The Planner December 2018

DECEMBER 2018 LETWIN’S PLAN TO SPEED HOMES BUILD OUT // p.4 • OFF SITE MANUFACTURING // p.22 • WHEN INFRASTRUCTURE GOES OFF THE RAILS // p.26 • TECH LANDSCAPE: APPS FOR PLANNERS // p.31 • NATIONS & REGIONS: NORTHERN IRELAND // p.34

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

RICHARD BACON MP ON THE BENEFITS OF CUSTOM BUILD

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CONTENTS

D ECEMBER

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20 18

“I’M NOT DOING THIS FOR POLITICAL REASONS, I JUST WANT THERE TO BE MORE HOMES ”

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NEWS 4 New rules for housing diversity will speed up build-out, says Letwin 5 The 2018 Budget digested

OPINION

8 Lichfield Lecture: Leading Economist exonerates planners from housing shortfall

14 Chris Shepley: Don’t let the sun go down on planning’s power for good

9 Public crowns Lough Boora Parklands as Ireland’s Best Place

C O V E R | PA L H A N S E N

16 Val Bagnall: We need to extend upwards if we’re to solve the housing crisis

10 RTPI Young Planners Conference 2018: The great and the good

16 Will Haynes: Unlocking the National C Cycle Network’s p potential

18 Richard Bacon tells Francesca Perry why he thinks we need a self-build revolution

17 Michael Voges: We n need to move beyond the fe feudal leasehold system

22 Serena Ralston asks whether planning is lagging behind the technology of off-site housing manufacture

17 Rebecca Fieldhouse: S Student housing risks fa failing to make the g grade

15 QUOTE UNQUOTE

“IT IS WITH SADNESS THAT WE SAY GOODBYE TO CHRIS SHEPLEY, WHOSE FINAL COLUMN IS TO YOUR LEFT (P.14). PLANNING OPINION PIECES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.” THE PLANNER'S EDITORIAL TEAM

FEATURES

26 Crossrail is the latest major infrastructure scheme to run into trouble. But why does it happen so often? Huw Morris looks for answers 34 Nations & Regions: Northern Ireland

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INSIGHT 31 Tech landscape: The growing range of apps for planners 38 Cases & decisions: Development decisions, round-up and analysis

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42 Legal Landscape: Opinions, blogs and news from the legal side of planning 44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute 50 Plan B: The Planner’s Christmas Carol Service

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NEWS

Report { LETWIN REVIEW AND BUDGET

New housing diversity rules will speed build-out, says Letwin

by Simon Wicks New planning rules giving local authorities in England the powers to require a greater diversity of housing on large sites is the chief recommendation in the final report of the Letwin Review into buildout rates.

The rules, which would require new legislation and an annex to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), would include greater powers to designate large single sites in local plans and to compulsorily purchase land at a rate effectively capped at “around 10 times existing use value” in order to provide affordable housing.

The final report, published on 29 October, also proposes that local authorities should be given greater powers to masterplan sites, under the guidance of a ‘National Expert Committee’ which would have the authority to adjudicate in disputes between authorities and developers.

The RTPI gave a qualified welcome to the report, saying it signalled “a much overdue strengthening of public sector planning”, but that the recommendations should be extended “across a much wider section of the housing market”.

John Acres, RTPI president, said: “The recommendations reflect a full grasp of the fact that untrammelled market forces alone have not been delivering enough homes and will not deliver what the people need."

The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) warned that the proposed capping of land value was unlikely to work in practice, as

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“THE RECOMMENDATIONS REFLECT A FULL GRASP OF THE FACT THAT UNTRAMMELLED MARKET FORCES ALONE HAVE NOT BEEN DELIVERING ENOUGH HOMES” – JOHN ACRES

landowners could refuse to sell and hold out for ‘hope value’ under the CPO compensation code.

Dr Hugh Ellis, the TCPA’s interim chief executive told The Planner: "We have to deal with that [the compensation code] and hope value. I am bewildered as to why it isn’t in the review."

He added: “If you cap purchase price, that’s fine. If the council has to CPO the land, the code says reward for hope value. You can’t hold the landowner to 10 times the value.”

Conducted by Sir Oliver Letwin MP, the review was commissioned in the 2017 Budget to find solutions to slow build-out rate on large housing sites. Letwin contends that this is because of the “homogeneity” of housing types offered by volume housebuilders, which leads to slow sales and reduces incentive to build quickly.

The former government minister identifies “ways in which the government could increase the variety and differentiation of what is offered on these large sites, raise the proportion of affordable housing, and raise the rate of build-out”.

Chiefly, Letwin recommends: n New planning rules for all future large sites (over

1,500 units) in areas of high housing demand to provide a diversity of offerings, in line with a new planning policy document. This would require “limited amendments to primary legislation”, “a small amount of new secondary legislation” and an annex to the NPPF.

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PLAN UPFRONT

n A National Expert Committee to advise local

authorities on the interpretation of diversity requirements for large sites and to arbitrate where the diversity requirements cause an appeal.

Letwin also recommends making government funding for builders and purchasers conditional on a section 106 agreement that conforms with the diversification policy.

He also proposes giving local planning authorities greater powers to compulsorily purchase sites identified as suitable for large schemes at a price that reflects their value once they have planning permission in line with the diversification rules. He recommends using these rules to keep the value at no more than 10 times existing use rather than “huge multiples of existing use value which currently apply”.

Letwin recommends giving authorities the power to control development through either a Local Development Company or a Local Authority Master Planner who would develop a masterplan and design code before the land is sold to a “privately financed Infrastructure Development Company”.

Acres said: “The review echoes the institute’s key concern that the delivery role of the public sector has been limited in recent years to responding to private sector proposals.”

Enhanced powers were “very welcome”.

Speaking at the RTPI’s annual Nathaniel Lichfield Lecture, Christine Whitehead, emeritus professor of housing economics at the London School of Economics, noted that “what we mean by that [existing use value] is a matter of some legal debate”.

She pointed out that a reduction in the value of houses in local markets (a potential consequence of faster build-out) might not be welcomed by existing homeowners.

Jennie Baker, associate director of Lichfields, said the development sector needed “certainty” rather than more change.

“One wonders whether the introduction of new procedures for large sites is essential, or whether the existing system could be used to achieve the same results.”

The government has said that it will respond to Letwin’s proposals in the New Year. n Download the Independent Review of Buildout: Final Report (pdf) from the UK Government website: bit.ly/planner1218-letwin

LETWIN REVIEW AND BUDGET

The Budget digested

By Laura Edgar

£29 million from HIF to unlock 18,000 new homes in East London through improvements to the Docklands Light Railway.

£37 million for Northern Powerhouse Rail to support further development.

Chancellor Philip Hammond committed millions of pounds of extra cash to housing and infrastructure, cut high street bills by a third, and granted growth and city deals across the UK. His 2018 Budget also says the government will reform developer contributions.

Here is The Planner’s breakdown of the Budget, together with comment from the industry.

Housing n £500 million from the National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) for the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF), taking the total to £5.5 billion. Aims to unlock a further £650,000 homes. n £29 million from HIF to unlock 18,000 new homes in East London through improvements to the Docklands Light Railway. n The British Business Bank will deliver a new scheme that provides support up to £1 billion of lending to SME housebuilders. n Abolition of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) cap started on 29 October in England. This will enable councils to increase housebuilding to around 10,000 homes a year. The Welsh Government is taking immediate steps to lift the cap.

Paul Wakefield, associate partner in the planning team at Shakespeare Martineau, said this could have a significant impact on the delivery of housing.

“Whilst there will be an inevitable lag in this process, it does at least open the door to a potentially significant increase in the numbers of affordable homes being built, assuming councils can find people (or build

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Report { Deal to proceed, which is expected to be matched by the Welsh Government. n UK Government is working with local partners and the Welsh Government towards a Mid Wales Growth Deal.

Neighbourhood plans n £8.5m of resource support for up to 500 parishes to allocate or permission land so new homes can be sold at a discount.

Planning guidance will be updated to ensure that these cannot be unfairly overruled by local planning authorities.

relationships with those in the private sector) who have the requisite skills to build houses.”

Infrastructure n The National Roads Fund will be £28.8 billion for 2020 to 2025. This is 'hypothecated' money from vehicle excise duty in England, which will be transferred directly to roads spending. £25.3 billion of this will be spent on the Draft Roads Investment Strategy 2. n One-year extension to Transforming Cities Fund to 2022/23, providing an extra £240 million (from the NPIF) to the six metro-mayors for significant transport investment in their areas. n £37 million for Northern Powerhouse Rail to support further development. n £200 million from the NPIF to trial new approaches to deploying full fibre internet in rural locations. To begin with primary schools, and with a voucher scheme for homes and businesses nearby. The first wave of this will include the Scottish Borders, Cornwall, and the Welsh Valleys.

High streets n Bills cut by one-third for retail properties with a rateable value below £51,000, for two years from April 2019. n 100 per cent business rates relief for public lavatories, while spaces occupied by local newspapers in 2019/20 will receive a £1,500 discount. n A £675 million Future High Streets Fund to support local areas in England improve access to high streets and town centres.

This includes £55 million for heritagebased regeneration.

Nicole Roe, planning associate at Barton

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Willmore, said: “The small business tax relief will make it easier for pop-ups and small businesses, which is greatly needed, but doesn’t solve the problem for larger stores, where the loss of these is impacting the high street in a major way.”

Developer contributions n Introduce a simpler system of developer contributions. Reforms include simplifying the process for setting a higher zonal Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) in areas of high land value uplift, and removing all restrictions on s106 pooling towards a single piece of infrastructure.

Jennie Baker, associate director at Lichfields, explained that the proposals “are broadly as anticipated, and reflect earlier consultations and/or provide clarification where it was necessary. The removal of the s106 pooling restriction is an important and vital change, and its impact will be widely felt”.

City and growth deals n Tay Cities Deal: £150 million from the UK Government and £200m from the Scottish Government. Key projects expected to benefit include the Cross Tay Link Road and the International Aviation Academy in Dundee. Slated to help create 15,000 jobs in Dundee, Angus, Perthshire and North-East Fife. n Belfast Region City Deal: £350m from the UK Government and £350m from the Northern Ireland Executive, plus cash from local councils and universities. It is hoped the deal will create up to 20,000 new and better jobs, alongside delivering a 10-year programme of inclusive economic growth. n £120m to allow a North Wales Growth

Fergus Charlton, legal director at TLT, commented: “Neighbourhood plans take time to reach the referendum stage. The introduction of protective measures to counter premature planning applications that are at odds with an emerging neighbourhood plan is likely put off developers from bringing forward sites. Such measures are unlikely to be conducive to the overarching aim of delivering new housing.”

Permitted development n Consultation on a more flexible and responsive ‘change of use’ regime with new permitted development rights that make it easier to establish new mixed-use business models on the high street. n Consultation on new permitted development rights to allow extensions above commercial premises and residential properties, including blocks of flats, and to allow commercial buildings to be demolished and replaced with homes.

Dr Hugh Ellis, interim chief executive of the TCPA, told The Planner he supports conversions if they are done well. This policy ignores all the evidence, including from the TCPA and RICS, about why it doesn’t work.

The existing system allows conversions to take place without the local council requiring a single square foot of play space for children who live there. “Lots of people living in town centres is great, but not like this – the town misses out on S106 money that can be used to provide amenities for those new people to the town. It is shocking and shameful.” n The 2018 Budget can be found on the UK Government site: bit.ly/planner1218-budget

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PLAN UPFRONT

News { Committee rejects thirdparty appeal right in Scottish planning bill

Ambitious Mid Wales rewilding project ruffles feathers

The Local Government and Communities Committee has rejected an amendment to the Planning (Scotland) Bill that would have given third parties the right to appeal decisions that go against the development plan.

A person could only appeal if they had made a submission on the planning application. The amendment was number 51, with the debate forming part of stage 2 in the consideration of the bill.

Planning minister Kevin Stewart said a thirdparty right of appeal “adds confusion”, could “damage” the planning system, and cause more conflict and block development.

The committee also rejected three other amendments relating to the right to appeal decisions.

RTPI Scotland welcomed the committee’s stance in resisting calls to introduce third-party appeal rights. The bill is a great opportunity to put communities at the heart of deciding how places would change but, Fraser Carlin, convenor for RTPI Scotland, explained: “We believe the way to do this is through supporting people to engage early and meaningfully in plans and decision-making.”

RTPI Scotland thinks the proposals would have put “immense strain” on overburdened planning departments.

Labour MSP Monica Lennon MRTPI told The Planner it is “unfair that communities have zero rights to challenge planning decisions about the future of their areas, yet developers have a direct line to the Scottish Government”.

An ambitious Mid Wales project that aims to restore flourishing ecosystems and a resilient local economy on a scale unparalleled in Britain has ruffled feathers in the farming community.

The BBC reported that farmers unions and landowners are sceptical about the scheme and worried that the project would stop farming. The groups involved insist this is not the case.

The scheme, known as Summit to Sea, will bring together one continuous, nature-rich area, stretching from the Pumlumon massif – the highest area in Mid Wales – down through wooded valleys to the Dyfi estuary and out into Cardigan Bay. Within five years the initiative is set to encompass at least 10,000 hectares of land and 28,400 hectares of sea.

Summit to Sea will involve restoring natural processes that provide key ecological functions, supporting the local economy to diversify and establish new nature-based enterprises.

The project has secured £3.4 million of funding from the Endangered Landscapes Programme, backed by Arcadia, a charitable organisation, and is looking to appoint a director.

It offers new money aimed at creating opportunities in the project area and infrastructure to deliver change.

The project is being led by Rewilding Britain in collaboration with The Woodland Trust (Coed Cadw).

n The Planning (Scotland) Bill: bit.ly/planner1218-scotbill

Major Waterford redevelopment contract signed Waterford City and County Council has signed a contract agreement with Fawaz Alhokair Group for a major regeneration project in the centre of the city.

The Saudi retail company is set to invest €300 million in the North Quays area of the city. It expects to submit a planning application for the development – comprising a shopping centre, office space, a hotel, and other commercial facilities totalling over 90,000 square metres – early next year.

An Bord Pleanála has also confirmed the compulsory purchase order (CPO) for the lands associated with the development. These are in a designated strategic development zone (SDZ) for

which a planning scheme was approved earlier this year.

The first planning applications for the North Quays development are due to be submitted this month. These include road access improvements for Dock Road and

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Abbey Road. The entire infrastructural works will provide an integrated transport hub, sustainable transport corridor including a sustainable transport bridge from the Clock Tower to the North Quays.

Such works will be undertaken in collaboration with Kilkenny County Council, Irish Rail, Waterford Port Company and the National Transport Authority. The CPO also allows for the transfer of land within the SDZ site to the Saudi company.

The council told The Planner that it has requested funding from the government’s Urban Regeneration and Development Fund.

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NEWS

Analysis { RTPI NATHANIEL LICHFIELD LECTURE

Leading economist exonerates planners from housing shortfall

By Martin Read “I do not believe that new-build is the most important thing in the housing market – but it’s the thing that gets talked about most, and it’s where planners have a very clear role.”

So began Professor Christine Whitehead HonMRTPI, emeritus professor of housing economics at the London School of Economics, and this year’s choice to present the RTPI’s annual Nathaniel Lichfield Lecture.

Perhaps appropriately on World Town Planning Day, ‘Are Planners really the problem?’ was the lecture’s provocative title.

And in a forensically structured presentation, although evidence from figures between 2004 Whitehead sought to answer that as it related and 2011 suggests that while density has to new-build completions – beginning with an increased, output levels had not. assessment of current government targets.

Whitehead concluded by outlining the many These, said Whitehead, have consistently macroeconomic pressures affecting new-build ranged between 220,000 and 250,000 (for provision, from speculation over Brexit, the England). Yet private sector completions have impact of quantitative easing on asset prices/ rarely exceeded 150,000 a year (see box). affordability and household formation, the Were planning principles the issue? effect of stamp duty rises on rented properties Whitehead said the intent behind the 1990 and second homes, and overall reduced introduction of local plans was to “to generate activity in the existing market (with new greater certainty”. But “many would say they taxation regimes for Buy to Let have simply added a further dampening the private sector’s expensive stage”, with continual incentive to invest). All outside of modifications – S106, CIL – merely “THE NUMBER OF TIMES I’M IN AN planning’s control. exacerbating that uncertainty.

