUESTION THE REALITY”

Brian Mark Evans is professor of urbanism & landscape at Mackintosh School of Architecture, and lead author of UNECE’s report to Habitat III, Towards A PeopleCentred, City-Focused & Integrated Approach To The New Urban Agenda

Why Habitat III must reflect the century of the city

After the th hope of Vancouver 1976 and an the worthy and wordy Istanbul 1996, the UN resolved on a more active approach to Quito in 2016. Dr Joan Clos, the former Barcelona mayor and Secretary-General of UN Habitat, has brought a mayoral mentality to the post to shift UN thinking from issues to action.

Clos has gone straight to what he knows best – the college of city mayors and leaders around the world, pragmatic politicians who operate on city visions with everyday issues.

The 21st century is the century of the city. Humankind’s only hope is to find ways to enable more than 70 per cent of the global population to live sustainably in cities.

Clos has directed everyone preparing for Habitat III to stop thinking about urbanisation as some inevitable, technical or market-driven process and start thinking about the city. This is a change from process to project – living places. He also directed everyone to think about urbanisation and economy, social equity and environment, and to consider the governance needed to deliver this thinking.

Much of UN rhetoric is global, with an understandable focus on the megacities and informal settlement of the East and the South. But under Clos, preparations for Quito are thematic and

regional. As principal writer for the regional report on the territory of the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), I reflected on trends in North America, the EU/EFTA, Russia and the former CIS, and the culturally disparate grouping of Turkey, Israel, and the Balkans.

This diverse region is home to 17 per cent of global population, has 45 per cent of global GDP and 66 per cent of fresh water. The boreal forest is greater in extent than the rain forest and its biosphere is growing. It sits in the temperate zone between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle. It’s the global ‘Garden of Eden’, yet politicians feign surprise that people wish to migrate here.

It has changed from the ‘industrial city’ to the ‘knowledge city’, exhibiting trends such as the clustering of cities into regional ‘super-cities’, with associated challenges of urban coalescence and concentration. The North’s ‘super-cities’ are engines of the knowledge economy and the digital revolution and, far from provoking the ‘death of distance’, have fuelled concentration and inequality.

Opportunities for work abound in the developing world, but the job is far from done in the developed North. Much has come out of the declarations ahead of Quito – let’s see what emerges.

“HUMANKIND’S ONLY HOPE IS TO FIND WAYS TO ENABLE MORE THAN 70% OF THE GLOBE TO LIVE SUSTAINABLY IN CITIES”

S E PTEMB E R 2 0 1 6 / THE PLA NNER

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H A B I TAT I I I S P E C I A L

1976

A HISTORY OF

H A B I TAT I – V A N C O U V E R The backdrop The economist EF Schumacher’s Small Is Beautiful cited the limits to the planet’s resources, comparing the Earth to a bank with mankind “the investors” living off the capital.

In 1974, the UN estimated the global population had reached four billion. Habitat I responded to trends indicating that “the numbers of mankind in the next 25 years would double”. Hence the increasing concerns of governments to manage

FROM VANCOUVER IN 1976 TO QUITO IN 2016, THE UN’S HABITAT SUMMITS HAVE ATTEMPTED TO SET THE AGENDA FOR URBAN PLANNING AROUND THE WORLD. HUW MORRIS LOOKS AT THE HISTORY OF HABITAT By the time of the first Habitat summit, the world’s population had already reached four billion. By the second it was approaching six billion. When the third comes around later this month, it will be past 7.4 billion.

The world’s eyes will soon be on Quito, Ecuador’s capital, where delegates will meet for Habitat III. This is the latest UN summit, after gatherings in Vancouver in 1976 and Istanbul in 1996, to tackle global challenges posed by a rapidly expanding population and urbanisation.

So how far have the Habitat summits influenced planning? Or is it really that planning has influenced the three Habitats?

In UK terms, the environmental implications from the Rio Declaration of 1992 and Kyoto Treaty of 1997, related but distinct UN initiatives, had considerably more influence. But the Habitat summits have recognised planning’s role in tackling global challenges and not merely confined it to a national or local level. Habitat I, for example, crucially called for “bold, meaningful and effective” spatial planning strategies.

Gradually, the idea of sustainable development, now fundamental to UK planning, attained a huge international profile, thanks to the summits.

Although the concept has different connotations

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in varying countries and regions, the World Commission on Environment and Development defines it as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

Habitat’s chief influence since 1996 has been through the Millennium Development Goals of 2000. These aimed to achieve “cities without slums” while combating poverty and ensuring environmental sustainability.

The subsequent agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals (see pages 22-25), also has Habitat’s fingerprints, particularly Goal 11’s aim for safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable places. With their emphasis on health, education, poverty and gender inequality, these continue to have implications for UK planning in environmental sustainability and healthy communities.

Other significant UN events, including the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 and Rio+20 in 2012, have followed the Habitat Agenda.

But major bugbears continue with significant challenges for Habitat III and, if it takes place, Habitat IV. Governments have consistently failed to meet their commitments under the summits as there is no legally binding framework.

The World Cities Report 2016 says many cities rely on outdated forms of planning despite its central role in achieving sustainable development. In particular, planning frameworks are not gender-sensitive – women are left out of the planning process. The same research says planning capacity is also grossly inadequate in the developing world. The UK has 38 planners per 100,000 people. In Nigeria and India the figure is 1.44 and 0.23 respectively.

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1996 H A B I TAT I I – I S TA N B U L the problems of urbanisation, population growth, environmental impact, social change and resource management. Habitat I followed four UN conferences in the previous five years on quality of life, each looking at particular aspects of human settlements.

What happened?

The conference led to the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements, a statement of principles to influence national government objectives. Alongside this, Habitat I made 64 recommendations for national governments to improve “human settlements”. A third element concerned international co-operation, study and research programmes, and exchange of technology, skills and expertise. The 64 recommendations covered settlement policies and strategies, settlement planning, shelter, infrastructure and services, land, public participation and institutions and management.

What succeeded?

The conference raised international understanding of urbanisation, and established the need for comprehensive and integrated approaches. Habitat I pointed to policies and programmes based on planning and for governments to involve their citizens in them. A major breakthrough recognised the importance of spatial planning strategies for urban growth.

The conference also stressed that while every country had its own pattern of settlements, they can all learn from each other.

It highlighted not only problems at the national level but the inter-relationships and responsibilities among nations. A direct result was the creation of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, the predecessor of today’s UN-Habitat.

What didn’t?

The declaration’s focus on action by national governments was subsequently recognised as a significant weakness. It overlooked the role of local-level authorities, which was limited to implementing national policies and targets, as well as the potential contribution of civil society and non-governmental organisations. Habitat I made no legally binding duties, a theme that would become more apparent at the next summit.

The backdrop By 1996, the world’s population was approaching six billion. Habitat II was heavily influenced by the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. This agreed the Climate Change Convention, which in later years would lead to major international initiatives on the environment such as the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement. The summit also agreed Agenda 21, a voluntary action plan on sustainable development.

What happened?

Habitat II was significantly extended to local government, academia and civil society. Two key documents were signed, the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements and the Habitat Agenda, as well as setting out the rules of procedure for the world’s local authorities.

The documents recognised the sustainability of cities, towns and villages within a global goal of providing adequate housing for all.

What succeeded?

The documents addressed the key issues of poverty and inequality, receiving considerable international praise. Meanwhile, sustainable development became the cornerstone of future UN initiatives. In 2002, the UN adopted the Millennium Development Goals with the aim of reducing the number of slum dwellers.

This programme was later extended through the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

What didn’t?

The absence of a legally binding framework, an old chestnut from Habitat I, would prove to be a big stumbling block for Istanbul’s legacy. This meant governments did not meet their commitments, while citizens had no chance to demand their rights.

“BETWEEN 1950 AND 2005, THE LEVEL OF URBANISATION INCREASED FROM 29 PER CENT TO 49 PER CENT” S EPTE MB ER 2 0 16 / THE PLA NNER

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H A B I TAT I I I S P E C I A L

2016

2036?

S O T O H A B I TAT I I I ?

P R E D I C T I N G H A B I TAT I V

The Quito summit will aim to agree the New Urban Agenda, which will put sustainable development at the heart of the urbanisation agenda for the next two years of nations, cities, regions, the UN and civil society. Two key concepts will dominate: “development enablers”, which include national urban policy, governance and the urban economy, alongside “operational enablers”, chiefly planning, local fiscal systems and basic services and infrastructure.

Democracy, human rights and the relationship between the environment and urbanisation are expected to feature heavily, as will equity, the safety and security of everyone, regardless of age and gender, risk reduction and urban resilience.

The Habitat Agenda remains, while the summit will recognise the phenomenon of mega-regions, urban corridors and city regions. However, the New Urban Agenda will, once more, not be legally binding.

T H E R T P I A N D H A B I TAT III

• Participated in World Urban Campaign’s (WUC) Urban Thinkers Campus, and contributions to The City We Need, calling for more socially inclusive, well planned cities.

• Submitted Panning Aid and the Plymouth Plan as planning and design solutions to the WUC’s Urban Solutions working group. These could be presented to government leaders at Habitat III. • Attended Habitat III Pre Com meeting in Prague and hosted side event on How urban planning can meet Europe’s housing Needs.

• Submitted comments poor air quality, the urban heat island effect and addressing corruption to the zero draft of the New Urban Agenda.

Subsequent drafts have included RTPI suggestions.

RTPI president Phil Williams and chief executive Trudi Elliott will attend Habitat III and take part in events including an International Federation for Housing and Planning side event at which they will speak on post-conflict place-making and the role of place in attacking poverty.

If there is Habitat IV in 2036 what will the summit consider? Foretelling the future is precarious but here are a few predictions.

By 2030, the UN projects at least 41 megacities worldwide and by 2050, 70 per cent of the world will live in cities, closer to 90 per cent in North America and Europe. But 70 per cent of the buildings and infrastructure needed to support this influx does not exist.

Quantumrun, a Futurology consultancy, predicts the rise of the smart city, urban centres that rely on digital technology for everything from municipal services to governance and planning.

Internet infrastructure and the Internet of Things will be drivers of GDP (see box ‘The internet and mobile broadband networks’) while cities will rely on hoards of ‘big data’ that will be analysed to predict future trends and adapt systems and policies accordingly.

Nassim Taleb, author of the influential The Black Swan, says the top-down nation state will “be only cosmetically alive”, with city states and “statelings” prevailing.

Most technologies that are now 25 years old or more will be around, but younger technologies that provide efficiencies will be overtaken or replaced by more archaic ones.

Taleb cites the car, the plane, the bicycle, the voice-only telephone, and the bookshelf as examples.

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THE INTERNET AND MOBILE BROADBAND NETWORKS ­ TODAY

“AN EXTRA 10 MOBILE PHONES PER 100 PEOPLE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES INCREASES THE GDP GROWTH RATE PER PERSON BY MORE THAN ONE PERCENTAGE POINT”

of the world’s population covered by 3G By 2030, the urban population of developing cities will double

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of the world’s urban population covered by 3G By 2013, 600 million households were without decent shelter of the world’s rural population covered by 3G

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In 1995, there were 22 large cities and 14 megacities. By 2015, both categories had doubled with 22 megacities located in Latin America, Asia and Africa

2011

1999

1987

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8 Should the internet reach 90 per cent of the world’s population, global GDP will grow by $22 trillion by

2030

Web applications will enable 22 per cent of China’s total GDP by 2025

By 2020, improved computer literacy and mobile data use could grow India’s GDP by 5 per cent

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IN INI IN NII G SUSTAINING NOTES pment pmen men ment The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals that underpin Habitat III III hold ho ho old ol l ld the potential to transform planning nning nnin nn nin ing ng ng in the wealthy global North, ass w wel well el as the poorer South. But is the UK open op o pe en n to change? Elisabeth Jeries reports orts or ort rrtttss

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BRITAIN’S PLANNERS HAVE sustainability sorted. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) integrates it into the planning system as a “golden thread,” and it gains plaudits as a first-class vehicle for sustainable development. Rules introducing low-carbon energy have long ago been passed, and the nation has pioneered innovative schemes like Marine Conservation Zones.

