NOVEMBER 2016 WHAT SHOULD SCOTTISH PLANNING DELIVER? // p.6 • JAN GEHL: A CAREER PROMOTING LIVEABLE CITIES // p.22 • PROTECTING NIGHT TIME ECONOMIES // p.26 • THE UK’S BIODIVERSITY CRISIS // p.3O • HOW TO BE AN EXPERT // p.38
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
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CONTENTS
PLANNER 11 18
THE
NO VEMBER
20 16
“IF THE CREATIVE ECONOMY HAS SUCH AN IMPORTANTT ROLE TO PLAY IN CITY TY ECONOMIES, S, WHY DON’T WE REFLECT THAT HAT FULLY WITHIN HIN DEVELOPMENT ENT PLANNING?” ?”
NEWS
6 What should the Scottish planning system deliver?
7 Large loan to increase housing supply in NI 8 Party conferences: Spotlight falls on planning
OPINION
9 Politicians optimistic about future of planning
14 Chris Shepley: The constant planner – a confidential briefing
10 The city as experiment – Young Planners’ Conference 2016
16 Ian Wray: How to reboot the Northern Powerhouse
11 New-look development plan for Glasgow on brink of adoption
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16 Dr Pablo Sendra: Can planners design disorder?
FEATURES RES
17 Ron McGill: Learning from Geddes in Kenya
18 !s planning doing enough to support the creative economy? asks Lisa Proudfoot
17 Sarah Payne: What can house builders tell us about building more homes?
22 Jan Gehl chats to David Blackman about creating ‘liveable’ cities 26 Should licensing and planning work together to protect the nighttime economy? asks Mark Smulian 30 The government is delaying a 25-year plan for the environment in light of the EU vote. Huw Morris reports
QUOTE UNQUOTE
“WE NEED A WORLDLEADING PLANNING SYSTEM ACTING AS A MAGNET FOR INVESTMENT” GARRY CLARK, HEAD OF POLICY, SCOTTISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE
C O V E R I L L U S T R A T I O N | R E N E E VA N B A A R
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INSIGHT 34 Decisions in focus: Development decisions, round-up and analysis 38 Career development: Becoming an expert
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40 Legal landscape: Opinion, blogs, and news from the legal side of planning 42 Plan Ahead – our pick of upcoming events for the planning profession and beyond 44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute 50 Plan B: Purl of an idea
50 NO VEMB E R 2 016 / T HE P LANNER
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PLAN UPFRONT
Leaderr No avoiding how demographics change the housing debate – There’s a vivid memory I have of the 1980s. It’s of a radio news feature highlighting the many miracles that would be required of those planning our country’s infrastructure come the year 2000. One particular challenge was road traffic; the UK would, we were told, have double the cars on the road at the turn of the millennium. This projection seemed utterly incredible. The M25 had only just opened, itself a giant infrastructure project built in response to the surging demand for road capacity unchecked since the 1950s. But how on earth could volumes double? What would that possibly look like? The country was already too crowded and there surely wouldn’t be the capacity. Yet double those volumes duly did, and here we all
Martin Read are to tell the tale. The point is that human ingenuity typically wins out whenever there’s a huge new challenge requiring attention; and in the end, the only shock is that it takes years after the fact to realise that the challenge was met. The independent forum, New London Architecture (NLA), recently held an event entitled ‘Housing for the third age’. It cited ONS figures projecting how the 65-and-over age group is set to grow twice as fast as
Baby boomers, Gen X, the millennials – any casual look at the statistics surrounding these age groups would have flagged the issue of accommodation for the old and infirm. Yet it feels as if for some reason it’s a battle being fought anew, as if only just realised. It’s not just a need for new forms of accommodation. There’s also the potential requirement for internal flexibility in these new forms of housing; the financing of all this construction through new models of equity release; and even the need to consider carefully how to bring into to market the many empty rooms in larger houses currently occupied by empty-nesters. What’s more, we’re not just dealing with a ‘third age’ of living any more; our longer lives mean there’s a fourth age, too. There is no question that these intergenerational economics will have a profound effect on the decisions that need to be taken in the years ahead.
the working-age population over the coming 10 years. By 2035, the number of over-60s in London is expected to increase to nearly two million. Why then is the UK’s capital “lagging behind most of the rest of Europe in the variety and quality of housing provision for those later in life?” These are the kind of demographic shifts that, just as those apparently fantastical 1980s traffic forecasts, have been in the pipeline for years. Indeed, the shift in the character of the nation that will result from these shifting age ranges was also being debated back in the Eighties alongside those fanciful traffic forecasts.
“BY 2035, THE NUMBER OF OVER60S IN LONDON IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE TO NEARLY TWO MILLION”
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Average net circulation 19,072 (January-December 2014) © The Planner is published on behalf of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) by Redactive Publishing Ltd (RPL), 17 Britton St, London EC1M 5TP. This magazine aims to include a broad range of opinion about planning issues and articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the RTPI nor should such opinions be relied upon as statements of fact. 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 Southernprint
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NEWS
Analysis { EMPOWERING PLANNING
What should the Scottish planning system deliver? By Laura Edgar Resources – that was the word that came up time and again; local planning authorities in every nation in the UK need to be better resourced. It was also a key message to come out of the RTPI Scotland conference – ‘Empowering Planning, Transforming Places’ in Paisley. Following an independent review of the planning system in Scotland, which recommended that a National Planning Framework should replace strategic development plans, the Scottish Government identified 10 immediate action points and said it would publish a planning white paper. John McNairney, chief planner at the Scottish Government, told the conference that the government hopes it will be ready before Christmas. So what should the Scottish planning system deliver? For planners and a nonplanners speaking at the conference, the standout problem is that local planning authorities are under-resourced. David Stewart, policy lead at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, said the clear suggestion from his members in the submission to the review was that for planning to deliver 50,000 affordable homes, a Scottish Government aspiration, “planning departments need to be properly resourced”. Gary Mappin, director of planning at Iceni, said: “It’s not really an elephant in the room if the elephant is right in bed with you on a daily basis. Resourcing is absolutely key.”
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The system, said Steve Rogers, chair at Heads of Planning Scotland, isn’t broken at the front, but it is “extremely pressured and extremely stretched”. He talked about smart resourcing, something the independent review recommended. “It’s not how much we’ve got but how clever we are at using what we have got.” He listed a number of things planning and planners could do, including: • Working in a far more joined-up way – ensuring that what planners do is integrated with strategic planning elsewhere, such as transport planning. • Better use of technology – to improve community engagement. • Ensuring that the system has the means to fully recover the cost from handling and dealing with planning applications. Garry Clark, head of policy at the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said Scottish planning could be looked at in the wider economic context and it must be
seen as a positive reason to invest in the country. For businesses and inward investors, it must deliver certainty and clear time scales of what will happen, where it will happen, and when that will happen, he added. Planning must be cost-effective and have proper accountability, “but not political interference in decisions”. Chris Oswald, head of policy and communication at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said planning could help to eliminate discrimination. He said: • Ethnic minority families in Scotland are four times more likely to be in an overcrowded house than other groups; • Scotland lacks about 30,000 wheelchair-accessible homes; • In Glasgow, the rate of accessible house building is 30 per year. It will take 130 years to house wheelchair users in the city at this rate; and • 98 per cent of trainees in construction are men. “Planning is integral to a new and better Scotland,” he said, to ensure the future is not segregated and the past not replicated. Elaine Fortheringham, chair of the Scottish Young Planners Network, said that to get the most out of the review, “we need to be precise about what each and every change is going to achieve”. Young planners, she said, need to have confidence and pride in the system if people are going to be attracted to work in the system and stay in it.
I M A G E S | A L A M Y / K AT E H O U G H T O N / G E T T Y
24/10/2016 10:21
PLAN UPFRONT
Javid approves fracking for Lancashire
Large loan to increase housing supply in NI
Communities secretary Sajid Javid has approved Cuadrilla Bowland’s plans for shale gas fracking at its Preston New Road site in Little Plumpton, Lancashire, but withheld permission for exploration works at its Roseacre Wood site.
A shared ownership specialist housing association has raised £65 million through the Bank of Ireland to help build 2,800 homes. Co-Ownership Housing, Northern Ireland’s main shared ownership provider, said that the deal combined with its existing £100 million funding from the Department for Communities it was “one of
The plans were originally tipped for approval by planning officers, but were refused by Lancashire County Council in June 2015 on noise and visual impact grounds. Javid gave consideration to the written ministerial statement (WMS) of September 2015 and its recognition of the “national need to explore and develop shale gas and oil resources in a safe, and sustainable and timely way”. Although Friends of the Earth (FoE) questioned the weight that should be given to the WMS in light of recent climate change agreements, Javid agreed that it was “inappropriate and unhelpful” to speculate as to future changes the government might make to national policy on shale. He gave the WMS full weight, and argued that in light of its support, the emissions likely to arise from the appeal proposals would be “entirely reasonable and justified”. The impact on landscape was also judged to have been mitigated. But Javid withheld permission for the Roseacre Wood exploration works to allow more time for evidence to be submitted on its traffic impacts. FoE campaigners expressed outrage at the approval of these plans, which received “more than 18,000 local objections”. Pat Davies, chair of the Preston New Road Action Group, said: “Westby Parish Council, Fylde Borough Council and Lancashire County Council planning committee all said no to this application. “Dismantling the democratic process to facilitate a dirty fossil fuel industry when only months ago the UK committed to climate change targets in Paris is another example of saying one thing and doing another.” Frack Free Lancashire has launched a crowdfunding campaign for a legal challenge to the approval.
the largest finance deals in Northern Ireland”. The housing association received £100 million in ‘financial transactions capital funding’ (long-term loan funding) earlier this year. The two pots combined will be used to fund construction of 2,800 homes over four years. Paul Givan, minister for communities, said: “This funding complements the £100 million in financial transactions capital funding already provided to Co-Ownership Housing by the [Northern Ireland] Executive and will allow us to assist almost 4,000 families and individuals.” It follows another funding deal in June, in which Choice and Apex housing associations agreed two 25-year loans of £150 million and £130 million each with the European Investment Bank.
Irish Budget boosts housing supply The Irish Budget sets out help for first-time buyers and a 50 per cent increase in expenditure on housing-related policies.
It also introduced a €200 million fund to relieve critical infrastructural blockages and enable the delivery of large-scale housing on key development sites. Additional funding is being provided to An Bord Pleanála to support implementation of fast-track measures to streamline the application process for large residential developments. The Irish Government also plans to spend €319 million on roads and public transport next year as part of an overall €4.5 billion investment in infrastructure. Public expenditure minister Paschal Donohoe said €319 million would be allocated to transport development such as regional and local road improvements in 2017 and would cover the completion of Dublin’s Luas cross-city expansion by the end of next year.
It would also include spending on building and improving roads such as the Gort-to-Tuam route in County Galway, Gorey to Enniscorthy, and the New Ross bypass in County Wexford.
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NEWS
Analysis { PARTY CONFERENCES ROUNDUP
Spotlight falls on planning By Laura Edgar Over the past two months, the political parties have each held their party conferences. Here, The Planner takes a look at the key policies and themes announced by the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Conservatives The Conservative Party Conference took place from the 2-5 October in Birmingham, where communities secretary Sajid Javid said housing is the government’s priority. “Tackling this housing shortfall,” he said, “isn’t about political expediency. It’s a moral duty. And it’s one that falls on all of us.” Javid launched a £3 billion “Home Builders Fund” which was aimed at helping government get more SMEs building, and to allow developers “to build the infrastructure needed to support new housing”. The fund should help to build more than 25,000 homes during this Parliament and 200,000 in the longer term. Other initiatives announced include: b Accelerated construction on public land. This will see the government take land it owns and partner with contractors and investors to “speed up house building”. b The government will create new supply chains using offsite construction. b A packet of measures to encourage urban regeneration and to build on on brownfield land. This includes abandoned shopping centres transformed into new communities and increasing the density of housing around stations. RTPI president Phil Williams said: “Planners are key to delivering this vision. Decades of underinvestment and sidelining of local planning need to be reversed to rebuild communities’ trust in the planning decisions that politicians and planners make in their areas.”
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Labour Speaking in Liverpool, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said a future Labour government would “removed the artificial local borrowing cap and allow councils to borrow against their housing stock”. This one measure alone would allow councils to build an additional 12,000 council homes a year, said Corbyn. Other measures announced include: b Suspend the Right to Buy scheme b Build more than a million homes during the course of a Parliament term, half of which would be social housing. b Invest in construction skills to tackle the skills shortage and train up a generation b Provide necessary infrastructure through its National Investment Bank
Liberal Democrats The Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton saw Baroness Susan Kramer, principal spokesperson on the treasury and economy, stress that putting a roof over everyone’s head is “not just a moral imperative” but also an “economic one”. “We cannot go on building only half of the 150,000 homes we need each year.” “The government must prioritise infrastructure spending – ensuring that future generations have the tools they need to compete.” Kramer called for a £45 billion investment in house building, which she said would be enough to build an additional 150,000 homes a year for five years. This would form part of a wider fund to deliver the infrastructure the country “desperately needs” – on roads, rails, broadband, schools and hospitals. Also debated package of measures for a new green industrial strategy. The party voted narrowly to give fullhearted backing to the HS2 and HS3 high-speed rail projects. Party transport spokesperson Baroness Randerson had said in a motion on transport policy only that the party should be “supportive of HS2 [as a] part of a balanced package of investment across the whole country and
the scheme must be subject to rigorous and ongoing scrutiny to manage costs”. This stance disappointed delegates from northern England, who saw the project as vital to the region’s economic recovery.
Scottish National Party Scottish housing minister Kevin Stewart has said there is a lack of “common sense” in planning decisions. An audience member at a fringe event at the Scottish National Party (SNP) Conference referred to a local planning authority in Aberdeen that refused an application to build affordable homes for key workers as some trees would need to be uprooted to make way for them. Stewart said sometimes “a bit of common sense is not applied” and there is a certain “rigidity” to planning decisions. Nicola Barclay, chief executive at Homes for Scotland, said local authority planners should be allowed to make “more strategic decisions” and “look beyond the policy document sat in front of them”. SNP leader Nicola’s Sturgeon’s keynote speech at the conference discussed the NHS, with the focus set to be on GPs rather than acute care. She said that by the end of this Parliament, the government will “increase spending on primary care services to 11 per cent of the frontline NHS budget”. This means that by 2021, an extra half-a-billion pounds will be invested in GP practices and health centres, added Sturgeon. RTPI Scotland said this demonstrates the importance of planning and how the system should be used to ensure that communities have access to the facilities they need.
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PLAN UPFRONT
Infrastructure is a top priority, say industry professionals at SNP event Securing resources for planning and infrastructure were two of the key themes discussed during a round table at the Scottish National Party (SNP) Conference. Representatives from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Scotland, the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) Scotland, and RTPI Scotland outlined what they thought should be the priorities for planning reform at the round table. Earlier this year, an independent panel published its review of the Scottish planning system, recommending that strategic development plans should be replaced. In response to the review report, the Scottish Government identified 10 immediate actions and said it would publish a planning white paper by the end of the year. Discussions at the round table focused on how attendees and their colleagues could assist the Scottish Government in its plans to further improve and increase effectiveness across Scotland’s planning system. The priorities identified were: b Put infrastructure first; b Secure resources for planning, both finance and skills; b Ensure a plan-led approach; b Take a holistic approach to development; and b Close the implementation gap between planning and delivery on the ground. Hew Edgar, policy manager at RICS Scotland, said: “The ideal outcome now is for the relevant ministers and parliamentary committee members, which will receive a copy of our report, to realise that these priorities can ensure the planning bill is effective in unlocking the sector’s potential to drive growth and sustainable development.” Craig McLaren, director at RTPI Scotland, said the round table highlighted just how much consensus there is between different built environment professions on the changes needed to achieve an “empowered and effective” planning system.
Building in the right places is critical, Tory fringe event is told Planning plays a ‘critical’ role in creating places where homes are well connected to jobs, transport and infrastructure, speakers at an RTPI and Planning Portal fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference agreed. The panel – Waheed Nazir, director at Birmingham City Council; Craig Alsbury, senior director at Bilfinger GVA; Sarah Chilcott, managing director at Planning Portal and Phil Williams, RTPI president – also agreed about planning’s ability to deliver a coordinated approach to growth and place creation. Referencing the RTPI’s Location Of Development report, Alsbury said it needs to be established that homes are built in the right places, close to jobs and supported by
infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and transport. Former communications minister Bob Neill, who chaired the ‘A country that works for everyone – planning’s role’, and Nazir agreed that planning could be used to drive growth and prosperity. Nazir said: “We don’t want to end up with loads of housing but nowhere for people to work.” But the panel cautioned that there are challenges, with resourcing at local authorities top of the list. When Neill asked the 120 audience members how many of them lived in an area with an up-to-date local plan, few raised their hands and many cited resources as a barrier.