ENVIRONMENT IN And so, back to the lecture’s title.

Current emphasis on up-to-date WHICH I’M TOLD “The number of times I’m in an local plans as the core of the environment in which I’m told planning process will, she, believes, ‘PLANNERS ARE THE PROBLEM’ IS ‘planners are the problem’ is “face similar challenges”.

SIGNIFICANT” significant,” Whitehead had said in Last year’s housing white paper her introduction. And certainly, she introduced policy modifications to concluded, it was possible to argue guarantee land availability and that planning policy, and the system delivery, but while they have added of individual permissions, was at complexity and cost, it was not yet least partially to blame. But no, planners were clear that they were improving outcomes. not the problem. They could not be blamed for Are particular planning policies the issue? the amount of policy located in MHCLG. Whitehead spoke of the misconceptions about “It is not planners, but rather planning the growing size of the green belt and how the policies and the system of individual limitations it imposes make it hard to increase permissions which are partially responsible for housing output. The green belt remains, “a slow build-out rates.” massive political issue”.

Macroeconomic factors were “far more Could the shortage of land be offset by important in generating housing output”. making more of existing space? Perhaps,

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PRIVATE SECTOR

According to Professor Whitehead, private sector completions have rarely exceeded 150,000 a year.

Indeed, in the past 40 years they have only numbered above 150,000 in the years 1987, 1988 and 1989. Other markers make for interesting comparisons:

2017 New-build completions = 134,000 out of a total 163,000 (82%)

2007 New-build completions = 154,000 out of a total 170,000 (87%) (Just before the financial crisis)

1978 New-build completions = 127,000 out of a total 241,000 (53%) (reflecting the greater importance of public sector building)

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PLAN UPFRONT

Public crowns Lough Boora Parklands as Ireland’s Best Place A nature and outdoor sculpture park has been chosen by the public as Ireland’s Best Place.

Nearly 12,000 people voted for their favourite from a shortlist of 10 places, with Lough Boora Parklands receiving an 18 per cent share.

Lough Boora Parklands in County Offaly attracts 100,000 visitors a year. Once an industrial peat bog, its transformation includes the creation of a nature reserve maintained by the Irish Wildlife Trust. It aims to ensure that its natural resources and biodiversity endure for generations.

A visitor centre, café and extensive trails encourage cyclists and walkers to explore the landscape and sculpture park, which showcases sculptures from national and international artists.

The competition, organised by RTPI Ireland, aims to celebrate places that have been protected, planned or improved by town planners for communities.

Damien English TD, housing and urban development minister, said:

“What is particularly striking about the parklands is how they demonstrate the potential of areas that were once used for a vibrant industrial purpose, fell into decline and now are in the process of being rediscovered for a new, exciting and sustainable purpose of great community, ecological and economic value.”

Marion Chalmers, chair of RTPI Ireland, said: “Of particular importance is the praise and respect Bord Na Mona has for the planners that have worked with them since the inception of the project.

Additionally impressive is the continued commitment of the Lough Boora Group to working together to further grow and invest in the asset of the Lough Boora Parklands as a resource and attraction of regional and national importance. It certainly merits achieving the Ireland’s Best Place Award and RTPI Ireland looks forward to watching the Parklands develop and evolve far into the future.”

New commission to oversee better new-builds Housing secretary James Brokenshire has launched a commission to promote better design and style of homes.

It will develop practical measures to make sure that new developments meet the needs and expectations of communities so that they are more likely to be welcomed than resisted.

The revised NPPF includes measures to strengthen design quality and community engagement, with the character of the area to be given more consideration.

The government said the ‘Building Better, Building Beautiful’ Commission would expand on the ways the planning system can incentivise a greater emphasis on design, style and community consent. The body, to be led by Sir Roger Scruton, has three aims: n To promote better design and style of homes, villages, towns and high streets, to reflect what communities want, building on the knowledge and tradition of what they know works for the area. n To explore how new settlements can be developed with greater community consent. n To make the planning system work in support of better design and style, not against it.

Brokenshire said many people feel that new homes in their area aren’t “up to scratch”.

“Part of making the housing market work for everyone is helping to ensure that what we build is built to last. That it respects the integrity of our existing towns, villages and cities,” he added.

“This will become increasingly important as we look to create a number of new settlements across the country and invest in the infrastructure and technology they will need to thrive.”

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NEWS

News { RTPI YOUNG PLANNERS CONFERENCE 2018

The great and the good

“Having a plan, being a planner, it gives you a chance, perhaps the best chance, of actually shaping outcomes for citizens places and ultimately the land” – Paul Seddon MRTPI, director of planning and regeneration, Nottingham City Council “Planning is a great career. It’s different every day. Be confident, be brave. Revel in it. And stop asking me what to

By Simon Wicks

The 2018 RTPI Young Planners’ Conference, held in Nottingham, considered what we mean when we promise to plan for ‘the greater good’?

There are, of course, no easy answers to this, although it is easy to adopt contrary stances: one person’s necessary development in a sustainable location is another’s unwanted intervention on diminishing open land.

“Serious studies suggest that if London [without its green belt] had grown at the same rate as Los Angeles, it would stretch from Cambridge to Brighton,” reported Rebecca Pullinger, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, in a discussion about 21st century green belt.

“Even those people who are suggesting that we need to change green belt are not advocating that we concrete over the countryside,” retorted Andrew Whitaker MRTPI of the Home Builders Federation.

It was a score draw, as summed up by referee Alasdair Rae of the University of Sheffield: “Should we build on green belt? Mostly no, occasionally yes.”

Where will we find the greater good?

For Paul Seddon MRTPI, Nottingham’s director of planning, it’s in planning that operates in the public interest.

“Planning isn’t part of the problem: planning shouldn’t get out of the way,” he thundered. “We don’t need any more deregulation and the underfunding across the whole of the

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sector is significant. “[Good planning] is not about process, bureaucracy, the profit motive; it’s about making a positive difference and improving places for people.”

Heather Claridge MRTPI, 2018’s Young Planner of the Year, echoed his thoughts. Planners, she said, needed to be “the bridge” between “lots of different people”. The virtues of planning for the greater good were vision, persistence and relationshipbuilding.

“Planning isn’t a paper exercise,” she stressed. “It’s about people and planning for people.”

We had arrived, via presentations, debate and workshops that spanned from ancient woodland to digital technology.

Fittingly, it was a conference of maps – of green belt, urban land, national parks.

Did you know that green belt occupies 12.5 per cent of England and the built environment only 8.8 per cent?

“We are not a heavily developed country,” said John Scott MRTPI, director of conservation and planning for the Peak District National Park.

“This myth is what causes a lot of the problems we have. It gives planners a bad reputation. It causes Brexit because ‘We haven’t got enough room’.”

How would public debate about land use change if more people grasped such figures?

Spreading this knowledge would almost certainly be an endeavour on behalf of the greater good.

do.”

– Steve Quartermain MRTPI, chief planner for England “The way that we produce consultations excludes people. How can we produce sustainable places when we only engage with a few people?”

– Eleanor Gingell MRTPI, principal planning officer, South Northamptonshire and Cherwell Council “It became apparent to us when we were driving through this street in St Lucia, where people live in very small homes and in the street: this is not antisocial, but it is a social issue. It is social behaviour, so you want to accommodate that rather than forcing people into things that simply don’t work for them.”

– Steve Kemp MRTPI, executive director, Open Plan “Could we just plant some trees and in 400 years’ time we’ll have some ancient woodland? No, you can’t. That soil was completely undisturbed when those trees emerged after the last ice age.”

– Victoria Bankes Price MRTPI, planning adviser, Woodland Trust “Good planning is about making sure that you battle through some of the challenges that you face… Not seeing problems as a barrier.”

– Heather Claridge MRTPI, principle officer, Glasgow City Council and RTPI Young Planner of the Year 2018

I M AG E S | RT P I

19/11/2018 09:44

LEADER COMMENT

Opinion onn Ubiquitous data delivery will change planning – The words you’re seeing right now were first tapped out on the keyboard of a smartphone somewhere between Canada Water and Rotherhithe. They then travelled across oceans to some or other data centre, Arizona perhaps, where they rested before being accessed from a laptop in The Planner’s office an hour later.

Our content, and how we deploy it, is in a constantly fluid state these days – and there’s no reason to think the planning process isn’t set to go down a similar path.

What adds value to content is context: the ability to instantly appreciate how one piece of information relates to another. And make no mistake, for planning there’s a revolution brewing in terms of data access and its impact on all those with an interest in the process.

We recently had a demo of one particular tool for planners. The familiarity of

Martin Read the interface was as striking as the speed and supply of richly valuable data from a variety of sources.

Anyone considering a planning application could immediately see how local policies might affect it, and how previous, similar and similarly located decisions might affect their ideas.

Private consultants could visualise an application’s likely impact while local councils could, for example, easily benchmark the effect of their policies against

those of other, neighbouring authorities. Developers, planners, lawyers, the public – there really is is no interested party for which this information isn’t relevant, and which is becoming available for the cost of a subscription fee.

That consumerfriendliness is key. Anyone who has used Google Maps – and that’s pretty much everyone these days – will quickly come to grips with it, just as they have a myriad other information sources.

Look at how easy it is, for example, to access The Planner’s appeals service, swooping in on Google Map visuals of the land and buildings under discussion before accessing the actual decision letters in question.

“MAKE NO MISTAKE, FOR PLANNING THERE’S A REVOLUTION BREWING IN TERMS OF DATA ACCESS”

Plenty of apps are either already available, or on their way – for a snapshot, check out our feature on p.31.

That we’re on the verge of such tools being ubiquitous seems clear. What their impact will be on how planning is practised is less certain. But many expect planners to have ‘more time’ to focus on ‘the stuff that really matters’. And all of this before we really see the full impact of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Of course, when digitisation automates workflows it typically results in ‘efficiency’ drives to pare down staff numbers yet further. It’s to be hoped that this profession can ringfence any new-found ability for planners to focus on the bigger picture.

Two final things this to conclude the year on.

Firstly, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Here’s to 2019. Secondly, a fond farewell to our regular columnist Chris Shepley.

He’ll be sorely missed.

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£120 – UK £175 – Overseas Average net circulation 18,373 (January-December 2016) (A further 5,700 members receive the magazine in digital form) © The Planner is published on behalf of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) by Redactive Publishing Ltd (RPL), 78 Chamber Street, London E1 8BL 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 part 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 PCP Ltd.

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D EC E MB ER 2 0 18 / THE PLA NNER 10-11 News_Opinion_December 2018_The Planner 11

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19/11/2018 09:44

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CORRESPONDENCE

Inbox

YOUR NEWS, VIEWS AND QUESTIONS F E E D B A C K

Bob Dewey – It was pleasant to see that an architect (Bob Hands – The Planner, October 2018) believes that professional planners always should have the right answer.

After 40 years (mostly in planning control, but now gamekeeper-turnedpoacher) I feel that many would not agree with him.

However, more worrying is that he seems to see planning decisions as “right or wrong”. Planning decisions are invariably a balance between the large number of material considerations. Every individual in the process is required to weigh up all those and inevitably there will be a range of judgements. Everyone may be right, but it is for the final decision-maker/committee to decide which way the balance will finally tilt.

We have a democratically elected final arbiter – unless the matter goes to appeal.

Robert ("Bob") Dewey BA (Hons) MBA MRTPI

Amanda Purdye – Tabitha Knowles (The Planner, September 2018) is right to highlight the importance of aerodrome safeguarding. However, without context and the wider picture, we feel it can be misunderstood.

While ideally there should be a safeguarding policy contained in a local plan, the lack of a specific policy does not mean an airport is not well safeguarded.

Even where a local plan is silent on safeguarding, there are mechanisms in place to protect the safe use of the relevant aerodrome. For example, both government policy (i.e. circular 01/2003) and responses from statutory consultees (which aerodrome safeguarding authorities are) are material considerations in the decision-making process.

If the local planning authority wishes to approve an application against an aerodrome’s objection, they must notify both the aerodrome and our regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), for further investigation, before consent is granted. The CAA also has the power to request an application be ‘called in’.

The Airport Operators Association’s (AOA) Safeguarders Group does agree that the Circulars should be updated. Ideally, this would also include considering extending the number of aerodromes that are officially safeguarded.

Lastly, an aerodrome’s primary duty is to aviation safety and the CAA assures that commitment. Any suggestion to the contrary, is both irresponsible and unacceptable. Officially safeguarded aerodromes have competent, dedicated and professional personnel, who are acutely aware of how important their role is in protecting safe operations and work tirelessly to achieve this.

Simon Williams

L D Simmons

– Going through a pile of recent copies of The Planner. I noted the theme of local authorities struggling to deliver planning services due to loss of staff and the loss of status of planning at senior level.

A local planner told me recently that she has 85 applications in her in-tray and is just on a treadmill. This all makes depressing reading, but is really no surprise given the cuts that seemed to have affected planning teams more than some other local authority services in recent years.

One article asked, “Why does planning struggle to recruit and retain staff at local authority level?” The answer is obvious.

I also noted that your feature on the East Midlands’ young planners showed that nine out of the 10 shown worked in the private sector and only one for a local authority. It is, I suggest, a significant shift compared with some years ago.

Encouraging young people to understand what planning does, and to consider it as a career, has always been a challenge. I have been involved in environmental education initiatives to help get the message across, but with more local authority cuts on the horizon it is difficult to be positive about a planning career in the public sector.

Unless this problem is addressed, who will be there to determine the applications submitted by their private sector colleagues?

– At last! Good news on the housing front. A new development is offering three-bed semidetached houses for just £150,000 and detached four-bed homes for under £300,000. A search on RightMove unearths a range of older houses from £15,000 in healthy supply.

So, where is this housing crisis? Not in Clay Cross, Accrington. But where are the jobs to go with these homes? Government could house the nation through an ambitious policy of regionalising industry, technology, innovation and enterprise out into the neglected provinces where development land is relatively plentiful.

But if we must keep pouring a quart into a pint pot, why not apply a full residential council tax on all car parks occupying plum sustainable urban sites? Parking could remain, sub-ground. Yes, private and council car parks too – as well as those belonging to Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, etc.

The tax could be fully refundable upon completion of the final sale of any housing development, the schemes enabled via extended PD rights conditioned to build to minimum nationally described space standards and subject to amenity and normal associated planning parameters.

Amanda Purdye

Simon Williams

L D Simmons BA (Hons) MRTPI

Chair, AOA Aerodrome Safeguarders Group

Footprint Futures - Planning & Regeneration

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CHRIS SHEPLEY

O Opinion Don’t let the sun go down on planning’s power for good – a valedictory note Remarkably, there have been grumbles about this column.

This on the grounds that it contains too much grumbling.

Now, I believe that one should employ one’s skill set to the max, and as a slightly older planner I have developed grumbling as a sophisticated pursuit over the years. My wife appreciates my consummate skills in this area, I think. But nonetheless, being criticised for being critical is a worry.

In fact only a small, even infinitesimal, proportion of commentators have complained thusly. And even he concedes that there has been much to be critical about over the past few years.

When this column chunters about regional imbalance, PD extensions, the housing debacle, duties to cooperate, the sustained attack on launderettes, system changes that are about as useful as Boris Johnson, or the awful chasm of nothingness that strategic planning has become, he is hard put to disagree.

Nonetheless, I must address this allegation. I wish, therefore, to make it clear that I am entirely optimistic about the future of planning. I always have been and always will be. It’s what’s kept me going. This is, essentially, because I can see no way in which the world can manage without it. Everybody plans.

