The Planner- July 2022 by The Planner

JULY 2022 LEVELLING UP: NEW POWERS FOR LOCAL LEADERS // p.4 • RETROFITTING BUILDINGS // p.18 • NUTRIENT NEUTRALITY // p.22 • INTEGRATED RAIL PLAN // p.28 • CASE STUDY: BIRMINGHAM’S COMMONWEALTH GAMES // p.32

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

Window seat PROPERTY DEVELOPER MARC VLESSING LOOKS OUT OVER PLANNING, POLITICS AND CULTURE

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CONTENTS

J U LY

4 NEWS 4 Local leaders to get powers to revitalise communities 8 Fresh proposals lodged for Loch Lomond resort

9 First approval for offshore wind onshore infrastructure

OPINION

10 Reuse of buildings should be prioritised over new-build

14 Louise BrookeSmith: Rebuilding cities: beyond bricks & mortar

11 Newsmakers: 10 top stories appearing now on The Planner online

16 Alex McCallion: Neighbourhood plans offer new blueprint for heritage estates 16 Tanusha Waters: The infrastructure levy highlights levelling up’s viability challenge 17 Rico Wojtulewicz: Queen’s Speech dashes small builders’ hopes for meaningful planning reform 17 Heather Almond: planners must not succumb to ‘solarwashing’

20 22

“IN A SENSE POCKET COULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED IF I HADN’T BEEN A BANKER, IF I HADN’T WORKED IN THE ARTS, IF I HADN’T HAD THAT CREATIVE TIME.”

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

FEATURES

INSIGHT

18 Marc Vlessing thinks there is need of a ‘third way’ for planning, he tells Simon Wicks

38 Cases & decisions: Development decisions, round-up and analysis

22 Achieving nutrient neutrality in new development is a problem for planning authorities and small communities, discovers Huw Morris 28 The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands has hit the buffers, says Huw Morris 32 Case Study: The Commonealth Games come to Birmingham

QUOTE UNQUOTE

“THE SIMPLE ACT OF PREPARING AN APPLICATION FOR CITY STATUS MAKES A PLACE REALLY THINK ABOUT WHAT IT OFFERS AND WHAT IT IS FAMOUS FOR. CONSCIOUSLY OR NOT, [IT] IS A PROSPECTUS FOR THE PLACE.” PETER HOGG, ARCADIS’ UK CITIES DIRECTOR, RESPONDS TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE EIGHT NEW CITIES CREATED TO MARK THE QUEEN’S PLATINUM JUBILEE

42 Legal Landscape: Opinions from the legal side of planning

44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute 50 What to read, what to watch and how to keep in touch

Make the most of The Planner by visiting our links for related content

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NEWS

Report { LEVELLING UP

Local leaders to get powers to revitalise communities By Laura Edgar and Huw Morris

The government intends to give local leaders the powers that they need to regenerate their communities, as well as transform high streets and town centres, through a new bill announced in the Queen’s Speech. The levelling up and regeneration bill, which builds on the levelling-up white paper published in February 2022, also aims to increase and spread prosperity and opportunity across the UK. The government wants to sever the link between geography and destiny. The bill aims to put in place the legal foundations required to deliver this mission and a number of others, such as getting the rest of the country’s transport connectivity much closer to the standards of London’s. A year ago, a bill aimed at “modernising” England’s planning system was set out in the Queen’s Speech. Some measures featured have been rolled into the new bill. Giving the speech instead of the Queen, Prince Charles said the new bill “will be brought forward to drive local growth, empowering local leaders to regenerate their areas, and ensuring everyone can share in the United Kingdom’s success”. “The planning system will be reformed to give residents more involvement in local development.”

A ‘test and learn’ approach to levy First set out in 2020 in the planning white paper Planning for the Future, the bill will facilitate the introduction of a locally set infrastructure levy. It will replace much of the “broken” section 106 payments system. The government said it will see big developers contribute “far more of the money they make from development towards building better local roads, rail, schools, hospitals and more affordable housing”. A policy paper published alongside the bill states that the new levy will be

“THE PROPOSAL WOULD PUT THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR DELIVERING INFRASTRUCTURE – INCLUDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING – SQUARELY ON THE SHOULDERS OF LOCAL COUNCILS, WHICH ARE NOT GEARED UP NOR READY TO BECOME LARGESCALE INFRASTRUCTURE PROVIDERS”

introduced through a “test and learn” approach, meaning that it will be rolled out nationally over several years to allow “for careful monitoring and evaluation, in order to design the most effective system possible”. Section 106 agreements will be retained and used instead of the levy for the “largest” projects, although the government falls short of defining what these include. However, it adds that “infrastructure will be able to be provided in-kind and negotiated, but with the guarantee that the value of what is agreed will be no less than will be paid through the levy”. Developers will be required to deliver infrastructure that is “integral to the operation and physical design of a site”, including flood-risk mitigation, under “narrowly targeted” section 106 agreements alongside the levy.

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PLAN UPFRONT

WHAT THE INDUSTRY THINKS

‘Promoted from the Championship to the Premier League’ “The fact that planning is so central to this bill makes it feel like the profession has been promoted from the Championship to the Premier League,” said RTPI chief executive Victoria Hills. “Government will not be able to realise ambitions for housing delivery, better quality development and tackling regional imbalances without adequate resourcing to the planning system.” Only then would the planners be able to help levelling up and regeneration, ensuring that the right homes are built in the right places and to the beneﬁt of communities, she added. Xxxxx

The proposals include a new non-negotiable “right to require” under which local authorities will “determine the portion of the levy they receive in-kind as on-site affordable homes”.The bill is intended to strengthen infrastructure delivery further by requiring local authorities to prepare infrastructure delivery strategies that set out a strategy for delivering local infrastructure and spending levy proceeds. In a joint comment on the proposal, Irwin Mitchell’s planning partner Nicola Gooch and head of planning and environment Claire Petricca-Riding said the

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new regime’s success will depend “entirely on how it is implemented”, which means publishing the draft legislation. “However, it is a plan that is fraught with risk,” they stated. “The proposal would put the responsibility for delivering infrastructure – including affordable housing – squarely on the shoulders of local councils, which are not geared up nor ready to become large-scale infrastructure providers. “If the government is not careful, this move could also undermine a number of their more recent planning reforms – such as the introduction of First

‘Ambition for new system dead’ The new bill seemed to be official confirmation that the planning white paper’s ambition for an entirely new planning system is dead, said Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) policy director Hugh Ellis. “The emphasis on community involvement is welcome and I hope it indicates that we will see some serious measures to rebuild public trust. Giving communities a ‘louder’ voice has to be meaningful and goes well beyond the limited impact of ‘street votes’ and the TCPA is pushing for much more significant community rights over all planning decisions and not simply domestic extensions.”

‘Removing five-year supply raises significant concerns’ Adam Ross, strategic land lead and executive director at Nexus Planning, said the potential removal of the requirement to demonstrate a five-year land supply where local plans are up-to-date is presumably an incentive for local councils to produce/maintain up-to-date plans. “However, the removal of this well-established and well-intended requirement… raises significant concerns. There are numerous examples of councils that, within 12-months of adoption of a new local plan, are already unable to demonstrate a five-year land supply. As such, this new approach will rely upon a forensic assessment of the deliverability of proposed housing allocations at the local plan stage.”

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NEWS

Report { Briefly, other measures in the bill include: n The deadline for each mission is 2030, but the bill will create a duty for the government to report on progress annually. n It provides the legislation needed so that every part of England that wants a devolution deal can have one. n Powers for local leaders to run high street rental auctions, so they can auction oﬀ tenancies in shops that have been vacant for over a year to help to “end the plague of empty shops that blight so many high streets”. n Councils will also be able to double council tax on empty and second homes. n Outside dining will be made permanent through a sustainable process that is easier and cheaper to get a licence for outdoor dining. n Legislation to make it easier for councils to regenerate their town centres through compulsory purchase orders, making the process quicker and easier to use.

Homes and biodiversity net gain, both of which rely on section 106 agreements as their primary delivery mechanism.” Ashurst partner and co-head of planning Claire Dutch noted the scant detail of the proposed levy so far. “For developers, this is a big one. We are told to expect a 'locally set, non-negotiable levy' which sounds remarkably similar to the system we currently have.” Shoosmiths planning partner David Mathias said that “while not without its flaws, the existing system allows for flexibility and certainty of delivery”, especially on non-financial planning obligations such as affordable housing delivery. “The new locally set, nonnegotiable levy must enable swift decision-making that offers flexibility and certainty if it is to succeed,” he added. “Local authorities and their planning departments must also be provided with the resources to manage the levy and ensure that obligations are delivered.” Controversial policy Local authorities with up-to-date

plans will not have to demonstrate a ﬁve-year supply of housing land, which the government hopes will incentivise plan production further and "ensure that newly produced plans are not undermined". The controversial policy is a key element in balancing the fate of hundreds of planning appeals in England each year and is routinely criticised by local authorities for encouraging speculative development proposals on unallocated sites. The document accompanying the bill says the move is part of a major government drive to get “simple, meaningful local plans in place faster that give more certainty to communities that the right homes will be built in the right places”. It adds: “This will curb perceived ‘speculative development’ and ‘planning by appeal’, so long as plans are kept up-to-date." This is just one change the government plans to make to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), changes that will be consulted on. The NPPF will be “refocused on

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10/06/2022 10:40

PLAN UPFRONT

WHAT THE INDUSTRY THINKS

‘Councils will need support to achieve number of homes required’ Replacing and altering section 106 and CIL with the infrastructure levy would “tear up the rule book for aﬀordable housing delivery and there are fundamental questions of how this would work in practice,” said Lindsay Garratt, partner at Winckworth Sherwood. “Aﬀordable housing has been a core part of what housebuilders and RPs design and deliver for years. While some quarters will welcome a greater emphasis on local authority delivery, councils will need support and investment if it falls to them to achieve the levels of housing growth required across a mix of tenures – and in concert with the wider issues associated with development.”

setting out the principles to be taken into account in plan-making, whilst also streamlining national policy, making it more accessible and user-friendly". Additionally, new local plan commissioners may be deployed to support or ultimately take over making a local plan if local authorities fail to meet their statutory duties. These changes will increase the numbers of authorities with up-to-date plans in place

– currently 39 per cent – giving more communities “a meaningful say over new development in their area while supporting new homebuilding”, according to the document. The bill also introduces ‘street vote’ powers, which would allow residents on a street to bring forward proposals to extend or redevelop their properties in line with their design preferences.

Read The levelling up and regeneration bill can be found on the UK Parliament website. bit.ly/planner0722-LURbill The accompanying policy paper can be found on the UK Government website. bit.ly/planner0722-LURbillpolicypaper

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‘Street votes must be implemented in a way that does not stop development’ “We welcome the principle of encouraging positive public participation in local planning. The acid test for the idea of street votes will be implementing it in a way that boosts neighbourhood involvement without the unintended consequence of stopping developments that enhance our local places and support economic development,” commented Sam Chapman-Allen, in his capacity as chair of the District Councils’ Network.

‘Landlords do not want empty properties’ "We understand the wish to bring empty property back to life, but those opening for business on high streets will need to meet the needs of the wider community,” suggested Jonathan Hale, head of government affairs at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). “Government highlighted community-led levelling up and planning in the speech, but forcing landlords in such a blunt way may not fit with this vision. Landlords do not want empty properties, but fit-outs, planning permission and insurance need to be considered as high streets necessarily evolve.”

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NEWS

News { Fresh proposals lodged for Loch Lomond resort The company behind the Flamingo resort, zoo and theme park in North Yorkshire has submitted an outline planning application to build a £40 million visitor attraction on Loch Lomond. The projected site, at Balloch by the River Leven, is owned by Scottish Enterprise. The scheme includes plans for a water park, spa, leisure pool, a monorail, a craft brewery and pub, restaurants, a 60-bedroom apartment hotel and a budget hotel with up to 32 bed spaces. There are also proposals for up to 127 selfcatering holiday lodges, up to 21 self-catering ﬂats, play areas, performance space and parking provision. An earlier withdrawn scheme lodged in 2018 with

the Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park Authority triggered a record number of objections. Developer Flamingo Lands is emphasising this revised scheme’s green credentials and claims that it is more in keeping with the natural landscape. This time no development is proposed in Drumkinnon Wood, an area of ancient woodland. The plan, known as Lomond Banks, would involve retaining the grade-A listed Woodbank House, which is on the Buildings at Risk Register. The conservation and redevelopment of the listed structures within the site will be subject to future applications for detailed planning permission and listed building consent.

