The Planner - May 2015

MAY 2015 EAST MIDLANDS A QUIET REVOLUTION // p.16 • BEWARE THE RETURN OF THE FRACKERS // p.24 • CITY BEAT URBAN REGENERATION THROUGH MUSIC // p.28 • WHY CHARRETTES ARE CHAMPIONED BY COMMUNITY PLANNERS // p.40

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

PLANNER

THE

BOB YARO

Trauma and triumph: tales from the forefront of New York’s RPA

p.01_Planner_Cover_May.indd 1

24/04/2015 16:10

From

ÂŁ195

The New Politics for Planning

+VAT

7 July 2015 • London

Why attend?

Understand the new politics for planning following the UK general elections Hear from the best industry speakers from across the world Gain new insights from a choice of special interest sessions Learn the latest in planning from a range of free study tours

Headline sponsor:

Associate sponsor:

Enjoy excellent networking opportunities

Programme now live online!

To book call 020 3773 5580 or visit theplanningconvention.co.uk RTPI Conferences and the Planning Convention are managed by Kaplan Hawksmere on behalf of the Royal Town Planning Institute p02_PLNMay15.indd 2

23/04/2015 14:14

CONTENTS

PLANNER 06

THE

MAY

NEWS 6 Inspiring a public interest in planning 7 Welsh and Scottish capitals unveil city deal aims 8 Local needs must inform cohesive national strategy 9 Local plan delivery is slow and too sketchy

OPINION 12 Chris Shepley: Party election manifestos – or the curse of the spin cycle 14 Bob Colenutt: Why viability assessments must be scrapped 14 Mike Kiely: Planning for a better future

10 Brownfield focus fails to tick boxes

15 Tom Dobson: CIL – more questions than answers. Still

11 Sustainable building guide launched in Northern Ireland

15 Tony Burton: Talkin’ ’bout a (civic) revolution

24

QUOTE UNQUOTE

“EVERYTHING IS IMPACTED

BY THE LIFE OF A PLANNER. THAT’S WHY IT BOTHERS ME THAT PLANNERS CANNOT DO THEIR JOBS NOW BECAUSE OF COUNCIL CUTS” SHAIN SHAPIRO, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF SOUND DIPLOMACY

20 15

FEATURES 16 Does the history of joint strategic planning in the East Midlands provide a model for other areas? asks Andrew Pritchard

16

20

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

20 For years, Bob Yaro was at the forefront of New York’s regional planning association.

Huw Morris talks to him 24 Planners are likely to be deluged with drilling applications after the election, warns Mark Smulian

“REBUILDING THE WORLD TRADE CENTRE WAS A 20­YEAR PROCESS AND WE ARE 14 YEARS INTO IT”

28 Can music be used as an instrument for regenerating town and city centres? Simon Wicks listens

INSIGHT 38 Legal landscape: Opinion, blogs, and news from the legal side of planning 40 Career development: Understanding charrettes 42 Plan Ahead – our pick of upcoming events for the planning profession and beyond 44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute

28

50 Plan B: Network #Fail

MAY 2015 2 01 5 / THE PLA NNER p.03_contents.indd 3

3

24/04/2015 14:23

ADVERTISEMENTS

Consultants { border archaeology

archaeology & built heritage

info@borderarchaeology.com br is t ol

|

leeds

|

borderarchaeology.com

leom ins t e r

|

london

|

milton keynes

+44 (0) 1568 610101 |

newport

|

w i n c h e s te r

Savills Planning - Energy Specialists in securing planning permission for all forms of energy development, and providers of related commercial advice

Planning for nature Expert ecology advice from the specialists

Richard Shaw Head of Energy rshaw@savills.com +44 (0) 7967 555 797

Based in London, Norwich, Lewes and Edinburgh

Energy is one part of our full range of planning consultancy services

*VU[HJ[ `V\Y ULHYLZ[ VMÄ JL enquiries@ecologyconsultancy.co.uk

savills.co.uk

Experience and quality that make a difference

PLANNING DESIGN ENVIRONMENT

www.ecologyconsultancy.co.uk

Environmental Planning

Planning our sustainable future

Environmental Assessment

Birmingham Bristol Derby Exeter Glasgow London Warrington

Landscape Assessment Green Infrastructure Planning Masterplanning & Urban Design Landscape Design & Management

Genesis Centre, Birchwood, Warrington, WA3 7BH

Historic Environment & Archaeology Ecology & BREEAM

01925 844 004 tep@tep.uk.com www.tep.uk.com

Arboriculture

Offices in Warrington, Milton Keynes, Gateshead, London & Kent

The Highway Traffic & Transport Consultancy Ltd PROFESSIONAL ADVICE ON HIGHWAYS DEVELOPMENT PLANNING MATTERS AND ALL RELATED HIGHWAY ISSUES Contact:

Paul White t: +44 (0) 20 7121 2612 paul.white@atkinsglobal.com

Plan Design Enable

4

www.atkinsglobal.com/urbanplanning

• • • •

Transport assessments Transport statements Pre-planning advice Planning application advice

• • • •

Expert highways development planning advice given Expert witness evidence provided for planning appeals 40 years’ successful experience in this field of work Consultancy and mentoring for Highway Authorities and LPA’s

The HTTC Ltd. T: 01621 818505 E: kab@the-httc.co.uk

www.the-httc.co.uk

T H E P L AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

PLANNER Marketplace MAY15.indd 4

23/04/2015 17:23

PLAN UPFRONT

Leaderr To save our high streets, retail will require therapy – Two months ago the National Retail Planning Forum (NRPF) hosted an event to mark three years since the publication of the National Planning Policy Framework. Now obviously, bliss was it in that document’s dawn to be alive, but so far as I could tell the NRPF hadn’t organised any cards, cakes or candles to mark the occasion. We did, however, get plenty of punchy discussion around the event’s wider theme – ‘is the Town Centres First policy working?’

Spoiler alert – not everything on the high street is rosy. Traditional structures for financing developments and high street trading are both fundamentally changed, and will not snap back to previous, profitable models.

Anyone expecting a return to the 20-year long ‘golden age’ of new investment

Martin Read in retail floor space that followed the introduction in 1996 of the Town Centre First policy will find themselves waiting some time, said Dr Steve Norris, partner at Carter Jonas and the chair of the NRPF Research Group.

The trends are clear.

Robin Butler of developer Urban&Civic spoke of how big brand retailers such as Next were opting to leave the high streets for larger business park outlets. The average retailer’s lot has

fundamentally changed, he says. Previously, a typical expansion-minded retailer would simply look to invest its capital in new outlets.

But in our new, more febrile retail world the addition of outlets is just one factor, and perhaps the least important.

Today's retailer needs also to undertake the hugely taxing work needed to keep existing stores up to date to attract ever-more capricious consumers, while their investment in electronic platforms continues to rise in line with the volume of online transactions.

(Already, a third of John Lewis’s sales are online. By 2020, the company expects

“NOT EVERYTHING ON THE HIGH STREET IS ROSY. TRADITIONAL STRUCTURES FOR FINANCING AND TRADING ARE BOTH FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED”

that figure to be 40 per cent – faster than it or anyone else first envisaged.)

For the viability of big development schemes, choice of anchor tenant will become increasingly important, said Butler – and those anchor tenants will increasingly comprise not just retailers, but entertainment providers such as cinema chains in order to add further value to the consumer’s choice to visit, and increase the yield to developers. But whatever the mix, retail development on high streets or in retail parks isn't happening at anything like the rate it was before the big financial crash of 2007.

This is an important issue, both economically and socially. Retail planning is tied to the identity of our high streets and our high streets in turn are tied to our collective sense of community. A recurring theme at this and other events is that we can’t rely on retailers to sustain our high streets any more.

CONTACTS Redactive Publishing Ltd 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP 020 7880 6200

Picture editor Claire Echavarry

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Consultant creative director Mark Parry

Ryan.hadden@redactive.co.uk £120 – UK £175 – Overseas For bulk copies please email for details.

A D V E RT I S I N G & M A R K E T I N G EDITORIAL

Senior sales executive Lee-Anne Walsh – 020 7324 2753

Tel: 020 7324 2736 editorial@theplanner.co.uk

Recruitment sales John Seaman — 020 7880 8541 Sabmitar Bal – 020 7880 7665

Editor Martin Read martin.read@theplanner.co.uk

PRODUCT ION

Consultant editor Huw Morris Features editor Simon Wicks simon.wicks@theplanner.co.uk

Production manager Jane Easterman Senior production executive Aysha Miah PUBLISHING

Reporter Laura Edgar laura.edgar@theplanner.co.uk

Publishing director Joanna Marsh

Sub-editor Deborah Shrewsbury

ISSN 2053-7581

Average net circulation 20,646 (October-December 2013) © The Planner is published on behalf of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) by Redactive Publishing Ltd (RPL), 17 Britton St, London EC1M 5TP. This magazine aims to include a broad range of opinion about planning issues and articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the RTPI nor should such opinions be relied upon as statements of fact.

All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in any print or electronic format, including but not limited to any online service, any database or any part of the internet, or in any other format in whole or in partww in any media whatsoever, without the prior written permission of the publisher. While all due care is taken in writing and producing this magazine, neither RTPI nor RPL accept any liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein. Printed by Polestar Colchester Ltd.

RT P I C O N TA C T S membership@rtpi.org.uk 020 7929 9462 Education education@rtpi.org.uk 020 7929 9451 Planning Aid Advice Line advice@planningaid.rtpi.org.uk 0330 929 9451 41 Botolph Lane London EC3R 8DL Media enquiries Tino Hernandez tino.hernandez@rtpi.org.uk 020 7929 8182 The Planner is produced using paper that is elemental chlorine free and is sourced from sustainable managed forest.

MAY 2 01 5 / THE PLA NNER p.05_Leader.indd 5

5

24/04/2015 14:23

NEWS

Analysis { COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Inspiring a public interest in planning

By Laura Edgar The emphasis on the importance of consultation and effective community engagement is being spoken about more and more.

In its report Better Brownfield: Ensuring Responsive Development On Previously Developed Land, the Campaign to Protect Rural England said community engagement was key to advancing development on brownfield land, while Lord Andrew Adonis, speaking at the launch of think tank IPPR’s new publication City Villages: More Homes, Better Communities, stated: “Collaboration and engagement [with communities] has to be real from the very beginning of the process.”

At the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) Spring Conference, Martyn Evans, creative director at Cathedral Group, spoke passionately about how planning and development is about telling a story, emphasising that community consultation is a big part of the narrative.

He said: “I don’t understand developers who are suspicious of their regulatory authorities. It appears to be like you’re taking a big bag of money and you are just waving it in the wind.

“Why would you not sit and listen and engage and talk and understand? And that’s not just with developers and local authorities, but people, the community. The more knowledge and information that comes out of a place, the better your property development.”

Evans gave two examples of consultations undertaken by Cathedral Group. First, he spoke about the regeneration of The Old Vinyl Factory in Hayes, Middlesex, where he took a beige prefabricated building, previously used as the marketing suite by the previous owners, and painted it in multicoloured diamonds.

“It became a community facility hosting events that 'Come and look at my “IT IS ABOUT TELLING said: site.'”

A STORY AND MAKING A From this, he explained, he PLACE COME ALIVE” ­ MARTYN EVANS got “a flowing, constant public

6

consultation exercise so I am listening and learning and understanding” the area in which the site is.

He also cited The Deptford Project, a £47 million mixed-use public-private partnership (PPP) regeneration scheme. Evans explained that a 1960s restored train carriage kick-started the scheme, with it being used as a café and a creative focal point for the project.

The café drew people in and became part of the placemaking process.

Speaking to The Planner, Huw Edwards, partner at Barton Willmore’s Ebbsfleet office, said consultation is vital.

Moreover, “you get out of it what you put into it”, And that, Edwards added, “applies to developers, consultancies and residents who engage with it”.

He emphasised that consultation is much more than a questionnaire, explaining that it is about engaging with residents face to face, through websites, forums and social media platforms, the latter being important to point people to where more information can be found.

TCPA chief executive Kate Henderson agrees that consultation and long-term engagement is vital.

She told The Planner: “It is essential in developing a vibrant community. It leads to better decisions, informed by local knowledge and aspirations.”

Henderson added that consultation enables people to take on more responsibility for their future, encourages social cohesion and reduces conflict.

Having an interesting place for people to go to that also acts as a community centre, like those Evans discussed – and not somewhere only for consultation – provides a hub for discussion, she added.

There are, however, a few problems with consultation. Edwards said that for him the dilemma is in capturing the ‘silent majority’.

As an example of addressing this he cited Canterbury City Council embarking on a MORI poll in 2012 in which a cross section of the community were asked what they thought of building homes in the city in relation to its local plan. The result found support for house building was “strongly conditional”.

For the TCPA, one of the big issues with consultation is ensuring that local authorities and the private sector have the right resources to have the time to speak to communities.

“To engage in the long term, more than once, takes time.”

Edwards concluded: “Locals really make a difference if they engage from the outset. From a developer’s point of view it makes for a better place.”

He emphasised that if residents have an open mind when they take part in a consultation, they will get more out of it, as will developers.

“If they can go in with an open mind, all sides get something out of consultation.”

T H E PL AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p6_7_News.indd 6

24/04/2015 17:39

PLAN UPFRONT

Core strategy to provide 30,000 homes

Welsh and Scottish capitals unveil city deal aims Plans for potential £1 billion city deals in Cardiff and Edinburgh have been backed by their respective councils.

The Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region – comprising Edinburgh, Borders, Fife, Mid, East and West Lothian council – is working to develop a deal with the Scottish and UK governments.

At the centre of the deal, said the City of Edinburgh Council, is a £1 billion infrastructure fund that includes “priority investment” for transport, housing, economic regeneration, energy and digital connectivity.

Speaking on behalf of the six local authorities, City of Edinburgh Council leader Andrew Burns said the councils want to build on their strengths and tackle “persistent pockets of inequality” that “threaten to hold the region back”.

Burns added that the next step is to “seek UK and Scottish Government agreement.”

A report detailing a plan for a £1 billion city deal has been discussed and backed

Revised grid proposals could cut planning problems Ireland’s energy minister Alex White has welcomed the publication of EirGrid’s consultation paper on Ireland’s grid development.

This suggests that fewer new major overhead power line projects may be needed than originally expected.

He highlighted the paper’s review of

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

p6_7_News.indd 7

by Cardiff Council. The council is now entering negotiations with the UK and Welsh Governments to secure the deal.

The council said a City Deal could “unlock significant new money to support capital investment in major infrastructure priorities for the cityregion”.

The report recommends, however, that the structure of Cardiff Business Council needs to be reviewed to ensure that it is fit for purpose and able to deliver the requirements for a city deal. This would take place immediately, said the council.

Cardiff Council leader Phil Bale said the city has to take part in the deal or “risk being left behind”.

the Grid Link, Grid West, and North-South Interconnecting Line projects, which says Ireland’s energy transmission needs can be met with reduced new infrastructure build because of new technological developments and updated projections of future electricity demand.

The document confirms the need to reinforce the transmission system in the South-East, but suggests an alternative to the original Grid Link proposal, which would involve upgrading existing transmission lines rather than building new lines.

It also puts forward a new option for Grid West, which would significantly reduce the amount of new overhead cable required.

It reaffirms the need for the North South project. Proposals for new power lines in Ireland have proved highly contentious and sparked major planning battles.

White added: “The draft strategy presents a fresh approach that will be welcomed by many. It will strengthen the electricity grid while ensuring that new infrastructure will be built when a clear need is identified and when all options have been fully explored. It also places a much stronger focus on engaging and consulting with local communities on future infrastructure development.”

Newcastle and Gateshead councils have agreed the formal adoption of a joint core strategy after taking into account amendents recommended by the government inspector.

The plan, which forms the first part of Gateshead and Newcastle’s local plan, aims to deliver economic growth and shape development in the region for the next 15 years.

It features plans to provide 30,000 extra homes across Newcastle and Gateshead as well the expected creation of 22,000 jobs.

Newcastle City Council said the key to the plan was controlled growth in several neighbourhoods with detailed studies undertaken to ensure that development is done in a sustainable way.

The strategy identifies locations for the new homes as well as land for offices, retails space and new roads. Most of the development, the city council said, was being focused on brownfield land and regeneration areas.

Mick Henry, leader of Gateshead Council, said that the council understood the public’s “strong feelings” about parts of the plan, and added: “We’ve considered all of those concerns carefully, using the best available date throughout.”

Newcastle City Council's leader Nick Forbes added that the plan would give investors the confidence that Newcastle and Gateshead have “a clear plan for how we want to grow”.

MAY 2 01 5 / THE PLA NNER

7

24/04/2015 17:39

NEWS

Analysis { INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING

Local needs must inform cohesive national strategy The housing shortage was the hot topic during the preelection period. Infrastructure though, seemed to bubble below the surface of the political debate.

But think tank iBuild, led by Newcastle University in collaboration with the universities of Birmingham and Leeds, called for devolved infrastructure powers and funding for local authorities to solve the MARNIX UK’s infrastructure needs in its pre-election manifesto.

In Are You Being Served?, researchers warn that a lack of local knowledge, engagement and ownership are leading to the wrong infrastructure being put in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This warning follows a Confederation of British Industry and URS infrastructure survey of 443 senior business leaders, conducted towards the end of 2014.

Taking The Long View: A New Approach To Infrastructure suggests that in competitive areas of energy and transport, 67 and 57 per cent respectively of businesses expected infrastructure to get worse in the next five years.

To combat this, 89 per cent of those asked support the idea of an independent infrastructure commission. iBuild centre director Richard Dawson, professor of Earth systems engineering at Newcastle University, emphasised the “crucial role” infrastructure plays in economic development.

He said approaches to infrastructure are criticised for returning poor value and being too narrow to capture all the benefits.

“In particular, the current centralised and top-down approach to infrastructure development and management is preventing

8

ELSENAAR

locally led business models from flourishing and is discouraging innovation.”

The iBuild manifesto lays out several “priority action areas” to unlock alternative infrastructure business models, including enabling “action at the local scale that connects with the national”.

