The Planner November 2018 by The Planner

NOVEMBER 2018 SCOTLAND 2050: RISING TO THE CHALLENGE // p.6 • HOMES FOR LIFE // p.20 • ONLY CONNECT: EAST MIDLANDS TRANSPORT // p.24 • TECH LANDSCAPE: IS AI THE JOB TERMINATOR? // p.29 • NATIONS & REGIONS: THE EAST MIDLANDS // 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

GREAT EXPECTATIONS THE WORLD ACCORDING TO YOUNG PLANNERS IN 2018

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CONTENTS

NO VEMBER

08 NEWS 4 The Planner’s webinar on ‘effective engagement’ – sponsored by Commonplace – produced a range of insights 6 Scotland 2050: Rising to the challenge: RTPI Scotland Annual Conference 8 Greater Manchester leaders order ministers to clarify housing need standard 9 North Wales port shortlisted for major rail rolling stock development

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“I THINK IT HAS BEEN AND REMAINS BOTH A CHALLENGING AND EXCITING TIME TO BE A PLANNER”

OPINION

12 Chris Shepley: Read the Raynsford Review and ignore whims of the talking heads COV E R | J ON E N O C H

14 Tom Roberts: Truly inclusive design means a fundamental rethink of our streets 14 Scott O’Dell: Sustaining rural estates – maintaining aristocracy or planning for the greater good? 15 Victoria Bankes Price: Why the revised NPPF can support the fight to protect ancient habitats 15 Claire Adie: Retail policy must keep pace with our changing shopping habits

13 QUOTE UNQUOTE

“PLENTY OF GREEN LAND AND GOOD PARKS FOR THE CHILDREN IN THE SURROUNDING AREA IS KEY TO A GOOD DEVELOPMENT WHICH THEN BUILDS A STRONG COMMUNITY” RICHARD KEEN, FACTORY WORKER, I HOLLAND LIMITED

FEATURES

INSIGHT 29 Tech landscape: Artificial intelligence will eliminate hundreds of different kinds of jobs, we’re told. Alison Broderick asks if planners should worry

16 Heather Claridge, Young Planner of the Year for 2018-19. tells Chris Jesson why the world needs inquisitive planners – and where to go in Glasgow 20 How do we ensure that everyone has the right kind of housing for their stages of life? Caroline Richardson and James Cross offer their thoughts 24 The Midlands is seeing substantial change to its transport network, says David Hutchinson 34 Nations & Regions: The East Midlands

38 Cases & decisions: Development decisions, round-up and analysis 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: How can we increase community support for planning and lift the morale of local authority planners? Plan B is privy to a stratagem…

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NEWS

Report { ENGAGEMENT WEBINAR

New rules of engagement The Planner’s webinar on ‘eﬀective engagement’ – sponsored by Commonplace – produced a range of insights into how planners and developers can improve community consultation by Simon Wicks TALKING ENGAGEMENT

Five speakers, five ways of thinking about engagement in planning – from setting up neighbourhood forums to using technology to reach seldom heard groups. Throw in a critique of the NPPF, straight advice for developers and a stress on the importance of speaking to young people, and you have a lively hour of presentations, discussion and debate. Or, in other words, a Planner webinar – ‘Establishing effective engagement: Consultation in 2018’. “I believe passionately that good community engagement should be about as far as it can be from a regulatory box-ticking exercise,” said Martyn Evans, non-executive director with sponsor Commonplace. “I don’t understand how you can develop in 21st century Britain without understanding the communities in which you want to develop.” The discussion took on the meaning of ‘effective engagement’ while getting beneath the surface of consultations that would probably fit the definition. Sue Manns, director of Sue Manns Associates, noted how the revised NPPF offered little guidance on what its own term ‘effective engagement’ meant. She argued, however, that it should be “meaningful” and “inclusive”. Natalie Broughton, strategic policy manager for Hackney in London, illustrated the point with the borough’s award-winning area action plan for a hitherto divided community. The effort to create community forums and run workshops had been worth it, producing greater “community cohesion”. Young planner Ross O’Ceallaigh showed how digital platforms were able to reach more deeply into communities than traditional consultations. “Importantly, it [digital engagement] captured many people in their 20s and 30s who might otherwise have been missing from the picture,” he said. RTPI’s Scotland’s Craig McLaren talked about how charrettes had encouraged planners to adopt more “creative” approaches to consultation. But planners, he said, also needed to engage upwards, with politicians and government. So, multiple approaches – but is there a secret to effective engagement? “It’s about trying hard, that’s what it is,” said Evans. “It’s about trying hard.”

Martyn Evans, developer and nonexecutive director of Commonplace: Engage or Fail - how public consultation is no longer about just ticking the boxes n “If you try hard, particularly engaging with the politics, you can not only solve problems, you can make very successful development” n “If developers see community engagement as market research, imagine how much better the places they build would be” n “In a digital world it is much easier for people to organise, particularly around community issues. If we don’t employ the same tactics so that we can engage with those people in the way that they want, then we’ll fail.”

Natalie Broughton MRTPI, strategic policy manager, town planning, London Borough of Hackney: Towards a Stamford Hill Plan

n Listen to the webinar ‘Establishing eﬀective engagement – Consultation in 2018’ on The Planner website at bit.ly/planner1118-webinar n Commonplace …is an award-winning digital engagement platform that specialises in planning. It helps private and public sector organisations transform the value of engagement by building trust, increasing participation and extracting meaningful and robust insights. Visit www.commonplace.is

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n Council brought a divided community

together through creation of an Area Action Plan n Achieved via cross-party steering group and cross-community I M AG E S | I STO C K

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PLAN UPFRONT

way and ways that were previously impossible”

Sue Manns FRTPI, director of Sue Manns Associates:

neighbourhood panel, workshops, interviews, drop-ins, school visits n Evidence identiﬁed speciﬁc issues for communities, enabled creation of borough-wide policies for local plan, and lobbying for change to London Plan n Success means same approach “rolled out” for other parts of borough n “Bringing the communities together through this process has been very important in terms of community cohesion”

Ross O’Ceallaigh, urban design and planning consultant, Urban Initiative Studio: Embrace Technology to Engage with Young People n Three reasons why children and

young people not engaged with planning system: apathy, inconvenience, organisational prejudice n “Many local authorities and community organisations may feel that young people aren’t interested in engaging so there’s no point making the eﬀort to reach out” n Not true if you change the engagement method n Evidence from Commonplace shows that digital engagement can reach a broader and younger audience n “Technology can enable people to engage with planning in a more proactive

What is ‘effective engagement’? n The revised NPPF could have gone further – still a reliance on Statements of Community Involvement, with wide variation in quality n Two parts to effective engagement: 1. Is it meaningful? 2. Has it been inclusive? n Businesses conduct market research with all customer groups “because it’s important that the product works for everyone, and planning is no different” n New tech and social media provide “a really good opportunity to reach out to young people”, who don’t want to read things in the form that older people do

Craig McLaren FRTPI, director of Scotland and Ireland, RTPI: How Scotland is facilitating engagement n Government funded charettes have “shifted how people see community engagement in Scotland” n “Planners have become more creative in how they engage and they’re not just relying on the process or the system” n More emphasis on seldom heard groups, including young people n Place plans developed by communities are “a really good thing” n A ‘digital taskforce’ is working in planning across Scotland to “make it the best system in the world in terms of digital” n A need to engage within government, too, to make sure that the National Planning Framework is seen as a “key delivery tool for the Scottish government”

Effective engagement in three words or fewer: “Listen. Understand. Act.” Martyn Evans

“Use good tech” Ross O’Ceallaigh

“Keep listening” Natalie Broughton THE LANGUAGE OF ENGAGEMENT

Question from listener Tim Stephens: How do you convert highly complex technical information into a language the general public can understand without losing its meaning?” “Write policy in a way that is accessible to all. I see this failing where you have a highly complex policy document and you’re trying to convert that into consultation material. If from the outset you write your policy in a way that’s accessible, doesn’t use planning jargon and can be understood by all, it makes your consultation a lot easier.” Natalie Broughton “They say that if you can’t explain something simply you probably don’t understand it well enough. So as professionals we need to think that if we are so tied to this technical jargon and this planningspeak maybe we’re just not thinking things through all the way to the bottom in a way that we can explain to kids and nonprofessionals.” Ross O’Ceallaigh NO VE MB ER 2 018 / THE PLA NNER

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NEWS

Analysis {

The ambition is for NPF4 to set targets for housing to meet the needs of older and disabled people

RTPI SCOTLAND ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Scotland 2050: Rising to the challenge By Laura Edgar

A simpliﬁed system, NPP4 and digital interaction with planning were among topics discussed in Edinburgh The Planning (Scotland) Bill will continue to be a priority for planning minister Kevin Stewart at the Scottish Government for the rest of this year and “beyond”, as they look to bring forward secondary legislation. That’s what Stewart told the RTPI Scotland Conference, which asked ‘Scotland 2050: What do we want Scotland to be and how do we make it happen?’ Stressing his commitment to ensuring that the planning system works for all, Stewart said his aim is to “simplify and declutter” it. Whether or not planners and the wider industry agree with the direction of the bill, he said, “we need to remove excessive processes so that planners are enabled to do what they do best, which is do good planning”. Although it is too early to say what the outcome of the bill would be, Stewart said it is clear to him that planning would be taking on more responsibility. Therefore, he encouraged everyone to keep in touch with him about how the amendments would aﬀect their daily work.

In the long run Moving on to the long-term challenges for planning, Stewart spoke about climate change and how critical planning would be in addressing and adapting to its eﬀects, and reducing emissions.

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Kevin Stewart, Scottish planning minister

There are significant challenges ahead for Scotland’s rural areas, “not least because of the uncertainty that Brexit brings”, he said. The way people will connect with one another and with services will be “radically different”, whether that be physically or virtually. Planning, said the minister, is “uniquely positioned to bring together and integrate many different policy considerations and apply them to bring benefits to our places”.

More than a strategy Work has yet to begin on National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), but Stewart conﬁdently told the audience it would be diﬀerent from its predecessors. The Local Government and Communities Committee has said it wants NPF4 to set targets for housing to meet the needs of older and disabled people. There is also the challenge of how to better align planning with infrastructure, and for digital technology to provide an opportunity to “transform the way the framework is developed, presented and used”. Stewart promised that NPF4 would be more than a national strategy; it is a “collective opportunity that lies before us and I would ask you all to rise to the challenge”.

RTPI SCOTLAND CONFERENCE – HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DAY

Professor Samer Bagaeen, professor of planning at the University of Kent, argued that cities should not have a separate resilience strategy. Instead, resilience should be a mainstream part of the way places are planned and managed. There is a range of rural polices in place in Scotland, said Professor Sarah Skerratt, professor of rural society and policy, director of policy engagement at Scotland’s Rural College. However, she explained that they are not always joined up and subsequently, there is not always a consistent evidence base. She added that remoteness is something that happens to people, often because of the ongoing centralisation of services.

I M AG E S | I S TO C K / N O U N P RO J E C T / A L A M Y / G E T T Y

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PLAN UPFRONT

Stefano Smith, planning director at WYG, discussed some of the major changes to the next NPF, including a more collaborative approach to how it is produced. He highlighted the complexity of policy landscapes, including disjointedness between visions, objectives and strategies. Integration is required for progress. Speaking about health and place, Eibhlin McHugh, co-director of the Public Health Reform Executive Delivery Group at the Scottish Government, told the audience to think about the baby in the buggy because that’s who you are planning for. She reminded everyone in the room that they, we, her, everyone is working in the business of public health, emphasising the need for collective leadership.

Community is a problem that keeps coming up time and again. Robin McAlpine, director at think tank Common Weal, said that rather than ‘empower’ people – his “least favourite” word – take away the ‘em’ and give people power over their community. “We must allow communities to plan for themselves, to develop for themselves, and if we don’t do that we can just accept from now on that people will think they’re passive and done to all the time.” The complexities of investing in transport infrastructure and the unproven track record of such investment on economic growth was discussed by Professor Tom Rye, director of the Transport Research Institute at Edinburgh Napier University. Despite investment, transport travel times have not reduced; rather, there has been an increase in distance travelled.

Planning is critical to the growth of renewable energy, said Claire Mack, chief executive at Scottish Renewables. Overall, 18 per cent of Scottish energy consumption comes from renewables – heat and transport are the next big challenges. Heat accounts for about 50 per cent of Scotland’s energy use, with just 5 per cent from renewable sources. Mack noted that to meet the Scottish Government’s 2050 target of 50 per cent of the country’s energy to come from renewables, major changes are required in regulation and on economic drivers, because gas is very cheap.

THE MONTH IN FIGURES

Provisional road traﬃc estimates for the year ending June 2018 show 327 billion vehicle miles (bvm) were driven on the country’s roads, slightly less than 327.1 bvm in 2017 – the highest on record. (Statistics published by the Department for Transport)

Jules Pipe, London’s deputy mayor for planning, has approved a £1 billion development in the London Riverside Opportunity Area comprising 3,000 homes, 50 per cent of which have been designated as aﬀordable. England green belt totalled 1,629,510 hectares as of March 2018, which accounts for 12.5 per cent of the land area of England. (MHCLG statistics)

10 local authorities adopted new local plans that involved a change in their area of green belt, which accounts for the fall seen in the ministry’s ﬁgures (MHCLG statistics)

Land in London equivalent to the size of the borough of Lambeth – 2,700 hectares – has planning permission for development but construction has yet to start on it. (research by Centre for London)

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NEWS

News { Greater Manchester leaders order ministers to clarify housing need standard

Greater Manchester’s spatial framework faces fresh delays and further rewrites after latest government household projections disrupted the standard method for calculating housing need. Household projections unveiled by the Office for National Statistics in September predicted a 24 per cent fall in anticipated growth on previous figures. When the government published the National Planning Policy Framework in July, it said it would consider adjusting the method when the projections were published in autumn to meet its 300,000 homes-a-year target. Now Greater Manchester’s mayor Andy Burnham and its 10 council leaders are demanding that ministers should urgently clarify and publish the housing need methodology to determine the number of homes the city region would be required to build. The leadership accused the government of “moving the goalposts and making this process more difficult”, and warned

that the framework cannot proceed until the methodology is published. “Greater Manchester needs to know that the spatial framework is a plan ﬁt for the future and this can only be the case if we get the clarity we need before the plan is ﬁnalised. That is why we have all agreed that we will wait, yet again, for the government methodology, then move quickly to revise and agree our plan, before taking it out to public consultation.” The 10 leaders maintain that the draft framework must be agreed by each and every council in the city region next summer before a third round of formal consultation gets under way.