DCO accepted for huge North Wales offshore array The UK Planning Inspectorate has accepted an application for a development consent order (DCO) for an offshore wind farm off the North Wales coast. It has been proposed by power company RWE Renewables. The Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) – known as the Awel y Môr wind farm – involves up to 50 turbines with a maximum tip height of 332 metres. If approved, the scheme would be built approximately 10.5 kilometres off the coast at Llandudno and to the west of the existing Gwynt y Môr wind farm. The array’s grid connection is planned to be located on the shoreline between Rhyl and Prestatyn. A public examination of the project is currently scheduled to begin in September. The final decision will rest with the UK Government’s secretary of state for business, energy, and industrial strategy, and is anticipated in 2023. As the project lies in Welsh waters, a marine licence is also needed from the Welsh Government. This will require a consent from Natural Resources Wales. The application can be found on the Planning Inspectorate website: bit.ly/planner0722-AwelyMôr

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10/06/2022 10:51

PLAN UPFRONT

Women of Influence reception available on demand More than 100 women (and a few men) gathered for the inaugural Women of Influence reception at a central London venue in early May. The afternoon, sponsored by Landmark Chambers and hosted by RTPI president Victoria Hills and Sasha White QC, included a panel discussion that considered diversity within the planning profession. But the focus was on informal networking, with attendees having travelled from as far afield as Edinburgh to celebrate the impact that women had on planning over the past year. “It was lovely how everyone was welcoming and friendly and there was a relaxed air about it. I found I got into discussion very easily with the attendees whereas normally these receptions are a little stilted,” said one attendee. The Planner’s Women of Influence list, published each International Women’s Day, acknowledges the role that women have played in planning each year, with peer nominations assessed by a panel of judges for the final 50-woman list. You can watch a video of the panel discussion that featured Jenny Wigley QC, Aisha Ali, Dr Fiona Simpson, Dr Karen Horwood and Michael Chang here (registration required): https://www.theplanner. co.uk/watch-now-diversity-inplanning-panel-discussion

First approval for offshore wind onshore infrastructure An Bord Pleanála has approved SSE Renewables’ onshore grid infrastructure needed to connect the 800-megawatt second phase of its Arklow Bank offshore wind park to the republic’s electricity transmission grid. The move is a historic first for Ireland’s offshore wind sector, making SSE Renewables the first energy company to secure permission to develop onshore transmission grid infrastructure for an offshore wind farm. The company is now set to submit an application to the government for a Maritime Area Consent so it can apply for planning permission for the project’s offshore infrastructure, including wind turbines. An Bord Pleanála has approved the

Further delay for Northern Ireland’s new IT planning system Northern Ireland’s much-delayed new regional planning IT system is now scheduled to be up and running in October. A Department for Infrastructure (DfI) spokesperson told The Planner that the scheme would “go live in October… and will be implemented in all participating

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development of a 220kV substation at Avoca River Business Park in Arklow, County Wicklow, with an associated connection from the new substation to the existing national transmission network. An underground cable route and associated infrastructure connecting the substation to the landfall point at Johnstown North, Arklow, where it will meet the planned subsea oﬀshore cables connecting to the wind farm were also approved. The Arklow Bank array is due to be located six to 13 kilometres oﬀ the coastline, east of Arklow. The overall project is expected to require an investment of up to €2.5 billion.

planning authorities at the same time”. The system, which will replace the Northern Ireland Planning Portal, was scheduled to be operational by now. The DfI and the participating councils – Mid Ulster District Council will implement its own custom-built IT scheme – awarded

a £14 million contract for the system to Terraquest in June 2020.The modernised system has been designed to facilitate a more responsive and eﬃcient planning service across local and central government, including bringing the submission of applications online.

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10/06/2022 11:45

NEWS

News { Reuse and retrofit of buildings should be prioritised over new-build The government should prioritise the reuse and retrofit of buildings over building new ones as part of the work required to reduce the levels of CO2. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) acknowledges the government’s claim that it is prioritising retrofit and reuse, but it is concerned that reforms to permitted development rights (PDR) “appear to have created an incentive for demolition and new-build over retrofit”. It calls on the government to “urgently” evaluate the impact that these recent reforms could have to make sure that retrofit and reuse are the priority. If retrofitting a building is not possible, the committee would like to see efficient

and more eﬀective use of low-carbon building materials. The committee also recommends in its report Building to Net Zero: Costing Carbon in Construction that the government should introduce a mandatory requirement for whole-life carbon assessments for buildings. This should be fully incorporated in the planning system and

building regulations. Following these assessments, the EAC recommends that the government should develop carbon targets for buildings that align with the UK’s net-zero goals. By the end of 2022, the government should have set a “clear timeframe” for introducing whole-life carbon assessments and they should be introduced no later than December 2023. Read the full story: bit.ly/planner0722-EACretroﬁt

Research aims to improve biodiversity of offshore wind developments Statistics from the offshore wind industry, government and academic sources from seven countries have been brought together into a central data set to map sea-floor biodiversity across international boundaries. Led by The Crown Estate in partnership with the Dutch-led Rich North Sea programme, the North Seat Net Gain study is intended to advance the sustainable expansion of offshore wind and identify and deliver biodiversity net gain in tandem. By adopting a big data approach, developing big data infrastructure and expanding the existing dataset,

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the organisations say the findings of the study have “significantly” enhanced the understanding of the seabed and will in turn “play a significant role” in the development of offshore wind in the North Sea. The central data contains 50,000 seabed samples with more than 1.4 million records, and “state-of-the-

art” modelling techniques used to map benthic (sea-floor) biodiversity across international boundaries. Huub den Rooijen, managing director of marine at The Crown Estate, said: “Offshore wind is set to play a pivotal role in decarbonisation and the UK's transition to net zero – but delivering on that potential in the most sustainable way requires balanced and holistic consideration of the natural environment and other marine activities. This study, delivered through our Offshore Wind Evidence and Change programme, makes an important contribution to strengthening essential biodiversity data.” Read the full story: bit.ly/ planner0722-offshorebiodiversity

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

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CATCH UP WITH THE PLANNER

Newsmakers N Dundee FC stadium development submitted North Wales village lined up for demolition Cadnant Planning, acting on behalf of a housing association, has submitted proposals to redevelop the Penrhos Polish Village in Pwllheli. bit.ly/planner0722PenrhosPolishVillage

Infrastructure minister John O’Dowd has made his ﬁrst major planning decision by announcing approval for a large urban extension at Ballyclare, as well as consent for further details needed for the completion of the northern section of the Ballyclare Relief Road. bit.ly/planner0722-Ballyclare

2 Waterways Ireland looks to boost glamping

4 Map to document roadside biodiversity is commissioned National Highways has commissioned Manchester Metropolitan University to develop a mapping system to make it easier to keep track of the ecosystems bordering England’s 4,300 miles of motorways and major A-roads. bit.ly/plannero722biodiversitymap

I M AG E S | S H U T T E R S T O C K / I S T O C K

Ballyclare urban extension ﬁnally approved

Independent flooding review launched in Wales An independent review of flooding events across Wales during the winter of 2020-21 has been announced by the Welsh Government. It will be led by Professor Elwen Evans QC, one of the UK’s leading barristers. bit.ly/planner0722walesfloodingreview

Waterways Ireland is considering developing an extensive network of camping and glamping sites and pitches for camper vans and motorhomes on the banks of rivers, lakes and canals across the Irish Republic, as well as in Northern Ireland. bit.ly/planner0722campingplans

Local authorities central to levelling-up

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Nature reserve to be created in Somerset Natural England and its partners have announced that a new ‘super’ National Nature Reserve is to be created in Somerset, encompassing a variety of habitats including salt marsh, heath and wetland. bit.ly/planner0722-natureSomerset

Dundee Football Club has submitted revised plans for a 15,000-seater stadium near the city’s Camperdown Park. It includes 210 homes, a 100-bedroom hotel, a crematorium, restaurants and a new training pitch. bit.ly/planner0722DundeeFCplans

Councillors want a hybrid way of holding meetings

The local authority role in housing and planning must be acknowledged and supported at national and local levels as central to the government’s levelling-up agenda, recommends a report by the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE), researched and written by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA). bit.ly/planner0722-LULAs

Responding to a survey, 72 per cent of councillors say moving to a hybrid model of holding meetings could attract more younger people, ethnic minorities and women to stand in local elections. bit.ly/planner0722hybridworking

Year-on-year decline in plan submissions

In April 2022, 52,075 planning applications for England and Wales were submitted to the Planning Portal. Compared with the same month in 2021, this is a 20 per cent decline. For 2022 to date, this is 16 per cent less compared with the same period in 2021. bit.ly/planner0722-appsdecline

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LEADER COMMENT

Opinion Now that the noise of summer has come Of course, there was a time when the month of July could be relied on as a brief respite from the constant thrum of debate. It was a month denoting the height of summer and at least the oﬀer of some short pause; a welcome break between the focused intensity of spring and autumn. Not this July, in all likelihood. If anything, this month is likely to be rather loud and lively, now that housing secretary Michael Gove has told us we can expect a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to be published at some stage during the month. And let’s face it, with the levelling up and regeneration bill debate heating up, it’s a revision unlikely to pass without considerable comment. The critical role of planning to so much of the bill’s intent makes this an exciting time – but will

Martin Read planning really get the higher proﬁle and necessary resourcing suggested? This impending NPPF revision will, says Gove, add clarity to key elements of the levelling up and regeneration bill, which was having its second reading in the House of Commons as we went to press. (The debate follows the introduction of the bill in the Queen’s Speech, which we report on from page 4 in this edition.) There are indications throughout the bill of

the government seeking to solve long-standing concerns in quite bullish ways, for example the idea of deploying local plan commissioners to take over the making of a local plan where local authorities have failed to do so. The primacy of national over local policy has proved an understandable concern for many, with the second reading debate seeing Clive Betts, chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, questioning the intended relationship between national development management policies and local plans. Should there be conﬂict between the two, asked Betts, “how can it be that a local plan can be drawn up in full consultation with the local community,

“PRIMACY OF NATIONAL OVER LOCAL POLICY IS AN UNDERSTANDABLE CONCERN"

but if the secretary of state later decides to change the national policy, it will override the consulted-upon local plan?”. Hmm. Government wants its national development management policies to undergird rather than undermine local planning; to reduce the ‘administrative burden’ on councils, whose local plans will include the national priorities these national development management policies contain, being thus more ‘streamlined’ and ‘slimmer’. Good in principle, but in practice? We can be sure of much noisy discussion in the weeks ahead.

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

O Opinion

Rebuilding cities: beyond bricks & mortar Like many people, I currently have a Ukrainian refugee staying with me. The change in her circumstances over the past two months has been unimaginable. From her upmarket flat in the middle of the huge bustling and vibrant port of Mariupol in Donetsk, to a bedroom in a small town in the middle of the English countryside. The contrast has been difficult to embrace but to be blunt, there isn’t anything left of her life back home. Her flat has been shelled, all her valuables have been stolen and her car took a direct hit from Russian artillery. So, in broken English, she and I try not to talk about the war, but concentrate on how to learn our language, open a bank account, and look for work. Mariupol is now under Russian control. More fighting might return it to Ukrainian authorities, but there won’t be much of the city left by then. So at some point a rebuilding plan will be tabled and work will start on getting the infrastructure up and running, water supplies and electricity lines reinstated, and civic buildings rebuilt. Where would you start? Where have others started in the past, when faced with the same horrendous rubblestrewn bomb sites which, in the case of Mariupol, was once home to nearly half-amillion people? Few people are alive today who actively worked on the European Recovery Programme, commonly known as the Marshall Plan, but we are all still benefiting from it. That aid programme,

initiated by George Marshall, US Secretary of State in 1948, helped Europe to rebuild after the Second World War. It was a pot of circa US $15 billion, of which over half came to the UK. Inter alia, it provided the finance to help rebuild places like Coventry, Liverpool and the East End of London – and Berlin and Dresden. It wasn’t a totally altruistic gift. Europe had to buy US goods and the political undercurrent was strong. The Americans were keen to keep Russia at bay and encouraged Europe to look west, not east. A large part of it was a loan. Countries spent years repaying America; the UK signed off its last repayment in 2006. In the meantime, the five million homes destroyed in Germany alone were eventually rebuilt and across Europe, roads, stations and railway lines were rebuilt. Critically, the Marshall Plan

“ORGANISATIONS ARE ALREADY REVIEWING THE PROS AND CONS OF A NEW VERSION OF A MARSHALL PLAN” also allowed Western Europe to relax its austerity measures, such as rationing. With this in near living memory, organisations are already reviewing the pros and cons of a new version of a Marshall Plan for Ukraine, in anticipation of some form of resolution to the conﬂict. The OEPD, UNHabitat and The World Bank are working with the Polish Government and the EU to put in motion a post-crisis reconstruction of urban spaces to support the return of the Ukrainians. But where to start? The rebuilding of Coventry reﬂected the ‘shock of the

new’ and was in the hands of the city fathers and a small group of architects. Warsaw city was painstakingly rebuilt reﬂecting historic plans, emerging as a virtual replica. But current thought is to engage social organisations in any reconstruction plans with the phrases “building back better” and “community voice” bandied around. Other nations rocked by war have faced reconstruction challenges. Most obstacles are ﬁscal rather than social. Funding hasn’t been easy to secure when there isn’t an obvious political angle to leverage. But Sarajevo in Bosnia has managed to reinstate its cultural and historic civic pride and retain its mixed Christian and Muslim heritage. What will happen in Ukraine? If the people’s resilience is any indication, then reconstruction will be swift and impressive. At some point, the pride of the nation and the Black Sea port cities will rise like the proverbial phoenix. As my guest says, the English countryside is lovely, but one day she will want to go home.

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

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Quote unquote FROM THE RTPI AND THE WEB “Decisions made now will aﬀect how we live, work and socialise in the capital for decades to come; it is critical that we get them right” JOHN DICKIE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE AT LONDON FIRST, ON THE BUSINESS CAMPAIGN GROUP’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEW PLACE COMMISSION TO PRODUCE A FRAMEWORK AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO EVOLVE LONDON’S BUILT ENVIRONMENT AS IT RECOVERS FROM THE PANDEMIC

“These are extremely t l exciting iti and d innovative plans which reﬂect our aim to create an exceptional urban space for families, students and visitors to enjoy all year round, night and day” COUNCILLOR ÁINE GROOGAN, CHAIR OF BELFAST CITY COUNCIL’S STRATEGIC POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE, ON THE URBAN FOREST, MULTI USE EVENTS SPACE AND MEMORIAL TO THE BELFAST BLITZ THAT ARE INCLUDED IN PLANS FOR A MULTIMILLION POUND REDEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY’S CATHEDRAL GARDENS

“The simple act of preparing an application for city status makes a place really think about what it oﬀers and what it is famous for. Consciously or not, the application is a prospectus for the place.”

“The government’s net-zero strategy is upside down and is only speaking to the ‘energy elite’. And even then, this group is confused about which technology they can trust to help them save costs and have no idea where to start.”