To achieve this “an appropriate and sensible proportion of infrastructure investment” should be devolved to UK local authorities. Local authorities, says the manifesto, would then be able to deliver infrastructure that both suits the community and is “mindful of the national strategy.”

Speaking to The Planner, Richard Blyth, head of policy at the RTPI, agreed local authorities should have infrastructure powers and responsibility.

“Decisions on housing are extremely devolved, down to a district council level.

Transport and health decisions are made in Whitehall.” Blyth added that when developing a site, all types of infrastructure should be drawn in and a big barrier to this is that infrastructure decisions are decided a long way from the site. “It’s a coordination problem.”

Marnix Elsenaar, head of planning at

Addleshaw Goddard, said he thought the manifesto should distinguish more clearly between different types of infrastructure.

Some infrastructure does require a topdown approach, he told The Planner.

“For example, a nuclear power station or a national network such as HS2 is unlikely to be delivered through local initiatives.

Contrast regional railways (heavy and light rail), local/regional road schemes, flood alleviation infrastructure where clearly local involvement is crucial.”

Elsenaar said the manifesto doesn’t really define local. It does refer to City Regions and Manchester’s earn-back model, but it “doesn’t make the case for consistent regional bodies across the UK that can take forward infrastructure provision”.

“Isn’t a big point that the local authority is often too small in terms of geographical coverage, skills and financial fire power to play a really important role in infrastructure provision? This surely invites a conclusion that more regional bodies are required to bridge that gap between the local and national vision,” he said.

Another priority in the manifesto is to “capture long-term value of every kind”.

Infrastructure is not just about cash returns, it says. Investing in infrastructure “provides wider health, economic and environmental benefits for society".

Blyth highlighted that a broader view should be taken of infrastructure and transport investment, capturing land value along new transport routes and reinvesting the profit into additional transport infrastructure.

The RTPI's pre-election document, Planning In The Next Parliament, called on the next government to plan infrastructure projects in conjunction with its key policies priorities, for example housing development and climate change adaptation, in order to improve business cases and maximise policy outcomes.

Additionally, in its January 2014 report, Transport Infrastructure Investment: Capturing The Wider Benefits Of Investment In Transport Infrastructure, the RTPI recommends that future governments “should devolve funding mechanisms, including better systems of cost recovery, to local areas looking to implement viable, transport infrastructure-led schemes”. n Are You Being Served? can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/1FQaWqZ

T H E P L AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p8_9_News.indd 8

24/04/2015 17:40

PLAN UPFRONT

Statistics from Signal Failure: n

126 local plans examined or submitted for examination

62

local plans were found to be sound

32

per cent of adopted plans require early review

5

additional months for plans to be found sound after NPPF introduction

21

local plans withdrawn mainly because of insufficient housing numbers

Local plan delivery is slow and too sketchy Poorly functioning local plans stop the delivery of 200,000 homes a year.

Three years after the introduction of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), progress on getting local plans in place remains slow, says Signal Failure: A Review Of Local Plans And Housing Requirements – a report by Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners (NLP).

The NPPF was championed by the coalition government, which aimed to simplify and speed the planning process by consolidating policy into a concise document.

Since then, says the consultancy, only a quarter of English local authorities have

Council leader supports Midlands devolution Nottingham City Council leader Jon Collins has expressed his support for devolution across both the East and West Midlands as the council works on creating a combined authority.

Speaking at city council initiative Devolution Day, which aimed to raise awareness of devolution and what it would mean for the general public, businesses and the economy in the East Midlands, Collins said devolution offers the opportunity to provide further powers to the regions and “in turn to achieve outcomes more efficiently and effectively”.

He explained that in Nottingham the council is working with Nottinghamshire County Council and the districts to create a combined authority.

“Our proposal has been put to central government and we expect to be able to move forward with it by the end of this year.

“We have produced a series of ‘asks’ outlining the responsibilities we would like to achieve for a combined authority, which we think will bring outcomes such as more than 50,000 extra jobs, 77,000 extra houses, better further education provision, faster broadband and innovations around public transport and infrastructure.”

introduced a local plan.

Matthew Spry, senior director and head of economics at NLP, said the research shows that when local plans are prepared and then approved by an inspector, they are delivering the homes needed, but in many areas, this is taking too long to achieve.

The report identifies two difficulties that local authorities are struggling to reconcile.

The first is determining which neighbouring authorities will be asked to meet the housing overspill that cannot be accommodated by the council itself – the

New twist in wrangle over West Belfast renewal Discord over the future of the vacant former Visteon site at Finaghy, West Belfast, has taken a fresh turn.

The housing association planning to redevelop the 12-hectare site has now been told

by Northern Ireland’s Planning Service to devote more space to commercial and business activity.

Fold Housing is proposing to demolish the existing derelict factory complex to create 244 homes and some 4,200 square metres of community facilities and business units.

Local residents from the Campaign for Economic Regeneration of the Visteon Site (CERFVS) have long argued that the land is of such strategic economic importance that it should be zoned for employment use alone.

“From a West Belfast point of view there are 28 other sites which have been identified for social housing,” said CERFVS spokesman Patrick Crossan. “Why don’t we use up those first before hitting those that could be used for economic regeneration?”

West Belfast MP Paul Maskey said: “The Planning Service direction to Fold Housing has to be taken on board and the site developed as soon as possible.”

Fold Housing said it was looking at a number of options for a revised scheme, but insisted that it would not reduce the number of houses.

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

p8_9_News.indd 9

duty to co-operate – and the second is that many green belt authorities “appear to be dragging their feet over housing requirements in their plans”.

Mr Spry added: “The acid test will be when more green belt authorities progress their plans over coming years.”

The consultancy concluded that if the system were fully functioning, more than 200,000 of the required 240,000 homes a year would be built. The report comes at a time when half that number of homes needed a year are being built.

MAY 2 01 5 / THE PLA NNER

9

24/04/2015 17:40

NEWS

Analysis { BROWNFIELD REMEDIATION

Brownfield focus fails to tick boxes

+ Record number of finalists for RTPI Awards A record number of entries have been shortlisted as finalists for the RTPI’s Awards for Planning Excellence.

The awards are contested between consultancies and local authority teams across 14 categories. Projects, people and plans from Belfast to Bridlington, Loch Leven to Lincolnshire and Craig y Deryn to Cambridge have all been shortlisted, with entries up 50% up on last year. Judges also claim to have had a ‘more difficult job than ever’ in selecting finalists.

RTPI president Janet Askew said: “It will be a tremendous challenge picking individual category winners from such a high quality field.”

Winners will be announced in London on the evening of 6 July, at the Pullman London St.Pancras hotel.

By Laura Edgar Although planning’s place in the election campaign was most evident in the woolly and oft-repeated phrase ‘planning reform’, the BBC debate on April 16 did at least connect to something tangible – brownfield remediation grants.

A proposal in UKIP's manifesto was mentioned, one that put a figure for grants of ‘up to’ £10,000 per unit for developers undertaking ‘essential’ remediation work.

But is providing remediation grants a viable incentive to encourage development on brownfield land?

Speaking to The Planner, Amanda Beresford, partner and head of planning at Schulmans, said that it was difficult to say whether the proposal was viable.

“It depends on how much remediation is involved, how heavy it is, how attractive and suitable the site. Does it have any exist“BROWNFIELD FIRST ing infrastructure, for example.

HAS TO BE A GOOD “Undoubtedly, for some sites, IDEA, OR, REALISTIC up to £10,000 per dwelling will BROWNFIELD FIRST” be the difference between site – AMANDA BERESFORD development being viable or not. For some, even the maximum won’t be enough to cover the remediation costs.”

Michael Wood, senior planner at Indigo Planning, said that because the biggest constraint for developers is remediation, incentives to developers will be key - and that while promotion of brownfield development is vital, “we must be realistic about what can be achieved on these sites”.

The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives also proposed to prioritise brownfield land development - but to what extent will prioritising brownfield land satisfy housing demand? Recent reports, including The Green Noose: An Analysis Of Green Belts And Proposals For Reform by the Adam Smith Institute, suggest the need for housing is too great to be sated by available brownfield land.

Speaking to The Planner, a spokesperson for the Centre for Cities think tank explained that parties are assuming that housing supply can primarily be met through brownfield development, which analysis suggests is “highly unlikely”.

Nexus Planning's managing director Roger Tustain said his understanding was that “seven out of every 10 new homes built are already on brownfield land*, and it is estimated that there is only enough brownfield remaining to deliver 200,000 new homes

10

by 2020*”. Caution, he added, would be required to sustain such a ‘brownfield first’ policy.

And ‘brownfield first’ also concerned Mark Sitch, senior partner at Barton Willmore.

“It would end up reducing the delivery of new homes overall,” he told The Planner, “with the less pro-growth local planning authorities seeing this as a means to delay or prevent necessary greenfield development.”

Reaction to the various manifesto commitments has consistently pointed out that while brownfield development was high on the agenda, no mention was made of the green belt.

“It is disappointing – although predictable – that all parties have shied away from committing to a debate about the purpose and function of the green belt around our key cities, said Tustain.

Beresford agreed that a green belt review will probably have to be considered, pointing out that while both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats commit to new settlements, “what they don’t say is that the only logical conclusion is they would have to be on greenfield or green belt land”.

John Acres, a consultant to Turley, told The Planner that although the parties haven’t mentioned it now, “when they get into power they will need to look critically at the green belt to see how and where some development could be accommodated somehow. If you apply green belt too rigidly it would effectively prevent towns and cities from organically growing”.

Steve Turner of the Home Builders Federation agreed.

“A range of options will be needed if we are to build the number of homes required… with both brown and green field land.” * DCLG national statistics on land use change in England for 2011 (most recently published (December 2013) * DCLG Building more homes on brownfield land – consultation proposals document (January 2015).

Comment: Joe Kilroy, policy officer, RTPI “We have been examining all the parties’ policies on planning. In our housing paper, Delivering Large Scale Housing, we recommend that surplus public sector land holdings are disposed of to take account of the wider community value, for example for affordable housing, and not to maximise capital receipts. We would also like to see local authorities take a larger role in land assembly on brownfield sites.”

T H E PL AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p10_11_News.indd 10

27/04/2015 11:18

PLAN UPFRONT

Sustainable building guide launched in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland’s environment minister Mark H Durkan has welcomed the publication of a guide to sustainable building by cross-border organisation Smart Eco Hub. He said he supported the use of sustainable renewable technologies in new buildings.

“We have geared planning policy to help integrate renewable energy technology into the design, siting and layout of existing and new buildings.”

Durkan pointed out that the launch of the guide – the fruit of collaboration between the private and public sector

– was both apt and well-timed in the context of local government reform and planning reforms.

He said: “This is an additional tool available to assist councils in their new roles as decision-takers and plan-makers in achieving good-quality sustainable development through appropriately designed buildings.”

He added that publication of the guide coincided with his department recently receiving a prestigious UK planning award for its Living Places guide, which complemented the sustainable buildings document.

Review of Wales AONB at key stage

an action plan.

Recently the plan has been revised to take on board affordable housing issues and mobile phone and broadband coverage.

Local amenity group the Gower Society has been making the case for more unambiguous wording about large-scale renewable energy schemes not being welcome additions in Gower.

Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea cabinet member for enterprise, development and regeneration, said: “Although the existing plan included a detailed 20-year vision, it has made sense to review the action plan to ensure that it is fit for purpose. It is important the council works with local businesses, community groups, residents and others to make sure we have a plan that can do the job of looking after such a special place.”

Swansea City Council has just concluded its consultation exercise over an updated strategy for the Gower Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

It was the first location in the UK to be granted the designation when the AONB citation was established in 1956.

The current management plan for the area, which covers 37 square miles, was adopted by the council and published in 2006. It featured a vision of how the AONB would look in 20 years’ time, plus

I M A G E S : G E T T Y / D I G I TA L B I R D A N D PA U L W E L S H A R C H I T E C T S

p10_11_News.indd 11

Cruise ship terminal planned for power site near Edinburgh Proposals have been unveiled for what would be Scotland’s first purpose-built cruise ship terminal on the mainland at the site of a decommissioned coal-fired power station.

The development, at Cockenzie in East Lothian, would be able to welcome modern liners that are unable to dock farther up the Firth of Forth because of their height and width.

It is estimated that Cockenzie could accommodate at least 200 cruise liners a year, bringing around 500,000 visitors to Scotland.

Only Orkney currently has a purpose-built terminal for cruise ships in Scotland, although many liners call into Scottish ports around the country.

In addition to the terminal, plans for the 50-hectare site include an eco-village, a greenthemed visitor centre dedicated to naturalist John Muir and a retail and business park.

The scheme has a price tag of about £300 million.

But a question mark remains over the future of the site. Last month the plug was pulled on controversial plans by Scottish Enterprise to build a giant marine energy park there. Site owner Scottish Power has been granted planning consent to replace the decommissioned coal plant with a more environmentally friendly gas-fired power station, but acknowledges that making a business case for the investment is difficult at the moment.

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER

11

24/04/2015 17:41

CHRIS SHEPLEY

O Opinion Party election manifestos – or the curse of the spin cycle “I’m not sure if the stain will ever go away completely”, said Mrs Braithwaite. “It’s been there for nearly five years now. Mr Braithwaite had an altercation with a gravy boat, and his trousers came out worsted”.

“Count your blessings that he was wearing brown trousers,” said Mrs McTavish, as Mrs Braithwaite shovelled extra washing powder into the machine. The launderette had not, as Eric Pickles had apparently hoped, been converted to a music hall, and over the noise of the spin dryer Mr Khan turned the conversation as usual to the government’s planning policies. The trio had responded to all of the many consultation papers issued since 2010, but had been unable to discern any difference this had made (a sentiment shared by many planning organisations).

Mr Khan looked forward to the general election. Being over. All his friends had their fingers permanently poised over the mute button on the remote; some politicians performed best in silence.

“Have you read these policies?” he said, waving a slim document, slightly damp from the foetid atmosphere of the washing environment. “No; but I’ve got an odd number of socks here,” said Mrs MacTavish, irrelevantly. Mr Khan read from a report as she crawled round the tiled floor looking for the hosiery. It seemed to make a lot of sense, she thought, as she picked up the odd snippet from her prone position.

12

T H E PL AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p12_13_shepley_quoteunquote.indd 12

“GOOD INTENTIONS ABOUT AFFORDABLE HOUSING, RENEWABLE ENERGY AND GOOD DESIGN SEEMED TO HAVE SLIPPED DOWN THE AGENDA” “… our present planning system… imposes too many one-size-fits-all rules and inhibits communities from finding imaginative and sustainable solutions… power over planning has been taken away… from locally elected representatives and given to bureaucrats in Whitehall… So the mistrust of the planning system has grown along with an increase in protest…”

Mrs McTavish looked up as Mr Khan read: “Piecemeal reform of the planning system is simply not an option… ”.

Mrs Braithwaite wondered whose policy that was. It sounded like that grumpy chap who wrote a regular column in The Planner, which they read avidly. He was always complaining about the government’s frequent piecemeal one-sizefits-all tweaks to the system, which seemed to take control from the locals. Must be him.

Mr Khan looked at the cover. Open Source Planning.

It was a Green Paper produced by the Conservative Party before the 2010 election. Mr Braithwaite’s trousers circled agnostically, as they scanned the rest of the document. Some bits, like the abolition of Regions and of the Infrastructure Planning Commission had happened. There was an NPPF, and a presumption in favour of something or other that they’d never been

very clear about. There was also a duty to cooperate, and Mrs McTavish said this duty should apply to socks too. But, as Mr Khan pointed out, it had been had been the one of the dismallest, predictablest failures in the history of planning and could hardly be relied upon in a footwear context.

Other ideas, like a curious wheeze about removing power from the Planning Inspectorate (e.g. by limiting appeals to process issues only or curtailing their powers on local plans), and introducing third-party appeals, had been quietly shelved, as had some incomprehensible proposals about objections by immediate neighbours.

Good intentions regarding affordable housing, renewable energy and good design seemed to have slipped down the agenda.

They had not seen “vigour put into taking enforcement action”. Also gone pretty comprehensively were most promises about local control.

They wondered if any of the 2015 manifestos would fare any better. Did the parties mean what they said, or was it all just part of the spin cycle? The dryer dawdled to a halt. The fate of Mr Braithwaite’s trousers remained in the balance.

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

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

24/04/2015 14:24

Quote unquote FROM THE WEB AND THE RTPI “Wouldn’t it be great, at, for England in particular, to be back where it once was, in a pioneering, innovative place in relation r tion to the built relat environment and pl planning? lann ning? That is a great ambition bi i I think hi k we e should sho h ld k keep alive” li ” DR HUGH ELLIS, TCPA HEAD D OF POLICY, P SPEAKING AT THE TCPA SPRING CONFERENCE

“Everything is impacted by the life of a planner. That’s why it bothers me that planners cannot do their jobs now because of council cuts” SHAIN SHAPIRO, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF SOUND DIPLOMACY

“We are in danger of London becoming an incredibly boring place to live because all the interesting people are being priced out” RACHEL FISHER, HEAD OF POLICY, NATIONAL HOUSING FEDERATION

“So far we have decentralisation, not fiscal devolution” PROFESSOR MICHAEL PARKINSON CBE, SPEAKING AT REGEN 2015

“London’s greatest challenge isn’t actually the rise in population, it’s the inequality we have in London and you see that most clearly in relation to houses” SIR STEVE BULLOCK, MAYOR OF LEWISHAM

When we ask people what they want in the built environment it’s incredibly clear.

The vast majority don’t want to live in very big buildings. What they want is fairly conventional and fairly normal… But planning procedures and rules make it too hard to build the dense terraced houses and flats that most of us prefer” NICHOLAS BOYS SMITH, DIRECTOR OF CREATE STREETS

I M AG E S | A L A M Y / I STO C K

p12_13_shepley_quoteunquote.indd 13

MAY 2 0 1 5 / THE PLA NNER

13

24/04/2015 14:24

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

O Opinion

1

Bob Colenutt is a senior lecturer in the Northampton Institute for Urban Affairs at the University of Northampton

BBC1’s Sunday Politics on 22 March d discussed viability assessment (VA) and the loss of affordable housing this has led to.