An Bord Pleanála struggles with workload and misses targets

Bill clarifying decisionmaking powers of NI civil servants published

Last year An Bord Pleanála struggled to keep pace with a 19 per cent rise in casework, which meant that only 67 per cent of appeal decisions were made within the statutory target, according to the agency’s annual report. Vacancies at board level compounded the problem. The report found that: ⦁ Decisions made to August 2018 up 25 per cent on the previous year. ⦁ Only 35 per cent of decisions were made in the statutory period. ⦁ Board membership and overall staﬃng has improved since the beginning of 2017. ⦁ Compliance with the statutory tutory timeframe remains low for appeal cases as the planning ning agency made inroads in the backlog. klog. ⦁ All applications that wentt through the fast-track system were re decided within the 16-week eek period. ⦁ Over the past 12 months, 36 applications were received ed for schemes that are being handled andled by the fast-track regime.

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley has introduced legislation to help restore devolved government in Northern Ireland that crucially clariﬁes the decision-making powers of civil servants in the absence of ministers at Stormont. This has been a particular issue for planning, where decisions on a number of key infrastructure projects have been left in limbo for 20 months. The Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions Bill contains provisions to give greater certainty to enable Northern Ireland departments to continue to take decisions in Northern Ireland “in the public interest”. The guidance does not identify or direct speciﬁc decisions but sets out principles to be taken into account when deciding whether or not it is in the public interest to exercise a function. Bradley insisted: “It is imperative that Northern Ireland departments have clarity, so that decisions can be taken in the public interest to maintain delivery of Northern Ireland’s public services in the absence of ministers, and the draft guidance we have published alongside the bill will support civil servants in carrying out their duties.”

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

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PLAN UPFRONT

North Wales port shortlisted for major rail rolling stock development The Port of Mostyn in Flintshire, North Wales, has been shortlisted as the location for a major new factory making a new generation of high-speed trains that could employ up to 1,000 workers. Spanish train manufacturer Talgo wants to establish its first facility in the UK: it would involve a complex extending to 40,000 square metres. The other sites in the mix are in England in St Helens, Chesterfield and Leeds, and in Scotland at Hunterston and Longannet. A decision on the location of its UK factory, which would aim to source as many components from the UK supply chain as possible, will be made next month. Jim O’Toole, managing director of Mostyn Port, said: “For the past 18 months we have been working closely with the Welsh Government to identify and satisfy Talgo’s requirements and believe we can now offer them an ideal manufacturing site. “This site has a direct connection to the main railway network for new trains to be delivered directly to Talgo’s UK customers together with adjacent port facilities for their future export programmes.”

Tell us about your planning career – and you could win a smart watch Are you happy in your job and with your choice of profession? Do you expect the outlook for planning to improve? How would you attract more young people into the planning profession? The Planner’s Careers Survey 2019 asks these questions and more – and it remains open for entries until the end of Monday 5th November. You can access the survey via the link below to tell us what you think and feel across three critical areas: ⦁ happiness ⦁ future expectations ⦁ ideas for improving planning careers. In return, we’ll enter you into a prize draw to win one of the new generation of smart watches – either Apple or Android, depending on the winner’s preference. The 12-question survey will help us understand how you feel about the state of the planning profession. We’ll wrap it all up in a report for RTPI members to be published in February 2019 alongside a month of careers-orientated content and activities. Why do we want to know this? Because the recurrent question at every conference and event we’ve attended this year has been: How do we make planning a more attractive and rewarding profession, for those who are already planners and those who might become planners? So visit the link, take the survey, share with us your thoughts and let’s ﬁnd out what planning needs to do to genuinely become an attractive profession for the 21st century. n Take part in The Planner’s Careers Survey 2019 at bit.ly/PlannerCareersSurvey2019

Borderlands growth deal initiative makes waves Proposals for a regional growth initiative straddling the Scottish border and involving Dumfries and Galloway Council and Scottish Borders Council has been submitted to the UK and Scottish governments. The proposals – known as the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal – involve place-based projects including the redevelopment of the Chapelcross nuclear power station site and the socalled Mountain Bike Innovation Centre earmarked for Glentress in the Scottish Borders. Also in the frame is a feasibility study into extending the Borders Railway from Carlisle to Tweedbank.

The initiatives seeking funding include an energy investment company, better digital connectivity, tourism measures, a business infrastructure programme and a knowledge exchange network.

The multimillion-pound growth deal has been put together by the Borderlands Partnership, a unique collaboration bringing the two Scottish local authorities together with Carlisle City Council, Cumbria County Council and Northumberland County Council. Cabinet secretary for transport Michael Matheson MSP said: “The Scottish Government is committed to working towards a Borderlands deal that will drive inclusive growth, delivering real economic beneﬁt for individuals, businesses and communities across the region. We look forward to discussing the detail of what could form a heads of terms agreement for the deal over the coming weeks.”

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LEADER COMMENT

Opinion onn Young planners and the profession’s greater good It has been a personal aspiration of mine, and indeed the whole East Midlands Young Planners Committee, to deliver the 2018 RTPI Young Planners’ Conference, which heads to the city of Nottingham on the 2nd and 3rd of November. While this will be my eighth conference, our group is also celebrating its 10th year of happily supporting those early in their planning careers across the region. Since winning the bid to host the conference, the committee, together with Hannah Armstrong and Helen Gibb at the RTPI, have been working in earnest to deliver what we hope will be a highlight of the 2018 events calendar. Even before it begins it has been a record success: early-bird tickets sold out within the ﬁrst 24 hours, while general sale tickets were all gone with two months still to go. We will hear from speakers

Chris Jesson chosen to broach the key subjects of the moment, and to speak on our principal theme: ‘Celebrating Planning for the Greater Good’ is about championing everything the profession does and explaining why planning deserves further space in the limelight. It matters to us, it matters to you – it matters to everyone. (And it mattered to the seven-year-old me

when I was drawing maps like those illustrated on this page.) The conference has never before been held in the East Midlands, a vibrant and incredibly diverse region at the heart of England. So, whether you are attending the conference or reading this for the first time, please come and take a closer look around! As we move ahead to find our country’s new path, this is an excellent time to be shouting about the many good things planners do. At a time of significant change, with the advent of the new National Planning Policy Framework and what might have arisen from the Autumn

Budget, planning is on the radar again and receiving renewed political interest. Good-quality, sustainable and inclusive planning is vital for our economy. We must continue to shout about its virtues as an increasingly diverse and growing inﬂuencer of both the built and natural environments. We are thrilled to have been chosen to assist with the writing and editing of this ‘Young Planners’ edition of The Planner. It features the thoughts of young planners from across the UK, including members of the East Midlands Young Planners Committee. We see involvement in young planners’ networks p as a critical to the lifeblood of the li institute going in forward, and we hope fo to see you become involved and inspired in by the content of the th conference and this th issue of the magazine. At the heart ma of planning’s future success is you. suc

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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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CHRIS SHEPLEY

O Opinion Read the Raynsford Review and ignore the whims of the talking heads There are people who read these columns. Sometimes to meet (and often exceed) their CPD obligations, sometimes for the consummate and comprehensive dismemberment of government policy that they contain – and sometimes even for pleasure. My fans overlook my bewilderment regarding the current planning scene. I feel, like Alan Bennett, that writing about planning today “is like crossing a patch of swampy ground, jumping from one tussock to another, trying not to get my feet wet”. Maybe this explains the puzzlement that my fans feel over the fact that government policy has not, in response to this forensic monthly roasting, assumed a more sensible trajectory. From insane trivia like the policy to make it easier to convert launderettes to swimming pools, to profound issues such as the rise in homelessness, the inadequacy of current housing policies, or the unrecognised (in Westminster) implications of regional imbalance, I have sought to help ministers ﬁnd a better course. This succour has been eschewed. So, after eight long years, how bad are things now? I write this in anticipation of the ﬁnal report of the Raynsford Review (I’m on the review team) later this month. After the interim report, there were those who questioned the notion that planning was in a bad way (we didn’t actually say it was ‘broken’, but that word was bandied around). People worried, understandably, that

advocating further reform might play into the hands of those who wanted further to erode the system. And felt – also understandably – that still more change, after the unbounded adjustments of recent years, was more than anybody could cope with. Still planners, heroically and against the odds, keep the system going. I don’t think their efforts to do so can be sufficiently praised. The cracks may be showing. A telephone call to a planning office may yield little other than the fading echo of long-departed planners, and the recorded voice of a young graduate lost in an ocean of targets and controversies. But nonetheless decisions get made, and reasonably quickly, and planners still make the world a much better place than it would be without them. But yet. Planning is surely in

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“TOO OFTEN WE ARE LICENSEES FOR DEVELOPERS RATHER THAN CREATORS OF BETTER PLACES” a poorer state than it has been since 1947. Too often we are licensees for developers rather than creators of better places. We are holding things together well enough, but imaginative visions for the future of our country, or our towns and cities, are conspicuous often only by their absence. Extensions to permitted development have produced apartments with the size and character of ﬁling cabinets, and children now play among the lorries on industrial estates. New wheezes such as prior approval and permission in principle have

helped to render the system incomprehensible to most of the population, without doing anything to help with the problems the nation faces. Time pressures mean that serious consideration of things as diverse as good design or climate change falls by the wayside Public participation is becoming a lost art. This column thinks we should ﬁght back. It thinks that we can cope with more change so long as it is change based on evidence, knowledge and experience rather than on the whim of some thinktanker equipped only with the back of an envelope. It thinks that you, the planner, have the skills and enthusiasm to do much better things than you are able to do now; that your potential needs to be released. So read the Raynsford report (and engage with the forthcoming Labour Party consultation on planning, which is also employing such expertise as this column may have). Raynsford is the ﬁrst comprehensive look at the whole of the system for decades. It deserves to be taken seriously.

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

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Quote unquote N O N P L A N N E R S H A V E T H EI R S A Y What do non-planners think about planning? In a departure from the usual Quote Unquote format, this month we asked a selection of nonplanners from varying backgrounds the same question:

“In your opinion, what consideration is most important to achieve good development?”

“Good development should be a beneﬁt to the community whilst complementing its surroundings, should that be modern or traditional – or a mix of both!” KIRSTY MCMURRAY, STAY AT HOME MUM, BELFAST

Here’s what they told us…

“Good development needs to be respectful of the existing environment surrounding it and take account of and provide mitigation to additional pressures it may place on an area”

“Incorporating green space into modern development is the key to me” NIMISHA PRAJAPATI, FACILITIES SUPERVISOR, SHAKESPEARE MARTINEAU SOLICITORS

“Development that puts energy efficiency at the forefront and is ruthless on prioritising the number of low-cost energy efficient homes in both brown and greenfield sites” RUSSELL WOOD, RETIRED PHYSICS TEACHER, WORKSOP

ANDREW RULE, CITY COUNCILLOR FOR CLIFTON NORTH WARD, NOTTINGHAM

e J e n ny K

“Plenty of green land and good parks for the children in the surrounding area is key to a good development which then builds a strong community for the neighbourhood” RICHARD KEEN, FACTORY WORKER, I HOLLAND LIMITED

“Understanding the needs of the local community. Our developments are planned to meet local needs ensuring our product is aligned to local demographics, market trends and ensuring our customer’s evolving needs are met by continuously evolving the homes and places we build.” ANDREW HARVEY, SENIOR LAND MANAGER, BARRATT HOMES

“A good balance for everyone locally to get something out of the project” GRACE MOXON, 11, PUPIL AT KESTEVEN AND GRANTHAM GIRLS SCHOOL

n Compiled by Jenny Keen MRTPI, principal planner at Marrons Planning and East Midlands Young planners committee member I M AG E S | I STO C K

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

O Opinion

Tom Roberts is placemaking lead (North) at Mott MacDonald

Truly inclusive design means a fundamental rethink of our streets

Inclusive design is about creating places e everyone can use. In July, the UK government published a policy paper, The Inclusive Transport Strategy: Achieving Equal Access for Disabled People (ITS). This is an important topic and the strategy makes some laudable promises, but this is just one facet of inclusive design. Ultimately, we need a much broader agenda that tackles the fundamentals of how we approach people, place and design. Survey after survey shows the main barrier to regular cycling is the perception of unsafe roads, or a hostile traffic e nv i ron m e n t. This has a disproportionate effect by both age and gender. Women are almost three times less likely to cycle than men. Simply put, many people are excluded by the basics of street design. If we designed cities through the eyes of a child, we would probably make different choices. How many public realm schemes would actively discourage skateboarding? How many inner-city streets and spaces display ‘No Ball Games Allowed’ signs? And more crucially, would we do more to tackle the worryingly harmful levels of air pollution in so many of our towns and cities? Instead, the ITS focuses on two specific topics on streets: Shared

space and pavement parking. Ultimately, the ITS recommends a review of both, asking local authorities to pause the former, but not the latter. ‘Shared space’ is a broad term, but arguably it is an approach built on an inclusivity agenda – by reducing the dominance of motor traffic and improving the pedestrian experience. But schemes have been criticised by visually impaired groups. This is still an evolving approach in the UK, and its critical designers act on concerns. More recently, schemes like Frodsham Street in Chester have been praised by visually impaired groups – showing that it is possible to design shared space that works for all users. Conversely, pavement parking can only serve to exclude. There has been a ban on pavement parking in London for over 40 years, and it is time this was extended to the rest of the UK. But streets could also play a much greater role in preventing disability, not just adapting to accommodate. Several studies show there are big health benefits to walking and cycling, with significant reductions in risk of cancer, stroke, depression and cardiovascular disease. Rethinking how we design streets and providing the right infrastructure will give everyone the confidence use them.

“STREETS COULD ALSO PLAY A MUCH GREATER ROLE IN PREVENTING DISABILITY, NOT JUST ADAPTING TO ACCOMMODATE”

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Scott O’Dell MRTPI is an associate planner at Fisher German LLP and a member of the East Midlands Young Planners committee

Sustaining rural estates – maintaining aristocracy or planning for the greater good?