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

PETER HOGG, ARCADIS’ UK CITIES DIRECTOR, RESPONDS TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE EIGHT NEW CITIES CREATED TO MARK THE QUEEN’S PLATINUM JUBILEE

BILL BULLEN, ENVIRONMENTALIST AND FOUNDER AND CEO OF UTILITA ENERGY, SAYS THE £148 AVERAGE INVESTMENT IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES WILL NOT SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT’S AMBITION TO ENCOURAGE THE INSTALLATION OF 600,000 HEAT PUMPS A YEAR BY 2028

“Any new nuclear power station starting now will simply exacerbate the cost-of-living crisis and be far too late to help tackle climate change” STOP HINKLEY SPOKESPERSON ROY PUMFREY ON THE UK GOVERNMENT’S TALKS WITH EDF ABOUT THE COMMISSIONING OF ANOTHER NEW NUCLEAR POWER STATION

“With house-price-to-earning ratios now well above eight, the last time they were this high was on the eve of the great ﬁnancial crash” ANDREW SHEPHERD, MANAGING DIRECTOR AT MODULAR HOUSEBUILDER TOPHA, IS IN APOCALYPTIC MODE AS HE RESPONDS TO RIGHTMOVE’S MOST RECENT HOUSE PRICE INDEX

“Today’s ﬁgures are worrying. If these trends continue, the Scottish Government risks missing its target of delivering 110,000 aﬀordable homes by 2032” SALLY THOMAS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE SCOTTISH FEDERATION OF HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS SFHA ON STATISTICS SHOWING THE NUMBER OF HOMES BUILT BY HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS FALLING BY 17% IN THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 2021, WITH THE NUMBER OF APPROVALS TO BUILD AT THEIR LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 2015

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

O Opinion

Alex McCallion is the director of works and precinct at York Minster

Neighbourhood plans oﬀer new blueprint for heritage estates

As an 800-year-old building, York Minster and its Gothic architecture are subject to a complex and continual cycle of repair, restoration and conservation. So complex, it costs £22,000 a day to maintain and keep open to the public. The Chapter of York – responsible for the care of the Minster – receives no regular funding and relies upon donors. With such financial pressures, and threats such as the climate crisis, we recognise the need to secure its sustainable future while preserving its heritage. In York this is easier said than done. It is famously difficult to navigate when it comes to planning and development, exacerbated by the lack of specific planning policy in the emerging local plan. Five years ago we began to explore a financially viable strategy delivered through an achievable and sympathetic masterplan vision. We recognised that central to this was not only the Minster building but also its surrounding Precinct – more than 60 listed buildings and home to centuries-old techniques in ancient crafts such as stonemasonry and stained glass-making. Four years of local community engagement –

Tanusha Waters is assistant director of planning and building control at Harlow Council

The infrastructure levy highlights levelling up’s viability challenge

including the establishment of the York Minster Precinct Neighbourhood Forum of those living or working in the Minster Precinct – and collaboration with stakeholders such as City of York Council has resulted in the York Minster Neighbourhood Plan. It sets out through tailored planning policy how the Minster and its Precinct will be cared for over the next 15 years. It signals the biggest planned programme of works in 150 years through a desire to create high quality buildings and spaces and will be a vital tool as we move towards a low-carbon estate by 2030. Neighbour hood plans are often used by local and city councils to shape the urban planning process, but ours is unique, marking the ﬁrst time it has been used to map the future of a cathedral or heritage estate. By being community-led, it understands the complexities and sensitivities of planning for change in a heritage setting. Having been approved at a public referendum, it will be adopted by City of York Council and used to determine future planning applications in the Precinct as well as forming part of the city’s development plan. Our plan sets a national precedent, forming a benchmark for others to follow.

“YORK MINSTER’S NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN IS UNIQUE, THE FIRST BEEN USED TO MAP THE FUTURE OF A CATHEDRAL OR HERITAGE ESTATE”

2 BLOG

BLOG

The new locally set infrastructure levy (IL) is proving to be one of the most interesting elements of the levelling up bill. Although it has come under some scrutiny, given the limited details yet available and the well-known challenges of the current system, it would seem unjust to conclude that such a levy could not have some beneﬁts. But, based on what we know, it is unclear how it might advance the levelling-up agenda. So far it seems that when setting a rate, charging authorities will be required to consider a longer list of factors than required under the community infrastructure levy (CIL). Thus far, we know these factors will include land and sales values and the viability of development. The IL will then need to go through a similar process to that of CIL (investigation, evidencegathering, proposals, examination, feedback and adoption). Given the diﬃculties many authorities have had with CIL charges not being viable altogether in their areas or viability factors resulting in very low rates of charge, it is interesting that the new levy will continue to have regard to viability. Although the case for

using viability as part of establishing charge rates is understandable in many regards, and there are no easy answers on this point – it could easily undermine any levelling up of areas. As with CIL, many councils may continue to ﬁnd that the IL is either unviable or provides very low rates of charge. It seems likely that those authorities most in need may also be those with the lowest land and sales values. As we are still awaiting many details and not including a viability element in charge setting would present its own challenges, it is unclear how a system of the type proposed would do anything other than perpetuate imbalances in society and the economy. It will be interesting to see how the levy evolves as more details follow and the pilots undergo the ‘test and learn’ approach the government proposes, but as now proposed the system does seem to lack an element to help areas that have struggled to fund infrastructure to break out of that cycle. Something else would appear to be needed if the bill is to aid levelling up, and there is no doubt about the value of infrastructure delivery to such an agenda.

“IT IS UNCLEAR HOW A SYSTEM OF THE TYPE PROPOSED WOULD DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN PERPETUATE IMBALANCES IN SOCIETY AND THE ECONOMY”

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Have your say Would you like to see yourself in these pages? Get in touch by email – editorial@theplanner.co.uk Topical, inspirational, angry or amusing – we consider all relevant comment

3 BLOG

Rico Wojtulewicz is head of housing and planning policy for the National Federation of Builders

Queen’s Speech dashes small builders’ hopes for meaningful planning reform

The Queen’s Speech felt like a tipping point for SME housebuilders, who were keeping their fingers crossed that Robert Jenrick’s Planning for the Future would not be stripped of its vital commercial and regulatory changes. Sadly, they were left disappointed. The white paper offered a more competitive environment to bring land forward, have development and design locally led and ensure land values complemented the financing of infrastructure. But the speech routed us back to tinkering, which has been worsening the housing crisis for 30 years. In terms of planning for Britain’s future, ‘levelling up’ has veered into a policy to win votes, not to secure a better future for regional Britain. Watering down of planning reform exemplifies this: while small businesses are set to lose out to outcome-controlling localism and planning politics, the government has recognised that on capital projects the issues that SME builders have suffered for two decades must not get in the government’s way. Thus they have proposed greater powers to bring land and works forward.

4 BLOG

This dilution of planning reform is painful for SMEs; placed alongside 12 new taxes and rule changes. Some firms have already signalled an end to their housebuilding arms. This is particularly true of the government's renewable energy strategy, which shirks planning reforms for onshore wind turbines and greater grid connectivity, to instead place a greater emphasis on offshore and on-building strategies. This is likely to end up another builder cost via solar panels and battery storage. Lack of cohesive thinking extends to the environment, too, where proposals by SME builders to ensure biodiversity gain was aligned with site design and building fabric were ignored. The government has pushed on with net gain habitats (not biodiversity), which will make many small sites unviable for onsite solutions and subject to a more costly and slower off-site payment process. On the positive side, trade education reforms and greater emphasis on water companies solving pollution issues have gone down well. However, this Queen’s Speech has done little to convince SME housebuilders that they are on the agenda.

“LAND ALLOCATIONS WILL REMAIN LIMITED AND UNCOMPETITIVE, AMBITIOUS BUILDING TARGETS WILL BE SCRAPPED, REGIONAL PLANNING STRATEGIES DISREGARDED”

Dr Heather Almond is research fellow in the School of Water, Energy and Environment (SWEE) at Cranﬁeld University

Planners must be wary of ‘solarwashing’ in shift to renewables

Claims around ‘net-zero’ solar photovoltaic farms are sometimes being accepted too easily by planners. Energy farm developers aren’t breaking any rules in what they’re doing, but That’s the challenge. If anything, they are going above and beyond in providing forests of data on what’s involved, the detail of carbon emissions both during the construction of the site’s facilities, maintenance and eventual decommissioning. Spikes in energy costs for consumers have only added to the argument that switching to renewable energy sources is needed urgently. And the main reason why the shift to renewable energy in the UK hasn’t protected us from price increases is because the proportion of power generation (now up to around 40 per cent from wind and solar) just isn’t big enough. So planning authorities increasingly tend to see solar farms as a ‘good thing’. More reliance on renewables can only happen with massive banks of batteries to cope with seasonal diﬀerences. Planners need to be paying more attention to how developers are accounting for the greenhouse gases involved in producing the batteries.

At Cranﬁeld and the University of Derby, we’ve been examining proposals for what would be one of Europe’s largest solar farms, providing an independent perspective and work through the mechanics of the data being oﬀered. In the case of the planned 2,800-acre Cambridgeshire site , for example, the net-zero claims don’t take into account the footprint of huge lithiumion batteries needed for battery energy storage and connection to the National Grid substation. Emissions data is missing, in principle because the batteries are being made outside of the UK. We can’t push our greenhouse emissions on to others. Those from the batteries – as well as the rare earth materials that have to be mined for – must be accounted for in any fair and reasonable planning consultations and decision-making. We’re entering an age when we need to make precedentsetting decisions about the balance between our landscape and a national renewable energy infrastructure. We simply can’t have any ‘greenwash’, just full transparency and data that we can all understand.

“THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT PLANNERS NEED TO BE PAYING MORE ATTENTION TO: HOW THE DEVELOPERS ARE ACCOUNTING FOR THE GREENHOUSE GASES INVOLVED IN PRODUCING THE BATTERIES”

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INTERVIEW: MARC VLESSING

A RECONCILABLE

DIFFERENCE

Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. worked in the arts, if I hadn’t had that He’s a pluralist, simultaneously creative time.” an outsider and an insider, who Marc Vlessing’s rationale for starting consequently has an intriguing take on Pocket Living in 2005 is a cameo of the planning, politics and culture in the UK man himself: pragmatic, undaunted, and segues easily from lanning reform broad in outlook, entrepreneurial into the need to comprehensively but not libertarian. He is all about revamp British politics. fusing forces that are But first, planning otherwise pulling away THERE IS reform: Pocket is from each other – and SOMETHING ABOUT campaigning for a talking about a litany THIS COUNTRY small sites policy in of fairly extraordinary WHERE WE DO the NPPF. This would achievements in a very THINGS REALLY offer a presumption in matter-of-fact way. BADLY UNTIL WE favour of development, Born in the GET FED UP AND CIL exemption and Netherlands to an EU THEN WE DO IT standardised s16 civil servant mother and BETTER THAN agreements to smaller advertising executive ANYBODY ELSE developers building father (“a prototypical affordable homes for Don Draper”), he was ‘citymakers’ on urban partly raised in Britain, infill sites. schooled in Brussels, It’s basically a further educated in description of Pocket’s Britain and has lived business model, one which has seen in London since early adulthood. the company comlete 23 developments He’s been a banker, head of a theatre around London in 17 years. company, a film producer and property When I put it to him that it’s a bit developer. His friends past and present cynical (poor choice of word, I admit) include film director Sam Mendes to campaign for a national policy that and – courtesy of his wife, daughter would specifically benefit his company, of Liberal Democrat peer Dick Tavern he shrugs. “What’s so terribly wrong – the ‘gang of four’ who founded the

PHOTOGRAPHY |

sat and wrote down all the things I didn’t enjoy doing professionally and presumably was crap at, and all the things which I love doing and hopefully wasn’t too bad at. Out of that came that I needed to find a job in which you move large amounts of money, because having been a banker and made films and refurbished theatres, there was no point running a corner shop. “It needed to be something which brought together creative and operational people. And it needed to deal with the inequity of being able to work in the city. When I looked at the kind of people that we employed in the theatres, cinemas and film studios, I saw people bending over backwards to make it work in the centre, but increasingly unable to – and they were the lucky ones because they’d managed to buy into the suburbs and their children would just not be able to do that. So who was going to run the theatres, cinemas, hospitals? “I just thought there was a big gap there. I knew nothing about planning, but I was going to try and come up with a housing model to cater for their needs. Pocket couldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been a banker, if I hadn’t

PETER SEARLE

MARC VLESSING IS A MAN IN THE MIDDLE – THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND CO FOUNDER OF A DEVELOPER WHO WANTS TO BALANCE THE COMPETING SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND CULTURAL FORCES THAT MAKE PLANNING AND BUILDING SUCH AN ARDUOUS TASK IN THE UK, AS HE EXPLAINS TO SIMON WICKS

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CURRICULUM VITA E: MARC VLE S S IN G Born: 1962 Netherlands Education: European School, Brussels; University of Buckingham, BA politics, economics and law 1982; LSE, MSc in international relations 1983

1984 Manager, SWIFT

1985 Director, County Natwest

1990 Director, media ﬁnance

1996 CEO, Crescent Entertainment Group

1996present Producer and writer, own ﬁlm production company. Credits include writer and executive roducer of Karoly Makk’s A Long Weekend in Pest and Buda.

2000 CEO, First Call

with that? If a manufacturer comes up with a policy framework that allows them to manufacture something the country needs…” “This is what the chief exec of Boeing does every day and we don’t mind him doing it. But when it’s a developer… it does speak to a cultural problem that we’ve got to some degree.”

“WE HAVE A PLENTY PRESCRIPTIVE SYSTEM IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, ONLY IT’S POSSIBLE TO VARY IT ENDLESSLY BY POLITICAL PROCESS AND NEGOTIATION”

Praise for predictability Here we are: culture, character and how the planning system holds a mirror to Britain’s internal contradictions, that endless battle between the mutually repellent forces of prescriptive policy-making and free market supremacy. It’s a tension that’s given our political and social systems a contorted, unnecessary complexity. What Vlessing brings to his inarguable Britishness is the critical eye of one who has spent time in places where they do things diﬀerently, the Netherlands in particular. He talks approvingly of zoning in planning, for example, and frequently cites the Dutch system by way of examples for how to do things, well, better.