Businesses have business plans; households plan their budgets; people plan holidays; the NHS plans healthcare; vicars plan sermons; thieves plan burglaries; Trump plans to play golf. There are no exceptions – or if there are,

14

then things are liable to go horribly wrong (don’t mention Brexit; after all this is an optimistic column).

And of course we have magnificent achievements to our names, from green belts to new towns, the 800,000 homes currently, I’m told, in the pipeline, the regeneration schemes, the parks, the protection of the countryside, the conservation areas and listed buildings, and so endlessly on. Others take the credit for all this, of course, and blame us for things that go wrong like the loss of pubs or independent shops, but that’s just another invaluable function that we offer.

So you have to plan the way development takes place.

How else do you prepare for climate change? How do you arrange for everybody to have a decent house, with decent facilities nearby and a

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14 Shepley_December 2018_The Planner 14

“WE’VE BEEN THROUGH A PERIOD OF ABERRATION BUT CHANGE IS IN THE AIR” reasonable transport system?

How do developers know what to do next? There would be an outcry if anyone tried to get rid of it, and there’s quite a bit of unhappiness at its current weakness.

We’ve been through a period of aberration but change is in the air. Mrs May, for example, thinks that we should build council houses, and we all know that if she makes such a promise it will definitely happen. Ministers have mentioned the word ‘region’, which was banned for several years, and started to realise that we need strategic

planning. There is lots of pressure to stop building homes the size of broom cupboards. And an emerging understanding – if only one of our planning ministers could remain in post long enough to grasp it – that people are happier in well-designed, convenient, sustainable and attractive places. Change is in the air.

So in some ways I wish I was starting out all over again.

What a time to be a young planner! The world is your oyster. But I’m not sure I could go through all that again, so I’ll leave you to take over, and I wish you luck.

This is the last of these columns. This is not because of the grumble about grumbling mentioned earlier, which was in fact fictitious. It’s because it’s time to move on before the reader demands it. That, and the fact that recent government announcements have strayed well beyond parody. It’s been an honour and a pleasure, for me at least.

And I think it is right to end on a positive note. Things are going to be fine. Probably.

Bon voyage.

Chris Shepley is the principal of Chris Shepley Planning and former Chief Planning Inspector I L L U S T R AT I O N | O I V I N D H O V L A N D

19/11/2018 12:41

Chris unChris

“If I were he (heaven forfend), I would want posterity to remember me for doing something exciting and good… not for being the man responsible for the dismal irrelevance of making it easier to convert launderettes into flats.”

A FO N D FA R E W E L L T O C H R I S S H E P L E Y

pl

e y,

1980s

It is with sadness that we say a fond goodbye to Mr Shepley, whose final column is to your left. Planning opinion pieces will never be the same again.

We’ve loved Chris’s columns over the last five years and marvelled at his extraordinary ability to be both whimsical and eviscerating – usually at the same time. It’s quite a talent, and one we know we shall miss - just as we’ll miss his fierce loyalty to the idea that planning is a discipline worth doing and worth doing well.

By way of bidding the great man a farewell, we offer a few of his gems.

And a gem of a photo album, too. We’re digging the ’70s ’tache, Chris!

e Chris Sh

The satirical masterpiece Grotton Revisited…

Planning in Crisis? is still available on Amazon

“Some people think this is a conspiracy to weaken planning as a social good, but I’m more of a cock-up theorist.”

“I spend some time waiting for trains.

So would you if you used Great Western Railways.”

“Arthur ur is addicted to development management. He was first attracted to it, like many, by the romance, the adventure, the danger, the beautiful women.

At first, all was well.”

“If you’re a young planner, feeling you have a poor degree (like me), or a slow start to your career (like me) – things will probably turn out just fine.”

e y,

“Once upon a time there was a jolly large man who lived in a cabinet. His name was Pickles! People often laughed at his adventures, though they weren’t always meant to.”

pl

“A rather braver soul did in fact create regional plans, which in their short lives started to deal with this issue quite well; but some thoughtless fool got rid of them. They were, again, too effective to be acceptable.”

1 9 70 s

Left: Chris hard at work with his Grotton co-authors Steve Ankers and David Kaiserman

Chris Sh

e

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

O Opinion

1

Val Bagnall is managing director at Apex Airspace

We need to extend upwards if we’re to solve the housing crisis

Although two-thirds of people surveyed by the Federation of surveye Master Builders believe that there is a housing crisis, the solutions that its recent research suggests – such as building more granny flats, co-living spaces or encouraging multi-generational living – just don’t go far enough to make a dent in the problem.

The FMB offers basement conversions as one solution. But those developments tend to be initiated by wealthy owners to add cinemas, gyms or garages beneath properties.

I was shocked that the FMB’s research did not flag airspace as a great development opportunity.

It’s something that both the government and Greater London Authority (GLA) see to agree on. Last month, James Brokenshire, secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, said the government would consult on permitted development rights to allow property owners to extend certain buildings upwards without being subject to the usual planning constraints. The GLA also includes airspace in its draft London Plan.

The National Planning Policy Framework pushed the same agenda by incorporating airspace into its revised document published over the summer. It called for planning policies to support opportunities to use the airspace above existing residential and commercial premises for new homes.

Will Haynes is infrastructure director for Sustrans

Unlocking the National Cycle Network’s potential

Most recently, chancellor Philip Hammond announced in the budget a consultation on proposed permitted development reforms for airspace development to include the high street, generating new homes while creating windfall payments for owners.

Airspace is about building above existing low-rise buildings and I’m not surprised to see it growing in popularity because it offers an innovative answer to a serious problem. It reduces pressure on the green belt and doesn’t adversely affect the skyline.

Undertaken with new factory-built homes, these homes could be delivered twice as quickly on this new form of land supply.

Apex Airspace identified that in London alone, 360,000 homes could be built on rooftops, the equivalent to 720 acres of developable land, a third of which could be for affordable homes. The study also showed that London’s airspace was spread equally across the city, which would allow affordable housing to be built across the entire capital. While building on top of roofs was once the preserve of the rich, this new way of thinking could make rooftop living available to all.

My key issue with the FMB’s study is that it asked homeowners to suggest solutions – the very group lucky enough to have a home and unlikely to give much thought to solving this problem.

“IN LONDON ALONE, 360,000 HOMES COULD BE BUILT ON ROOFTOPS”

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2 BLOG

BLOG

A growing grow body of evidence shows the benefits of walking and cycling to local economies, air quality, and our well-being.

Sustrans estimates that the 786 million walking and cycling trips on the National Cycle Network in 2017 generated £1.3 billion for the economy through reduced road congestion and health and environmental benefits.

Additionally, local businesses benefited by £2.5 billion from leisure and tourism spending.

What role do design standards play in helping to realise this potential?

As I’m a civil engineer it is in my nature to say that infrastructure plays a key role in facilitating use of the network and realisation of its economic potential.

But to maximise its potential the user experience is key.

People walking and cycling along it need confidence that they can expect a consistently high-quality experience.

This requires a subtly different approach to design standards. Our starting point for new standards was to create a design guide for the National Cycle Network.

This would have stated absolute requirements for width, surface type, alignment, and so on. But it soon became apparent that the diversity of users and the breadth of types of route meant that this would end up defining a lowest common denominator.

Instead we have created a set of

design principles. These principles define the characteristics of the network and facilitate a positive user experience. This is not to say that the design standards for the network are not important.

Indeed, the first principle is that new and improved sections of the network should be designed in accordance with current best practice design guidance.

The other principles include ensuring that the path is wide enough to accommodate all users, that the surface is smooth enough for people using mobility aids, that the route is attractive and interesting, that the signing enables people to use the path without getting lost, that routes are accessible to all legitimate users, and that all users are able to cross roads safely.

The intention is to encourage the designer to think about the user experience they are seeking to facilitate, and design accordingly.

It is my hope that we have created a set of principles that enable a designer to ensure that new or improved sections of network embody the characteristics that define it and as such provide a positive user experience. This will then enable the network to realise its full economic potential, be this through slices of cake bought in a café next to a route or through savings to the NHS through a more active population.

“INFRASTRUCTURE PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN FACILITATING USE OF THE NETWORK AND REALISATION OF ITS ECONOMIC POTENTIAL”

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

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

3

Michael Voges is executive director of ARCO (Associated Retirement Community Operators)

We need to move beyond the feudal leasehold system

current leasehold reform The cur agenda is developing at pace – with new proposals on right to manage, enfranchisement, ground rents and leasehold houses being developed by the Ministry of Housing and the Law Commission.

I am struck by the tension between those interested in retaining the old leasehold system, which has its origins in feudal times, and those arguing for a move to other forms of tenure, such as commonhold.

But the current approaches to reforming the leasehold system make almost no reference to the services provided in retirement communities, nor do they consider the needs of an ageing demographic.

To be clear, I am not talking about the traditional retirement or sheltered housing sector, but about schemes (also known as extra care housing or retirement villages) that deliver a 24-hour staff presence, offer meals in restaurants and provide facilities such as gyms and craft rooms.

Most importantly, they also incorporate care and support services on site, but unlike in care homes, these are optional, and residents might move into their apartment without using care services at the outset.

We know that customers are in search of a safety net that will enable them to be independent

4 BLOG

BLOG

Rebecca Fieldhouse is an associate director with Indigo

Student housing risks failing to make the grade

for as long as possible. Research shows that residents of retirement community offering care and support are less likely to need to access NHS services.

The quality of services and staffing has by far the largest impact on whether customers will recommend a scheme to a friend, so services are key.

But the leasehold system was created to govern a relationship between farmers and (feudal) landowners.

This has resulted in gaps in what leasehold law can address.

For example, it has little to say about mental capacity and dementia, or the protection of vulnerable residents from services being withdrawn by a majority decision taken by (more able-bodied) residents.

And leases are inflexible as they go unchanged for decades – when the needs of the residents or the community might change considerably over time.

Therefore, we should seize the opportunity of the current leasehold reforms to move beyond both leasehold and commonhold, and follow other nations in developing sector-specific tenure models for retirement communities. Backed up by laws (such as the Retirement Villages Act 2003 in New Zealand), these would provide for a more suitable basis for our sector than a system dating back to the Middle Ages.

“THE LEASEHOLD SYSTEM WAS CREATED TO GOVERN A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FARMERS AND (FEUDAL) LANDOWNERS”

Fears that tha the Brexit vote would make th the UK less popular with overseas students have proved largely unfounded. A weaker pound has made the UK a costeffective place to study, and the government’s commitment to help fund places for EU students has helped offset concerns.

UK universities remain popular with international students largely because of the quality of teaching and experience they offer. UCAS figures show that the number of overseas students applying for university places in the UK has increased to more than 100,000 for the first time.

I n te r n a t i o n a l students account for a fifth of students in the UK, but a considerably higher proportion of occupants of privately owned purpose-built student accommodation, according to a study for property consultant JLL. Student housing operators seem well placed to benefit from the rise in overseas students. But they must balance two often-opposing demands – quality and affordability.

The overseas market is competitive at a global scale, with students demanding a high standard of accommodation and student experience. Home-grown students, however, feeling the pinch of tuition fees and Brexit, are more driven by affordability.

A commitment from the government to ensure that fees and finance arrangements for EU students remain unchanged during

any transition period post-Brexit could prove vital if the UK is to be the first choice for foreign students.

In many cities student housing schemes are required to make a financial contribution to affordable housing for local people. But London has gone a step further; the draft New London Plan looks to secure 35 per cent of student accommodation itself as affordable.

London has long been unaffordable and students have simply avoided the capital for years.

But with home-grown students opting to stay at home rather than incur high accommodation costs, affordability is clearly becoming a problem outside London. In the Midlands, for example, the cost of self-catered u n ive r s i ty accommodation can range from £3,000 to £10,000 a year.

How long will it be before other local authorities look to cap or discount rents? Investing in purpose-built student accommodation and the overall student experience will continue to drive student recruitment. But the type of accommodation required by the overseas (quality) versus the home-grown (affordability) market is becoming increasingly polarised.

We need to work together to look at how we better manage assets and bring down the cost of providing student accommodation, without compromising the student experience.

“INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ACCOUNT FOR A FIFTH OF STUDENTS WITHIN THE UK”

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19/11/2018 09:46

ichard Bacon is one of the UK’s biggest champions of self-build and custom-build housing. The Conservative MP for South Norfolk founded an All-Party Parliamentary Group in 2013 to promote the practice, and in 2015 pushed through a law to facilitate it.

Bacon’s Self-Build & Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 obliges local authorities to keep registers of people seeking land on which to build a home, and take the demand into account when formulating housing plans. Ultimately, he believes that the UK’s housing crisis is a result of supply not meeting demand, and his act was intended to ensure that – in one part of the housing sector, at least – demand was better satisfied.

Bacon cites recent research by Nationwide showing that 61 per cent of the UK population would like to self or custom-build a home at some point in their lives. The MP believes that the gap between those who want to do it and those who are actively planning to do it lies in the difficulties surrounding the process.

“If it were as easy to do as going to a car dealership and buying a car, more people would do it,” Bacon tells The Planner. “In a well-functioning ecosystem, the number of people who do it should reflect the number of people that want to do it – I don’t believe in setting a target, just ensuring that supply meets demand.”

The 2015 act, he hopes, was “an important step in the right direction”.

Since then, the 2016 Housing and Planning Act has “ratcheted up the legal obligation”, explicitly requiring local authorities to meet the self and custom-build demand by providing enough serviced plots.

But Bacon knows there’s still a long way to go. In late October, he introduced a Ten Minute Rule motion in Parliament on housing reform. This was designed, he explained, to require the secretary of state for housing to provide enough serviced plots of land. Bacon describes the aim behind the motion as “turbo-charging the Right to Build legislation”.

The second reading of the motion is due shortly.

Foundations of a shortage Many in the UK blame large-scale, profit-driven housebuilders for the UK’s housing crisis. Bacon, however, does not think this is quite the case.

“Volume housebuilders are profit maximisers, and I don’t blame them for doing their duty to their shareholders. But I do blame the referee – which is government – for allowing an oligopoly in which a small number of very large companies exercise disproportionate power.”

We are expecting too much from housing developers, Bacon believes, and asking them to do things – such as providing good transport links, services, and creating thriving local economies and equitable places – that they are not designed to do. This should be the purview of the public sector, he says, although he admits that public planning departments are currently “understaffed and underskilled”.

So what is the root of the problem?

“There is a fundamental flaw in the housing market,” he explains. “In a functioning housing market, consumers need to have real choice, and there needs to be relatively low barriers to entry, so that new suppliers can come into the marketplace to meet demand. Those fundamental prerequisites aren’t in place.”

Bacon firmly believes that if there were real choice at scale available to consumers – including simple, affordable self and custom-build, the volume housebuilders would increase supply to better compete, thus easing the crisis.

Rather than suggesting an increase in homes built by the public sector and a regulatory approach to private developers as the solution to tackling the housing crisis, Bacon thinks the public sector’s role is to enable a wider range of models – beyond the volume housebuilders – to meet demand.

“We need to break the oligopoly of large-scale housebuilders. We need a much more muscular approach from agencies like Homes England working with local partners to decide what’s going to be built and where, engaging local people and ensuring that they are the first to benefit.”

But why has Bacon focused in on self-build specifically? “Like many people, I’ve wanted to build

“THERE IS A VERY BASIC, INSTINCTIVE HUMAN NEED TO CREATE SHELTER; IT’S WHAT WE ARE HARDWIRED TO DO”

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F U T U R E O F H O U S I N G : S E LF ­ B U I LD

CUSTOMER CHOICE IN OUR CONTINUING SERIES ON THE FUTURE OF HOUSING, CONSERVATIVE MP RICHARD BACON TELLS FRANCESCA PERRY WHY HE THINKS WE NEED A CUSTOM­ AND SELF­BUILD REVOLUTION

P H O T O G R A P H Y | PA L H A N S E N

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F U T U R E O F H O U S I N G : S E LF ­ B U I LD

or commission my own home to my own design,” he explains.

“I’m not mainly doing this for political reasons; I just want there to be more homes.”