Stereotypes Stereotyp are often strong when it comes come to rural estates and their owners – aristocratic with an abundance of riches and little social responsibility. Many estates are cash-poor and asset-rich, with significant environmental, social and economic responsibilities. They are simply family-run businesses with a unique set of liabilities. Beautiful country houses, farmsteads and acres of farmland are subject to high maintenance costs and disturbing levels of rural crime. Overlooked by stereotyping are the responsibilities of their owners, such as acting as landlords, providing rural employment, stewarding the countryside and preserving our heritage. And copious responsibilities and physical assets require a secure and diverse funding stream. Traditionally, agriculture, directly or indirectly, forms the primary source of income for a rural estate. But we are all aware of current agricultural decline and Brexit uncertainty. So diversification and intensification has to be the answer. This in turn requires an understanding of rural issues and a willingness to address them through the planning system. Tourism is a respectable form of diversification and clearly has public benefit, but it’s not always the most appropriate. There are other forms of diversification

that also have wider benefits – development is often the answer to unlock capital for reinvestment or establish an additional income. This might involve refurbishing buildings for residential or commercial use, renewable energy production, or provision of affordable or low-cost homes or new market housing on the edge of settlements. All can deliver clear environmental, social and economic gains, as well as generating revenue for an estate. Diversification, however, comes with a challenging set of planning issues, especially when the small turns into the medium scale, or involves new-build elements. In defined settlements the principle of development is often a given. This is never a luxury afforded to those proposing development in the countryside or green belt – even agricultural development, whether a worker’s dwelling or farm building, requires a compelling justification. This is not a criticism per se, but a bid to highlight the planning hurdles that are often raised due to a misconception of ‘protecting the countryside. Permitted development rights via national policy are a welcome addition in the fight for diversification and to address other rural planning issues. But we must still rely upon local planning authorities to take a pragmatic approach,

“DEVELOPMENT IS OFTEN THE ANSWER TO UNLOCK CAPITAL FOR REINVESTMENT OR ESTABLISH AN ADDITIONAL INCOME”

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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

Victoria Bankes Price MRTPI is a planning adviser to The Woodland Trust 24 November-2 December is National Tree Week: bit.ly/ planner1118-treeweek

Why the revised NPPF can support the ﬁght to protect ancient habitats

revised National Planning The revi Policy Framework (NPPF) is a big step forward for ancient woodland, veteran trees and other irreplaceable habitats. The old NPPF policy was simply that development must be refused unless the beneﬁts of the development outweigh the loss. It led to hundreds of ancient woodlands being lost each year. Developments as diverse as paintballing centres, campsites and housing estates were all permitted owing to the perceived beneﬁts outweighing the loss of such habitats. Just before the revised NPPF was published the Woodland Trust was aware of 586 ancient woodlands under threat in England. It has been lobbying for the protection of these habitats to be improved since the days of Planning Policy Guidance 9: Nature Conservation (PPG9), published back in 1994. The revised NPPF raises the bar for protection with a new test. Paragraph 175c says: “development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats (such as ancient woodland and ancient or veteran trees) should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons58 and a suitable compensation strategy exists”. ‘Wholly exceptional reasons’ echoes the protection given to the best of our built heritage

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Claire Adie MRTPI is a senior town planner at Planning and Design Group (UK) Limited

Retail policy must keep pace with our changing shopping habits

(as set out in NPPF paragraph 194b) so it is a huge step forward, and already the policy is being interpreted positively. Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council refused an application to erect a detached dwelling and associated works. In doing so, it stated that “the application site falls within… an area of ancient seminatural woodland… there are no wholly exceptional reasons for such loss in this instance. The development is therefore contrary to Section 15 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2018)”. The test now is how footnote 58 is interpreted: “For example, infrastructure projects (including n a t i o n a l ly significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs), orders under the Transport & Works Act and hybrid bills), where the public beneﬁt would clearly outweigh the loss or deterioration of habitat.” The reference to NSIPs and HS2 is clear. But the interpretation of the policy for locally important schemes will be critical. The next few months will be vital for precedent-setting decisions. The trust will monitor its implementation closely as a non-statutory consultee on applications aﬀecting ancient woodlands and will work to empower local planning authorities to ensure that the best precedents are set.

“THE NEXT FEW MONTHS WILL BE VITAL FOR PRECEDENT SETTING DECISIONS”

I have rec recently been involved with several projects p where the clients are seeking s to impart more ﬂexibility into the use of their retail units just to secure tenants. This won’t come as much of a surprise, given the constant news stories about our treasured high street stores closing or retailers having to rapidly change their business models to avoid closure. Retail policy has rightly protected our town centres to create places where people can travel sustainably to shop at their convenience. But the shift to online retail has irrevocably changed the geography of the marketplace from the high street to the settee. When we do explore physical shops, we look for a selection of stores at a mall. I’m not saying the change in shopping habitats is because of retail planning policy but planning policy must keep up with and support the retail changes. This in turn enables retailers to respond to change, as opposed to their options being limited by an archaic approach to protecting town centres. Our fast-paced lives, our need for quick fashion, tech and gadgets and 24-hour access to the internet means trawling round the shops looking for a bargain just isn’t convenient now. In our spare time we have prioritised meeting friends and family to eat, drink and socialise. This is where the ‘new town centre’ can be born – the

‘social hub’. Town centres can adapt and thrive again through a social and community focus. A variety of cafés, bars, leisure and community uses mean an active town centre day and night. And with growing pressures for housing, some poor-performing centres could provide vital housing supported by good sustainable transport links to the main social hubs. This would also alleviate the pressure on greenﬁeld sites. You may not agree that these are the most apt responses, but we cannot ignore the changes happening in the way we shop. We need to consolidate our town centres to ensure they remain a focus for activity and a destination for visitors; but retail policy needs to acknowledge this ‘social’ opportunity and a more concentrated geography. Being protectionist about town centre retail space is clearly not working, with vacant units and sites a familiar sight. Meanwhile, other struggling large-format retailers are being penalised by policy for being outside the town centre, and prevented from adapting and proactively responding to the market owing to the strict sequential test process. Retail policy lags behind our shopping habitats. Failure to adapt will have a detrimental impact on the health of town centres. As planners, we should seek to make these thriving destinations again.

“THE SHIFT TO ONLINE RETAIL HAS IRREVOCABLY SHIFTED THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE MARKETPLACE FROM THE HIGH STREET TO THE SETTEE”

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“IT SHOULD BE ALL OF OUR RESPONSIBILITY AND OBJECTIVE TO DEMONSTRATE THE POSITIVE IMPACT PLANNING CAN HAVE ON PLACES AND PEOPLE”

P H O T O G R A P H Y | M A RT I N H U N T E R

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INTERVIEW: YOUNG PLANNER OF THE YEAR

s Chris Je

A PASSION FOR

PLANNING HEATHER CLARIDGE WAS NAMED THE 201819 YOUNG PLANNER OF THE YEAR FOR THE ‘OUTSTANDING CALIBRE OF HER WORK, STUDIES AND VOLUNTEERING’. SHE TELLS CHRIS JESSON WHY THE WORLD NEEDS INQUISITIVE PLANNERS – AND WHERE TO GO IN GLASGOW Chris Jesson (CJ): Heather, firstly congratulations again on winning the esteemed Young Planner of the Year accolade. If you don’t mind me saying, I have read your CV and it is incredible. How did you first learn about a career in planning? Heather Claridge (HC): “Like many planners I suspect, my interests in urban planning started off with a love of geography, art and design, and modern studies. Through my undergraduate studies in geography, I became really interested in urban regeneration and its impact on improving the quality of life of people. “When it came to thinking about how I combined these interests, I didn’t have to look too far as my dad, Chris Claridge, was a planner for many years. After further study, I was really lucky to get a job with Glasgow City Council, Scotland’s largest local authority, and this has given me great opportunity to do almost all aspects of planning at some stage.” CJ: We’re celebrating ‘planning for the greater good’ at this year’s Young Planners’ Conference. You’ve been part of this in relation to the award-winning Glasgow Stalled Spaces programme, among others. What defined Stalled Spaces to make it a success? HC: “Stalled Spaces was an initiative born out of the growing levels of underused and vacant land within

the city following the economic recession. At the time, there were limited public and private sector resources to meaningfully tackle these sites. There was, however, a strong appetite from community groups and organisations to put them to more imaginative and productive uses. “I worked with a colleague to develop a planning approach and mechanism which would support communities and communities of interest to activate sites temporarily whilst the landowners longterm interests were safeguarded. The initiative far exceeded expectations and was driven by a creative, collaborative and pioneering attitude by all parties involved.” (See Pop-up Glasgow) CJ: How can other planning systems learn from the Scottish example? HC: “You’ll probably be aware that Scotland’s planning system is currently undergoing a review through the planning bill. Some of the aspects coming forward, including strengthening the involvement of communities in the diﬀerent stages of the planning process, I think are very positive. Currently, our system has a strong placemaking focus and I feel this is critical for all planning systems to ensure the high-quality design of places remains core.”

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INTERVIEW: YOUNG PLANNER OF THE YEAR

CJ: The Voices of Experience project that you’ve been involved in sounds absolutely fascinating. From what I understand, it involves intergenerational experiences between women in the built environment. Would you be able to reﬂect on your involvement? HC: “Voices of Experience was a great project to participate in. I got to meet Kirsteen Borland, an architect/planner now in her nineties, who has had an amazing career working on urban plans and strategies throughout Scotland. “It was so insightful getting to discuss with her the challenges and the similarities and diﬀerences between our experiences in planning. Overall, Voices of Experience is led by inspiring women – Jude Barber, Suzanne Ewing and Nicola Mclachlan, who are working in the built environment and also doing an amazing job at championing the role of women, diversity and cross-collaboration within the sector.” * Voices of Experience creates conversations between a highly experienced built environment professional and a young professional in the early years of her career: https://voices-architecture.com CJ: Is it important to continue nurturing professional development and in what ways have you taken this up? HC: “Planners need to remain relevant, inquisitive and eager to develop, whatever career stage they

“PLANNERS NEED TO REMAIN RELEVANT, INQUISITIVE AND EAGER TO DEVELOP, AT WHATEVER CAREER STAGE THEY ARE AT” Easthall natural play

Community art space in the Gorbals

CURRICULUM VITAE

HE ATHE R C L A R I DG E Born: Inverness, 1984 Education: Millburn Academy, MA (Hons) Geography (University of Aberdeen), 2006: MSc Urban and Regional Planning (Heriot-Watt University), 2007; MSc Urban Design (University of Strathclyde), 2018 All employment with Glasgow City Council

2008 Planner, development and regeneration services.

2012 Project manager, land and environmental services. Leading on the Greener Legacy theme for the 2014 Commonwealth Games; Stalled Spaces.

20152018 Senior project oﬃcer, development and

regeneration services. Leading on Glasgow’s planning and regeneration projects with Strategic Place Partnerships.

2018present Principal oﬃcer, development and regeneration services. Managing development of spatial strategy and enhancement projects, including River Clyde Corridor regeneration. Voluntary 2013-17 EU Arch Network participant.

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2015-present Programme promoting learning in natural and cultural heritage between Scotland and other European countries. 2016-present Trustee, The Paradise Steps Group, Raising funding to support the feeding programme at a school in rural Malawi, and welfare projects in Glasgow. Young urbanist, Academy of Urbanism

are at. I’ve been quite resourceful at finding different ways to gain new skills. This has included participating in nature exchanges to learn about different approaches to sustainable development in Slovenia and Bulgaria; undertaking an urban design MSc while working; collaborating with other professionals to learn about new approaches to planning for climate adaption and green and blue infrastructure; participating in alternative forms of education such as the Test Unit week-long urban prototyping school within Glasgow’s Canal Corridor; coordinating Glasgow’s involvement in the Lighting Urban Communities International network and visiting some other cities; and actively participating in networks such as the RTPI and Academy of Urbanism as a Young Urbanist.” CJ: Do you think that the value of planning has changed in recent years? If so, in what way? HC: “I think it has been and remains both a challenging and exciting time to be a planner. The scale, pace and culture required to address both global and local issues as such adapting to climate change, enabling significant housing delivery, supporting inclusive growth, reducing place inequalities and working with a whole I M AG E S | M A RT I N H U N T E R / S H U T T E R S T O C K

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POPUP GLASGOW

Greyfriars comunity garden

Introduced in 2011, Stalled Spaces is a Glasgow City Council programme to support community groups and local organisations across the city develop temporary projects on stalled sites or under utilised open spaces. The programme has helped to deliver more than 160 initiatives, bringing a large number of unused sites around the city into temporary community use. The projects have included: n growing spaces and pop-up gardens; n a pop-up ﬁlm screening in the basement of Glasgow Central station; n a community arts space within an Alexander Thomson building in Gorbals that had been closed for 50 years; n wildlife areas; and n urban gyms or natural play spaces. “In 2015, I worked with Architecture & Design Scotland to support the rollout in Scotland, and one of the key outputs of this was a toolkit to encourage more projects elsewhere,” explains Heather. “Overall, the initiative has generated so many positive outcomes, including providing an opportunity to test out and pilot ideas, helping grow the capacity of community groups – particularly in some of the most socially and economically challenged areas of the city – and, critically, helping attract involvement from members of the community who would otherwise never normally engage with planning.” n www.glasgow.gov.uk/stalledspaces

The Whisky Bond Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery Pollockshields outdoor cinema

Argyle street Barras market

range of others, is significant. At a professional level, it has been really valuable to ensure the skills and role of planners, in shaping places, are viewed as creative and dynamic, just as much as procedural.” CJ: Routes of entry into planning and broadening the profession are both important matters to me, and particularly increasing the role of planning apprenticeships. What would you like to see change in this arena? HC: “I definitely share your views that it’s important to have a range of routes into the profession. I have been an assessor for the RTPI’s APC process for a number of years and with the introduction of the new routes to chartership, assess these, too. “It is great to have a streamlined process which enables people from a diverse professional background to work together and achieve their MRTPI. Following on from this, the planning apprenticeship scheme is really valued and offers that practical route in.” n Chris Jesson MRTPI is an associate town planner with Planning and Design Group, and chair of East Midlands Young Planners. See The Planner website for a longer version of this interview.

Dalmarnock Village

A WHISTLESTOP TOUR CJ: If a planner were to visit the city for a day what would you recommend that they should see? HC: “There are so many interesting places to spend time in for an urban planner, but I would suggest the following taster. In the morning, head eastwards and visit the Barras area, regenerated to support new creative uses and the famous Barras Market. “Continue east towards Dalmarnock Village, a development of 700 new homes built in 700 days to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes – it’s now a great example of a sustainable and green

community. “In the afternoon, head north for Glasgow’s Canal Corridor and check out some of Glasgow’s urban water sports, creative spaces in buildings like the former Whisky Bond and our newest local nature reserve on a brownfield site. “In the evening, visit some of Glasgow’s 25 conservation areas by heading to the West End. Stroll past the iconic Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery and see it beautifully lit up, then finish up on Argyle Street in Finneston, one of Glasgow’s most vibrant streets and an example of incremental and flexible planning.”