That, at least, is the smug narrative.

But a new set of policies migrating across the world could ruffle the urban planning establishment. They are the

United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), following hard on the heels of the eight successful Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Set in 2000, the MDGs were the UN’s first exercise in development targeting, and expired in 2015. Like the MDGs, the SDGs have a 15-year time frame. Unlike those, they cover all 193 UN countries, both rich and poor, with much broader scope. They are part of the UN’s new international development framework: ‘Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’.

“One of the biggest political shifts in emphasis from the MDGs to the SDGs is the urban focus. The MDGs were basically aimed at rural poverty in Africa and Asia,” explains Sarah Hearn, senior fellow at New York University’s Centre for International Co-operation.

“The SDGs include the poorest people in the world but are more about people living precarious existences in urban areas at that point just above the poverty line but below the better-off middle classes. It’s more about urban areas.”

There are more of them, numbering 17 in total and containing 169 targets. One in particular is dedicated to cities: Goal 11 mirrors the ambitions of the whole set, urging countries to “make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.

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“THE SDGS ARE UNIVERSAL. THEY APPLY NOT ONLY TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, BUT ALSO TO DEVELOPED COUNTRIES”

But, arguably, most of them relate to urbanisation.

Originally proposed at the UN Rio+20 summit in 2012 and agreed by UN member states in 2015, the goals are perceived to be wide-ranging and ambitious. “They are potentially interesting and radical. They provide the seeds of new possibilities, and civil society will jump onto them,” says Hearn.

Still, if one is aiming to stop open defecation, bring an end to hunger or manage the rise of slum dwellings, is that not mainly a developing country problem?

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Perhaps. Monika Zimmermann, deputy secretary general of international city council organisation ICLEI, argues instead that developing countries merely have a different set of problems. “Mature economies need a paradigm shift in resource consumption and pollution often more than less developed ones.

Unlike MDGs, the SDGs are universal.

They apply not only to developing countries, but also to developed countries.”

Nonetheless, a disconnect is already evident. In the UK, parliamentarians in June lambasted the government for ignoring the goals. “We remain to be convinced that responsibility for domestic implementation should lie with the Secretary of State for International Development… engagement of government departments will be central to the success of domestic implementation,” stated the House of Commons cross-

“THE NEW URBAN AGENDA IS A MECHANISM TO ENSURE DEVELOPMENT TAKES PLACE IN SUSTAINABLE WAYS AND CUTS ACROSS ALL THE SDGS”

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party select committee on International Development. This, it said, indicated a “worrying lack of engagement” in the SDGs across government.

THE NEW URBAN AGENDA But it is early days yet, and these are just the first arrows in a volley that will be fired in a few months’ time, perhaps once Brexit negotiations become clearer. Planners and lobbyists swarming around the SDGs envisage several ways in which they could take effect.

One is the New Urban Agenda, the plan under discussion at Habitat III in Quito. For Clive Harridge, secretary-general of the Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP), urbanisation is at a critical point, and the New Urban Agenda a transformative opportunity.

“One of the biggest pressures is the rate of urbanisation covering over half the world’s population… in which, for example, unplanned informal settlements spring up around cities. They are vulnerable to climate change and flooding, for instance,” he says.

The recent Rio de Janeiro Olym-

pics are a vivid reminder of some of these problems, with the glitz of the games frequently contrasted to life in the favelas, or slums. With a population that more than doubled from 2.3 million in 1950 to a shade under six million in the 2010 census (approaching 12 million if you count the wider metropolitan area), Rio suffers from problems experienced in many cities across the globe; more people and homelessness. Such problems are evident not just from Rio to Johannesburg, but from Paris to London.

Harridge suggests that Commonwealth countries lack the capacity to manage urbanisation and are close to a crisis caused by its rapidity. Among the CAP concerns are a deficiency in local skills and an inappropriate planning and governance structure among city authorities.

“Quite often, planning approaches are top-down and come from highlevel central government sources. It’s difficult to translate them to a local level. They are often based on an outdated model from the colonial era,” he says. Worse, many countries lack the planners required to handle the emergence of informal settlements and the risks they accompany.

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“THIS IS NOT ABOUT BUSINESS AS USUAL. IT REQUIRES A NEW APPROACH TO PLANNING”

This is where the New Urban Agenda and follow-up policies are likely to play a significant role. As Harridge explains, the white paper is a major channel for the SDGs, which did not originally cover cities specifically.

“We’re pleased that SDG 11 has been included. The New Urban Agenda is a mechanism to ensure development takes place in sustainable ways and cuts across all the SDGs – inequality, gender, governance – as well as SDG 11. This isn’t about business as usual. It requires a new approach to planning,” he says.

According to Harridge, it could modernise existing planning practices, build new capacity and prompt local action. In the Caribbean region, for example, Harridge indicates it could help introduce a new toolkit to localise planning, expand professional networks and improve expertise. CAP will be among those pushing for change both in those Commonwealth countries and in the UK. “We will work with members to influence governments to ensure this doesn’t just sit on a shelf,” he says, “After Habitat III, expect a declaration setting out our aspirations for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, including in the UK. There needs to be an exercise to look at the Quito output and what we are doing

as a government to implement this.”

The SDGs could also penetrate directly at the city council level through influential mayors. “Advanced projects in one area or another can be found in a growing amount of cities… What SDGs offer in addition is an integrated approach to sustainability in cities, the parallel and cross-related care for several policy goals at the same time... for example, filling gaps between buildings for densification or preserving green space in inner city areas,” says Monika Zimmermann.

LOFTY IDEALS In some countries, national governments have already taken hold of the agenda.

“Latin America is one to watch. Their emphasis on human rights has influenced the development of the new goals and they are reviewing their existing national policies compared to the goals,” says Sarah Hearn. However, it is fair to say that embedding the New Urban Agenda and SDGs is largely a matter of political will because the SDGs themselves are voluntary and not legally binding.

How this will be translated into UK planning is unclear. For one thing, they are viewed as lofty and idealistic. For another, originating from a multilateral institution, they could fall into the ping-pong of international and national politics, as well as between international development policy and domestic affairs.

No sanction mechanism exists against nations that fail to implement the SDGs. To be truly sustainable, the policies need to extend beyond the remit of planning alone. “What we urgently need are national framework conditions – laws, regulations, codes, taxation policies, incentives, programmes, finance mechanisms and more – that encourage and force all national, regional and local decision-makers to put SDGs at the centre of their actions,” says Zimmermann.

That omission is something the UK is guilty of, with housing used as an economic instrument creating affordability problems. What is more, the delivery of sustainability is often narrowed down to

just one field of planning, says Professor Robert Tregay of consultancy LDA Design.

“Typically, you get sustainable development defined through transport alone, which takes over the criteria,” he says, describing planning meetings. “There is no definition to say this development is sustainable and that one is not.”

That is despite the recognition of sustainability running through the NPPF, which does not sufficiently address policy conflicts. Among these is the need to conserve parks while building new homes, as in the recent case of Redbridge Council and Oakfield playing fields.

Among the poor practices noted by Tregay are simplistic impact weightings.

“The NPPF doesn’t have enough detail about how but if you did you might not get a better answer. It’s inherently flawed in this respect if you try to tie it down or make it more precise.”

Another is the practice of bargaining on sustainability. “If you just set targets, developers will look at this as a shopping list,” says Yolande Barnes, research director at Savills.

The NPPF covers the principles of sustainability, but its practice is faulty. A different method could concentrate on outcomes or narratives rather than box ticking, and campaigners for the SDGs could play a part in introducing that type of innovation. Barnes recommends the ‘Inquiry by Design’ approach in which key stakeholders assess a complex range of design requirements for the site, and every scenario tested is drawn.

Land ownership assumptions and reporting cycles, she says, extend far beyond the remit of the NPPF but exert a deep influence on sustainability. New types of long-term land ownership would shift assumptions.

“If asset owners worked with planners over the long term, negotiations would look very different. Housing associations are examples of that type of involvement. Given their retained ownership, they have a long-term interest in the volume and quality of housing,” she says. Those types of far-reaching reforms, though, seem a distant prospect.

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WHAT’S ON THE AGENDA? A PO POWERFUL P OW WERFFU ULL BL B BLUEPRINT LU UEEPR RIIN NTT FFOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT FFOR THEE NEX N NEXT EXTT GE G GENERATIO NER TI OR AN AGREEMENT GENERATION, D BY PO DILUTED POLITICAL HORSE­TRADING AND ITS LACK OFF LEGAL FORCE? MARK SMULIAN TAKES A TH HE NE N LOOK ATT THE NEW URBAN AGENDA, THE CENTREPIECE UN N HA H HABI AB BI III CONFERENCE OF THE U HABITAT In mid-October, delegates from across the world will attend the United Nations Habitat III conference to try to grapple with what ‘the city’ means, and what cities should become in a rapidly urbanising world. From different perspectives, they will attempt to devise a New Urban Agenda, a programme of principles for sustainable urban development on which planners can draw in both developed and developing countries.

Cynics can see large international gatherings like this as gigantic junkets for well-connected senior figures, and it’s fair to say that the jargonladen documents associated with Habitat III can be off-putting to outsiders. For example, The City We Need, the outcome document of meetings in 26 cities, begins: “We, Urban Thinkers of the Worl Urban Campaign, here present a new urban World paradigm for the 21st century”. par parad rad d Such Suc S Su uc language is perhaps not the best way to catch a ch the attention of busy planners. But stick with it; Habitat III could be important – not as something that governs planners’ day-to-day work but because it’s likely to influence thinking on cities for years to come. By way of example, ‘sustainable development’ is now so mainstream

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that it forms an entire segment of the Nationall Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). But when n discussed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, and d then at Habitat II in 1996, it was still a relatively ly ly obscure idea.

Habitat III could also bring new ideas into the light, and the conference’s role is to “set the he agenda for planning for 20 years”, says RTPI chief executive Trudi Elliott, who, along with RTPI president Phil Williams, plans to speak at an International Federation for Housing and d Planning side event at Habitat III. She continues: “Planners will have a vital role lle e to t play in creating cities that meet those challenges ges ge es [outlined in the New Urban Agenda]. If you don’t on on’t n’t create places that give people the security and d jobs they need they will move, and we have seen ee een en the impact of that in the recent mass migrations.” ns.. ns.”

Habitat conferences are rare events, the previous two having been held in Vancouver in 1976 and Istanbul in 1996 (see pages 18-21).

These emphasised the problems associated with ith it th human settlements in developing countries.

Habitat III is intended to generate ideas applicable cable able to developed countries, too, including concepts ttss originated in developing countries from which h planners in the UK and ‘global north’ can learn, n, n, such as participatory budgeting and cross-border de der er planning.

“There is a feeling in some quarters that all this thiis is only for developing countries but it is absolutely utely ut tely y relevant for the UK, too,” says Elliott. “The big problem politically in the UK is housing and jobs, bss, bs,

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and the Brexit vote perhaps showed that some communities feel disconnected from globalisation.

Planning and planners have the skills to look at a place and consider environmental, economic and social factors together.”