As an expert witness at Freedom of Information (FOI) tribunals on VAs, I was in the studio to put the community view on this iniquity.

The show highlighted their lack of transparency.

Detail is often redacted so the public (and councillors) are unable to interrogate the assessment model and its outputs.

The show edited out my allegation that developers are engaged in a fraud against the public purse by disguising the value of their schemes to renege on affordable housing obligations in local plans.

Examination by local community groups and our team at the Collaborative Centre for the Built Environment at the University of Northampton of schemes at Elephant and Castle, Greenwich Peninsula and the Shell Centre on the South Bank in London suggests they are deliberately undervalued. We found this has led to the loss of 572 affordable housing units at Greenwich Peninsula and 303 at Heygate in Southwark, with a total value near £250 million.

The cheek of it is that developers are accepting government grants for affordable housing (£50 million for Greenwich Peninsula), yet reducing the quantity provided. They get

Mike Kiely is chair of the Planning Officers Society and director of planning for the London Borough of Croydon

Planning for a better future

Why viability assessments must be scrapped

away with it because councils lack the skills to interrogate VAs. They could start by consulting community experts in VAs, such as the 35 per cent Campaign in Southwark. VA methodology is simple, but assumptions are often shrouded in smoke-andmirrors valuations.

For example: accepting 20 per cent developer profit as a convention (as a cost, thus reducing scheme value); putting in current house prices rather than projections to estimate scheme valuation; neglecting to mention that affordable housing also makes a profit for developers.

Communities have successfully challenged redactions on FOI grounds, but such victories are Pyrrhic as cuts in affordable units have already been agreed.

It is almost impossible to win the FOI argument and stop the planning consent process as they are separate procedures.

The NPPF started this nightmare by requiring VAs for local plans, CIL and planning obligations. This part of the NPPF must be withdrawn by the new government. We cannot rely on developers to build affordable housing because they will always say it takes away from their profits and land value. The answer is for the state and communities to build such housing and take out viability as a planning consideration altogether.

“WE CANNOT RELY ON DEVELOPERS TO BUILD AFFORDABLE HOUSING BECAUSE THEY WILL ALWAYS SAY IT TAKES AWAY FROM THEIR PROFITS”

14

2 BLOG

BLOG

The Planning Pla Officers Society began llooking to the election a year ago with our Planning For A Better Future manifesto. Our core message is that planning is key to meeting housing needs and aiding economic growth with sustainable development.

We invited a new government to work with us to build a more efficient planning system to ensure that community needs, particularly housing, are met.

Some features of the system need refinement to work better for communities. For example, the system of development plans, introduced in 2004 is essentially sound but could be better. In particular: • The

lowed by the detailed policies: • The strategy stage is where

the duty to cooperate needs to be focused; • Strategic environmental assessment and issues and options should only be applied to stage one; and • The Planning Inspectorate applies the soundness test to stage one and signs it off.

This leaves drafting of the detailed policies to deliver the strategy a simpler process, done in the context of a clear, agreed and sound strategy.

The Planning Inspectorate’s role at stage two would be to consider objections to the detailed policies.

The carrying out of the soundness test at stage one and limiting future involvement of the Planning Inspectorate to considering objections to detailed policies re-establishes a clear process for the plan to gain weight in decision-making as it progresses to adoption.

Restructuring and refocusing the plan-making system could shave about a year off the plan preparation process as it means that resources are put into the process only where they are needed. This approach could be better for neighbourhood plans, too, as the clarity it gives to the strategic vision allows parish councils know what to plan for. nSee www.bit.ly/1aFei39

“SOME FEATURES OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM NEED REFINEMENT TO WORK BETTER FOR COMMUNITIES”

duty to cooperate is challenging; • Agreeing the overall strategy in an area can be politically tough and lead to a two-plan process, rather than the single local plan desired by the NPPF; • Despite NPPF advice that a plan should receive increased weight as it progresses, the soundness test towards the end undermines this; and • The strategic environmental assessment requirements and issues and options stage should be applied in a more targeted way.

The system must be logical.

Local plans should be prepared in two stages – the strategy fol-

T H E PL AN N E R MA Y 2 0 1 5

p14_15_blogs.indd 14

24/04/2015 14:24

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

Tom Dobson is a director at planning consultancy Quod

Tony Burton is a ‘free range’ community, planning and environment consultant

Talkin’ ’bout a (civic) revolution

CIL – more questions than answers. Still

A faster, more certain and transparent w way to fund infrastructure to support development. That was the government’s aim when the community infrastructure levy (CIL) was introduced in 2010. Five years on, with section 106 pooling restrictions kicking in, what have we learned?

First and foremost, that it’s still here. It has survived one change in government, something that no previous ‘planning tax’ has done. It will probably survive the next election, too.

Only a handful of councils have been charging for over a year, but it looks like more than half of the 340 possible authorities could charge by the end of 2015.

The regulations, at 150 pages, are long, complex and subject to regular change. There has been a set of amendments each year CIL has been in place. In this way they are more like tax than planning regulations.

But CIL has not actually raised much money.

Yet. In 2013/14 a total of £50 million was collected, 95 per cent of which was by the Mayor of London for Crossrail. It remains to be seen whether collection will match or exceed the government’s anticipated £1 billion annually. If the mayor’s experience is anything to go by permissions drop and receipts build slowly after implementation before accelerating as new

4 BLOG

BLOG

consents are implemented.

As a result it hasn’t yet delivered much infrastructure or facilitated much development.

And the evidence presented at examinations suggests that even if revenue matches expectations there will still be very large infrastructure funding shortfalls.

The government has commissioned research to inform its promised five-year review, which will add to the evidence.

But as few authorities have been charging for long it will be a year or two before firm conclusions can be drawn.

In the meantime developers and local authorities need to grapple with the regulations and how section 106 works after 6 April. This will be particularly important where expensive infrastructure is needed to enable large developments.

After five years has CIL met the government’s original objectives?

Most developers would say ‘no’ on speed and certainty.

Will it support increased development? Only if it is set at a reasonable level, managed flexibly and provides certainty that vital infrastructure will be delivered. Otherwise we will just have imposed another bureaucratic layer on the system, made section 106, which generally worked well, more difficult, and added costs with no clear benefits.

“AFTER FIVE YEARS HAS CIL MET THE GOVERNMENT’S ORIGINAL OBJECTIVES? MOST DEVELOPERS WOULD SAY ‘NO’ ”

There’s a civic revolution under way and an it is heading towards the planning system. Public trust in politicians is in free-fall and people feel ever more alienated from the decisions that affect them.

They expect much more of a say over their lives; participation, not just representation, is becoming the way more decisions are made. Savvy politicians know they have to respond, and the rise and rise of neighbourhood planning is just the start.

The run-up to any general election is a bellwether of public mood, and the growth of civic voices is deafening. For example, the Big Lottery Fund’s new strategy puts ‘people in the lead’ to decide where it distributes £700 million each year. The government itself has announced £22.5 million of support for neighbourhood planning.

Locality – the national network of community-led bodies – has launched a powerful campaign to keep public services local and put more into community hands. Community land trusts and custom build are starting to break the hegemony of volume house builders. And there are calls from everyone from John Armitt to Green Alliance for more of a public say over major infrastructure.

This irresistible force of community action over land and

development is now hitting two immovable objects – Treasury calls for further planning deregulation and the harsh reality of local authority cuts.

How these circles are squared by the next generation of politicians will shape planning for a generation. Denying people a say over the future of their neighbourhood – as with the current fad of blanket permission to convert offices to flats – is doomed to failure.

Equally, there is no future in falling back on a ‘consultation’ culture that owes more to compliance than engaging people as if they mattered.

Whoever takes up the reins, there will be real power shifting into community hands.

Politicians are squabbling over who supports neighbourhood planning the most.

Emerging ideas beyond development orders and empowering communities to give consent to development are taking root.

And, as councils merge services and look for economies of scale, so the trickle of parish councils spreading into our cities could readily become a flood.

Politicians are running to catch up and planning is about to find itself at the heart of a civic revolution that will shape our lives. Welcome aboard. You ain’t seen nothing yet!

Contact Tony on Twitter as @Tony4Place or by email on tony@tonyburton.org.uk

“DENYING PEOPLE A SAY OVER THE FUTURE OF THEIR NEIGHBOURHOOD … IS DOOMED TO FAILURE”

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER p14_15_blogs.indd 15

15

24/04/2015 14:24

EAST MIDLANDS

FIVE

(1)

BOROUGH

BLUEPRINT

16

HANGING TOGETHER RATHER THAN HANGING SEPARATELY HAS BEEN THE STORY OF JOINT STRATEGIC PLANNING IN THE OLD DANELAW BOROUGHS OF THE EAST MIDLANDS. ANDREW PRITCHARD ASKS WHETHER IT OFFERS A MODEL FOR APPLICATION IN OTHER AREAS

T H E PL AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p16_19_EastMidlands.indd 16

24/04/2015 15:54

(2)

(3)

T

here has been a lot of debate about the need to re-invent English strategic planning in the era of localism and the much derided ‘duty to cooperate’. Some, including the current government, point to the potential of Local Enterprise Partnerships. Others have highlighted the emerging city region Combined Authorities, particularly Greater Manchester, as a blueprint of the future.

But in the East Midlands, a quiet revolution has been taking place that has succeeded in reintroducing an effective tier of strategic planning in a number of key localities that could be widely applied elsewhere in the country, and in particular across two-tier areas which still comprise the bulk of England.

The past is another country Despite its relevance to today’s challenges, our story starts back at the high tide of English regionalism with the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.

As well as introducing the now-defunct regional spatial strategies, the act made a number of changes to what, for the sake of simplicity, we shall call local plans.

(4)

Firstly, by integrating the requirements of the EU Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive into the plan-making process, it significantly raised the bar in terms of the quality and quantity of evidence required to develop a ‘sound’ plan. Secondly, it made a new provision that allowed two or more local planning authorities to pool their statutory plan-making powers into a separate but jointly controlled plan-making body – which in two-tier areas would also include the relevant county council.

From an East Midlands perspective, these changes presented both a problem and a potential solution. As in much of England, the 41 local planning authorities

(5)

in the East Midlands did not have a great record in delivering statutory plans – even under the more relaxed 1991 system.

Many local planning teams were small and under resourced and plan-making was rarely a high priority for council leaders and chief executives, despite the primacy of the development plan in planning decisions.

Polycentric settlements And yet councils had for a long time been managing significant levels of development, both in absolute and particularly relative terms. The East Midlands is characterised by a ‘polycentric ‘ settlement pattern – a patchwork of small and medium-sized cities (typically underbounded), towns and villages, with no single conurbation dominating. As such, it has proved increasingly attractive to people and businesses in the post-industrial age – and has consistently grown faster than the English average as a result.

{

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER

p16_19_EastMidlands.indd 17

17

24/04/2015 15:54

EAST MIDLANDS

(1) Derbyshire (2) Nottinghamshire (3) Lincolnshire (4) Leicestershire (5) Northamtonshire

(3) (1)

(2) (4) (5)

This mismatch between the level of development pressure and the local capacity to deliver statutory local plans was brought home forcefully by the Milton Keynes and South Midlands (MKSM) Growth Area initiative. The MKSM Alteration to the East Midlands Regional Plan proposed a massive increase in development across Northamptonshire over a 20-year period. In order to manage this scale of growth effectively, the Government Office and the Regional Planning Body (RPB) both came to the view that seven separate local plans would not work and that something different was

18

needed. After a lot of debate and discussion with the relevant councils, two new statutory joint planning bodies were established under Section 29 of the 2004 act, based on the newly introduced ‘housing market area’ idea.

North Northamptonshire: Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, and East Northamptonshire, with Northamptonshire County Council.

West Northamptonshire: Northampton, Daventry, and South Northamptonshire, with Northamptonshire County Council.

There were several perceived advan-

1/

2/

tages to this approach as: c It provided a statutory mechanism for resolving cross boundary issues, particularly relating to under-bounded urban areas; c It enabled a critical mass of officer and member expertise to be established; c It locked the county council (as transport, waste, minerals and education authority) into the local plan-making process; and c It reduced the number of appraisals, inquiries and studies required – saving both time and money.

T H E P L AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p16_19_EastMidlands.indd 18

24/04/2015 15:54

As if to prove the last point, the North Northamptonshire Joint Plan (2008) was the first local plan of any kind to be adopted in under the 2004 Act in the East Midlands.

As the East Midlands Regional Plan moved towards a full review, the RPB began to consider if this model could be more widely applied. Analysis had identified 11 housing market areas across the East Midlands (including the two in Northamptonshire) into which local planning authorities could be grouped.

So instead of 41 local plans (and 41 sets of housing numbers in the regional plan), we could have 11 joint local plans instead – which looked a much more deliverable proposition.

But from a legal perspective, although the RPB could encourage councils to go down this route, it could not force them.

Ultimately, it had to be a process of consent. As a result, the regional plan adopted in 2009 included the following very carefully worded policy: Policy 17 of the East Midlands Regional Plan (2009) “Local Authorities, developers and relevant public bodies should work across administrative boundaries in all the Region’s Housing Market Areas (HMAs) to ensure that the release of sites is managed to achieve a sustainable pattern of development… joint development plan documents will be expected, with the development of Joint Core Strategies across HMAs particularly encouraged… ”.

In addition to Policy 17, the then-government used allocations of Growth Point funding and Planning & Delivery Grant to support and encourage joint working. Even in the pre-austerity era, councils were pathetically grateful for small amounts of extra cash.

Joint planning was seen as a continuum – starting with joint evidence base work at one end, moving through aligned local plans and then to statutory joint plans at the other. The objective was to get all councils on to this continuum and move them along it as far as possible.

In the short period between the adoption of the Regional Plan in 2009 and the 2010 general election, a fair amount of progress was made. A third statutory joint planning body was established in Central Lincolnshire (Lincoln City, West Lindsey and North Kesteven with Lincolnshire County Council), and an aligned local plan process established in Greater Not-

“The East Midlands is characterised by a ‘polycentric ‘ settlement pattern – a patchwork of small and medium-sized cities (typically under-bounded), towns and villages, with no single conurbation dominating”

Establishing a statutory joint planning body is complex (requiring a statutory instrument to made and laid before Parliament) – but it is just as complex to dissolve. The cost of establishing separate plan-making processes at a time when grant funding to councils has been cut by 40 per cent has also been a major factor.

Perhaps more importantly though, such joint arrangements (whether fully integrated or aligned) are also seen as effective way of meeting today’s challenges, particularly the ‘duty to cooperate’.

It has not all been plain sailing. The emerging central Lincolnshire joint plan was knocked back because of concerns about deliverability and five-year land supply. Funding for joint planning units has been an increasing problem, particularly as plans move towards adoption.

And the local politics remain as challenging as ever. But the fact that a set of joint arrangements conceived in regional era have not only survived, but also flourished over the past five years is significant.

The strange rebirth of strategic planning tingham (Nottingham, Ashfield Broxtowe, Erewash, Gedling and Rushcliffe). Elsewhere, a number of joint studies were started.

2010: planning’s ‘year zero’ And then the balloon went up. Although delayed by a rather entertaining judicial review, the East Midlands Regional Plan was eventually revoked (as were the others outside of London), and Eric Pickles ushered in ‘year zero’ of the age of localism.

And there our story should have ended.

Except that it didn’t. Despite the vociferous opposition of the number of newly elected local MPs, the three statutory joint planning committees endured, and in fact a fourth was established: South East Lincolnshire (Boston and South Holland with Lincolnshire County Council). Following an initial rocky period, work resumed on the Greater Nottingham aligned core strategies, with five councils eventually adopting a common set of strategic policies into their local plans – a truly heroic achievement given the local politics and justly rewarded at this year’s East Midlands RTPI Awards.

So why has statutory joint planning endured in the East Midlands? A big part of the answer is simple expediency.

As we approach another general election, it is clear that there is no appetite from any of the major political parties (or indeed the RTPI) to re-establish a separate statutory tier of strategic planning.

As a result we are likely to be stuck with the system we have got until well into the 2020s. In this situation, a future government of whatever composition could look to the East Midlands experience for inspiration. In particular it could: c Amend the NPPF along the lines of Policy 17 of the former East Midlands Regional Plan to provide greater encouragement to develop joint planning arrangements; c Make available limited financial assistance and technical advice to councils interested in developing joint planning initiatives; It may not be a perfect solution – but it looks better than many of the current alternatives.

Andrew Pritchard is director of policy and infrastructure for East Midlands Councils and between 2001 and 2010 managed the regional planning body function in the East Midlands. The views expressed are personal

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER

p16_19_EastMidlands.indd 19

19

24/04/2015 15:54

INTERVIEW BOB YARO

“IN NEW YORK, 200 PEOPLE RUN THE PLACE AND WE KNOW THEM ALL. MAYORS COME AND GO, BUT THESE PEOPLE ARE PERMANENT. IT’S ONE OF NEW YORK’S GREAT STRENGTHS”

PHOTOGRAPHY PETER SEARLE

20

T H E PL AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p20_23_interview_yaro.indd 20

24/04/2015 14:25

B

ob Yaro was scheduled to go to a meeting at the Vista Hotel, part of the World Trade Centre complex, on the morning of 11 September, 2001.

As fate would have it, that meeting was moved to Midtown the night before. After hearing about the first attack, like thousands of New Yorkers, the then president of the Regional Plan Association (RPA) watched in horror as the second plane crashed, and witnessed the subsequent collapse of the Twin Towers.

“It was the most traumatic event of my life,” he says. “The World Trade Centre was not the most beloved of complexes, but it was an attack on our city. I lost friends and many of my colleagues had close escapes. That evening we started talking about what we could do to pick up the pieces.”