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HOUSING

FOREVER

HOMES HOW DO WE ENSURE THAT EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT KIND OF HOUSING FOR THEIR STAGES OF LIFE? CAROLINE RICHARDSON AND JAMES CROSS OFFER THEIR THOUGHTS

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Why are we struggling to deliver high-quality retirement housing? ss

The pressure to provide specialist housing for older people is increasing. But there’s a barrier, as James Cross explains ro Think about your ideal for retirement living. C James For many people it’s one that’s now being matched by the improving proposition from specialist housebuilders: purpose-built retirement apartments that deliver independent living in sustainable locations, with an emphasis on social interaction. Such developments are typically located in the hearts of towns and villages, a ﬂat level walk from nearby services and facilities. They have communal car parking and access to public transport. These sustainable locations allow residents to lead an independent lifestyle, while being able to socialise easily with other residents. In an ideal world residents are able to walk to their favourite restaurant, see their favourite show and visit their local health club, before retiring back to their communal owner’s lounge to chat about their day. Such aspirational retirement housing need no longer be seen as ‘end of ladder living’, but fundamental to oﬀering the right type of housing, for the right people, in the right locations.

What are the barriers to delivering this? In theory they should be very few. There’s no lack of demand: the UK population has changed, with more people at retirement age than ever before. Oﬃce for National Statistics ﬁgures show that around 23 per cent of the population is currently aged over 60 and this will increase to 29 per cent in the next 20 years. I M AG E | I STO C K

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But there is a general shortage of housing supply in the UK and this housing shortage is set to affect the elderly population significantly. Knight Frank estimated in 2016 a requirement for 20-30,000 retirement homes a year – an increase from the current delivery rate of 7,200 units. There are economic benefits in favour of supplying more specialist housing for retirees. By 2039, one in 12 people will be aged 83 and over, resulting in increased healthcare pressure. The quality of specialist housing can help to alleviate this. Yet current housing options available for elderly people are limited. For most people, adapting their existing homes addresses physical struggles; however, it fails to deal with non-physical “BY 2039, 1 problems such as IN 12 PEOPLE loneliness in old age. WILL BE 83 AND The think tank Demos OVER, RESULTING estimated in 2016 that IN INCREASED for every £1 invested in HEALTHCARE retirement housing, PRESSURE. £3 is saved to the public SPECIALIST purse by addressing HOUSING loneliness. CAN HELP TO Delivering retirement ALLEVIATE THIS” housing in sustainable locations relies on redeveloping sites within existing

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HOUSING

The number of people over 50 who it is anticipated will suﬀer from loneliness by 202526, an increase on the 2015-16 estimate of 1.36m2

0.3%

The percentage of UK households that were multifamily in 2017 – an increase on 0.2% in 2007 (the total number of households increased from 25.6m to 27.2m over the same period)1

419,000

The number of three-generation households in the UK in 2013 – an increase from an estimated 325,000 in 20013

10%

Fewer than 10% of over-70s live with adult oﬀspring in the UK; around 2% live in threegeneration households4

40%

Four in 10 older people live with adult oﬀspring in Japan, and 17% live with grandchildren4 1 Oﬃce for National Statistics, Families and Households Statistical Bulletin 2017 2 Age UK 3 Labour Force Survey, ONS 2013 4 The Guardian, 2012

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har

Intergenerational living provides a healthier way of life, says Caroline Richardson My soon-to-be ‘first home’, a studio apartment in the city centre, was previously e Ca rol i n owned by a 92-year-old who had lived in the property from the age of 80. With 57 years between us, our living requirements are proven to be the same; yet the needs of different generations are often considered to be entirely different. As a first-time buyer, finding a home has been particularly pertinent to me. But it’s not just those of us in our younger years that are looking for a place to call home. It’s essential throughout our lifetime. For planners, this presents a significant challenge, to plan for appropriate housing for people at different stages of life. But it’s also an opportunity to look for a different approach to providing homes throughout our lifetime. The romantic idea that a home is for life is not backed up by reality – on average we will live in seven different properties. What and where will these properties be? We have a tendency to pigeonhole: families with 2.4 children live in suburbs; old people live in bungalows; young people live in houses of multiple occupation – so this is what we should be providing. Right? But ways of living change. Our preferences change. Our understanding of what works well “IS THE WAY in changes. Life isn’t static, and the world we THAT WE plan needs to reflect this. We don’t still collect SEGREGATE BY from videos from Blockbuster, do we? AGE SO DEEPLY A recent Channel 4 documentary, Old ROOTED THAT WE People’s Home for 4 Year Olds, filmed an STRUGGLE TO experiment in which pre-schoolers shared CHANGE?” their classroom with pensioners for six weeks. Their aim was to measure the impact of this exchange on health, well-being and happiness. The results were overwhelmingly positive, particularly for the older people, who experienced improvements in physical and mental health. There is further suggestion that a lack of diversity in the way we live is undesirable. In his review of build-out rates, Sir Oliver Letwin concluded that build-out rates on large sites are limited by the homogeneity of product. Demand is low, sales are slow. He called for more variety in product type and tenure to deliver homes – and sales – quicker. Such variation can offer not only economic benefits (to developers) but social ones also, to the people who live there. Variety in type and tenure offers opportunities to break down the assumed

The number of people living alone aged 65 or over (the 65-74 age groups saw an increase of 15% over two decades to 2017)1

Talking ’bout the generations

3.8m

dson

UK HOUSEHOLDS

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HOUSING

diﬀerences that we build for and bring people closer together. Done correctly, in a way that reduces age segregation, we could see more old and young people living next to each other, or even with each other – which is stimulating for both groups. We could start to tackle social isolation and loneliness, a problem throughout life but particularly for older people. We could see increased provision and use of communal facilities that bring people of all ages together. Intergenerational living is normal in much of the world, and is planned for. But it is overlooked in the UK. Is the way we segregate by age so deeply rooted that we struggle to change? Why can’t we give people greater choice by developing a wider range of options? As a resident of the UK and planning professional, I would hate to see our housing market fail to adapt to social change because it doesn’t take risks. Doing things diﬀerently, creating new models, looking elsewhere for examples and giving people more choice – this should be at the heart of our approach to tackling our housing crisis. Reading the bestselling The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living gives an insight into how the Danish create ‘homes’ that give the sense of belonging that we planners often say we aspire to create. Our living environments should be about creating an atmosphere, an experience, a feeling of home that we feel safe in, no matter what our age. Taking inspiration from the Danes, I believe our lifetime of homes should be centred not on a stereotypical house type and location, but how it makes us feel. After all, isn’t that what makes a house a home? n Caroline Richardson MRTPI is a senior planner at DLP Planning and a committee member of East Midlands Young Planners MEHRGENERATIONENHÄUSER

In Germany they have a word for it: Mehrgenerationenhäuser, the ‘multigeneration house’ that brings young and old together in social settings

communities on previously developed land, however. Sustainable sites such as these are also sought by supermarkets, residential developers and student housing providers. This means that retirement schemes are often at a commercial disadvantage at the site acquisition stage. Retirement housing developments require more communal spaces, such as lounges, concierge offices, guest suites, mobility scooter parking and outdoor amenity space. Providing these facilities results in a significant reduction in saleable floor space, with only 70-75 per cent of built floor space being saleable. Inevitably, retirement developers are often behind their competitors when obtaining sites. But there’s a solution.

Policy and viability

“AUTHORITIES

Cast your mind back to 1987. This was the year NEED TO that marked the release of Rick Astley’s hit Never HAVE A MORE Gonna Give You Up; it was the year the Channel ROUNDED VIEW Tunnel was given the go-ahead and IKEA set foot OF THE ROLE on British soil for the first time. THAT HOUSING It was also the year of the last major overhaul DELIVERY PLAYS of the Use Classes Order, since when categories IN ADDRESSING of development have not kept pace with societal WIDER HOUSING challenges. The 1987 order still categorises AND HEALTHCARE retirement housing within the C3 use; a use that CHALLENGES” triggers affordable housing contributions/CIL costs under many local planning policies. But retirement housing is different from traditional C3 housing, given its higher proportion of communal areas, specialist features such as 24hour care line systems and resident concierges, which have cost implications. Sites that deliver retirement housing in sustainable locations feature numerous issues and vary considerably within individual authorities. Applying the same costs in a viability model to open market apartments and retirement specific schemes is problematic, given the reduced saleable floor space featured in the latter. Ultimately, this puts specialist developers on the back foot, affecting delivery. Most care home developments (Use Class C2) are exempt from affordable housing/CIL, given public cost savings and public health benefits. Following an inquiry reviewing older people’s housing last year, a Communities and Local Government Select Committee report supported a similar approach for retirement housing. We have seen some local planning authorities do this, but it’s a rarity. Authorities need to have a more rounded view of the role that housing delivery plays in addressing housing and healthcare challenges, by tailoring their local planning policy and viability evidence to reflect the specialist nature of retirement housing. Doing so would have a beneficial impact on increasing provision in a time of identified need while also providing cost savings to the public purse. At present few local planning authorities monitor delivery rates of this specific housing tenure, although recent national planning policy guidance encourages them to do so in the future. The specialities of retirement housing and impediments to its delivery need to be fully acknowledged by local authorities when preparing emerging plans and assessing retirement housing developments. Forthcoming government guidance on older people’s housing has the opportunity to influence local authority policy and guidance on these issues and provide further encouragement for the sector. n James Cross MRTPI is a planner at Renaissance Retirement

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TRANSPORT PLANNING

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EAST MIDS, CONNECTED NOTTINGHAM, LOCATION FOR THIS YEAR’S YOUNG PLANNERS’ CONFERENCE, IS SEEING SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE TO ITS CITY CENTRE TRANSPORT NETWORK. BUT IT’S JUST ONE PART OF A BIGGER PICTURE IN WHICH TRANSPORT IS UNDERPINNING NEW INFRASTRUCTURE AND DRIVING REGIONAL GROWTH, FINDS DAVID HUTCHINSON better connections with London, but was For years the UK hasn’t effectively delivered about better connectivity between our the infrastructure needed to drive the regional centres. economy forward. We have a rail network From afar, things might look a little dreary bursting at its seams, reliant on infrastructure – but that couldn’t be further from the truth. that has seldom been upgraded since the Locally, politicians, planners and developers Victorians constructed it. We also have a road have worked hard to drive things in the right network where improvements are for the direction. most part reactive rather than proactive. Nottingham – the location for this year’s For years it has felt as though new Young Planners’ Conference – has recently infrastructure projects have been focused on seen the completion of a major either improving London for its own sake or redevelopment project for the station to create better connecting the rest of the country with its first ‘integrated transport hub’. The station London. After all, London is all that matters, now forms an interchange right? between the local tram network That being said, as recently as and the national rail network, with 2017 we have seen the “HS2 LTD HAS the central tram station sitting government’s plans for the INDICATED directly above the rail platforms electrification of the Midland THAT THE EAST for seamless connections for Mainline Railway scrapped. MIDLANDS HUB commuters. Original plans included WILL BE THE This fantastic new facility didn’t electrifying the lines from MOST CONNECTED happen by accident, nor did it London St Pancras to Sheffield STATION ON THE happen overnight. The project was via Leicester, Derby and HIGHSPEED Nottingham, which would NETWORK OUTSIDE conceived in 1998, with the first increase capacity and reduce OF LONDON WITH 14-kilometre line opening in 2004. journey times. 14 HS2 SERVICES In 2015 phase 2 opened, which increased the network to 32km, This project was not just about AN HOUR” 24

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connecting the city north to south and west to east. More phases are now planned as the network seeks to grow further. The network has proved to be a great success with an increase in the use of public transport and a slowdown in the increase of car movements within the city.

LEICESTER

Core strategy From a planning perspective, a lot of the success has been down to collaboration between the local authorities that make up the wider urban area of Nottingham. This was underpinned by the decision in 2011 to prepare an aligned core strategy for Nottingham that would set out the strategic policies for growth up to 2028 for Gedling, Broxtowe and Nottingham City. By taking a citywide approach to the spatial strategy, the plan was able to devise and deliver a comprehensive and integrated infrastructure delivery plan to serve the development needs of the city. The tram network sits at the heart of the infrastructure delivery plan for the core strategy and has inﬂuenced many of the new development sites in Nottingham.

New housing and employment sites have been created along the tramline, and access to existing key employment sites has been at the centre of planned routes. The tramline provides a direct connection to the largest employers in the city, such as the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham Trent University, and the University of Nottingham. It has also been used as a fulcrum for new housing growth, with one of the city’s largest urban extensions being located with the southern terminus at its centre. In addition, there are a number of strategically placed park-and-ride sites within the network and NO VEMB E R 2 0 18 / THE PLA NNER

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TRANSPORT PLANNING

discussions are well advanced to expand the line to connect it with East Midlands Airport and the proposed HS2 station at Toton. Toton, situated between Nottingham and Derby, has become a focal point for planning policy in the East Midlands to ensure that we maximise the beneﬁts of having a HS2 station in the region. In September 2017 East Midlands Councils published an ambitious growth strategy for the station and surrounding area. Yet again, a collaborative approach to planning is at the heart of strategic policies with all immediately aﬀected local authorities represented in the preparation of this strategy. One aspect of this strategy is focused on connectivity, with recognition that the accessibility of the station to the wider transport network is vital to its success. This strategy is not only addressing local connectivity, but connectivity at a national, regional and sub-regional level through a comprehensive overhaul of road, rail, bus, cycle and tram routes. HS2 Ltd has indicated that the East Midlands Hub will be the most connected

“FOR YEARS IT HAS FELT AS THOUGH NEW INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS HAVE BEEN FOCUSED ON EITHER IMPROVING LONDON FOR ITS OWN SAKE OR BETTER CONNECTING THE REST OF THE COUNTRY WITH LONDON”

station on the high-speed network outside of London with 14 HS2 services an hour. The growth strategy proposes a number of additional services, including compatibility with an electrified Midland Main Line service connecting Leicester with Manchester/Leeds. It is also proposed that a disused freight line be adapted to link Mansfield and Ashfield with the hub for better regional connectivity. The idea is that the station at Toton will become a central transportation hub for the region, with arterial routes opening up new locations for employment sites and garden villages. The plan isn’t dissimilar to Nottingham’s new station, with the intention of having the tram hub sat immediately above the station platform to provide seamless connectivity to local services.