Politicians optimistic about future of planning
The panel included Clive Betts, chair of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee and MP for Sheffield South East; Roberta Blackman-Woods, MP for the City of Durham; Alice Bennett, mayoral lead for heritage and Liverpool councillor for Woolton; Sarah Chilcott, managing director, Planning Portal and Stephen Wilkinson, vice president, RTPI. Hosted by former planner turned MP, Helen Hayes, the politicians on the panel agreed that more needed to be done to empower planners, who “have the skills necessary to deliver vibrant communities and prosperous places across the UK”. They discussed how the planning system requires better resourcing and the need for a more positive approach to the profession. Wilkinson told delegates that, "planning is the art of the possible”.
A Labour Party Conference fringe event heard that planning is the “art of the possible”, despite current problems such as the impact of cuts, changes to the system and a lack of public confidence in planning. Speakers at the event talked about a range of issues holding back the profession, including the lack of fee flexibility and the way national policies are created in isolation with poor consultation. However, they also discussed the role planning could play in making a better, fairer society.
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NEWS
Analysis { YOUNG PLANNERS CONFERENCE
The city as experiment – Young Planners’ Conference 2016 By Simon Wicks Change – and the need for planning to adapt to changes in the broader socio-political environment – dominated the Young Planners’ Conference in Belfast from 14-15 October. Titled Planning For Change: Shaping Our Future, the conference considered the prospects for planning to support the creation of smarter, healthier and more socially cohesive cities. At the outset, the RTPI’s vice-president Stephen Wilkinson mounted a defence of planning, beginning a thread of commentary that continued through the event. Citing the failure of the free market to provide affordable housing, the challenges of rapid technological change and the spatial dimensions of poverty, he said these could only be resolved by taking a spatial view of planning and place, and by observing the role of planning as a servant to the public interest. Planners, he asserted “were guardians of local democracy”.
The ‘anti-planning agenda’ At the tail-end of the conference, the institute’s deputy head of policy and research, Mike Harris, launched a vigorous broadside against the interests driving the “anti-planning agenda” and their “fatalistic” view of people, poverty and society. Planning, he said, could work with the private sector to create the conditions for better places, for social transformation and the “emancipation” of people in poverty. There were myriad examples of schemes that had achieved such change, from Gorbals to Hackney Wick. But delegates were also warned of the hurdles planners face to bring progressive planning to wary communities. Our attachment to the car received much of the blame for the historic failure to create people-friendly urban environments. Gehl Architects director Riccardo Marini panned planning that prioritised cars over people.
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“You’re chewing up the countryside until you get your six million [motorway] exits and then you wonder why our health is suffering,” he said. Scotland’s chief architect Ian Gilzean recalled the isolating Wester Hailes development on the outskirts of Edinburgh, a 1970s tower block community with no pavements. Community-led planning here and in Glasgow tenements had seen the principles of sustainable, people-friendly neighbourhoods emerge quite naturally. Technology, too, could transform the relationship between people and place, with mobility a key area for planners to note. Stephen Hilton, director of futures at Bristol City Council, said autonomous vehicles would lead to a reappraisal of how citizens view roads, as well as enabling cities to manage transport in more efficient and, ultimately, healthier ways. Technology could also enable planners to respond to how people actually behave, rather than how models predict. Cities, Hilton said, should be in a “permanent state of beta”. “Smart cities are those that plan to experiment,” he said. “They take risks. We
all have a duty to work out what we need to do differently in order to address the challenges that we are facing. It’s an emerging social contract.”
Future is with you’ The smart city, however, would require new approaches to governance and financing, said Prof Dr Erwin van der Krabben of Raboud University. “In Europe we tell cities the future is with you. But we don’t give them the appropriate financial powers to deal with that.” Devolution, tax-raising powers and a settlement of the respective roles of the private and public sectors in leading change could resolve the conundrum. Even so, we couldn’t say yet what our cities would look like in 20 years’ time. Planning, the final speakers asserted, has the capacity to both unite and divide. Talking of her Belfast home, architect and PhD researcher Aisling Shannon Rusk described a city where division is built into its physical fabric in the form of peace walls. But derelict areas between segregated communities were beginning to come alive with temporary uses, such as community gardens or a “pop-up” container shop. The “meanwhile use” showed the way for planning itself to find solutions to intractable problems through experiment – the city in a state of beta. Patience is a virtue in such circumstances, concluded Northern Ireland Young Planners’ chair Kim Boal. “Change is constant and it’s here,” she said. “Planning for change is hard work and it’s not going to happen overnight.” But, she added: “We have to remember who we are doing this great change for.” n The 2017 RTPI Young Planners’ Conference will take place in Manchester: tinyurl.com/planner1116-ypconference2017
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PLAN UPFRONT
New-look development plan for Glasgow on brink of adoption Glasgow City Council’s executive committee has approved the revised City Development Plan, which is being submitted to Scottish ministers to progress before its formal adoption. This first-of-akind local plan for Scotland’s biggest urban area and most populous settlement sets out a strategy for land use and development over the next 10 years, when some 25,000 new homes are needed. The city is expecting a 28 per cent rise in households over the next 25 years. Glasgow has reversed decades of population loss, hitting a low of 578,000 in 2001, rising to the current 606,000. It is forecast to reach more than 670,000 in the next 20 years. The plan sets out broad objectives in
terms of attracting and sustaining appropriate development. The document is supported by a slew of supplementary guidance, including on: placemaking; design and economic development. Once ministers sign it off, the document will replace City Plan 2 as the statutory development blueprint for Glasgow. The planning reporter who chaired the inquiry into the plan recommended an early review to consider (a) the provision of a sufficient supply of land for housing in the first five years of the plan, particularly in the affordable sector, and (b) to complete a comprehensive review of the city’s economic development areas to establish the appropriate policy context for the future.
Habitat III: Built environment groups launch advisory group for humanitarian action The RTPI, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), and the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) have joined together to form the UK’s first advisory group on built environment issues within a global humanitarian context. The group was launched at an event at Habitat III, the United Nations Conference on housing and sustainable urban development in Quito, Ecuador. The UK Built Environment Advisory Group (UKBEAG) aims to bring together the collective expertise of these three institutes and their members to support a range of humanitarian and development partners, including UK and international government, in preparing to respond to crises such as flooding, droughts, earthquakes and conflicts. It is hoped that their skills in sustainable development, planning, infrastructure, architecture, structural engineering and project management will provide critical expertise, remotely or in the field. I M AG E | I STO C K
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The UKBEAG will offer support to the UK’s Department for International Development and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, together with associated humanitarian agencies. Phil Williams, president of the RTPI, said: “As towns and cities around the world experience ever-increasing pressure from growing populations and climate change, it is all the more important that urban planning expertise and training is shared to help communities become more resilient against man-made and natural crises. “The RTPI represents some of the most experienced planners in the UK and worldwide and is proud to have co-founded the UKBEAG to enable our members to get involved in humanitarian work to help communities and aid agencies.” n More information can be found here: www.ukbeag.org
Welsh infrastructure commission takes shape The Welsh Government has begun consulting on establishing a National Infrastructure Commission for Wales. This new body is set to be up and running in the next 12 months and is intended to inform and strengthen decision-making on major projects in Wales. It will provide technical expert advice on decisions on all economic and environmental infrastructure in the country including energy, transport, water and sewerage, drainage, digital communications and flood management. An annual report on its work will be published, with the body also planning to undertake individual commissioned projects. It will also work alongside the UK infrastructure commission, made permanent in October, where responsibilities interact. However, the Wales Infrastructure Investment Plan will continue to be set by the Welsh Government, informed by the work of the new commission. The idea of a Welsh infrastructure commission was a Plaid Cymru pledge backed by Labour in a post-election deal. The nationalist party has insisted that without borrowing powers, the new body would be a “missed opportunity”.
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24/10/2016 10:23
CORRESPONDENCE
I Inbox
YOUR NEWS, VIEWS AND QUESTIONS
Two minutes with Christopher Swan
CHRIS SWAN is a landscape architect with ERZ studio in Glasgow. He’s also an accomplished landscape photographer with a passion for the Highlands and Islands, and has recently published his first book, Harris In The Spring
which show the landscape at its best. However, on a personal level, it’s about understanding the landscape. I think it’s vital that landscape photographers know the landscape they are photographing and don’t just race around bagging images. For me, that means researching the processes, both natural and human, that have shaped that landscape – understanding the reasons why it looks the way it does, the history of it and the pressures it faces currently.” Why has Harris in the Outer Hebrides particularly inspired you? “Something about Harris speaks to me. When I’m not there I find myself thinking of it like no other place I’ve been before. There is just something really special and elemental about Harris. On my last trip in April I was blessed with some amazing light and conditions, and it’s images made on this trip which feature in my book.” How does your photography tie in with your professional work? “Obviously it can be used for promotional work –
How did you get into landscape photography? “Something about the Highland landscape always captivated me. I can vividly remember craning my neck to look at the mountains as we passed through places like Glencoe [on family holidays] and poring over maps. This love of the Highlands led me to spend more time among the hills when I returned to Scotland to study landscape architecture. The urge to document these landscapes became a focus for me.” Is there an ethos behind your work? “The purpose is to make beautiful, dramatic images
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I photograph all of our completed projects and document the construction process. There are other benefits, the main one being utilising the composition techniques I use in my photography as I’ve found that aspects of what makes a successful landscape photograph can also help in creating a successful space.” What role does planning have to play in protecting and enhancing the landscapes you photograph? “The areas I visit are often quite desolate, and there is a trend of young people moving away due to the lack of jobs and affordable housing. A dramatic, empty landscape makes for interesting photos, but the villages and towns in these areas need to be thriving places. “I worked with planners from Argyll and Bute Council on a large landscape capacity study which covered sensitive areas and found it immensely rewarding. Identifying where development can fit into the landscape without detracting from it is key to developing these areas in a sensitive and appropriate way. I think collaborative working between planners and landscape architects is immensely beneficial. “Much of what we think of as natural land is unnatural – the hillsides shouldn't be bare, yet due to deforestation and the huge deer population many glens are devoid of trees. I would definitely like to see rewilding become more prevalent as a way to improve the environment of the Highlands.” n http://christopherswan. co.uk/ n Harris In The Spring is available from Kozu Books: tinyurl.com/planner1116Harrisspring n Read the full version of this interview at tinyurl.com/ planner1116-ChrisSwan
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19/10/2016 10:42
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Start your journey today: online.ntu.ac.uk/planner NO VE MB ER 2 0 16 / THE PLA NNER
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21/10/2016 12:01
CHRIS SHEPLEY
O Opinion The constant planner: a confidential briefing They met in secret. Elaborate security measures had been developed over the past few months, and a series of safe houses established across the country. As outsiders, of course, it was necessary for them to stay under the radar, and The Planner is fortunate to have been allowed to witness a gathering in a remote country cottage, which has since been demolished, somewhere in the SouthWest. An ever-changing system of passwords and codes has so far baffled MI5, and even on the dark web all references to the group are forbidden to frustrate GCHQ’s search for clues. Your reporter was blindfolded as he was driven along country lanes in Devon, or possibly Somerset, or Dorset, for several hours before arriving at the meeting. It was obvious that these people were scared. Once treated with respect, they now shrank in their chairs, diminished, withdrawn – outcasts without cause, pariahs without reason. For they were experts. People who had knowledge. People who still saw purpose in facts. People who understood things and who, at one time, had used their accumulated wisdom to advise the grandest in the land. Now, far from the hallowed halls of Marsham Street, they were grovelling for survival in rural squalor. Knowing that readers of The Planner are well used to dealing with confidential information, I was allowed to report discreetly on their discussion, but of course I must ask the reader not to
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“FOR THEY WERE EXPERTS. PEOPLE WHO HAD KNOWLEDGE. PEOPLE WHO STILL SAW PURPOSE IN FACTS” pass on any of the details. Professor [redacted], who masterminds the group, sought to rally the troops. In introduction, he or she noted that the new prime minister had, on one recent occasion, made use of a fact. This was the first such case since that Mr Gove had said the country had had enough of experts, and possibly the first since about 2013. From such acorns mighty oaks might grow. The main topic on the agenda was strategic planning, and Dr Incognito presented a paper about
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the Olympic Games, which had been held earlier in the year. If the media were to be believed, GB had done very well at these games, and had medalled furiously. Furthermore, this had been the direct result of a strategy that had been in place since 1996. It had been based on analysis and information, and applied with determination, consistency and a focus on outcomes. It had not been the subject of continuous alteration, or damaged by random initiatives, political manoeuvres and gimmicks. Dr Incognito posited that, nil desperandum and sine qua non, if such a strategic approach – maintained over a period of years – could work for athletics it might also work for things like housing, transport or energy. This was received with considerable enthusiasm.
It was noted that the British had once been world leaders at strategic planning, and that it would probably be at least as easy to prepare a housing strategy as to win a gold medal at gymnastics - and surely no more difficult to decide on HS2 or Heathrow than to achieve world domination in cycling. A sliver of optimism crept into the room, but Professor [redacted] warned against the onset of euphoria. The world was still wedded to posttruth decision-making, the extermination of inconvenient evidence, and governance by hunch and prejudice. We must move forward carefully. They left singly, watchful, vigilant, edgy, but not without hope. As your reporter replaced placed his blindfold for the long journey back to the real world, he wondered anew at the e way government, society, and the media had moved so rapidly dly from thought to guesswork rk and from fact to supposition ion in decision-making. But if they hey could so readily do that, maybe they could equally readily y switch back, so that experts rts could return safely to the public gaze.
Chris Shepley is the principal cipal nd of Chris Shepley Planning and ector former Chief Planning Inspector
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24/10/2016 10:25
Quote unquote FROM THE RTPI AND THE WEB “Planners need to articulate to communities and place leaders how they can add value” JOHN MCNAIRNEY, CHIEF PLANNER, SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT
“We are a city-based world now. That’s not going to change. People are not going to decide to move back to the countryside” MARY KEELING, GLOBAL PROGRAM DIRECTOR ECONOMIC ANALYSIS, GLOBAL GOVERNMENT STRATEGY, IBM
“Healthca “Healthcare systems ar are important but they cann cannot create health. They can only deal w with the health problems pro that arises arises”
“All roads often lead back to planning” GARY MAPPIN, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING, ICENI
“We need a world leading planning system acting as a magnet for investment” GARRY CLARK, HEAD OF POLICY, SCOTTISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE
JONNA MONAGHAN, MONAG HEALTH AND WELLBEING MANAGER, BELFAST BE HEALTHY CITI CITIES
“The wave of hype and euphoria about the smart city will pass and will turn tu into something else, such as computers that are embedded inside of ourselves. Computational medicine will be the next w wave, or something similar” MICHAEL BAT BATTY, BARTLETT PROFESSOR OF PLANNING, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
I M AG E S | S H U T T E RSTO C K / I STO C K
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B E S T O F T H E B LO G S
O Opinion
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Ian Wray is chair of the TCPA’s urban policy group and a visiting professor and fellow at Liverpool University
Does George Ge Osborne’s departure ssignal the end of his Northern Powerhouse plan? In some ways it might. Civil servants face an immense task in unscrambling laws and delivering a smooth exit from the EU. There won’t be much capacity in the government machine. And if there is a recession in the offing, tax revenues will fall. But the new architecture for Northern governance Osborne set in motion should continue to unfold. Theresa May’s chief of staff, Nick Timothy, is clearly exercised about the future of all the cities and former industrial towns. ‘Industrial strategy’ is back. We could soon have new metropolitan mayors in the North whose combined mandate, in terms of voting populations, will be huge. It is a safe bet that these metro mayors will look for a common agenda. And we have Transport for the North, a new statutory body with important responsibilities. So can we reboot the Northern Powerhouse idea to make better use of the available resources? I’d suggest a five-point plan: First, invest in transport, but put on hold the grand projects that have captivated some politicians. There’s no immediate need for new rail and road tunnels under the Pennines. Finish the rail electrification and upgrading between Liverpool and Leeds. There’s no need for a new ‘HS3’.
Dr Pablo Sendra is a lecturer in planning and urban design at the Bartlett School of Planning
Can planners design disorder?
How to reboot the Northern Powerhouse
Instead, create something more like the London Overground, where existing facilities are linked, upgraded and rebranded. Second, think again about the Northern science agenda. Tackle the North/South imbalance in science investment in a costeffective way. Why not ask each Russell Group University in the North to identify its single strongest research department? Create three new professorial posts in each, with salaries at double the current level to attract the best candidates in the world (and thus the best PhD students). Third, take a leaf out of the American book and support the creation of a long-term planning body for the North as a whole, led and largely funded by the private sector, with a small but expert team and an independent board of trustees. Fourth, take implementation seriously for the whole North, not just the big cities. Create a new Government Office for the North, similar to the former Scottish or Welsh Offices. Fifth, establish a Northern Investment Bank with the ability to create municipal bonds for investment in infrastructure and in fast-growing local firms, rebuilding the banking infrastructure the North has lost over 40 years. This would not be a charitable outfit. It would look for investment projects that make a real return, in dollars and cents.