Bacon describes decades of growing frustration over conditions in the UK housing market, and his desire to make a change.

“There is a very basic, instinctive human need to create shelter; it’s what we are hardwired to do,” he says. “We have a system which in the modern developed world ought to be able to do it much better.”

He explains how elsewhere – in countries such as Germany, Austria and the Netherlands – self-build is far more popular, and helping supply rise to meet demand. But the UK lags behind.

Building a framework Bacon is the ambassador for the Right to Build Task Force, established to help local authorities, community groups and other organisations across the UK deliver custom and self-build projects. But have all local authorities been receptive to his act, and more generally supportive of such projects?

“The task force is working in a coalition of the willing – with local authorities that are already interested and want to do something,” says Bacon, mentioning that there are roughly 30 different local authorities where the task force is currently most active. Whilst these councils are keen, most simply have other priorities; others, however, are actively sceptical, says Bacon, and have introduced a charge for people to register their interest in obtaining serviced plots – possibly as a way to thwart it.

One local authority leading the way, however, is Cherwell District Council in Oxfordshire. It spent £28 million buying former Ministry of Defence land, set up the Graven Hill development company, and created serviced plots and vital infrastructure. Now Graven Hill – a new town of 1,900 homes and the UK’s biggest mass self-build site – is taking shape. There are already schools, nurseries, cycle ways, and even a pub. The buyers pick plots, design their homes and get them fast-tracked through the planning system.

C A R EER

HIG HL IG HTS

R I C HA R D B A C ON MP Born: 1962, Solihull Educated: King's School, Worcester; London School of Economics (BSc (Econ) 1986) (MSc (Econ) 1990)

1986­89

1994­96

2001

Investment banker, Barclays de Zoete Wedd

Deputy director, Management Consultancies Association

Founder, English Word Factory (communication consultancy)

1996­99

2001–Now

Associate partner, Brunswick

Conservative MP for South Norfolk

1993­94 Financial/legal journalist, Euromoney, International Corporate Law

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1999­

2001­17 Member, House

of Commons Public Accounts Committee

2006

Backbencher of the Year

2017­now Ambassador, Right to Build Task Force

“Once Graven Hill is finished, other councils will hopefully follow suit,” says Bacon. But there is still more that the government can do, he insists. “We have Help to Buy – which in many cases is helping middle-income people – but we don’t have Help to Build. Help to Buy subsidises demand. We should be subsidising supply so we get more supply. We need a national Help to Build programme where we say to people – we will help you to get a serviced plot of land at a price you can afford and then help you to get the house you choose.”

He adds: “I think there is a need for a new kind of entity – a quasi-housing association or bank that can help councils bring forward serviced plots.”

Bacon describes this hypothetical body as an entity “with heavy public sector involvement”.

A home of one’s own Underpinning much of Bacon’s vision is the idea that the consumer – the person wanting a home – comes first. “Everyone needs somewhere to live – that’s my housing policy in five words. We should ask people what they want and help them to get it.

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In Austria, 80% of new-builds are self and custom-built1

53% of Britons have the ambition to design and build their own home at some point in their lives3

1 in 7 Britons plans to build their own home2

Self-build in figures No official statistics are kept pertaining to the self and custom-build sector in the UK, but here are some numbers from various recent reports.

In the UK, 7-10% of newbuilds (around 12,000 homes a year) are self and custombuilt1

The median plot cost for selfbuild in the UK is £190,0004

At its current pace, the sector is estimated to reach 16,500 housing completions by 20204

The median self-build spend in the UK is £270,0004

The average age of selfbuilders in the UK is 514

1 2017 House of Commons briefing paper, 2Ipsos MORI poll commissioned by the National Self Build Association, 2014, 3YouGov survey commissioned by Building Societies Association, 2011, 4Homebuilding & Renovating Self & Custom Build Market Report, 2017

“IN A FUNCTIONING HOUSING MARKET, CONSUMERS NEED TO HAVE REAL CHOICE”

Put the customer in charge.”

Such a dialogue needs to start with awareness, however. “What we really need is a consumer awareness campaign about the ability to get a serviced plot and use the custom suppliers to bring forward the product you want.”

Bacon believes self and custom-build should be “accessible for ordinary people” – from single mums to homeless people and ex-offenders. He also thinks there should be a “lateral approach to tenure”, enabling a system by which developers such as housing associations could build homes for social tenants, and then turn those people into private tenants if they got back on their feet. Councils could buy serviced plots and use them for council housing.

Serviced plots could be rented, as is currently practised in The Hague.

Should there be criteria about who should get priority access to such serviced plots? “In a perfect world, anyone and everyone would have access to them,” says Bacon. “Of course there must be simple rules to prevent large-volume housebuilders hoovering them all up. But I would prefer more or

less anyone – from a co-housing group to a private developer to a group of friends – to have access.”

The 2015 act does enable relevant authorities to include up to two local eligibility tests, including a ‘local connection’ test – to make sure that buyers have links to the area – and a financial solvency test.

“The first concern is making sure everyone has somewhere to live,” Bacon concludes, “but I don’t think that should be as a result of big entities – whether public or private – telling people what’s good for them. The part that needs to be unlocked is to find out from people what they want.”

Nevertheless, with a current median combined plot cost and build cost of £460,000, self and custom-build largely remains the practice of middle-class, middle-aged Britons – for now at least.

And with the sector estimated to account for 16,500 annual housing completions by 2020 in the UK, amid a current national target of 300,000 new homes a year, it’s a way off being a major solution to the housing crisis. Perhaps, though, it is a useful tool in the box, and as Bacon says – it’s all about giving people options.

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“TODAY’S HOMES ARE UNRECOGNISABLE FROM THOSE ‘PREFABS’ THAT ARE EMBEDDED IN THE MEMORY OF MANY”

IN THE FIRST OF A SERIES OF ARTICLES LOOKING AT THE FUTURE OF HOUSING IN THE UK, RIËTTE OOSTHUIZEN CONSIDERS HOW SUBURBIA CAN CONTRIBUTE TO SUPPLYING THE HOUSING THE NATION NEEDS

NOISES OFF

PRODUCTION­LINE HOMES COULD BE ONE ANSWER TO THE UK’S HOUSING SHORTAGE. BUT, AS OFF­SITE MANUFACTURE (OSM) PREPARES TO JOIN THE MAINSTREAM, SERENA RALSTON ASKS IF PLANNING IS LAGGING BEHIND THE TECHNOLOGY

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In Somerset, a new town of 1,500 modular units made from hot-rolled steel chassis has sprung up in just a year for key workers at the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant.

It is a time frame that would be unthinkable in traditional construction. But Debansu Das of Caledonian, the manufacturer, cheerfully compares modular construction to car production – simple and repetitive design with high-quality control.

Down the M5, on the edge of Bristol, a large 1930s housing estate is undergoing a ‘backgarden revolution’ with rather different modular homes. Here, the community in Knowle West is calling the shots, working with We Can Make and the Knowle West Media Centre to unlock micro-sites in gaps and gardens for about 300 affordable homes.

The prototype house, which local people can try out for free, uses a compressed straw building

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FUTURE OF HOUSING

The construction of Apex House in Wembley, currently Europe's tallest modular building

system. The homes will be made nearby by trained local people in a neighbourhood housing factory.

In West London this September, students moved into 250-bedroom accommodation nine months after building started on site. The scheme’s planner and designer, HTA Design, is also working on what will be the tallest modular building in the world – a 44-storey build-to-rent apartment block in Croydon for developer Greystar. The building is being built by Tide Construction, with Vision Modular Systems providing the modules. Build-to-rent is expected to be a growth area for the OSM sector.

OSM, not prefab What these projects demonstrate is the scope of what is variously called OSM and MMC (modern methods of construction), but not ‘prefab’ if you want to keep friends in the industry.

“Today’s homes are unrecognisable from those ‘prefabs’ that are embedded in the memory of many,” insists the London Assembly planning committee’s 2017 report on OSM, Designed, Sealed, Delivered.

“They are now ‘precision-manufactured’ homes that can offer an increased level of consistency and quality control and additional benefits in terms of speed of delivery, cost efficiencies and safety on site.”

The report, which advocates OSM as part of the solution to London’s housing crisis, defines it as “an umbrella term for a system of housebuilding that relies on individual components being manufactured in a factory, transported to a site and mostly, or entirely, completed and assembled on location”.

There are three different approaches: • Volumetric or modular build, where manufactured units are assembled and transported to site as fully finished.

• Platforms/sub-assemblies, for specific areas within a building.

• Kit of parts, manufactured off site and assembled on site like a flat-pack.

Apex House, Wembley, at ground level

HTA Design’s Savoy Circus, a seven-storey building of student flats in Acton, West London

According to the Building Research Establishment (BRE), timber frame structures currently dominate the market, with light-gauge steel-frame structures gaining market share.

Cross-laminated timber, an engineered timber product with good structural properties and low environmental impact, is emerging as a newer material.

Although there are no official statistics, the UK market for volumetric modular buildings and portable accommodation is estimated to have increased by 6 per cent in 2017, according to Building Products magazine.

However, a report from the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee last summer found that although OSM can help to increase productivity in the construction sector, the take-up is “varied and somewhat limited across the sector because it is working with outdated and unsustainable business models that are not conducive to OSM for construction”.

The 2017 Budget stated that the government would adopt a presumption in favour of OSM by 2019 across suitable capital programmes. It has made a £1 billion investment through the Home Building Fund to develop new approaches to design and construction. Homes England has made various commitments to MMC, including

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FUTURE OF HOUSING

within six months, subject to planning approval.

The council has pledged to release normally undeliverable sites to the festival for testing and delivery of different sorts of housing and communities over five years.

Apartments for London announced in September that it had entered a new partnership with Transport for London (TfL) to create modular homes over car parks and other sites on TfL land. Planning applications for the first three developments, with the potential for about 450 affordable homes, are in the pipeline.

OSM is also said to be more sustainable than traditional build methods, using less energy, with fewer transport trips to site. Factory manufacture also has other attractions related to working environment and availability of skills.

“You wouldn’t build a sports car in a field, so why a house?” says Dr Rehan Khodabuccus, operations director at ZED Pods. “Modular offers far better quality control and we have a greater continuity in our workforce.”

incorporating MMC outcomes into its contracts.

But Homes England sounds a note of caution.

“The MMC industry is currently immature, with limited production capacity and supply chains. It requires stimulus if it is to evolve further.”

The industry says it needs government to follow through on its commitment, with enough sites opened up to generate the required throughput. The House of Lords committee report echoes this, recommending that the government should publish “key performance indicators against which the success of the ‘presumption in favour’ can be assessed” and, where OSM is not used, to explain why.

A changing landscape In the private sector, four companies currently dominate: Caledonian, Vision Modular Systems, Elements Europe, and Premier Modular. But the OSM landscape is changing rapidly, with new and very different operators joining.

Swan Housing Association, which opened its own modular housing factory last year, will produce 300-400 modular homes a year. Of these, 560 will be used for its regeneration of the Craylands Estate in Basildon.

Legal & General is expected to deliver its first factory-built homes at the end of 2018 after it opens its own modular factory near Leeds. Then there are the Silicon Valley investors: in the USA, Amazon has invested in Californian home design and prefabrication company Plant Prefab, with plans to integrate its voice-controlled Alexa devices into the homes.

“A lot of people think that construction is ripe for disruption, so OSM is very timely,” says Bergin. “The UK is attractive to US investors in OSM because contracting prices are high here and building is slow and risky.”

BRE says OSM is arguably cost-neutral – with higher factory costs but lower on-site costs. But speed and quality control are big benefits. Time savings are typically between 30 and 50 per cent on a traditional build, according to Debansu Das. Caledonian, for example, makes 2,880 modules, or 1,400 apartments a year.

“Quality control is a real advantage – what is delivered is what is specified,” says Das. “Modular is fully audited with a gated process in the factory at every stage of production.”

Another major advantage is that OSM can use unconventional spaces as purpose-built modules are lowered into place by crane. For example, ZEDpod modular homes are designed for land typically outside the development plan such as on top of city centre car parks.

In October, Bristol City Council committed to investing in six, an example of which was displayed at the recent Bristol Housing Festival.

These will be offered to people in housing crisis

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George Street, Croydon: two towers to be made from 1,500 modules manufactured

by Vision Modular Systems

Policy gap Nevertheless, a challenge for planners and developers is that design decisions need to be made early on and adhered to in the construction process. In contrast, the traditional contracting model allows for last-minute on-site changes.

Despite OSM’s advantages and its scope, there

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19/11/2018 14:15

OFF­SITE ON SITE AT HIGHBURY II In September 2018 students moved into Highbury II, a 257-bedroom accommodation block forming part of the former Arsenal stadium redevelopment, a mere nine months after building started on the North London site.

Rory Bergin of the scheme’s planner and designer HTA Design, says: “This time frame would have been inconceivable with normal construction. The site is next to the railway line, so you couldn’t get a more challenging setting.

The scheme, for Greystar’s student accommodation brand Chapter, was built by Tide Construction with 308 modules from Vision Modular Systems.

“Everything was delivered as the finished product – rooms came with a bed, desk and lighting. The only thing missing was the student. Off-site manufacture is ideal for student accommodation as well as accommodation for the homeless.”

is a planning policy and knowledge gap that the industry figures we spoke to would like to see addressed. It is thought that the draft London Plan contains the only planning policy on the issue.

“Traditionally, planning policy doesn’t support housing on difficult or market failure sites,” continues Khodabuccus. “But if we don’t want to build on greenfield, if we want to tackle difficult sites, we need to go with modular and we need policy support. The industry is also crying out for specialist planning consultants – we are educating the planners.”

Among the suggestions that the industry would like to see to provide it with greater security are sites earmarked for OSM only, or planning policy that mandates a minimum amount of OSM in a development plan.

Construction firm Mace has asserted that applications for MMC projects could be accelerated for projects that can demonstrate faster, better-quality and greener developments than traditional approaches.

Debansu feels that national planning guidance would give more clients and developers the confidence to switch to OSM. Caledonian is helping in this process by running workshops for councils in London.

He adds that owing to the sector’s efforts more planners are favouring OSM as it creates less disruption for the surrounding community because of fewer deliveries, and it has shorter build schedules.

We Can Make is working with the local community and others, including Bristol City Council, to develop collective tools to help make delivering an affordable home on micro-sites

“A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK THAT CONSTRUCTION IS RIPE FOR DISRUPTION, SO OSM IS VERY TIMELY”

The space-compliant ZEDpod modular home, displayed at the recent Bristol Housing Festival

easier. One of these is a design code whereby the community will help set the rules for any modular homes on micro-sites – including how many, where they go, suggested materials, and how they relate to the existing housing stock.

This could eventually be adopted as supplementary planning guidance.

Planning clearly matters here. Although late to the party, it has the potential to support and shape the delivery of OSM homes as part of solving the national housing shortage. n Serena Ralston is a freelance journalist specialising in planning and the built environment

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INFRASTRUCTURE

CROSSED CROSSRAIL IS THE LATEST MAJOR INFRASTRUCTURE SCHEME TO RUN INTO TROUBLE. BUT WHY DOES IT HAPPEN SO OFTEN? HUW MORRIS GOES IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS

Late arrival: The Elizabeth line

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London mayor Sadiq Khan was shocked, bewildered, and then angry when he heard the news at a Crossrail board meeting at the end of August.

Two days later that news became public.

Crossrail’s Elizabeth line would not open in December as scheduled and had been delayed until autumn 2019 “to complete the final infrastructure and extensive testing required”.

The crisis had been coming down the line.

In July, former railways minister Jo Johnson admitted that Europe’s biggest infrastructure project, which aims to ease London’s congestion via a 118km line connecting the capital with Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex, was running £600 million over budget, with costs rising to £15.4 billion.