Employment options The growth strategy indicates an extension to the existing tram network in Nottingham out to HS2 and then through to the centre of Derby via a number of key employment sites. This would not only provide better connectivity to the HS2 station, but would also

East Midlands connectivity The East Midlands, comprising Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland, is extremely well located for connections to the rest of the UK (and beyond). It already has strong north-south road and rail links; but it is also home to one of the UK’s busiest and best connected rail freight interchanges. It is a critical node in the movement of goods. Here are the essentials:

> Midland Main Line railway. Runs north-south along the spine of England, from Sheﬃeld via Chesterﬁeld, Derby/ Nottingham, Leicester and Kettering to London

> East Midlands Airport. Situated in the Nottingham/Derby/ Leicester triangle and well connected to all three. The UK’s second busiest airport for freight.

HS2 > HS2 hub, Toton.

> M1 motorway. Bisects the region from north to south, skirting Mansﬁeld, Nottingham, Leicester and Northampton. Currently being upgraded between Derby and Nottingham. 26

Proposed HS2 station that will serve 14 HS2 services each day, as well as regular rail services. There’s talk of extended tram connections to Nottingham and even Derby, improved roads and local rail connections, up to 500 homes and an ‘innovation’ campus on the station’s doorstep.

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provide better local connectivity between key sites and communities on the network. The tram also offers an opportunity for parkand-ride provision, with two locations proposed at the A52 junction serving Nottingham and adjacent to the M1 serving Derby and traffic from the north and southbound directions on the M1. The strategy proposes improved road links, too, not least because roads connecting Nottingham with Derby are already well over capacity, creating long delays for commuters. A case is being made to Highways England on the back of this proposal for funding for a major overhaul of junctions and the creation of a new grade separated junction specifically for the HS2 station. Transport infrastructure sits at the heart of planning in the East Midlands. The collaborative approach adopted by local authorities in the region has ensured that local people can rely on the integrated network we now have to connect them quickly and effectively to the best services the region has to offer. The approach of having central hubs in

Nottingham and now at the HS2 station in Toton ensures that as many people as possible can beneﬁt from regional and national connectivity. Planning new employment sites with infrastructure at the heart of the developments will make sure that new communities and businesses can beneﬁt from the same level of accessibility.

“THE STRATEGY PROPOSES IMPROVED ROAD LINKS, TOO, NOT LEAST BECAUSE ROADS CONNECTING NOTTINGHAM WITH DERBY ARE ALREADY WELL OVER CAPACITY”

“It’s great to see the East Midlands has been revitalising its transport options over the past few years to help unlock the incredible economic potential in the region,” says Joanna Ward, senior principal transport planner at The Waterman Group and board member of the Transport Planning Society. “We are now moving towards a situation where every journey is catered for by an appropriate mode of transport, whilst maintaining the region’s position at the heart of the UK’s commercial distribution network. With continued investment and forward-thinking planning approach, the future looks bright for the area.”

> East Midlands Gateway Freight Interchange. Next to East Midlands airport, a major logistical hub for businesses moving freight around the UK, and to and from overseas. Connects directly to the Castle Donington freight line, with direct access to the UK’s network of strategic rail freight interchanges (including the proposed Northampton Gateway Rail Freight Interchange) and major UK ports. I M AG E S | A L A M Y / S H U T T E RSTO C K / I STO C K

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n David Hutchinson MRTPI is a senior planner with Boyer in Nottingham and a committee member of East Midlands Young Planners

STEPPING THROUGH NOTTINGHAM’S SOUTHERN GATEWAY

The development of Nottingham station is part of a wider regeneration of the south side of the city centre. Known as the ‘southern gateway’, this includes the soonto-be-redeveloped Broadmarsh Shopping Centre and a number of former industrial sites. One of the main objectives for the wider site is to provide better connectivity between the station and the market centre of the city. This connectivity is not restricted to buses, trams and cars; it’s also about encouraging more walking into and around the city centre – which means pedestrianisation and rerouting of central vehicular routes. Two of the major roads on the south side of the city have been pedestrianised, with vehicles being pushed farther out. The station car park and drop-off area has been redeveloped to restrict one of the main roads to buses and taxis only. This infrastructure project has been an enormous undertaking for the city and the disruption has increased traffic in the short term. However, once complete, the station and the surrounding area will form a flagship development site at the gateway to the city where commuters are able to benefit from better pedestrian connectivity to and from the central transportation hub.

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P29 TECH P32 CAREERS P34 REGIONAL P38 DECISIONS P42 LEGAL

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IS A ROBOT GOING TO TAKE MY JOB?

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL ELIMINATE HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF JOBS, WE’RE TOLD. ALISON BRODERICK WONDERS WHETHER PLANNERS SHOULD BE WORRIED It is widely accepted that the future landscape of work and employment will look very diﬀerent from the one we know now. Disruptive technologies, such as artiﬁcial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and blockchain are already changing the nature of the way we work. Machines are ever more able to carrying out work currently done by humans, work alongside us – and go beyond human capabilities.

How would this aﬀect planning? In 2015, the BBC created an interactive online app that calculated the risk of professions being replaced by automation. For town planners, the risk

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

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was low – just 13 per cent. However, nothing is that simple. The calculation is based on the degree of automation relative to other professions, and the complex nature of planning work means there are clearly areas where increased automation poses a greater threat. That is not to say, however, that planning is immune. There are always opportunities for improving eﬃciency, and as Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google put it in 2016, “in the next 10 years we will shift to a world that is AI-ﬁrst.” AI is not only cheaper and more productive than a human workforce, it can work around the clock and work

more quickly. It is also quick to learn and can increasingly teach itself without human input. AI takes traditional automated eﬃciencies and adds further eﬃciencies in terms of thinking and decision-making. Additionally, many people are already comfortable with the technology underpinning AI and use it daily. Virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Samsung’s Bixby, Amazon’s Alexa and others already play music, dictate reminders or search for information. Extending this assistance into the workplace is an obvious next step. In planning we work in complex situations that require management and understanding of people and landscapes, elements that are not easily put into

“ENGAGEMENT WITH THESE TOOLS WILL ENHANCE OUR JOBS RATHER THAN REPLACE THEM”

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TTech { L A N D S C A P E 6 WAYS IN WHICH AI CAN INFLUENCE PLANNING

n Check and validate planning applications against clear criteria. Milton Keynes Council is looking to introduce AI to carry out the validation aspect of planning applications this year to free up capacity and resource. The team also plans to use AI to assess householder and permitted development applications. n Assess and rank sites put forward under a call for sites. n Combine ‘big’ data with mapping to shed light on the relationship between urban form and social outcomes and to support better delivery of services. n Intelligent mapping that can ‘learn’ urban

networks to identify the best locations for diﬀerent kinds of amenities / community infrastructure. n Analyse and map sentiment on social media or in online engagement exercises. n Augmented and virtual reality to support public engagement by ‘immersing’ people and learning from how they explore the virtual space.

an algorithm. But there are certainly opportunities for elements of planning to be carried out by machine. Disruptive technologies such as blockchain offer the opportunity to share vast quantities of information quickly and securely. Rather than sending emails or submitting information on memory sticks, documents and applications can be shared efficiently with the data processing ‘middleman’ eliminated. Currently, this requires human input to manage, but AI could quickly learn and facilitate this system. Planning work also requires an amount of administration that offers an opportunity for improved efficiency with technology. For example, AI could be used to review and validate planning applications; it is already feasible that a program could check the application against validation requirements. The introduction of an AI capability that can learn what is required for different sites - and how to interpret what has been submitted - is not a great leap from this. Planning nevertheless also requires a degree of creative thinking and interpretation. Surely these elements of the job are safe from technological encroachment? It isn’t that simple; AI learns from its mistakes and from information it has previously seen, teaching itself the most logical and efficient paths to an end goal. AI can also be used to model

behaviours. For example, based on a site plan it could plot the most eﬃcient routes around a development, or propose location of green space to make most eﬃcient use of the site. AI could assess sites put forward under a call for sites and rank them, and then later develop a masterplan based on the information available for the site.

Of course, there are many more. A good place to start discovering how AI is beginning to be absorbed into planning is via the Future City Catapult’s Future of Planning work: bit.ly/planner1118-ai

Liberation from process? However, this is not the sounding of the

AI FACTS

15% Currently only 15% of enterprises use AI today, but 31% are expected to take it up during the next year (Source: Adobe)

38% About 38% of consumers believe AI will improve customer service (Source: Pega)

40% The impact of AI tech is projected to increase productivity by up to 40% (Source: Accenture)

death knell for planners. Technological advancements are coming, but if properly embraced there is an opportunity for planners to work more creatively and focus on the parts of the job humans are really good at. To some extent this is already happening. The Future Cities Catapult – an initiative to help develop innovative products and services to meet the changing needs of cities – is already working with central government to lay the foundations for a data-driven and digitally enabled planning system. They have identiﬁed improved mapping technologies, big data and better public engagement tools as available apps and programmes that can advance the planning profession. Not only is better information more widely available, open source data and information can improve public engagement, democratising the planning process and resulting in better information and better decisions. Engagement with these tools will enhance our jobs rather than replace them. So while planning may not become fully automated any time soon, there are opportunities for increased eﬃciency and support to planners working across the industry through improved processes and understanding. The ‘human’ side of planning – interpretation, engagement and understanding nuances – will still be needed, but there are opportunities to delegate some functions to robotic colleagues. Handing parts of our work over to technology frees time for better human interaction and thought throughout the planning process, and gives us the opportunity to work more strategically. Understanding the technology available, both now and in the future, and how this could be applied to the many facets of the planning, is critical to ensure that the profession remains future-proof. So while robots may not be taking over our jobs any time soon, they can certainly aid and support them. n Alison Broderick MRTPI is a senior planner at Savills

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ADVERTISER CONTENT

How digital innovation is transforming the planning process and supporting future cities Alex Cousins, business development director at Capita, explores how digital innovation and technology is transforming the planning process and supporting future cities.

hile digital technologies have transformed the way that people live, work and play, built environment professionals are still reliant on 19th century governance and 20th century tools to tackle our 21st century urban problems. This was the point made by Nicola Yates, CEO of Future Cities, at a recent #CityX 2018 conference. I attended the first day of this conference, which focused on ‘the adaptable city’ to find out more about their #plantech catapult. It was great to see all the exciting developments created by the tech community and discover how local authorities such as Gateshead Council, the London Borough of Southwark and Milton Keynes Council are also developing digital innovations in their planning functions. It was clear that there is a great opportunity to transform the planning process and what stood out is how public trust and customer experience are at the heart of this transformation. We couldn’t agree more. Capita delivers planning services to more than 100 local authorities across the UK and we are excited by the opportunities to drive innovation and enable our clients to deliver growth in their place. Our aim is to delight our customers and we recognise that we need to invest to ensure that we do this. Investment is happening and a key focus of that investment is creating data and digitally driven services. We have already made significant progress and have started our very own #plantech project, which explores the world of digital planning, and researches and tests the journey of introducing bots, drones, satellites and other

digital innovations into the planning process. Through our investment we are able to bring our model to the ‘mass’ market so that councils can immediately benefit and co-create without having to make the investment themselves. We are investing so our clients don’t have to! We have tested out the use of bots that will help to remove the time-consuming planning tasks away from our planners, releasing them to focus their expertise and skills on major planning schemes, deliver outcomes from their local plans and work on spatial plan visions. The bots will complete certain aspects of the planning application process that can be automated and identify rich data and insight to inform planning policy. The idea behind this is to target the high-volume, time-hungry and low-income aspects of the service that take up a large amount of time and resource

To find out more, you can contact Alex at

but add little value to achieving strategic planning outcomes. We are co-designing this project with our customers across Greater Manchester, a place renowned for ambition, which has set a goal to be a world-leading digital city region. So, where else to do this in Greater Manchester but MediaCityUK in Salford Quays, an international hub for technology, innovation and creativity? At The Landing in MediaCityUK, we are extremely blessed to have access to local tech start-up businesses to help drive the innovation we seek. The University of Salford is also located here, with access to its data scientists to help us unlock the data from the thousands of documents and policies that drive the planning service. Our ultimate aim is to enable city regions to be self-suﬃcient in the planning process and empowering them to attract investment. In doing so, we will support local wealth creation by working with their existing local assets and people.

About Alex Cousins, business development director at Capita Alex is a passionate public servant who has worked across the public and private sector for over 30 years. She has led digitally focused transformation programmes and is at the forefront of Capita’s Northern Powerhouse strategy, which focuses on physical, digital and social infrastructure to create good growth and enable public sector reform.

alex.cousins@capita.co.uk

www.capita.com/localpublicservices

localpublicservices@capita.co.uk

Capita_LPS

Capita Local Public Services

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Career { Melissa

HOW DO WE ATTRACT YOUNG PEOPLE INTO PLANNING?

We often hear that planning has an image problem and this may prevent students from finding out about careers in the profession. Melissa Balk considers what can be done to make planning a more attractive career choice for young people It has happened to all of us. Whether it’s sitting down at the hairdressers’ or at a party, the inevitable question ensues: “So what do you do for a living?” We know that when we answer with “I’m a town planner” all that we often hear in reply is, “Oh, right”, followed by silence. It is clear that there is not enough awareness of what planning actually is among the general public for each new generation of planners to materialise in sufficient numbers and breadth of backgrounds. How can we expect young people to know what planning is when their parents often have limited knowledge or interest in the urban and rural world? Figures from the RTPI confirm that the number of planning graduates from RTPI-accredited planning schools worldwide plummeted from 2,020 in 2011 to just 1,070 in 2013. That number has since climbed back up to 1,600 in 2017. But we know anecdotally that employers are struggling to recruit perhaps because of several years of shortfall in the number of graduates. Raising awareness of planning We need many more students coming through planning schools and into the profession if we are to have enough qualified, skilled planners at a time when nations needs us most. How do we achieve this?

The RTPI currently runs excellent schemes to promote the profession to a wider audience. These include the RTPI Future Planners initiatives comprising of RTPI ambassadors, World Town Planning Day Schools Competition; bursaries; resources for school lessons; and Agent Plan-It, aimed at younger children. But in July this year the Institute for Apprenticeships (IFA) decided to reject an appeal against its earlier decision not to approve a Level 7 Chartered Town planner Apprenticeship. This degree apprenticeship had been sought by the Chartered Town Planner Apprenticeship Trailblazer Employer Group, convened by the RTPI. Victoria Hills MRTPI, the RTPI chief executive, responded by saying: “At this particular time, when the need

for professional competencies and standards in the built environment professions has never been higher, we will continue to make the case for apprenticeship routes to align closely with professional qualiﬁcations honed and delivered by chartered bodies over many years.” All of these schemes need continued promotion to trigger the urban spark in our future planners. Suzi Green, a planner at Bidwells, who recently visited a local school to promote the planning profession, says: “It is

6 WAYS TO ATTRACT MORE YOUNG PEOPLE INTO PLANNING. n Continue to build upon the RTPI Future Planners Initiatives. bit.ly/planner1118-outreach

n Invest in VR technologies and make these available in apps and online – let 2D site layout plans become a virtual reality.

n Keep pushing for the Level 7 Chartered Town Planner Apprentice Standard.

n Encourage a colleague to be a local planning ambassador to visit schools and colleges – or become one yourself.

n Introduce a speciﬁc urban planning module into each year of the geography curriculum from age ﬁve onwards. This will require support from national government.

n Team up with Lego and hold nationwide ‘Lego Town’ days. Although this might be quite aspirational, events like this are needed to show how interesting the urban world can be.