“TAKE A LEAF OUT OF THE AMERICAN BOOK AND SUPPORT THE CREATION OF A NEW LONGTERM PLANNING BODY FOR THE NORTH”
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po Is it possible to design urban spaces tthat encourage informality and unplanned activities? One of the main issues with this question is its contradictory nature; urban designers have the ambition of shaping human behaviour through their designs, which results in introducing order and control in urban places. The 20th century and the start of the 21st have seen urban renewal schemes that try to remove disorder from cities., ranging from slum clearances and construction of modernist housing estates post-war, to recent renewal schemes in social housing that build on Oscar Newman’s ‘defensible space’ principles to provide safer and more controlled urban areas, removing any space that could lead to antisocial behaviour. But removing disorder from urban environments can result in overplanned places with no vitality that disencourage social interaction or spontaneous activities. Sociologist Richard Sennett, in his first book The Uses Of Disorder (1970), said “certain kinds of disorder need to be increased in city life”, so people become more tolerant of difference and are better prepared to face the unexpected. He criticised modern planning for creating over-rigid environments. Today such schemes still aim to remove disorder from neighbourhoods. My research recently published
in the Journal Of Urban Design proposes taking Sennett’s notion of positive disorder into urban design. Rather than trying to plan those places where informality is already happening, my research focuses on introducing disorder in over-rigid environments such as modernist social housing areas. It proposes designing ‘infrastructures for disorder’ – urban design interventions in the public space of social housing neighbourhoods that create conditions for the unplanned use of the public realm and foster social interaction to encourage actions from the bottom up. Some estates may not have an appropriate context for these types of bottom-up urban actions to take place and initial interventions might be vital to motivate them. Urban design should encourage stronger relationships between people and their surroundings. To propose the strategies, the paper uses common terms from architectural and urban design practice – surface, section and process. While the strategies on the surface and section look at how people interact with the materiality and spatiality of the public space, strategies on the process explore how to build a public realm where the final output is the result of people’s actions and experiences. Dr Pablo Sendra was shortlisted for the Early Career Researcher Award in 2016’s RTPI Research Awards
“REMOVING DISORDER FROM URBAN ENVIRONMENTS CAN RESULT IN OVERPLANNED PLACES WITH NO VITALITY”
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Have your say Would you like to see yourself in these pages? Get in touch by email – editorial@theplanner.co.uk Topical, inspirational, angry or amusing – we consider all relevant comment
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Ron McGill is special adviser to the Kenya Municipal Programme
Dr Sarah Payne is a teacher in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of Sheffield
What can house builders tell us about building more homes?
Learning from Geddes in Kenya
I recently recentl discovered Biopolis: Patrick Geddes And The City Of Life Life, a work replete with the aesthetic, spiritual and knowledge-seeking advocacy of Patrick Geddes, the pioneering Scottish-born planner. I considered how his legacy might apply to my engagement in the Kenya Municipal Programme (KMP). What are Kenya’s urban challenges, and is the prospect of relating the ‘legacy’ to the ‘challenges’, meaningful? Geddes insisted on ‘survey before plan’. He pleaded for understanding of the place to be planned before planning and advocated minimalist interventions and practised ‘conservative surgery’ in medieval Edinburgh (Old Town). He advocated town planning exhibitions – his notion of ‘civics’ – as a process of permanent engagement with citizens. He did a great deal of his work in India and Palestine. He was an internationalist. Kenya’s urban problems are huge. Since the new constitution became active in 2013, county governments have become the drivers of local development: 45 of the 47 county government capitals (excluding Nairobi and Mombasa) are growing more rapidly than these two ‘conurbations’, another Geddesian word. The World Bank says 60 per cent of the urban population lives in areas that would be defined as slums under Millennium Devel-
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opment Goal criteria. Buildings collapse during heavy rain, killing people. Others simply drown. Urban violence erupts when, for example, external terrorists destroyed the Westgate shopping mall in 2014, murdering 67 people. Yet already, Westgate has been rebuilt and is working well, a testament to Kenya’s people and their economic resilience. Moving from legacy to challenges, what is applicable? • Survey before plan. In the past two years, nine new town plans have been prepared, with three more in hand. All have a strong GIS foundation in their surveys; thus the spatial challenges emerge from the start. Town plans are submitted but adoption and implementation remain weak. • Development control (DC). The estimate is that only 30 per cent of buildings succumb to DC, perhaps explaining why superstructure collapses during heavy rains. Yet government’s caring approach to informal locations renewal is commendable. • Civics. Here, Geddes’ legacy is even more exciting. Planning exhibitions are being proposed for each completed town plan. It is public engagement and the local translation of survey data feeding into a proposed National Urban Observatory, as KMP is exploring the idea of an observatory with the Institute for Future Cities at Strathclyde University.
“GEDDES PLEADED FOR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PLACE TO BE PLANNED BEFORE PLANNING”
The supp supply of homes is one of the biggest political and societal challenges we face. Government policies have sought to address chronic housing undersupply by stimulating demand (e.g. Help to Buy) and are based on the old expectation that supply will respond accordingly. Yet we know little about how the house builders operate, much less the constraints they face in responding to demand-led policy stimulus in and out of recession. My research, published in early 2016, sought to look beyond the common quantitative indicators of business performance, profit, margin and turnover to examine in detail how the recent recession and recovery cycle affected the behaviours and motivations of our biggest builders. What limits or stimulates house building as Britain moves out of recession? I found house builders’ recovery behaviours focused on efficient capital return and the shrewd management of cash flow rather than volume output. They employed significantly greater caution and due diligence in identifying and buying land and focused on prime locations/traditional products, where resilient sales prices provided confidence and predictability. Prospects for growing output centred on increasing the
number of outlets/sites rather than speeding up build-out rates. The planning problems house builders face stem from a lack of resources to support house building. They saw big procedural delays in gaining planning permission and discharging pre-commencement conditions, which affected their capacity to speed delivery. But house builders alone will not be able to build the volume to meet housing supply needs – a better resourced planning system is necessary. The following recommendations should help overcome the supply obstacles I identified. • Increase the funding to local authority planning departments and consider requiring a minimum number of local planners relative to the housing need in the local plan. • Require local authorities to consider a range of housing sites of all sizes – and discourage the use of only very large housing sites. • Consider giving local authorities ‘use it or lose it’ powers for mothballed permissioned sites to open up opportunities for SME builders. Sarah’s research was shortlisted for the RTPI early career researcher award. Read her report in full at tinyurl.com/ planner1116-housebuilders
“THE PLANNING PROBLEMS HOUSE BUILDERS FACE STEM FROM A LACK OF RESOURCES TO SUPPORT HOUSE BUILDING”
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P L A N N I N G F O R C R E AT I V E S P A C E S
THE CREATIVE SECTORS ARE KNOWN TO STIMULATE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND MAKE NEIGHBOURHOODS VIBRANT, ATTRACTIVE AND ‘LIVEABLE’. BUT IS THE PLANNING SYSTEM DOING ENOUGH TO SUPPORT THE CREATIVE ECONOMY? ASKS LISA PROUDFOOT
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reativity surrounds us. It’s in the music we listen to, the art we enjoy, the clothes we wear, the places we live in and visit, and much of their contents, too. The products of creativity such as these do, in some ways, moderate the way we experience the world. Their production and consumption underpin the ‘creative economy’, the business that surrounds, supports and gains from this creative activity. The so-called creative industries – those with a specific cultural dimension – alone are worth
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about £84 billion to the UK. This includes sectors such as advertising and architecture, as well as arts and crafts, design and fashion, video games, music, performance and publishing. But we might also extend the term ‘creative industries’ to include any enterprises that are dynamic, innovative and have economic potential. After all, creative thinking in all industries is the foundation of innovation – and innovation, above all, drives economic growth in the early 21st century. Wherever we draw the boundaries around the creative economy, we don’t need to search far for evidence that creativity, creative thinking and ideas have economic value. We need only look at the world around us. But what’s the relationship between the creative economy, planning and development? Are we planning in a way that gives a platform on which creative activity can take place? Cities are changing. Globalisation is pulling cities away from their function as service providers and turning them into hubs for entrepreneurialism. As cities create new spatial planning objectives with a focus on global competition, place marketing and cultural consumption, the language is changing, too. Now we talk about city marketing, growth, inward investment.
Creativity in plans Cultural and creative policies are becoming central elements in restructuring the economic base of cities. Increasingly, urban centres recognise that if they want to remain competitive and entrepreneurial, they need to put in place the right conditions for creativity and innovation. If the creative economy has such an important
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The creative economy in figures
£84.1 BILLION
value of creative industries to the UK economy
£9.6
MILLION per hour – generated by the creative sector
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role to play in city economies, why don’t we Planning is for people and place, and reflect that fully within development planning? in the case of integrating the cultural and Recent research I conducted in Scotland creative economy into development planning, suggests that development plans pay little measures need to be taken to establish a heed to the requirements of the creative creative society capable of driving forward economy – and that planners art, culture and creativity. and economists don’t talk to each The future prosperity of the “CULTURAL other much. urban environment will be largely AND CREATIVE One could argue that our dependent on how resources, POLICIES ARE romantic ideas about creativity and creative talent BECOMING CENTRAL knowledge as a free-flowing process are are harnessed throughout ELEMENTS IN intellectually incompatible with development planning to drive RESTRUCTURING the rigid and disciplined nature this innovation and creativity. THE ECONOMIC of development planning and so Put simply, we need to plan for BASE OF CITIES” there is a sympathy gap in play creativity. here. Or you may feel that you However, there is scope to be can’t ‘plan’ for imagination and more creative within planning, spontaneity. too. Much of improving the I would argue that we planning system is about can – and should – plan and build urban recognising opportunities to collaborate environments that advance our creative across creative disciplines. The accelerating competitiveness by developing spaces where growth within the creative sector stresses the people can further their creative skills, need to understand how the pieces of the and that attract culture and design-related planning puzzle fit together, and where the investment. creative economy might interject.
The creative sector is growing at twice the rate of the UK economy as a whole
HOW TO PLAN FOR CREATIVITY
2.5
MILLION people employed within the creative industries in the UK. This is more than in financial services, manufacturing or construction. In 2015 the creative industries accounted for 5.8 per cent of UK jobs and the creative economy accounted for 9 per cent of UK jobs.
X4 Growth of the creative workforce, compared with the workforce as a whole
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Is there a case that planning for creative spaces generates more economic benefits over the longer term? Creativity is truly a limitless resource. We need only encourage people to be innovative, imaginative and inspiring. Why shouldn’t we use this to our full advantage, by injecting creativity into the forefront of planning and development? So why aren’t we doing this routinely? Development plans are produced in a certain way where questions arise over the limitations in embracing new topics into the planning programme. Perhaps it is a case of promoting a more reactive system that can respond to ‘live’ information. How do you sell that case to local authorities and developers? The creative industries have already proved to be powerful drivers in regeneration, and often lead to new and exciting ideas. As we’ve seen, creative industries have a large monetary value.
But they also have a strong social value. Hubs of creative industries tend to stimulate networks of related business such as cafés and bars, studios, retail for materials, teaching centres and so on. Does the planning system have to change? Policy tools need to be in place to embrace innovation. In particular, digital networks will support the future of the creative sector to tackle the barriers to technology and its use, as the world continues to develop in different ways. What can we do next? Much more can be done for the UK to realise the full potential of the creative industries. Perhaps we need to develop a more strategic anticipatory approach to the creative industries by offering more opportunities for creative potential. We can plan for creativity by inspiring the next generation.
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P L A N N I N G F O R C R E AT I V E S P A C E S
DUNDEE, CITY OF DESIGN Dundee, like many cities, is postindustrial and has seen a dramatic shift in its traditional industries of jute, jam and journalism towards the three Ts – technology, telecommunications and tourism. In 2014 Dundee was rewarded for its policy of using culture and creativity as drivers of social and economic regeneration with the UK’s first UNESCO City of Design designation. The title recognises both historic contributions to design innovation (such as The Beano comic and the aspirin), as well as more recent developments. Most notable of these is the V&A Museum of Design with the continuing waterfront regeneration. But the city’s thriving digital media industry has also given rise to landmark video games such as Grand Theft Auto. Creative industries are specifically recognised as a growth sector in the city’s economic strategy and action plan. Beyond this, Dundee also has a cultural strategy that brings together the cultural, community, academic, private and public sectors to jointly shape the city’s cultural vision for the next decade. This acknowledges the “importance of culture and the ability of our citizens’ creativity to shape their community for the better”. There is recognition within Dundee that its universities’ regular output of graduates in creative disciplines, together with the established creative industries in the city and the ongoing fostering of new entrants to the sector, should put Scotland’s fourthlargest city in a position to continue to lead by example. The opportunities created by encouraging an active creative economy are vast. The tourism potential, the creation of wealth and jobs, and the lifestyle it can offer, are essential in making cities like Dundee more dynamic, vibrant and exciting places to live, work and visit. www.dundeecityofdesign.com
Cultural and creative industries in development planning: The Scottish Perspective In my degree research into planning for culture and creativity, I found a clear international drive to develop the cultural and creative sectors to: • Stimulate sustainable economic growth; • Promote city image; and • To develop creative skills. But I was interested in whether the international picture was reflected in Scotland and whether the plan-led system was producing plans that recognised the role that the creative industry could play in regeneration and growth. My survey of 32 local development plans found that they focused on mainstream planning matters, such as housing, making little mention of culture. Why? Perhaps there is a limit to the degree to which a development plan can allocate land for creative and/or cultural uses, particularly if planning is separate from cultural policymaking. More generally, development plans do seek to promote sustainable economic growth and would so loosely encourage proposals for creative and cultural activity. But, having seen the impact of Dundee’s cultural strategy, I think there is a case for a full embrace of the creative sector within planning. The case is supported by the Scottish government’s recognition of the value of the creative economy nationally. Unfortunately, such recognition is only intermittent locally. Is the problem here local policymaking, or is the planning system itself acting as a barrier to the creative industries? Certainly, the rigid process of creating a development plan is itself antithetical to what we traditionally think of as creativity. To what extent is this difference in mindsets part of the problem? Perhaps we need to develop more creative approaches to planning itself as the starting point for unlocking the creative potential of our communities and helping the creative industries systematically contribute to local and national economies. One clue as to how we might produce a greater emphasis on culture and creativity in local development plans is given by the recent independent review of the Scottish planning system. This suggests that we pioneer new ways of working and make greater use of emerging technology to help us judge whether plans are fit for purpose, future-proofed and more focused on place and less on policy. Virtual reality, among other 3D tools, IT and mobile app technology could help move development plans into the future. For example, many people find it much easier to understand a plan from 3D modelling than from written documents. It follows, too, that to embrace innovation we need to collaborate with other sectors. Establishing a closer relationship between planning and the creative industries can only aid us in our quest for sustainable economic growth and creative, strong communities. Lisa Proudfoot is a graduate planner at Montagu Evans. She was awarded the 2014-15 RTPI student prize for her studies at the University of Dundee – in particular for her research into planning for creativity
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INTERVIEW JAN GEHL
CITY HEART OF THE AS HE PASSES HIS 80TH BIRTHDAY, THE RENOWNED ARCHITECT AND URBAN DESIGNER JAN GEHL CHATS TO DAVID BLACKMAN ABOUT A LIFE AND CAREER DEVOTED TO SPREADING THE GOSPEL OF ‘LIVEABLE’ CITIES
Jan Gehl is clearly fond of Britain. The godfather of the urban design movement, speaking to The Planner from his Copenhagen home, peppers his conversation with English catchphrases. But that affection doesn’t extend to our traffic engineers. “The worst traffic engineers in the world were from Britain; Britain is ruled by traffic engineers,” he snorts. It doesn’t help that in his view the influence of British traffic engineering extends across the nation’s erstwhile empire. Half tongue-in-cheek, he says: “Everywhere British engineers have been – New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Malaysia – all sport the same good ideas to make the cars happy.” Making people happy rather than cars is the hallmark of Gehl’s now hugely influential theories of urban design. Yet, when training in the
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1950s, the young Danish architecture student didn’t question the then-dominant school of Modernism. “We learned how wonderful Modernism was and about buildings standing apart,” he recalls. It was a far cry from his later focus on dense, intimate streetscapes penetrating cities designed around the experience of walking, rather than driving. The change in thinking came after Gehl graduated in 1960 and married his psychologist wife Inge. At gatherings of their two groups of friends, Gehl remembers he and his fellow architects were “constantly reproached for not being interested in people”. This fostered a “humanistic undercurrent”, which remains central to his thinking about the built environment. “I was incensed by the way people were treated in the new modernistic housing areas and spread out suburbs,” he explains. “I was also incensed by the way traffic engineers treated people worldwide to keep the cars happy.” After graduating, he and Inge took a trip to Italy to investigate how people used piazzas. The writing of US urbanist and activist Jane Jacobs helped to crystallise Gehl’s vision of a city built for the needs of pedestrians and cyclists.