He makes the case for a kind of prescriptive predictability, an apolitical, “boring’ system where things aren’t argued over endlessly (see Be boring). He is full of ideas for changing England’s planning system and withering about other developers who won’t challenge the status quo because they’re just trying to get big enough to “get into larger and larger sites and get into the green belt”. He’s withering, too, about politicians with no real desire for change because it will cost

them votes. At times Vlessing walks an intellectual tightrope – he seems to want to eat his cake entrepreneurially and yet have it prescriptively, too. But whenever he starts to talk himself into a corner, he ﬁnds a way out. For example, speaking of the Dutch system, he approves that it says: “That plot of land will be designated for A storeys, X amount of residential, Y amount of commercial, Z amount of educational. That will be baked in and the only thing you can get worked up about as a local resident will be the cladding system and

20042013 Chairman Eclipse II VCT, Octopus Investments

2001present Consultant and chair, ProVen Growth and Income VCT, Beringea Ltd

2005present Co-founder and CEO, Pocket

even that will be pretty much set in stone.” On the other hand, the Dutch system also enables the individualism, inventiveness, negotiation and compromise of self-build schemes. Its rules, paradoxically, create new freedoms from and to: from tiring arguments and uncertainty; to doing things in a way which pleases you individually and collectively. As for the British – “We kid ourselves culturally that we’re not capable of the more prescriptive system. We have a plenty prescriptive system in the United Kingdom, only it’s possible to vary it endlessly by political process and negotiation and whoever gives the best Churchillian speech on the night.” Planning is “disintermediated” by politics and politicians. “You can see why planners don’t know where they stand…”

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INTERVIEW: MARC VLESSING

Straight down the middle Vlessing’s personal prescription is to plot a middle course of pragmatic approaches to social challenges, blending capability, inventiveness and, yes, boring predictability. This is necessary in Britain with its prominent polarisations: its regional, generational andclass inequalities, its political adversarialism. Britain’s problem, he argues, is that it has never had a revolution and sonever asked itself “existential questions of governance”. It doesn’t have the same experience of regionalism as many other European states have and Brits don’t see housing as a state responsibility in the way they do, say health. Intriguingly, too, Britain doesn’t have a true middle class, he says. When it comes to housing, “[We are] essentially failing because of political structures which are unique to this country – first past the post and nimbyism love each other very deeply, there are too many MPs and we don’t understand how to celebrate regionalism properly because we have no cultural experience of regionalism. There’s no Picardy or Normandy in England in the same way as there is in France. Because of that we have these two countervailing facts: we are unsuccessful and not supplying enough [housing]; and our political structures are not capable of responding to that. You’ve got a 15-year problem here being looked at by a five year machine here.” We don’t value housing as a service enough to make it a state priority. “If you ask the average Joe ‘What does the state do for you?’, he’ll say ‘the state should keep me healthy’. Secondly ‘the state needs to keep me secure’. Thirdly, ‘the state needs to make a big fist of educating me’. Then they start to really worry about whether they’ve a fourth one. If I ask a Dutch person that question they will without any doubt say ‘the state has to house me’.” This doesn’t have to mean social housing; it could mean the state creating the conditions for enough, affordable, private housing to come into the market. But it is the state’s responsibility to make that happen.Given the contradictions, blocks and stalemates built into our political and cultural systems, can that happen here? There is hope: “I do think that when we are sick and tired of ourselves, we are extraordinarily capable of getting our act together,” he asserts. British society is “at some level a very traditional society, but a society that is

capable of genius. Of doing things that are absolutely oﬀ the scale in terms of human ingenuity and, frankly, collective enterprise. There is something about this country where we do things really badly until we get fed up and then we do them better than anybody else.” Planning is too important for us not to give it its worth. “There is no area of public administration which brings together society more than planning,” Vlesing asserts. Thus it needs to be “the lifeblood” of a new regionalism in which regional government mediates between prescriptive national rules and local decision making. What Vlessing advocates is that Britain undergo a transformation that would see it become more akin to the social democracies of northern Europe. He believes it’s happening: we are “slowly but surely crafting a middle class” and approaching that tipping point where the British “genius” for solving problems kicks in. “We’re heading towards some really crunchy, diﬃcult political issues, economic issues,

issues with the Union, with Northern Ireland. What’s going to happen after the Queen dies? That will be a seminal moment in the history of this country. We’ll be asking ourselves some really deep, introverted questions and I don’t see that the political process out there is capable of responding to it. I think that journey has only just started.” n Simon Wicks is deputy editor of The Planner. Read the full interview at bit.ly/planner0722-MarcVlessing

Be boring: A third way for planning “One of the problems this country has culturally is that it is poor at entrusting itself to a third way. Blair was laughed at, but it’s only through public private partnership that you can make progress [on housing supply and affordability]. My contention is that in 10 years people will say that getting a fair housing solution is as much of a right as being inoculated against Covid. “You need to depoliticise the processes and be prepared to accept that you’re handing significant power to the civil service, and that your national, regional and local housing plan becomes boringly predictable

[because] there is almost no politics in it. You have a chance, then, of breaking that mismatch between the long-term delivery timeframe of housing and the short-term political motivations of the ruling parties. ”If you want localist planning, make local councillors stand for a local plan. I want my ward councillor to tell me what his attitudes are to that piece of land at the end of my street before I vote. You could pretty much get away from the planning committee. I want to create a framework of trust in planning and delivery which makes planning boring.”

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NUTRIENT NEUTRALITY

NUTRIENT

essentials ACHIEVING NUTRIENT NEUTRALITY IN NEW DEVELOPMENT IS A SERIOUS CHALLENGE FOR 74 PLANNING AUTHORITIES AND MAY BE DELAYING UP TO 100,000 HOMES. IT’S CAUSING PROBLEMS FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES, TOO, DISCOVERS HUW MORRIS

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NUTRIENT NEUTRALITY

his is a story about how the fortunes of a tiny mollusc can cause widespread chaos. Anisus vorticulus, the little whirlpool ramshorn snail, is 5mm in diameter, thrives in unpolluted marsh water and loves ditches. But the aquatic snail’s catastrophic decline prompted a conservation watchdog to publish urgent advice. This triggered alarm across local authorities, the development industry and the farming sector. Doubts now hover over a panoply of key government policies. Last October, a Natural England team surveyed the Arun Valley Special Area of Conservation (SAC). It discovered that the snail, previously moderately widespread, was now conﬁned to just one ditch. Over-abstraction of water at the SAC was the culprit. The watchdog advised that new developments in the Arun Valley Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site along with the SAC would have to show they were not adding to demand for water. Local authorities warned that this would hamper their ability to progress planning applications. A consortium of developers is now challenging the hiatus (see ‘Bother on the Rother’ over page). What some wags dub the Sussex Snail

Saga is a microcosm of a problem that is not only derailing the development of nearly 100,000 homes across the country but also a raft of local plans and work to ensure a ﬁve-year supply of housing land. The issue of nutrient neutrality also highlights fundamental clashes between a litany of policies and initiatives, each with worthy intentions but bedevilled by unintended consequences. Such clashes pose an existential threat to farming communities and the rural economy. How has this happened? Are there any solutions? And what are the consequences for key policies?

A mitigation approach It started in 2018 with ‘Dutch N’, a case before the European Court of Justice. This ruled that articles 6(2) and 6(3) of the EU Habitats Directive, as implemented in the UK by the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, should require that new development affecting SPAs and SACs achieve nutrient neutrality. Pollution by nitrates and phosphates causes, among other things, algal blooms that stifle oxygen in the water, killing fish and damaging ecology. Farming is a big cause of excess nutrients washing into rivers and wetlands. Discharges from overloaded sewage works is another. A

“INSTEAD OF BUILDING HOUSES AWAY FROM SENSITIVE CATCHMENTS, FARMS ARE BEING CLOSED AND THEIR PRODUCE REPLACED BY OVERSEAS SUPPLIERS AT A VASTLY INFLATED ENVIRONMENTAL COST” third is rainwater cascading off roads and new developments. Natural England had required developers in 32 local authorities across seven catchments to show that they are causing no additional pollution of protected sites. Some catchments responded by looking at mitigation. After 18 months of development moratoriums in the Solent, mitigation schemes have bedded down. The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has established a mitigation site on the Isle of Wight that is also benefiting sites in Fareham. This allows developers to offset their nutrient burden by paying

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NUTRIENT NEUTRALITY

credits or financial contributions to buy and take agricultural land out of use for rewilding at two polluting farms. The Warnford Estate in Meon Valley and local authorities at Havant, Portsmouth and Winchester run their own schemes. Other measures for achieving nutrient neutrality include ‘grey water’ recycling or installing showers rather than baths. But developers claim these are unpopular with potential buyers. Such arguments aside, the watchdog’s advice for the initial catchments has delayed around 60,000 homes. This prompted the Home Builders Federation (HBF) to commission Lichfields to research the economic consequences of lost housing development in these authorities (see infographic on pages 26-27). In April, Natural England told another 42 councils residential development can only happen if the “nutrient load created through additional wastewater from the development is mitigated”. New catchments include Cornwall’s River Camel, Cumbria’s Eden Valley and the Norfolk Broads. The HBF surveyed the new authorities affected and found another 36,752 homes are being delayed. Half – 18,766 – are in the Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast catchment; 10,490 are held up in Norfolk’s Broads and Wensum catchments; 2,514 are near the Eden.

“Avoiding harm to water habitats caused by nutrients is important and the housebuilding industry is prepared to play its part in a way that is fair and reasonable,” says James Stevens, HBF director for cities. “However, we face an acute housing shortage and the social and economic implications of delaying tens of thousands of homes are stark. “We are urging government to agree to proportionate measures that reﬂect the contribution of housing delivery to the issue without delay. The situation has been ongoing for some years and it’s imperative that solutions are agreed and implemented urgently.” The issue is not conﬁned to housing development. According to the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), the number of cases is rising, predominantly in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Hampshire. “However, we are also beginning to see issues arising with farmers who wish to improve productivity by modernising the infrastructure on farms or to make environmental improvements such as installing slurry store covers, to meet net zero or regulatory requirements, and who are being blocked by Natural England advice,” says Jonathan Gorham, NFU senior planning adviser.

ABSTRACTION AND EFFLUENTS

Bother on the Rother Marcel Hoad fully understands why Natural England wants to prevent further damage to the Arun Valley. “We live in West Sussex and we wish to maintain our beautiful open spaces,” says the managing director of Fowlers Estate Agency, who also has the job of heading up the Houses for Homes consortium. “But we think the Natural England position statement does not take into account the wider environmental picture.” The consortium, which has hired Jonathan Clay QC of Cornerstones Barristers to advise on its case, has a suggestion

Oﬀshoring emissions Other demons lie beneath the surface. The NFU is conducting research to identify the expected loss of agricultural land to all development between now and 2050. Gorham warns that a huge share of agricultural land could be lost to development if the bewildering range of land policies and initiatives are fully implemented. These include the ‘30x30’ initiative to protect land for nature, woodland creation, local nature recovery strategies, biodiversity net gain, the Agricultural Transition Plan, rewetting and rewilding, as well as housebuilding targets, plus civic, strategic transport, energy, waste and water infrastructure. “This represents a signiﬁcant challenge for agriculture to remain productive, viable and competitive with fewer land resources against the backdrop

for solving the hiatus on development in Horsham. Under the terms of the Environment Agency’s surface water licence, abstraction from the River Rother by the Hardham Water Works has to stop when the flow into the Arun estuary falls to 63.56 million litres per day; records show this can happen for up to 30 days a year. Southern Water is proposing to treat sewage effluent at its Littlehampton Sewage Works and pump it up to the Rother, roughly 13 miles inland. However, Houses for Homes says a simpler way to overcome a shortfall is to build fresh infrastructure downstream of the current extraction point at Hardham, which would then pump water back into the River Rother upstream from the Water Works, from where it could be abstracted. Even though the surface water licence at Hardham stops abstraction during low flow periods, a considerable amount of freshwater continues downstream of the abstraction point

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NUTRIENT NEUTRALITY

“AVOIDING HARM TO WATER HABITATS CAUSED BY NUTRIENTS IS IMPORTANT, AND THE HOUSEBUILDING INDUSTRY IS PREPARED TO PLAY ITS PART IN A WAY THAT IS FAIR AND REASONABLE” of Natural England’s advice,” he adds. “How do we grow enough food to securely feed nine million more people with up to 25 per cent less land in a way that does not add to the nutrient load of the environment and that supports the national requirements of net zero and the environment act?” Another NFU bugbear is “oﬀshoring” nutrient emissions, in particular the blocking of agricultural developments for livestock. This forces retailers to source goods from overseas. “It’s well known that, even if the environmental standards in the producing countries are equal to our own, the embodied carbon within the supply chain will be far higher, especially if the goods are airlifted in,” says Gorham. “This situation

is super-condensed in southern regions, where agricultural units are being taken out of useful production to be sold off as credit allocations to ‘offset’ the emissions from high-value housing developments. “So instead of building houses away from sensitive catchments, farms are being closed and their produce replaced by overseas suppliers at a vastly inflated environmental cost. This does not seem to factor into the equation at the moment as the domestic environmental balance sheet remains firmly in the green, but let’s not forget that we only have one environment.” An Environmental Audit Committee inquiry in May warned of a “chemical cocktail of sewage, agricultural waste and plastic” polluting rivers and wetlands. But ministers reject calls for stricter rules on planned housing schemes that risk increasing nutrients. Responding to the inquiry, the government said it is “concerned by the stalling effect of nutrient neutrality on new housebuilding and the planning system”. Instead, it will focus on reducing pollution at source to ensure that sites can be recovered, as well as supporting sustainable development in catchment areas. The response added that planners “should understand risks to the water environment when considering granting permissions, but care should be taken in

– the consortium argues that this “perfectly good, usable freshwater is lost”. It also points out that under the EU Water Framework Directive, which is still in force in the UK after Brexit, the Rother’s flow into the Arun estuary can be reduced by 50 per cent of the natural flow that occurs for at least 95 per cent of the time (54.18 million litres a day). The new infrastructure would thus allow the flow towards the Hardham extraction point to be augmented with freshwater taken from the river. “This makes enough water available to supply any increased demand and it uses hardly any power, causing little carbon dioxide emission,” Hoad claims. “Enough can be taken to enable the water company to further reduce groundwater abstraction at Hardham and begin the recovery of the Arun Valley sites. “The aquifer will store any water not used and it will be available for a future dry period.”

balancing the role of different public bodies in managing pollution risks”. Ministers also rejected the MPs’ call to establish “a presumption against granting planning permission” for intensive poultry or other livestock schemes in catchments where proposals would exceed the area’s nutrient budget. The government “does not agree that planning authorities should adopt a broad policy against farming infrastructure”, citing the NPPF’s principles that decisions should contribute to and enhance the environment, while preventing development that causes “unacceptable levels” of soil, air, water or noise pollution or land instability. For Gorham, the situation needs fixing quickly. “Local authority plans invariably identify agricultural land in their housing, employment and infrastructure allocations and have only a perfunctory interest in protecting or promoting agriculture in the national interest. “We firmly believe that any land use strategies, and certainly local plan policies, should be developed with the communities from the beginning to ensure these are an accurate representation of what is on the ground, or what could be achieved is articulated through local planning policy.” Huw Morris is consultant editor of The Planner

Hoad says Southern Water’s proposal “will use megawatts of electricity, emit thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide and be in contravention of the Paris agreement”. The bill will run into tens of millions of pounds, he argues, whereas his alternative would cost £250,000 to build, with operating costs of £60,000 a year. “Mine is a use-it-or-lose-it solution,” he adds.