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Make Planner Jobs your ﬁrst port of call for town planning jobs, careers advice and the latest people news from across the sector. Visit jobs.theplanner.co.uk

planning is a good career, I feel it comes down to genuinely having a job where you are making an important contribution to society. Planning literally aﬀects our daily lives, even if most won’t be aware of it, so it’s good to be in a career that is inherently contributing to the greater good. Planners can feel proud.” Both Suzi’s and Jenny’s comments highlight that once young people are introduced to planning, they will realise the wide base of knowledge and skill set that is needed in the urban world. The fact that the planning world directly shapes the world we live in – and the realisation that each every one of us plays a role in doing this – is something to shout about from the rooftops.

“THE PROPERTY INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE NEEDS TO RAISE ITS PROFILE AMONGST YOUNGER PEOPLE”

beyond doubt that the property industry as a whole, as well as the planning sector, needs to raise its proﬁle amongst younger people who are about to enter further education or the world of work.” She continued: “I recently had the opportunity to go into a local secondary school to talk with Year 10 students about my career as a town planner and the skills which are involved in my job. “It was clear from talking to these young adults that they had never really considered planning as a profession before and that most of them were not aware of the opportunities out there beyond the traditional routes such as teaching, the law and engineering. The students were really interested in the nature of my work.” Why? Jenny Adams, senior planner at Arup, observes: “At the crux of why I M AG E | S H U T T E RSTO C K

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Tools for engagement It is vital that in engaging young people in the planning profession we do so in a way that attracts a much more diverse cohort of young people coming into the profession, both ethnically and socioeconomically. The earlier that planning can be introduced to the school curriculum (perhaps as a module within geography) and further education (through apprenticeships and A-levels), the wider the range of socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds that will be attracted to the profession. The use of E-Planning in promoting the profession can also be better used to attract young people. The digital world has grown exponentially over the past 20 years and this will only continue. It allows us to carry out true public engagement beyond an online form hidden in the depths of a council website. A simple Twitter poll can be used to collate views, but many of the new platforms being developed are extremely sophisticated at gathering, analysing and interpreting opinion. Some digital engagement is aimed speciﬁcally at young people – Blockbuilders, for example, uses Minecraft to bring young people into consultations on new development. How about pairing up with other well-

NEW PLANNERS IN FIGURES

1,600 The number of graduates from RTPI-accredited planning degree courses worldwide in 2017, an increase of 21% on 2016

4,138 The number of students registered on accredited planning degree courses worldwide in 2017/2018, an increase of 8% on 2016/17

6.7% The increase in students on accredited planning courses in the UK and Ireland only in 2017/18 (1,500) compared with 2016/17

50% The worldwide increase in the number of students on accredited courses in 2017/18 compared with 2016/17

known brands to create events for kids and young adults – a partnership with Lego, for example, to hold huge build days for kids where they construct their favourite building or place? Or what about using VR technologies in creative ways to bring young people into the process of designing new places? The possibilities really are endless and the tools are available; but reaching out and engaging young people with planning needs the support of the whole profession. We – planners – need to do more to share our excitement about places.. n Melissa Balk MRTPI is a senior planner with Bidwells and a commitee member of East Midlands Young Planners

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Nations & Regions focus { In the driving seat The East Midlands is an area of great contrasts and diversity, stretching from the Lincolnshire coast to the Peak District National Park, and from the rolling landscapes of Northamptonshire to the conurbations of Leicester, Nottingham and Derby. It is one of the more relatively undeveloped regions in the country – more than 85 per cent of the area is rural – but it has experienced strong growth in recent years, with increasing housing pressures around the urban centres. The region is a driver for the UK economy, boasting strong manufacturing and technological industries. It is well connected to the North and South by the M1/A1 and the Midland and East Coast Mainlines, with train journey times into King’s Cross-St Pancras of well under two hours from key mainline stations. The M1 is now being upgraded in the NottinghamDerby area, following similar upgrades on the AlfretonChesterfield sections. East-west transport links across the region are much less strong, however. The A14 is the most developed route, with a new junction at the M1/ M6 interchange. Poor rail connectivity to West Midlands remains a big problem. Looking ahead, HS2 will serve the region, with significant developments at Toton near Nottingham, and Staveley near Chesterfield. Toton will be the site of a new Network Rail/HS2 Hub Station (the best-connected HS2 station outside of London), with the potential for a mixed-use ‘Innovation Campus’ generating 11,000 jobs. The communities have a strong identity and a real sense of place. With a strong housing market and significant developments taking place or planned in many parts of the region, the East Midlands is looking forward to a thriving future.

FACTFILE 2018 2018 2018

Counties: Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Rutland Area: 6,034 square miles Population: 4.77 million Major population centres: Leicester (city council area) 443,760 Nottingham (city council area) 289,301 Derby (city council area) 255,394 Northampton 212,100 Lincoln 130,200 Chesterfield 70,260 Parliamentary constituencies: 46 (31 Conservative, 15 Labour) Planning authorities: 47 – 39 district councils, 6 county councils, 1 national park (Peak District), 1 joint planning unit (North Northants) Important economic sectors: Construction £5.9 billion GVA 60,000 jobs; Food and drink manufacturing £3.6 billion GVA 57,000 jobs; Transport equipment manufacturing £2.4 billion GVA 26,000 jobs Significant infrastructure: M1 motorway; Midland Main Line; East Midlands Airport and East Midlands Gateway Freight Interchange; Ratcliffe Power Station; North Sea Race Bank Wind Farm

IN THE PIPELINE

1. Ashton Green, Leicester The second phase on an £85 million sustainable urban extension in Leicester has been submitted as a reserved matters application for 307 private and aﬀordable homes. The design features character areas referencing Leicester’s heritage. bit.ly/planner1118-ashton

2. Nottingham Skills Hub, Nottingham City Centre Work started on the £60 million, 15,500 square metre Nottingham City Hub this summer for occupation

by students in September 2020. The city centre site will contain teaching accommodation with ancillary oﬃces and will be the ﬂagship of the new Nottingham College. bit.ly/planner1118-nottshub 1

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3. Remodelling Derby Station A £200m investment to reconﬁgure both track and signalling in the Derby station area and deliver a more eﬃcient layout with a 320-metre through platform. Two new lifts are being provided bit.ly/planner1118-derby

LANDMARK PLANNING

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The East Midlands PLANWATCH

There is now close to full plan coverage in the East Midlands region, with some long-standing plans progressing to adoption in the past two years, and a small number of plans yet to be adopted. High levels of housing pressure are evident in the most recently adopted local plans, with ‘hotspots’ around the fringes of major cities and towns, particularly where urban authority boundaries are tightly drawn. This has required planning authorities around Nottingham, Leicester and Derby to work together to meet the market needs and develop new thinking on strategic development. However, there have also been significant challenges in more rural areas, such as the Derbyshire Dales, where housing targets in a high-quality and constrained environment have required some difficult decisions on housing allocations. Significant plans include the Greater Nottingham Aligned Core Strategies, the Leicester and Leicestershire Strategic Growth Plan and the masterplan for Chesterfield Waterside. SIGNIFICANT PLANS

1. Greater Nottingham Aligned Core Strategies

2. Leicester and Leicestershire Strategic Growth Plan

Broxtowe, Erewash Borough, Gedling, Rushcliﬀe and Nottingham councils collaborated on the Greater Nottingham Aligned Core Strategies, adopted in 2014. These provide a consistent strategic planning policy framework for the entire conurbation. Good progress is also being made on part two local plans in the area.

The plan, published on 2 October was prepared in partnership by the city council, county council, seven boroughs and districts, and the local economic partnership to help plan and shape the area up to 2050. It is a non-statutory plan, but it provides an agreed framework for authorities to use when preparing local plans and other strategies.

3. Chesterfield Waterside, Derbyshire Chesterfield Waterside is a major mixeduse regeneration scheme proposed for a 16-hectare canalside site next to the A61, close to Chesterfield town centre and railway station. The project has outline planning permission for about 1,500 homes, 30,000 square metres of office, business and industrial space, shops, restaurants and leisure uses around a new canal basin and stretch of canal.

RECENT SUCCESSES

1. Allen Road, Rushden, Northamptonshire This comprises 46 aﬀordable homes in a scheme designed to regenerate a former shoe factory, restoring façades of derelict listed buildings while using sustainable building techniques to create modern homes. Allen Road is a 2018 Inside Housing Development Award ﬁnalist.

countryside on the 146ha Stanford Hall Estate, which will serve military staﬀ recovering from injuries or living with long-term conditions across two state-of the-art rehabilitation facilities. bit.ly/planner1118-DNRC

2. Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC), Stanford on Soar, Nottinghamshire

The Peak District National Park Authority won the 2018 RTPI Award for Excellence in Planning for Heritage and Culture category for its Stanton Moor Principles. These have protected the area from quarrying for nearly 20 years.

A 57,500 sq m development in

bit.ly/planner1118-stanton

bit.ly/planner1118-rushden

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3. Stanton Moor, Derbyshire

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The East Midlands INSIGHT: GROWING LEICESTER

Sir Peter Soulsby is the Mayor of Leicester. He spoke to The Planner about the new Leicester and Leicestershire Strategic Growth Plan (see page 34) “We need homes and employment land. We’ll ﬁnd some within brownﬁeld but a high proportion will be beyond the administrative boundary of Leicester city council. But it’s not just across administrative boundaries, it’s also across political boundaries. There’s a recognition by county and districts that if we don’t work together we will have unplanned development in some of our wonderful country villages and on the edge of towns. We need to work together to ensure that we get something that’s orderly and planned, and we can get the infrastructure in place. I want to make sure that we have allocated growth in a way that integrates into the urban area and preserves the country that surrounds us, and particularly provides transportation that gets away from a reliance on private cars. Leicester is very fortunate in terms of its location, nationally, regionally and locally. Road connections across the

region are very important. We have the M1 and M69, the A5 and the A46 [linking Leicester with the port of Grimsby]. But there’s an opportunity to provide a national-level strategic road link, the ‘seatbelt’ of Britain, south and east of the city. This would take pressure oﬀ the M1, provide a strategic link beyond the A46 and open up housing development to the east. The economy has a broad base. Many traditional industries have declined and others have moved in to take their place. But many have also been revitalised by people who

have brought entrepreneurial skills to the city. Leicester is probably the most diverse city in Europe. New communities have brought with them a renewed commitment to being in the city, particularly the inner city. Their commitment to owner occupation drove the regeneration of our terraced housing in the city in the 1970s and 1980s. Leicester now has one of the highest levels of retained terraced housing of any city. It means that we don’t have some the bleak late-20th century housing that many other places get.”

SIGNPOSTS n Regional chair: John Scott, Peak District National Park Authority n Regional web address: www.rtpi.org.uk/the-rtpi-near-you/rtpi-east-midlands/ n Events: The RTPI East Midlands events programme will be published in January 2019: www.rtpi.org.uk/events/events-calendar/ n Annual review: www.rtpi.org.uk/media/2671203/annual_review_2017_website.pdf https://www.rtpi.org.uk/the-rtpi-near-you/rtpi-east-midlands/young-planners-in-the-east-midlands/ n East Midlands Young Planners: www.rtpi.org.uk/the-rtpi-near-you/rtpi-east-midlands/young-planners-in-the-east-midlands/ n Email address: eastmidlands@rtpi.org.uk n Twitter: NEXT MONTH: @eastmidsRTPI

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I M A G E | O P E N S T R E E T M A P. O R G

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Meet the young planners

We’d also like to thank our photographer, Jon Enoch, for his excellent portraits. You can see more of Jon’s work at www.jonenoch.com

Our annual young planners issue is a collaboration with RTPI young planners, who help us plan and write the magazine. This issue was supported by East Midlands Young Planners, who are hosting this year’s Young Planners’ Conference in Nottingham on 2 and 3 November. We’d like to thank them for their hard work and wish them a successful conference. Find out more: bit.ly/planner1118-eastmids

Ian Long

Charlotte Lockwood

Planner at DLP Planning

Associate specialising in planning at Roythornes Solicitors

Jenny Keen MRTPI Principal planner at Marrons Planning

David Hutchinson MRTPI Senior planner at Boyer

Scott O’Dell MRTPI

Melissa Balk MRTPI

Andrew Johnson

Associate planner at Fisher German LLP

Senior planner at Bidwells

Senior planner (policy and development), Erewash Borough Council

Chris Jesson MRTPI

Jenny Salt MRTPI

Associate town planner at Planning and Design Group

Associate at Fisher German LLP

Caroline Richardson MRTPI Senior planner at DLP Planning

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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

Whiteley Village expansion blocked despite ‘urgent need’ EXPERT ANALYSIS

An inspector has rejected plans for 60 new almshouses and a 40-unit care home at an Edwardian retirement village in Surrey, despite the “urgent and growing” need for accommodation for the elderly. The appeal concerned Whiteley Village, a planned retirement village in Elmbridge designed and built in the Arts and Crafts style in the early 20th century. The village, which covers 225 acres, is a designated conservation area, and many of its buildings are listed. It is the largest single grouping of almshouses in the UK, housing 500 elderly people. The trust sought permission to expand the village in two parts. Part A would see 60 new almshouses built just outside the original village core; part B proposed a 40unit extra care home under use class C2, on the periphery of the village. The appellant indicated that the proceeds from the care home units, which would be sold at market rates but restricted to those in need of care and beyond a deﬁned age threshold, would be used to fund the building of the new almshouses. The village is washed over by the Metropolitan Green Belt. Considering the scheme under the “limited village inﬁlling” exemption to the ban on green belt development included in the NPPF, inspector John Felgate noted that developments of 40 and 60 units in size

Heather Kerswell, independent adviser to the Whiteley Village Trust ( “The inspector noted that both sites had previous planning consents, that most of one site is derelict coal bunkers, that the sites were earmarked for growth in the Conservation Area Plan, that the need was great, the proposed provision specialist, the trust remarkable, indeed exemplary, and the designs attractive and part of the historic plan. ( “All this was trumped by the removal of some trees (to be replaced by over 300 more) and the use of open space in the green belt for building, even within a village settlement in a area far from meeting its housing targets.