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“They [the Grosvenor Estate] didn’t accept lousy standards in the space between the buildings, which was worth its weight in gold”
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INTERVIEW JAN GEHL
By the mid-60s, his own writing on the importance of the spaces between buildings had attracted sufficient attention for Copenhagen University to invite him to join their staff. He stayed for 40 years, while building a private practice to implement his ideas.
Life between buildings
“[Edinburgh], the most beautiful city in the world, is still very much dominated by traffic engineers”
One of Gehl’s books lists 16 ideas that ‘make cars happy’ and undermine people’s quality of life. The list includes such common road network features as one-way streets, underground tunnels, overpasses and even light-controlled street crossings. Characteristically, he expresses his outrage at “the fact that you have to punch a button to get on the street” which, he says, “should be a human right, not something that you have to apply for”. The Dane’s particular bête noire remains what he terms the “extremely technocratic” discipline of traffic engineering. “They know nothing about how places are used and how people move about and how it influences their quality of life.” Although we think of him now as a superstar urban designer, Gehl’s reputation was slow to spread. The first countries to take an interest in his ideas were Holland and Norway. It took 16 years for his first work (Life Between Buildings, 1971) to be published in the USA. Now, he says, it is “selling like hot cakes”. The popularity of Gehl’s ideas has been buoyed by mounting concerns about environmental sustainability and public health, both of which can be addressed through his vision of cities that prioritise the needs of cyclists
C V
HIG HL IG HT S
J A N G E HL Born: 17 September 1936, Copenhagen, Denmark Education: Masters of Architecture, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts 1960 Timeline:
196066
1993
Practising as architect
Awarded Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize by the International Union of Architects
1966 Research position, School of Architecture, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
1971 Appointed a lecturer and publishes the influential Life Between Buildings
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19942010 Public Life studies for the city centres of Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Hobart
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1998 2006 Professor and director of Copenhagen’s Center for Public Space Research
2000 Founding partner, Gehl Architects
2004 Public realm study for London, commissioned by Central London Partnership and Transport for London
2007 Hired by New York City’s Department of Transportation to improve New York City’s streets for pedestrians and cyclists
2010 Publishes Cities For People Numerous other city projects, awards, distinctions, exhibitions, films, publications and visiting professorships
and pedestrians. “If you want liveability, it’s a very good way to have a sustainable and healthy city,” he says. “Some of the books say that a new branch of city planning has emerged. From protests against modernism, it has become a new way of city planning which is more liveable, more sustainable and more healthy.” Nevertheless, he admits that he is frustrated that he has not been able to achieve more in the UK, where Gehl’s highest-profile involvement was advising Ken Livingstone following a public realm study in 2004. The relationship that he forged with the former Mayor of London and his chief architectural adviser Lord Rogers petered out in 2008 when Boris Johnson took over at City Hall. However, getting anything done wasn’t helped by the capital’s fragmented governance, and Gehl reserves particularly tart comment for the body he describes as “Transport Against London”. In the end, he says, his vision for London is been most fully represented in Mayfair by the Grosvenor Estate. “They didn’t accept lousy standards in the space between the buildings, which was worth its weight in gold.”
Miracle down under Gehl didn’t have a much happier time in Edinburgh, where he worked with the city council on a public realm strategy for the city centre. “Nothing much has come out of that,” he says. “Cars are still trundling up and down Princes
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Garden. The former mayor is, like Adams and Newman, another example of the “strong, visionary leaders” that Gehl credits for the success of such projects. Now Gehl is working even farther afield, spreading his gospel of liveable environments to places like Shanghai, Tokyo, and the Kazakh capital Astana.
Beyond peak car
Street and this fantastic city, the most beautiful city in the world, is still very much dominated by traffic engineers.” He is generally scathing about British cities, “Long ago, the car none of which feature in his mental checklist of proved that it’s not a wonderful places that have turned themselves around to technology. Even become more liveable places. in cities with one Australia and New Zealand, on the other hand, million population, have embraced his ideas with gusto, and Gehl is it’s not the best we can do” particularly proud of his interventions in Perth. When he began working in the West Australian capital 20 years ago, the city had a well-deserved reputation as what he calls “dullsville”, dominated by freeways. But over the past two decades this archetypal motor city has been transformed, thanks in large part to Gehl’s recommendations. “A miracle has happened,” he declares, describing how Perth’s waterfront on the Swan River has been reclaimed from the freeway that once separated it from the city centre. The cycle paths and restaurants that made the suburb of Northbridge a bohemian enclave have now spread into the city centre. Over the past 25 years, the population of what Aussies refer to as Perth’s CBD (central business district) has increased 27-fold. Pivotal to these transformations was city planner Peter Newman, who worked in the background and “quietly pushed the state government and the city towards more sustainable and people-friendly solutions”. Gehl has also worked extensively in Sydney, Christchurch, and Melbourne, which regularly vies with Copenhagen for the label of world’s most liveable city. Following his success in the Antipodes, Gehl was invited to work in New York City by then mayor Michael Bloomberg to create a network of bike lanes and to improve the quality of public spaces like Madison Square
Making cities more cycle and pedestrian-friendly is a relatively cheap way of providing infrastructure even in poor and developing cities. “Making infrastructure encouraging people to walk is the cheapest infrastructure you have got,” he says, pointing out that spending on such projects can benefit far more people than the minority who have access to motorcars. “It can be done quickly and it’s for everyone to enjoy. It’s a very good strategy for cities from the smallest to the biggest and the richest to the poorest.” As an example, he points to Bogotá, where the former mayor Enrique Peñalosa improved the Colombian capital’s parks, sidewalks, and the bicycle infrastructure. The fact that Gehl’s work is finding fans in such apparently unreceptive environments shows how his pedestrian and bike-friendly vision is becoming more influential. By way of making the case, he points to figures showing that use of motor vehicles peaked in 2009 to back up his argument that the automobile’s heyday is over. “It’s not a smart way of making people mobile,” he stresses. “We have to find a way of developing strategies based on wonderful neighbourhoods so we don’t ruin the old city by crisscrossing it with motor streets.” Gehl is optimistic about the growing popularity of shared cars, but not a fan of driverless cars, which he dismisses thus: “[It’s a] technology that is smart for the industry because you can sell a lot of gimmicks, but as a mode of mobility it’s utterly outmoded. They will not solve the problem that streets are overcrowded because we have to do mass transportation in a smarter way.” He adds: “I believe in fantastic neighbourhoods for walking and cycling related to fast, business-class public transportation where you can take your bicycle and you can get comfortably to the station and back again.” These neighbourhoods should be built on a human scale, which Gehl describes as “five km per hour” rather than 60 km per hour architecture. Giving Dubai as an example of a 60 km per hour city, he says: “We have been doing things that look slick at 60 km per hour. For people that move slower, it doesn’t look so slick. Long ago, the car proved that it’s not a wonderful technology. Even in cities with a one million population, it’s not the best we can do.” NO VE MB ER 2 0 16 / THE PLA NNER
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N I G H T Â T I M E EC O N O M Y
NIGHT AND THE
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SHOULD LICENSING AND PLANNING BE WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP TO PROTECT VIBRANT NIGHTTIME ECONOMIES? ASKS MARK SMULIAN
O
lder planners may not be habitués of fashionable dance music venues, but the furore over Islington council’s revocation of the Fabric nightclub’s licence in September may have caught their attention as this local dispute made national news. The row over Fabric typified wider problems over the night-time economy and how to plan for it. Most local authorities like the idea of an economically thriving evening and night sector of pubs, restaurants, music venues and cinemas and will like it even more once 100 per cent local retention of business rates takes effect in 2020. This can, though, bring noise, crime and nuisance. Squaring this circle would be complicated enough if only planning were involved, but so is licensing, a separate function with quite different priorities and approaches. Fabric was internationally famous and closing it after police complaints about drug use brought down a storm of protest on Islington.
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Some might therefore think clubs too much trouble, but the economic benefits of a well-managed night economy are considerable, and without one urban centres can appear deserted and threatening after dark. Westminster City Council’s central area has the largest nighttime economy in the UK, and a report last year illustrates the scale – other places would see a lot of money if they attracted just a fraction of this. The report by consultancy TBR said that in 2013 there were 3,875 firms involved, employing 43,925 people, with sales revenue of £2.5 billion. Crime was high, the report concluded, but not disproportionately so given the numbers of people and premises, and it described the area as having “a highly successful micro-economy whose vitality must be of primary concern”.
NO MORE 9 TO 5 Perhaps the obvious thing is to plan for the night-time economy concentrated in areas distant from residential ones and to ensure that public transport is good enough that patrons disperse without nuisance. What, though, if licensing committees decline to license premises, or revoke licences, in areas that planners have designated for the night economy? Combining planning and licensing may look tempting but would be difficult because many aspects with which licensing is concerned have no bearing on planning – such as arrangements for
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N I G H T T I M E EC O N O M Y
keeping dangerous animals - and the professional backgrounds involved are quite different. Philip Kolvin QC, a leading licensing barrister, has published a manifesto on securing a successful night economy (see box). He says: “The way to do this is not to say we use planning for this and licensing for that, but to take a step back and say what sort of licensed activity do we want in our town or city? “There is the opportunity to create the place you want. Fewer of us work 9-to-5 so you need to devise a city that works for all times, and that has to proceed from principles, not guesswork.” RTPI policy and networks manager James Harris has noted concern about planning for the night-time economy as a growing issue since the Fabric dispute. “Planning is more concerned with growth whereas licensing is reactive,” he says. Harris thinks planning and licensing should work better together so that mixed-use areas work and the night-time economy works in a strategic way. “Planning has been geared to the day economy, but the profile of the night economy is rising,” he adds. Probably little thought was given to venues when previous governments introduced both permitted development rights for conversion of offices to residential use, and encouraged the development of
THE LATENIGHT LEVY One weapon that councils have to control the night economy is the ‘late-night levy’, imposed where alcohol is sold outside normal hours. Newcastle City Council was the first to introduce this in 2013 and charges range from £299 to £4,400 a year, according to rateable values. Under its ‘Raising the Bar’ scheme, a 30 per cent levy discount is offered to venues that become accredited for public order, noise reduction, safety and public health. So far 124 premises have signed up. The levy helps pay for policing and council services such as street cleansing.
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city centre living. Both, though, threaten venues because people who move into an area full of entertainment outlets may complain about noise. The venues, without having changed their noise level, can find licences under threat as previously empty nearby commercial premises become occupied at night by angry sleep-deprived residents. People may be drawn by the ‘buzz’, but then find it buzzes rather too loudly once they actually live there. Former Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors president Louise Brooke-Smith, who works as a planning consultant, calls the conflict between planning and licensing regimes “fairly archaic” – in particular where residential development takes place near to night economy venues. Brooke-Smith thinks residents should have known better: “The problem of licensing is mainly about noise from venues and disturbance to residents’ sleep patterns. People need to sleep, but there is growing concern that this conflicts with the night-time economy. “Our cities are being planned to have mixed uses with residential in the centre and people who move into places like that have to accept they are not living in a quiet rural backwater, and them moving in should not affect venues already there. “They should know what the area is like before they move in. I think the phrase is ‘caveat emptor’.” Brooke-Smith says night economies became more widespread following the recession, when councils looked for ways to encourage growth and some smaller towns saw big cities did well from the night-time economy and decided to try to emulate them. “They thought ‘That’s fantastic, we’ll do that too’,” she says. “Thriving night economies are no bad thing; the centre of Birmingham used to be completely dead outside working hours but now it’s not.”
‘PATCHY’ COUNCILS ‘Vibrant’ centres are usually judged desirable, but when does ‘vibrant’ become ‘nuisance’? This is the fine line venues must tread, says Beverley Whitrick, strategic director of the Music Venues Trust. “We are in the bizarre position where people say they want vibrancy but the very vibrancy that attracts them soon sees them complaining about the noise caused by people enjoying the things which attracted them there,” she says. The trust is promoting an ‘agent of change’ policy so that if homes are built near a venue then
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“OUR CITIES ARE BEING PLANNED TO HAVE MIXED USES WITH RESIDENTIAL IN THE CENTRE AND PEOPLE WHO MOVE INTO PLACES LIKE THAT HAVE TO ACCEPT THEY ARE NOT LIVING IN A QUIET RURAL BACKWATER” the ‘agent’ – the developer – must soundproof the venue. Whitrick says: “We did secure a change to the permitted development right in England that where an office is being converted to residential and there is a music venue nearby it has to go to the planning committee. We want that in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland too.” Councils are “very patchy” in their attitudes, she says, with Bristol City Council being supportive and “realising the value of music”, and the London Borough of Wandsworth has a policy to protect the cultural value of pubs. But Edinburgh City Council has “an inaudibility policy so that if any music can be heard outside the venue it can lose its liquor licence, which effectively closes it”. A further problem is that dozens of licensing conditions can accumulate over time at venues: Whitrick cites one in Shoreditch with 27 licence conditions and notes that London’s historic 100 Club has an archaic – and probably unenforceable – condition that patrons must be ‘appropriately dressed’. Alan Miller, chairman of the Night Time Industries Association, thinks bars and venues are treated unfairly by being held responsible by licensing authorities for personal misconduct not within their control. He says: “Regulatory action is being taken over things the venue is not responsible for either inside or outside. We want to see individual responsibility. If someone misbehaves in a school, or airport, or hospital, they get prosecuted but the place doesn’t get closed down, but that is what happens with venues.” The sheer economic scale probably means that councils will back night economies while seeking to minimise nuisance. A Local Government Association (LGA) report this summer noted about a third of the alcohol industry’s £66 billion annual turnover came from town centres and that in 2015 there were 500 million visits to pubs, which generated one in six of new jobs for those aged 18 to 24. “Supporting well-run premises, that do not contribute to local crime and disorder or public
THE NIGHT TIME MANIFESTO Licensing barrister Philip Kolvin QC has issued The Night Time Manifesto, a set of principles upon which successful night economies can be built. He says: “At the heart of every great town or • city is a great night-time economy. As shopping progressively moves online, it is fundamental to the vitality and viability of our high streets. Without it, many of our city centre streets would be lonely and dangerous places at night. “But night-time economies are like gardens. They need to be planned and tended. Otherwise they may grow wild or even decay.” His proposals include that every town and city i should: • Have an identified night-time champion; • Will produce a leisure strategy, with a vision for its night-time economy; • Will aim to integrate leisure and other uses to create bridges between the day and night-time economies. • Planning policies should recognise the value of the night-time economy and promote and protect it; and • Licensing policies should promote the night-time economy vision and regulate by the least intrusive measures practical.
nuisance, is therefore beneficial to the local economy and to the community,” it said. “Creating a mix of food-led premises, vertical drinking establishments and a late-night offer, in the proportions appropriate to the locality, can enhance a tourist offer and draw in visitors from surrounding areas.” Ian Stephens, who chairs the LGA’s culture, tourism and sport board, says: “Licensing and planning should go hand in hand. The night-time economy should be set out in area action plans so you do not have situations where it is planned for an area but licences are not granted.” Doing this requires planning and licensing to work together. If they don’t, councils will find the creation of thriving but nuisance-free night economies a contentious matter.