Setting the agenda These three pillars of planning receive considerable space in the draft New Urban Agenda. This endeavours to outline how civil society, local and national government, and built environment professionals can collaborate to deliver development that is sustainable – that is, ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs’, according to UN General Assembly Resolution 42/817.

As such, the draft New Urban Agenda highlights fiscal systems, urban planning and infrastructure, and pays attention to how people live in cities, looking to policies to achieve equity, safety and security regardless of age or gender.

Housing and sustainable human settlements, key concepts from earlier Habitat conferences, remain important. But Habitat III will also recognise that cities have since turned into megaregions, urban corridors and city regions whose economic, social and political geographies defy traditional conceptions of the ‘city’. It will seek ways to manage these phenomena, and ideas that arise should help city governments, planners and those that work with them to harness “the chaotic forces of urbanisation” to generate growth by using urban policy, laws and governance systems.

Few could reasonably complain that preparation p epara i n of o the h New New Urban U ban Agenda Ag nd has ha rushed been be een either eitthe er ru ush hed or c confi onfined ned to t a small sm mall circle. circle Following Fol F llo owing extensive extensiv ve consultations conssul ultations ((in (including nclud din ng w with h organisations RTPI), o or rga rganisations aniisa ation ns su such uch h as a the t eR th RT TPII), a ‘zero zero draft’ dra d aft wa w wass published p pub bliish hed d in in May, May ay,, which w ich wh h led lled to to further f rth fu her versions, v rsion ve ns

culminating in July's 'Surubaya draft' – named after the Indonesian city in which it was agreed. This includes passages on issues for which the RTPI had lobbied, including poor air quality, the urban heat island effect, and tackling corruption.

There were also regional and thematic meetings of various kinds and 200 experts, assembled as ‘policy units’, made recommendations. On top of that, other stakeholders participated in ‘urban thinkers campuses’, held around the world.

Few things can have been as exhaustively mulled over as the New Urban Agenda when it finally emerges from Quito. But the range of countries and interests involved demands that compromises are made to reach something with which everyone is happy. The possible consequences of this potential move to a lowest common denominator worry Shipra Narang Suri, vice-president of both the International Society of City and Regional Planners (Isocarp) and the Habitat III General Assembly of Partners.

She warns that securing a worthwhile outcome depends on the boldness of countries involved and notes that “so far we have seen them lean towards more conservative approaches rather than innovation or progressive measures.”

She goes on: “If there is no change in the approach of key member states or groups, I think what we will get is a ‘good enough’ New Urban Agenda, one which we can all use to somehow support our work in cities, but it won’t be raising the bar by any standards. [But] the optimist in me feels that the sands might yet shift.”

Describing her experiences at Surabaya and other pre-Quito sessions, Narang Suri laments a failure to include some of the innovative thinking from earlier sessions. “Most of those who read the Surabaya draft will agree that it is not a bad document. It has all the key ingredients for sustainable urbanisation, sprinkled across the document… it’s a ‘good enough’ document, one that will allow all of us to align whatever we do with ‘provisions of the New Urban Agenda’.

“But it is also important to recognise that the language of the New Urban Agenda is not progressive, failing to raise the bar on process, themes, implementation arrangements, or monitoring, leaving that task to yet-to-be agreed processes to emerge organically sometime in the undetermined future.”

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“THIS IS ABOUT THE VISION FOR THE FUTURE AND HOW WE ACHIEVE IT. WE AS PLANNERS NEED TO BE PART OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THAT VISION” The potential of planning Habitat III is important, says Narang Suri, because the world has changed greatly since Habitat II, in particular with the speed of urbanisation in Africa and Asia. While action against poverty continues, “we are faced with new and emerging challenges of climate change, natural and man-made disasters, conflict, social exclusion and fragmentation”.

Narang Suri adds: “The most intense and devastating impacts of all these phenomena are manifested in urban or urbanising areas. We need to rethink our approaches to realise sustainable and inclusive urbanisation.”

Isocarp looks to talks in Quito to press for a clear role for urban planners in policy-making, “accompanied by strong efforts to build their capacities”. The body will seek to shift the emphasis on national urban policies in the Surubaya draft, so that more is said about urban and regional governments influencing such policies.

“If some wording to this effect features in the New Urban Agenda, we can use it to hold our national governments to account,” she concludes.

International teleconferences have recently preoccupied Dyan Currie, president of the Commonwealth Association of Planners and director of planning and environment for City of Gold Coast, Australia. Habitat III, she says, is of “fundamental importance” to planners because “this is the first time in 20 years that the international community has collectively pondered the impacts of development around the world”.

“This is about the vision for the future and how we achieve it. We as planners need to be part of the development of that vision and understand how we translate that into our daily work.”

Habitat III is intended to work alongside the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which succeeded the Millennium Development Goals.

Currie hopes Quito will show planners how to incorporate these into their work and measure progress. Any document resulting from Habitat III will necessarily be a compromise and in different respects delight and disappoint some countries and interests. But there is no other route to global consensus on such a vast topic. Out of all this should come a New Urban Agenda to influence thinking about cities and how to plan them for the next 20 years.

WHAT IS THE NEW URBAN AGENDA? “By readdressing the way cities and human settlements are planned, financed, developed, governed, and managed, the New Urban Agenda will help to end poverty and hunger in all its forms and dimensions, reduce inequalities, promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, improve human health and well-being, as well as foster resilience and protect the environment.” (Para 5, Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements for All, New Urban Agenda) The New Urban Agenda is a 22-page sequence of statements identifying priorities for UN member states when planning, building and maintaining cities.

In its bid to outline the measures that will lead to ‘sustainable’ cities for all, the New Urban Agenda ranges widely across governance and financing, food supply, equality measures, responses to climate change, transport, work, economics, conservation, and disaster prevention.

It outlines offers guidance, and pledges to review the progress of the agreement and its implementation. This has been a weakness for previous Habitat agreements, and recent research by the New School in New York City shows that governments had largely failed to meet their commitments in the Habitat II agreement.

Such failings are down to the fact that the agenda cannot place legally binding obligations on signatory states. Instead, it will provide guidance to them, and their city and regional authorities, civil society, voluntary sectors and researchers in their thinking about urbanisation. It has considerable authority, but no compulsion.

As The Planner went to press, the agenda has been through three iterations, developed at pre-conference discussions.

A fourth is coming ahead of October’s conference. You can download drafts at www.habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda

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INSIGHT

LLegal landscape SHOULD THE NEW URBAN AGENDA BE A BINDING AGREEMENT? Hopes are high for agreeing the UN’s New Urban Agenda at the Habitat III conference in October. But its commitments will be difficult to enforce because it lacks legal weight. Does this matter?

Angus Evers sees grounds for hope Global treaties and agreements can be difficult to conclude at the best of times, but are even harder to conclude if they are to be legally binding on their parties. While it may therefore facilitate the conclusion of such treaties and agreements if they are not legally binding, it means that they lack teeth and cannot be enforced against any parties that choose to ignore their commitments under them.

The intended outcome of the third United Nations (UN) Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, also known as ‘Habitat III’, which takes place in Quito,

Angus Evers Ecuador, between 17 and 20 October 2016, is an agreed ‘New Urban Agenda’ (NUA). The NUA will set global standards for the achievement of sustainable urban development. An initial ‘zero draft’ was published on 6 May 2016 and has already been through several rounds of informal negotiations.

Urban rules Assuming that a final document can be agreed at Habitat III, its successful implementation is likely to require adequate urban rules and regulations, good urban planning and design, and effective municipal finance, together

“GIVEN THAT THE NUA WILL NOT BE LEGALLY BINDING AND THAT INTERNATIONAL TREATIES DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY BECOME PART OF DOMESTIC LAW IN THE UK, IT IS LIKELY THAT THERE WILL NOT BE ANY IMMEDIATE IMPACTS FOR THE UK” 30

with a recognition of the connection between the dynamics of urbanisation and the overall process of national development.

However, the NUA is not intended to be legally binding; it will only provide guidance. That is a contrast to other global agreements that try to tackle the environmental impacts of human development, most notably the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), its Kyoto Protocol and the December 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. The Paris Climate Agreement is likely to have a major impact on Habitat III and the NUA, given the importance for cities of mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change, as will the Sustainable Development Goals that were also adopted in 2015.

What are the likely outcomes of the NUA? First, states will be asked to make commitments that

are in alignment with the goals set out in the NUA and to set implementation targets. This seems like a similar process to the ‘Intended Nationally Determined Contributions’ provided for in the Paris Climate Agreement. It will be interesting to see the UK’s approach to these commitments, and to the negotiations more generally, as Habitat III will be the first major global conference in which the UK has participated since it voted to leave the EU in June.

UK policies What (if any) new policies and substantive actions might the UK adopt independently of the EU? Given that the NUA will not be legally binding and that in any event international treaties do not automatically become part of domestic law in the UK, it is likely that there will be no immediate impacts for the UK. But in due course we may see some of the principles developed in the NUA being adopted in national policies and legalisation, as has happened with the principle of sustainable development set out in the 1987 Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, and with the flexible mechanisms set up under the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol. There is also a business opportunity for the UK’s urban development professionals to assist other countries with framing and implementing their commitments under the NUA. Angus Evers is a partner and head of environment at Shoosmiths LLP

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A key premise behind Habitat III is that the future of humanity will be determined in cities.

Yet if that is the case, with the legal framework that we have today, the battle is lost before it has even begun, says Pablo Aguilar González Our urban centres no longer function as habitable spaces in which we can ensure a minimum quality of life or satisfy emotional, economic and physical needs. Instead, we are facing increasing dangers brought about by our irrational use of natural resources.

This process has severely impacted on those resources necessary to sustain our population centres – even bringing about serious changes in the global weather systems and climate.

This has directly affected the quality of life of residents in both urban and rural centres. More worryingly, governments and institutions at all levels appear largely unable to control the worst consequences of human activities.

Hopeful models Still, there are hopeful models. In Bolivia an official act called the Bill of Rights of Mother Earth has resulted in the formal recognition of land as legally entitled to protections [Ecuador, too, has written natural rights into its constitution – Ed]. The key here is the understanding of land as a dynamic, interrelated system – of which human settlements and cities are just one part.

“FOR THE SAKE OF THOSE IN TODAY’S CITIES AND HUMAN SETTLEMENTS AND BEYOND, WE MUST HAVE A STRONG LEGAL INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK”

Pablo Aguilar González For the sake of those in today’s cities and human settlements and beyond, we must have a strong legal international framework to be implemented by member states of the United Nations. Habitat III and its outcome strategy, the New Urban Agenda, are a clear opportunity in this regard.

The previous Habitat conferences in 1976 and 1996 did not meet many of their objectives, partly because they resulted in no legal obligation for the UN member states that signed the resulting agreements.

Five pillars of wisdom This lack of binding obligation has prevented governments from effectively fulfilling their commitments, and meant that citizens have lacked any real opportunity to demand their rights under the Habitat agreements.

We offer the following proposal: make Habitat III legally binding for

nations participating in the conference. Give legal force to the New Urban Agenda as an international agreement, similar to existing legally binding instruments on the environment.

This is just the first of five elements of a potential legal revolution that could be brought about through the New Urban Agenda. For the second ‘pillar’, we propose a ‘New Legal Urbanism’ based on a focus on human rights.

Third, we envision a new, integrated territorial legislative system, which would focus on fundamental rights and would link a spectrum of seemingly disparate issues: housing, waste management, urban development, the environment, climate change and more.

The fourth pillar is a new legal methodology for urban planning and design.

This would bring together environmental, urban, rural, civil protection and cultural heritage regulations.