The RPA was probably better placed than most. Founded 93 years ago to create a plan for

URBAN LEGEND FROM DEALING WITH THE FALLOUT OF THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS, CLASHING WITH POWERFUL POLITICIANS AND STEERING MAJOR TRANSPORT IMPROVEMENTS, BOB YARO HAS BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF NEW YORK’S REGIONAL PLANNING. HE TELLS HUW MORRIS HOW IT PAYS TO BE PATIENT

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER p20_23_interview_yaro.indd 21

21

24/04/2015 14:25

INTERVIEW BOB YARO

a swelling immigrant population, the nonprofit organisation’s mission ever since has been to improve the New York metropolitan region’s health, environmental sustainability and quality of life through research, planning ”FOOTBALL and advocacy. Yaro acknowledges that that STADIUMS ARE there was an enormous crisis of confidence USED JUST 10 in Lower Manhattan, with businesses ready TIMES A YEAR. to pull out of an area that “is a touchstone of THEY SUCK New York and very much part of its history”.

THE LIFE OUT The challenge of rebuilding the site and the OF THE PLACES economy and square mile of Lower ManhatAROUND THEM” tan has proved to be enormous. The RPA started with the community.

“That week we put together a civic alliance within three days, starting with groups of 20 community leaders. But New York’s civic community is fractious and goes off in difference directions. The challenge was to get everybody into the same tent.”

Community forums The RPA held a series of community forums that eventually built a consensus around what the public wanted for the area. This Yaro says was crucial as in New York, “major development projects tend to get tied up in controversy and litigation, but we avoided all that”.

Today, Lower Manhattan boasts diverse sites where companies want to relocate. Media company Conde Nast moved there from Times Square,

C V

HIG HL IG HT S

B OB Y A R O Born: London, 28 May 1962 Education: Graduated from Oxford University with an Honours degree in mathematics

while crucially the financial service companies have stayed. The area has become an information technology hub and design and innovation district. Supermarkets and schools have added to the mix.

“All of this we did not have before,” says Yaro.

“It’s a very vibrant 24-hour community and remains the second biggest employment centre in New York. People live there and walk to work there. Rebuilding the World Trade Centre was a 20-year process and we are 14 years in to it.”

Many of the people who run New York’s public agencies are former RPA staff. Yaro acknowledges that this has helped. ”In New York, 200 people run the place and we know them all.

Mayors come and go, but these people are permanent. It’s one of New York’s great strengths.”

Indeed Yaro, who became president of the RPA in 2001 and retired last year, built up a considerable reputation challenging policies and proposing changes, often to the chagrin of business leaders and politicians. He notably opposed the building of a new football stadium for the New York Jets, even though it was a pet project of then mayor Michael Bloomberg. Yaro also clashed with him over his pursuit of New York’s bid to hold the 2012 Olympics.

“I am not sure a city like New York or London needs an Olympics,” he says. “Where do you locate the stadium? Football stadiums are not easily adapted to become Olympic stadiums.

Football stadiums are used just 10 times a year.

They suck the life out of the places around them, and there is a tradition of tailgating, with people driving up to the stadium and then having picnics. But for 350 days a year these places are dark. I don’t have problems with football stadiums, just don’t put them in a business district.”

Timeline: 1971

2014

1971 1975 1976 1976 1985 1997 2001 2002 ­84 Graduated with a bachelor’s degree in urban studies at Wesleyan University

22

Urban planner for Boston Redevelopment Authority

Master’s degree in city and regional planning at Harvard University

Chief planner and then deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts department of Environmental Management

Associate professor of city and regional planning at the University of Massachusetts

Co-founded and became co-chair of Empire State Transportation Alliance, working to fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s capital programmes

President of the Regional Planning Association (RPA)

Professor of practice in city and regional planning, University of Pennsylvania

2014 Retires as president and becomes president emeritus of the RPA

T H E PL AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p20_23_interview_yaro.indd 22

24/04/2015 14:25

Great world cities

Playing advocate

“THE DEBATE IN THE UK AROUND HIGH SPEED 2 HAS BEEN ABOUT SAVING TIME AND THAT’S THE WRONG WAY TO LOOK AT THINGS”

The RPA alternatively proposed a mixed-use district of 12 million square feet of new commercial premises, a hotel, plus retail and residential space. Much of this would eventually become the landmark Hudson Yards project that is redeveloping Manhattan’s Far West Side.

“The city wanted the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to donate the site to the Jets for a buck when it was worth $960 million dollars and this killed the idea. The mayor was unhappy for a short time, but then said let’s work together and we worked closely with the Bloomberg administration. Most of the time we help public officials do things that are difficult to do politically.”

Yaro has been a prominent advocate of some of New York’s most significant improvements in economic development, transport and sustainability, many of which can be traced back to the RPA’s Third Regional Plan, which he led nearly 20 years ago. The 2nd Avenue Subway and the East Side Access project linking the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal is among the RPA’s credits.

It was also at the forefront of preserving environmentally sensitive land in Long Island, Upstate New York and New Jersey to protect region’s water supply. Meanwhile, Governors Island has been transformed from an abandoned Coast Guard base to a highly popular urban park.

More recently, Yaro led the RPA’s campaign for a new Penn Station, leading to a vote by New York City Council to reject Madison Square Garden’s bid for a permanent lease on top of the transit hub, limiting the permit to 10 years at the site.

The RPA also has a global reach. He steered America 2050, an initiative examining the country’s long-term infrastructure needs. He pioneered the idea of ‘mega-regions’, which focuses on the interdependence of large regional areas on infrastructure and natural resources.

“Mega-regions are all about opportunities to create synergies between economies. The UK is reconstituting as a single economy not just based on the South-East, but connected with Birmingham, the North and Scotland.

But the debate in the UK around High Speed 2 (HS2) has been about saving time and that’s the wrong way to look at things.

“HS2 is about creating a new economic geography that tackles the imbalance between the South-East and the rest of the country and how you spread out the economic advantage. London is very expensive, very congested, yet infrastructure is half the cost outside of the capital. So how do we make it possible for these places to share the prosperity of the South-East?”

When asked about his ideas for regional planning and what makes a world city, Yaro recalls the advice of one of his mentors Patrick Moynihan, a Harvard professor, the USA’s ambassador to the United Nations and India, and a member of four presidential administrations, starting with John F Kennedy through to Gerald Ford. Moynihan was asked how could Bombay become a great world city by the local chamber of commerce, Alluding to Boston and Harvard, he said “build two worldclass universities and wait 200 years”.

That aside, Yaro points to the ‘big systems’ that a city like New York or London needs to be successful. The first is the eco-structure – environmental systems, water supply, countryside that is accessible and an amenity for people who drive the economy.

“They are the natural systems that not only support life, but make life possible and desirable,” he says. “London has it in spades when the rest of the world is running out of water.”

The second ‘big system’ is transport and connectivity. “Even with technological change, we have lived with the railways for 200 years and we will live with them for another 200 years.” Then there is the urban structure – the network of towns, villages and housing or as Yaro describes it, “the box we all live in, what needs to be preserved and embellished, where we can create new concentrations of people“.

A fourth ‘big system’ is made up of universities, teaching hospitals and cultural institutions.

“These places need to grow and change. The RPA has no official brief, but we are the advocates for investment that provide regional wide benefits.

We are the only advocates other than these institutions pushing these expansion plans.”

While the US has a federal system of government based in Washington DC, power is devolved to regions and cities. Here, Yaro points to the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, with its intention that all men should be free from a distant tyranny. “Today that means any kind of distant bureaucracy and central planning is a problem for us. The ‘big systems’ – water, the environment, economy, labour markets – are all regional in nature. Anywhere that ignores that fact does so at its peril.

“Where the current trends are going to take you? That is regional planning. When you play fast-forward with these trends you end up with scenarios that you don’t want. We know where we are going, but it’s not where we want to be so we need to have a conversation?”

So is there one big lesson to be learnt from leading regional planning in a major world city?

“You have to be very patient,” says Yaro. “There are always setbacks. These things can take decades or even generations.”

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER

p20_23_interview_yaro.indd 23

23

24/04/2015 14:26

F R A C K I N G U P D AT E

THE FRACKING DEBATE HAS GONE QUIET, NOT LEAST BECAUSE OF A MORATORIUM IN EACH OF SCOTLAND, WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND. BUT DON’T BE FOOLED, SAYS MARK SMULIAN – PLANNERS ARE LIKELY TO BE ‘DELUGED’ WITH DRILLING APPLICATIONS AFTER THE ELECTION

BACK ON

24

T H E PL AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p24_27_fracking.indd 24

24/04/2015 14:26

A

ll dressed up and nowhere to go? A year ago ministers, industrialists, environmental activists and local amenity groups were all talking about fracking, and planners expected applications to before long clog their in-trays.

Instead, there is a moratorium on fracking applications in Scotland, effectively the same thing in Wales and Northern Ireland, and while applications are permitted in England only three are currently active.

What happened? Partly, loud opposition from the public and from pressure groups has made the industry wary and

Fracking in the UK n Scotland’s moratorium on fracking applications requires that no consents should be granted until further research on planning legislation, environmental impact and public health is complete and a public consultation finished.

Energy minister Fergus Ewing said: “The Scottish government has taken a cautious, considered and evidence-based approach to unconventional oil and gas and fracking.

“We should never close our minds to the potential opportunities of new technologies

– but we must also ensure that community, environmental and health concerns are never simply brushed aside.”

Northern Ireland’s environment minister Mark H Durkan said last year: “I have been consistently clear that no fracking will happen on my watch unless there is very strong scientific evidence that it is safe both for public health and the environment. That evidence simply does not exist at this time.”

Welsh planning minister Carl Sargeant said in March that he had “written to all local planning authorities requiring them to inform

me of any application to frack, and therefore imposing a moratorium on fracking in Wales”, although it was unclear if this has an endpoint as in Scotland, or is indefinite.

Cronin says: “There has only been limited activity in Wales and Northern Ireland. There was a moratorium in England in 2011-12 and we worked with that and we support what the Scottish Government has done and the public consultation it plans. We have nothing to hide and are happy to take part in that process.”

“It’s too simplistic to say that all opposition is Nimbyism.

There is a lot of concern”

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER p24_27_fracking.indd 25

25

24/04/2015 14:26

F R A C K I N G U P D AT E

R I C H AR R D G LO OV E R Partner and head of the UK Planning team, Squire Patton Boggs

Blowing in the wind n It’s not just fracking that has become a heavily politicised element of the UK’s changing energy sector, says Richard Glover, partner and head of the UK Planning team, Squire Patton Boggs.

Just take a look at Pickles and wind farms.

Although planning decisions should be made after a detailed assessment of the planning merits of the project in question, we all know of cases where there is more than a hint of political influence in the decisionmaking process. But as we approach the general election has politics been playing an increasingly influential role in the planning system, particularly in relation to onshore wind farm applications?

Planning has always been political. After all, many decisions are made by politicians sitting on a council’s planning committee.

As elected members they cannot ignore the fact that they are answerable to voters in their constituency. That is democracy.

26

T H E PL AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p24_27_fracking.indd 26

The general view used to be that as one moved up the political hierarchy; party politics became less of an issue. However, some have questioned this recently in light of the Secretary of State for DCLG, Eric Pickles’ record of calling in applications and recovering appeals for certain types of projects.

There is nothing new in the secretary of state removing the decision-making power delegated to others by calling in applications and/ or recovering appeals. But in the past that power was only used in rare cases, where “issues of more than local importance” were raised. It was the exception to the rule.

That approach seems to have changed for one sector at least – renewable generation and particularly onshore wind.

In October 2013 Pickles revised the appeals recovery criteria, citing “genuine concerns” of local communities in respect of renewable generation projects. This change was initially limited to six months but in April 2014 he extended it for a further 12 months, citing “continuing concerns in communities”.

Research undertaken by

Planning magazine in January 2015 shows that in 2014 the secretary of state issued decisions in relation to 28 recovered appeals involving onshore wind. In 2013 he only decided four recovered appeals. Furthermore, 25 of the 28 recovered appeals were dismissed, 11 against the inspector’s recommendation.

Many of the projects were small, some involving single turbine applications. A similar track record has continued in 2015.

In addition, there have been a number of cases where local planning authorities were about to grant planning permission for wind farm projects, but the applications were then called in. Where is the ministerial statement to support this? And how does it sit with the government’s previous rally cry of localism?

Some involved in the renewables sector have suggested that the secretary of state’s approach is motivated more by a desire to attract votes and less about wanting to ensure that such projects get a fair hearing.

The decision to change the guidance on recovery of appeals certainly coincided with the public campaign

against onshore wind by certain national media.

Onshore wind is not the only sector where politics appears to play a role at a national as well as a local level. Fracking is a prime example, but in this instance Pickles’ Parliamentary party is a staunch supporter. And housing has always been a hot potato for ministers as well as local councillors. Then there are Traveller sites.

Unfortunately, the politicisation of the planning system, by any party and at any level, isn’t in anyone’s interest. It creates an atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion, harming the credibility of the whole process. After all, securing planning permission on the merits of an individual project is hard enough. We look forward to seeing what 7 May will bring to the planning realm.

The views expressed here are Richard Glover’s own, not those of his employer

I M AG E | C H R I STOPH E R T E L FOR D

24/04/2015 14:26

has emboldened the devolved administrations to move against fracking on the grounds – reasonable to any politician – that this was likely to make them popular.

Although the coalition government remained supportive of fracking and removed some obstacles to with the Infrastructure Act 2015, applicants have trodden carefully, having seen the uproar caused by Cuadrilla’s attempted boring at Balcombe, West Sussex, in 2013.

The industry might appear on the back foot, but it doesn’t see it that way. It sees a country at the mercy of energy imports, but with significant deposits of oil and gas onshore, some of which, notably in Hampshire and Dorset, have for decades been exploited with little controversy.

Fracking – more properly hydraulic fracturing – is a technique that can be needed to extract shale gas from rocks.

Other deposits can be pumped up conventionally, but the industry does not know which technique it must use until it has established what is there below the ground.

Thus it needs to make planning applications for exploration, the results of which may prove that conventional pumping of fuel will work, or may lead eventually to applications for fracking.

A further licensing round for onshore oil and gas exploration is due, subject to any decisions by new ministers, in the autumn.

So while planning applications involving fracking may appear to have gone a bit quiet, activity can be expected to increase, at least in England.

Do planners understand fracking?

Are planners ready? No, fears Allister Scott, professor of environment and spatial planning at Birmingham City University and a member of the RTPI policy, practice and research committee.

“I’m quite concerned that policy at national level is to press ahead with fracking and to say that all opposition is illogical,” he says.

“It’s too simplistic to say that all opposition is Nimbyism. There is a lot of concern.

“There is a role for planners as mediators in this, but they are not yet doing that, and they could end up as scapegoats.”

Scott notes that ministers and some business figures can be given to castigating planners as ‘enemies of enterprise’, or in similar terms, as local bureaucrats

“Quite a lot of he pro otests we th have se een n are e at conv vention nal drilliing g sittes hat do not th nvollve e hydra auliic in frac cturiing g, but people e do o not differen ntiiate” ”

holding up progress.

This is unfair, but unfairness will not stop it happening, he says.

“Planners may not need to know in detail about fracking because many of the issues involved are just bread-and-butter planning ones,” say Scott.

“I saw the handling of the [Celtique Energy] West Sussex application and that was turned down on transport grounds because of the impact of lorries on a rural area that does not have the infrastructure to cope.

“Planners can become scapegoats even though it’s the elected members who make decisions.”

Scott says a further concern is that the planning system looks at each individual case on its merits, but is “not very good at dealing with cumulative impacts, so we don’t know how to deal with a ‘fracking landscape’ or what it would look like”.

This could prove controversial, rather as have wind turbines, he suggests, where a few would cause little fuss but a large number together change what an area looks like, as might any concentration of oil and gas installations.

The industry has been quietly getting on with developing its business and will soon be knocking on planners’ doors, says Ken Cronin, chief executive of the UK Onshore Operators Group.

“In 2014 we drilled 10 onshore wells, and that was the highest total for five

years, and made 29 planning applications and 39 for environmental permits,” he says.

Get ready for the deluge “The reality is there is not a huge amount of difference between conventional and unconventional exploration, as to scope out shale you need to drill exploratory wells.

“Applications for hydraulic fracturing are only needed to extract shale gas. It looks as if quite a lot of the protests we have seen are at conventional drilling sites that do not involve hydraulic fracturing, but people do not differentiate.”

Cronin says fracking should be seen, “as a technique that comes at the end of the process rather than the physical drilling itself. It’s an option that might be used when needed”.

“Unfortunately some try to muddy the waters by getting people excited.”

He says there are three live applications,

by Cuadrilla, in Lancashire, which awaits a decision, and by Third Energy in North Yorkshire and iGas in Nottinghamshire, which are at earlier stage of the process.

In each, public statements by councils carefully note that they are bound by national planning policy.

Applications may also be encouraged by the Infrastructure Act 2015, which removed restrictions on drilling beneath private property, although it did impose them in national parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Cronin says: “It was important as it gave us rights to dig a mile-and-a-half below properties, which are the same rights as are enjoyed for coalmining, tunnelling for railways and other industries.”

Scott wonders if planners have the skills to deal with an imminent deluge of drilling applications.

“We rely on the Environment Agency for the technical detail, but we need planners who are able to understand environmental impact assessments, as applicants are likely to blitz them with huge detailed documents, which are very difficult to challenge,” he says.

“Few planners have any training in the natural environment and while they need not understand the details of fracking they to understand enough to know who to go to for information.”

They may need to acquire such knowledge, at least in England, before long…

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER

p24_27_fracking.indd 27

27

24/04/2015 14:27

U R B A N R E G E N E R AT I O N

“I

f you look at the creative economy and ways to make cities more vibrant, liveable and exciting,” says Shain Shapiro, managing director of music market development consultancy Sound Diplomacy, “the music industry is the most inexpensive way that you can bring about really valuable change.

“Often cities will build a museum or concert hall or library and they will forget about the small venues,” he adds. “But a successful small venue is incubating upwards of 30 small businesses a year. Bands are businesses.”