The delay leaves an enormous black hole in Transport for London’s (TfL) accounts, losing £20 million expected in new fares by the end of March 2019 and another £10 million in advertising. In October, Johnson announced a £350 million short-term loan to bail out TfL. Around £250 billion worth of infrastructure investment is expected in the UK in the next five years. Crossrail is the latest major project

to get into trouble, but there are several other spectacular examples. Great Western Railway’s electrification costs rose by 126 per cent between 2014 and 2016. The litany includes Heathrow’s third runway, High Speed 1 and 2, the Thames Tideway Tunnel, Hinkley Point C, and the Jubilee Line Extension.

Why does this keep happening? And can anything be done to avoid it?

It’s a global phenomenon affecting nine out of 10 projects scheduled to cost £1 billion or more and has been witnessed in China and continental Europe, according to the Institute of Government (IoG), which has extensively researched the issue. Some of the reasons are human, all too human.

“You can break it down into ignorance, psychology and power which lead to real incentives to downplay the likely costs, threats and risks to a project in the future,” says Daniel Slade, who worked on the IoG project and is now research officer at the RTPI. “On the ignorance side, we are not great – especially in the UK – at collecting data about why projects have been delayed and overrun their budgets in the past.

“WE ARE NOT GREAT – ESPECIALLY IN THE UK – AT COLLECTING DATA ABOUT WHY PROJECTS HAVE BEEN DELAYED AND OVERRUN THEIR BUDGETS”

HS2 Dubbed by detractors as a “solution looking for a problem”, HS2 is a prime example of what happens when infrastructure decisions are made without a national strategy.

Its objectives have been subject to many revisions.

In 2008 it would create jobs.

Then it would speed up travel times. The scheme’s next aim was to cut overcrowding on the West Coast Mainline. More recently it is designed to regenerate the West Midlands and connect new settlements.

This confusion of objectives has led to major delays in

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decision-making. Successive ministers have reworked their analyses and PR strategy, retrofitting and redesigning the scheme to meet the latest objective at significant cost amid escalating parliamentary and public opposition.

Its budget is now £55.7 billion and is widely anticipated to go much higher. At least 12 Cabinet ministers want a review of whether the scheme represents value for taxpayer money.

A major part of the problem is huge disagreement about what problem the scheme is trying to solve.

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INFRASTRUCTURE

“Psychologically, there is a capacity for human beings to suffer from optimism bias.

Put together, it’s a massive challenge being realistic about a major project,” says Slade.

“The objective becomes the project with all the political capital it might bring. Therefore bigger is better when a lot of smaller connected investments can often be the way forward.”

No controlling mind After flawed psychology, other issues come to the fore. According to the IoG, the first is an absence of a national infrastructure strategy.

The UK has a National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline, but it falls far short of a proper strategy that sets a cross-departmental vision for how different schemes will contribute to national objectives, with 26 ministers across eight departments making decisions on infrastructure. This leads to no rationale for selecting projects, which in turn means national objectives are not met. Costs then rise.

Too little time is spent looking at alternatives, leading to expensive or even the wrong projects being pressed ahead – witness the Millennium Dome or the Garden Bridge.

Smaller and often more valuable schemes are rejected or kicked into the long grass.

Then there are the dark arts surrounding cost-benefit analysis. Politicians and civil servants sometimes use this to justify decisions that have already been taken.

Strategic misrepresentation, whereby costs of a favoured project are understated at the beginning to make it look a good investment, is another factor. A further issue, described by the IoG as “anchoring and adjustment”, fixates on the first number and does not adjust expectations away from it when that figure is flawed. All of this is compounded by an absence of transparency or what Slade calls a “sunlight test”, whereby everyone can see how the cost-benefit analysis was worked out and check the methodology to see it is not over-optimistic.

“If you don’t deal with this at the start of the process, then you will have to deal with it when the project overruns,” he warns.

A fine example of this is the nuclear plant at Hinkley Point C. Governments are rightly obsessed with keeping the lights on, but in doing so must balance the ‘energy trilemma’ – energy security, emissions obligations and costs. Hinkley Point C looks a reasonable decision, but only on the first two points of the ‘trilemma’. The government’s deal guarantees energy supplier EDF a very expensive £92.50 per megawatt hour in 2012 prices. Wholesale electricity prices are 28

currently around £58. The highest they have been in the past eight years, according to Ofgem, is around £68. The government has not published any detailed evidence for favouring Hinkley Point C over other projects, which the IoG cites as a flaw in the process itself.

So how can these fiascos be avoided in future?

Beau stratagem One way would be to emulate France’s Commission Nationale du Débat Public (CNDP) and create a Commission for Public Engagement, suggests the IoG. Founded by the French government in the late 1980s, the CNDP hosts local public debates on controversial schemes as early as possible in their development, with proponents and opponents given equal resources to state their cases. The CNDP then summarises these views in a report, to which project sponsors must respond and act. Of the 61 projects on which the CNDP held debates between 2002 and 2012, 38 made modifications, including 25 that changed their plans based on options that emerged from talking to the public.

“There is a view that if you can bypass the political conflict around whether big projects should or should not happen you can speed them through and they will happen cheaper and faster, but that is not the case,” says Slade.

“Most of the time when you try to avoid the politics, it just comes later in the process and often at the point when a decision has been made, which infuriates communities even more.”

Planners are almost uniquely placed to serve a major role on such a UK commission.

RSPB Scotland director Anne McCall, who has

The £2.8 billion scheme for the electrification of the Great Western Railway – linking London and South Wales – has been plagued by delays and spiralling costs

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[centre] Concerns over the cost and timescale of Heathrow’s third runway plans were raised by the aviation regulator in November [right] Hinkley Point C is at least £1.5bn over budget and a year behind schedule

an extensive planning background, says other professions may have deep knowledge of technical issues but a narrow understanding of a scheme’s overall impact.

“The conversations we have compared with other project developers are very different,” she says. “Planners bring an overview and appreciation of issues that others don’t.”

Slade argues that planners will know “the detail of what will and won’t work and can help communities understand what is technically possible but they are grounded in placemaking and aware of the local politics”.

The National Infrastructure Commission should be given greater independence as an executive non-departmental public body, draw its commissioners from a more diverse range of professional and geographical backgrounds, engage the public more widely, and have its remit extended to include housing, says the IoG. Crucially, it should guarantee that strategic thinking behind major schemes happens in the future.

On this point at least, the government might be listening. In its interim response to the NIC’s assessment of the UK’s long-term needs, the government pledged to deliver a National Infrastructure Strategy. Slade says this is encouraging and may go some way to tackling the issues that bedevil the sector.

“It may form the basis for thinking more strategically across projects, provide a basis for early public engagement and more certainty to all the key actors,” he says.

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“PLANNERS BRING AN OVERVIEW AND APPRECIATION OF ISSUES THAT OTHERS DON’T”

n Huw Morris is consultant editor for The Planner

THE IMPACT OF CROSSRAIL’S DELAY

Crossrail’s troubles could increase pressure on other major projects, according to the Construction Products Association (CPA).

“Major infrastructure projects are expected to drive industry growth in 2019 and 2020 but the £600m cost overruns and nine-month delays to Crossrail add to existing concerns about the government’s ability to deliver major projects and lead to additional concerns about the delivery of already delayed projects such as Hinkley Point C and HS2,” says CPA’s economics director Noble Francis. “As a result, we have had to significantly revise down our construction forecasts for the infrastructure sector and overall.”

He cites complaints from construction contractors and manufacturers that big projects do not filter through the planning, approval, procurement and building processes as fast or as smoothly as signalled in official channels, such as the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline, or Highways England’s five-year Road Investment Strategy.

“The link is not that because Crossrail is overbudget and behind schedule that this will directly feed through to delays and cost overruns on other projects, but highlights that even on a strategically important new infrastructure project, these symptoms still occur,” adds Francis.

“With two further projects that are even larger beginning work – HS2 and Hinkley Point C, … many in the industry share a heightened concern that delays and cost overruns are inevitable.”

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ADVERTISER CONTENT

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This team’s a winner!

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LANDSCAPE

Tech { L A N D S C A P E

P31 TECH P34 REGIONAL P38 DECISIONS P42 LEGAL P50 PLAN B P51 ACTIVITY

5 APPS FOR PLANNERS WE’VE COME ACROSS A FEW GOOD APPS AIMED AT PLANNERS THIS YEAR. HERE’S A SMALL (AND NOT AT ALL EXHAUSTIVE) SELECTION We all know that there’s a growing suite of digital tools available to planners that can help you do your jobs better.

Some are specifically designed for planners and other built environment vironment professionals; others are placecebased tools that allow anyone ne to explore and interact with their environment, but which h planners may find useful, too. o.

Here’s a quick round-up off a few platforms we’ve discovered red this year or that we’ve tried out that we’re impressed with. th.

We begin, however, with a universally available tool that at is simply so useful that we can’t n’t leave it out.

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1. GOOGLE MAPS/STREETVIEW

Not strictly speaking a planning tool, but very useful indeed. Google Maps has a fair bit of functionality that many people what we find most are unaware of, but w useful usefu at The Planner is the th 3D satellite view that enables you to fly around arou places and view them from a variety of angles; angl and Streetview.

Both Bo offer a really quick quic and easy way to get a clear picture of a location.

What’s more, loca in Streetview, you can St also see how a place has changed over time, c

by comparing it with images of the same place taken during previous sweeps by Google’s cameras. The best part? It’s free to use. https://www.google.co.uk/maps 2. VU.CITY

On a similar theme, but with much more powerful functionality and aimed specifically at built environment professionals, VU.CITY offers precise 3D models of real locations that are underpinned by huge amounts of location data.

You can, for example, ask for a proposed building to be inserted into the model so you can test its impact, scale, massing and even how it affects

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LANDSCAPE

TTech { L A N D S C A P E light. You can pull up demographic and lifestyle data associated with a location.

VU.CITY is already widely used by developers and local authorities, and it’s extremely impressive. As yet, it has models of London, Manchester, Birmingham, Belfast and Paris, but it’s expanding al the time. Our understanding is that the team is working on an updated and improved version of the tool for release in early 2019. We will take a look at it when it is available. http://vu.city

3. COMMONPLACE

This is a widely used consultation and engagement platform for planning that “enables broader engagement and data collection from local people right through from very early stages of preplanning to and beyond the planning application”.

Like most of the new wave of planning engagement tools, Commonplace positions itself as one that helps local authorities, consultancies, communities developers to reach those who are normally hard to engage. Accessible and easy to use, it’s proved particularly good at reaching young people.

Commonplace takes a variety of approaches to consultations, from interactive maps to surveys, and also makes use of sentiment mapping to help users interpret shades and distribution of opinion.

Commonplace founder Mike Saunders tells us: “Commonplace breaks down barriers between urban planners and local people, helping to remove project road blocks and create more peoplecentred places. It provides real-time

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analytics, robust evidence and rigorous data protection which help ensure a smooth planning process.”

So there you go. www.commonplace.is

4. PARTICIPATR

Also for engagement, Particpatr creates bespoke platforms tailored to the specific needs of clients and their target audience. The tools can be accessed from any internet-enabled device and interactive maps allow participants to pinpoint and share thoughts on llocations. They can also upload photos tto expand on what they do and don’t llike, comment on plans and share ideas across social media platforms. a As with Commonplace, the use of an online interactive tool is intended to o enable organisations to reach people e who are usually passed over in facew tto-face consultations. Participatr itself iidentifies “young, busy, working people tthat are traditionally excluded from the public consultation and the planning p process more generally”.

The firm argues that its approach brings “balance to the debate over housebuilding, commercial development, spatial policy and placemaking” and results in “betterinformed plans”.

Participatr founder Paul Erskine-Fox tells us: “Making public consultation more inclusive, interactive and userfriendly benefits everyone, whether you’re a developer looking to find more natural supporters for housebuilding projects or a local authority planner looking to build a more informed evidence base ase for policy. Our tools can help elp do both, whilst hilst saving precious ious time and money, so everybody dy wins.” https:// participatr. r. co.uk/

5. LAND ENHANCE

LandEnhance is a new software platform that enables planners to quickly and easily research and gather essential data necessary for planning applications. It’s from the makers of Land Insight, an established platform.

It’s map-based and it enables you to identify and search any planning designations that could affect your proposal, similar applications in the same area and any policies that might affect your application. For example, you can understand what the approval rate is for applications like yours, reasons for refusal, the scope of the local authority’s housing land supply and so on.

In short, it is designed to help you make better-informed decisions about planning ng applications.

Grace ManningngMarsh from Land and Insight tells us: s: “LandEnhance e saves time gathering the research you need so you can spend end more time forming a robust planning argument.”

It’s still being tested in a beta version and the developer is looking for more people to try it out. You can sign up for a free trial at: www.landenhance.io We will take a closer look at LandEnhance in our January 2019 issue.

More?

We could also have written about the ArcGIS suite, OpenSourceMapping, Indigo Planning’s use classes app, Indig Citymapper, Transport for London’s City WebCAT platform for planners.

Web We W also know of local authorities that are w working on some interesting tools that could change the way planning processes are carried out. It’s an proc exciting time for the sector as ever more exci developers take up the challenge of deve digitising the profession. digit We’ll W keep writing about it in these pages. page We’re also keen to hear about the digital digit tools that you use in your work: email ema us at editorial@theplanner.co.uk

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WANT BETTER OUTCOMES FROM PUBLIC CONSULTATION? WE CAN HELP. Participatr’s interactive tools help you reach a younger, more diverse audience with public consultation, bringing balance to the planning debate, building transparency and trust in the process and saving precious time and money.

To find out more about how we are transforming the quality, value and outcomes of community engagement on built environment projects, visit:

PARTICIPATR.CO.UK Alternatively, give us a call on 0117 3182114 or send an email to hello@participatr.co.uk.

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Nations & Regions focus { A state of suspense Northern Ireland is at a key point in the development of its planning system, which was introduced in 2015 with the transfer of planning powers from central government to the region’s 11 councils. This introduced a plan-led system and the councils are now all at various stages of progressing their inaugural local development plans.

However, this progress is being hampered by a lack of political leadership in the heated atmosphere of Northern Irish politics – there has been no functioning Assembly or Executive since January 2017.

This is preventing decisions on major planning applications and is affecting investment decisions.

The suspension is particularly problematic, coming at a time when there is considerable uncertainty over the outcome of Brexit discussions about border arrangements between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Planners on the border are grappling with how to plan for movement across the border and who to plan for – currently movements across the border are fluid and people live their lives and businesses operate with only minimal effects by the border.

FACTFILE 2018 2018 2018

Area: 5,460 square miles

Many commentators feel that a return to a ‘hard’ border would undermine 1998’s Good Friday Agreement and the peace that it secured with a formal ending of ‘the Troubles’. Since then, the underperforming Northern Ireland economy has gone from strength to strength – and there is plenty of room for economic growth and improvement in its built environment.

Trade with the Republic of Ireland has grown: the services sector has expanded enormously, investment has driven major regeneration and infrastructure schemes, tourism has become a major sector, hightech industry is expanding, and unemployment has fallen. Six councils are pressing the UK government for a Belfast region city deal, which they claim could attract £1 billion in investment and create 20,000 jobs.

The Northern Ireland of the past 20 years has been a major success story, but the current uncertainty is slowing the momentum.

Nevertheless, a suite of local plans is in process and communities are contributing heavily to the ideas for improving the places where they live and work.

Total population: 1.87 million Major population centres: Belfast – city 340,000; metropolitan area 671,000 Derry/Londonderry – city 85,000; metropolitan area 237,000 Counties/planning authorities: 11 counties, each of which also acts as the planning authority, responsible for local planning and determination of applications that are not deemed to be nationally significant. The Department for Infrastructure is the 12th planning authority, responsible for planning policy, strategic planning and nationally significant planning applications.

UK Parliamentary constituencies: 18: Democratic Unionist Party (10); Sinn Fein (7); Independent (1). Sinn Fein MPs do not take up their seats in the UK Parliament.

Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs): 90 (5 for each constituency): DUP 27; Sinn Fein 27; Social Democratic and Labour Party 12; Ulster Unionist Party 10; Alliance Party of Northern Ireland 8; Green Party of Northern Ireland 2; Traditional Unionist Voice 1; People Before Profit Alliance 1; Independent 2

IN THE PIPELINE

1. Banks Building restoration The 18th century Banks Building in Belfast city centre was gutted by fire in August. The building had been used by Primark since 1979 and the retailer has been granted listed building consent as the first step to its restoration. bit.ly/planner1218-banks

2. Weavers Cross An 8-hectare regeneration on the site of the existing Europa bus station, Weavers Cross will deliver a highcapacity transport hub combining bus, rail and cycling provision. The scheme

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will be integrated with mixed-use development and is intended to function as a catalyst for regeneration. bit.ly/planner1218-weavers

3. Future Foyle Proposed £25 million regeneration of the banks of the River Foyle and Foyle Bridge in Derry/Londonderry, with a combined focus on well-being, culture and economic health. Planned projects include an illuminated sculpture and enterprise pods to stimulate job creation.

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bit.ly/planner1218-foyle

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Northern Ireland PLANWATCH

All 11 councils are currently working on their local development plans. Belfast is the most advanced and published its draft plan in September for consultation.

The 336-page document sets out how the city will grow to deliver 31,600 additional homes, support 46,000 additional jobs, and cater for a population expected to grow by 66,000 during the plan period of 2020-2035.

COMING UP

1. Introduction to the planning system 5 December 2018, Belfast One-day masterclass to provide an understanding of planning for elected members, parish, community and town councillors and other non-planning professionals involved in placemaking. bit.ly/planner1218-belfast

2. RTPI Northern Ireland Annual Dinner March 2019 Details to be confirmed.

3. Communications skills for planners 20 June 2019

Harland and Wolff dry dock, Belfast

Belfast

One-day masterclass focusing on spoken communication. This aims to teach planners to speak effectively in conversations, at meetings, and when speaking in public. bit.ly/planner1218-comms

RECENT SUCCESSES

1. Derry/Londonderry historic core Winner of the 2017 RTPI Northern Ireland’s Best Places competition, the Derry/Londonderry historic core was praised for the quality of the planning that has contributed to the area’s regeneration and reunification. Planners have used the Peace Bridge across the River Foyle as a catalyst to regenerate depressed parts of the city bit.ly/planner1218-derrycore

2. Rathlin Island The competition runner-up was Rathlin Island, Northern Island’s only inhabited offshore island, and its northernmost point. Noted for its bird life, its dramatic cliffs, the island has a population of

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

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just 150 and infrastructure is poor. The communityled Rathlin Island Policy and Action Plan has so far delivered new housing, wastewater treatment, improved services and plans for better broadband. bit.ly/planner1218-rathlin

3. Healthy Places, Healthy Children Created by Belfast Healthy Cities, this is a teaching resource for primary school children that introduces them to planning concepts and improves their understanding of place and the built environment. The project was a finalist in Planning for Health and Wellbeing category at the 2018 RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence. bit.ly/planner1218-healthy

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Northern Ireland INSIGHT: DEALING WITH DELAYS

Belfast City Hall

Emma Walker MRTPI is associate director with Turley and chair of RTPI Northern Ireland.

We have two live issues. The first is that because of the political situation here we have no minister for infrastructure to make decisions on regionally significant planning applications. This is stalling a number of significant development proposals/ investments that are necessary for the future growth of region.

I’m working on a number of projects myself that cannot currently be determined and it is creating uncertainty in the process. While legislation is proposed to allow senior civil servants to make decisions, the culture of judicial review in Northern Ireland may mean that this has limited effect.

The other live issue is that all of the 11 councils are in the process of preparing their local development plan.

This is the first time councils will have prepared plans, as this role was previously undertaken by central government [planning powers were transferred from government to local authorities in 2015].

As part of that process the minister will be required to determine whether these plans can be adopted. We will see what impact this may have as plans emerge.

You have to feel for the civil servants, as a lack of ministerial leadership has ramifications across all government departments – on health spending and education spending, for instance. It’s frustrating for the regional projects. But it’s not affecting local decisions. That ability is now back with the councils. If it hadn’t been we could have been is a worse predicament.

On a positive note, we’re starting

to see the benefits of the reallocation of planning powers to local authorities.

There are some major schemes hitting the ground and all the councils are progressing on their development plans. We’re seeing a new, more exciting phase in planning, with councils getting the power to set their agenda for the next 15 years.

In the next year we’ll start to see examinations happen. It’s an exciting time for planners here. A lot will not have been through the plan-making process so it is a great learning opportunity. The RTPI NI branch is leading sessions here to assist with training. At development management level we are also seeing big improvements in committees, and committees are now feeling confident to make decisions.

SIGNPOSTS n National chair: Emma Walker MRTPI n National web address: www.rtpi.org.uk/northernireland n PlaNIt, the RTPI NI newsletter: https://www.rtpi.org.uk/the-rtpi-near-you/rtpinorthern-ireland/planit-rtpi-ni-newsletter/ n Young planners in Northern Ireland: https://www.rtpi.org.uk/the-rtpi-near-you/rtpinorthern-ireland/young-planners-in-northernireland/ n Policy consultations: https://www.rtpi.org.uk/the-rtpi-near-you/rtpinorthern-ireland/policy-in-northern-ireland/ n Email address: northernireland@rtpi.org.uk n Twitter: @RTPINI NEXT MONTH:

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CASES &DECISIONS

A N A LY S E D B Y M A T T M O O D Y / A P P E A L S @ T H E P L A N N E R . C O . U K

Estate developer told to remove unauthorised mound

EXPERT ANALYSIS

A ‘substantial’ grasscovered mound constructed by Bellway Homes on land reserved for public open space must be removed, ruled an inspector, because its steep sides have made the area inaccessible to disabled people.

( “Aside from Bellway’s irresponsible behaviour in constructing the unauthorised landfill or raised mound, this case highlights an important wider issue.

The appeal concerned an area of land that forms part of a 94-home development in Offerton, near Stockport, approved by the council in October 2013. This original permission included provision of “associated open space”” to accompany housing on the site.

On the land set aside for that purpose, however, developer Bellway Homes built what inspector Debbie Moore called “a substantial mound of material, with relatively steep sides rising to a central plateau”.

Derek Haughton, a retired planner and resident of the estate, told The Planner that the mound was formed of excavated spoil and building waste from the development, creating an “unauthorised landfill”.

Given the scale of the mound and the volume of material used, Moore noted, it had evidently been created using machinery, “with an element of pre-planning and skill involved”.

The council issued an enforcement notice against the developer to remove the mound. Bellway said the mound was created in accordance with the original permission as “open space””,

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( “With the planned development of hundreds of thousands of new homes over the coming years, there is a clear need for some joined­up thinking between local planning authorities and housebuilders about how and where all the inevitable spoil and other building waste is to be disposed of. ( “At the very least local planning authorities need to be asking developers how they intend to deal with all their waste prior to planning permission being granted. If necessary they should consider seeking a legal agreement with the developer using Section 106 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990.

LOCATION: Offerton AUTHORITY: Stockport Council INSPECTOR: Debbie Moore PROCEDURE: Written submissions DECISION: Notice varied and upheld

REFERENCE: APP/ C4235/C/18/3199560

and that no conditions were imposed requiring the space to be flat. The purpose of the mound was to “enhance the

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Derek Haughton, retired senior planner at Manchester City Council and nearby resident.

site by reflecting another area of open space nearby”, said Bellway’s representative.

But given the nature of the works, Moore questioned why the “alleged planning feature” had not been mentioned in the original design and access statement.

Under ground of appeal (a), the appellant sought retrospective permission for the mound. Considering its impact on the character of the area, Moore acknowledged that “topographical changes can enhance the appearance of larger areas of landscaping as part of wider estate design”.

But in this case she noted that the mound covered most of the development’s open space, and was “relatively high

( “Also, any landscape plans submitted by housebuilders for full planning consent need to be examined very closely to ensure that there can be no doubt about the finished levels of any retained or new open spaces.” and uniform in shape”. Rather than adding visual interest, she found, it stood out as “an incongruous construction that dominates its surroundings”.

She added that the mound’s steep sides made it difficult for people with limited mobility to access it.

Under ground (g), the appellant sought an extended period of time to comply with the enforcement action.

Moore agreed that it would be “difficult to physically complete the works” within the allotted three months. She upheld the notice, varying it to allow a compliance period of six months.

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These are just a few of the 40 or so appeal reports that we post each month on our website: www.theplanner.co.uk/decisions

Split decision on ‘cycling café’ use of former pub An inspector has partially overturned an enforcement notice against the use of a former pub near Reading as a cycling-themed café, repairs workshop and meeting place for riders.

Inspector praises ‘human scale’ of 48-storey tower An inspector has approved plans for a 48-floor building on the Isle of Dogs that will provide 332 new homes, calling it “a design of the highest architectural quality” The appeal site, on the Isle of Dogs, East London, is currently occupied by a four-storey 1990s office building, which all parties agreed is of limited architectural merit.

On his site visit, Inspector C J Ball used virtual-reality goggles to visualise the proposal in the context of various other approved buildings nearby that have not yet begun construction, which will reach up to 73 storeys high.

Noting the importance of a plan-led approach to the siting of tall buildings, Ball referred to the local plan, which identifies “opportunity areas” capable of significant regeneration – brownfield sites with good public transport links. The potential of these areas must be maximised, he said, to meet London’s strategic growth demands.

The site is in the Isle of Dogs and South Poplar opportunity area, and is identified as a location where development is “specifically required” to complement the tall building cluster at Canary Wharf. The proposal would clearly appear as part of the Canary Wharf cluster, Ball considered, but its height would represent a “clear and substantial step down in height” from One Canada Square, the 235m-tall building that policy requires to be the focus of development in the area.

The “elegant” tower LOCATION: Isle of Dogs would be “clearly articulated to human AUTHORITY: Tower Hamlets BC scale”, he added, and although “tall and INSPECTOR: C J Ball noticeable”, it would not be “overly prominent”.

PROCEDURE: Inquiry Ball noted that the scheme would provide DECISION: Allowed 332 homes, 71 affordable.

All the flats, regardless REFERENCE: APP/ of tenure, would E5900/W/17/3190531 provide “high-quality accommodation”, and the building as a whole would be “a design of the highest architectural quality”.

The appeal concerned The Snooty Fox, a pub in Warren Row, a Berkshire hamlet. In 2014, an appeal to turn the pub into a home was dismissed, when an inspector found it had not been demonstrated that there was no longer a need for a community facility.

In October 2017, the council issued an enforcement notice against the unapproved conversion of the pub to a mixed use, comprising a café, cycle repair workshop and meeting place for cyclists, with some retail activity.

The appellant said the café represented a more sustainable community use than the pub, which, in his view, the previous appeal inspector had “envisaged”.

The council contended that the business was targeted at cyclists who are not from the community.

Inspector Susan Wraith did not doubt the council’s argument that its location close to the Chiltern Hills AONB made the business popular with cyclists. But, she noted, its food and drink offer also provided an alternative community

LOCATION: Warren Row, Berkshire AUTHORITY: Windsor & Maidenhead Council

INSPECTOR: Susan Wraith PROCEDURE: Written submissions DECISION: Notice varied REFERENCE: APP/ T0355/C/17/3188329

facility to the former pub for local people.

Wraith agreed that the cycle repairs aspect of the business would help to sustain the café’s use, but found no public benefit arising from its retail aspect.

Wraith noted that the building’s long history as a pub “tempers the extent to which its neighbours can expect an undisturbed living environment”. She granted permission for the café and cycle repair aspects of the business, while upholding the retail and meeting aspects of the enforcement notice.

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C&D { C Welsh planning secretary vetoes inspector to allow wind farm

The appellant sought permission for seven wind turbines of up to 110 metres tall, on undeveloped land near Llandrindod Wells.

Notwithstanding the support of the landowners, the council went against the advice of its planning officers to refuse permission in April 2017. The subsequent appeal was recovered by Welsh energy, planning and rural affairs secretary Lesley Griffiths.

Planning inspector

Hywel Wyn Jones oversaw the inquiry. He found that the scheme would have a “substantially detrimental effect” on the site, whose bowl-shaped topography forms a “distinctive and valued landscape”. He also identified harm to the setting of four scheduled ancient monuments. He noted that the turbines could produce enough energy to power 12,578 homes over their operational life span, but said the proposals “failed

to strike an appropriate balance” between promoting renewable energy projects and protecting the landscape. He recommended the application for dismissal.

In her decision letter, Griffiths referred to the PPW (Planning Policy Wales), and the need for wind energy as a key part of the Welsh government’s vision for future renewable energy production”. Calling this an “exceptional circumstance”, she allowed the appeal.

Residential use approved for ‘at risk’ listed school building

and 11 affordable flats in its grounds.

The site is within the Ballater conservation area, noted for its “very high-quality townscape”.

On his visit to the site, reporter Chris Norman found that the appeal site is “one of the few places where the integrity of the conservation area is undermined” as a result of its “unmaintained and unsightly appearance”.

Norman noted that the granite and slate finishes of the existing buildings would be retained, and matching windows purpose-built to reflect the original design.

The new-build home would be timber-clad with matching slate roofs. Norman considered the scheme “a befitting high-quality design” that would transform the existing semi-derelict site.

The council contended that the scheme, which would house up to 83 people, would

constitute overdevelopment.

Norman was satisfied that the site would be well separated from existing homes.

Allowing the appeal, Norman noted that the site is allocated in the local plan for community use including affordable housing and would enhance the conservation area by saving a listed building.

LOCATION: Llandrindod Wells AUTHORITY: Powys County Council INSPECTOR: H Wyn Jones PROCEDURE: Recovered appeal DECISION: Allowed REFERENCE: qA1320857

Plans to convert a historic Victorian school building in the Cairngorms national park into homes can go ahead after a reporter praised the scheme’s ‘befitting high-quality design’.

The appeal site is in Ballater, a town in the Cairngorms national park, west of Aberdeen. The building, dating from 1872, is category C listed, but it has been disused since 2000 and was added to

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the Scottish buildings at risk register in 2010.

The appellant sought to convert the main building and schoolhouses into 12 residential units, before building three more homes

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

Lesley Griffiths has approved plans for seven wind turbines in Powys against the recommendation of a planning inspector. She said the scheme’s contribution towards national renewable energy targets outweighed landscape and heritage concerns.

LOCATION: Ballater AUTHORITY: Cairngorns National Park Authority

INSPECTOR: Chris Norman PROCEDURE: Written submissions DECISION: Allowed REFERENCE: PPA­001­2018

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DECISIONS DIGEST{

SUBSCRIBE to our appeals digest:

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

Brokenshire scuppers rugby club’s housing plans The housing secretary has rejected Falmouth Rugby Club’s appeal against Cornwall Council’s refusal of its plans to build 226 homes on agricultural land near the town. bit.ly/planner1218-rugby

Tough 18th hole does not justify protected tree’s removal

Overlooked student flats ts would not combat loneliness

Plans to remove a protected lime tree on a golf course near Henleyon-Thames have been rejected after an inspector rejected the appellant’s argument that it “prevents golfers from getting a clear shot at the 18th green”. bit.ly/planner1218-henley

An inspector has dismissed ed a developer’s argument that hat overlooking between rooms ms would “create a sense of community” unity” in a 62-bedroom student block ock in Reading. bit.ly/planner1218-reading 218-reading

No affordable housing sought from jointly allocated site

Costs awarded over near­ duplicate self­build scheme

An inspector has approved five homes on one of two sites jointly allocated for housing, finding no evidence that the appeal site was held back to avoid making an affordable housing contribution. bit.ly/planner1218-harpsden n

An appellant must pay costs for seeking permission for self-build housing a year after applying for residential development consent on the same site, after an inspector found the two schemes were “in essence ssence the same”. bit.ly/planner1218-yeovil

Bronze statue of local businessman b is ‘incongruous’

Dilapidated cricket ground is not an ‘existing’ use

An inspector has refused retrospective permission for a bronze statue of a recently deceased local businessman in Paddington, calling it “discordant P and incongruous” despite its “highquality detailing”. bit.ly/planner1218-statue

Too much time has passed for a derelict cricket pavilion to be considered an ‘existing’ leisure use, an inspector has ruled, and plans to replace it would constitute a new building in the countryside. bit.ly/planner1218-cricket

Council ‘failed hopelessly’ in refusing mental health unit

Conversion of WW2 bunker would not harm protected coast

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Wrexham County Council must pay costs for refusing a 54-bed mental health treatment unit, based on ‘perceptions of risk’ associated with ‘low-security’ mental health facilities that it did not substantiate. bit.ly/ planner1218-wrexham

Plans to convert an overgrown Second World War-era concrete bunker in Cornwall into a home can go ahead after an inspector found there would be no harm to the designated heritage coast nearby. bit.ly/planner1218-bunker

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LLegal landscape LET IT BE? WHY SCOTLAND IS CONSIDERING REGULATING THE AIRBNB MARKET The sheer number of Airbnb lets is reducing the availability of residential property in Edinburgh and elsewhere in Scotland, says Rory Alexander. Is it time to introduce mandatory planning permission for short-term lets?