Finally, the fifth pillar consists of integrated legal tools for land management, moving in the direction of single licences at federal, state, and municipal levels.

The Colegio Nacional de Jurisprudencia Urbanística in Mexico has been working on a proposal for this idea for eight years. As yet, there is no example of this process. But our hope is that Mexico will be the first country to undertake such changes and move in the direction of a revolutionary new legal urbanism. If one of the guiding ideas behind Habitat III is that the future of sustainable development will be won or lost in cities, we need to ask: With what legal weapons will we go into battle?

Pablo Aguilar González is an urban lawyer and president of Mexico’s Colegio Nacional de Jurisprudencia Urbanística This article originally appeared in Citiscope: http://bit.ly/2b5AFzV and has been republished in The Planner via the Habitat III Journalism Project

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PLANNING IN ECUADOR

Quito is 2,850 metres above sea level – the highest altitude of any capital city

NATURE IN THE BALANCE

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HOSTING HABITAT III IS AN ACCOLADE FOR QUITO. BUT ECUADOR AND ITS HISTORIC CAPITAL ARE BESET BY INEQUALITIES. HUW MORRIS LOOKS AT THE PROSPECTS FOR POSITIVE CHANGE IN A NATION WHERE NATURE IS CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED, YET NATURAL DISASTER IS ONLY EVER A STEP AWAY

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It was almost inevitable that Quito would host Habitat III, and not just because it was the only city to bid for the summit.

In 1978, along with Kraków in Poland, it was the first to be designated a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO for its 320-hectare historic colonial core, the largest and best preserved in Latin America. This comprises around 130 monumental buildings and around 5,000 heritage-registered properties, most of them inspired by religion, with some tracing their construction back to the 16th century.

Yet Habitat III poses a huge challenge for Quito, as it would for any other Latin American city, according to Ricardo Pozo, an Ecuadorian architect and urban development expert, who is researching a PhD in social and spatial transformation in the country’s central coastal region at Duisburg-Essen University in Germany.

“In addition to the logistics and resources required before, during and after the event, the city faces and will face its own process of transformation to achieve a sustainable urban development,” he says.

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Cotopaxi, 31 miles south of Quito, is one of Ecuador’s most active volcanoes – its last eruption lasted from August 2015 until January this year

“This won’t be easy and, even more, it will take more time, but it will be a good beginning in order to promote it to citizens and stakeholders. Quito is the capital city of a country with deep social, economic, and political problems. This designation [hosting Habitat III] should mark a before and after for the following years.”

E C O N O M I C T H R E AT S A N D N AT U R A L DISASTERS What are the challenges facing Ecuador and how is it meeting them?

The country’s economy depends largely on oil, with some agricultural products such as bananas, shrimps, cacao, and flowers. The drop in global oil prices led to a 3 per cent contraction in the economy in the first quarter of this year. Tourism, although growing, has yet to produce the positive effects the country had expected.

Ecuador also knows about natural disasters. Cotopaxi, one of the country’s most active volcanoes, erupted last year and the government estimates that around 300,000 people remain at risk in neighbouring provinces. In April, a

“COTOPAXI, ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S MOST ACTIVE VOLCANOES, ERUPTED LAST YEAR AND THE GOVERNMENT ESTIMATES THAT AROUND 300,000 PEOPLE REMAIN AT RISK IN NEIGHBOURING PROVINCES”

7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the country’s coastal region and killed nearly 700 people.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is spearheading the response to the disaster and has launched an urgent recruitment campaign for architects, engineers and social workers in the most affected areas. It is also overseeing reconstruction grants to more than 25,000 households.

How Ecuador has confronted these challenges stretches back nearly a decade. In 2007, it began a process of transformation. President Rafael Correa’s government unveiled a National Plan for Wellbeing and with it a new constitution,

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PLANNING IN ECUADOR

H OW E C UA D O R I S G I V I N G R I G H T S T O N AT U R E

which aimed to transform the economy from one dependent on fossil fuels to an exporter of eco-tourism and biotechnology. Pozo says this was a major breakthrough for the nation’s planners.

“It meant a huge advance and the possibility to claim legally with respect to this natural resource. It was an advance, but in practice, we still have a lot to do. Not only the government, as the main defender of the constitutions, but also we citizens have to understand the importance of nature for the survival of the entire local and global system called Earth.

“After almost 10 years of this national government, there are important advances in terms of distribution of resources, but we are still dependent on oil as the main income,” he adds.

“Despite all the advances in terms of improving a quality of life and decreasing poverty in cities, the last oil fall and the global economic crisis, and recently an earthquake in the northern coastal region, left us with our naked reality again. We still are extremely vulnerable and poor.”

POLARISED POLITICS Populism remains a major fault line in the country’s political system, which Pozo says is destroying “any possibility of consensus and participative development”.

He adds: “Despite the good initial

Eight years ago Ecuador had a paradigm shift. It became the first country in the world to rewrite its constitution to recognise the rights of nature. The country’s aim was to support a model for development based on well-being, which it defines as living well and in harmony with nature.

Under the move, ratified by a referendum in 2008, Ecuador’s constitution includes a chapter that states nature in all its life forms has the “right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution”.

This means the people have the authority to enforce these rights on behalf of ecosystems, and the ecosystem itself can be named as a legal defendant. The constitution also obliges the state to “promote respect towards all the elements that form an ecosystem”, as well as applying “precaution and restriction measures” in all activities that can lead to the extinction of species, the destruction of ecosystems or permanent alteration of natural cycles.

Ecuadorian law grants nature the right to restoration. Where there is severe or permanent environmental impact, including those caused by exploration of “nonrenewable natural resources”, particularly important in the light of the country’s oil economy, the state is obliged to establish the “most efficient mechanisms” for restoration, as well as adopting measures to eliminate or mitigate harmful environmental consequences.

“This was promoted as a revolutionary and innovative action to provide officially rights to the nature as a strategic resource of the country,” says Ricardo Pozo. “This decision was based on our condition as a mega-biodiverse country and all the potentialities related with this resource. Unfortunately, this positive initiative was diluted immediately by our reality.

“In Ecuador, nature has rights and is in the constitution as a strategic resource, but we still depend on the exportation of fossil fuels, and the high levels of pollution in cities and rural settlements contradict what is in the constitution.”

ideas that the latest government was promoting, the use of populism as the main tool to consolidate national and regional social and political power has been eroding the already weak social structures. Instead of decreasing social inequality, the government has widened

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Ecuador aims to shift the economy’s base from fossil fuels to eco-tourism and biotechnology

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the gap of polarisation.

“Now the fight is not between rich and poor. We have a polarisation of citizens and stakeholders divided into pro-government and contra-government positions. There is no ideology behind, nor social status in this division.”

With Habitat III on the horizon, the summit is concentrating minds on the relationship between the global North and South. Pozo argues that countries like Ecuador should take seriously their roles in overcoming social and economic inequalities in cities and settlements.

“The global North and the global South will be always there, due to the global economic system and the way the world is organised around the production and reproduction of capital. It is a huge machine that cannot easily be controlled.

“However, we as a country and as the community can make the change. I am extremely positive about that, and I think all citizens and stakeholders in developing countries should be.

“Despite the fact that the future doesn’t look the best possible, I still believe – like many others citizens and planners – that each of us has the power to transform positively this reality.”

I M AG E S | G E T T Y

22/08/2016 11:00

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22/08/2016 10:11

RTPI AWARDS: PLANNING EXCELLENCE

Highfields Park, a grade II listed park providing 121 acres of public space (right)

CASE ST UDY

EMBRACING A HISTORIC FUTURE AWARDS: RTPI AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PLANNING FOR HERITAGE PROJECT NAME: NOTTINGHAM HERITAGE STRATEGY KEY PLAYERS: NOTTINGHAM CITY COUNCIL’S HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT AND REGENERATION, MANAGER OF HERITAGE AND URBAN DESIGN, AND CONSERVATION OFFICER; NOTTINGHAM CITY COUNCIL PORTFOLIO HOLDERS FOR JOBS, GROWTH, TRANSPORT AND HERITAGE, LEISURE AND CULTURE, AND PLANNING AND HOUSING; LOCUS CONSULTING; HISTORIC ENGLAND

BY M A R K S M U L I A N

development. Thus, the idea was born for a heritage strategy to make sure that Nottingham’s wealth of important buildings were considered during redevelopment.

“We did this because it was the right thing to do,” says Paul Seddon, Nottingham City Council’s head of development management and regeneration. “It was about how we use heritage to help the city council’s ambitious regeneration programme.”

T H E P RO J E C T’ S O R I G I N S Like many cities, Nottingham had not always been careful of its heritage, with older buildings in past decades being demolished to make way for modern replacements and main roads.

This led to some concern among conservationists. But after Nottingham City Council secured a number of Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grants, heritage took a more important place in its plans.

The HLF wanted to know the context into which it was putting its money – was it for individual projects scattered around the city, or part of a considered plan?

Nottingham is conducting a substantial regeneration of its city centre, amid a growing awareness that heritage has a positive role to play in economic

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From Robin Hood to the former lace capital of the world – Nottingham Castle (above) and the quarter-mile square Lace Market (inset)

1 , 0 0 0 Y E A R S T O G UA R D Nottingham had had a taste of how this could work with its £70 million heritage-led regeneration of the city’s station. “We had a live example there, but how were we to use heritage and help to make sure it is seen as valuable in regeneration?” asks Seddon.

“That was the place argument for having the strategy, but also Historic England was not necessarily best friends with us; I think there was a perception that heritage was not high up our agenda.”

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fans that the outlaw was insufficiently emphasised, the strategy has been well received.

“We went through a consultation approach where we wanted to capture enthusiasm for heritage and respond to that. We talked the plan through with stakeholders and looked at opportunities to use heritage as part of the regeneration and at how buildings at risk could be saved and used in regeneration – a sort of SWOT analysis.”

Partington, as an outsider, says the exercise was “very much led by planners”.

Councillor Nick McDonald, portfolio holder for business, growth and transport said heritage “was the main driving force”.

TRANSFORMING A CITY

W H AT T H E J U D G E S S A I D Judges called the Nottingham Heritage Strategy “a good practical exemplar with wider application potential”, which shows that heritage can be at the heart of place-making and can be combined with economic growth principles.

They said they were “particularly excited about the team’s forward thinking in regards to preservation and conservation management”.

This heritage is considerable. Nottingham’s 1,000 years of history includes, of course, Robin Hood, although his legacy is more cultural than physical. The city grew around two sandstone hills, one of which is topped by the castle - a scheduled ancient monument - and the other by the grade I listed St Mary’s Church.

Features of the Saxon and Norman settlements remain, but the city’s most unusual feature derives from sandstone’s property of being both easily excavated but strong. “There is a cave system that is the most extensive in the UK, possibly in Europe,” says Seddon. “There are 500 known caves and some can be visited.”

Nottingham’s other big heritage draw is the Lace Market area, where the onceprosperous lace industry “has left an extraordinarily high quality of buildings”, says Seddon. These are mainly from the 19th century and unusually large.”

“Nottingham was constrained in its IMAGES | ALAMY / SHUTTERSTOCK

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growth by being surrounded by land that was valuable for agriculture, so within the city the building became more dense.

There are unusually large buildings for their age, some really tall,” says Seddon.

The main regeneration area is seen as the Southern Gateway, reconnecting the transport hub near the station to the city centre where, says Seddon, “there is still the old street pattern and some splendid buildings which we want to re-imagine”.

To help develop a strategy, the council called in local planning firm Locus Consulting. Director Adam Partington says: “From the Georgian period onwards you have a really rich range of architecture.