Call it experience or intuition, he is convinced of this – and he has organised the inaugural Music Cities Convention to discuss the

WE BUILT THIS CITY…

… ON ROCK AND ROLL. OR SO THE SONG SAYS. BUT CAN MUSIC REALLY BE USED AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR REGENERATING TOWN AND CITY CENTRES? SIMON WICKS LISTENS

I L L U S T R AT I O N | S A M C H I V E R S

28

T H E PL AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p28_31_music.indd 28

24/04/2015 14:28

phenomenon of ‘music cities’ worldwide.

Set alongside Brighton’s Great Escape Festival in May, the conference will bring together policymakers, planners, developers and music industry figures to debate urban regeneration through music.

This, says Shapiro, means peering beyond performance at the mechanics of music as business – one that generates GDP, provides employment and fosters valuable skills. The performances we enjoy are carried on the shoulders of venues, bookers, promoters, sound and lighting engineers, roadies, event managers, rehearsal spaces, music shops, music teachers, PR people, web designers, app developers – an interdependent web of mostly small businesses that also includes the cafés, restaurants and bars that are an integral part of the urban fabric.

Places supporting these clusters will benefit. “Around the world cities are competing with each other for talented young people and to retain those already there.

{

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER p28_31_music.indd 29

29

24/04/2015 14:28

U R B A N R E G E N E R AT I O N

“Mussic c iss eve ery ywhe ere e, and d we all take e it nted d. But oftten n policy y iss ba ased d on n for grran orm mance e side e of it” the perrfo

“Cultural policy is as important as housing policy. The fact that there is no music industry policy at a city level pretty much anywhere…” His voice trails.

“Music is everywhere, and we all take it for granted. But often policy is based on the performance side of it.

“When we talk about regeneration in London, for example, the business behind the culture is not as catered to as the culture itself.”

The day the music died At a time when national and local governments are responding to population growth by promoting inner city living, this discrepancy is a problem – not least because a failure to think things through brings residents into conflict with the night-time economy in urban spaces, and councils tend to side with complainants.

In the UK, permitted development legislation is said by some venue owners to be wrecking local music industries. Its impact is twofold: property owners earn more from residential than commercial use, so established small music venues are lost; and newcomers have a habit of complaining about the noise from the pub next door.

“Permitted developments are coming through quite thick and fast,” says Matt Newby, a London borough of Newham planning officer and Music Cities Convention steering committee member.

“In some ways it’s good because it delivers consents,” he says. “But we are losing the structure of where these venues are. In the longer term you can see a defragmented urban environment.

Where are the new venues coming from?”

The small venues that hold the delicate web of businesses together face other threats, too. Understanding

30

Small Venues, a report by the Institute of Contemporary Music for the new Music Venues Trust in early 2015, found venue owners complaining about relaxed licensing laws that made it easier for any location with fewer than 200 people to put on performances.

They also reported that relationships with local authorities were mixed.

Some were supportive and understood the cultural and economic value of music venues. But in many cases, there was hostility from elected members, indifference from officers and a tendency to side with individual complainants, even against venues that had functioned well for years.

Ironically, regeneration itself is sometimes the threat. At the Elephant and Castle in London, The Coronet faces closure amid a rebuild of the area. Opened in 1878, The Coronet once hosted Charlie Chaplin, it is said.

Regeneration also risks gentrification, which prices ‘creatives’ out of the market.

We tend to treat the emergence of a place-based musical trend as an ephemeral thing. Merseybeat and Madchester are heritage now. Yet each emerged out of a particular venue – the Cavern Club and the Hacienda – and each of these venues was the centre of a dynamic cluster. Without sustained support, they die.

But local authorities and developers can save such venues – as is happening for The Fleece in Bristol (a residential development now has conditions attached to preserve the viability of the venue) and the Kazimier Club in Liverpool (where the developer is looking to integrate the club into a new scheme).

“The priorities in cities need to change,” says Shapiro. “They need to

focus more on how to build sustainable music industries and businesses. That means reviewing planning and city ordnance laws looking at use of space.”

It also means building a persuasive case for local authorities and citydwelling citizens to treasure the creativity in their midst.

We can work it out The Music Venues Trust promotes the ‘agent of change’ principle, whereby the person or business responsible for enacting a change must manage the impact of that change.

Shapiro advocates a policy and funding-driven approach to music as business. “Just consider us an industry, please,” he says. “Look at how using our skills and strengths can create and sustain more liveable cities.”

He cites the example of Groningen, where an explicit music industry policy has been introduced to stop the city’s thousands of students migrating to Amsterdam. It’s a common challenge for mid-sized cities in the gravitational pull of a larger metropolis.

Groningen’s vice-mayor Paul de Rook will be talking at the Music Cities Convention, as will speakers from Adelaide, Melbourne, Barcelona, Berlin, Mannheim, Liverpool and Addis Ababa – all cities where music industry policy is a force behind urban revival.

For the planner Newby, solutions can be found within the planning system.

There are inbuilt constraints, he says, such as the use class system, which acts as a barrier to the emergence of fresh venues.

But planners and developers can overcome these. Citing the Great Escape Festival, where performances take place in unusual venues, he notes that ‘meanwhile uses’ can create a similar

T H E P L AN N E R \ M A Y 2 0 1 5

p28_31_music.indd 30

24/04/2015 14:28

vibrancy in cities everywhere.

“Developers need to understand that these can be long-term venues or shortterm meanwhile venues,” he says. “And it means vacant buildings can be brought to life for a short time, too, before they are redeveloped.”

Such innovations must take place within a framework of spatial planning and cultural policies that value the venues and their benefits while respecting the comfort of town centre residents.

“We have to focus towards town centre uses – good access to public transport, places where it’s more acceptable to have a club running until one in the morning,” says Newby. “It’s about strategically looking at land uses and avoiding conflict. There does need to be a careful assessment of what is going where and why.”

For Newby, the time is right because we are embarking on large-scale house building and infrastructure development.

As pressure for devolution grows, there’s an opportunity for planners, policymakers and the creative industries to embed the idea of creative clusters into a city’s DNA. “There are hard economic benefits these places can bring which need to be recognised further,” he says. There are “intangibles”, too. “One of the strongest is identity and association – for example, in London we think of Borough for food and Dalston for music.

“That’s one of the benefits you can get to an area. Planning does have a role in improving the cultural wellbeing of places. That is a principle in planning.”

The sound of he suburbs th The spirit of music is being revived at the Old Vinyl Factory in Hayes, West London, in an emerging mixed-used scheme on the site of an early 20th century gramophone factory, then record-pressing plant, that gave birth to EMI. It was here – in art deco factory buildings designed

by Wallace Gilbert and Partners – that The Beatles records were pressed. At its peak in 1960, the 150acre site provided jobs for 22,000 people. The town of Hayes was built on its success.

But the industry moved on and the area declined.

Efforts to regenerate the remaining 17-acre business park (that once provided 4,000 jobs) failed – not least because it has been classed a 100 per cent employment zone.

Developer Cathedral Group persuaded the local authority to allow a mixed-used development – provided they could guarantee the 4,000 jobs the council wanted. The Old Vinyl Factory is a £250 million scheme offering 650,000 square feet of

commercial space, 500 homes, 30,000 square feet of cafés and bars.

Music is being used extensively in its marketing and Cathedral is speaking to music industry organisations to lure them there. Hayes, soon to have a Crossrail station, is just two miles from Heathrow and close to both the M25 and M40.

“It’s about vinyl and music and history and place. That town was built on pop music,” Cathedral design director Martyn Evans told a British Property Federation conference recently.

Emma Wilson of artist management company Edme Music has been plugging the development to the music industry.

“Over the past 10 years with so much of our pop music being delivered on the telly we’ve been really focused on the performance element of music,” she told The Planner. “What the Old Vinyl Factory does so well is demonstrate that thousands of people can all work in good jobs on the industry of music.

“With the Central Research Laboratory (an enterprise hub) there’s a real opportunity here to reflect the other music

industry – the back end of it. Nowadays that might mean the technology that goes with the streaming and the hardware that give us the infrastructure that make the music industry happen.

“Everybody in Hayes knows about this site, including the people who have seen it through its dereliction. For them it’s a real justification that they were right to stay.”

Glory days: Cathedral Group hopes to entice music industry businesses to its development

Find out more about the Music Cities Convention that takes place at The Komedia in Brighton on 13th May http://www.musiccitiesconvention.com/

MAY 2 0 1 5 / THE PLA NNER p28_31_music.indd 31

31

24/04/2015 14:28

A D V E R T I S E M E N T F E AT U R E

l CORNERSTONE

IN BIRMINGHAM

Practical ways to overcome obstacles to planning permission On 9 March 2015, three members of Cornerstone Barristers held a seminar at their Birmingham office that was aimed at private sector clients. It identified some current obstacles to gaining planning permission and illustrated practical ways in which they can be overcome and gain planning permission. The seminar provided an opportunity to learn more about the 37-strong Cornerstone Planning Team operating across England and Wales from its offices in London, Birmingham and Cardiff.

Clare Parry: planning, housing, regulatory and property law

“A widely supported proposal that planning authorities should share draft conditions with developers was not taken forward” The seminar began by highlighting some of the key issues that developers need to address at the outset, such as whether it is the right scheme for the right location, whether there may be issues with neighbouring developments and uses and the importance of fully

32

investigating access and ecological issues.

One area of concern is the decision-making process, particularly with regard to the housing development and the presumption in favour. Whether the presumption applies in a particular case will affect

T H E P L AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p32_33_CornerstonePromo.indd 32

24/04/2015 14:29

the planning balance.

Recent cases show the importance of ensuring that the planning officer’s report is ‘bulletproof’ especially when developments attract controversy.

Plan-making is an area that developers ignore at their peril. The increasing numbers of local plans coming forward for examination mean that developers and landowners promoting sites cannot ignore the need to actively and appropriately participate in the plan preparation process.

This has been heightened by the recently revised planning practice guidance with regard to five-year housing land supply and the department’s clear signal that ad hoc challenges to housing land supply figures through planning application and appeals are firmly discouraged. These issues must be tackled by developers if Birmingham and London are to meet their respective objectively assessed housing need figures.

Another issue of growing

concern is the role of the neighbourhood plan, as recent appeal decisions have demonstrated the danger in ignoring the potential for these plans to effectively block developments from gaining planning permission.

A number of important themes that have emerged already this year were discussed.

In March it was announced that further reforms to the system were in the pipeline.

These include improving the use of planning conditions with a proposal to reduce the time limit for fee refund on the discharge of conditions from 12 to 8 weeks and an additional requirement on planning authorities to justify the imposition of precommencement conditions.

Surprisingly, a widely supported proposal that planning authorities should share draft conditions with developers was not taken forward, despite the fact that this is becoming more commonplace in practice.

Other changes include a reduction in some of the EIA thresholds, which may reduce the number of projects subject Mary Cook: planning & environment

“The courts have also had to grapple with some drafting uncertainties arising out of the National Planning Policy Framework”

Martin Edwards: planning & environmental

“It remains important for developers to consider carefully draft committee reports and contact the council if they have concerns about the approach taken” to EIA and consequently reduce the risk of third-party challenge. The courts have also had to grapple with some drafting uncertainties arising out of the NPPF. For example, questions over green belt policy have now been answered by the Court of Appeal in Reigate & Banstead BC v Redhill Aerodrome [2014] EWCA Civ 1386, which emphasised that there has been no substantive change to longestablished green belt policy.

The significance of properly addressing the impact of development on heritage assets was underlined by the recent decision of the High Court in R (OAO Gerber) v Wiltshire County Council) [2015] EWHC 524 Admin.

The introduction of the Planning Court sought to speed up the hearing of High Court challenges and to ensure that specialist judges were available for planning cases. The High Court is now hearing challenges much quicker, and it is pleasing that the recent recruitment of experienced planning practitioners to the bench will increase the number of

specialist planning judges.

However, there are still delays at Court of Appeal level.

It remains important for developers to consider carefully draft committee reports and contact the council if they have concerns about the approach taken.

Further changes are being introduced to judicial review.

Most significantly, a court will not quash a decision where it is highly likely the outcome would not have been substantially different.

Cornerstone Barristers: 2-3 Gray’s Inn Square London WC1R 5JH 43 Temple Row Birmingham B2 5LS One Caspian Point Pierhead Street Cardiff Bay CF10 4DQ

Telephone: 020 7242 4986 Fax: 020 7405 1166 DX: LDE 316 Chancery Lane Web: www. cornerstonebarristers.com Email: clerks@ cornerstonebarristers.com

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER p32_33_CornerstonePromo.indd 33

33

24/04/2015 14:29

INSIGHT

DiF { D

DECISIONS IN FOCUS

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

Telecoms mast allowed near school

(1 SUMMARY A telecoms company and its infrastructure partner appealed against Colchester Borough Council’s refusal to permit installation of a 12.5-metre telecoms mast and three equipment cabins in a residential road in Colchester, Essex, on the basis of siting and design. The key issue was their effect on the street scene.

(2 CASE DETAILS The appeal site was a verge fronting a school in a residential area. The road has a footpath with wide areas of grass.

It was proposed to erect a mast – a 12.5 m slimline

34

T H E PL AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p34_36_dif.indd 34

steelworks column – and two cabinets on the south side of the road on the verge near several tall trees. The trees would provide a backdrop, even during winter, reducing the visual impact. Along the front of the site runs a distinctive white fence that is visually prominent. The cabinets would be sited some distance in front of the fence but inspector Sarah Stevens considered that they would be unobtrusive and the fence would remain the dominant feature.

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED Details of alternative sites using existing buildings, masts and other structures were provided, along with reasons why they could not be used.

The proposed development would allow the upgrading of equipment and the two companies to jointly operate a network grid to provide improved coverage and a faster service. Stevens concluded that the proposal should be allowed as it complied with the Policy UR 2 of the Core Strategy S and Policy DP1 of the Local Development Framework – Development Policies, to ensure that all development respects the character of the area and is of a high quality.

Appeal ref APP/A1530/A/14/2223061

Parking problems at the Fulham site did not concern the inspector, who allowed the offices-tohomes conversion

HOUSING

Flood risk held no water (1 SUMMARY The appeal was made by the developer against the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s refusal to allow change of use of offices (Class B1) into 34 residential units (Class C3). A three-storey office building, divided into several office units occupied the site in a largely residential area. The issues were whether the proposed change of use would be likely to unacceptably affect transport and highways and add to flood risk and contamination.

(2 CASE DETAILS The site was covered by a Controlled Parking Zone with parking for permit holders only between Mondays to Saturdays, with spaces for pay and display. The council feared that the proposal would result in additional overnight parking that could not be met in nearby streets.

It added that the existing use of the site generates parking during the day, but not overnight. But the appellant had submitted an undertaking containing provisions to stop future residents of the scheme having residents’ parking permits. The appellant pointed out that there is a good range of shops and

I M AG E S | A L A M Y

24/04/2015 16:00

services in the area and good access to public transport.

Census data indicated that 44 per cent of households had no car. The units were small (half being studio or one-bedroom, the remainder two-bed) so it was likely that car ownership levels will be below the average for the area.

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED Inspector Tim Wood allowed the appeal. He noted that although the council said the area was flood-prone, the appellants had included data relating to investigations into risk of flooding from surface water, groundwater, artificial sources and sewers, which in all instances were shown to be negligible. On parking, he ruled that the prospect of an inability to have a residents’ permit, combined with good access to shops, services and public transport would be an incentive against car ownership. With the high charge for street parking by pay-and-display and the likely relatively low car ownership anyway, he considered it unlikely that additional parking generated by the proposal could not be met in the surrounding area.

Appeal Ref: APP/ H5390/A/14/2218373

HOUSING

No two sites the same (1 SUMMARY The proposal was a residential development of up to 125 homes with access and landscaping at the village of Bishop’s Tachbrook, Warwickshire. The appeal

failed because the lack of a five-year supply of housing does not override all other considerations.

(2 CASE DETAILS The main issue was whether, in the absence of a fiveyear supply of housing in the district, any adverse impacts of the proposed development, particularly the effect upon the character of the area and a nearby Grade II listed 17th century barn conversion, would outweigh its benefits. Warwick District Council conceded there was inadequate justification for defending its concerns about the layout of the proposal and its connectivity with the existing settlement, and withdrew this aspect of its first reason for refusal, including the alleged conflict with policy DP1 of the adopted Warwick District Local Plan. It also told inspector Neil Pope the appellant’s planning obligation, prepared under a section 106 case, overcame its second reason for refusal.

The council and the appellant agreed that notwithstanding recent permissions for various housing developments there is less than a five-year supply of housing sites in the district.

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED Pope found the proposal met some ‘saved’ policies in the development plan, but conflicted with others. He said that to accord with the development plan as a whole, proposals do not have to meet every policy. While all ‘saved’ policies are important, those aimed at directing the location of development and protecting the quality of the environment are key objectives of the LP. This proposal conflicted with

How do we all “take account of landform, layout, building orientation, massing and landscaping to minimise energy consumption (NPPF para 96).”

Too many people live and work in accommodation where natural light levels are poor, and where the sunlight is blocked by carelessly placed buildings.

An understanding of the different sources and qualities of natural light allied with careful design can help to create a far happier, healthier habitat for people living in towns and cities.

www.lightup-analytics.com MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER

p34_36_dif.indd 35

35

24/04/2015 16:25

INSIGHT

DiF { D the overall thrust of the plan. The council could not show a five-year supply of deliverable housing sites and LP policy RAP1 was out of date. He noted the secretary of state’s decision in respect of a housing scheme at Worsley, Manchester, but said that scheme was found to represent sustainable development and didn‘t set a precedent because “no two sites were the same”.

The benefits of the scheme carried considerable weight, but he said that if the planning balance only required the public benefits to be weighed with the harm to the setting of the listed building this would outweigh the harm that he had identified to this heritage asset. There would also be serious harm to the character of the area that significantly countered the benefits of the scheme. In the context of the NPPF as a whole, it would “perform poorly against the environmental dimension to sustainable development” and the appeal should fail.