“THIS MAKES ENOUGH WATER AVAILABLE TO SUPPLY ANY INCREASED DEMAND AND IT USES HARDLY ANY POWER, CAUSING LITTLE CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSION” J U LY 2 0 22 / THE PLA NNER

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I N FO G R A P H I C

WITH

FLOW R

esearch by Lichfields for the Home Builders Federation looked at the economic losses from under-delivering homes across the seven catchment areas chiefly affected by the nutrient issue prior to March 2022. A 10 per cent or 50 per cent cut in the number houses delivered across the seven catchment areas would equate to a reduction between 2,540 and 12,700 homes being built each year. If this were the case, we’d find the following consequences, according to the research.

SAFEGUARDING WATER HABITATS FROM NUTRIENTS IS IMPORTANT, AND THE HOUSEBUILDING SECTOR IS PREPARED TO PLAY ITS PART IN A WAY THAT IS FAIR AND REASONABLE. BUT, SHOWS LICHFIELDS’ STUDY, THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW HOMES MUST ALSO CONTINUE

BUSINESS

£441.8M £2.2BN The inbetween amounts of annual fall in economic output by builders, contractors and suppliers

JOBS

8,100 40,560 The amount of reduced opportunity to create or support indirect and induced jobs a year

TAX

£2.9M £14.7M The amount of loss in potential council tax revenue a year

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£ HOMES

£17M £84.9M The amount in losses in New Homes Bonus payments each year

INFRASTRUCTURE

£12M £59.8M The in-between amount of missed opportunity to invest in essential infrastructure collected from section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy contributions a year

HOMES

£48.8M £244.2M

The amount of loss of aﬀordable housing delivery valued a year

MODELLING CURRENT IMPACTS Lichfields’ scenarios also model the impact of 60,626 homes not being delivered as a result of the nutrient issue. This figure is “based on a review of reports, letters and press releases issued by a number of local planning authorities affected by the nutrients issue”. If fully manifest, this shortfall would result in: A reduction of between £305.4m of economic output by builders, contractors and suppliers A reduced opportunity to create or support 193,700 jobs A loss of between £70.2m in potential council tax revenue; A loss of between £405.3m in New Homes Bonus A missed opportunity to invest £285.8m in essential infrastructure collected from section 106 and CIL contributions; The loss of affordable housing delivery valued at between £1.17bn

Source: Achieving Nutrient Neutrality for New Housing Development The Economic Impact of the Under-delivery of Housing, Lichfields and Home Builders Federation: bit.ly/planner0722-lichfieldsHBF

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INTEGRATED RAIL PLAN

MISSED

connections THE GOVERNMENT HAS PROMISED MUCH IN TERMS OF IMPROVED RAIL TRANSPORT IN THE NORTH AND MIDLANDS. BUT, AS HUW MORRIS REPORTS, ITS INTEGRATED RAIL PLAN IS STILL A SOURCE OF DISAPPOINTMENT SIX MONTHS AFTER PUBLICATION

I M AG E | H S 2

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t was more than a year behind schedule when it ﬁnally chugged into view; nothing much has happened in the six months since its late arrival; and while its timetable remains a mystery, its reverberations will be felt for decades. The government’s Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) is still straining nerves among the north of England’s political, transport and business establishment. Some wits brand it as

The HS2 Interchange station has been designed to highlight views over the surrounding Arden landscape. Its roof will maximise natural daylight and capture rainwater for recycling

claims that it is the biggest-ever “one out of three” – not integrated, government investment hard to not a plan, but at least about rail. quantify. Even that only goes so far. The “The plans do little to significantly IRP comprises a list of mostly increase capacity, meaning freight electrification schemes that had and local services will continue been on the table for years with little to use the same lines as inter-city in the way of a definite timescale services, with speeds restricted. for their delivery (See ‘On the rails’). Some of the most undersold benefits What is clear is that the government of HS2 lie in its ability to release is switching its focus to local links. capacity on other lines. Controversy surrounding the IRP’s “Discerning genuine changes to three headline decisions rumbles strategic transport policy from post on. Scrapping most of HS2’s eastern hoc justifications for abandoning leg, now stopping at East Midlands flagship infrastructure schemes is Parkway instead of Leeds, gained tough work,” he adds. “Hidden in most notoriety. A decision not to pursue the full Northern Powerhouse the small print is the detail that ‘commitments will be made only to Rail (NPR) route between Leeds progress individual schemes to the and Manchester via Bradford leaves next stage of development’ – even Yorkshire with just two miles the scaled-back projects proposed in of new high-speed track. Less the IRP as replacements for HS2 East publicised was the government’s and NPR are far from guaranteed.” decision to take “immediate and Six months later, ill feeling full responsibility” for the NPR, continues. TfN regards the plans effectively demoting Transport for as “woefully the North (TfN). inadequate”. Others The government sells “THE PLANS are mystified. Leeds, the IRP as a historic DO LITTLE Western Europe’s £96 billion investment, TO INCREASE largest city without but around £40bn is CAPACITY, a mass transit public for completing the HS2 MEANING transport system, line between London FREIGHT AND would receive £200 and the Midlands LOCAL SERVICES million under the IRP while £17bn will go WILL CONTINUE towards a scheme to the high-speed TO USE THE SAME that has been on project between Crewe LINES AS INTER the books for over and Manchester. The CITY SERVICES, 40 years yet been investment in NPR will WITH SPEEDS abandoned several total £17.2bn rather than RESTRICTED” times. A fair chunk of £42.1bn lobbied for by that money had been TfN and local leaders to announced as part improve connections of the city’s regional from Liverpool to Hull, sustainable transport up to Newcastle and settlement. Leeds City Council asked down to Sheffield. Many observers the government to clarify whether dismiss the IRP for offering a this is new money last year. It is still piecemeal approach to strategic awaiting a response. railway infrastructure development. Tom Arnold, a research associate at Liverpool University’s Heseltine Playing politics Institute for Public Policy, Practice Transport secretary Grant Shapps and Place, says the IRP is “a difficult accuses the North’s mayors of read”, partly because many of playing “pure politics”. He told the the proposals were previously Transport Select Committee: “It is announced, rendering ministers’ a demonstration that it is possible

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INTEGRATED RAIL PLAN

ON THE RAILS

Integrated Rail Plan schemes backed by the government An additional £625 million for the Transpennine Route Upgrade. Full electrification and upgrade of the Transpennine Main Line between Manchester, Leeds and York as the first phase of a reduced NPR. Electrification of Leeds to York. Leeds to Bradford section of the Calder Valley Line electrified. Warrington Bank Quay lowlevel station reinstated, with lines between Warrington and Liverpool upgraded and electrified and Liverpool Lime Street station improved. A £360 million fund for contactless ticketing to focus on the North. Tom Arnold says the IRP “does little to significantly increase capacity, meaning freight and local services will continue in most cases to use the same lines as inter-city services, with speeds restricted. Upgrades to the existing network will be hugely disruptive for passengers, leading some commuters to switch to driving, perhaps permanently”. A key aim of high-speed rail is to reduce domestic air travel, he adds, an objective “that is barely mentioned in the IRP and will not be achieved with piecemeal improvements”. Moreover, electrifying rail lines should be considered “a basic upgrade to ancient infrastructure, not a fundamental part of an ambitious transport plan”.

to spend £96bn – the most the government has ever spent on upgrading rail in the Midlands and North – and still attract negative comment. The journey time improvements are extreme – 12 minutes to get from Bradford to Leeds. That is a proper Londonstyle connection between two great Northern cities.” West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin counters that the negativity is “not partisan” but focused on seeking the right public transport links. “HS2 and a new high-speed line between Leeds and Manchester, with that crucial stop in Bradford, would have brought additional jobs and investment. They would also drive forward redevelopment around the new stations.” Although she acknowledges that local leaders disagree with the IRP, they are in contact with the Department for Transport, Network Rail and train operators to ensure that the upgraded Transpennine Route delivers the beneﬁts they have long demanded. “However, six months on, we’re still waiting for government to agree on the scope of the promised study to get high-speed trains to Leeds. We stand ready to get this going, but government indecision is preventing us.”

“12 MINUTES TO GET FROM BRADFORD TO LEEDS. THAT IS A PROPER LONDON STYLE CONNECTION”

Brabin’s frustration is reﬂected across the Pennines. Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram had hoped the IRP would be “as transformative for rail travel as Stephenson’s Rocket” but instead envisaged “a service that could have been promoted by Gladstone in

An artist’s impression of an HS2 train

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NORTHERN SPENDING GAP

How the North loses out on transport investment The HS2 Interchange Station will be located at The Hub in Solihull, near the M42

the Victorian era”. He adds: “It won’t deliver the £16bn of economic benefit we were promised; it won’t free up freight capacity or take HGVs off the road, it won’t help connect our region with opportunities across the country.” The considerable grumbles aside, ministers could give the rail industry more certainty than a nod and wink. One crucial step would be to update the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP), a list of planned upgrades between 2019 and 2024. This has not been updated since 2019 despite a pledge to do so annually. This may determine when schemes set out under the IRP will be built first. Or it may not. In 2019, the RNEP included schemes such as increasing freight capacity in Cumbria and Heathrow Western Rail Link. The status of these projects is now uncertain, according to railway industry sources, who dub both the RNEP and IRP as “ghost plans for ghost trains”. According to Darren Caplan, chief executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), which represents 300 businesses in the sector, the continued delay “leaves businesses unaware of upcoming rail investment plans”, shackling their ability to invest. “We regularly hear from rail suppliers that they struggle to plan with such little certainty about which projects will be given the green light,” he adds. “In a complex and highly skilled sector, this uncertainty hamstrings businesses’ ability to deliver cost-effectively, and risks adding costs and delays to key upgrades.”. n Huw Morris is consultant editor of The Planner

that has ‘levelled up’ has been the If the north of England had transport investment gap” which, received the same transport it contends, has gone from £451 investment as London in the past per person in 2014/15 to £523 in decade, the region would have 2019/20. received £86 billion more than it “The IRP appears to be a actually has. levelling down of government’s An analysis of Treasury data commitment to the North. Not by the Institute for Public Policy only does it break the prime Research (IPPR) North reveals minister’s own promises and his that between 2009/10 to 2019/20, manifesto pledges, the North received on but it also breaks average just £349 per “THE NORTH IS many years’ worth person annually in of plans and transport spending. The NOW RELIANT ON CREAKING assurances to the UK overall received VICTORIAN north of England,” £430 per person, while INFRASTRUCTURE says IPPR North London received £864 THAT research fellow per person. UNDERMINES Marcus Johns. The £86 billion is ITS ECONOMY, “The North is higher than TfN’s ITS PEOPLE’S now reliant on 30-year, £70 billion QUALITY OF LIFE creaking Victorian transport investment AND ITS ABILITY infrastructure plan, which aims to TO REDUCE that undermines create 850,000 extra EMISSIONS” its economy, its jobs and boost the people’s quality North’s economy by of life and its £3.4 billion a year. ability to reduce The North East saw emissions.” the lowest transport spending, receiving an average of just £310 per person over the decade. Yorkshire and the Humber received £328 and the North West £379. If the North had received the same transport investment as London since the launch of the Northern Powerhouse agenda in 2014/15 – the precursor to what we now know as ‘levelling up’ – it would have received £51 billion more, says the analysis. Meanwhile, the IRP contains £56 billion already earmarked for HS2, leaving only £40 billion to be split between the North and the Midlands, much of that scaledback, long-term promises. The IPPR North says “the only thing

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RAISING

THE BARR

BIRMINGHAM’S COMMONWEALTH GAMES LEGACY WILL BE FOUNDED ON THE £750 MILLION REGENERATION OF PERRY BARR – AN ATHLETES’ VILLAGE THAT, THANKS TO COVID19, WON’T BE HOSTING ANY ATHLETES. BUT IT WILL LEAVE A LASTING IMPRESSION, AS SIMON WICKS DISCOVERS 32

In 2017, Birmingham was in the early stages of preparing its bid for the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Then Durban withdrew from hosting the games in 2022, leaving the Commonwealth Games Federation with a dilemma: with just five years to the opening ceremony of one of the world’s largest regular sporting events, they needed a new location, fast. “I was involved right in the outset in commissioning the team to actually do the 2026 bid,” recalls Rebecca Farr, development planning manager at Birmingham City Council. “One day, the [council] leader said ‘Oh, no, we're doing 2022’ and we all went ‘Okaaay…’.

There was a five-minute conversation about whether we could bid for 2022…” With an athletics stadium already in situ, the city threw its hat into the ring. Bidding and preparing for such a huge event became a condensed process that required creative planning. Hosting the games would require refurbishing the Alexander Stadium, building an aquatics centre, a beach volleyball and basketball arena, creating a mountain bike course and raising an ‘athlete’s village’ to house 6,500 people. All this in time for the opening events on 28 July. Birmingham won the day. But, as Ian McLeod, the city’s director of planning, observes: “We effectively had four

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CASE STUDY: PERRY BARR

The city council initially expected to have four years to get all of the Games’ facilities ready for this summer – but then Covid-19 struck

IN BRIEF Birmingham’s Commonwealth Games legacy is founded on major redevelopment of Perry Barr, which is where the athlete’s village has been built The longer-term masterplan to 2040 envisages 2,000 homes plus a new station, town centre and transport infrastructure

years to get everything ready for this summer.” All was going swimmingly – until Covid-19 struck in early 2020.