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B I O D I V E R S I T Y LO S S
CALL OF THE WILD THE UK’S NATURE IS IN CRISIS AND THE GOVERNMENT IS DELAYING A 25YEAR PLAN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT IN LIGHT OF THE EU REFERENDUM RESULT. HUW MORRIS REPORTS
The broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough summed it up succinctly. “The natural world is in serious trouble and it needs our help as never before,” he said. “The future of nature is under threat and we must work together – governments, conservationists, businesses and individuals – to help it.” How far the UK’s nature and wildlife are in “serious trouble” was clarified in separate sets of research this summer. The first alarm bell sounded with the publication of Natural Environment Indicators For England by the Department for Food, the Environment and Rural Affairs. This revealed that more than 200 conservation priority species – including dormice, hedgehogs and moths – are falling. More, farmland birds fell to the second-lowest level ever recorded in 2014, the most recent year for available data – some 56 per cent lower than in 1970. Farmland butterflies hit their lowest point in 2012, with small increases in the next two years failing to halt the overall downward trend. Just one in five rivers and lakes scored a high or good status. In the past five years, six of the 24 key indicators assessed were deteriorating and 10
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showed little or no change, while eight were improving. Eighteen of the indicators were assessed over 10 years or more, with seven deteriorating, three showing little or no change with eight improving. The indicators were launched in the government’s Natural Environment White Paper (NEWP) in 2011, which pledged to “put right damage done in previous years” by placing “the value of nature at the centre of the choices our nation must make”. That pledge, some might say, is now going the same way as some endangered species. If those figures were not disturbing enough, the State of Nature 2016 report, compiled by more than 50 environmental organisations including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the National Trust and the Marine Conservation Society, showed the UK to be among the “most nature-depleted countries in the world”. One in seven species faces extinction and more than half are in decline, says this report. Most of the country’s “ecosystems may no longer reliably meet society’s needs”, with 56 per cent of species declining between 1970 and 2013, while 15 per
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cent are now threatened with extinction. Species at risk of extinction include the kingfisher, an icon of the countryside, while the curlew, hedgehog, turtle dove, water vole and willow tit are in serious decline. Skylark numbers are dramatically down by 60 per cent since 1970. Intensive agriculture is top of conservationists’ hit list; other major culprits include climate change, forest cover and management, urbanisation, habitat creation and management, and wetland drainage. RSPB sustainable development chief Simon Marsh said both sets of research “paint a fairly bleak picture of the current state of nature in the UK, despite some success stories, across a wide range of habitats and species, including urban ones”.
A 25-year plan So what does this mean for planners? “Policy and legislation that supports nature conservation is facing an uncertain
future and this cascades into planning law,” says Ian Hepburn, former Wildlife Trusts South East regional policy director. “The good ambitions in the NEWP don’t appear to have amounted to much in the way of material considerations from a planning perspective. I don’t think there’s any evidence that the NEWP aim to move from ‘no net loss to biodiversity’ to seeking a ‘net gain to nature’ from development has materialised.” Hepburn’s point about uncertainty is an enduring one. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs had
“THE RESEARCH PAINT[S] A FAIRLY BLEAK PICTURE OF THE CURRENT STATE OF NATURE IN THE UK”
intended to publish a 25-year plan for the environment this year that would incorporate the idea of natural capital accounting. Broadly, this seeks to put a monetary value on the environmental resources that individuals and organisations depend upon, whether they be water or minerals or services such as leisure and climate regulation. Among various objectives, the plan and the idea aim to ensure the environment is “appropriately maintained and improved so it flourishes and continues to underpin our economic success and well-being”.
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Biodiversity and the planning system This means developing structures and tools to draw together “economic, social and scientific evidence and provide practical approaches to enable people to value nature systematically and fully when they are making decisions on the ground and to ensure we get the greatest value from both public and private investment”. Natural capital accounting had been moving centre stage in policy approaches, with an annual report to government from the independent Natural Capital Committee, and the impending designation of Greater Manchester as England’s natural capital accounting pilot city. Putting nature onto the balance sheet, the case goes, forces policymakers, developers and investors to recognise the full costs and benefits of ‘green infrastructure’. Publication of the 25-year plan has been delayed until next year because of the UK’s vote to leave the EU. Post-Brexit uncertainty has opened the door to other ideas for conservation – specifically biodiversity net gain – and potentially complementary initiatives, such as ecosystems services, which look at the benefits to people of green infrastructure.
Biodiversity net gain To its proponents, biodiversity net gain is a method of quantifying the value of the natural environment, using a number of biodiversity units associated with each type of habitat. It sets a target for development projects in which biodiversity losses are balanced or outweighed by measures to avoid, minimise or offset the projects’ impact. The approach is evidence-led, objective and requires the strict implementation of a mitigation hierarchy. “Post-Brexit, there will be changes in our legislative and regulatory framework and it is increasingly being recognised that our current approach to development is not stopping biodiversity loss so this provides a great opportunity to set targets and agree approaches to biodiversity net gain,” says Mark Webb, WSP/ Parsons Brinckerhoff technical director for ecology. “The ultimate long-term goal is for our biodiversity to be restored enough to sustain both our growing population and the populations of other species. By aiming for a biodiversity net gain on every development, the amount of biodiversity in the UK should increase bit by bit, particularly if this approach is coupled with other government initiatives to protect the environment. Eventually, the UK will only have to aim for no net loss on developments, as it will be matter of sustaining
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Section 11 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) refers to biodiversity in paragraphs 109 and 114 at a national and local level respectively. Paragraph 109 says the planning system “should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by minimising impacts on biodiversity and providing net gains in biodiversity where possible, contributing to the government’s commitment to halt the overall decline in biodiversity, including by establishing coherent ecological networks that are more resilient to current and future pressures”. Meanwhile, paragraph 114 says planning authorities “should set out a strategic approach in their local plans, planning positively for the creation, protection, enhancement and management of networks of biodiversity and green infrastructure”. However, WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff describes the NPPF’s references as “soft-worded”, using “should” rather than being a mandatory policy requirement. “Some local authorities are doing well, but many others could be doing better,” says Simon Marsh, on the back of research by the RSPB last year. “It doesn’t seem to be related to whether the local planning authority is rich in biodiversity.” He suggests that authorities’ performance shoud be linked to how far they access ecological skills and resources. “This is the most important problem to fix, regardless of what the 25-year plan does.”
BIODIVERSITY INTERNATIONALLY Sixty-nine countries have a national policy in place or in development for biodiversity offsets. Countries are divided into three tiers. In the first, which includes Australia, Germany and the USA, biodiversity net gain is covered by mandatory legislation. Second-tier countries, such as South Africa and Uganda, are developing mandatory legislation. The UK is firmly in the third tier of nations, which are “dabbling” with biodiversity net gain and offsets. According to WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff, planners can learn three key lessons from other countries:
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what we have already achieved.” “If the mitigation hierarchy is “THE LONGTERM But Webb admits a key challenge GOAL IS FOR OUR followed and an evidence base is compiled to demonstrate that the is to raise awareness and improve BIODIVERSITY understanding of the approach hierarchy is adhered to, then using TO BE RESTORED across the public and private offsite compensation to ensure a ENOUGH TO sector. His company surveyed net gain to biodiversity is a win/win SUSTAIN BOTH 200 environmental professionals, solution for developers and nature. OUR GROWING including planners, this summer “As biodiversity net gain is not POPULATION AND and found 40 per cent had used THE POPULATIONS yet commonplace in the UK, it the biodiversity net gain approach is no surprise that many of the OF OTHER and 29 per cent said they had used environmental professionals who SPECIES” biodiversity offsetting – a different participated in our survey were approach whereby biodiversity aware of the approach but did not loss on site is ‘offset’ by investment have a developed understanding of in schemes to boost biodiversity what the process involves,” he adds. But how compatible is this family elsewhere. The criticism of this approach is that although it may create an overall of approaches to delivering green infrastructure? balance, it doesn’t do enough to address the Are natural capital accounting and biodiversity environmental impacts of schemes in their actual net gain mutually exclusive? Where does the idea location. of ecosystem services sit among them? How do Although 73 per cent of respondents were we keep this simple for planners, investors and aware of biodiversity net gain and biodiversity developers? Until the 25-year-plan is published there is offsetting, half had mixed views or were unsure of their views, suggesting a lack of understanding a lack of clarity about the preferred approach of these approaches. for the planning system in preventing further Webb is also conscious the idea has been environmental degradation. In the meantime, as branded a “licence to trash nature” in some this summer’s reports show, the UK’s nature will quarters, which he says is a misunderstanding. continue its inexorable decline..
Key lesson
Business benefits
Biodiversity benefits
1. The UK could make adherence to the mitigation hierarchy a mandatory part of planning legislation
• Creating a level playing field for developers, who currently have to meet expectations which differ between LPAs • Streamlining the planning process
Potential to improve outcomes for nature by ensuring that offsetting is not used as a licence to trash
2. UK developers and environmentalists alike should embrace the rise of habitat banking or brokering in the UK to help developers demonstrate biodiversity net gain
Using a third-party offset provider can: • Reduce delays with planning applications and time-to-permit for UK developers • Reduce administrative costs
• Creating additional habitats that could result in improved outcomes for biodiversity, nature and wildlife
3. Quantifying and even monetising aspects of biodiversity should become commonplace in the UK
• Easier for non-environmental stakeholders to understand the importance and value of biodiversity
• Increasing understanding of the value of biodiversity could incentivise its conservation • Quantifying helps demonstrate whether net gain commitments are being met
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INSIGHT
DiF { D
DECISIONS IN FOCUS
Decisions in Focus is where we put the spotlight on some of the more significant planning appeals and court cases of the last month – alongside your comments. If you’d like to contribute your insights and analyses to future issues of The Planner, email DiF at editorial@theplanner.co.uk An inspector turned down a 270-home scheme in Colne, saying it would “inescapably alter” impressions of a conservation area
HOUSING
270 homes refused due to heritage impact, in light of High Court ruling ( SUMMARY Junction Property Ltd has been granted permission for 90 homes in Colne, Lancashire, but was refused permission for 270 homes after an inspector judged that greater weight should be given to a less than substantial impact on heritage assets in line with a recent High Court ruling. ( CASE DETAILS Inspector Mike Robins noted that Pendle Borough Council agreed it could not prove a
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five-year supply of deliverable housing land, and as such the presumption in favour of sustainable development would normally be engaged in line with the NPPF. But both parties agreed that a different approach needed to be taken regarding the impact on heritage assets following the High Court judgment in Forest of Dean DC v SSCLG [2016] EWHC 421 (Admin), which concluded that where a proposal causes less than substantial harm to a listed building the presumption in favour of sustainable development is disapplied, and any harm should be weighed against the public benefits of the scheme. Robins noted the site for Appeal A, the 90-home scheme, forms part of the larger site for the 270-home
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scheme – Appeal B. The Appeal A site is within the settlement boundary for Colne, but the Appeal B site beyond this is within a Protected Area designated in the Replacement Pendle Local Plan. To the south of the overall site lies the Lidgett and Bents Conservation Area (CA), which contains four listed buildings. While the appellant argued that the scheme would have a neutral or negligible impact on the listed buildings and the CA, and that the site overall had a limited role in the CA, Robins disagreed. He said the fields’ inclusion in key views from public footpaths meant that the larger site serves to reinforce the CA’s relationship to the agricultural land around it, and that the site in fact forms part of the CA itself. But Robins agreed that as
the Appeal A site is not crossed by footpaths, lies within the settlement boundary, is relatively enclosed, and has a more urban character because it is viewed in tandem with a more modern housing estate, the harm to the CA from development here would be less than substantial. He found that the Appeal B scheme, encompassing both footpaths, would “inescapably alter” the experience of those leaving or entering the CA along those routes, and result in increased enclosure and a lost connection to the important agricultural setting. While he judged the harm overall to still be less than substantial, he argued it would be of a greater magnitude, and that in line with paragraph 132 of the NPPF, this harm gives a strong presumption against the granting of permission. In light of the council’s inadequate housing supply Robins gave great weight to the housing provision of the schemes, which would include 5 per cent and 7 per cent affordable housing respectively. He also noted both sites are included in the council’s Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment and general support for their development in the core strategy. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Robins ultimately judged
I M AG E S | A L A M Y / G E T T Y
24/10/2016 10:40
Rejected plans for an adventure golf course in Orpington would have “cumulatively reduced the openness of the green belt”
in the green belt in Orpington, Bromley, after an inspector judged that the ornamental features included in the appeal would cumulatively harm the openness of the green belt.
that the Appeal B scheme’s impact on the CA and on the landscape of the area outweighed its benefits. In the case of Appeal A he judged that careful design and layout would limit the identified harm to a suitable level, and allowed the appeal.
Appeal Refs: APP/E2340/W/15/3131974 APP/E2340/W/15/3131975
HOUSING
440 Bradford homes would help address ‘acute housing shortage’ ( SUMMARY Communities secretary Sajid Javid has backed an inspector’s approval of a 440-home scheme and the replacement of a vehicular and pedestrian swing bridge in Bingley, Bradford, submitted by Redrow Homes Limited and Bellway Homes Limited (Yorkshire Division), after he judged that the project was in accordance with the council’s aims for sustainable housing development. ( CASE DETAILS In June 2013, the secretary of state dismissed appeals
against the refusal of three planning applications, which taken together were similar to the current proposal. These applications were refused because they were judged to result in severe impacts on highway safety. Javid noted that the emergency access procedures for the proposed swing bridge had been “materially reduced” from the original scheme so that the flow of traffic that would use the route through Micklethwaite village would now not have an unacceptable effect on highway safety. He agreed with inspector George Baird that the scheme would cause harm to heritage assets and two conservation areas ranging from minor to major, but that all would fall within the category of less than substantial harm to their significance. While it was a greenfield site, Javid also decided that its location meant the scheme would seem a natural extension to the built-up area of Crossflatts/ Bingley which, with “careful attention to detail”, would not unacceptably affect the landscape character of the area. Javid noted that Bradford Metropolitan District Council’s emerging core strategy highlights Bingley as the main local focus for housing and other facilities and the appeal site is included in the Strategic
Housing Land Availability Assessment as providing some 440 homes, although this plan can be given little weight because of its early stage. While a misunderstanding regarding the saving of policies meant that policy H2 of the Replacement Unitary Development Plan, in which the appeal site was included in the housing allocation, has lapsed, Javid said this was not the intention of the council, which subsequently resolved this allocation should be given significant weight in determining any planning application. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Given the council’s housing supply of “at best” 2.05 years, Javid gave very substantial weight to the benefit of the appeal scheme in helping to address the housing shortage – and providing 20 per cent of affordable housing.
( CASE DETAILS Inspector Elizabeth Pleasant noted that the council’s unitary development plan, in line with the NPPF, refers to appropriate development in the green belt as including “essential facilities for outdoor sport and recreation and open air facilities and other uses of land which preserve the openness of the green belt”. But Pleasant further noted that section 336 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 defines a building to include any structure or erection, and thus the 25 ornamental features included in the appeal, including a sunken pirate ship and treasure chest, would constitute individual buildings. ( CONCLUSION REACHED The erection of these “buildings” and perimeter fencing onto a 3.8-hectare site that is currently a natural and open area would cumulatively reduce the openness of the green belt, concluded Pleasant.
Appeal Ref: APP/G5180/W/3152323
HOUSING Appeal Ref: APP/ W4705/V/14/2228491
LEISURE
Adventure golf course would harm green belt ( SUMMARY Permission has been refused for an adventure golf course
Go-ahead for Durham homes after ‘valued landscape’ status is refuted ( SUMMARY Story Homes and the Durham Diocesan Board of Finance
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DiF { D have been granted outline permission for 220 homes and full permission for 80 homes in Sedgefield, County Durham, after an inspector disagreed that the site could be considered a valued landscape in line with paragraph 109 of the NPPF. ( CASE DETAILS Inspector John Braithwaite noted that Durham County Council accepts it cannot prove a five-year housing land supply, with housing supply standing at about 4.04-4.65 years. While the site lies within a designated a green wedge, the aim of which is to protect the setting of the village, this was considered a relevant policy for the supply of housing which, in light of the council’s insufficient housing supply, is out of date. Braithwaite acknowledged that a footpath that crosses the site and gives access to the countryside beyond is used by dog walkers and that the site is therefore of some recreational value, but said this use of the site constitutes trespass, so it is discounted. Although the council said the site could be regarded as valued landscape, citing a case involving development of land at Leckhampton in Cheltenham in which the secretary of state ruled that a site that was not designated should be protected in line with paragraph 109 as it was clearly locally valued, Braithwaite disagreed. He said little information had been provided to support this argument, noting that it was a “fundamental planning principle” that a site should be considered on its own individual merits. In this case, he said, the appeal site is unremarkable in character and could not be regarded as a valued landscape in line with the NPPF. The site’s green
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DECISIONS IN FOCUS wedge status did not change this conclusion. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Braithwaite said there was “no doubt” that the development would satisfy the economic role of development through creation of jobs, a significant uplift in local expenditure and New Homes Bonus and council tax payments, and he found that the site was in an “eminently sustainable location”. These benefits, he said, coupled with the provision of 300 homes (30 of which would be affordable), outweighed any negative impacts of the development.