APP/T3725/A/14/2216200

DECISIONS IN FOCUS

The inspector ruled that a change of use from flower shop to eatery kept the area vibrant

(2 CASE DETAILS The appeal site comprises the ground floor of a four-storey, end-of-terrace property. The premises are small, vacant, and were previously used as a flower shop. Floors above the premises are residential, and the property forms part of a parade of mixed uses within the council’s designated Herne Hill District Centre.

The council’s evidence indicates that the effect of the proposal would be such that not more than 2 in 5 consecutive original units would be in A3 or A4 or A5 use, but that the proportion within the centre as a whole would just exceed the policy threshold at 25.8 per cent.

RETAIL

Town centres must thrive (1 SUMMARY The issue in this appeal against refusal for a change of use from a flower shop to a restaurant-pizzeria at a shopping centre in the London Borough of Lambeth. was its effect on the existing retail mix and whether it would lead to an overconcentration of food and drink outlets.

36

T H E PL AN N E R \ M A Y 2 0 1 5

p34_36_dif.indd 36

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED Inspector Peter Rose found that the proposed use would be in keeping with the character and function of the centre. The impression he drew from a visit was of a thriving centre offering a diverse range of uses and relatively little vacancy.

While the proportion of A3/ A4/A5 uses would approach the policy threshold, he did not regard the scheme as harmful, or that it would otherwise undermine the council’s policies. It was

broadly consistent with the expectations of the NPPF, which seeks to make effective use of land and buildings, and seeks to ensure the viability of town centres.

trees along its boundaries provide significant enclosure from back gardens to the east. It is also visually contained to the south-east by woodland. The site is outside the ‘village confine’ boundary in the adopted local plan. The only existing dwelling there would be demolished for access.

The importance of meeting housing need is also highlighted in the emerging local plan for South Derbyshire. It says the district is “one of the fastestgrowing areas in England” and “house prices remain unaffordable for many and recent house price rises are likely to increase the number of people unable to afford to buy or rent a home”. The council does not have a fiveyear supply of housing land, and South Derbyshire suffers from a significant lack of affordable housing.

Appeal Ref: APP/ N5660/A/14/2223500

HOUSING

Village homes judged sustainable (1 SUMMARY The appeal allows outline planning permission for 110 dwellings to be accessed from an existing street in Swadlincote, Derbyshire, and demolition of one dwelling for access. Grounds considered were whether the development met the district’s need for market and affordable housing, whether it would be sustainable, and its effect on the surrounding countryside in the village of Linton.

(2 CASE DETAILS The agricultural appeal site is traversed by three public footpaths. The hedgerows and

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED Inspector Mike Fox said the lack of a five-year supply of housing land carried significant weight in favour of the proposal. Although it is contrary to ALP policies EV1 and H5, these have little weight, being out of date both in their age and also because the housing provision in the ALP been used up. As ‘blanket ban’ policies they failed to address housing need in South Derbyshire. He said the appeal site was in a sustainable place – local services could be accessed by bus. Although the proposal’s effect on the character of the landscape and the setting of the village would result in limited visual harm, it did not outweigh the considerations in its favour.

APP/F1040/A/14/2214428

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

24/04/2015 17:12

PLANNING LAW UPDATE CONFERENCE 18 June 2015 | London

Join us at this one day conference for essential legal updates

Why attend?

Stay up to date with legal changes New updates following the general election Learn from the top 5 Planning Law Chambers Gain practical solutions to planning policy

Sunlight and Daylight analysis to BRE standards from within SketchUp www.lightup-analytics.com

Excellent networking with your peers

Book Now

www.rtpiconferences.co.uk/law 020 3733 1188

Usually £350

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

Read by the RTPI’s 23,000 members, The Planner reaches in excess of 8,000 more planners than its nearest competitor.

25% DISCOUNT

COUPON CODE

“THE PLANNER”

ABCted i Aud

Our features and editorial coverage reflect the views and concerns of the UK’s leading town planning professionals.

CONTACT

If you want to reach the valuable audience, please contact: lee-anne.walsh@redactive.co.uk or call 020 7324 2753

offer available for 60 days training also available MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER

p37_PLNMay15.indd 37

37

23/04/2015 16:11

INSIGHT

LLegal landscape THE FUTURE OF COMPULSORY PURCHASE

Stephen Ashworth

As long ago as 2003, the Law Commission described the law of compulsory purchase as “difficult to locate, complicated to decipher and elusive to apply” DCLG’s predecessor had noted that CPO (compulsory purchase order) law was an “unwieldy and lumbering creature”. Unhappily, the Law Commission’s mainly sensible recommendations for reform were not pursued and the CPO beast has not evolved.

The need for a sensible CPO process is even more urgent now than it was in 2003.

The chronic undersupply of housing is, in part, a function of land availability. The delivery of urban extensions and major new settlements is, too often, an accident of land ownership patterns, not sensible planning. Proposals appear on old airfields, hospital sites and radio transmitter stations because they are easy in land ownership terms, not necessarily because they are right.

For the past five years we have been held back by landowners and banks refusing to develop or release land at below acquisition cost, for fear of crystallising their losses. There is a crying need for the land market to be more liquid. A sensible CPO is one way in which to break the present complex monopoly of ownership. The monopoly has also meant that landowners have never

38

properly borne the full cost of the public investment needed to develop land.

DCLG recognises some of this and has issued a ‘technical’ consultation on improvements to the CPO process. The proposals are welcome, but only tinker at the margins. The changes include better guidance (in NPPG format), setting more sensible arrangements for early compensation payments, and providing fairer ways of dealing with negative equity. Unfortunately, the improvements do not grapple with the real issues.

Any incoming government

“THE DELIVERY OF URBAN EXTENSIONS AND MAJOR NEW SETTLEMENTS IS, TOO OFTEN, AN ACCIDENT OF LAND OWNERSHIP PATTERNS, NOT SENSIBLE PLANNING”

Lucy McDonnell should update the Law Commission report and make CPO more relevantlooking, at least, at the following additional points.

First, it needs to be easier to initiate the CPO process. At the moment it is a matter of the grace and favour of the authority; there should be a right to apply for a CPO. In practice, this is already available for development consent order promoters. Why not also make it available for housing, mixed-use, town centre and regeneration projects subject to demonstrating a strong public interest case as part of the application?

Second, the land acquisition process must be fairer. If a promoter wants to use CPO powers it should be obliged to buy the land if

the owner wants to sell from the moment that an order is made. Too often promoters hide behind a CPO, making niggardly or conditional offers to buy, effectively asking the landowner to bear the holding costs.

If a promoter wants the benefit of CPO powers, then it should be willing to pay immediately.

Third, we need to cut out specious objections. Far too often, objections are made to CPOs to force an inquiry – largely to act as a backdrop to commercial negotiations. There are too many professionals who advise that objections be made, and who then have a professional interest in the objection remaining unresolved for as long as possible. If an objection to a CPO is not upheld at inquiry, there should be an order of costs against the landowner, with a major part of the cost borne by the professional advisers.

Fourth, compensation must be full and prompt.

The consultation suggests that acquiring authorities take account of savings to the Exchequer if an inquiry, tribunal hearing, etc, can be avoided. This is, however, still too opaque. It needs to be clear that authorities can pay up to, say, 50 per cent more than market value in order to secure early delivery.

CPO is a fantastically powerful public tool. It is too little used. It would be great to simplify the process in the next Parliament. We should enliven the lumbering beast.

STEPHEN ASHWORTH Stephen Ashworth is a partner at Dentons LUCY MCDONNELL Lucy McDonnell is a planning and public lawyer at Dentons

T H E PL AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p38_39_LegalLandscape.indd 38

24/04/2015 14:43

LATEST POSTS FROM THEPLANNER.CO.UK/BLOGS

B LO G S Recent cases have looked at how far public interest can be pressed to disclose the financial viability assessments of planning applications

Viability appraisals and confidentiality Oliver Martin

The submission of detailed viability appraisals has become routine, with developers sharing detailed financial information about projects to show a genuine viability problem. Confidentiality has been an important issue, but with the existence of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, there is a risk that appraisals may still be published, even if the council has agreed to keep it confidential.

Recent legal challenges have explored the extent to which members of the public can force disclosure of financial viability assessments.

The first is the decision of the FirstTier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) (EA 2013/0162) (May 2014) regarding the disclosure of a viability assessment submitted with an application to redevelop the Heygate Estate in Elephant and Castle. The tribunal ruled that the financial model used as a basis for calculating viability should not be disclosed as this was a trade secret and that certain data is commercially sensitive.

Other information should be made public as the importance of local people having access to information to allow them to participate in the planning process outweighs the public interest in maintaining the developer’s remaining rights.

The second case is the High Court case of

R (Perry) v Hackney LBC [2014] EWHC 3499 (October 2014), the judicial review of Hackney Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a site in Stoke Newington by allowing councillors to proceed on the basis of only a summary financial viability assessment. The full document was withheld from members despite it having been provided to officers. The challenge was dismissed as it was judged to be lawful to proceed, especially as consultants had independently reviewed the developer’s appraisal.

The third case is the decision of First-Tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) (EA/2014/0122) (February 2015), which involved a viability appraisal submitted by the developer for the redevelopment of the Greenwich Peninsular.

By the time of the hearing Greenwich Council had published a redacted version of the appraisal and the commissioned independent assessment and the question before the tribunal was whether the council should be forced to disclose the redacted parts. The tribunal concluded that important public interests in keeping the facts confidential did not outweigh the public interest in disclosing the information as pricing and other assumptions embedded in a viability appraisal are the public’s business. Members also placed weight on the scale of the development and its location being

L E G I S L AT I O N S H O R T S key local issues and that the developer must have bought the site knowing it would not be viable.

Last, in the High Court case of R (Turner) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2015] EWHC 375 (February 2015), one of the challenges to the secretary of state’s decision to grant consent to redevelop the Shell Centre site was the failure of the applicant to disclose the viability assessment on which the quantum of affordable housing had been based. This argument was rejected as it was held that it must be open to applicants to submit confidential material in support of their applications. The secretary of state was entitled to conclude that the offer of affordable housing was acceptable, on the basis that the applicant’s confidential viability assessment had been independently appraised and confirmed

by BNP Paribas.

These cases leave us with mixed messages in terms of what can and cannot be disclosed.

The decisions could discourage developers from sharing data and ultimately delay development. Those who have already submitted viability information are now more at risk that it may have to be disclosed, while those contemplating submitting such details need to think about the consequences of doing so.

Oliver Martin is head of planning at Irwin Mitchell

Boris approves South Quay Plaza scheme Mayor Boris Johnson will not call in proposals by developer Berkeley Homes for an 888-home scheme at Marsh Wall at South Quay on the Isle of Dogs.

He told the London Borough of Tower Hamlets that he would not determine the application. A report by the Greater London Authority concluded that it was acceptable in strategic planning terms.

The South Quay Plaza site, currently offices and retail, will be comprehensively redeveloped, including construction of two residential towers of 68 and 36 storeys. The tallest tower will be 220 metres high, 15 m shorter than One Canada Square, and will be the tallest residential tower in the UK. Of the 888 homes, 188 will be affordable.

The council said that the scheme would be a “big part of our plans to transform the South Quay area into a thriving dockside neighbourhood”.

New Homes Bonus allocations unveiled The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has published the list of grants to be paid to English local authorities under the New Homes Bonus in the 2015/16 financial year.

The largest – £24.8 million – goes to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Other London councils featuring in the list of the 10 largest grants include Hackney, Islington, Southwark and Newham.

The scheme aims to encourage councils to grant permission for new homes by paying a bonus based on the amount of extra council tax revenue raised on each new home for six years. Councils are not obliged to use the bonus to fund housing development.

Planning expert Iain Gilbey, of Pinsent Masons, said: “The bonus is funded largely from a deduction from the formula grant with the result that some areas, generally those which are less attractive to housing developers, will suffer a net loss, whilst others will gain. DCLG has estimated that by 2014/15 about three quarters of authorities would be better off.”

New regime must solve appeal backlog A planning expert has warned that the next government will need to act immediately to address a backlog of planning appeals that is leading to delays of up to a year in reaching decisions in certain cases.

The Planning Inspectorate posted an apology on its website this month, saying there was “currently a delay of up to 10 weeks to validate planning appeals”.

Its figures say the average time taken in 2014 to reach a decision on an appeal that went to inquiry was 38 weeks following validation.

Rebecca Warren, of Pinsent Masons, said: “Delay in securing an appeal date and ultimately a decision, has an adverse effect on all parties. Local authorities need certainty for calculating their five-year land supply and ensuring delivery of affordable housing and infrastructure. For developers the costs and impacts of such delays can be significant for a host of reasons. For many households needing access to housing, delays in bringing homes to the market only serve to exacerbate the … lack of housing options.”

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER

p38_39_LegalLandscape.indd 39

39

24/04/2015 14:43

INSIGHT

Career { D E V E L O P M E N T C UNDERSTANDING CHARRETTES

Charrettes are a time-honoured system used in design disciplines – draw together a diverse group of people and they can integrate their interests, aptitudes and skills to quickly generate a cohesive strategy What is a charrette? A workshop? A consultation exercise? The Town Paper, the US-based urbanism and planning publisher, describes a charrette as: An intensive planning session where citizens, designers and others collaborate on a vision for development. It provides a forum for ideas and offers the unique advantage of giving immediate feedback to the designers. More importantly, it allows everyone who participates to be a mutual author of the plan. (www.bit.ly/1JGJZVp) “A charrette is different from a workshop,” says former RTPI president Vincent Goodstadt. “You are working through a live working environment where you are wanting to come out with a product at the end.”

In essence, a charrette is a multi-day event involving community interest groups and private individuals affected by a plan, as well as professional planners, designers, engineers, economists, and so on.

Typically, it will take place on site and incorporate site visits, presentations, workshops, consultation exercises, discussion, design work, and so on. By its end, a plan will have been created that is ‘owned’ by all.

Charrettes are championed by advocates of community planning because they can quickly produce robust plans that have survived scrutiny from all the major stakeholders – reducing conflict and delay later on.

Writing for Plannersweb, the founders of the US-based National Charrette Institute (NCI), have said: “Planning commissioners are often disappointed when large-scale, controversial projects or plans are presented to them at public hearings attended by crowds of angry residents complaining about having little prior input. The result can be contentious, time-consuming, and unproductive public hearings, and a hardening of antagonisms.” (www.bit.ly/1cs717k)

Running a charrette The NCI divides a charrette into three phases: (1) Pre-charrette preparation, which can last from six weeks to nine months. Stakeholders are identified, consulted, educated and invited to submit and share ideas.

(2) The charrette itself, which lasts from four to seven days.

(3) Post-charrette plan implementation.

Michael Ward, associate urban designer with Barton Willmore in Edinburgh, was part of a team funded

by Glasgow City Council under the 40

Scottish government’s Charrette Mainstreaming Programme to explore links between Partick and Govan.

Historically connected by the shipbuilding industry, the two communities on opposite side of the River Clyde have become disconnected.

“We were looking at how to better connect the communities,” explains Ward. “Our aim was to assist the city council in developing supplementary planning guidance for its strategic development framework as part of the local development plan process.”

The four-day charrette in March was preceded by community days in which the planners asked residents about

Origin of the term l charrette Charrette means ‘cart’ or ‘chariot’ in French. Its use as a term in design and planning originated at the École des Beaux-Arts in 19th-century Paris, where a charrette would be wheeled among teams of design/architecture students to pick up their models as they continued to work on them right up to deadline. Students who continued to work until the very last moment were said to be working ‘en charrette’ or ‘in the cart’.

connections between the communities.

The team set up a website (www.govanpartick.com) and created a Twitter account to engage residents digitally. They conducted mapping exercises in local schools in which they asked pupils to visualise their future communities, and they consulted with key stakeholders, such as housing associations, community interest groups and big employers.

“We got a good sense of the general feeling for any ideas, so when we got to the charrette itself we could have a more constructive time exploring the detail,” says Ward. The website attracted 3,500 users and some 60 to 70 people attended the opening and closing presentations. The four-day charrette consisted of: Day 1: Opening presentation and Q&A Day 2: Site visits and strategic workshops themed on the topics of Live, Work, Visit, Place and Wellbeing.

Day 3: Workshops which developed detail.

Day 4: Final presentation.

T H E P L AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p40_41_career_dev.indd 40

24/04/2015 14:44

+ Six steps to a successful charrette PREPARE AND PLAN “You have to put the homework in to start with,” says Vincent Goodstadt. “The studio is coming together briefed and informed. You are not coming in cold. You must plan it,” he continues.

“Even the structure of the sequence in which I arrange for work to progress is very deliberate.”

1

WORK COLLABORATIVELY A charrette should create a lasting plan that incorporates the unique contributions of individuals. Authored by all participants, it should offer a shared vision based on a rationale that everyone understands.

2

3

4

5

6

LEAD WITH STRENGTH “A charrette requires strong management,” says Vincent Goodstadt. “It also requires a level of trust, in that if you are not going in with a definitive view, then how do you stop it being hijacked as a process?” “Rules of engagement” are required to ensure that planmaking remains the focus.

PRODUCE A WORKABLE PLAN The explicit goal of a charrette to is to create a workable plan. “Every decision point must be fully informed, especially by the legal, financial and engineering disciplines,” writes the National Charrette Institute. “Plans that sit on the shelf contribute only to citizen apathy.”

“It did enable us to speak to a wider range of people,” reflects Ward, noting that the engagement produced a raft of valuable local knowledge.

“One of the things that came out was that there had been a commercial ferry service across the Clyde, but it ended up running for only for a few months a year with subsidies, before being shut. So we re-established the ferry for a few days during the charrette, which proved to be a terrific advert for the event.”

“It’s been a fantastic experience,” Ward continues. “It’s very intensive. We gave ourselves a lot or work to do but I wouldn’t have done it any other way. I don’t think a charrette by itself necessarily has all the answers. But it is always difficult to engage with people and you have to try something new. We’ll now track the process and feed back to the council the themes and ideas, and what needs to be explored further.”

UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT “Everywhere is different, everywhere has got it’s unique qualities,” says Michael Ward. “Try to understand those qualities in advance and support them as best you can.

Supporting what makes a place a place is important.”