Over the past few years, the changing needs of consumers have been met with the rapid rise of sharing economy startups and apps such as Uber, Deliveroo and Airbnb – all of which aim to serve time-poor, money-rich consumers who want things on demand.

However, as much as this has been good news for consumers and for those brands looking to disrupt the market, those who are managing policy and regulation around these areas are struggling to keep up with the pace of change.

We only need to look at laws on Airbnb to see this.

Homeowners all over the country have jumped on the chance to make extra income by offering their home, or part of it, to tourists looking for an authentic yet cost-effective travel experience. It was reported earlier this year that £675 million has been earned

by UK households since July 2016 from the rental site, an average of £3,000 per host.

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Rory Alexander It’s hard not to see the attraction for people to do this, especially as on the surface it appears so easy, and it doesn’t seem like there are a lot of hoops to jump through to generate additional income.

But this could become a lot harder in Scotland with the recent proposal by the Scottish Greens that would require homeowners to obtain full planning permission for all Airbnb and short-term lets through the Planning (Scotland) Bill, which is being considered by the Scottish Parliament.

For many it is difficult to believe that something like this isn’t in existence already.

And that’s partially true. At the moment planning permission

“IT WAS REPORTED EARLIER THIS YEAR THAT £675 MILLION HAS BEEN EARNED BY UK HOUSEHOLDS FROM AIRBNB SINCE JULY 2016 – AN AVERAGE OF £3,000 PER HOST”

is only required sometimes, depending on the type of property you have and the way in which it was used before changing it into a short-term let. Planning permission is required in situations whereby becoming a short-term let amounts to ‘a material change of use’ of the property.

What are the relevant factors when considering if there has been a material change of use? Well, this can be anything from the increase in the numbers of people staying, frequency of arrivals and departures and frequency and intensity of noisy or otherwise unsociable activities.

Currently, the number of Airbnb lets in Edinburgh is proportionately four times greater than in London or Paris. The rise of short-term lets has also affected the number of available residential properties in the capital, as well as in rural areas like the Highlands.

With these figures in mind, it’s easy to see why people would be concerned about the effects on the local community. The introduction

of a requirement to apply for planning permission would allow planning authorities to consider these types of factors and look at the bigger picture in terms of effects on those living near these types of properties before granting consent.

The City of Edinburgh Council has been particularly vocal in its support for increased regulation of the sector given the situation in the city. It believes that a licence should be required for anyone either operating a property on a commercial or professional basis, or doing so for at least 45 days a year.

It would also give the council greater control to cap the number of properties licensed across the area.

With no set regulations at the moment, many people who are considering this as a source of income are still unsure where the current situation puts them.

The answer is that the devil will be in the detail once the Planning (Scotland) Bill becomes an act. In the meantime, consideration should be given as to whether planning permission should be applied for if a material change of use will occur from residential to short-stay accommodation.

There’s no doubt that for many, even with new regulations on the horizon, the positives will still outweigh the negatives when it comes to Airbnb and short-term lets.

One thing that can’t be denied is how great it is to see that Scotland and the UK still continue to attract a healthy number of tourists, no matter what type of accommodation is on offer.

Rory Alexander LARTPI is planning and local government partner at Scottish Law Firm Morton Fraser

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LATEST POSTS FROM THEPLANNER.CO.UK/BLOGS

B LO G S Simon Wicks reports on Cornerstone Barristers’ annual Planning Day, which saw speakers consider the future of environmental law and the challenges of green belt release, among other planning topics

‘Progressive’ environmental principles at risk from Brexit The likely divergence of British and European law post-Brexit is a threat to “progressive” environmental principles unless they are enshrined in the mooted environment bill.

Although core environmental principles, outlined in existing EU legislation and repeated in Section 16 of the EU Withdrawal Act 2018, could be incorporated into the government’s 25-year environment plan there is no guarantee that they won’t change.

That was the message from barrister Ben Du Feu at the annual Cornerstone Barristers Planning Day in early November.

Offering an overview of the current state of environmental legislation, Du Feu noted: “The risk of having a plan as opposed to legislation is that the progressive ideas set out are vulnerable to change in environment secretary and change of government.”

The EU Withdrawal Act 2018 ensures that much EU environmental legislation will be “retained” in British law for the time being, but there will almost certainly be legislative drift over time.

Section 16 of the act specifies that the environment secretary must publish an environment bill that incorporates principles such as sustainable development, the polluter pays principle, and public access to environmental information. Government mooted an environment act in July, but a bill has yet to be published.

“It will be interesting to see what makes it into the environment act,” said Du Feu, adding: “At least it would provide a long-term government framework.”

Elsewhere in the Planning Day, Chris Tunnell, leader of Arup’s planning group, made the case for releasing pockets of green belt to support sustainable development. “Years ago I might have said ‘Should we build on green belt?’ Now I say ‘Where should we build on green belt?’” he said.

Noting that in London alone there are 20,000 hectares of Metropolitan Green Belt within 800 metres of a railway station, he contended that releasing such areas would help local authorities to accommodate their housing need in the most sustainable locations.

In doing so, he advised local authorities, when assessing their green belt “performance” to pay heed to the purposes of the green belt and the revised NPPF’s strong protections for this land.

“Don’t give green belt away lightly,” he said. “Focus on achieving overall sustainable patterns of development and consider locations for major development and green belt performance together, at the right spatial scale.”

To developers he advised engaging with and understanding the local authority’s approach to green belt review and to “offer sites as solutions that are justified in the authority’s green belt review terms”.

The conference featured a series of presentations by Cornerstone barristers that also looked at: planning challenges in the High Court; pitfalls in heritage; local plan examinations; NPPF changes and the latest case law.

LEG I S L AT I O N S H O R T S Waverley wins High Court challenge on plan policies A deputy High Court judge has rejected legal challenges against policies in Waverley Borough Council’s local plan and a secretary of state decision to approve 1,800 homes at Dunsfold Aerodrome.

The challenges were made under s113 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. The policies in question were:

n ALH1 – this sets out a figure of 519 dwellings a year; n SS7 – this allocates the new settlement at the aerodrome for 2,600 homes; and

n SS7A – sets out the Dunsfold Aerodrome design strategy in the Waverley Borough Local Plan Part One (LPP1).

CPRE Surrey branch challenged ALH1. POW Campaign Ltd, which represents residents in the Dunsfold area, challenged all three policies.

Another challenge was made under s288 Town and Country Planning Act 1990 against a decision taken by the secretary of state on 29 March 2018 to approve a new settlement of 1,800 homes at Dunsfold Aerodrome. This was brought by POW. On the s113 challenges, both POW and CPRE Surrey believe that the council and the local plan inspector acted unlawfully in adopting LPP1 because they included 50 per cent of the unmet need from Woking borough in the local plan, which was adopted in February this year.

Both POW and CPRE Surrey also said the inspector had failed to give adequate reasons as to why he had included a proportion of Woking’s unmet housing need in Waverley’s local plan.

In dismissing the applications, deputy judge Nathale Lieven QC said the inspector took a “sensible, pragmatic and in my view lawful approach”.

The challenge against the secretary of state decision was called in after the council approved the 1,800-home application. The inspector recommended approval.

Lieven noted that the only challenge to his decision was on the grounds that he relied upon the local plan policies that were the subject of the s113 challenge. As she dismissed the s113 challenges, the s288 challenge could not succeed and was also dismissed.

See The Planner's full report of the case: bit.ly/planner1218-waverley

POCA invoked over illegal scrapyard The owner of an unauthorised scrapyard in south Staffordshire has been directed to pay a £150,000 confiscation order after failing to comply with an enforcement notice.

The scrapyard was in Four Cross in Hatherton.

Andrew Taff, the owner of A5 Tyres, was ordered to pay the £150,000 after a successful Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) application, brought by the council and supported by financial investigators at Birmingham City Council. This must be paid within 18 months otherwise Taff faces imprisonment.

At a hearing in Birmingham Crown Court in late October, Taff was fined £24,000 and ordered to pay court costs of £28,280.

An enforcement notice was initially issued in November 2011. It required Taff to clear the scrapyard site and stop using it as one, as well as for storing vehicles, parts and skips. He unsuccessfully appealed and was given a further 12 months to comply with the notice.

Despite enforcement officers visiting the site in 2013 and 2014, operations did not stop. Taff refused them entry on occasion, meaning that they had to seek a warrant of entry from the courts.

On 26 July 2017 at Stafford Crown Court, Taff pleaded guilty to three allegations of failing to comply with the enforcement notice. Around this time, the council said he complied with the enforcement notice.

South Staffordshire Council will receive around £28,000 of the confiscation order. The remaining money will be split between the Home Office, the court, and financial investigators at Birmingham City Council.

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NEWS

RTPI {

RTPI news pages are edited

by Ghazal Tipu at the RTPI, 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL

Bringing people and place into the heart of the Northern Powerhouse JAMES HARRIS, POLICY AND NETWORKS MANAGER In 2016, the Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review, led by SQW and Cambridge Econometrics, explained that a transformed North could add £100 billion in GVA and create 850,000 additional jobs by 2050.

It described the North’s key economic strengths – advanced manufacturing, health innovation, energy, and digital technologies – and showed how their full potential could be unlocked through investment in skills and transport and by addressing inequality.

This type of evidence has helped bodies like Transport for the North, and mayors like Manchester’s Andy Burnham, advocate for greater devolution and investment from Westminster. A wider network of local authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships, think tanks and businesses have also found it valuable to think at a regional scale, and to speak with a common voice.

This voice has largely framed the Northern Powerhouse in economic terms, linking investment in skills and infrastructure to productivity and growth. But refocusing on the North has also created a need to understand the people and places that make up the region, how they are changing, and the role of planning in creating prosperity for them.

Consider the following trends: Young people in the North completing their education and entering work have different values, experiences and expectations for how they wish to live, work and socialise. Life expectancy is increasing, with many remaining physically and economically active into old age, while others suffer from multiple health

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conditions. Arrivals from other parts of the UK and abroad continue to increase cultural diversity, despite the uncertainty of Brexit.

These changes will play out across villages, towns and cities, interacting with wider trends affecting the nature of place.

They create a complex set of questions for politicians, professionals, and communities.

Will urban living continue to exert the same pull for young, skilled workers? Will digital connectivity, shared transportation and cheaper housing make suburban and rural living more attractive? Will the rise in online retail and socialising affect the high street, or will a desire for material experiences see high streets transformed?

Could the rise in 3D printing create a resurgence in Northern manufacturing, or might the drive towards modular construction and automation consolidate industries in more remote locations?

The answers to these questions will have an important bearing on the North’s destiny.

Antony Gormley’s ‘Angel of the North’ sculpture near Newcastle

They affect demand for housing, transport, and jobs in different areas, shape settlement growth, and change the way people interact with their neighbourhoods. But how can these issues of people and place be explored and debated at a regional scale?

In 2015, the RTPI and IPPR North gathered evidence from more than 400 Northern businesses and local leaders, which showed support for a ‘Great North Plan’. They saw value in creating a framework to explore these topics, establish consensus on actions to take forward, and inform emerging strategies for transport, growth, and investment.

The RTPI, in partnership with Peter Brett Associates and Newcastle University, is continuing this process. Through our project ‘Ambitions for the North of England: People and Place’ we are running round tables in Blackpool, Bradford, Darlington, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield to discuss: n The future of rural and coastal communities, including market towns; n Demographics, including young people, skills and education, graduate retention and ageing; n Northern assets, including tourism and diversity; n Employment and jobs, including industry, ports and logistics; n Housing quality and affordability; and n Town centres.

We will examine the latest evidence, discuss common ambitions for improving places and people’s quality of life and create a framework. We’ll identify actions and the institutions that can pursue them, and governance gaps that need filling. We want this to prove the power of planning to create new spaces for collaboration, envisioning, and aspiration. We hope you’ll join us. n Get involved with our round tables now.

Find out more at: bit.ly/planner1218-north I M AG E | TOA H E F T I B A

19/11/2018 09:58

Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk

RTPI (switchboard) T: 020 7929 9494

Registered charity no.

262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841

Savills wins RTPI Learning Partner Award for new graduate scheme CAT GOUMAL, SENIOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

Savills was awarded the RTPI Learning Partner 2018 for its new and improved planning graduate scheme, at the General Assembly on 24 October.

The award recognises excellence in learning and development for planners by employers accredited as RTPI Learning Partners. It also celebrates employers who are committed to the Continuing Professional Development of their employees.

The Savills planning graduate scheme was developed through wide consultation – from the Savills board, MRTPI staff, clients, APC mentors and local authorities. As a result, Savills identified key skills relevant to a planner’s role in today’s society.

The scheme aims to ensure a high APC pass rate – having achieved 100 per cent for

the past three years – as well as preparing graduates for their planning careers.

Supporting potential and diversity The scheme builds on the multidisciplinary nature of planning. The judges were particularly impressed that local authority and client graduates were invited to attend the training sessions, as well as by the wellbeing support provided for all graduates.

The judging panel also recognised that the programme had an inclusive approach to graduate development and recruited graduates based on potential rather than just academic success.

Gavin Hall, Savills director of planning, said: “Our aim is that anyone with a potential to have a career in planning should be able

Shape your Institute Want to help shape your Institute? Applications are now open to members to join the policy, international, audit, membership, education, and English planning policy committees in 2019.

Committees steer the work of the RTPI in raising professional standards, shape national policies, and champion the power of planning.

Some highlights of this year include: successfully advocating for a stronger role for planning in humanitarian disaster response, raising awareness about the profession through exciting teaching resources and providing a robust response to the government’s revised National Planning Policy Framework consultation.

The RTPI needs your help to build on these achievements in 2019 as well as respond to Brexit, drive the sustainable development agenda, develop new routes to planning via apprenticeships and more. n bit.ly/planner1218-governance

to access the industry and ultimately our graduate programme to attain their APC.” This ethos has attracted graduates from diverse backgrounds. Fifty per cent of Savills’ planning graduates are female, and 12 per cent are from BAME backgrounds.

Other commented entries The judges commended two other entries, Optimis Consulting for their graduate programme, and Terence O’Rourke for initiatives raising awareness of planning across all disciplines.