Appeal Ref: APP/ X1355/W/16/3150609
COMMERCIAL
Council misapplies retailrelated policy ( SUMMARY An inspector has deleted a condition limiting the use of a retail unit in Greenwich, London, after finding that
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Greenwich Council had wrongly applied a policy relating to retail frontages intended to protect the vitality of the centre. ( CASE DETAILS Inspector Graeme Robbie noted that the application by Heaps Sausages to convert the premises from A1 (retail related) to A3/A5 (food/eating establishment related) was recommended for refusal by council officers on the basis that it would result in a break between occupied A1 premises exceeding two units in a primary frontage, and a combined total of A3, A4 and A5 uses exceeding 25 per cent of all primary frontage within the individual block in question. But the application was subsequently approved, and the appellant seeks to remove the condition requiring the A3/A5 use to cease if the occupation by Heaps Sausages were to end. Robbie noted that the appeal site forms part of the defined Primary Shopping Frontage (PSF) for the area, and that the adjacent unit within the block is also included in the Secondary Shopping Frontage (SSF). The
inspector said that it appeared the council had wrongly applied Core Strategy (CS) policy TC (b) (v), which sets out that 50 per cent of the PSF should be retained for A1 uses, to both the PSF and SSF. He said this was not in line with the CS, which intends this requirement to be applied to the centre’s entire frontage for local or district centres (Greenwich being a district centre) and only will only be applied to an individual block or frontage in major centres. Robbie also argued that there was nothing to lead him to conclude that the sites A3/ A5 use would individually or cumulatively occupy more than 25 per cent of all designated frontage within the centre, and would not cause the Greenwich district centre to suffer in terms of vitality and viability. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Owing to this wrongful policy application, Robbie awarded the cost of appeal proceedings to the appellant.
Appeal Ref: APP/ E5330/W/16/3146555
Heaps Sausages was ruled to be in the right after Greenwich council wrongly applied a policy on retail frontages
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I M AG E S | A L A M Y
24/10/2016 10:41
A plan for housing for Scotland’s Houses for Heroes scheme overrode green belt and heritage concerns in Cardross, in Argyll and Bute
in view of NPPF paragraphs 198 and 185 and his guidance on neighbourhood planning, Javid gave great weight to the conflict with the YNP, despite the lack of a five-year HLS.
HOUSING
Javid disagrees with inspector over Sussex neighbourhood plan ( SUMMARY Communities secretary Sajid Javid has overturned an inspector’s approval of a 100-home scheme in Yapton, West Sussex, after disagreeing with the weight that should be given to the neighbourhood plan in light of Arun District Council’s inability to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply (HLS). ( CASE DETAILS Javid agreed with inspector David Nicholson’s assessment that given the council’s housing supply position, policies relating to housing in the Arun District Local Plan cannot be considered up to date. Javid also noted that the emerging Arun Local Plan (eLP) is at an early stage of preparation with unresolved objections standing against it and its significant shortfall in full objectively assessed housing need (OAN). He agreed that there was no certainty about where future housing allocations will be made by the eLP.
But Javid disagreed with the weight the inspector attributed to the Yapton Neighbourhood Plan (YNP), which was ‘made’ in 2014. He noted that policy H1 of the YNP states that “additional allocations will be made if the eLP requires such action or if the identified housing needs do not proceed”, and therefore considered that while the YNP is underpinned by an outdated OAN, policy H1 has the flexibility to allow for the shortfall in housing to be met. He therefore gave significant weight to the housing policies in the YNP. Javid concurred that the proposal is in conflict with policy BB1 of the YNP as it is not in the built-up area boundary and does not qualify for any listed exemptions, but also agreed that the shortfall in HLS meant this policy was out of date. But in light of his findings on policy H1, Javid gave this conflict significant weight. The decision letter noted that “the secretary of state considers that neighbourhood plans, once made part of the development plan, should be upheld as an effective means to shape and direct development in the neighbourhood planning area in question”. Consequently,
( CONCLUSION REACHED Javid found no deciding issues relating to impact on heritage, the Yapton (Church Lane) Conservation Area and archaeological interests, and acknowledged that the effect on landscape character would be limited subject to conditions requiring buffer planting. He also acknowledged the substantial benefits of the scheme providing much-needed housing, 30 per cent of which would be affordable, in a sustainable location. But he judged that the conflict with the YNP outweighed these positives.
Appeal Ref: APP/ C3810/A/14/2228260
HOUSING
Veteran homes allowed despite green belt and heritage concerns ( SUMMARY Two homes have been approved for an area of green belt in Cardross, Argyll and Bute, after the scheme was judged not to be detrimental to heritage assets in the vicinity. ( CASE DETAILS Reporter Lorna McCallum noted that Cardross Church and its graveyard are category B listed and a scheduled ancient monument, which lie to the east of the appeal site.
Shira Lodge, a category C listed building, lies to the east. The site also sits within the green belt. McCallum argued that while the Argyll and Bute Greenbelt Landscape Study suggests the site is of high landscape sensitivity and high value, she believed the topography of the site and the use of an existing boundary wall meant that the development’s impact on the wider area of green belt land beyond the site would be limited. But she agreed the scheme would still be contrary to the development plan as it does not fall within any of the council’s categories of appropriate development or exceptions. McCallum considered that the removal of some silver birch trees along the boundary of the church and graveyard would cause the church to be viewed in the context of the new dwellings and would erode the sense of place that currently exists, so ordered that these trees should be retained. Though the scheme would also require the removal of a section of stone wall that forms part of the listed Shira Lodge, McCallum judged that this would not harm the wider conservation area. ( CONCLUSION REACHED The reporter noted the appellant’s argument that the housing would be part of the Houses for Heroes scheme, which provides housing for vulnerable veterans at low rental levels. She considered that it had been proved that there was a need for housing of this type in this area and that very particular circumstances did exist to support the development.
Appeal Ref: PPA-130-2054
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Career { D E V E L O P M E N T CAREER DEVELOPMENT: BECOMING THE EXPERT
Becoming recognised as an ‘expert’ within your profession can be invaluable to advancing your career, opening up new opportunities and aiding promotion. But in a profession as broad as planning, how do you go about it? Martha Harris collected tips from planners to help you on your way
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Becoming a chartered town planner
It sounds obvious, but this is a key step in becoming well respected in your field. Becoming a chartered town planner with the RTPI acts as a guarantee of your professional competence with potential clients and employers, enables you to move up the job ladder and can open up myriad new and challenging experiences. For details on how to achieve chartered status, visit the RTPI website: www.rtpi. org.uk/membership/membershipclasses/chartered-town-planner/
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Blogging
Maintaining a personal blog, or becoming a contributor to an established built environment blog, is a great way to show that you are engaged in the wider planning landscape, and can lead to your work being republished in professional journals and national press. Zoe Green, manager of urbanisation and development at PwC, says blogging can be a great learning tool. “I began blogging five years ago with a short piece on ‘smart cities’ [for The Global Urbanist], which was well received, so I began contributing regularly. I found that as I started preparing pieces, I began to learn more about a subject and broaden my professional understanding.” Green offers three tips: “1) There are two sides to every story. It’s important
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to reflect these and but also form your own view. 2) Keep it current. The most interesting articles reflect the latest news and debate. 3) Make it personal. What makes blogs so readable is that they reflect personal insights and share personal experiences.”
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Contributing to publications
Offering to contribute to other built environment publications can also get your name out there, and help you become recognised as the go-to person on a certain topic. Former chief planning inspector Chris Shepley writes a regular column for The Planner, and says writing is as much about maintaining a personal interest in the profession as it is about aiding career progression. “I have contributed comment pieces to many publications not only because I enjoy writing, but because it keeps me interested and involved in the broader issues.” But, says Shepley, you have to have something to say. “You have to make sure that your writing has substance, and I would recommend being selective about the pieces that you contribute – don’t oversaturate the market. A degree of dedication is required. “You need to be committed if you want to become recognised. You can’t see planning as a 9-to-5 – it needs to become something of a hobby, as well as a job.” I M AG E S | G E T T Y
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+ “YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT YOUR WRITING HAS SUBSTANCE, AND I WOULD RECOMMEND BEING SELECTIVE ABOUT THE PIECES THAT YOU CONTRIBUTE”
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Speaking at events
Speaking at events can serve as a great platform for you to promote topics that interest you and to meet influential people in the profession. It can also be a great opportunity to travel and speak in different parts of the country – or the world. Regardless of the stage you are at in your career, you should not be put off from applying to appear as a panellist or a speaker, says Hannah Budnitz, PhD researcher and chair of the RTPI’s Transport Planning Network. “Many organisations will put out a ‘call for abstracts’ in advance of an event, for which you can submit an abstract to meet a brief. It is your skill in meeting the brief and conveying that you have something interesting to share that will impress organisers.” Being considered an expert is also not about age, she says: “I’ve seen many excellent presentations from young planners that are based on their dissertation research. It’s about putting your ideas over confidently and convincingly, and showing that you have the knowledge to back it up.”
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Getting involved in your regional RTPI group
The RTPI has a regional group in each area of the UK that offers networking opportunities, specialist lectures and events. Green, who is the international representative for RTPI London, says volunteering for a regional group can have social and professional benefits. “I joined RTPI London as soon as I moved to the city. I’ve curated all sorts of activities, from tours of Surbiton to the Greenwich Peninsula, to debates such as World Town Planning Day – and it’s great fun. In today’s world, there aren’t many people seeking or offering a job for life. You never know when your contact may turn into a potential client, or you may learn things which make you an expert in a particular field of planning. Being prominent in your regional group allows you to explore the opportunities available.” As well as its regional branches, the RTPI supports several special interest networks that are worth getting involved in. And if you spot a gap in the
Hannah Budnitz Hannah Budnitz is chair of the RTPI’s Transport Planning Network, and is currently undertaking research into big mobility data as part of her PhD. Hannah tweets at @HBudnitz Chris Shepley Chris Shepley is principal at Chris Shepley Planning, former chief planning inspector and a former RTPI president. See Chris’s column every month in The Planner. Zoe Green Zoe Green is a former RTPI Young Planner of the Year, and manager, urbanisation and development, at PwC. She is a regular contributor to The Planner. Zoe tweets at @urbanist_zoe
market – why not set up your own planning network?
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Using social media
Finding an audience for your views has never been easier, but organise your approach, says Budnitz. “Social media can be overwhelming, particularly on ‘timeline’ style sites like Twitter. Accept that you will miss things and limit your time and network to get the most benefit. I created a list of those I follow who are most likely to tweet articles, events and comments of professional interest. I scroll through tweets once a day, and try to comment on and retweet links that others with the same interests will appreciate.” Zoe Green also regards LinkedIn as an “incredibly useful social media tool”. She says: “I got my latest job through being contacted directly on LinkedIn. So it’s important to keep this up to date as a shortened version of your CV.” n You can read more from top planners about the steps they have taken to advance their career at: www.tinyurl.com/RTPI-careerskills
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LLegal landscape INTERVENTIONISM TIONISM VS DEVOLUTION: UTION: THE NEW FRONTIER?
Tom Edwards
Ministerial holding g directions in respect ect of local plans create te uncertainty for developers and local cal authorities, says Tom om Edwards of Pinsent nt Masons Planning minister Gavin vin Barwell’s recent decision sion to issue a holding direction ection preventing Bradford Metropolitan District Council from adopting its development plan follows a similar decision earlier this year in respect of the Birmingham Local Plan. These two interventions show a tension between the government’s drive to ensure that planning policy and decision-making is devolved to the local level, and increased intervention by ministers. The direction in this case requires Bradford Metropolitan District Council “not to take any step in connection with the adoption of the plan” pending further investigation of issues raised by Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley. It is a new power inserted into the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 by the Housing and Planning Act 2016. Davies’ concerns include “the proposed release of green belt, particularly in Wharfedale, development of green belt before brownfield land is exhausted, the efforts made under the duty to cooperate to meet Bradford’s housing need and the appropriate location for
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develo development d lopm pmen entt to en t a alleviate llev ll evia ia ate housing hous ho usin ing g ne need ed da and nd c contribute ontr on trib tr ib butte to o the he rregeneration e en eg ener erat a ion of B Bradford r df ra dfor ord d city centre”, according to the letter from the minister. The primacy of the green belt has been a central policy objective since the advent of the modern planning system. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) retains this general policy thrust and prevents local planning authorities from “inappropriate development” on the green belt, while restricting amendments to green belt unless in exceptional circumstances. The inspector who examined Bradford’s core strategy studied the approach taken by Bradford and its compliance with national policy, and in August backed Bradford’s proposals to release sufficient green belt land for 11,000 homes. He did so on the grounds that “insufficient land” could be identified “outside of the green belt to fully meet
identifi housing iden id den nttiified dh ousi ou sing ng needs”. nee eeds d ds Butt on his Bu his website web ebsi site te Davies Da said said these the hese s conclusions con oncl clussio ions ns were w “fundamentally flawed”, arguing that “the building of so many houses on green belt land in a village should need particularly exceptional circumstances, which I do not believe have been met”. The holding decision will give Barwell time to decide whether to formally intervene in the case, under section 21 of the 2004 Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act. This decision resembles that of Barwell’s predecessor Brandon Lewis to prevent the adoption of Birmingham City Council’s development plan earlier this year. Like the Birmingham case, Bradford had recently taken its core strategy through examination by an independent inspector, with the council then planning to decide whether to adopt the core strategy in accordance with the inspector’s recommendations. There may well turn out to be a fundamental flaw
“A LACUNA IN THE DEVELOPMENT PLANMAKING PROCESS IS CREATED AND PLANNING DECISIONS ARE AFFECTED AS THERE IS A LACK OF AN UPTODATE DEVELOPMENT PLAN”
in the approach taken by Bradford Metropolitan District Council not revealed during examination. But these decisions will be a concern to developers as well as local planning authorities. They show that the government is willing to exercise its powers to intervene in the adoption of development plans even following extensive public consultation and independent examination. In doing so, a lacuna in the development planmaking process is created and, consequently, planning decisions are affected as there is a lack of an up-to-date development plan against which planning decisions should be made. These outcomes surely should be avoided wherever possible and minister’s intervention reserved only for circumstances where there is a clear error in the development plan in the interpretation of national planning policy. The Birmingham direction remains in place some five months later and it shows that the government is not resolving the issues speedily. Indeed, given the late stage in the local plan cycle, one might say there is little the secretary of state can do save require withdrawal of the local plan – which flies in the face of the government’s stated aim to support authorities to get local plans in place by 2017. One is left with the conclusion that if intervention is justified from the minister, then this should happen during the examination process. Then the issue can be resolved through that process, rather than derailing the adoption of a development plan document. Tom Edwards is a senior associate at Pinsent Masons
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LATEST POSTS FROM THEPLANNER.CO.UK/BLOGS
B LO G S Communities secretary Sajid Javid has approved plans for horizontal fracking in Little Plumpton, Lancashire, in a landmark ruling for the UK’ s shale gas industry
L E G I S L AT I O N S H O R T S Fracking: A solution to the UK’s energy trilemma? Adam Dann, Tim Sumner, Alexander Hadrill
Communities secretary Sajid Javid has overruled the decision of the local council and given Cuadrilla Resources planning consent to horizontally frack at its Preston New Road site in Lancashire. He has also said he is “minded to allow” fracking at Cuadrilla’s nearby Roseacre site. Recent developments have already seen Third Energy receive approval to test frack a well in North Yorkshire, so why is Cuadrilla’s successful appeal significant? Unlike with the Third Energy well, which is a vertical test fracking in a pre-existing well (and would require a further application to frack at scale), Cuadrilla’s permission is: • For four new wells to be drilled; • For the fracking to occur horizontally – with wells likely to pass (albeit at depth) underneath residential premises; and (crucially) • A sign that the secretary of state is willing to exercise his statutory discretion to override local objections and support the onshore gas industry. Comments at the recent Conservative Party conference
show the government is keen to support fracking because it promotes a number of the government’s key policies, including: • Promoting economic activity and growth outside of London and the South-East; • Addressing the ‘energy trilemma’ of providing affordable, secure energy while meeting its climate change commitments; and • Investing in infrastructure. Infrastructure investment is expected to promote economic growth, with some forecasts stating that the shale gas industry could create 64,000 jobs. An onshore domestic source of energy may also help redress reduced investment in North Sea oil and gas, and promote cheaper energy. Without support for domestic gas production, National Grid predicts that 93 per cent of gas will be imported by 2040. Shale gas has the potential to provide cheaper, more secure energy, but questions remain over its scalability and impact on climate change commitments. US fracked gas (which has recently begun to be imported into Scotland by Ineos) has had a substantial economic impact in the US because of the US’s permissive regulatory jurisdiction and significant political
and landowner support. By contrast, the UK is perhaps not as permissive a regulatory jurisdiction, landholders are not incentivised by direct financial benefits from production and there appears to be more political opposition. It is also uncertain whether there are sufficient economically viable shale gas reserves to have a substantial impact. While the UK is arguably among the most promising European jurisdictions for onshore shale gas exploration, it remains a relatively immature industry that is likely to be exposed to significant competition from other gas sources, including Norway, Qatar and US shale. Finally, while some have suggested that climate change is less of a priority for this government, domestic gas extraction would count towards the UK’s legally binding carbon emissions restrictions (unlike international gas imports). So shale gas production would require ever more ambitious carbon reduction targets to be met in other sectors. Shale gas could be part of the solution to the UK’s energy trilemma, but it remains to be seen whether it will be an economically and politically practical solution. Adam Dann, Tim Sumner and Alexander Hadrill are lawyers at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP
High Court to rule on Brightwells protest The High Court is to determine whether campaigners in Farnham have the right to challenge Waverley Borough Council’s decision to proceed with the Brightwells Farnham regeneration scheme. The Farnham Interest Group’s chief argument against the 239-home mixed-use scheme was that in allowing a raft of amendments to be made to the project, the council had granted its development partner Crest Nicholson advantages not available to other bidders for the initial contract in 2002. Council leader Julia Potts said: “While it is good news that the court has agreed to allow a preliminary hearing, it is disappointing that council taxpayers will have to pay for the council’s costs to defend the scheme which will deliver jobs, homes and numerous community and financial benefits to Farnham and the borough as a whole.” The preliminary hearing is set to be heard in the High Court on 31 January 2017.