FEED BACK REGULARLY Frequent feedback and review establishes trust in the process. The shorter and more direct the feedback cycle, the more responsive designers can be to queries, challenges and suggestions.

VINCENT GOODSTADT

Charrettes for democracy?

Former RTPI president Vincent Goodstadt is an annual participant in charrettes organised by the University of Pennsylvania School of Design to enable postgraduate students to work

on real challenges. In March 2015, the Penn Design charrette came to London to consider how a Crossrail project could fit into New York.

“One needs in planning to bring [people] together in a way that harnesses the skills and knowledge and potential of other professions, but also the community in all its aspects – so that what’s produced is “owned” by as many people as possible.

“You have got to go beyond cooperation. In planning, to get the changes that we require, we are trying to change the trends that we are faced with, such as congestion and affordability. To change the trend, you have to maybe ‘change the friend’ – it’s this issue of establishing collaborative working where people are meeting not just as consultees but also as genuine participants.

“People are starting to understand that the consultative processes we engage in are not just about having your voice heard, but getting real knowledge – lay knowledge – into the plan-making process.

“You invariably end up with a better product. But there’s something that’s bigger than all of this: participatory democracy. There’s been a loss of faith [in representative democracy], part of which is the new means by which people feel they can express their views on social issues.

“It’s how you link the way these representatives are informed and are in touch with the new communication environment. The processes we use to engage people in planning are effective processes if you get them right.”

Find out more about l charrettes n Scottish government Mainstreaming Charrettes Programme www.bit.ly/1yqyD6X n The Govan Partick charrette www.govanpartick.com/ n National Charrette Institute (USA) www.charretteinstitute.org n Planners Web – An introduction to charrettes www.bit.ly/1cs717k

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER p40_41_career_dev.indd 41

41

24/04/2015 14:44

INSIGHT

Plan ahead P Change in Wales May’s RTPI Cymru Planning Convention is taking place against a backdrop of political and social reform.

How will the nation’s planners adapt to the change?

“We’re verging on real change in Wales at the moment,” explains RTPI Cymru director Roisin Willmott. “We’ve got the Planning (Wales) Bill going through the Assembly and local government reform is firmly back on the agenda for Wales.

“We’ve got two city regions set up [Cardiff Capital and Swansea Bay],” she continues, “and, as part of government reform, the Welsh Government is also looking at public service reform.”

“There is,” Willmott concludes, “all sorts of discussion around city leadership and place-based leadership in Wales.”

In some senses, what’s happening in Wales is a microcosm of what’s happening across the rest of the UK. There’s planning reform, political change, city and regional devolution; all the while, local authorities are also having to adapt to an agenda of public spending cuts.

We are in a state of flux – and not just in the UK, either.

More than half the global

“IT’S AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOCUSED ON WALES. YES, IT’S ABOUT WELSH ISSUES RELEVANT TO PEOPLE PRACTISING IN WALES. BUT IT LOOKS AT THE BIGGER ISSUES, TOO” 42

W Willmott: “Climate change is making alterations to our liv living habits… essential”

population now lives in cities, driving the global search for new urban planning practices.

Climate change is making alterations to our living habits not just desirable, but essential.

People everywhere are expecting to have more say in the making of the places where they live.

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

The event’s ever-popular breakout seminars will address issues related to the event’s title and the Welsh planning scene, from planning for sustainable movement to turning derelict vernacular buildings into affordable homes in rural areas.

“There’s only so much you can offer in a day, and planners do have wide interests,” says Willmott. “The breakout sessions are a way of us getting more content and focusing in more detail on these different aspects.”

Among the more interesting aspects of the agenda are presentations by young designers on how planning and design practice should respond to a changing world. There are speed briefings on the local delivery of schemes within

specific Welsh contexts, such as in Snowdonia National Park.

“The planning system in Wales is very different from the English system,” says Willmott.

“But it’s appropriate to have different systems in operation in the UK. “In the different nations there’s a different cultural context and with that comes a different governance context and different topographical issues as well.”

The RTPI’s Wales director is keen to stress, however, that the conference will be far from parochial. “I suppose it’s an international conference focused on Wales. Yes, it’s about Welsh issues relevant to people practising in Wales.

But it looks at the bigger issues, too,” she says.

What’s in store?

It’s in such a febrile atmosphere that an event with a growing reputation for lively discussion is set to take place for the eighth time on 20 May. Entitled ‘Planning For A Changing World’, the Wales planning conference aims to tackle the challenges headon, with presentations and workshops focused on how planners can respond to the demands of change.

Tony Thickett, director of the Planning Inspectorate Wales will lead the way with a consideration of the day’s themes from a PINS perspective. Former RTPI president and founding director of the Academy of Urbanism Kevin Murray will consider who actually leads planning.

The day’s keynote address is to be delivered by Welsh natural resources minister Carl Sargeant, with an update on the progress of the Planning (Wales) Bill through the Assembly.

Wales planning conference: programme highlights Morning Who leads Planning? – Kevin Murray, Kevin Murray Associates Keynote Address – Carl Sargeant AM, Welsh Government Minister for Natural Resources Afternoon Plenary discussion: How should planning and design practice respond to a changing world?

Speed Briefing: Quick-fire presentations on local delivery Planners of the Future: Young Planners Cymru

Breakout sessions Planning permission or DCO route City-regions: a changing context in a changing world Engaging modern day local communities Workshop: mock hearing – infrastructure planning Planning and designing for sustainable movement Reform of planning and development management in Wales Derelict vernacular buildings and affordable housing – two rural issues; one solution

DIGGING DEEP Time for a change What: Wales planning conference: Planning for a Changing World Where: City Hall, Cardiff When: Wednesday 20th May 2015 Find out more and book: www.bit.ly/1HWw2UY

T H E P L AN N E R \ M A Y 2 0 1 5

p42_43_event_listings.indd 42

24/04/2015 14:44

DIARY

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

DON’T MISS 14 May – Brighton Rock lecture The University of Brighton once again hosts this popular lecture series, providing a great opportunity for free CPD. The speakers are: Max Farrell, project leader of the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment, and Professor Matthew Carmona, Bartlett School of Planning at UCL and coordinator of the Place Alliance.

WEBINAR 28 May – Benchmark your real estate portfolio Planon and CoreNet Global present a webinar on BenchCoRe, the online benchmarking tool enabling corporate real estate managers to compare their portfolio with peer organisations.

BenchCoRE aggregates and standardises data on a variety of cost, efficiency and portfolio profile for CoreNet Global members around the world.

Details: For other times available see: www.bit. ly/1GGH5By

LONDON 12 May – Time management for planners – making the most of your time This masterclass will give a practical approach to your own time management.

The content aims to help participants develop their own time management system, rather than imposing a ridged structure.

Venue: The Hatton (etc Venues), 51-53 Hatton Garden, London Details: www.bit. ly/1G7FcMi 13 May – Introduction to management for planning professionals This one-day programme will provide a practical guide for new managers to enable them to better manage their teams and achieve business objectives.

Venue: The Lodge Details: www.bit. ly/1Nxzt4U 14 May – Design in the planning system A masterclass on dealing effectively with design and having the right policy and guidance in place – the key to planning authorities winning in a large number of planning appeals.

Venue: The Hatton Details: www.bit. ly/1HeDIys

19 May – Planning for biodiversity and the natural environment This masterclass will help planning practitioners understand developments in law, guidance and advice relating to biodiversity and the natural environment.

Venue: The Hatton Details: www.bit. ly/19zE2wd 21 May – CIL and s106: an update on policy and progress This workshop will receive accounts from those at the sharp end of implementation and looks forward to the outcomes of the CIL review.

Venue: The Hatton Details: www.bit. ly/1DooqcS

SOUTH EAST 12 May – RTPI green belt debate Chaired by Prof Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder professor of geography, University of Oxford.

Speakers include: Tom Papworth, senior fellow of the Adam Smith Institute; Dr Nicholas Falk, founder director of URBED; Matt Thomson, head of planning, CPRE; and Dr Tim Marshall, reader in planning, Oxford Brookes University.

Venue: Oxford Brookes University, Oxford Details: www.bit.ly/1OPfiRJ

EAST OF ENGLAND 14 May – RTPI East of England AGM Andrew Taylor, chair of the RTPI board of trustees, will make a short presentation on his role and experience.

Venue: Uttlesford DC Offices, London Road, Saffron Walden, Essex Details: For more information and to book a place, email regional honorary secretary Jackie Ward at rtpieesec@ hotmail.co.uk

Date: 14 May Venue: The Boardroom, Grand Parade Campus, University of Brighton, Brighton and Hove BN2 0JY Details: www.bit.ly/1yrX0vg

19 May – Flooding, coastal defence and development This will discuss coastal and inland flood defence schemes and the importance of community and business involvement in flood risk management.

It covers business resilience to climate change, flood risk assessments, the wider benefits of flood risk infrastructure and sustainable drainage systems in new development. It is hoped to include a site visit.

Venue: St Nicholas Centre, 4 Cutler Street, Ipswich Details: www.bit. ly/1NxXskt

SOUTH WEST 14 May – Planning for growth in sensitive locations Exploring challenges faced in delivering sustainable growth within sensitive landscapes and how Channel Islands’ planners have responded to these.

Reception hosted by States of Jersey on Thursday 14th, conference on Friday 15th, and tours on Saturday 16th.

Venue: Rue de L’etau, St Helier, Channel Islands Details: www.bit. ly/1GoQA5J

EAST MIDLANDS 20 May – RTPI/MPA minerals conference: securing a sustainable supply of minerals The conference will debate recent case examples relating to the designation and implementation of the Mineral Safeguarding Areas in the UK and consider their use in securing a sustainable supply of minerals.

Venue: East Midlands Conference Centre, University of Nottingham Details: www.bit. ly/19nSDuQ

Details: www.bit. ly/1HiH7fV

NORTH EAST

WEST MIDLANDS 12 May – New government, new housing: what can we expect?

How will the government tackle strategic planning, ensure full local plan coverage and provide for people’s housing needs in both urban and rural areas?

Will it tackle the question of green belt restraint? A range of speakers will shed light on these issues.

Venue: The Council Chamber, Elizabeth House, Church Street, Stratfordupon-Avon, Warwickshire Details: www.bit. ly/1BVv4Ae 21 May – Reconnecting with the rural planning agenda in the West Midlands This update will provide delegates with an up-todate understanding of changes affecting rural West Midlands.

Venue: Visitor Centre, Chasewater Country Park, Burntwood, Staffordshire Details: www.bit. ly/1IPzWww

YORKSHIRE 21 May – The development management law conference This addresses a range of topical aspects from a legal perspective. Presented by planning solicitors DWF LLP, with added input from No 5 Chambers, it will be of interest to planners and planning lawyers.

Venue: The Hospitium, Museum Gardens, York

11 May – The art of development management This event will examine aspects of the development management process from pre-application through to enforcement.

Guest speakers include: Peter Nesbit, Eversheds LLP; Sandra Manson, Signet Planning; John Bradley, Gateshead Council; and Colin Haylock, Haylock Planning & Design.

Venue: TBC Details: www.bit. ly/1CoxY49 15 May – Cycle challenge along the Tyne Join fellow RTPI members on a 100km cycle ride along the Tyne. Starting and finishing at the Cycle Hub in Newcastle, it will follow quiet or traffic-free routes.

A shorter 50km ride option is also available.

Venue: The Cycle Hub, Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne Details: www.bit. ly/1xOAnqk

NORTH WEST 21 May – Development management update Development management issues facing all sectors of the profession. Practical tips to improve the quality of the professional advice you give to clients, elected members and the community will also be given.

Venue: Hotel Football, 99 Sir Matt Busby Way, Old Trafford, Manchester Details: www.bit. ly/1GKO37r

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER

p42_43_event_listings.indd 43

43

24/04/2015 14:44

NEWS

RTPI { Assessment of Professional Competence (APC): the next 10 years Iram Mohammed, chair of the RTPI Membership and Ethics (M&E) committee and RTPI board member, introduces the recent changes to the APC and explains how members have been involved throughout the process.

The APC was implemented in 2006 for those planners who wanted to become chartered, having completed an RTPI-accredited planning degree.

Almost 10 years on, the M&E committee has been leading a review of the APC, its competencies and competency framework to ensure that it is relevant to the issues planners face now and that it is fit for purpose in 2015 and beyond.

Why review?

The M&E committee has been reviewing the routes to chartered membership to improve consistency and ensure greater clarity across the eligibility criteria, the application process and assessment model. We are aware that the profession has been changing and diversifying, and observations of the employment market for planners indicate increasing fluidity across sectors and nature of employment. The review will ensure that the routes are fit for purpose going forward and reflect this diverse profession. We believe this will also improve support to candidates and assessors, and ultimately assist with membership growth and transition into and across membership categories.

There are currently five pathways to become a chartered member, of which only two have competencies assessed as an integral part of the process. All routes to chartered membership will become competency-based and the APC competencies for the accredited route will form the foundation for all routes, so reviewing the APC was an essential first step in this process. In 2015 we will continue to review the remaining routes to chartered membership.

Member involvement Changes to the APC have been developed by members, for members. During 2014, the M&E committee consulted the breadth of the RTPI membership base, with RTPI committees and Panels, General Assembly, APC stakeholders, Regions, Nations and Young Planners asked to input into the APC competencies and draft descriptors. Members were supportive of the need to undertake the review and welcomed the opportunity to comment. This enthusiasm was reflected in the very valuable feedback received.

What has changed?

• There is a revised APC competency list.

• Specific reference is now made to ‘professionalism’ within the RTPI Code of Conduct competency.

• ‘The economic context’ has been added as a new competency.

• The submission word count has increased from 5,000 to 5,500 (+/-10 per cent).

44

RTPI news pages are edited

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

• The Professional Development Plan (PDP) template is now compulsory.

New Guidance The new 2015 APC Guidance (which will apply from November 2015) is now available at www.rtpi.org.uk/apc

APC Commendations Each year more than 400 licentiates apply for chartered membership through the APC. The APC Commendations recognise those who were nominated by their assessors based on the high calibre of their APC submission.

In 2014, we asked our APC assessors to nominate submissions and these Ginny Duffell were judged by the Planner, States of Jersey institute’s APC Advisory Panel earlier this year. The candidates awarded an APC Commendation in 2014 are: Ginny Duffell, Adam Kindred and Chris Moore. These candidates are on their way to becoming exceptional planners and making a Adam Kindred significant contribution to Planner, CBRE the community and the profession. This accolade recognises candidates’ achievements and enables them to provide advice and serve as an inspiration to other licentiates going through the APC. The commended candidates’ top tips for the Chris Moore APC include: Planner, Savills • Read the guidance (particularly the competency descriptors) more than once.

• Be disciplined – keep your log book up to date and cross-reference it in your submission.

• Clearly explain your role in projects and the thinking behind your decisions.

• Manage your time so you leave enough time for carefully proofreading your submission. n For more about commended candidates and all their tips see www.rtpi.org.uk/apc-commendations

T H E P L AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p44_47_RTPI_news.indd 44

24/04/2015 14:45

Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk

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

Registered charity no.

262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841

3 POINT PLAN Planners explain how they would improve the planning system

Louise Cutts Principal planner PEGASUS GROUP The UK needs housing and the combined lack of effort to address this is inexcusable.

Planning is just one component part, but one for which planners must take responsibility. We have complained about our lack of status – well, what better opportunity to make a difference.

It is heartening to see a level of national political momentum to address the housing crisis, but this must be harnessed by planners to drive forward local plans and applications. RTPI’s Code of Conduct could be altered to remind planners of their responsibility to plan rather than procrastinate. Creating an additional payment for early plan submission under the New Homes Bonus could focus minds particularly if accompanied with a clawback clause for delay or likely unsoundness. This might ensure that the good intentions of local politicians are not lost in the seasonal rush for political votes. Intelligent local authority planning resource must be diverted away from the long consideration of smaller proposals to swift consideration of large-scale housing applications and the delivery of local plans.

YOUR INSTITUTE, YOUR QUESTIONS I have seen a lot of coverage of Homes for Britain in the media recently. I understand the RTPI is involved somehow, but should we be getting involved in a political campaign when we are a charity? What exactly is Homes for Britain and what is the RTPI’s role?

JOHN DOWNEY The RTPI is a founding partner of Homes for Britain, a coalition of organisations with an interest in the housing needs of the nation. The group of organisations are running a campaign to bring together all those who believe that everyone has a right to a decent affordable home to call their own.

Under the ‘Homes for Britain’ banner this coalition is asking for all political parties to commit to ending the housing crisis within a generation.

The campaign built up to a rally on Westminster on 17 March at which 2,300 people from almost 300 different organisations came together in a truly unprecedented day for the housing sector.

So could this be the election when housing finally becomes the political priority it deserves to be? With the advocates we have in our sector, absolutely.

1 ] Introduce a mandatory proactive approach to providing housing in nonprotected areas as a requirement in the RTPI’s Code of Conduct.

2 ] Increase the New Homes Bonus with a significant additional payment on Local Plan submission with a clawback clause for delay.

3 ] Shift LPA resources from the lengthy consideration of small-scale proposals towards Local Plan preparation and largescale housing permission delivery.

POSITION POINTS

PLANNING’S POSITIVE ECONOMIC OUTCOMES Given housing is a key issue at the election, there is growing interest in its wider economic and social effects.

The House Builders’ Federation (HBF) recently released research that shows that the impact of housing on the national economy is significant. No surprises there. The impact of planning remains unexplored by the HBF report.

The RTPI’s ‘economic value of planning’ work stream aims to develop a better understanding of how planning can deliver positive economic outcomes. The ‘costs of planning’ have largely been a matter of assertion by a small but vocal number of critics, with little robust or systematic evidence for their negative economic view of planning. The Value of Planning work aims to introduce accuracy into the debate and facilitate evidence-based policy-making. Read our first report: http://www.rtpi.org.uk/valueofplanning

PLANNING IN THE NEXT PARLIAMENT The RTPI’s ‘Planning in the next Parliament’ outlines 10 key proposals for the new government to implement.