There’s the original Boots shop and dispensary, for example. Two architects dominated Nottingham as it developed – TC Hine and Fothergill Watson – and their work is still there.”

Partington says that, apart from inevitable criticism from Robin Hood

The council is now working with the Heritage Lottery Fund to deliver a £24 million transformation of the castle, a £4.64 million restoration of Highfields Park and a £1.7 million townscape heritage scheme. Flagship regeneration projects in which heritage plays a role include a new Bulwell Town conservation area, adopting a schedule of locally listed buildings and offering online access to Nottingham’s historic environment record.

Adoption of the strategy has also led to creation of a ‘heritage panel’. A heritage strategy officer post, funded jointly by Nottingham City Council and Historic England, and a forthcoming Building Trust will work with communities to address heritage at risk in their areas.

Although preparing the strategy did not involve the exercise of planning powers as such, the process saw planners review existing plans, including the Nottingham, Broxtowe and Gedling aligned core strategy, as well as the city’s growth plan and retail strategy.

This allowed them to look at heritage from multiple perspectives and seek opportunities to integrate heritage where relevant. The review also considered policies and identified any shortfalls and gaps in capacity and provision with which the strategy should engage.

Nottingham thinks that while many councils have strategies that recognise heritage simply as a valued resource to be conserved and protected, it is the first to go beyond that and engage with regeneration and growth. Seddon says: “It is not just about heritage, but the balance of the place and how people see it and its story. There is lot of history here.”

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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 HOUSING/COMMERCIAL

‘Sealed box’ noise mitigation solution would lead to poor quality of life

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Noise from Manchester International Airport would have been too loud for future residents of a mixed-use scheme mooted for Knutsford

Blackshaw turbines would jar with existing wind farms ( SUMMARY A reporter refused permission for a six-turbine wind farm at Blackshaw Farm in West Kilbride, Scotland, as the scheme would be discordant with an existing wind farm.

( SUMMARY A mixed-use scheme including 375 homes for a village in Knutsford, near Manchester International Airport, has been refused owing to the effects of noise from air traffic on the living conditions of future residents. ( CASE DETAILS The plan, submitted by Argonaught Holdings, sought permission for the demolition of existing and erection of new employment buildings and outline permission for the construction of dwellings and office space.

In his decision letter, inspector Mark Dakeyne said the appeal site comprises two distinct parcels, 15 hectares of which contains a variety of industrial buildings occupied

by Harman Technology and the other 8 ha being a field in the green belt. One end of the airport’s second runway lies a mile to the north-east of the appeal site.

While evidence indicated that an acceptable level of indoor noise could “technically” be achieved

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with the use of measures such as high-performance sealed windows and doors, enhanced roof construction and mechanical ventilation, this type of “sealed box” solution “would further detract from future residents’ quality of life and is an additional factor weighing against permission”.

He clarified: “An acceptable noise environment would be dependent on not opening windows and doors so that the everyday benefits of village life such as ‘fresh air’, birdsong and country sounds could only be enjoyed if the internal noise environment was to be compromised.” Adverse effects on quality of life would not be avoided, he said.

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The proposal to change use of the existing field from agricultural land to public open space was also ruled to constitute inappropriate development in the green belt. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Dakeyne accepted that given Cheshire East Council’s inability to demonstrate a five-year housing supply, the scheme’s provision of muchneeded housing should be given considerable weight.

But the issues identified with the proposal were deemed to outweigh this benefit.

Appeal Ref: APP/ L6940/C/15/3139709

( CASE DETAILS Reporter Danny Onn noted that the appeal site sits within rolling hills and upland farmland on the southern fringes of the Clyde-Muirshiel Regional Park – an area that is “visually dominated” by the existing Androssan wind farm.

Onn said guidance in the Landscape Capacity Study for Wind Farm Development in North Ayrshire says there is no scope for large typology turbines in landscape and visual terms, so the proposal would conflict with the North Ayrshire Local Development Plan. He assessed that from many views the two wind farms would appear as one, which might be to the proposal’s advantage in landscape and visual terms.

But as the Blackshaw turbines would increase the rotor diameter by 21 metres – making the swept area I M AG E S | I STO C K

22/08/2016 11:32

appear 50 per cent bigger – the change in scale would be more noticeable, creating a discordant effect contrary to the siting and design guidance of Scottish Natural Heritage. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Although Onn said the cumulative impact of the scheme in relation to several wind farms in the wider area would not be unacceptable – and that the small addition would be unlikely to diminish the recreational value of the area – the identified landscape and visual impacts led him to dismiss the appeal.

HOUSING

Javid approves 1,000-home Northampton South SUE ( SUMMARY Communities secretary Sajid Javid has granted developer Bovis Homes outline planning permission for the Northampton South Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE), but refused permission for 380 dwellings on a nearby site. ( CASE DETAILS Both appeals were recovered as they involve plans for

Appeal Ref: PPA-310-2022

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residential development of more than 150 units, which would significantly affect government housing objectives.

Appeal A includes plans for 1,000 homes, a mixed-use local centre and space for a school. It was accepted that Northampton Borough Council could not demonstrate a five-year supply of housing land, but Javid agreed that the most relevant policy for the supply of housing is the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy (JCS) policy N5, which allocates the Appeal A site as the Northampton South SUE to include up to 1,000 dwellings, and with which the appeal proposal

was agreed to be “entirely consistent”. He agreed that this allocation amounts to an ‘in principle’ mandate for the development.

But Javid agreed with inspector CJ Ball’s conclusion that both Appeal A and Appeal B, which was intended as a fall-back option for the developer should Appeal A fail, would not create satisfactory living conditions for residents, given the noise and air pollution impacts inherent in the site’s proximity to the M1 motorway.

But Javid also concurred that through revising housing density and structural greenspace provision it would be “entirely possible

DECISIONS IN FOCUS ONLINE VISIT US ONLINE

Every day we publish more planning appeal decision stories from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – read the following stories now on our web site: ( Clark refuses wind turbine amid lack of community support ( 200 Bidford­on­Avon homes approved despite open space loss ( Eco lodge would thwart SLA and green wedge aims ( Learning Resource Centre ttre re wo would ould com ccomplement mplem mennt Du Durham rham mW World or Heritage Site ( Blunsdon housing development would help create a mixed communityy

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London

Find out more: www.rtpiconferences.co.uk

For all your appeals news, visit: www.theplanner.co.uk uk k

SEPTEMBER 2016 / THE PLANNER

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INSIGHT

DiF { D to design a layout [for Appeal A]… which would meet the requirements of the JCS”. He agreed that the distinctive rural quality of the setting of the Collingtree Village Conservation Area and grade II listed St Columbia’s Church would be lost as a result of the developments. ( CONCLUSION REACHED While he found that the benefits of Appeal A outweighed this harm, subject to the imposition of a condition requiring a detailed masterplan to be submitted before the reserved matters stage, Javid said the benefits of early housing delivery coming from the creation of 380 homes in Appeal B did not outweigh the harm to heritage assets and failure to mitigate noise impacts for future occupiers.

Javid backed the inspector’s recommendation to pay appeal costs to the appellant, agreeing that the council failed to fully acknowledge the outline nature of the application for Appeal A, which led to it being unjustified in a number of its objections..

Appeal Refs: APP/ V2825/W/15/3028151 APP/ V2825/W/15/3028155

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Castlederg wind turbine noise rating ‘faulty’

DECISIONS IN FOCUS noted that the appeal site lies within an area of “undulating hills” to the north of Castlederg, which is classed as having a medium-to-high sensitivity to wind energy.

McShane assessed the cumulative impact of the proposed turbine in tandem with five operational and two consented turbines in the area, and found that it would not have an unacceptable adverse impact on visual amenity.

But he said the methodological approach adopted in the appellant’s noise impact assessment (NIA) “introduces ambiguity and uncertainty to the predictions, which seriously undermine the reliability of the data provided”.

McShane found that the NIA uses sound power levels as opposed to the available octave band spectral data, contrary to guidance in the Good Practice Guide for wind turbine noise.

It was also deemed to fail the requirement in a supplementary guidance note to demonstrate that whatever the data source, an allowance has been made for potential uncertainty in the data. ( CONCLUSION REACHED McShane said shortcomings in the NIA could lead to sound levels higher than indicated and that it could not be clearly proved that unacceptable harm to residential amenity would not occur.

( SUMMARY Permission has been refused for a 250 kilowatt wind turbine in Castlederg, County Tyrone, after a commissioner found multiple faults with the appellant’s noise impact assessment. ( CASE DETAILS Commissioner D McShane

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Appeal Ref: 2015/A0220

EDUCATION

Specialist school OK for Berkshire green belt ( SUMMARY Communities secretary Sajid Javid has approved plans for a new school on green belt land in Maidenhead, after finding that special circumstances had been demonstrated. ( CASE DETAILS The appellant, Beech Lodge School (BLS), is described as running a small school for children with specific educational needs and learning difficulties, with a large proportion of attendees having been fostered or adopted. The school has special expertise in the area of attachment, developmental and relational trauma.

Javid agreed with inspector Gyllian Grindey that a compelling need for the school had been proved, with the head of education for the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead having attested to the council’s increasing demand for the specialist provision offered by BLS. Javid agreed there would be life-long benefits to the wider society, as well as a benefit to A special school has been judged suitable for green belt land in Berkshire

potential future pupils.

He agreed with Grindey’s conclusion that the argument for considering a splitsite for the new school is unconvincing in regard to the inefficiencies and costs inherent in such an operation, as highlighted in the government’s School Reform Funding report. Javid also agreed that the evidence put forward of the need for a rural setting to facilitate outdoor learning was compelling, especially in light of the “inherent difficulty” in finding a site that is not within in the green belt in the area where the school already has attachments.

While concluding that the enclosed nature of the site meant the scheme’s impact on the wider landscape would be relatively minor, Javid did agree that the enjoyment of local users of the Chiltern Way/Berkshire Loop longdistance path would be affected, and this harm should be considered significant. ( CONCLUSION REACHED But Javid was satisfied that an adequate search had been carried out for an alternative site, and that the proven need for the school outweighed the harm to the green belt.

Appeal Ref: APP/ T0355/V/15/3011305

HOUSING

Impact on MOL sees 253 London homes dismissed ( SUMMARY An inspector has refused permission for a part eight, part nine-storey development of 253 dwellings in Lower

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Communities secretary Sajid Javid has overturned approval for a solar farm in Kent’s green belt

Sydenham, London, after ruling that very special circumstances did not exist to excuse the inappropriate development of Metropolitan Open Land (MOL). ( CASE DETAILS Inspector Katie Peerless noted that the appeal site is part of the old Dylon International industrial premises, and was previously a sports ground for staff. She noted that it was common ground between the parties that the site lies within MOL, and that the London Plan gives the same protection to such areas as given to green belt in the National Planning Policy Framework.

The appellant disagreed with the London Borough of Bromley’s argument that it could show a five-year supply of housing land. Peerless also took issue with the 5.1-year supply put forward by the council, finding that that its inclusion of 1,100 units in its small sites allowance for windfalls could not be relied upon, given the downward trend for such completions.

The council’s failure to make allowance for any lapse rates on sites where planning permission has already been granted but not yet begun was seen to weaken its supply position, and a deliverable five-year supply was judged not to be present.

As this rendered relevant housing policies out of date, it diminished the weight given to the MOL designation.

The appellant also questioned the extent to which the appeal site is contributing to the purposes of MOL designation given its lack of public access, lack of “features or landscapes of either national or metropolitan value”, and lack of clear visual link to the playing fields east of the nearby Pool river.