LOCATION: Whiteley Village AUTHORITY: Elmbridge Borough Council

INSPECTOR: John Felgate PROCEDURE: Inquiry DECISION: Dismissed REFERENCE: APP/ K3605/W/18/3193937

“cannot be realistically described as limited”. Turning to the design of the proposals, Felgate

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said that both would be “attractive buildings of high quality that would blend well with the original architecture”. At the inquiry, concerns were raised over the scheme’s impact on the mature woodland that covers large parts of the conservation area. The appeal scheme would require the removal of at least 83 trees, Felgate noted, equivalent to 3.7 per cent of the total woodland across the village. Although a relatively small ﬁgure in percentage terms, he found, in absolute terms it would be “very considerable”. “There is no doubt in my mind,” the inspector stated in the planning balance,

( “If it can’t use its land, the village’s financial stability is undermined and it could be condemned to gradual decline. If the principles of this decision are followed, nothing can be built in any area ‘washed over by green belt’.” “that there is a clear local need for all forms of elderly persons’ accommodation that is urgent and growing.” The two proposals would meet a signiﬁcant proportion of this need, he added, and would be managed by The Whiteley Trust, “a charity organisation with an exemplary record in their ﬁeld”. But, he concluded, these considerations could not outweigh the less than substantial harm he had found to the green belt and conservation area. The appeal was dismissed.

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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

Change of use would not support Hatton Garden jewellery trade An inspector has refused to lift a condition preventing the change of use of a jewellery workshop in Hatton Garden, London, dismissing the appellant’s ‘pessimistic view’ that the trade associated with the area is in decline.

Brokenshire backs inspector on 1,100-home York proposal Housing and communities secretary James Brokenshire has backed an inspector’s decision to grant permission to a major housing development in York. Brokenshire was ruling on inspector Zoë Hill’s consideration of York City Council’s failure to determine an application by British Sugar for up to 1,100 homes, community uses and public space and the demolition of former school buildings at one of its former sites. Although the first phase would only provide 3 per cent of affordable housing, he noted that this would rise to 20 per cent for the whole site over the course of the development based on a viability reassessment for each phase of the proposal. Other aspects of the proposal that would comply with the community infrastructure levy include pre-school and primary education payments, a secondary education offsite contribution, a contribution to the costs of providing shared access and a proposed community hall as well as payments towards sustainable transport measures. The proposal would also mitigate the loss of existing facilities either by providing an off-site cricket pitch or a payment of more than £300,000 to three clubs. Brokenshire attached substantial weight to the proposal’s delivery of housing on a brownfield site in a highly accessible location where transport measures and LOCATION: York services would reduce reliance on cars. AUTHORITY: York City Council Other benefits, including education and INSPECTOR: Zoe Hill sports facilities, would support the integration of PROCEDURE: Recovered appeal the new community. He found no adverse impacts DECISION: Allowed that significantly and demonstrably outweigh REFERENCE: APP/ these benefits. C2741/W/17/3177821 The secretary of state therefore concluded that the appeal should be allowed and planning permission granted.

The appeal concerned a multistorey building within the Hatton Garden conservation area in central London, which is well known for its historic association with jewellery manufacturing and trading. This association is reflected in various local policies and guidance documents. The appellant sought to remove a condition limiting the third floor of the building to light industrial use, imposed in 2000 to preserve it as a jewellery workshop. As the long-term occupier of the building, the appellant said current use of the building is no longer viable as online shopping trends have led to a decline of the jewellery trade in the area. While acknowledging that the high level of demand for office space and other “higher value uses” in the area has contributed to rent inflation, the council argued that “the planning system can assist in keeping rents for trade uses affordable by limiting changes of use in the area”. Inspector G Rollings considered it evident from the number of surviving jewellery-related uses in the area that this

LOCATION: Hatton Garden AUTHORITY: Camden Borough Council

INSPECTOR: Inspector: G Rollings PROCEDURE: Hearing DECISION: Dismissed REFERENCE: APP/ X5210/W/17/3190432

approach had been effective. Noting evidence of changes in the area such as the start of Crossrail, Rollings did not agree with the appellant’s “pessimistic forecast”. Given the council’s “strong policy base”, he said he was confident that “any harmful trends would be identified and accounted for in future”. Rollings noted that the council’s recent policies are “substantially balanced towards the retention of jewellery industry floor space”. Deciding that varying the condition would not support the traditional trade, he dismissed the appeal.

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C&D { C Access concerns halt 500-home Stirling scheme

The appeal concerned a parcel of land to the southeast of Plean, a village in Stirling, central Scotland. The appellant proposed a phased development of 500 homes and a primary school. The site falls within the wider ‘east Plean area’, allocated in the adopted 2014 local development plan for up to 500 homes. The 2014 plan supports the early release of housing sites only if there is a land supply shortfall. Noting the

council’s satisfactory fiveyear housing land supply, reporter Elspeth Cook found that the early release of the appeal site was not justified. But she acknowledged that the council had recently published a modified development plan that had reached an advanced stage of adoption. This plan reaffirms the appeal site as the specified location for 500 homes, so Cook found the principle of development on the site acceptable.

Given the scale of the plan, she thought it “important to establish that the junctions with the existing road network can be provided to a safe standard”. She was not persuaded that the appellant had submitted enough data to comply with this requirement. Cook noted that details such as the value of the aﬀordable housing contribution had still to be resolved, but decided that the access concerns alone were reason enough to refuse the scheme.

Inspector rejects viability report on 17-storey residential scheme

homes must be affordable. The appellant offered a financial contribution of just under £2.075 million in lieu of on-site affordable housing as part of the Section 106 agreement associated with the initial scheme, saying no social housing provider was interested in engaging with the project, and that occupiers of affordable units would be unable to pay the building’s service charge. But the appellant offered no strong evidence to support these statements. Despite its proposal to add to the number of flats, the appellant offered a “considerably lower sum” of £1.75m as part of the appeal scheme, which it said was justified on viability grounds. After the appellant’s viability report had been independently verified, the council raised concerns over its level of detail. Inspector Raygen agreed,

noting omissions relating to the scheme’s costs. She noted that the plan would provide 305 homes on a brownfield site, bringing notable social and economic benefits, but decided that the inadequate affordable housing contribution conflicted with the local planning authority’s policies. The appeal was dismissed.

LOCATION: Plean, Stirling AUTHORITY: Stirling Council INSPECTOR: Elspeth Cook PROCEDURE: Written submissions DECISION: Reference: REFERENCE: PPA3902062

An inspector has refused plans for 305 apartments in Hemel Hempstead for inadequate aﬀordable housing provision, citing concerns with the level of detail in the appellant’s viability assessment. The appeal concerned a fourstorey oﬃce building on the south-west edge of Hemel Hempstead. The council had previously granted outline permission to replace the building with a 16-storey

development of 272 flats. The appellant then submitted a new application seeking to provide 33 more flats by adding a 17th floor. The council’s core strategy says 35 per cent of new

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An inspector has refused plans for 500 homes in Stirling county despite deeming the principle of housing on the site acceptable, citing the appellant’s failure to demonstrate compliance with highway safety policies.

LOCATION: Hemel Hempstead AUTHORITY: Dacorum Borough Council

INSPECTOR: Zoe Raygen PROCEDURE: Written submissions DECISION: Dismissed REFERENCE: APP/ A1910/W/18/3193435

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DECISIONS DIGEST{

SUBSCRIBE to our appeals digest:

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

Enforcement notice upheld over fencedoff public land An inspector has upheld an enforcement notice against a Leicestershire homeowner who fenced oﬀ an area of public land in his cul-de-sac and incorporated it into his garden. bit.ly/planner1118-leicestershire

Glasshouses not ‘previously developed’ despite produce sales

Blackpool cash machine susceptible to ramraiders

A dilapidated horticultural nursery on the Wirral Peninsula was in solely agricultural use and therefore not “previously developed land”, an inspector has ruled, dismissing the appellant’s claim that selling produce on the site made it a “mixed use”. bit.ly/planner1118-glass

Students can expect adequate lighting, rules inspector

Dartmoor home would ‘fall far short’ of NPPF paragraph 79 design bar

Plans to convert a listed former freemasons’ hall in Huddersfield into 16 two-bedroom student flats have been blocked, after an inspector found that some of the flats would have no external windows or wardrobe space. bit.ly/planner1118-light yp

Plans for a new home in Dartmoor National Park would “fall far short of the high bar” for design required by paragraph 79 of the revised NPPF, an inspector has ruled, calling an independent design review panel’s comments on the scheme “extraordinary”. bit.ly/planner1118-dartmoor

Brokenshire approves third school on Maidstone campus The housing secretary has approved plans for a STEM-focused free school in Maidstone, which will share resources with the existing grammar and comprehensive schools as part of a single campus. bit.ly/planner1118-maidstone

Retired publican’s appeal R to convert bar and stay in village blocked An A appeal by a retired publican who w wanted to convert the ground ﬂoor of her pub into residential accommodation so that she could a continue to live in the community has c been rejected. bit.ly/planner1118-pub b

Huddersfield smoking king shelter is a building, ing, inspector rules ules

Brokenshire rejects major retail plan for failing sequential test st

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Housing and communities secretary retary James Brokenshire has refused outline planning permission for a major or mixed-use, retail-led development ment in South Gloucestershire owing g to its adverse impact on a similar ar development in Bristol.

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An enforcement notice tice ordering a Huddersﬁeld pub to take down a smoking king shelter has been upheld, eld, after an inspector decided ed it constituted a building. ing.

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Retrospective permission for an ATM in the window of a Blackpool café has been refused after an inspector ruled that the lack of security bollards would make it susceptible to ram-raids. bit.ly/planner1118-ram

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LLegal landscape NPPF2 SEA OF CHANGE? Friends of the Earth’s challenge to the revised NPPF creates a knotty legal problem, says Paul Wakeﬁeld – what weight should be given to the new policy document should the challenge succeed? Friends of the Earth (FoE) recently sought to bring a challenge against the government over its failure to carry out a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) before the publication of the updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF2) in July. Through the challenge, FoE hopes to force policymakers to carry out a SEA, re-consult the public and then modify NPPF2 based on the ﬁndings. Although it is not disputed that the government failed to carry out an SEA before publication of the original NPPF (NPPF1), the court must now consider whether they should have done one before publication of NPPF2. While the case itself may be arguable, the question that it raises for practitioners now is: how should NPPF2 be treated while the challenge is progressed? In accordance with paragraph 212 of NPPF2: “The policies in [the] Framework are material considerations which should be taken into account in dealing with applications from the day of its publication.” The document then goes on to state in paragraph 213 that:

Paul Wakeﬁeld “However, existing policies should not be considered out of date simply because they were adopted or made prior to the publication of [the] Framework. Due weight should be given to them, according to their degree of consistency with [the] Framework (the closer the policies in the plan to the policies in [the] Framework, the greater the weight that may be given).” Both section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and section 70(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 made it clear that applications for planning permission should be

“PRACTITIONERS WILL NO DOUBT BE ARGUING THAT WHERE THERE ARE DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN THE TWO FRAMEWORKS, GREATER WEIGHT SHOULD BE GIVEN TO THE POLICIES OF NPPF2”

determined in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. While the National Planning Policy Framework is designed to inform and direct the planmaking process, it is only a material consideration. For now, while the FoE challenge is progressed, the NPPF2 remains a material consideration in the determination of planning applications and weight should be aﬀorded accordingly. What is perhaps less clear is what happens if the FoE challenge is successful. In that scenario, if NPPF2 were declared unlawful, decision-makers would be required to fall back on the previous version, NPPF1. However, with government’s stated aims and intended changes being set out in NPPF2, practitioners will no doubt be arguing that where there are discrepancies between the two frameworks, greater weight should be given to the policies of NPPF2, which represents

the direction of travel of government policy. Ultimately, should the FoE challenge succeed, it would appear that while an SEA is undertaken, arguments will focus on the debate surrounding the amount of weight to be afforded to the policies of NPPF2, which will presumably be given a status akin to that of an emerging local plan – albeit noting that it does not form part of the development plan. Of course, this is not a new position for central government, as a similar situation occurred under the previous coalition government and its protracted abolition of regional spatial strategies. At that time, attempts to wipe out regional planning policies overnight were frustrated owing to the failure to carry out an SEA, but ultimately government found a way to rid itself of regional planning policies by changing legislation. It remains to be seen whether, should FOE succeed, government will ultimately make any changes to NPPF2. Given the rather scant regard seemingly given to consultation responses prior to publication of the final version of NPPF2, it seems unlikely that the government will be swayed from its current course, even if FoE manages to place a barrier in the road. Until the courts finish debating the matter it remains to be seen whether the full weight that NPPF2 now enjoys will change; but history suggests that government will find a way to bring forward the policies which they want, SEA or not. Paul Wakefield LARTPI is a planning team partner at Shakespeare Martineau

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LLegal landscape WHEN DOES A PLANNING OBLIGATION NO LONGER SERVE A ‘USEFUL PURPOSE’? When is a ‘useful purpose’ not a useful purpose when it comes to planning obligations? A recent judgment brings clarity to a contentious area, says Charlotte Lockwood The recent judgment in R (on the application of Mansfield District Council) v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2018 EWHC 1794 Admin] provides further clarity on how the qualification “a useful purpose” set out in Section 106A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990) should be applied in practice. Where agreement cannot be reached between the parties to modify or discharge an obligation, an application can be made to the local planning authority on the basis that it no longer serves a useful purpose. But such an application has to be made within a time limit. If agreed on or before 6 April 2010, the limit is one month; after that date it is five years from the date the obligation is entered into. How should local planning authorities assess such applications? The approach was summarised in the judgment of R (The Garden and Leisure Group Ltd) v North Somerset Council [2003 EWHC 1605 Admin]. Here, Richards J determined that in addressing an application under section 106A:

Charlotte Lockwood “There are four essential questions to be considered: what is the current obligation? what purpose does it fulfil? is it a useful purpose? and if so, would the obligation serve that purpose equally well if it had effect subject to the proposed modifications? Mr Elvin lays stress on the words “equally well” and describes them as ordinary English words importing a principle of equivalence. Section 106A involves a precise and specific statutory test and does not bring in the full range of planning considerations involved for example in an ordinary decision on the grant or refusal of planning permission.” Section 106A itself does not expressly prescribe that a “useful purpose” must be a planning purpose when considering an application