Clare faces €150k bill in Trump land row A County Clare resident has been granted permission to retain the right of access to Doonbeg beach by walking across Donald Trump’s luxury golf course, the Doonbeg Golf Links in Ireland. James McNulty had challenged Clare County Council’s decision to extinguish the right of way despite there being no apparent objection to the access from the course’s owners. The council won in the High Court in 2011 – but McNulty decided to appeal against the decision. The Supreme Court has now awarded costs against the council and in favour of the appellant. The council faces a €150,000 legal bill.
Developers win battle over Henfield NP Stonegate Homes and Littleworth Properties have won a High Court challenge over Horsham District Council’s decision to make a neighbourhood plan (NP). In Stonegate Homes Ltd & Anor, R (On the Application Of) v Horsham District Council [2016] EWHC 2512 Horsham decided to make the Henfield NP on 27 April 2016. Following Horsham’s refusal of their application for 72-homes on the western side of Henfield, the developers appealed; the decision now sits with the communities secretary for determination. The developers then issued a claim under section 61N of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) (the 1990 Act) over Horsham’s making of the NP, on the grounds that: • The council had not lawfully assessed reasonable alternatives to the spatial strategy as established in the NP, in particular, the alternative of permitting development on the western edge of Henfield; • It had failed to consider any alternatives to the Built-Up Area Boundary (BUAB) as established in the NP and had failed to act rationally in the selection of the BUAB; and • The council and/or the examining inspector failed to give reasons as to why the NP met EU obligations. The council rebutted these claims, but Mrs Justice Patterson found for the claimants on several grounds.
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Plan ahead P
Planning for progress The positive planning for economic growth conference has long been an annual fixture of the RTPI calendar. But with the UK under new leadership and facing a shifting economic climate, event chair Simon Neate tells Martha Harris that the topic has never been more relevant “When I began chairing the seminar four years ago, the topicality came from the fact the we were still in a recession,” says Indigo Planning chairman Simon Neate. “Now, just as we perhaps thought we were approaching a post-recession ‘nirvana’, we are hit with Brexit, which raises all sorts of issues about the stability of the economy.” Regional planning for growth will perhaps be most obviously changed by the UK’s exit from the EU, Neate
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suggests: “Regionalism has been complicated in the past by our regional policy having to be aligned with EU policy – which did actually give it some strength. But I think Theresa May feels that as we come out of the EU we will be able to do regional development in our own way.” This will have a knock-on effect for the idea of a Northern Powerhouse, which Neate argues will shift away from northern England to have a broader, “non-London, nonSouth-East focus”. “I think [the Northern Powerhouse] will be rebadged, and transformed into a new UK-based regional development policy which will be about trying to redistribute growth beyond London, and could see a reintroduction of old-style regional planning.”
Housing vs employment Neate says planners will also have a large part to play in guaranteeing that the needs of industry are not overlooked by the government’s “desperate search for housing land”, which he suggests is putting worrying pressure on employment land in some areas. But the idea of positively planning for economic growth can be interpreted in two ways: how do you plan in order to bring about economic growth, and how do you plan for the consequences of economic growth as an independent variable? “The questions are what do we as planners need to do to make sure economic growth is more likely to happen, and if we’re successful, how will planning accommodate the new pressures arising from growth? Both interpretations are legitimate.” With these questions
Send feedback to editorial@theplanner.co.uk Tweet us @The Planner_RTPI
underpinning the one-day seminar, the event will be split into two parts. The morning will feature an update from the Department for Communities and Local Government on the government’s use of policy to stimulate growth, how decentralisation and devolution play into its aims, and will “hopefully include an update on the Local Plans Expert Group”. There will also be sessions looking at the current economic position and outlook for the UK, questioning whether economic growth is evenly distributed across the regions, and discussing the link between place-making and economic growth. The afternoon will be more practice-oriented, and will feature two question-andanswer sessions. Nick Glover from the Greater Birmingham Local Enterprise Partnership will look at how LEPs try to bring about economic growth in their relationship with local authorities, touching on issues such as the duty to cooperate and the idea of ‘larger than local’. The last sessions of the day will then focus on the role of local authorities and the place of neighbourhood plans in fostering growth. Although the event will be particularly helpful for planners involved in economic functions, local plan development and regeneration, Neate says that the insights, relevant
Positive planning for economic growth: Programme DCLG update: The UK economic outlook Suren Thiru, British Chambers of Commerce Is economic growth evenly distributed? Dr Alasdair Rae, University of Sheffield Place-making and economic growth Sam Neal, Project Centre and Mark Teasdale, Indigo Planning LEPs’ role in planning for economic growth Nick Glover, Greater Birmingham Local Enterprise Partnership Helping local authorities deliver growth to local communities Richard Cowell, Birmingham City Council Neighbourhood planning for economic growth Helen Bone, Vivid Regeneration
government updates and practical advice mean that “all planners will benefit from attending – and everyone stands to learn a lot.”
A LL C H A N G E What: Positive planning for economic growth Where: The Hatton (etc Venues), 51-53 Hatton Garden, London When: Wednesday, 30 November 2016 Find out more: tinyurl.com/planner1116-LO-3011
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LISTINGS Talks, conferences, training, masterclasses – everything you need to keep on top of the latest thinking and developments in the planning world.
LONDON 17 November – Planning law update conference This one-day conference provides an examination of key legal issues and helps delegates to navigate the UK planning system and assess major policy changes, new legislation and significant ministerial and judicial decisions. Venue: Prospero House (etc Venues), 241 Borough High Street, London Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-LO-1711 16/17 November – Homes 2016 A look at development and maintenance of homes, creation of dynamic communities and delivery of value for money. It is the UK’s only large-scale housing event that brings together professionals from local authorities, housing associations, house builders, and lead advisers across residential development, asset management and procurement. On 16 Nov RTPI CEO Trudi Elliott will speak on ‘What does affordability really mean?’ Free to all RTPI members and guests. Contact hannah.armstrong@rtpi. org.uk for details on how to book. Venue: London Olympia Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-LO-1611
constraints. Venue: The Hatton, London Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-LO-2311
SOUTH WEST 22 November – ROOM@ RTPI: The role of LEPs in housing delivery Two free workshops exploring the role of LEPs in housing. This event could count as appropriate CPD for RTPI members. Venue: Terrance O’Rouke Offices, Everdene House, Deansleigh Rd, Bournemouth, Dorset Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-SW-2211 2 December – Planning and land: Rethinking the relationship The conference will look at the interaction between the planning system, land and taxation, the combined impact of these on the economy, and the resultant implications for people needing housing and jobs. Venue: The Guildhall, Bath Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-SW-0212
WEST MIDLANDS
22 November – Affordable housing: policy and provision This briefing/workshop will define the problems facing the government including recent trends in the level of need, the macro-economic causes, and the wider housing crisis. Venue: The Hatton, London Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-LO-2211
17 November – West Midlands planning summit: Delivering development This will cover the national and regional perspective of planning issues facing the region and how infrastructure can be delivered to support development. Speakers include Steve Quartermain, chief planner, DCLG, and Trudi Elliott, RTPI chief executive. Venue: Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Broad Street, Birmingham B1 2EP Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-WM-1711
23 November – Project management for planners This seminar has been developed to meet the needs of everyone who has to manage projects, tasks, or assignments to meet challenging targets under time and resource
30 November – Planning and economic viability: CIL update An update on CIL regulations and its practical implementation, together with lessons learnt on viability matters. Venue: Offices of Pinsent
DON’T MISS Development around transport hubs: Annual conference of the RTPI-TPS Transport Planning Network The 2016 conference from the Royal Town Planning Institute and Transport Planning Society will explore the government’s agenda to deliver housing around transport hubs, and discuss how to plan sustainable transit-oriented developments. Confirmed speakers include: • David Crook, assistant director of station regeneration at the Cities and Local Growth Unit, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; • Stephen Joseph, CEO of the Campaign for Better Transport; • Carol Stitchman, technical director, rail sector at WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, and former head of design at Network Rail for the Birmingham Gateway Project; Tim Pharoah, transport and urban planning consultant and member of the CIHT Urban Design Panel; Scott Witchalls, partner at Peter Brett Associates; Esther Croft, director at LDA Design; and Trinley Walker, policy & research adviser at the CPRE. Date: 21 November Venue: The Studio, 7 Cannon Street, Birmingham B2 5EP Details: tinyurl.com/planner1116-WM-2111
Masons LLP, 3 Colmore Circus, Birmingham, West Midlands B4 6BH Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-WM-3011
EAST MIDLANDS 16 November – Design in the planning system This one-day masterclass will help in dealing effectively with design – the key to planning authorities winning in a large proportion of planning appeals – and to consultants getting the results their clients want. Venue: Nottingham Conference Centre, Burton Street, Nottingham Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-EM-1611
EAST MIDLANDS 25 November – Brexit and planning Discussion on the possible implications for planners and planning. Presentations will be given by RTPI president Phil Williams and Professor Janice Morphet from UCL. Venue: The Guildhall, St Peter’s Hill, Grantham Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-EM-2511
YORKSHIRE 10 November – Annual planning law update
A new government is in place, planning law changes abound, and the RTPI will need to work within this fresh context. Venue: Civic Hall, Calverley Street, Leeds Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-YO-1011 17 November – Hebden Bridge and the Upper Calder Valley: New roles and challenges for traditional communities This seminar will show how the community and others in the Upper Calder Valley have led the way to its renaissance. It will look at Hebden Bridge Town Hall and other community projects, and the emerging neighbourhood plan, as well as how all this is being affected by flooding. Venue: Town Hall, St. George’s Street, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-YO-1711
NORTH EAST 15 November – Northumberland & Newcastle Society talk A talk provided by Northumberland and Newcastle Society about wind farms and their impact on the landscape of Northumberland. Followed by a Q&A session. Venue: Northumbria University, Claremont Tower, Newcastle upon
Tyne NE1 7RU Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-NE-1511 23 November – North East AGM The meeting will receive the regional management board’s annual report for 2016 and there will be elections for appointments to the board and regional activities and policy committee for 2017. Venue: Ward Hadaway, Sandgate House, Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-NE-2311 24 November – Effective communication skills: How planners can speak so people will listen This skills masterclass addresses the need for planners to be listened to in conversations, in meetings and when speaking in public. Venue: Newcastle Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-NE-2411
NORTH WEST 19 November – Politicians in Planning conference The annual PIPA conference is open to politicians throughout the UK and Ireland. Venue: Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount St, Manchester, M2 5NS Details: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-NW-1911
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RTPI {
RTPI news pages are edited by Josh Rule at the RTPI, 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL
John Acres to be RTPI’s president in 2018 The RTPI has held its annual elections for the vice-president, the Board of Trustees and the General Assembly (GA). John Acres (pictured) has been elected as the RTPI vice-president in 2017 and will lead the institute in 2018. He said: “It is a great honour and a privilege to be elected to serve as the next VicePresident of the RTPI. I am looking forward to playing my part in shaping the Institute and in raising the profile of planning. I want everyone to feel they have a pride in their profession.” The following candidates were elected: VICE PRESIDENT b
John Acres MRTPI
CHAIR OF THE BOARD b
Graham Stallwood FRTPI
Graham Stallwood said: “I’m delighted and very proud to be elected, particularly at a time when RTPI is so successfully growing its membership, profile and influence. The RTPI has rightly set itself challenging objectives around improving services for members, raising its profile and influence further and ensuring that good planning is properly valued. I look forward to working with colleagues and partners across the UK, Ireland and internationally to achieve them.”
b
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
b
trustee for Scotland
b
Ian Angus MRTPI
b
b
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
chartered members Chris Shepley MRTPI
student/licentiate
b
Janet Askew MRTPI Vincent Goodstadt MRTPI Rob Krzyszowski MRTPI Susan Bridge (stepped down from GA space by virtue of election to chartered trustees) Marion Chalmers MRTPI Corinne Swain FRTPI Graham Stallwood FRTPI (stepped down from GA space by virtue of election to Chair of the Board) James Carpenter MRTPI Ron Tate FRTPI RTD Lindsey Richards MRTPI Alice Suttie MRTPI
b
Kim Cooper
b
Lorna Heslop Viral Desai MRTPI
b
chartered members b Graham Stallwood FRTPI stepped down from board space by virtue of election to chair b Tony Crook FRTPI b Sue Bridge MRTPI b Andrew Taylor MRTPI stepped down from board space by virtue of becoming treasurer) b Ian Tant MRTPI
b b
b b b
b
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
b
honorary treasurer
b
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Andrew Taylor MRTPI
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
b
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
b
Bob Wolfe MRTPI Janet Bessell FRTPI Mike Lambert MRTPI Ian Wray MRTPI RTD
b
b
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
legal member/associate b
Bernadette Hillman LASRTPI
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
technical members – co-opted by nomination sub-committee b
Jane Jones TECH RTPI
b
Katie Baldwin TECH RTPI
n For more information: tinyurl.com/ planner1116-RTPIelections2016
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Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk
RTPI (switchboard) T: 020 7929 9494
Registered charity no. 262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841
3 POINT PLAN A planner explains how they would change England’s planning system
Emma Lancaster Associate at Quod Young Planner of the Year 2016 VICE CHAIR OF RTPI YORKSHIRE Local plans should be the key to delivering sustainable development that reflects the vision and aspirations of local communities, but plan makers are struggling to meet the requirements of a complex local plans process. As a result, less than a third of the country has an up-to-date local plan and housing needs are not being met. The general public is also being discouraged from engaging with the plan-making process because of its slow pace and complexity. This means local communities feel excluded and there is a significant risk that local plans will fail to deliver truly sustainable development. Planning now needs a period of stability after recent reform, but it is important that the principle obstacles to timely and effective plan-making are tackled without delay.
YOUR INSTITUTE, YOUR QUESTIONS What is the RTPI doing to celebrate World Town Planning Day? LEANNE BUCKLEY THOMSON, BARRISTER, 12 COLLEGE PLACE BARRISTERS CHAMBERS MARION FREDERIKSEN, INTERNATIONAL POLICY AND RESEARCH OFFICER To celebrate World Town Planning Day on 8 November, which is themed ‘Cities and Climate Change, local responses to a global challenge’ we are encouraging all interested members, universities and organisations to get involved. Working with these partners, we will help demonstrate and promote how planners are helping cities and communities adapt to climate change and implement the aims of COP 21 and the outcomes from Habitat III. We will be live tweeting during the day using #WTPD2016. I’m also holding a fundraising staff lunch with donations to a local charity. In the evening we’re holding our annual Nathaniel Lichfield Lecture to be delivered by RTPI Gold Medal winner Michael Batty. Join in the celebrations by tweeting @internatRTPI and @wtpdonlineconf
1 A significantly shorter, standardised approach to calculating housing needs
2 Tighter definition of evidence that is necessary to support plan preparation, limiting evidence to that necessary to meet legal requirements
3 Shorter, more accessible plans and better use of technology to stimulate public engagement
POSITION POINTS
BOOST IN CAREERS EDUCATION IN LINE WITH NATIONAL REPORT A review by the parliamentary sub-committee on education, skills and economy found that inadequate guidance in schools is exacerbating skills shortages. Pupils miss out on the range of options into the world of work and engaging with employers, and there are too many careers websites. The institute is on the front foot, targeting ‘Future Planners’ project resources at national outreach programmes and the main online portals. Members who go to local schools, universities or careers fairs to promote planning can be recognised as RTPI ambassadors. A new online toolkit for volunteers to engage young people at a local level and inspire future planners will be available in 2017.
n www.rtpi.org.uk/ambassadors n Sub-committee report: tinyurl.com/planner1116-skills-education
ENSURING PLACE RESPONSIVE DESIGN FOR SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAICS ON BUILDINGS The Campaign to Protect Rural England and BRE National Solar Centre have published a national guide to help property owners install attractive solar panels. It shows how solar panels on buildings can look good whatever the structure or surrounding landscape. The RTPI contributed its planning expertise to the guide, providing advice on those seeking to install solar photovoltaics can engage proactively with planners to achieve good design outcomes rather than viewing planning as a set of regulations to navigate. The RTPI supports measures to improve the sustainability and energy efficiency of buildings.