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But Peerless said the site “nonetheless makes a contribution to the larger open area through the fact of its designation”, and that the loss of openness would be discernible from wherever the new block could be viewed. Peerless also found the development’s design overly dominant in height and scale to its surroundings. ( CONCLUSION REACHED The scheme’s contribution to housing supply , including 90 affordable units, and its creation of an area of publicly accessible recreational parkland were seen as benefits, but these were outweighed by the importance of the openness of the MOL.

Appeal Ref: APP/ G5180/W/16/3144248

RENEWABLES

Javid overrules inspector on Kent solar farm ( SUMMARY Communities secretary Sajid Javid has overturned an inspector’s approval of a solar farm and associated works in an area of the green belt in Edenbridge, Kent, after disagreeing that its benefits outweighed the harm to the green belt, the character of Plans for homes at Lower Sydenham were refused because the London Plan affords Metropolitan Open Land the same protection as green belt

the area and the setting of designated heritage assets.

The scheme was recovered

by Javid’s predecessor Greg Clark in December 2015. ( CASE DETAILS Javid agreed with inspector John Woolcock that the proposal would constitute inappropriate development in the green belt, having a significant adverse effect on its openness, and that the ancilliary fencing and equipment would adversely affect the countryside even if controlled by condition.

The proposal would also fail to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment, and would harm the character of the area, although Javid agreed it would have a limited and localised effect on the appearance of the area.

He said the likely loss of productivity from using 7.7 ha of best and most versatile agricultural land would

be minor, and would not significantly weigh against the proposal.

The proposal was agreed to have some effect on the traditional wider setting and landscape of the grade II listed Medhurst Row Farmhouse, though it would “not affect how the farm buildings are experienced”, and proposed vegetation would reduce this impact to minor/moderate significance.

Javid concurred that there would be little or no impact on the settings of a number of other heritage assets. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Unlike the inspector, Javid argued that even in apportioning significant weight to the renewable energy benefits of the scheme, along with the moderate weight to biodiversity improvements and local economy benefits, he did not find that the benefits clearly outweighed the harm to the green belt, the character and appearance of the area and the less than substantial harm to designated heritage assets.

He found no special circumstances to make the proposal acceptable.

Appeal Ref: APP/ G2245/W/15/3011499

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INSIGHT

Plan ahead P

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

Planning: Delivering for Northern Ireland – Programme

A timely delivery Planners need to view the recent changes to planning services in Northern Ireland as a journey, Northern Ireland Planning Conference organiser Roisin Willmott tells Martha Harris “No one was under the illusion that it would be easy,” says Roisin Willmott, head of RTPI Northern Ireland, of April 2015’s devolution of planning powers to 11 new ‘super councils’. But a year on, “the systems are up and running and now is the time to look at how they can evolve and improve”, she says.

Evolution and improvement within a reformed system will provide the thrust for a one-day conference that will blend ‘big picture’ themes with consideration of some of the more technical aspects of planning as a professional discipline in the 21st century.

In particular, this year’s Northern Ireland Planning Conference on 15 November will, says Willmott, consider issues that “don’t often get discussed in the day to day” but are crucial when developing and delivering planning services, such as, “who leads planning, what value does planning deliver, how can we be more effective in our delivery and is it possible to evaluate good design?”

Overall, she says, the conference with its theme of ‘Planning: Delivering for Northern Ireland’, will seek to raise appreciation that planning is an “essential ingredient” for delivering places and providing the spatial framework for services across the country.

Infrastructure minister Chris Hazzard will kick off the day

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Ministerial address Chris Hazzard MLA The value of planning Trudi Elliott, RTPI chief executive Who leads planning?

Kevin Murray, Kevin Murray Associates

Roisin Willmott: planning is an “essential ingredient”

with an account of the planning aims for the country going forward, and how they link with infrastructure. The conference will also feature talks from RTPI chief executive Trudi Elliott, chair of the Planning Officers Society for Wales, Mark Hand, Rob Cowan of consultancy Urban Design Skills, and Kevin Murray of Kevin Murray Associates.

Alongside the main plenary sessions a series of breakout seminars will allow for discussion on more detailed aspects of planning, as well as quick 10-minute briefings on good practice projects, including The Gobbins Cliff Path and the Department for Infrastructure’s ‘Living Places’ design guide.

“Of course, one of the benefits of attending the conference is the chance to catch up with colleagues in different organisations and meet new people to exchange ideas,” adds Wilmott, “so we’ve built in lots of breaks.”

Aside from topical presentations and valuable networking opportunities, Wilmott says the conference will “provide a forum to encourage discussion from different perspectives and encourage those working in Northern Ireland and beyond, to share ideas and good practice.”

The conference will offer a “useful CPD opportunity”, and attendance offers are in place, including a discounted rate for RTPI student and licentiate members.

Ultimately, Willmott hopes planners will take away from the conference some “practical inspiration”.

“Our speakers will share insights and challenges to inspire but all set in the context of practical application.”

On what the focus of

“WHAT VALUE DOES PLANNING DELIVER, HOW CAN WE BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN OUR DELIVERY AND IS IT POSSIBLE TO EVALUATE GOOD DESIGN?”

Tools for assessing quality development designs Rob Cowan, Urban Design Skills Enhancing outcomes through performance monitoring Mark Hand, chair, Planning Officers Society for Wales

planning in Northern Ireland should be in the immediate future, Wilmott says: “Planning and planners need to take the initiative, whilst it is still relatively new in councils, to provide leadership; the true value of planning needs to be demonstrated.

“From a practical perspective, it is imperative that local authorities focus on developing their Local Development Plans, as these will make the marked difference for planning in Northern Ireland.”

A LL C H A N G E What: Northern Ireland Planning Conference Where: Riddel Hall, Stranmillis Rd, Belfast BT9 5EE, UK When: 15 November 2016 Find out more: www.tinyurl.com/planner0916-NI-1511

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

LONDON 21 September – Understanding developers and development finance This masterclass uses lectures, workshops and exercises to help you think like a land buyer. Key issues covered: schemes different developers want; the principles of a development appraisal; mistakes that developers make; land contracts and options, and development finance.

Venue: The Hatton (etc Venues), 51-53 Hatton Garden, London Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-LO-2109 22 September – Renewable and lowcarbon energy planning This one-day workshop covers the key renewable energy planning policy drivers and the practical implementation process from both the LPA and private consultant’s perspective.

Venue: 241 Borough High St, London SE1 1GA Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-LO-2209 28 September – POCA in planning enforcement The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 seeks confiscation orders to deprive a criminal of the benefit he/she has received as a result of his/her planning crime.

This workshop will share best practice and ideas to assist in the process of confiscating the proceeds of planning crime.

Venue: The Hatton Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-LO-2809

SOUTH EAST 13 September – Neighbourhood Planning The event will provide an overview of the technical side of the topic and recent developments. Speakers are: John Romanski, Planning Aid England Manager; Donna Moles,

senior planning officer, Arun District Council; John Parmiter, director, John Parmiter Ltd. Venue: Horsham District Council, Parkside, Chart Way, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1RL Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-SE-1309

DON’T MISS Nationally significant infrastructure projects and PINS The Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) started work six years ago to deal with major transport, energy and water applications. In April 2012, The Planning Inspectorate (PINS) took on this role and with this a new method of decision-making on major infrastructure projects. A number of schemes that have gone through the process are now being implemented.

The effects of the process of dealing with nationally significant infrastructure projects are being felt by promoters, local authorities, statutory consultees, environmental groups, and local communities. This workshop brings together key participants to discuss its operation, map out its effects and advise on the best ways to achieve successful outcomes.

Date: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 Venue: Prospero House (etc Venues) 241 Borough High Street, London Details: www.tinyurl.com/planner0916-LO-2009

SOUTH WEST 14 September – Planning and heritage This event will aim to help planners better understand and appreciate the historic environment, including parks and open spaces.

Venue: Gloucester Rugby Club,Kingsholm Rd, Gloucester, Gloucestershire Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-SW-1409

EAST OF ENGLAND 15 September – Young Planners Cambridge drinks A social evening in Cambridge.

Venue: Baroosh Cambridge, Market Passage, Cambridge Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-EE-1509

WEST MIDLANDS 13 September – The Dickens Heath Masterplan: What did it deliver in practice?

A look at the masterplan produced for Dickens Heath, a new village three miles from Solihull town centre, examining the extent to which its original vision has been achieved by looking at the background to the masterplan and at its original aims. Dickens Heath will then be explored on foot to see what has been delivered on the ground.

Venue: The Council Chamber, Council House, Solihull, West Midlands Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-WM-1309

27 September – Environmental Impact Assessments This workshop will cover the relevant legislation, provides explanatory examples and will assist with contributing to, reviewing and submitting a successful EIA. The trainer is Dorian Latham, technical director, JBA Consulting.

Venue: The Studio, 51 Lever Street, Manchester, M1 1FN Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-WM-2709

EAST MIDLANDS 5 September – East Midlands L-APC seminar This Licentiate – Assessment of Professional Competence seminar covers eligibility and experience requirements as well as the written submission, APC competencies, logbook and mentoring.

Venue: The Parcel Yard 48A London Rd, Leicester, Leicester LE2 0QB Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-EM-0509 14 September – Environmental design and planning A look at aspects of environmental design to highlight what planners should look for in applications and what will facilitate high-sustainability standards in development.

The latest guidance, codes and regulations and several built case studies will be presented by architects.

Venue: City Hall Charles Street Leicester, Leicestershire LE1 1FZ

Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-EM-1409

YORKSHIRE 14 September – Development viability and CPOs A session on development viability and compulsory purchase, hosted by Stephen Miles and Carole Pullan of Cushman & Wakefield.

Venue: Cushman & Wakefield Offices, 23 Park Square, Leeds LS1 2ND Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-YO-1409 22 September – Climate Change, Renewables and The Humber Energy Estuary The Humber is fast becoming a UK centre of excellence for offshore wind turbine manufacturing and is embracing many other forms of energy generation.

This event explores the economic and planning opportunities and challenges faced with both climate change and renewable energy generation. John Prescott delivers a keynote address.

Venue: The Guildhall, Hull HU1 2AA Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-YO-2209

NORTH EAST 14 September – Addressing the national housing crisis This one-day conference explores the effects of the Housing Bill in addressing the housing crisis and the need for housing for the

growing ageing population.

This seminar could count as appropriate CPD for RTPI members.

Venue: Centre for Life, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 4EP Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-NE-1409 21 September – Greening Wingrove: A community approach to sustainability North East region joins with the Workers Educational Association and the Landscape Institute for a talk on the Greening Wingrove project by the WEA’s Alan Barlow.

Venue: Northumbria University, Claremont Tower, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-NE-2109

NORTH WEST 22 September – Logistics and Transport: Meeting our demands How planning can help to achieve the changing needs of the retail sector.

Venue: 1 New York Street, Manchester M1 4HD Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-NW-2209 29 September – Northern Powerhouse Devolution is a key issue nationwide with Manchester leading the pack – how far other Northern cities and regions have come will also be a discussion point.

Venue: Innside, 1 First St, Manchester, Manchester M15 4FN Details: www.tinyurl.com/ planner0916-NW-2909

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NEWS

RTPI {

RTPI news pages are edited

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

Young Planners’ Conference: A venue to plan for change

Belfast is moving forward both culturally and economically. Having undergone substantial redevelopment in recent years, it has redefined itself as a unique destination, with a flourishing cultural scene and nightlife. From the birthplace of the Titanic, to the iconic Giant’s Causeway, visitors will find a cornucopia of historic landmarks and inspiring landscapes in this growing and dynamic region. Given Belfast’s complicated history and ongoing transformation, the city is a ‘planners’ delight’ and provides a unique setting for the profession to explore and consider how it can adapt to future challenges.