These have been developed over an extensive policy and research programme including consultation with political parties and key stakeholders. Given the changes of the past five years we do not want new legislation to allow built-in changes to embed. The RTPI has been concerned about the big resource cuts to planning, which is slowing the system. The RTPI wants to end the housing crisis within a generation, including releasing public sector land for homes. We look forward to working productively with whoever governs.

Find out more here: www.bit.ly/1GbZExz

MAY 2 0 1 5 / THE PLA NNER p44_47_RTPI_news.indd 45

45

24/04/2015 14:46

NEWS

RTPI { COLLABORATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

Planning Theory And Practice DR MICHAEL HARRIS, DEPUTY HEAD OF POLICY AND RESEARCH The latest edition of the RTPI’s academic journal Planning Theory And Practice (volume 16, issue 1) is out now. Many of the articles reflect a recurring theme of the importance of dialogue and collaboration if we are to respond effectively to today’s challenges.

In his editorial (free to access), Luca Bertolini reflects on Hong Kong’s ‘Umbrella Movement’ and considers the implications for cities regarding democracy and citizen engagement. Continuing the theme, Patsy Healey examines how civil society initiatives are playing an expanding role in the provision of services and local development. Carolyn Whitzman reports on a research partnership to promote disability-inclusive road development in Papua New Guinea.

Changing tack, Britta Restemeyer, Johan Woltjer and Margo van den Brink consider how cities might ensure that they are resilient to flooding. Paul Opdam, Judith Westerink, Claire Vos and Barry de Vries address the challenges in

PLANNING EXCELLENCE

Who will win?

ARE YOU A WINNER ON 6 JULY?

46

transdisciplinary landscape planning. Carlos MorenoLeguizamon, Marcela Tovar-Restrepo, Clara Irazábal and Christine Locke then consider the challenges for multicultural planning in health services.

This edition’s Interface section (also free to access) focuses on sustainability in planning policy, and suggests that we need a shared agenda for sustainable development that recognises the tensions with contemporary markets. In this vein, Ana Morcillo Pallarésab exposes the incapacity of urban zoning to anticipate the effect of high-rise buildings on city life. Finally, Jan Vogelij, a planning practitioner, asks the provocative question of how open planning theory really is to planning practice. n For more information on Planning Theory And Practice, go to: www.rtpi.org.uk/knowledge/ publications/planning-theory-and-practice/

The RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence 2015 will be held on 6 July at the Shaw Theatre at The Pullman, London St Pancras.

The judges, this year chaired by the Rt Hon Nick Raynsford MP, have selected 80 finalists – projects and individuals – from 50 per cent more category entrants than ever before. The quality of all the entries was extremely high and we anticipate that the judges will find it more difficult than ever to select the winners. The overall winner will receive the Silver Jubilee Cup, the most coveted prize in planning, which has been awarded annually since 1977 to the entry judged to be the most outstanding of the winners of the different categories.

The awards ceremony will be followed by drinks and canapés in the Noble Suite, offering an evening of highquality networking not to be missed.

Last year more than 450 planning and built environment professionals attended the awards and networking drinks, and the RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence 2014 recently won a Mark of Excellence at the Association

Excellence Awards 2015. The event will highlight exceptional examples of planning in these categories: • Excellence in Planning to Create Economically Successful Places • Excellence in Planning for Community and Well-being; • Excellence in Planning and Design for the Public Realm • Excellence in Planning for the Natural Environment • Excellence in Planning for Built Heritage • Excellence in Planning to Deliver Housing • Excellence in Plan Making Practice • Excellence in Decision Making in Planning • Excellence in Planning to Deliver Infrastructure • Employer Award for Excellence • Planning Consultancy of the Year • Small Planning Consultancy of the Year • Local Authority Planning Team of the Year • Young Planner of the Year.

n The RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence 2015 are sponsored and supported by AECOM, Quod, Bilfinger GVA, the London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Planning Aid England Please visit www.rtpi.org.uk/awards to see the category finalists

T H E P L AN N E R \ MA Y 2 0 1 5

p44_47_RTPI_news.indd 46

24/04/2015 14:46

RTPI Y ACTIVIT E PIPE LIN Current RTPI work – what the institute is doing and how you can help us

RTPI SHORTS

CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINE APPEAL DECISIONS DECEMBER 2014

NEW PROJECT TO DEFINE THE ESSENTIALS OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS FOR RTPI MEMBERS Found yourself in a situation at work when a client is unwilling to pay, or you are questioning how to defend a scheme at appeal? There may be no right or wrong answer, however, a professional planner must maintain the standards required by the RTPI Code of Conduct.

The RTPI is updating its advice on Careers and Professional Development and calls for case studies from members about ethical practice to confidentially inform new guidance on the code proposed for publication this year.

Complaints against chartered members have recently risen and it is therefore important that all advice and support for practitioners remains fit for purpose. n If you would like to contribute please send your examples to ethics@rtpi.org.uk

RESEARCH INTO THE LEARNING AND PRACTICE NEEDS OF PLANNERS The RTPI is evaluating the advice and support it provides to professional planners. This project builds on the RTPI policy and research papers from 2014 and analysis of current training and continuing professional development (CPD).

The objective is for the RTPI to be the first port of call for planning knowledge and skills by signposting guidance documents, templates and relevant examples of professional practice. Colin Haylock, chair of the member working group set up to advise on the priorities for the coming year, said: “It is critical that the profession is equipped with the skills and information on key topics so practitioners show leadership and vision.” n Expect new CPD options over this year. Remember RTPI Learn is free for members to access a range of training modules http://rtpilearn.org.uk/

PLANNING AID ENGLAND HAS PUBLISHED NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANNING RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITY GROUPS Planning Aid England wants your feedback on their suite of neighbourhood planning resources. They are designed to help communities through the neighbourhood planning process.

They are all ‘how to’ resources on practical topics, including: How to project plan, engage with your local planning authority, work with landowners and developers, gather and use evidence and write planning policies. If you have used some or all of the resources and would like to provide some feedback, send it through to info@planningaid.rtpi.org.uk n http://mycommunity.org.uk/programme/neighbourhood-planning/?_ a=resources&_k&_c=neighbourhood-planning&_r&_s=newest

RTPI AWARDS FOR RESEARCH EXCELLENCE The RTPI is relaunching its Awards for Research Excellence (formerly the Education and Lifelong Learning Awards) in 2015. The awards recognise excellence in spatial planning research from RTPI-accredited planning schools.

The RTPI is aiming to raise the profile of the awards and increase the number of applications. The awards emphasise the institute’s role in recognising and promoting high-quality, impactful spatial planning research from accredited planning schools.

In addition to the existing awards for academic staff and student dissertations, there will be two new categories, for early career researchers and impact on policy/public understanding. Contact research@rtpi.org.uk n The awards will be presented at the annual UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference, which this year takes place at London South Bank University on 9 September 2015.

Two consultant members have received warnings for failing to provide written terms of engagement to their client before starting work.

A former local authority member has received a reprimand for allowing a conflict of interest to arise in dealing with planning and enforcement matters associated with his future employer. The member was found to have further breached the code in failing to record pre-application discussions. The panel found that the member’s conduct in respect of both of these matters had brought the profession into disrepute.

FEBRUARY 2015 A consultant member has been found to be in breach of the Code of Professional Conduct in respect of an advertising mailshot that was considered by the Conduct and Discipline Panel to contain flamboyant language and derogatory comparisons with the services of other members.

This breached Annex A3 of the code. The mailshot also failed to advise that the individual’s existing professional adviser should be consulted. The member appealed against the decision of the panel.

The Appeal Committee upheld the panel’s decision and the member was warned as to his future conduct.

MARCH 2015 Two consultant members have been found to be in breach of the Code of Professional Conduct owing to a failure to discharge their duty of due care and diligence towards their client. The panel agreed that the manner in which a decision was made by the consultant members to terminate the instruction with the client – without any pre-warning or prior contact by telephone, email or letter to identify the problems – amounted to a lack of due care. The panel agreed not to impose any penalty because of the mitigating factors surrounding the departure of another member of staff. n For more information contact Sandra Whitehead, RTPI Complaints Investigator sawhitehead@rtpi.org.uk

RTPI A ‘LIVING WAGE’ EMPLOYER The Living Wage Foundation has awarded the RTPI accreditation as a Living Wage employer. The Living Wage commitment will see everyone working for the institute, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers, receive a minimum hourly wage of £7.85 – significantly higher than the national minimum wage of £6.50. Andrew Taylor, chair of the RTPI Board of Trustees said: “I am really pleased that the institute has received this accreditation. The RTPI has a duty of care as an employer and it is good that our stance has now been recognised by an external body.”

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER

p44_47_RTPI_news.indd 47

47

24/04/2015 14:46

ADVERTISEMENTS

Recruitment {

Principal Planner Senior Planners Transport Planner Planner – Maternity cover 12 months Big plans? They’re the biggest in Hampshire. There’s a brand new community of some 6,000 homes, a major employment site and a range of exciting new town centre regeneration opportunities.

Now we need you to help us deliver our ambitious future. So rise to the challenge – and achieve more with us.

To find out more and apply, visit wevegotbigplans.co.uk Closing date: 26th May 2015.

PLAN YOUR NEXT MOVE

on the move • • • •

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

» Go to www.theplanner.co.uk/jobs 48

T H E P L AN N E R \ M A Y 2 0 1 5

PLANNER RECR May15.indd 48

24/04/2015 15:52

ADVERTISEMENTS

Ref: 606

Planning Officer Full time – 37 hours per week Salary £26,292 - £30,978 per annum, plus a benefit allowance of £1797 per annum You will undertake the processing of complex and involved planning applications and appeals making recommendations for approval or refusal and providing professional advice on a range of planning issues, to ensure an efficient and effective planning service to the Borough.

The ideal candidate will have recent experience of development control work in local government and have a good working knowledge of current planning law and procedures.

Please apply via our website at www.hastings.gov.uk/jobs where you can also find the full job description/personal specification.

SENIOR PLANNER JPPC is an established Oxford-based consultancy with a team of 9 planners, working on a wide variety of projects.

Due to an increasing workload, we are seeking to employ an experienced planner to assist in dealing with both development control and strategic planning projects for a broad range of clients. Ideally you will have over 5 years postqualification experience in the public and/or private sector.

The salary is negotiable depending upon experience.

For more information including a job description, please contact us at planning@jppc.co.uk or 01865 326823.

Closing date for applications Friday 22 May 2015.

Closing date: 15/05/2015 at midday Interview date: 22/05/2015

DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Planning and Regulatory Services

Planning Manager Planning Manager £46,535 pa Principal Planner £34,746 pa Senior Planner £29,558 pa 37 hours per week The Planning Service is looking to expand its Development Management Team, particularly in the area of major housing sites and commercial projects. The Council seeks highly motivated individuals to lead on the largest of its housing and commercial applications. You will need to demonstrate a commitment to customer service and an ability to manage not only your own work load, but that of your team.

You will have a flexible and adaptable approach to work and be an excellent team leader with a proven ability to produce well researched and justified planning advice.

Evening working will be a feature of these posts, not only attending and presenting planning applications at Development Control Committee but also parish council and community events.

If you have any queries regarding the role contact Barry Wyatt - Strategic Head of Development Services on 01453 754210.

Benefits include: supportive team environment, a comprehensive training and development programme and commitment to work-life balance including flexi-time.

For full details of the job and to apply visit: www.stroud.gov.uk/jobs Closing date: Monday 18th May 2015 Interview Date: Week Commencing 1 June 2015 We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from people with disabilities, people from ethnic minority groups and people from all sections of the community.

(Development Management) REF: ORK00220 | 35 hours per week | Permanent £39,211 - £42,678 (Including Distant Islands Allowance) Orkney was recently assessed as the best place to live in Scotland – a group of 20 inhabited islands with a strong cultural life and history and archaeology which attract visitors from across the world. It is a cosmopolitan community, which offers a safe environment, excellent educational and recreational facilities, a community spirit and an exceptional quality of life. With greatly improved transport links to the Scottish mainland – more ferry sailings and cheaper subsidised airfares – it’s a lot closer and more accessible than you think. Further information about Orkney can be found at www.orkney.com.

We are looking for an individual to lead and effectively manage the Council’s Development Management team in the delivery and maintenance of all development management and planning control related issues. This is a high profile role and we are looking for a leader who is responsive to customer needs, whilst developing and promoting a team approach across the service. You will also be responsible for your own caseload of planning applications.

For an informal discussion about the above post, please contact: Roddy Mackay, Head of Planning and Regulatory Services on 01856 873535, or email roddy.mackay@orkney.gov.uk Further information is available from, and online applications can be made through www.myjobscotland.gov.uk/orkney Closing date: Friday 29 May 2015

MAY 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER PLANNER RECR May15.indd 49

49

24/04/2015 14:58

INSIGHT

I M AG E S |

MEDIA

S TO R E H O U S E N E T WO R K R A I L

/ SHUTTERSTOCK

Plan B NETWORK #FAIL

50

Engineers ‘uncovered’ it, rail workers ‘came across’ it – but crikey, is that really the sort of language you want to hear in a report about a disused London railway station?

Southwark Park closed more than a century ago, a victim of those newfangled trams. Yet it was only weeks ago, apparently, that it was ‘rediscovered’ by Network Rail staff working on the Thameslink programme in London.

All a bit odd. This is not the Jurassic Age. You shouldn’t have to rely on carbon dating and the careful brushing of archaeological artefacts to pinpoint the foundations of a bloody great brick building; good grief, there was even a codified planning profession when this thing went up!

Plan B is the first to admit he’s lost things in the past – keys down the back of a sofa; wallets in a discarded jacket pocket; all faith in the very concept of localism. But to misplace an entire railway station? Takes some doing, that.

Surely the station’s foundations still exist on an official document somewhere?

And, indeed, it turns out that Network Rail apparently did know the station used to be there, but was, reports say, “unsure about how much of it still existed”. Really? Just like it did in fact know there’d be passenger chaos when it started redevelopment of London Bridge, but was unsure how much it should be bothered to address it?

MOVING TRIBUTE

WHEN THE GOING GETS TURF T H E PA L A C E O F W E S T M I N S T E R I N S U B S TA N T I A L W O R K

Fracking – it’s just so yesterday. Because come on, who is going to need the high-powered hydraulic destruction of underground rocks when we’re all happily extracting gas from grass?

Energy provider Ecotricity tells us that the gasification of grass as variously the ‘antidote to’ and ‘antithesis of’ fracking. It expects its first project to be submitted into planning later this year and is adamant that its ‘Green Gas Mills’ idea is scalable, the grass gas produced representing a carbon-neutral alternative to fracking.

It works as follows: Grass is sourced from marginal land on farms and put through anaerobic digestion to produce biogas that is then purified into biomethane and fed directly into the National Grid. Each ‘Green Gas Mill’ will power 6,000 homes, the company claims.

All excellent, naturally – but as well as harbouring a healthy scepticism surrounding the numbers, Plan B can’t help feeling that an already complex green belt debate might just become more so should the country’s ability to power itself come down to a dramatic increase in pasture.

T H E PL AN N E R \ M A Y 2 0 1 5

p50_Plan B.indd 50

Step forward, North Kesteven District Council for a project shortlisted as an ‘outstanding development’ in this year’s UK Housing Awards.

Thirteen homes in Ruskington, Lincolnshire, have been built with moveable internal walls – partitions that allow the number of bedrooms to be altered from one to two, thus avoiding loss of housing benefit through the bedroom tax. A neat trick, and one with potential.

Flexible space of this kind has possibilities NEED OF beyond the standard home, particularly with office leases under sustained pressure from wary investors/occupiers unable to pinpoint the effects of flexible working on future requirements.

And actuallty, perhaps some moving walls would be just the ticket for the QEII Centre, rumoured temporary home to Parliament while experts work to prevent the Palace of Westminster toppling into the Thames. Plan B reckons there’s got to be scope for temporary partitions to make that idea work for all parties. (We also wonder whether a Parliament removed from Westminster would see the end of all that infantile braying? One can only hope.)

In fact, why stop with moveable partitions? If Parliament can be moveable, let the movement be permanent. A Parliament for the people, of the people, on tour for the people. Birmingham, Norwich, Glasgow, Belfast – cities could even bid to host Parliament and put on celebratory events when it's their turn. Is all of this really so outlandish?

n Dug up another ‘ghost’ railway station? Tweet us - @ThePlanner_RTPI 24/04/2015 16:01

Would you like to be more involved in your institute?

Opportunities available: O

O

Help develop careers by becoming an APC mentor Get involved in policy development work for your local RTPI nation or region and/or join the committee

O

Stand in the annual RTPI elections

O

Volunteer with Planning Aid England

O

Join the Future Planners programme as a school ambassador For more information visit www.rtpi.org.uk/membership/get-involved or email contact@rtpi.org.uk

p51_PLNMay15.indd 2

23/04/2015 14:15

SECTOR INFORMATION GUIDES Throughout 2015 The Planner will be publishing several A5-sized desktop reference supplements. These will be targeted at local authorities, other planners and professionals of all types seeking to get updated quickly on the services of planning consultancies in key sectors from urban regeneration to conservation, transport and major infrastructure. These are annual guides reflecting on the current state of the sector and looking ahead to the activity and events likely to influence the sector over the course of the coming twelve months.

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

›› Heritage ›› Green infrastructure ›› Transport Infrastructure ›› Large Scale Residential The guides will be sent to all RTPI members who receive The Planner magazine

Throughout the guide there will be advertising and advertorial pages for planning consultancies to:

›› Showcase their work via case studies

›› Promote their unique skills ››

and expertise Provide planners with necessary information on their business & why they should work with you.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE A PART OF THESE GUIDES PLEASE CONTACT

LEE ANNE WALSH

LEE ANNE.WALSH@REDACTIVE.CO.UK

URB REGEANNE RATION 2015 SECTO

OR ALTERNATIVELY CALL ON

020 7324 2753

GUIDER PLANNE R

THE

01_Cov

er_PSIG

p52_PLNMay15.indd 2

_Urban

new.ind

d 6

23/04/2015 14:16