SECURING THE LEGACY

Covid-19 delayed development and athletes will now be housed elsewhere The development continues and will be the lasting legacy of Birmingham 2022

years and was ideally positioned to become the legacy centrepiece. Being just 20 minutes’ walk from Alexander Stadium, it’s on a direct rail line into the city centre, 15 minutes away and an ethnically diverse community (60 per cent BAME) of 17,500, with 46 per cent of residents under 30. Yet it also suffers from deprivation, with low educational attainment, high unemployment and poor housing stock. Large tracts of land had become available: Birmingham City University was vacating its Perry Barr campus as the search for an athlete’s village venue began. This land belonged to the Department for Education; another chunk of nearby land had recently been bought by Homes England. “With the public sector owning the bulk of what we needed to get development under way, we felt that Perry Barr was probably the preferred route given the time constraints that we were up against,” explains McLeod. “But there was still a need to do a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to bring in other land that was there, for infrastructure and some of the other schemes.” He continues: “We’d always seen Perry Barr as a node for growth. We probably didn’t quite anticipate as

Host cities always talk about ‘legacy’, the impression that an event leaves on a city and its inhabitants that makes such massive investment worthwhile. Birmingham’s bid partners were adamant that the games should be integrated into the city’s existing long-term plans. Although it’s a great story for the city, Birmingham 2022 is being seen as one event in a larger narrative of renewal. “For the Commonwealth Games Federation, obviously their two weeks is the most important two weeks for them. From a planning point of view we always saw it as a way of regenerating Perry Barr. We wouldn’t have built it as we have without the games,” stresses McLeod. Perry Barr, the northern Birmingham suburb between the city centre and Alexander Stadium, was selected for the athlete’s village. It had been on the radar for regeneration within the city’s strategic development plan for I M A G E S | B I R M I N G H A M C I T Y C O U N C I L / S H A U N F E L L O W S S H I N E P I X LT D / D A L E M A R T I N D A L E @ D M P H O T O S. C O M

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CASE STUDY: PERRY BARR

much growth as this. [We thought] we’d have to build some new homes, improve the station and we might have done some tidying up of the transport and infrastructure. But the area action plan (also covering the neighbouring Aston, Newtown and Lozells wards) and then the Birmingham Development Plan (adopted 2017) were flexible enough that they gave us a framework we could use to dial it up.” The city realised that it could use the games as a springboard for a much more extensive regeneration and expansion of the area – not least because of the opportunity it gives to bring in much greater investment. Indeed, to build out the ambitious Perry Barr 2040 masterplan will cost in the region of £750 million. Around 25 per cent of this is coming from Birmingham City Council and its local partners, with 75 per cent funded by central government. The finished scheme will include: 2,000 homes of varying types and tenure (built in two phases over 10 plots); a refurbished athletics stadium; a new railway station; a new urban centre; revamped historic buildings; a new bus interchange; a new secondary school; and new transport links. To pull together the whole regeneration site required a complex compulsory purchase order – “probably the biggest the authority’s ever done”, says

McLeod – against the clock. Farr led the process. “We did a CPO for 27 hectares of land, which included 500-plus interests,” she explains. “It was necessary for the scale of homes and the infrastructure needed to support that scale of growth – so it enabled the station, bus interchange, highways works, Sprint Bus route, cycle routes and improved public realm.” Incredibly, the CPO – approved in June 2018 – was confirmed just 15 months later, after extensive public consultation. Phase 1 of the development has full planning consent for

“WHAT WE LEARNED QUICKLY IS THAT AN ATHLETES’ VILLAGE IS NOT STANDARD RESIDENTIAL USED IN A STANDARD WAY. YOU DON'T NEED MUCH LIVING SPACE.”

AN ACTIVE LEGACY Another aspect of ‘legacy’ in relation to the Commonwealth Games is its lasting impact on participation in sports within Birmingham and the wider region. Sport England has had a big inﬂuence on how this will emerge, having invested £35 million in sporting and community infrastructure to encourage physical activity well beyond the period of the games. Over £14 million has been put into the Sandwell aquatics centre and Cannock Chase Forest mountain bike course; £4 million into active community programmes; £4.5 million into young people’s

sport, including the nationwide School Games; £5 million into athlete support and £6.5 million for sport governing bodies to develop ideas to drive participation. Charles Johnston, Sport England’s property director, explains that the body’s concerns extend into everyday activity. Sandwell aquatics centre, for example, will have sports halls and a dance studio installed once its extra games-time seating is removed. The organisation is also exploring the idea of 15-minute neighbourhoods around venues and through the games’ real estate. “You can

create a sort of 15-minute neighbourhood around Sandwell as a real community destination,'' says Johnston. “And it can become a real community asset for a number of activities, as well as swimming. “We’ve been working with Birmingham for eight to 10 years in a coordinated fashion,” he continues. “When the games came along we were determined to make sure that it was integrated into the work that we’re doing because big events come and they go and a couple of weeks later everybody goes back to the back to the day job.” Citing Manchester’s East-

lands as inspiration, Johnston points to the work in Perry Barr “to open up those walking and cycling routes and integrate those into the masterplan.” “On the back of the games we’ve got Birmingham and West Midlands to agree to update their built strategy and their active travel and their sport strategy and try and integrate all of those strategies into one. We’re helping to pay for that work. We’ll have a long-term masterplan for Birmingham and the West Midlands that takes some of the principles we’ve been talking about into their communities as they develop.”

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CASE STUDY: PERRY BARR

Ethnically diverse Perry Barr lies between Birmingham city centre and Alexander Stadium

1,414 homes, 968 of which are close to completion. Longer term, these will provide a mix of open market and affordable one and two-bedroomed flats for sale and rent. Phase 2 has outline consent for up to 500 homes; another 500, including an extra care community, are planned. Among the partners involved in making it all happen are Birmingham City Council, West Midlands Combined Authority, Homes England, the Commonwealth Games Federation, Sport England, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, local enterprise partnerships, Arcadis and Lendlease. Planning and construction threw up some interesting challenges. The athletes’ village was to consist of 968 homes that would then become one and two-bedroomed apartments. How do you accommodate 6,500 athletes in them? “We’ve always worked from ‘What do we want from the legacy?’”, Farr stresses. “How can we therefore accommodate the 6,500 beds, rather than let’s build 6,500 bed spaces. With all the decisions to do with the games it was ‘What do we want for Birmingham?’ and ‘How can we retrofit it back for the games rather than starting from the games’”?

K E Y B AC KG RO U N D Perry Barr 2040: A Vision for Legacy masterplan: bit.ly/planner0722-perrybarr2040 Sport England: Commonwealth Games involvement: bit.ly/planner0722-sportengland Birmingham 2022 website: bit.ly/planner0722-birmingham2022

“What we learned quickly is that an athletes’ village is not standard residential used in a standard way. You don’t need much living space. The intention was to, in a two-bedroom apartment, put in a temporary extra wall to create a third bedroom. So a two-bed legacy apartment would be a three-bed games time apartment for six athletes.” Kitchens – not necessary for the athletes – would be fitted post-games as part of the build completion for the long term. It was an elegant solution.

decision. The city could no longer guarantee that the village would be completed on time. “We made a call with the organising committee that we felt it was better if the athletes went into existing student accommodation and the village went direct to legacy,” recalls McLeod. “The reality was, you know, unless we’ve thrown buckets, loads of money at the village, we just weren’t going to get it built in time for the games.” However, as McLeod and Farr reflect, the Commonwealth Games is one element in a regeneration narrative. Perry Barr is being transformed and visitors in their hundreds of thousands will use the new station en route to the revamped Alexander Stadium. It is not wasted work. There is a bigger story here than the fortnight of the Commonwealth Games itself, one of a city’s planners – as in the city’s motto, ‘Be Bold, Be Birmingham’ – pushing forward major renewal. The legacy of the games for Birmingham will be a new neighbourhood with 2,000 homes built into sustainable patterns of development, where car ownership is discouraged and active travel promoted (indeed, all the homes on one plot will run on electricity only, no gas, with an eye to 100 per cent renewable generation). It is intended to be a modern development, with a wide blend of housing types and tenures to cater to a varied demographic. “The whole purpose of what we’ve been trying to do with our disposals approach is to create a really diverse community,” adds McLeod.

A CHANGE OF PLAN In early 2020, Covid-19 brought work to a virtual halt and forced a difficult

n Simon Wicks is deputy editor of The Planner

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It’s time to nominate Support your profession for the future of planning and put yourself forward for this year’s elections. Nominations are open until 29 July for the following positions: Presidential Team: • Vice President for 2023 (will become President in 2024) The Board of Trustees: • Chair of the Board of Trustees • Chartered Trustees • Trustee for Nations

The General Assembly: • Chartered Members • Legal Member/Legal Associate • Student/Licentiates

Look out for your email from Mi-Voice or visit www.rtpi.org.uk/elections

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CASES &DECISIONS

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‘Urgent and time-critical’ need for new Jersey hospital justiﬁes harms A new hospital labelled Jersey’s ‘biggest ever public infrastructure project’ has been approved in St Helier, after an inspector concluded that the public beneﬁts of the hospital outweighed the harm it might cause to its setting.

Public benefits offset amenity impacts

( “Given the nature of this once inageneration development proposal, accepting the importance and imperative of delivering the hospital on this allocated site, the key overarching test is whether the application proposal represents the very best proposal in planning terms when considered ‘in the round’. My conclusion is that it does. Rose Naylor on the current hospital’s limitations, as many of the buildings are “old and derelict”. Naylor also detailed the many benefits the new hospital would have, for patients and employees, owing to greater space and better facilities. The inspector concluded that the current hospital facilities were “inadequate”. Staddon then turned to the design of the building and its visual effects on the landscape. He accepted that the design had elicited a mixed response, with Save Jersey’s Heritage comparing the proposed hospital to a “monster”. But Staddon decided that the design would deliver a “high-quality healthcare campus” with attractive landscaping. He accepted that the new hospital would affect its setting, as the height of the building is above guidance heights, and would also have an impact on the townscape of St Helier. He accepted that the proposal would generate visual harm to its setting, but this would be

outweighed by the beneﬁts provided by the new hospital. In terms of amenity impacts, Staddon again determined that there would be a level of harm. Views from nearby houses would be overshadowed by several large hospital buildings and a new road. However, the inspector decided that this was not “serious unacceptable harm”. The proposal would also impact heritage, as two 19th-century buildings listed on Jersey’s non-statutory grading system would be demolished. Staddon said

LOCATION St. Helier AUTHORITY Island of Jersey INSPECTOR Phillip Staddon PROCEDURE Inquiry DECISION Allowed REFERENCE P/2021/1670

( ““The result is an undisputedly highquality healthcare campus, with contemporary buildings in an attractive landscaped setting, which would enable patients and others within the hospital to enjoy a pleasant, indeed quite stunning, environment and panoramic views out to sea.” ( Phillip Staddon, planning inspector that this was justiﬁed by the “overriding public need” for a hospital. The hospital would also impose on the setting of some of Jersey’s most “iconic” heritage, including the Elizabeth Castle, Fort Regent and St Aubin’s Fort. The inspector again said this was not “calamitous”. In the planning balance, Staddon felt that the harmful impacts of the proposal were outweighed by the community beneﬁts of a new hospital, which the inspector felt was the “the highest level of priority”, and he recommended that the minister should grant planning permission. bit.ly/planner0722jerseyhospital

I M A G E S | I S T O C K /A L A M Y

The inspector’s decision was confirmed by Deputy John Young, Jersey’s minister for the environment. The hospital, which will include a mental health centre, open spaces and multistorey car park, will be built on a 13-hectare site, part of which is home to the existing Overdale hospital. Overall, the development will consist of five buildings across a landscaped campus. The Jersey planning authority opposed the proposal. A range of issues were identified, including the impact of the hospital on its setting and nearby heritage and harm to a green zone area, as well as loss of housing and a bowls club. The principle of a new hospital and the extent of the island’s need for one were also questioned. Inspector Phillip Staddon addressed the issue of the need for a new hospital and the principle of the proposal. He rejected suggestions that the site was unsuitable for a hospital, as it had been allocated for this purpose in the Bridging Island Plan. Staddon accepted evidence from Jersey’s chief nurse

POLICY POINTS

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40 or so appeal reports are posted each month on our website: www.theplanner.co.uk/decisions. Our Decisions Digest newsletter is sent out every Monday. Sign up: bit.ly/planner-newsletters

Andrew conﬁrms 1,000-home scheme in ‘Watership Down’ Housing minister Stuart Andrew has backed an inspector’s decision to allow outline planning permission for more than 1,000 homes, a primary school and a country park in Newbury, Berkshire – within an area close to ancient woodlands that provided the setting for the book Watership Down.

Economic benefits of Newcastle tower outweigh ‘regrettable’ harm to neighbours An inspector has granted planning permission for a 289-apartment residential tower on Newcastle’s Quayside after deciding that the scheme was justified by the benefits it would offer to the local economy. Newcastle City Council opposed the development, citing the proposal’s impact on the character and appearance of the area, nearby heritage assets and living conditions. Inspector Claire Searson said the building would provide continuity with other tall buildings near the site, and would not appear out of place in the city’s skyline. Although some design aspects would “fall slightly short”, the building would not be incongruous with its setting, said the inspector. However, 163 of the proposed one-bed units would fail to meet the gross internal floor area standards set out in the Nationally Described Space Standards, should the flat be occupied by more than one person. But Searson felt that the communal amenity space provided by the development would offer its residents acceptable living standards. The inspector also dismissed concerns about the impact of the development on neighbouring residents’ outlooks and light levels, as 42 nearby windows would not meet LOCATION Newcastle upon Tyne the BRE guidelines for loss of light. AUTHORITY Newcastle City Council Searson said that it was inevitable that INSPECTOR Claire Searson any development on this plot would impair PROCEDURE Inquiry outlook and sunlight levels, and although this DECISION Allowed was “regrettable” for neighbouring residents, REFERENCE APP/ the “balance falls in M4510/W/21/3283989 favour of the proposed development”. The appeal was allowed.