On 14-15 October, young planners will meet at Belfast’s Europa Hotel to reflect on the role of planning and how it can respond to increasing global uncertainty.

Organised by the Northern Ireland Young Planners, ‘Planning for Change: Shaping our Future’ will take delegates through a series of plenary sessions, workshops and study tours to enhance their knowledge, network, debate and experience examples of planning best practice from a range of planning jurisdictions.

The conference counts towards continuing professional Development (CPD).

Phil Williams, RTPI president and head of planning at Belfast City Council, said: “There is such a range of interesting planning issues for young planners to roll their sleeves up into in Belfast. The city is a unique learning environment for planners to consider how Belfast has changed, look at the plans we have in place for future changes and then consider how these might apply to your patch.”

Two social events will provide excellent networking opportunities, starting with Thursday’s welcome reception, followed

by Friday’s gala dinner. The dinner will be in Belfast’s most haunted building, the 19th century grade ‘A’ listed Crumlin Road Gaol. Most UK airports fly direct to Belfast, so why not combine networking, CPD, and inspiring speakers with a break?

P LE N A R Y S P E A K E R S

Erwin van der Krabben, professor of real estate, Ulster University, and professor of area development at Radboud University, Nijmegen Stephen Hilton, director of futures, Bristol City Council Dr Mary Keeling, manager, Economic Analysis Smarter Cities, IBM Ben Cave, director, Ben Cave Associates Riccardo Marini, director, Gehl Architects Jonna Monaghan, health and well-being manager, Belfast Healthy Cities Ian Gilzean, chief architect, Scottish Government Aisling Shannon-Rusk, Queen’s University, Belfast Dr Mike Harris, deputy head of policy and research, RTPI Dr Roisin Wilmott, director of RTPI Cymru and NI Angus Kerr, director of planning policy division, Dept of the Environment, NI Stephen Wilkinson, vice-president, RTPI

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KEY TOPICS The current planning context The UK planning system continues to experience significant change, with an ever-changing policy and legislative context. This session will reflect and evaluate planning reform across the UK, with a focus on the recent devolution of planning and community planning powers to local government in Northern Ireland.

The smart city Cities face enormous challenges and opportunities to integrate smart systems into their planning and design. This session seeks to explore the concept of the smart city to allow cities to improve their resilience to global changes, improve efficiency in the delivery of infrastructure and services, and how to attract inward investment in a competitive global market.

The healthy city Should health and well-being be at the core of how we design and develop cities? The rise of public health challenges such as air quality and obesity, combined with trends towards an increasingly urbanised nation mean that cities face challenges in delivering a high standard of health and well-being for the majority of the population. This session will explore if effective planning promote healthy behaviours and enhance mental and physical well-being in cities, or whether it remains an ideology.

Planning for social cohesion A wide range of physical, social and economic factors can influence and result in the creation of an unequal and divided society. This session will focus on how planning and urban design can seek to address imbalances and disparities, build shared values and enable people to develop a sense of belonging in diverse and shared environments.

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Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk

RTPI (switchboard) T: 020 7929 9494

Registered charity no.

262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841

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

Adele Maher strategic planning manager LONDON BOROUGH OF TOWER HAMLETS 1. The Housing & Planning Act (HPA) and proposed changes to the NPPF have introduced uncertainty regarding the delivery of affordable housing and the role of starter homes. Until this is resolved it will continue to frustrate negotiations on land value and development viability, delaying the delivery of new homes and development.

2. The HPA and the NPPF’s approach to viability will together undermine the ability of the planning system to delivery homes of all tenures, in particular social and intermediate rent. The proposed changes to the NPPF also indicated a shift in focus to home ownership. This sits uncomfortably with the prime minister’s ambitions to “make... a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us” and the core purpose of the RTPI to “advance… planning for the benefit of the public”.

3. If local authorities are key to boosting the supply of new homes, why impede their ability to do so? Government needs to find ways to unlock their potential.

YOUR INSTITUTE, YOUR QUESTIONS What is the RTPI doing at this year’s party conferences?

GARETH GILES, BRIGHTON & HOVE CITY COUNCIL

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1 Provide stability: Need clarity ASAP from DCLG on the future of affordable housing including role of starter homes

Homes for all, not some: Evolving national policy needs to demonstrate it can responsibly plan for homes of all tenures

3 Utilise the potential of local authorities: Government needs to tackle legislation that restricts local authorities’ ability to provide and build more homes

POSITION POINTS

BUILDING MORE HOMES: HOUSE OF LORDS ECONOMIC AFFAIRS REPORT Five important drivers of house building, identified by the RTPI, have been included in the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee’s Building More Homes final report.

The committee agreed with the RTPI on the following areas: the private sector is unable to meet housing demand alone, local authorities should be incentivised to build homes, surplus government land should be used for housing, planning isn’t a barrier to house building and a land value tax is a fairer way to capture value uplift to fund infrastructure.

n Read the RTPI’s full response: tinyurl.com/ planner0916-rtpi-homes n Read Building More Homes: tinyurl.com/ planner0916-lords-report

REBECCA HILDRETH, RTPI HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

PLANNING AND TECH

The party conferences provide important opportunities to engage directly with politicians both at the events we put on ourselves and around the conference itself.

We will be holding lunch-time fringe events at both the Labour (26 September) and Conservative (4 October) conferences.

Each will have a different panel of politicians and planning experts who will debate how planning can help to solve some of this nation’s problems such as housing, infrastructure delivery and inequality. RTPI members are encouraged to attend and details for both events are on the website.

JOE KILROY, THE RTPI’S POLICY OFFICER

n www.rtpi.org.uk/events/events-calendar/

planning-tech

On the back of our Planning and Tech research paper the institute was invited to a roundtable entitled “Connecting future cities: how can devolved regions use the power of technology?” convened by Prospect magazine. The issues explored ranged from the role of data to trust, transparency and public participation.

The possibility of digital engineering in planning improving four key tenets of urban living: infrastructure, housing, education and travel, was examined. Notionally, if a city has increased control over planning and procurement and access to the appropriate data and technology – budget aside – it should lead to better planning and procurement.

n Planning and tech report: tinyurl.com/planner0916-

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n

NEWS

RTPI { RTPI ROUTES TO EDUCATION

Notice of the AGM of the Royal Town Planning Institute 2016 RADISSON BLU EDWARDIAN BLOOMSBURY STREET HOTEL, 9 13 BLOOMSBURY STREET, LONDON WC1B 3QD AT 1:30PM, WEDNESDAY 26 OCTOBER 2016

Agenda 1) To receive and approve the minutes of the 2015 AGM. 2) To receive the annual report and accounts for the year ending 31 December 2015 and the auditor’s report.

3) To appoint the auditors.

Proposed that Moore Stephens be re-appointed as auditors.

4) Members’ subscriptions. The subscription rates payable by the various classes of membership are available at: www.rtpi.org.uk/about-the-rtpi/ governance/annual-report-and-accounts/ 5) Question Time At the conclusion of the business of the annual general meeting time will be allowed at the discretion of the president for members to raise any points, and for informal discussions to take place on any matter relevant to the objects of the institute.

If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Susannah. glover@rtpi.org.uk by Monday 10th October 2016 n More information: Explanatory notes of the AGM and the institute’s annual report are available at: www.rtpi.org.uk/about-the-rtpi/ governance/annual-report-and-accounts/ Past annual reports are currently available on the RTPI website at: www.rtpi.org.uk/about-the-rtpi/ governance/annual-report-and-accounts/

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NEW MEMBERS

CHARTERED MEMBERS JOINED APRIL­JUNE 2016 Congratulations to our newly elected Chartered Members between April-June 2016 “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” – Phil Williams, RTPI president.

Della Marie Adams Mark Adams Laura Allen Matthew Allsopp Zahra Alrashed Anna Ambroziewicz Lee David Armitage Ashley Bailey Hannah Baker Polly Barker Dominique Barnett Thomas Patrick Barrett Katherine Angela Barry Alexandra Berezina Roland Billington Rachel Ann Birrell Jacob Bonehill James Bonner Andrew Edward Boothby Amit Bratch William Anthony Brearley Matthew Breeze Ross Thomas Brereton Anthony Brogan Alice Broomfield Callum Brown Mark Brown Katherine Brumpton Jamie Bryant Sarah Elizabeth Button Ross Cahalane Daniel Chalk Nicholas Chancellor Jonathan Chick James Patrick Charles Clancy Thomas Cole Mark Collins Nathan Conway Daniel Corcoran Andrew Cowan Eleanor Crick Gerard Crowley Aidan Culhane David Richard Dalzell Katie Daniels Carol Darling Roger Savile Davis Rachel Mary Devine Samuel Dix Natalie Dobraszczyk Gary Dodds Seamus Donohoe Jennifer Dowling Nick Doyle Louis John Dulling Rachel Duncan Stephanie Eastwood Stuart Michael Eaves Gregory Evans Bethany Claire Evans William Alexander Everson Ralph Gerard Forder Jonathan Friel

Paul Galgey Mathews George Holly Gillingham Elisabeth Claire Glover Victoria Grant Emma Jane Greening Sian Gulliver Rebecca Gunn David John Hall Bethany Verena Catherine Harris Paige Harris John Anthony Hayes Troy Healy Matthew Hill Paul Hughes James Huish Sarah Hunt Susan Ann Hunt Katherine Hurrell David Richard Hutchinson Stephanie Irvine Sarah Jones Sion Jones Rhiannon Elizabeth Jones Dean Jordan Anna Patricia Jotcham Camille Kaur Juttla Muhammad Kadhim Shay Kelleher Ellen Kendrick Suzanne Kimman Aline Kirkland Samuel Lake Christien Lee Tracy Marie Lincoln Rupert Litherland Jan Christoffel Lourens Andrew Lowe Matthew Lunn Natalie Lynch Hannah Lyth Shaun MacArthur Randall Macdonald Robert Mackenzie-Grieve Tara Maizonnier Stephanie Malik Andrew Marshall Catherine McCormick Joshua McLean Charlotte McSharry Chris Megson Kerrie Melrose Simon Charles Milson Grace Mollart Rhiannon Moylan Ella Jane Murfet Bhoseok Nam Shane O’Donnell Gráinne O’Keeffe Lewis Oliver John Edward Osborn Liam Page Aude Pantel

Ben Parkins Daley Parsonage Hannah Payne Andrew Peter John Phillips Matt Preece Sarah Jane Pullen Ross Raftery Daniel Ramirez Rebecca Elizabeth Randall Alison Richards Jamie Roberts Osian Roberts Christopher Roberts Rebecca Robson Alex Rogerson Adam Peter Ruane Liam Ryder Kavi Saigal Joseph Sales Hazel Marie Sargent Chloe Saunter Cheryl Saverus Beatrice Scott Kelly Sharp Timothy Luke Smith Camelia Smith Christopher Smith Hanna Jayne Staton Alastair Stewart Fiona Struthers Alice Suttie Samia Syeda Thomas Bruce Tanner Charlotte Taylor Peter George Thomas Hannah Joy ThomasDavies Mark Robert Thompson Claire Thurston Ceire Topley Mark Simon TurnerHeslington Emily Vyse Fiona Alice Wallace Benjamin Ward Matthew Watson George Peter Weeks Neil Wells Simon Westmorland Rebecca White Robert Andrew Wilding Zoe Rebecca Wilkinson Emma Williams Brittany Williams Matthew John Williams Gareth David Lawrence Wilson George Robert Wilyman Suzanne Wood Ben Howard Woolnough Jonathan Wright Nicholas Wyke Alex Yearsley

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

VOTE FOR WALES’S BEST PLACE Wales’s Best Places is celebrating some of our most attractive and inspiring places.