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RTPI {
PLANNING THEORY AND PRACTICE
RTPI FELLOW STRIKES GOLD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN PLANNING
Batty is awarded the institute’s highest honour Professor Michael Batty, currently Bartlett Professor of Planning (Emeritus) at University College London (UCL), has been awarded the Royal Town Planning Institute’s Gold Medal, the institute’s highest honour for outstanding achievement in planning. Batty (pictured right) is the most highly cited urban planning academic in the world, with more than 21,000 citations of his work in urban science and mathematical modelling of spatial structures. He has published and edited 16 books, and some 400 articles. Professor Batty is the only planner to ever to have been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (2009) and is one of two who is currently a Fellow of the British Academy (2001). He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2001) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (1983). In 2004, he was honoured with a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute since 1984. He has also contributed substantially to thinking about the nature of planning courses and accreditation matters. He wrote several leading articles about this during the period he was at Cardiff University. The RTPI Gold Medal dates back to 1953, and is awarded every two years. In 2014 it was awarded to Alison Nimmo, chief executive of The Crown Estate. Professor Michael Batty will be awarded the Gold Medal before he delivers the annual Nathaniel Lichfield Lecture on 8 November 2016. Tickets for the event are still available from: www.rtpi.org.uk/nll2016 46
Latest issue of journal explores a diversity of contexts and issues VICTORIA PINONCELY, RESEARCH OFFICER Aidan While reflects in his editorial on the geographical range and diversity of articles published in the Planning Theory and Practice journal. Following this, Annika Agger, Parama Roy and Øystein Leonardsen develop frameworks for embedding area-based regeneration initiatives in local communities, drawing on experience in Denmark. Philip Booth’s article ‘Planning and the Rule of Law’ uses the common law framework in England to make the case that legal frameworks permeate planning practice in ways that are often overlooked and underappreciated. Godwin Arku, Kenneth Mensah, Nil Allotey and Ebenezer Addo Frempong explore the reasons why non-compliance with planning standards and regulations is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Other articles explore transport and infrastructure planning. Moshe Givoni, Eda Beyazit and Yoram Shiftan draw on research in Israel and the UK to investigate the use of ever more complex quantitative transport modelling in planning policy. David Lindelöw, Till Koglin and Åse Svensson, drawing on experience from pedestrian-friendly Sweden, argue that walking is marginalised in transport planning because planners do not know what objectives or norms to apply to measure walking against other modes of transport. Niels Heeres, Taede Tillema and Jos Arts look at factors that account for different levels of integration and fragmentation in linking infrastructure and land use planning in the Netherlands. The Interface focuses on the gap between academic research and practice. Academic and practitioner contributors reflect on their experience of the barriers to ‘quality exchange’, and also some of the strategies and techniques that might be used to address the challenges of access, use and collaboration. The issue concludes with book reviews by Janice Barry and Nick Bailey, and Jill Grant’s reflection on two books published to mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jane Jacobs’ The Death And Life Of Great American Cities. Planning Theory And Practice (volume 17, issue 3), is out now.
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RTPI Y ACTIVIT E PIPELIN Current RTPI work – what the Institute is doing and how you can help us GET THE RECOGNITION YOU DESERVE ENTER THE RTPI AWARDS FOR PLANNING EXCELLENCE 2017 The RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence highlight exceptional examples of planning. They celebrate the power of planning in creating prosperous places and vibrant communities. Entries for the 14 projects, teams and people categories for the 2017 Awards are now open. For the first time ever, all categories are free to enter. Entries close on 9 December 2016. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at Milton Court in Central London on 15 June 2017.
n Full details on how to enter and eligibility criteria are available at: www.rtpi.org.uk/ape2017
PROGRAMME ANNOUNCED FOR 2016 PIPA CONFERENCE How do we meet the needs of a growing population? Will simplification help our decision-making? These are two of the questions to be discussed at the forthcoming PIPA Conference at the Friends Meeting House in Manchester on 19 November. This ‘must-attend’ event for politicians, councillors, or anyone elected to a public body will provide delegates from across the UK with a unique opportunity to come together to understand and debate the topical issues that the industry faces. Speakers include Councillor Keith House from Eastleigh Borough Council, Mark Winnington from Staffordshire County Council, and David Waterhouse from the Design Council.
n To view the full programme and book your place, please visit: www.rtpi.org.uk/pipa2016
FIND OUT HOW PLANNING CAN DELIVER FOR NORTHERN IRELAND AT CONFERENCE Speakers will share insights and challenges to inspire, but all set in the context of practical application at the first Northern Ireland Annual Conference on Tuesday 15 November in Belfast. Planning is in a position to deliver for Northern Ireland – it has the opportunity to demonstrate its value to local communities, delivering for councils and for the Northern Ireland Assembly. Hear from Chris Hazzard MLA and RTPI chief executive Trudi Elliott about the value of planning, Kevin Murray on leadership in planning, Rob Cowan from Urban Design Skills about the tools for assessing quality development designs, and Mark Hand from POS Wales about enhancing outcomes through performance monitoring. Attending the conference can count towards members’ continuing professional development.
n Tickets are available here: tinyurl.com/planner1116-NI-conference
HELP TO SHAPE THE FUTURE OF PLANNING AND THE PROFESSION Our standing committees (Audit, Membership and Ethics, Education and Life Long Learning, Policy, Practice and Research and International) play a vital role in the institute. Current work includes: the impact of Brexit; Habitat III; developing new routes to membership; and the education review. The work produced can only be as good as the committee makeup. We are keen to encourage as wide and diverse a membership as possible so that all types of members are represented. If you are looking for an opportunity to influence your institute, take the plunge and apply today.
RTPI SHORTS
2017 SUBSCRIPTIONS Members should now have received details of their RTPI subscription for 2017. There will be no increase in subscription fees again next year. RTPI membership continues to grow as the RTPI launches its streamlined routes to membership to encourage members from all stages in their planning career, across all sectors, to join and aim for chartered membership status. The new routes to membership will be rolled out from January 2017. As the largest professional institute for the planning profession, the RTPI is continually looking for ways to improve and enhance its value to members through providing a wide array of careers advice and guidance, support in gaining chartered status, events , conferences, awards and networking opportunities. The RTPI also promotes the planning profession to the media and politicians. Subscriptions are due for renewal on 1 January annually. You can spread the cost by setting up a direct debit for payment in equal quarterly instalments. You also have the option of paying online by credit or card. You may qualify for a reduced subscription fee if you are on a low income or if you started maternity leave during the previous calendar year. If you have any queries email subscriptions@rtpi.org.uk, or phone 020 7929 9463. Keep your membership details, including your email address and postal address up to date by going to rtpi.org.uk/profile
MEMBER DEATHS It is with great regret that we note the deaths of the following members. We offer our condolences to their families and colleagues. Carolyn Hilda Adams David Alan Alderson Adrian Bedford-Smith Paul Brenikov John Hood Caldwell John Benjamin Dunham Robert Froud-Williams William Norman Bruce George Charlotte Louise Harris Michael Hempsall Anthony William Jefferies John Michael Land John Lillywhite Gareth Parry Lloyd Jules Michel Charles Somerset Malfroy Robert Ronald Rhodes Michael Robert Smith Christopher Anderson Swanwick Brian Whalley John Stephen Williams Colin Griffin
South East East Midlands West Midlands North East Northern Ireland South East South East South East London North East South West East Midlands West Midlands Yorkshire East England North West South West South West North West Yorkshire South West
n For full details and to apply see: tinyurl.com/planner1116-committees
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ADVERTISEMENTS
Recruitment { FORWARD PLANNING TEAM MANAGER
Appointment of a
£36,937 - £39,660 Ref: ADC373
Chief Commissioner
As Forward Planning Team Manager you will lead the team developing innovative future plans for Ashfield which will continue to facilitate the economic regeneration and improvements of town centres taking place. You will work collaboratively with neighbouring authorities and in partnership with a range of organisations and local communities to deliver informed and evidenced plans.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) wishes to appoint a Chief Commissioner to The Planning Appeals Commission (PAC). The Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) and Water Appeals Commission (WAC) are Tribunal NDPB’s of the DoJ and are administratively supported by the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS). They have a range of statutory functions relating to planning and environmental matters to decide appeals from decisions by Local Government, Government Departments and to report to Government Departments on matters which those Departments refer to the Commissions.
Educated to a degree level and a member of the RTPI you will have excellent communication, organisation and problem solving skills together with proven leadership and managerial skills. In addition you will have widespread knowledge of Town Planning and associated legislation plus experience of Public Inquiries and the Local Plan Examination process.
The Chief Commissioner is the most senior source of professional expertise in the Commissions and the role holder must lead, direct and fully understand the work of individual Commissioners and of the Commissions, and promote public understanding of their role in the planning and environmental processes.
Canvassing of Members of the Council (directly or indirectly) for any appointment shall disqualify the candidate for that appointment. Applicants should disclose if they are related to a Member or Officer of the Authority.
This is a full-time, permanent public appointment
To apply visit www.ashfield-dc.gov.uk/job-and-careers Closing date for applications: 21st November 2016 Interviews will be held on 5th December 2016
The office of the Commissions’ is located in Belfast but the Chief Commissioner is required to travel throughout Northern Ireland. Remuneration will be in the range of £66,850 to £78,275 per annum.
Ashfield District Council is an Equal Opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the Community.
How to Apply
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A candidate information booklet and application form containing more detailed information on the role and person specification are available as follows: 10:14 Please go to www.nicsrecruitment.gov.uk Alternatively, an application pack can be requested by contacting: HRConnect, PO Box 1089, The Metro Building, 6-9 Donegall Square South, Belfast, BT1 9EW. Telephone: 0800 1 300 330. Email: recruitment@hrconnect.nigov.net
Corby is a success story and one of the fastest growing places in the UK, Our Corporate Vision is to double our population by 2030. This is an opportunity to be part of our future as we grow the Borough. To help the Council deliver its ambitions we are looking to recruit an enthusiastic and committed planning officer to join our busy Development Control Team.
All requests must include your name, address and reference number IRC213085 Women, people with a disability, ethnic minorities and young people are currently under-represented on public bodies. We would particularly welcome applications from members of these groups. Individuals from public and private sectors, including charities and social enterprise backgrounds or community/voluntary backgrounds are welcome. The material will also be made available, on request, in alternative formats such as Braille, large print, audio etc. Reasonable adjustments will be made to accommodate the needs of applicants/candidates with a disability.
Our ideal candidate should have relevant Town and Country Planning or equivalent qualifications; be a member of the RTPI or equivalent body; be able to demonstrate good experience and knowledge across the planning and development sector with knowledge of dealing with major applications and being part of a team.
Completed application forms must be returned to arrive not later than 12:00 noon (UK time) on Friday 18th November 2016.
Consideration will also be given to enthusiastic candidates who have relevant knowledge of planning related disciplines with experience from other sectors such as housing, construction and the environment with a degree or similar qualification in a related discipline. For an informal discussion about the post please contact: Rob Temperley Principal Planner on 01536 464161, or Paul McKim Planning Manager on 01536 464163.
This competition may be used to fill any additional vacancies that arise in the next 12 months. Equality of Opportunity: The Executive Office is committed to the principles of public appointment based on merit with individual assessment, openness and transparency of process. The Department is also committed to equality of opportunity and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified individuals irrespective of religious belief, political opinion, gender, racial group, marital status, sexual orientation, disability or whether or not they have dependants.
Please apply via http://jobs.theplanner.co.uk/jobs/
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ADVERTISEMENTS
Calling all town planners & environmental assessment professionals National Grid is at the heart of energy in the UK. Connecting millions of customers in England, Scotland and Wales with gas and electricity, our people make sure that the lights are on, that homes are heated and businesses powered. Consents Officers | £40k – £49k | Warwick & Leeds | Bonus | Additional Hours Payments | Car | Share Scheme | Flexible Benefits | 25 days’ holiday | Ref. 11655
Scheme Development Officer | £40k – £49k | Warwick | Bonus I Additional Hours Payments | Car | Share Scheme | Flexible Benefits | 25 days’ holiday | Ref. 11573
As a town planning or environmental assessment professional, you’ll be responsible for providing expert advice and coordinating environmental specialist input, in order to deliver consents for significant energy infrastructure projects, across both electricity and gas. You’ll set the consents strategy, guide the design of the project and undertake the necessary stakeholder engagement and public consultation to get the best results for the business.
You’ll get the opportunity to provide expert consents and environmental guidance to the business, determining project programmes and costs, and preserving the company’s reputation. You’ll ensure that project proposals are fully understood and that schemes are properly handed-over. You’ll build strong relationships with stakeholders, maximising the visibility of the team, while, ultimately being involved in winning work across the wider business.
Strategic Policy Planner | £47 – £56k | Warwick | Bonus | Share Scheme | Flexible Benefits | 25 days’ holiday | Ref. 11588 As a town planner working in the policy arena you’ll know how important it is to help shape, influence, inform and interpret Government policy and policies of other organisations. In the field of energy and planning, this is particularly so: changing sources of energy and the impacts this has on communities, and evolving planning policy across England, Wales and Scotland. You’ll know that it’s important to develop trusted relationships with stakeholders to work with them to mutual ends, and you’ll have the breadth of vision and grasp of detail to become an expert people rely on.
Find out more and apply at careers.nationalgrid.com via the Ref. No. For further information, please contact Simon Pepper (simon.pepper@nationalgrid.com) and Megan Price (megan.price@nationalgrid.com). We value and encourage diversity of gender, race and thought, whatever your background.
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Harlow is a district of contrasts and an ideal location to both live and work and we are only thirty minutes from London and Stansted Airport. It’s an exciting time to be involved with Development Management in Harlow with opportunity around every corner. We have large scale new housing schemes coming forward including the award winning Newhall, as well as significant investment being attracted to the district by our Enterprise Zones and current creation of world-class public health labs in Harlow.
We’re looking for planning professionals who won’t be afraid to challenge traditional thinking. You will, however, have a good understanding of planning law and be sensitive to the needs and perceptions of the community. The following opportunities are available:
Development Manager £45,752 - £47,491 (37.5 hours per week)
Senior Planning Officer (Development Management) £32,274 – £33,863 pro rata (15 - 22.5 hours per week, subject to negotiation)
We are looking for a Graduate Planner to provide and work alongside the Managing Partner. You will be responsible for submission of planning applications, negotiations with Local Authorities, submitting planning conditions, helping prepare viability schemes, layouts and other design work. You will need good computer skills, and provide a well structured approach to working through a variety of professional work and identifying priorities from your work flow.
If you are keen to get started in your career, have a good academic history and have some work experience in a planning role then this could be the ideal opportunity for you. If this starting career path sounds like you then please call Linda for a confidential discussion on 01234 360655.
Further information and to apply:
www.harlow.gov.uk/jobs Closing date: 29 November 2016
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INSIGHT
“The techniques I used are knitting, crochet and embroidery. I started by knitting the red background in a stockinette stitch, which is probably the most common knitting stitch (used for socks).”
I M AG E | E DW WA R D H E A L E Y
Plan van B
“The great thing about knitting is that it’s portable, so I usually have a project with me. I stitched this project on the train to work, on holiday (by the pool), in front of the telly and in the park on my lunch break.”
PURL OF AN IDEA
“Knitting tends to curl, so I pinned the pieces onto my ironing board and used the steam from the iron to ‘set’ the stitches (this is called blocking). I then stitched a piece of felt to the back of the warehouse to stop it from curling up again.”
You may have noticed that this month’s Planner cover is knitted. It was made especially for us by Renee van Baar, a graduate transport planner with WSP in Birmingham, and a keen crafter.
“For the warehouse I used different stitches to create the illusion of larger stones on the bottom and brick at the top. The tree trunk is also knitted, but the canopy is crocheted in three different greens – I think this creates the right tree-like textures.”
We featured Renee in last month’s magazine because she and her fellow crafters from the Woolverhampton Craft Group had knitted a fantastic map of their home town. We then asked Renee if she could knit a cover to go with our lead feature on planning for creative spaces. She more than rose to the challenge.
“The masthead is cut from two layers of felt, which gives a nice crisp letter and makes it easier to get the proportion of the letters right. I cut the letters and then bonded them onto another layer so they’d be nice and white against the red background.”
“When you knit a building or a landscape, you have to strip out as much detail as possible while keeping it recognisable. That meant the building I chose to make had to be quite simple, but still recognisably a warehouse, and the window frames are sewn on instead of knitted in.”
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“I’ve knitted odd things before, including various yarn bombs (sprucing up a public area with knitting/crochet), and a tram, train and traffic light for the Woolverhampton map. I was new to buildings, though!”
Thank you, Renee – we love our cover and we love your work!
n Get weaving… Tweet us - @ThePlanner_RTPI 24/10/2016 10:49
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