If your organisation champions and supports planners’ CPD, why not consider becoming an RTPI Learning Partner? Find out more: bit.ly/planner1218-learning

Savills’ planning and chartered surveyor graduate trainees in 2018

RTPI Election results RTPI Vice-President Sue Manns

Sandra Ford MRTPI Vincent Goodstadt MRTPI Abraham Laker MRTPI

The RTPI Board of Trustees Graham Stallwood FRTPI, Chair Andrew Taylor FRTPI, FRSA, Honorary Treasurer Stefano Smith FRTPI,

Nicky Linihan MRTPI Lindsey Richards FRTPI Corinne Swain FRTPI FAcSS Tammy Swift-Adams MRTPI Phil Williams MRTPI Jennifer Winyard MRTPI MRICS

Trustee for Scotland Sue Bridge FRTPI

Student/Licentiate

Meeta Kaur MRTPI

Garry King

Tony Crook FRTPI, FAcSS, FRSA

Olafiyinfoluwa Taiwo Layla Vidal-Martin

The RTPI General Assembly Chartered Members Steve Avery MRTPI

Legal Member/Associate Martin Edwards LARTPI FRSA

Samer Bagaeen MRTPI FRICS James Carpenter MRTPI

Associates

Sara Dilmamode MRTPI

Jayanand Kumaraguru AssocRTPI

Helen Fadipe MRTPI

Atefeh Motamedi AssocRTPI

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NEWS

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

Elisabeth Williams MRTPI PLANNER, ARUP The current process when considering investment for potential developments places too much emphasis on economic benefits, and is a poor measure of social and environmental factors. Assessments often take a short-term view where financial returns are prioritised over the delivery of social benefits.

Assessing the social impacts of developments such as health and well-being should be given equal weight to the economic drivers when making investment decisions.

In policy terms, what is understood by social benefits should be well defined and agreed upon. Once these are established, development proposals should identify the social outcomes that it seeks to deliver as part of the scheme. A framework of criteria addressing inclusive growth and quality design, or safe and accessible spaces, for example, would ensure that these are assessed.

Independent post-delivery evaluations on the completion of projects would also be able to monitor the extent to which these social aims have been met more effectively. This would provide useful case studies to aid the promotion of best practice in the planning of future projects.

S TAT S O F T H E Y E A R REPRESENTING MEMBERS’ VIEWS TO GOVERNMENT AND POLICYMAKERS

Nearly 70 RESPONSES to government consultations across the four nations and Ireland

200 MEMBERS attended

round tables across England on NPPF response

4 FRINGE EVENTS and 2 CO­HOSTED EVENTS with the built environment sector at the Labour and Conservative party conferences ENSURING PLANNING IS EVIDENCE­BASED

Launched 12 reports 46

RESEARCH

200 MEMBERS attended

discussions around the UK regarding the RTPI research programme 2019­2021 RAISING THE PROFILE OF THE PLANNING PROFESSION

Over 250 ARTICLES in national and local media

16,400 Twitter followers Face­to­face and digital engagement with 800

SCHOOLS

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE

150 ENTRIES for RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence 11,800 VOTES for Ireland’s Best Places competition

1 Clearly define social values and drivers in policy terms for unilateral understanding.

2 Identify the desired social aims and objectives of planned developments before a project commences.

3 Implement a post­ development evaluation to identify the extent to which the social aims have been achieved

POSITION POINTS

PERMITTED DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS FOR SHALE GAS EXPLORATION: RTPI’S RESPONSE RICHARD BLYTH, HEAD OF POLICY PRACTICE & RESEARCH Blanket permissions for shale gas exploration are unsuitable and do not reflect best practice in planning. The scale and sheer complexity of exploratory drilling “entirely dwarfs” development normally covered by permitted developments rights and risks ignoring highly sensitive local issues. Permitted development rights are designed for de minimus development such as small house extensions and should not be applied to a complex, disruptive and highly contested exploration process.

The steady creep of the use of permitted development rights to achieve government policy concerns the Institute, and its application to shale gas exploration is particularly worrying.

IPCC SPECIAL REPORT ON LIMITING GLOBAL WARMING ZOE ABEL, RESEARCH ASSISTANT The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its latest report on the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Good planning can play a significant part in the ‘rapid and far-reaching transitions in energy, land, urban and infrastructure (including transport and buildings)’ that the IPCC recommends. The RTPI advocates for compact settlements and land use mix along with public transportbased development to cut carbon emissions. The RTPI is updating its guide for local authorities on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and resilience this month. n IPCC report: bit.ly/planner1218-ipcc n RTPI reports: Planning for Climate Change Guide for Local Authorities: bit.ly/planner1218-climate Location of Development: bit.ly/planner1218-location

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RTPI Y ACTIVIT E PIPELIN

Current RTPI work – what the Institute is doing and how you can help us INVESTING IN OUR VOLUNTEERS The RTPI’s active network of volunteers is a cornerstone of our success.

Nearly 10 per cent of the membership actively volunteers across a wide range of roles, and their energy and commitment both to the RTPI and the wider profession ensures that we deliver as much value as possible to our members.

We want to offer you more opportunities to contribute to the continuing success of your Institute. We envisage opportunities for: • Participating on committees • Writing article and blogs • Representing the RTPI at events • Promoting campaigns • Supporting Planning Aid and other community projects.

Our strategy for investing in our volunteers will be published in spring 2019 alongside our new Volunteering Prospectus. n For more information or to offer your thoughts and ideas about the strategy, please email andrew.chamberlain@yourconsort.com

RTPI DIRECTORY OF PLANNING CONSULTANTS 2019 We are delighted to announce that the RTPI Directory of Planning Consultants is now available to take bookings for 2019.

The directory was redesigned earlier this year, in partnership with the Planning Portal, to provide additional functionality and improve the user journey. It now attracts an average of 3,331 users a month*, all of whom are specifically looking for a planning consultant. That’s an increase of more than 1,000 individuals and businesses searching for planning consultants every month.

It is also used by a wide range of individuals, from homeowners looking to improve their property or businesses looking to expand to architects and developers seeking planning advice. They use the directory to search by location, company name, specialism, local authority, or by using the name of key individuals.

Only companies who employ Chartered Members of the Royal Town Planning Association are able to list themselves on the RTPI Directory of Planning Consultants.

Renewing your membership or listing your company for the first time couldn’t be easier.

Act now to ensure that you feature in the 2019 leaflets. n For more information please contact rtpidirectory@planningportal.co.uk, call Graeme Kirk on 0117 403 3372, or visit: bit.ly/planner1218-consultants * Google Analytics Apr-Sept 2018

2019 RTPI TRAINING PROGRAMME NOW AVAILABLE The RTPI has launched its annual programme of national raining events.

The programme has been designed by experts to reflect the needs of planners, with 56 courses including 12 new topics for 2019.

Attending our courses will help you to expand your technical knowledge and skills, gain inspiration, and learn about all the latest developments.

A range of resources is now available from the RTPI, based on the new Core CPD Framework, which identifies skills and knowledge areas for planners. n bit.ly/planner1218-training

RTPI NEWS

IN MEMORY OF JOHN DEAN DIP TP. C. ENG FRTPI MICE, RTPI PRESIDENT 1987­1988 Described as “the man who helped shape modern Leicester”, John Dean will be remembered as Leicester’s Chief Planning Officer – a role he held for over 20 years.

Some of the projects John led were the establishment of Watermead Park and Aylestone Meadows as well as other key environmental schemes and the development of the Shires shopping centre.

He was a driving force in the production of the first edition of The Quality of Leicester, a book that Leicester City Council Head of Planning, Grant Butterworth, said “celebrated the heritage of the city in a way which made people look at the city afresh, and lifted the confidence and pride of citizens and officers alike”.

John also served as President of the RTPI in 1987 and was an active member of the Institute throughout his career. As Chair for many past presidents’ gatherings, he was known for providing challenging topics for discussion and his dry sense of humour.

Chris Shepley, former colleague and former RTPI President (1989-1990), said: “John taught me a great deal during the few years I worked with him. A highly practical man, he was nonetheless intellectually formidable, well read, thoughtful, and dynamic. He was also one of the nicest of men and inspired loyalty and affection in all who knew him.”

2019 SUBSCRIPTIONS: MAINTAINING OUR SERVICES Members will now have received their RTPI subscription for 2019. Subscriptions are due for renewal on 1 January annually.

Following the members’ survey of 2017, the RTPI has worked to raise the profile and influence of the Institute and the profession across the UK, Ireland and beyond. In 2019, we will continue to listen to your feedback, focusing on four themes that emerged from the member survey: raising the profile of planning; diversity and inclusivity; value of membership; supporting planning services. Following a significant investment of reserve funds, we will also upgrade our digital systems and website to provide an improved and more personalised member experience.

The Board of Trustees has agreed that to maintain core services, enable us to increase our impact, profile and influence, and to continuously improve and grow our offer to members, in 2019 the subscription rate will rise by 3 per cent. You can spread the cost of your annual subscription by setting up a direct debit for payment in equal quarterly instalments. You also have the option to pay online by credit or debit card.

You may qualify for a reduced subscription if you are on a low income or if you started/are starting parental leave during the calendar year 2018 and 2019.

If you have any queries email subscriptions@rtpi.org. uk, or phone +44(0)20 7929 9463. n To get the most out of your membership visit: bit.ly/planner1218-benefits

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â&#x2014;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;EXCELLENTâ&#x20AC;? CPA RATING

Maidstone â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Continuous improvement by adapting to continuous change In recent years, Maidstone Borough has experienced unprecedented growth and this is set to continue. We are in a great position to continue to shape this growth and create great places by reason of a recently adopted Local Plan and a genuine commitment to achieving high quality design. We consider that good growth can only be delivered through collaboration and so we place emphasis on providing clear and constructive advice at an early stage in the development process utilising Planning Performance Agreements.

www.maidstone.gov.uk

MAJOR PROJECTS TEAM LEADER DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT GRADE 13 ÂŁ45,844 - ÂŁ50,133 + ÂŁ8,000 Market Supplement + Essential Car Allowance Specifically, the post holder would lead a small but experienced team of Principle Planning Officer. We are looking for a person who can self-manage a caseload of significant and complex development proposals and be the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;go toâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; person for major developments, taking a lead at Planning Committee.

This post pays up to £50,133 and is eligible for high performance increments. These additional increments are awarded for work that has added significant value and is exceptional. The high performance increments cannot be considered as part of the normal pay progression.

STRATEGIC PLANNING GRADE 11 ÂŁ35,542 - ÂŁ38,555 + up to ÂŁ5,000 Market Supplement + Essential Car Allowance With delivery of the adopted Maidstone Local Plan underway, Maidstone Local Plan Review now commencing and the Community Infrastructure Levy now in effect, this is a great time to join our experienced and expanding Strategic Planning Team. You will have the opportunity to take a key role in a comprehensive Local Plan Review from start to finish and take responsibility for important areas of evidence and policy making. You will need to be able to work effectively with Members, including presenting at committees. You will be a member of the RTPI with existing strategic planning experience including collaborative working with other Council departments and with key partners.

This post pays up to ÂŁ38,555.

To discuss this opportunity in more detail, please contact Rob Jarman, Strategic Planning Manager on 01622 602214.

Previous applicants need not apply.

To apply for the position please visit www.maidstone.gov.uk/jobs and complete the online application form or send CV to HRSupport@midkent.gov.uk Closing Date: 07 January 2019 Interview Date: TBC

Council Benefits: career average pension scheme, professional fee payment, flexible working (including opportunities for home working and job share), employee benefits package and generous leave entitlement.

S ea rc h t h ep l a nn e r.co .u k / j o b s fo r t h e b e s t v a canci e s

p48-49_PLN.DEC18.indd 49

PRINCIPAL PLANNING OFFICER

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INSIGHT

Plan B The Planner Christmas Carol Service December 24th, Botolph Lane

Order of service 3pm Welcome – Victoria Hills 3.05pm A seasonal planning memory – John Acres 3.25pm Carols Once in Savid Javid’s City

Good King Brokenshire

Once in Savid Javid’s city, Stood a lowly cattle shed, Where a mother laid her Baby, Contrary to Enforcement Notice APP/ Z2280/X/17/3175862 (Mary was that mum surprised: Manger wasn’t authorised).

Good King Brokenshire looked out On the world of planning What this needs is roundabouts And green belt housing banning.

Here’s a new NPPF Mark what it espouses: To quality you must be deaf – Just build lots of houses.

Away in a Manger

God Rest Ye Merry, Applicant

Away in a manger In rural green belt It’s at least 20 years Since someone here dwelt.

God rest ye merry applicant Let nothing you dismay Remember Sub-clause 234 “No Public Right of Way”

This shed’s in a right state Its sides barely stand That means it won’t qualify As previously developed land.

To save this site’s good character Read this key policy Com-pli-ance brings comfort and joy Comfort and joy Com-pli-ance brings comfort and joy

My decision is final No room for a plea You can’t have your child here Whomever he be.

The Twelve days of Planning On the twelfth day of planning, the chief planner sent to me:

Ding Dong, The-R-T-P-I Ding Dong, The-R-T-P-I From Botolph Lane you’re ringing Ding Dong “Area of High Landscape Value” is scanning Gloooooria, Victoria Hills Excelsis!

Gloooooria, Victoria Hills Excelsis!

Pray you, dutifully prime Your membership, ye planners They’re all beautiful and kind Impeccable in manners Gloooooria, Victoria Hills Excelsis!

Gloooooria, Victoria Hills Excelsis!

Twelve local plans Eleven core strategies Ten garden villages Nine green belt reviews Eight enforcement breaches Seven planning gains Six affordable homes Fiiiive plaaaanning ministeeeeers Four growth deals Three called-in appeals Two NPPFs And a housing need methodology.

3.55pm Mince pies 4.pm Carriages

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n O come all ye faithful: Tweet us – @ThePlanner_RTPI 19/11/2018 14:08

LANDSCAPE

THE MONTH IN PLANNING The best and most interesting reads, websites, films and events that we’ve encountered this month WHAT WE'RE READING...

Streetscapes Architect and planner Colin J Davis is the author of this entertaining guide to what constitutes good streetscape design. There’s a comprehensive range of examples with supporting photography and illustrations, and much consideration as to what constitutes good street planning practice. The work that has gone into this book is extraordinary.

Available from https://streetscapes.online

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING...

Where We Live Now Another hidden gem on BBC's iPlayer service. First transmitted in 1979, 'Where We Live Now' sees writer Colin Ward setting out to discover the truth about Britain’s New Towns. He visits Harlow, Peterlee, Runcorn and Milton Keynes, hearing from their architects and residents and examining their reputation.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING...

The Housing and Planning Select Committee' and The Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Communities Committee Good to see that it’s possible to keep up with the UK’s various government planning committees these days. This month you can watch the House of Lords Rural Economy Committee's session on housing and planning – with evidence from builders, housing and planning bodies and campaigners – via the BBC iPlayer. And you can also watch the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Communities Committee in action via its own channel. bit.ly/planner1218-gov

WHERE WE'RE GOING...

Each month the RTPI runs a range of free or low-cost events up and down the UK. Here’s our pick for the next few weeks. See the full calendar here: bit.ly/planner1118-calendar PR, communication and planning 23 January, Winchester Guildhall, Winchester In the world of social media, how can effective communication improve the delivery of planning outcomes?

The speakers will discuss the public perception of planners and good practice in delivery. bit.ly/planner1218-calendar

Managing development in the historic environment: risks and opportunities 4 February, Crowne Plaza

WHAT WE'RE PLANNING...

The Planner Pla enters 2019 with a skip in its step and plenty of purpose. In January, incoming RTPI president Ian Tant is in focus, purpose and we continue our Future of Housing content stream. February sees us undertaking a month-long assessment of careers in planning, and in March we’ll be focusing all aspects of diversity plannin within the t profession. Email editorial@theplanner.co.uk if you your own ideas about what we should be looking in to. have yo

Hotel, Newcastle upon Tyne The all-day event will consider the role of the professional in resolving heritage conflicts by providing the basis for balanced, reasonable and transparent decision-making. bit.ly/planner1218-heritage

Joint local plans: Strategic planning reborn 14 February, Bristol Marriott Royal, Bristol Speakers, including from the Planning Inspectorate, will reflect on their practical experience at different stages in the joint local plan process.

The event seeks to learn from experience by addressing issues such as governance, management and resourcing of joint plan making. bit.ly/planner1218-strategic

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We’ve gone green Now that the RTPI has committed to reducing plastic, why not tell us what steps you’re taking to pare back on plastics? Tweet your own sustainability initiatives using the hashtag #notaplasticplanner

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It’s been well received in every sense.

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