LOCATION Newbury AUTHORITY West Berkshire Council INSPECTOR Lesley Coffey PROCEDURE Recovered appeals DECISION Allowed REFERENCE APP/ W0340/W/20/3265460

Inspector Lesley Coﬀey dismissed West Berkshire Council’s concerns about highway safety, air quality and the impact on biodiversity, concluding that as the proposal was only in outline, with all details reserved, conditions could be used to mitigate the development’s impact. Bloor Homes and the Sandleford Farm Partnership proposed 1,000 homes and 80 extra care housing units, as well as community facilities for the 114-hectare site. The appeal site forms most of a 134-hectare

area of land allocated for the scheme of up to 2,000 homes. Coffey addressed the development’s impact on the surrounding area. The inspector acknowledged that it was “inevitable” that the rural setting would be affected by the development, and also recognised the value of the landscape because of its association with the novel Watership Down. A ‘Watership Down’ walk crosses the appeal site. Suggested conditions to mitigate the development’s impact included a design code, a landscaping scheme, protection for the woodlands and measures to protect the trees and hedgerows. Coffey said the benefits of the proposal, including designating 40 per cent of the homes as affordable housing, outweighed the harm caused to the landscape and recommended that the appeal be allowed. Stuart Andrew confirmed this decision. bit.ly/planner0722watershipdown

bit.ly/planner0722newcastletower

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C&D { C Noise from Old Traﬀord cricket ground would impact apartments

Inspector Andrew McGlone also addressed design, impact on heritage and affordable housing contributions as problems. Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council opposed the plans, citing the likely impact on living conditions, harm to the area’s character, appearance and heritage assets, and inadequate contribution to affordable housing. McGlone started with the proposal’s impact on the area’s appearance and character, suggesting

that the height and bulk of the buildings would be incongruous with smallerscale residential buildings nearby. The inspector also felt that the high density of the dwellings would “harmfully jar” with the lower density of the surrounding area. Turning to the effect of noise from the nearby “internationally significant” cricket stadium, McGlone concluded that Old Trafford’s concerts, which take place up to seven times a year, and host up to 55,000 people,

Bromley-by-Bow towers fall on environmental disadvantages A trio of residential buildings, providing 435 homes and ranging in height from two to 26 storeys, has been refused by an inspector, who judged that the proposed towers would visually harm their setting and impair living conditions. Inspector Paul Jackson addressed the development’s impact on the surrounding area. Jackson described the towers as “unusually assertive”, in contrast with the smaller buildings nearby. The Bromley-by-Bow Supplementary Planning Document sets the general expected height of buildings in the area at around 18 metres, with the appeal development being 99 metres at its highest point, which

led the inspector to describe the towers as a “conspicuous mass, out of character” with its setting. The appellant agreed that the proposal did not comply with the 2018 Strategic Housing Market Assessment, which identiﬁes a need for at least 25 per cent of developments to be three-bed units. The inspector accepted that there was not a great need for three-bed units in that particular area. He also

would disturb residents. No mitigation measures were proposed and the inspector said it would be

LOCATION Manchester AUTHORITY Trafford Council INSPECTOR Andrew McGlone PROCEDURE Inquiry DECISION Dismissed REFERENCE APP/ Q4245/W/20/3258552

unreasonable to expect residents to keep windows shut during concerts. McGlone observed that under the NPPF's ‘agent of change’ principle, existing business and facilities can not have unreasonable restrictions placed on them as a result of new developments permitted after they were established. McGlone recognised the scheme’s contribution to housing, but concluded that the development would too greatly aﬀect its setting. The appeal was dismissed. bit.ly/planner0722oldtraﬀord

noted that the development did not reach targets for affordable housing. However, it was agreed that the target of 60 per cent would make the development unviable. The tower’s effect on sunlight would be a problem in the external amenity and recreation sites in the development, as some areas would fail to achieve the BRE standard of two hours of sunlight in March. Children would have to cross Global Approach to reach the largest play area, a road used frequently by HGVs, leading Jackson to determine that this play area was “impractical”. He concluded that, despite contributing “substantial” numbers of affordable homes in an area where they are needed, the “visual,

functional and environmental disadvantages” of the scheme made it unsuitable. The appeal was dismissed. bit.ly/planner0722bowtowers

LOCATION London AUTHORITY London Legacy Development Corporation INSPECTOR Paul Jackson PROCEDURE Inquiry DECISION Dismissed REFERENCE APP/ M9584/W/21/3283799

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

A development of 332 apartments close to the Emirates Old Traﬀord cricket ground in Manchester has been refused after an inspector concluded that noise from concerts at the stadium would unduly aﬀect residents’ quality of life.

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DECISIONS DIGEST{

SUBSCRIBE SUB to our appeals a digest:

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

Enforcement action quashed for mobile home at organic farm business The owners of a sustainable farm and forest school in Hertfordshire have been allowed to live onsite in a mobile home after an inspector quashed enforcement notices ordering the removal of all residential buildings on the site. bit.ly/planner0722-organicmobile

Loss of facility lands golf course housing proposal in the rough A development of 233 homes at a Widnes golf club has been dismissed after an inspector found that the loss of the sports facility outweighed the proposal’s contribution to local housing stock. bit.ly/planner0722-widnesgolf

Lack of access and economic benefi be ts lead to roadside services refusal A proposed roadside services including a petrol station, truck stop sto and restaurants near Dunblane, Scotland, has been refused after a reporter was unconvinced of the scheme’s beneﬁts. bit.ly/ p planner0722-dunblaneservices

Lack of housing supply not enough to justify Slough apartments A development of 84 flats in Slough, Berkshire, has been refused after an inspector concluded that the harm caused to the area’s character, and lack of affordable housing and mix of housing types outweighed the proposal’s benefits. bit.ly/planner0722-sloughfl er0722 sloughflats g flats

Further education college to relocate to business park Coleg Menai has gained permission to relocate its main campus to an office building in Parc Menai business park, after an inspector determined that the change of use from class B1 office space to class D1 non-residential institution was justified. bit.ly/planner0722-colegmenai

Cornwall student homes allowed despite World Heritage Site harm An inspector has allowed plans to demolish a historic dwelling and replace it with student accommodation, despite its association with the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site (WHS). bit.ly/planner0722-cornwallwhs

‘Landmark’ student accommodation tower would benefit setting

Housing deficit not enough to override new homes’ accessibility concerns

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Two proposed developments totalling 65 homes, as well as commercial units, have been refused after an inspector identiﬁed the scheme’s lack of connectivity to nearby settlements and harmful impact to the surrounding landscape as issues. bit.ly/planner0722-bluebarn

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A 28-storey student accommodation tower has been allowed in Manchester after an inspector decided that it would make a positive contribution to its setting, serving as a “landmark” in views of the Deansgate area. bit.ly/planner0722-deansgatedigs

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LLegal landscape OPINION

All change please: the new test at the heart of the regeneration bill The Levelling up and Regeneration Bill 2022 proposes to drastically reform the plan-led system that has dominated planning for decades, says Zack Simons

We’ve all read about street votes and the new infrastructure levy. But the levelling up and regeneration bill also puts the current legal structure for plan-making and decision-taking onto the chopping block. The requirement to make decisions in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise has been the benchmark of planning decision-making for more than three decades. The headlines from the courts are that: What matters is whether a proposal accords with the development plan as a whole. But even then, the development plan does not have absolute authority In particular, the plan’s “provisions may become outdated as national policies change”. The authority can depart from the development plan if material considerations indicate otherwise. And deciding where the balance lies between the plan and other material considerations is for the decision-maker’s judgment. However, the bill proposes a new test which would change the law in at least two

thoughts are that: important ways: • First, now the central • It’s been a strange requirement would be feature of our system that to take a determination documents like the NPPF in accordance with (i) which we spend so much “national development time poring over are, at management policy” least in theory, lower in first; and then (ii) next, the pecking order than the and so long as there’s no local development plan, but conflict with that national capable of deeming that local development management plan to be out of date. So policy, the development being more explicit in the plan. statutory scheme about the relationship • Second, now between local for material and national considerations “FOR ALL THE HEADLINES ON policy is a step to indicate LOCALISM, STREET in the direction taking a VOTES AND of clarity, even different NEIGHBOURHOOD if it represents decision, they PLANNING, THIS a big departure would have BILL CONTAINS from the to strongly A POWER GRAB ‘local-plan first’ “indicate BY CENTRAL approach. otherwise”. What is • Generic, GOVERNMENT” a “national nationalised development development management management policy”? It’s policies will anything save time and the government says it paper, and lead to a more should be which relates to consistent, robust system. the development or use And this bill creates the of land in England. And legal structures to avoid under the new regime, local duplication between local plans cannot repeat or be plans; to leave the detailed inconsistent with anything development management in any national development policies to central management policy. government; and thereby to What should we make simplify the task that a local of this? A few quick-hit plan has to perform. The

idea is that there be more consistency in the system. That plans are followed. That departures from plans are less frequent. To which you might think ‘Bravo!’. But that only works if plans are being made in a way that is both timely and effective. • The current plan-making system in England hasn’t been timely or effective for a while now. The real question is whether there is enough in this bill to reverse the decline in plan-making. For all the talk of localism, at its heart the new test in this bill amounts to a power grab by central government. The days of the legal “presumption in favour of the development plan” are numbered. It seems we are heading towards a legal presumption in favour of national policy (and only after that local plans to the extent they’re consistent with national policy). That may lead to more consistency, focused plans and better decisionmaking. Let’s hope so. But it’s a radically different approach from what we have now. Zack Simons is a barrister at Landmark Chambers. This is an abridged version of an article he first published here: bit.ly/planner0722-planoraks

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EVENTS

CASES

LEGISLATION

NEWS

NEWS Campaigners gain High Court hearing into Bristol Airport expansion Campaigners against the expansion of Bristol Airport will be able to challenge the Planning Inspectorate’s decision to grant planning permission in the High Court. A planning statutory review will take place later this year following an appeal by Bristol Airport Action Network (BAAN). The Planning Inspectorate had granted permission for the airport’s plans to expand from 10 million passengers a year to 12 million in February following an inquiry into North Somerset Council’s rejection of the scheme. The local authority will not challenge the permission after deciding that a legal challenge through the High Court could only succeed if inspectors are shown to have erred in law and pursuing this would be a high-risk action. BAAN has raised more than £20,000 through crowdfunding to pay for legal costs to support its appeal. “The idea that airports can just continue to expand without limit in the middle of a climate and ecological crisis is so obviously wrong,” said BAAN spokesman Stephen Clarke. “If Bristol Airport plans are allowed, there are more than 20 other regional airports who will use the precedent to also expand; why should aviation be in the privileged position of expanding without limit while every other sector is being constrained? How can this country ever meet its legal obligations under the climate change act?”

London landlord prosecuted over illegal flats A landlord has been prosecuted for “squashing” seven flats into a development that had planning permission for six. The flats are located at 2A Boyson Road, Walworth SE17, London. Officers at Southwark Council found the size of six of the flats to be below minimum standards. Five of the apartments contained no dedicated storage space, and three of them had extra unauthorised bedrooms. The flats were let as temporary accommodation and shortterm holiday lets, which had not been authorised by the council and resulted in the loss of permanent accommodation. The council said the “constant coming and going” of different parties resulted in noise and disturbance to local residents. Highbrow Properties Limited and its director Iftikhar Ahmed of Mount Drive, Wembley, were prosecuted by the council. He pleaded guilty and appeared before the Inner London Crown Court for sentencing and confiscation proceedings, under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, on 28 April. Ahmed had been ordered to demolish the unauthorised flats or correct the development so that it met with the original planning permission. The council also told him to stop using the properties for temporary accommodation. The court agreed that Ahmed had illegally gained £230,000 in rent, with Ahmed or the company ordered to pay a proceeds of crime confiscation order of this amount. Ahmed faces two years in prison if the confiscation order is not paid within three months. Additionally, Highbrow Properties Limited incurred fines and costs of £25,000, while Ahmed must pay fines and costs of £13,000. The development is now operating in compliance with planning permission.

ANALYSIS

LEGAL BRIEFS MoJ unveils legal service for tenants facing eviction and repossession The Ministry of Justice has revealed plans to provide free legal advice to those at risk of losing their homes. The service will be launched in spring 2023, says Local Government Lawyer. bit.ly/planner0722evictions

Newcastle City Council challenges 289-home tower ruling Newcastle City Council is to challenge an inspector’s decision to allow a highrise housing development on the city’s Quayside, reports Local Government Lawyer. bit.ly/planner0722-quayside

Residents fail in Casement Park redevelopment dispute The Mooreland and Owenvarragh Residents Association’s legal challenge to the proposed redevelopment of Casement Park GAA stadium in Belfast has been dismissed. The proposed 34,000 seat stadium was approved by the former infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon, says Irish News. bit.ly/planner0722-casementpark

Centre for Cities analyses new levy Anthony Breach’s blog discusses the new infrastructure levy included in the levelling up and regeneration bill, and how it might aid both developers and local authorities. bit.ly/planner0722-IL

Campaigners can proceed with Bristol Airport expansion challenge Bristol Airport Action Network has gained permission for a High Court review later this year into the government’s decision to allow the expansion of the airport. The court accepted that there were arguable grounds, reports Local Government Lawyer. bit.ly/planner0722-bristolairport

Supreme Court agrees to hear Cork city flood relief appeal The Irish Supreme Court will hear an appeal against the decision to refuse to overturn An Bord Pleanála’s permission for flood relief works in Cork. The Save Cork City Community Association saw their objections dismissed last year by Mr Justice Richard Humphrey, writes the Independent. ie. bit.ly/planner0722-corkflood

Scottish Government dialogue on permitted development begins The Scottish Government has begun public consultation as part of its review of proposed changes to permitted development rights. bit.ly/planner0722-scotpdr

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NEWS RTPI news pages are edited by Ashley Lampard at the RTPI, 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL

CODE OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT

many of the issues raised are commonplace… For example, the need to check information relied upon when submitting or considering a planning application is one area which arises regularly [and] is therefore vital to ensure that the case presented is true and an honest portrayal of the development proposed.”