We received nominations for 140 places from more than 200 members of the public. The Wales’s Best Places panel met in the summer to face the challenge of reducing the list to the final 10 places.

They selected the final list on the basis of places that have been shaped by planners and planning.

You are now invited to vote for your Best Place in Wales from the final 10 places. Voting is open to all members of the public, so spread the word, and get your family and friends to vote today. Voting closes 30th September 2016.

n www.rtpi.org.uk/walesbestplace, walesbestplace@rtpi.org.uk

VOTE NOW IN THE RTPI ELECTIONS Don’t miss your chance to vote in the RTPI elections and help us ensure that we have the best possible people representing the institute. Voting opened on 1 September and closes at 5pm on 30 September.

Voting is your opportunity to elect the members you think are best able to influence the direction of the RTPI and to decide its future.

Candidate statements are available on the elections website and all members eligible to vote will receive further information by email or post.

n Vote here: http://rtpi.org.uk/about-the-rtpi/governance/rtpielections/

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT RTPI EDUCATION POLICY Do you employ planning graduates? Are you a student or recent graduate? Do you work for an accredited Planning School or are you involved in a Partnership Board? The RTPI is reviewing its education policy with the aim of maintaining standards and quality assurance and strengthening RTPI accreditation requirements. This review proposes to clarify the RTPI’s accreditation criteria so that universities know how courses need to be designed and delivered to meet our high standards.

n To read the full consultation document and respond, visit: www.rtpi.org.uk/educationreview by 3 October 2016.

SAVE THE DATE: NAPE ANNUAL CONFERENCE This year’s National Association of Planning Enforcement (NAPE) Annual Conference is held in Bristol on 27 October. Delegates will hear from experts about best practice, legal updates, and how the network can support you in your role.

The conference, sponsored by Burges Salmon and Francis Taylor Building, is free for NAPE members. Full programme will be available soon. Keep up to date using #RTPIenforcement.

n Contact nape@rtpi.org.uk for further information

RTPI SHORTS

RTPI MEMBERSHIP: SPECIAL ENTRY ROUTE CLOSING SOON The RTPI is in the final stages of phasing out its current non-accredited routes to membership, in preparation for new routes coming in from January 2017. These are the routes to becoming a chartered member taken by those who do not have a fully RTPI-accredited degree.

The Reciprocal Arrangements and EU Pathway routes to chartered membership have now closed, and the technical member class is also now closed to new applicants.

The special entry route is also closing this year.

There are now only two deadlines left to submit an application for chartered membership through this route: b b

9 September 2016 26 October 2016 (final submission date)

Potential members unable to apply by these deadlines are encouraged to look at the streamlined routes to membership, which will be in place from January 2017. Experienced planning professionals will be able to apply directly for chartered membership through the new Experienced Practitioner Assessment of Professional Competence (EP-APC) route. Candidates are required to demonstrate a combination of educational background, experience, and competence.

The EP-APC builds on the considerable skills, knowledge and understanding that they have already acquired as experienced practitioners.

n Find out more and read our FAQs: www.rtpi.org.uk/routes-to-membership

NORTHERN IRELAND PLANNING CONFERENCE – PLANNING: DELIVERING FOR NORTHERN IRELAND November sees the first annual Northern Ireland Planning Conference to discuss all things planning.

The new planning landscape has now been in place in the province for a year. Planning is in a position to deliver for Northern Ireland – it has the opportunity to demonstrate its value to local communities, delivering for councils and for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

How can planning be delivered positively with reducing public budgets to deliver aspirations? The inaugural Northern Ireland Planning Conference will discuss many questions, explore solutions, and hear about good practice. We will hear from within Northern Ireland and beyond.

The conference will include a mix of inspirational and practical plenary speakers, as well as providing chances to delve into more detailed planning topics and for the audience to join in discussions. Chair of RTPI NI, Jenny Mawhinney, highlighted that in designing the programme, “we have aimed to move discussion on in Northern Ireland to delivering for communities positively and to involve a wide audience”.

It will be held in the Riddel Hall at Queen’s University Belfast, on Tuesday 15 November 2016.

n Visit www.tinyurl.com/planner0916-ni-planning

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ADVERTISEMENTS

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ADVERTISEMENTS

Newark & Sherwood a Place to Grow Newark and Sherwood is located in central Noƫnghamshire, with excellent strategic transport links, making Noƫngham, Lincoln, London and the north easily accessible. The District is the largest in Noƫnghamshire and has a diverse range of planning issues, including progressing sustainable urban extensions, encouraging rural regeneraƟon, and protecƟng the area’s important heritage.

Planning Manager

Newark & Sherwood District Council is a dynamic planning authority, with the Įrst Core Strategy and AllocaƟons DPDs in Noƫnghamshire, the Įrst Community Infrastructure Levy in England, and a programme to deliver growth in the context of a fantasƟc historic and natural environment.

(maternity cover)

PLANNER – DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT/ENFORCEMENT

An excellent opportunity for a Planning Manager be an integral part of one of the UK’s largest Sustainable Urban Extensions (SUE), delivering over 5,000 homes together with associated commercial and social infrastructure.

2 Year Fixed Term contract, Full Time Salary NS11 - £29,854 to £31,288 p.a.

The Planning Manager will be responsible for the preparation and submission of all planning applications, and the analysis, monitoring and delivery of planning consents. Including liaising with the local authorities, project managers, architects, engineers and transport consultants.

This is an opportunity to support and shape the delivery of our Development Management Business Unit within the District. The role involves working on a range of planning applicaƟons and appeals including minor and major planning and pre-applicaƟon enquiries. This is likely to include housing schemes, renewable energy developments, and commercial/mixed use applicaƟons.

Ideally, the Planning Manager will be a chartered member of the RTPI with previous experience of master planning and development framework plans.

For informaƟon on the above post please contact MarƟn Russell on 01636 655837.

For full details of this vacancy and on-line applicaƟons please visit www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/vacancies or to request an applicaƟon pack e-mail personnel@nsdc.info or telephone 01636 655220.

The ability to establish strong working relationships both internally and externally with parties/stakeholders at all levels is critical.

A good knowledge of Environmental Impact Assessment is desirable, as well as experience of S106 delivery and negotiation.

Strong inÁuencing and leadership skills will be imperative.

Closing date is noon on Friday 16 September 2016.

Interviews will be held in the week commencing 26 September 2016.

For more information please visit http://jobs.theplanner.co.uk/

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Oadby and Wigston Borough Council

Just a few miles from Leicester City Centre, Oadby and Wigston is a small urban Borough with a lot to offer you in developing your planning career.

From managing the delivery of our Town Centre Regeneration Masterplans and implementation of residential led Local Development Orders to the preparation of a Leicester and Leicestershire Strategic Growth Plan and playing a full role in the preparation of our Local Plan, you will be integral to shaping the future of the Borough.

•

These posts are part of a brand new structure for our planning section and present an exciting opportunity to become part of a new and enthusiastic team.

•

•

OPEN LUNCHTIME EVENT TO VIEW THE CURRENT PROJECTS from 12:00 – 14:00 on Friday 9th September 2016 at the Council Ofwces, Station Road, Wigston, LE18 2DR.

•

For further details and to apply please visit

•

www.oadby-wigston.gov.uk/jobs

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Planning Control Team Leader

£33,106 - £36,019

Planning Control OfƂcer

(Career Graded) £20,456 - £32,164 2 posts (opportunities exist to appoint at various bands on the scale)

Planning Policy OfƂcer

(Career Graded) £ 23,166 - £32,164 (opportunities exist to appoint at various bands on the scale)

Planning Enforcement OfƂcer

£ 23,166 - £25,694 (under review)

Planning Policy Technical OfƂcer

22.5 hours - £17,891 - £19,939 (pro – rata)

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INSIGHT

Plan B P

THE NAME’S THE THING

ONE DEGREE OF MITIGATION The 1993 film Six Degrees Of Separation repopularised an older theory that every member of the human race is six connections or fewer from every other member.

The theory spawned a cheeky parlour game, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, based on the actor’s ubiquitous presence in ’80s and ’90s B-movies such as Footloose, Tremors and Wild Things.

Everyone, it seemed, had worked with Kevin Bacon. Or knew someone who had. Or knew someone who knew someone – you get the picture.

It transpires there’s a planning angle here (of course). For it turns out that Kevin Bacon’s dad, Edmund Norwood Bacon, was Philadelphia’s chief planner from 1949 to 1970. So influential was he that he is considered (apparently) ‘The Father of Modern Philadelphia’, an achievement some may argue is greater than being ‘The Father of Kevin Bacon’.

Our Kevin, though, is not the only celebrated artiste with a planning parent. Lugubrious novelist and walking thesaurus Will Self is son of the wonderfully named Peter John Otter Self, once a professor of public administration at LSE and latterly professor of urban research at the Australian National University. Author of 1972’s New Towns: The British Experience, Self senior has had a lasting influence on Self junior’s fascination with the psychosocial effects of cities and their suburbs.

Kevin Bacon, by contrast, was in Footloose.

Kevin Bacon celebrates escaping from a career in planning

We could argue that this film was a prescient dramatisation of the dislocation between urban progressives and their conservative small town counterparts which prefigured the rise of Trump, but that would be facetious. For it was actually more like a Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney film with bad words, tractors and power pop. Kevin Bacon also played a ‘mutant villain’ in X-Men: First Class.

Anyway, One Degree of Mitigation is born. We need more famous folk with planning parents.

Please email your discoveries to editorial@ theplanner.co.uk or tweet us @theplanner_rtpi pi

I M AG E | A L A M Y

AND FINALLY…

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While perusing a previous incarnation of The Planner (no particular reason), Plan B encountered an early reference to the first UN Habitat conference. In July 1976, Gordon Oakes, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, reflected on how planning could cope with an era of ‘no growth’ globally.

“The United Nations Conference on ‘Habitat’ represents a timely opportunity to compare and exchange experiences with those from other countries

who find themselves in similar ‘no-growth’ or ‘little-growth’ situations,” he wrote. “There is, I am sure, a philosophical theme that will unite the conference.

It is that community-based and gradualist solutions are more in tune with the times than dramatic and costly conceptions.

This theme provides a link between the developing and developed world…”.

The UK government, Oakes went on to say, planned to contribute films on housing improvement and derelict land reclamation to the conference.

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Plus ça change, huh?

Of course, you spotted the nominative determinism, didn’t you? Oakes. Department of the Environment. Keep up!

Plan B couldn’t help but smile on seeing that Oliver Greenfield is the convenor for the Green Economy Coalition, on behalf of the International Institute for Environment and Development. Could his name be more fitting?

Nominative determinism is the term given to the hypothesis that people gravitate to areas of work that fit their name. It’s also the source of cheap chuckles, and Plan B notes several examples in the worlds of planning and the built environment.

There is, for example, Keith House, founding director of the Housing and Finance Institute and co-author of the Elphicke-House report into the role of local authorities in housing supply. The RSPB, which specialises in protecting bird-friendly wetlands, is home to Simon Marsh.

The RTPI is not immune to the phenomenon – one former president is the urban planner Vincent Goodstadt (think about it).

Is there an unconscious influence at work here? It’s possible, we suppose. In some cases. Maybe. It’s more likely just probability (of all the people in the world named House, at least one is bound to work in housing). It’s still quite funny, though – and we welcome your examples of nominative determinism in planning.

So if you know an infrastructure developer called Georgina Bridge or a health planner called Michael Wellman, please do get in touch.

n It’s your time to dance… Tweet us - @ThePlanner_RTPI 19/08/2016 16:50

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