Updating the Code of Conduct: give your views The RTPI is issuing a call for member views on its Code of Professional Conduct and supplementary guidance simple and clear as possible so that It is good practice to take stock on a it is understandable to all, including periodic basis and the current version members of the public. Most clauses of the code was agreed by the RTPI have been revised to reflect changing Board of Trustees in 2016. practice and cases that have come Having consulted the Membership before the RTPI Conduct & Discipline & Ethics Committee, we are refreshing Panel. However the key the emphasis and five requirement for members core principles to reflect “THIS ACTIVITY to annually review their good practice from the IS VITAL IN skills with a Professional International Ethics MAINTAINING Development Plan and Standards Coalition, CONFIDENCE IN complete and record 50 hours which the RTPI of CPD over a two-year period THE WORK OF supports as a benchwill remain unchanged. marker against other OUR MEMBERS” As Ruth Richards, RTPI professional bodies. Complaints Investigator, The committee agreed mentioned in a recent blog: that we should retain “This activity is vital in a concise code with maintaining confidence in overarching principles. the work of our members and the Where necessary, additional guidance profession as a whole. And while or supplementary regulations should the occasional complaint concerns be provided in separate documents. complex or unusual circumstances, The language used needs to be as

The revised five Core Principles are: n Honesty and integrity n Professional competence n Independent professional judgement n Professional practice and duties n Professional behaviour and respect Additional requirements include: basing professional advice on relevant, reliable and supportable evidence and presenting the results clearly; compliance with RTPI regulations eg, use of the RTPI logo, advertising and on providing Member details; and updating of responsibilities and information regarding diversity and inclusion. Findings from the consultation will be reported to the Board of Trustees for consideration and formal adoption by the end of the year. We will develop additional direct guidance notes and further detail and advice to support members on issues such as: conflicts of interest; clarifying the difference between acting with due care and diligence (a breach of the code), and making an honest mistake, and drawing out a responsibility to the wider public not just a duty to a client or employer. We would very much welcome any case studies or advice from members in pulling these together. n bit.ly/planner0722-conduct

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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

RESEARCH EXCELLENCE FRAMEWORK

Outstanding research recognised at RTPI-accredited universities The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the UK’s system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. We’re delighted that in its most recent assessment 14 of the top 20 universities who run programmes in architecture, built environment and planning are those accredited by the RTPI. “It’s a great result for RTPIaccredited universities”, says Professor Aude Bicquelet-Lock, Deputy Head of Policy and Research at the RTPI. “RTPI-accredited Planning Schools are world leaders in internationally recognised research and the REF provides a key framework to assess the quality and impact of that research. “The REF outcomes also have a direct link to public funding for research and can help inform research

priorities. As a REF panel member, I am delighted to have been involved in the assessment process and it’s encouraging that RTPI-accredited Planning Schools are getting the recognition they deserve.”

In addition to the outstanding research produced by our accredited universities, the RTPI also produces its own research to develop and promote the art and science of planning as a discipline and a profession. You can see our latest research papers here. We are also currently conducting a review of degree accreditation policy to broaden access to pathways into chartered membership and reach out to attract new and diverse talent. It’s part of our role as the UK body responsible for setting education standards for the planning profession. The review is being conducted as part of our Corporate Strategy 2020-30 to ensure that we have a greater pipeline of diverse and conﬁdent planners coming through the planning system.

I M AG E S | RT P I / S H U T T E R S T O C K

The RTPI has launched Planners Beyond Boundaries The RTPI has launched Planners Beyond Boundaries to support displaced planners to ﬁnd immediate and long-term #employment and help #rebuild their communities. The institute explained that war and natural disasters around the world and their associated impacts have shone a light on the increase in displaced populations around the world. According to UNHCR’s Refugee Population Statistics Database, 84 million people have been forced to ﬂee their homes. Planners Beyond Boundaries aims to enable a step change in how

displacement and crisis is responded to, “utilising our charitable status, purpose, international standing and convening power to best support in a proportional and appropriate way aﬀected planners and communities”. The institute notes that, to date, its eﬀorts have been focused on producing research and best practice, including Urbanisation, Displacement and Urban Planning. The RTPI has also considered how best to plan for a sustainable

future in a post-pandemic world and has launched a Planning is Global campaign, which sets out how UK and Ireland planners are having a positive impact on planning sustainably globally. Now, Planners Beyond Boundaries intends to provide an opportunity to shift the focus to the individuals aﬀected by displacement, particularly the professional planners and related professionals who work in the arena of urban planning, regeneration, environmental protection and design.

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NEWS

MILTON KEYNES COUNCIL PLANNING SERVICE

RTPI champions professional planners with Milton Keynes Council Planning Service The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Milton Keynes Council Planning Service to champion professional planners and their career journey through a local ‘planning academy’ programme. The MoU sets out how the RTPI will collaborate with Milton Keynes Council Planning Service to support the development of a planning profession that is as diverse as the communities it represents, ensuring that it makes a major contribution to achieving sustainable development in ways that are fair and equitable. Andrew Close, the RTPI’s Director of Education and Profession, said: “It is exciting that we have signed this MoU with Milton Keynes Council Planning Service. The MoU is an important pilot project for both Milton Keynes Council and the RTPI, as it shows clear dedication to creating a strong, knowledgeable, and diverse planning system. “We are pleased to recognise that Milton Keynes is developing proposals for a Planning Academy to support the future pipeline of planners and placemaking skills, a great example for local government as we collectively strive for fair and equitable development and regeneration outcomes. At the RTPI, we will learn from this collaboration, share good practice with other partners and hope that this is the ﬁrst of many such memorandums for local councils to champion and invest in their

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professional planning services.” Leader of MK Council, Councillor Pete Marland, said: “Milton Keynes is a modern, forward-thinking place, which is iconic for planning and urban design. We have ambitious growth proposals for MK to establish itself as a smart city, which will be home to over 400,000 people and the world’s leading businesses. “The Planning Academy will help us to attract the best planners to the city, provide high-quality on-the-

job training and develop best practice through our work with the RTPI. This is a really important step and I look forward to working with everyone involved as we continue our work to provide better planning services for our residents.” n Read the full MoU at bit.ly/planner0722-MKmou n For more information on the Planning Academy, contact Olivia Drury olivia.drury@milton-keynes. gov.uk

I M AG E S | RT P I

09/06/2022 17:42

AWARDS FOR PLANNING EXCELLENCE 2022

Finalists announced for Awards for Planning Excellence 2022 Our judges have carefully selected 83 ﬁnalists across the Regions and Nations all competing for the converted category trophies for the Awards for Planning Excellence 2022. Each Region and Nation will hold a ceremony between 7 June-14 July. You can book tickets here: Yorkshire – 7 June East Midlands – 24 June North West – 24 June East of England – 30 June West Midlands – 30 June South East – 30 June South West – 7 July London – 14 July

What happens next? The winners in our Nations and Regions, and top-scoring entries will go through to the national ﬁnals. Finalists for all 15 categories will be announced in October, including for three special non-geographic categories:

I M AG E S | RT P I / S H U T T R S T O C K

n International Award for Planning Excellence n In-house Planning Team of the Year n Planning Consultancy of the Year The winners and highest-scoring entrants from each Region, Nation and ﬁnal three categories will go through to the national awards ceremony on 30 November. As ever, we are grateful to the judges, who gave generously their expertise and time and to the sponsors, whose generous support allows us to recognise and celebrate the best the RTPI has to oﬀer.

RTPI elects new trio of Fellows The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) would like to congratulate Catriona Riddell, Michael Chang and Alice Lester who have been elected as Fellows of the Institute. The trio join the one per cent of members who are in this exclusive qualification – the highest professional membership grade offered by the RTPI. Reflecting on the achievement, Catriona Riddell, of Catriona Riddell & Associates Ltd, said that being a Fellow of the Institute validated the work she had put in to both her day job and in her voluntary support at the RTPI and other organisations. “I love what I do and am extremely proud to call myself a Fellow of the Institute.” Michael Chang, of the government’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, believes that becoming a Fellow is an important career milestone. “For me it’s timely becoming a Fellow as a planning for health specialist. We have seen health professionals emerge on The Planner Women of Influence list and the RTPI President making health his presidential theme,” explained Chang. Alice Lester, of Brent Council, said she felt pleased and honoured to be awarded a Fellowship. “With many more challenges ahead around the expectations of the planning system, a strong RTPI is ever more important and I look forward to being able, as a Fellow, to use my experience and professional commitment to drive forward the agenda,” said Lester.

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09/06/2022 17:43

Here is a selection of the most recent opportunities from a few of those organisations working with The Planner to recruit the best quality candidates in the marketplace.

Senior Planning Officer and Planning Officer – Development Control Salary: Competitive Location: Guernsey

Development Consent Orders Manager Senior Development Management Officer Salary: £30,021 £42,885 (subject to quali cation & experience) Location: South Downs Centre Midhurst

Salary: £40,911 £45,004 pa Location: Guildford, Surrey

Senior Project Officer (Graphic Design) Salary: £29,174.00 £31,895.00, Grade 8, Location: Wake eld

Planning Officer Salary: Grade 9 £29,174 to £32,798 pa Location: County Hall, Durham

Principal Planning Policy Officer Salary: £38,553 £41,591 pro rata Location: Leicestershire

To a dve r ti s e pl ease em ai l : t he pl a n n e r jobs@redact ive. co. uk or ca l l 0 2 0 7 880 6232

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theplanner.co.uk/jobs 09/06/2022 12:01

Recruitment {

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

Plan YOUR CAREER with us Help create a greener future In Cheshire East, our towns and villages, parks and gardens, historic buildings and new developments are a source of immense civic pride. So we’re looking y\ m" m :y U" iM UU:U0 \,. "mq 7\ U 7"Mi q y\ "U7 U " y7" U y m M U built environment, preserve local history and protect our beautiful spaces. All while supporting the Council’s ambition to be more open, fair and green. Whether you’re a new graduate, or a senior planning professional, we can promise you a rewarding career in one of the most forward-thinking Council’s in the country. With a crystal clear local plan, a uniquely supportive environment, and a team approach that will help you to overcome the most complex planning challenges. So together, we can make a difference for generations to come.

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cheshireeast.gov.uk/planningjobs

“The immense support I have received here has kickstarted my career as a planner and provided me with valuable skills, knowledge and experience”

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J U LY 2 0 22 / THE PLA NNER

09/06/2022 11:30

Activities

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CONTENT THAT'S WORTH CHECKING OUT

A digest of planning-related material. Each month our work takes us around the internet in search of additional detail for our stories, meaning we invariably come across links to items we think you’ll ﬁnd educational, entertaining, useful or simply amusing. Here’s our latest batch.

What’s caught our eye Clarkson pillories planners

Urban planners eliminate slums using an algorithm Science magazine explains how researchers are testing a tool based on a “topological view” of cities to improve the design of growing areas. Two slums in Cape Town, South Africa, have been adapted using satellite maps to plan access and service nodes with a topological algorithm calculating where the most effective roads should be. Designers aim to create an interface ao locals can use the tool. bit.ly/planner0722-

“These not terribly bright people in planning departments just don’t understand what they’re messing around with and I’m seeing the results.” Grit your teeth and tune into Talk TV (just this once) to understand where Jeremy Clarkson is coming from. Basically, he thinks local planners are stymieing farmers who have been told by government to respond to reducing farm scheme payments by diversifying. bit.ly/planner0722-clarkson

The (Brief) History of Urban Planning This video shows that while urban planning is fairly recent, planning practices go back to ancient times. This history ranges from its origins in the walled cities in Mesopotamia to the present-day suburb, with interesting American an stop-offs on the way (zoning, the City Beautiful movement, the Euclid plan and the e failure of Pruitt-Igoe – “an example of how planning can sometimes cause greater harm than good.”) bit.ly/planner0722-urbanhistory

Inequalities in Urban Planning: a history of Detroit | LSE Research Dekonti Mends Cole talks about US planning and how “its violence towards communities of colour has played out… from red-lining to restrictive covenants and from segregated public housing to deliberately segregated city plans, the Federal Government, financial institutions and planners have all promoted and facilitated a system that has ripped apart cities and communities”. bit.ly/planner0722-detroit

Talking Headways: A Streetsblog Podcast These (circa 30mins) episodes comprise a review of the week’s top stories ‘at the intersection of sustainable transportation, urban planning and economic development’. The back catalogue has some great stuff; the land-use proxy fight; planning for underground cities; and treating social media like a city. Case studies include things like a grassroots bus network redesign in Miami.

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10/06/2022 11:25

LANDSCAPE

The New Urban Ruins: Vacancy, Urban Politics and International Experiments in the Post-Crisis City – Urban Policy, Planning and the Built Environment This Bristol University Press book suggests that contemporary urban challenges should be seen through the lens of urban vacancy, describing it as a core feature of urbanisation. Contributors use

22 Ideas That Saved the English Countryside: The Campaign to Protect Rural England This book celebrates the achievements of the the Campaign to Protect Rural England Pr (CPRE) and associated (C groups in bequeathing to gr the present generation th a countryside that is still a repository of st beauty and tranquillity, be despite 300 years of de sustained development su and population growth. an controlling ribbon Ideas detailed include incl development, National Parks and urban regeneration. ISBN: 9780711236899

Farm Business Innovation Show 2022

insights from the impacts of recent disputes over the reuse of vacant spaces in post-crisis cities across the globe, shedding light on the complexity of forces and processes shaping urban vacancy and its reuse, exploring these areas as both lived spaces and sites of political antagonism. ISBN: 9781447356882

For those who check out that Jeremy Clarkson item (see left) and grudgingly concede he has some kind of point, this show at the NEC in may be worth a visit. Designed for everybody with an interest in rural business looking for new ways to use their land to bring in more money, it’s a farming business event offering advice while bringing together suppliers and resources. bit.ly/planner0722farmbusiness

Geoﬀ Marshall’s Elizabeth line celebrations The irrepressible YouTube star’s love of all things train reached a new zenith in May when London’s CrossRail project finally opened. Marshall is far from alone as a YouTube blogger, as these videos from the line’s opening days show. But he is proving a particularly effective communicator between those who plan the railways and those who used them. bit.ly/planner0722-marshall

What we’re planning As we enter the summer months we’re taking a deeper dive into the levelling-up bill and what it means, from street votes through to enforcement. We’ll be casting our eye overcome of the issues with planning for real areas and considering the work of the nation's active travel commissioners. Plus the usual news, views, appeals and nd analysis.

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

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08/06/2022 17:23