“OPINIONS DIFFER OVER THE APPROACH TO INTERPRETING WHETHER A PLANNING OBLIGATION STILL SERVES A USEFUL PURPOSE”

to modify or discharge an obligation. However, opinions diﬀer over the approach to interpreting whether a planning obligation still serves a useful purpose. One strand of argument has been that the planning obligation must still serve a useful planning purpose, thereby bringing into play the full range of planning considerations associated with the usual determination of a planning application. The alternative has been to adopt a broader interpretation, thereby opening up the consideration of a useful purpose to include public interest arguments, as shown in the Mansﬁeld case above. Here, the local planning authority challenged an inspector’s decision to discharge a planning obligation securing money for highways works required to mitigate the development. The planning authority had completed the works at a cost of £459,346, yet the developer had paid none of the money due under the Section 106 agreement as no development had begun on the site. The developer was subsequently granted planning

permission for a new scheme on the site and entered into a new S106 agreement. The developer paid £160,000 to the local authority, leaving an outstanding balance of £299,346. Again, no development took place on the site and the developer applied to discharge the planning obligation requiring payment of the balance. On appeal, the inspector found that because the highway contribution was not necessary to make the residential development acceptable, it no longer served a useful purpose and should be discharged. The local authority challenged this decision, contending that the inspector had incorrectly focused on the question of whether the obligation was sufficiently related to the planning permission, and had failed to consider whether it continued to serve a useful purpose, which was to recover public funds. The court agreed. The clarification provided in this case as to the meaning of “useful purpose” removes the doubt surrounding the interpretation of this test for local planning authorities and applicants looking to have a planning obligation modified or discharged. The widening of the test to include questions of public interest will arguably make it harder for applicants to satisfy this requirement; it would seem difficult to argue that a planning obligation no longer serves a useful purpose where it is required to recover expenses incurred by a local authority in providing public infrastructure to mitigate development impacts in the first place. Charlotte Lockwood is an associate specialising in planning with Roythornes Solicitors and a member of the East Midlands Young Planners

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NEWS

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RTPI news pages are edited by Ghazal Tipu at the RTPI, 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL

Pushing at an ‘open door’ The RTPI led one of its busiest programmes at the party conferences this year, with four fringe events, two co-hosted events with RICS, CIOB and RIBA, and many shared panels including one with Kit Malthouse MP. Victoria Hills, RTPI Chief Executive, speaks to The Planner. What was the “buzz” around planning? The buzz was around land value capture, aﬀordable housing, design quality, empowerment in planning, and planning itself. Politicians and policymakers are recognising that planning sits at the heart of the built environment sector’s work. What were politicians’ priorities? Politicians like Kit Malthouse MP want more

output and faster delivery but not at the expense of design. What “asks” did the RTPI bring to the conferences? RTPI asked for better resources for local authorities and more power for them to work out how they could be resourced better. Following our study that found only 23 per cent of local authorities surveyed in the UK and Ireland had a head of planning service that reported directly to the local authority chief executive; we reiterated that we want planning to be centre stage and to see chief planning oﬃcers elevated to the ‘top table’ of local authorities. We’re pushing at an ‘open door’. Politicians agree that planning needs to be well-resourced.

Victoria Hills speaking at the Conservative Party Conference

How do the joint institutes think planning will be aﬀected by Brexit? With a collective membership of over 175,000 professionals, we’re agreed on making the most of the opportunity. We think it’s a win-win opportunity and would like to see the government run a ‘planning is great’ campaign.

World Town Planning Day MICHELE VIANELLO, INTERNATIONAL POLICY & RESEARCH OFFICER Coordinating efforts at a global scale to fight climate change and achieve longterm sustainability is critical. With the global population growing exponentially, rapid urbanisation may be the defining challenge of the 21st century. In response to these challenges, the RTPI is joining global planning organisations around the world to raise the profile of planning and its role in shaping a prosperous world on 8 November. Many challenges Britain faces are faced globally – including the housing crisis. Our annual Nathaniel Lichfield Lecture will discuss housing policy and affordability in the UK.

Our schools competition is asking pupils to reﬂect on how changes in towns and cities aﬀect us all. Secondary school pupils are designing a new episode of the RTPI

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educational podcast series ‘Anna the Planner’, while primary school pupils are invited to work on displays that illustrate how planning shapes a community.

The RTPI International Oﬃce is becoming increasingly active in promoting planning and its role in international agreements. We supported the FCO in delivering a week of dialogue and training as part of the Global Future Cities Programme with sessions on planning, transport and resilience. A delegation composed of the RTPI President and RTPI Directors of RTPI Wales and Northern Ireland will visit the Singapore Institute of Planners with a delegation from the American Planning Association. There, they will deliver a two-day seminar on best practices in planning. What will you do? Why not organise an event with your local university, community group or charity to raise awareness of the value of planning?

I M AG E | i STO C K

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

Josephine Ellis OWNER, BLUE KAYAK, AND RESEARCHER, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY The three points need one another to make sense. Knowledge without purpose or empowerment achieves very little, and empowerment without knowledge or purpose can be positively dangerous. A purpose alone is merely heroics. The profession is lacking all three. Disempowered LPA planners are reduced to administrators of housing units and private sector planners are not required to propose anything better than standard-issue dwellings, and therefore, for reasons of competition, may not. Meanwhile, vast resources of knowledge and theory within universities and institutes remains untapped. Let us imagine instead a profession in which private and public sector planners – skilled and knowledgeable – collaborate on a shared purpose. Policies, plans and site briefs are designed to maximise public beneﬁt and minimise impacts, and new analytical tools and methods are developed to demonstrate how these aims could be achieved. Planning becomes, once more, a creative and idealistic profession. Thus, we could build trust and pride in the profession, improve collaboration within and outside it – and above all, create better places for this and future generations.

S TAT S O F T H E M O N T H

23% In 2018 we’ve seen a 23% increase in the number of applicants who have applied for Chartered membership through our nonaccredited routes compared with 2017. (That is comparing Rounds 13 of both years, in real terms 95 applicants in 2017 and 117 applicants in 2018).

53% of local authorities responding to a study conducted in 2017 by the UCL on behalf of the Institute cited that the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) borrowing cap prevents them from borrowing to invest in building new homes. Prime Minister Theresa May announced on 3 October that the government will scrap the HRA borrowing cap for local councils, something that we welcome and urge to be rolled out without further delay.

53%

Purpose: shared understanding that the profession’s aim is sustainable development – prioritising environmental and social needs as highly as economic ones

Knowledge: using planning theory, robust evidence, understanding of place and analytical and creative skills to achieve the best outcomes

3 Empowerment: the right and duty of both private sector and public sector planners to make and implement decisions

POSITION POINTS

LAND VALUE CAPTURE TOM KENNY, POLICY OFFICER The RTPI recently submitted evidence to a Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee review of land value capture. We were pleased to see support for the reforms we proposed in the committee’s ﬁnal report. The RTPI thinks there should be a fairer way to capture land value uplift to fund housing and infrastructure. The country’s over-reliance on developer contributions to fund infrastructure has put the planning system under immense strain. The Institute recommends reviewing improvements to existing methods of capturing developer contributions, and new and more comprehensive systems of land value capture. We welcome recent indications in the NPPF and elsewhere suggesting that the government also thinks a change is due. n Read the government report: bit.ly/planner1118-capture n Read the RTPI response: bit.ly/planner1118-inquiry

TRANSPORT FOR NEW HOMES JAMES HARRIS, POLICY & NETWORKS MANAGER The RTPI believes that new housing developments need to encourage physical activity, reduce congestion and isolation, and drive a transition to a low-carbon future. Are blueprints depicting active lifestyles matching reality in new developments? Or is the UK building a new generation of car-dependent suburban estates? These are the questions the pioneering field-based project Transport for New Homes seeks to answer. The project has visited large housing developments across England to find out what kind of places we’re creating and finds the layouts of many new estates are being shaped for cars rather than sustainable transport modes and that homes are not properly connected for pedestrians, cyclists or buses. n Read the report: bit.ly/planner1118-transport

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NEWS

RTPI { C HPIA RINT EACR TI E DONM: EP LMAN B EN RI NSG RT N E W M E M B E R S REFORM E LEC T E ADN DJ LEG U LYISSLEATI P TON EMBER 2018 “MANY CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF OUR NEW CHARTERED MEMBERS. EMPLOYERS RIGHTLY RECOGNISE THE PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE AND INTEGRITY CONFERRED BY CHARTERED STATUS. BEING A CHARTERED MEMBER OF THE RTPI MAKES YOU PART OF A LARGE PROFESSIONAL TEAM INVOLVED IN A DIVERSITY OF WORK DESIGNED TO CREATE BETTER PLACES.” JOHN ACRES, RTPI PRESIDENT

Nani Rahman

Overseas

Kelly Lippett

West Midlands

Jenny Ash

Scotland

Rory MacDonald

Scotland

Rajveer Bains

West Midlands

Raheel Mahmood

South West

Mitchell Barnes

South East

Tiﬀany Mallen

London

Paul Batchelor

South East

Darragh McAdam

Southern Ireland

Samuel Batchelor

South East

Niall McAteer

South East

Natalie Beal

East England

Nikki Mcauley

Scotland

Christopher Bradshaw North West

Katherine McKay

Scotland

Louise Braine

London

Geoﬀrey Megarity

London

Emily Brooker

London

Sarah Moﬀat

North East

Samuel Brown

London

Mongezi Ndlela

East England

Emma Brown

Yorkshire

Eimear Nelis

Northern Ireland

Lucy Bullock

Yorkshire

Robert Nicholas

London

Lauren Butcher

London

Richard Norman

London

Sophie Cattlin

Yorkshire

Marsita Omar

Overseas

Robert Chichester

Wales

James Overall

South East

Russell Collin

London

Daniel Phillips

London

Lorelie Davies

South West

Georgina Pickett

East England

Latisha Dhir

West Midlands

Laura Pohl

West Midlands

Jack Dickinson

North West

Benjamin Pope

London

Peter Dowling

South East

Laura Anne Powell

South West

Philip Edwards

London

Mura Quigley

Northern Ireland

Sarah Fabes

London

Ambrain Qureshi

East England

Alice French

London

Susan Rabe

Scotland

Barry Gaﬀney

Northern Ireland

Vickesh Rathod

South West

Emma Gill

London

Robert Reeds

East Midlands

Luke Grattarola

Wales

Sam Reeson

Yorkshire

Sandra Green

East England

Matthew Roberts

East England

Paul Gregory

South East

Holly Roberts

North West

Silvia Gullino

West Midlands

Laura Ross

North West

Frances Haire

Unmanaged Regions

Alistair Russell

West Midlands

& Nations

John Scally

East England

Hana Hamzah

Overseas

Charlotte Simpson

London

Sarah Hallam

East Midlands

William Stanley

East England

Emma Hawthorne

Northern Ireland

Fergus Sykes

South West

Naomi Heikalo

Yorkshire

Emily Taylor

London

Nicholas Hirst

Yorkshire

Samantha Taylor

South East

Duncan Holness

North East

Annie Taylor

South West

Rebecca Howard

East England

Nia Thomas

Yorkshire

Scott Howard

North West

Alexander Thwaites

South East

Hywel James

South East

Chloe Tucker

London

Lewis Scott Jenkins

Wales

Christopher Turner

South East

Matthew Johnson

London

Alexis Tysler

South West

Alexander Johnson

London

Laura Waters

East England

Mary-Ann Jones

East Midlands

James White

South East

Martin Kenny

North West

Owain Williams

Wales

Vincent Lau

Overseas

Cheryl Yeung

Overseas

Whitney Lindsay

Scotland

RTPI expertise sought for Welsh planning review ROISIN WILLMOTT, RTPI DIRECTOR OF WALES & NORTHERN IRELAND As the supply of affordable housing in Wales is a key challenge, the Welsh Government has committed to achieving 20,000 affordable houses by 2021. Rebecca Evans, Welsh Minister for Housing and Regeneration, is scrutinising the Welsh Government’s delivery record. She has formed an independent and diverse review panel chaired by Lynn Pamment of PwC. The minister said: “We have a target of building 20,000 new affordable homes over the course of this Assembly, but we want to lay the groundwork for the prospect of setting even more stretching targets in the future, in response to a range of housing needs.” Roisin Willmott, RTPI Director of Wales, was invited by the minister to be a panel member to provide expertise from the planning system. She said: “While this is not a review of planning, I am pleased that planning knowledge was recognised as important to the panel’s work and deliberations. Planning is an important factor in the delivery of affordable housing and considering issues from a spatial perspective is vital to providing a holistic response, along with a range of other aspects.” The panel is now gathering evidence, working with other specialist groups and meeting stakeholders across Wales to add further knowledge into its deliberations and to build on the call for evidence held in September. It is due to report back to the minister in spring. n Read the review: bit.ly/planner1118-homes

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RTPI Y ACTIVIT E PIPELIN

Current RTPI work – what the Institute is doing and how you can help us DON’T MISS THE DEADLINE FOR AWARDS ENTRIES The Awards for Planning Excellence are the most established and respected in our sector and continue to recognise best practice both in the UK and Internationally. The deadline for entries is 14 December. For many years, these high-proﬁle awards have rewarded the brightest talent in the profession, helping to transform economies, environments and communities. There are 14 free-to-enter categories focus on projects, teams and individuals. New for 2019 is an ‘Excellence in Tech Within Planning Practice’ award. The ﬁnalists will be announced next February and the awards will be presented at a ceremony on 24 April 2019 in central London. For details on how to enter and showcase your work, please visit: bit.ly/planner1118-excellence

ARE PLANNERS THE PROBLEM? Professor Christine Whitehead HonMRTPI, Emeritus Professor of Housing Economics at the LSE, will give this year’s Nathanial Lichfield lecture on 8 November, providing an economist’s view of the housing crisis. She will look at how new approaches since the Housing White Paper aim to change the speed and nature of development. She will also look at how they will interact with the political and practical incentives that local authorities face in determining what types and tenure of homes that should be provided in the face of market pressures. A big issue to be addressed is the costs and benefits of increasing densities. Book your ticket here: bit.ly/planner1118-lichfield

RTPI LEARN NOW AVAILABLE ON THE GO! RTPI Learn, the Institute’s free online learning environment is now available on the go. A recent upgrade means you can access the training on your mobile device or tablet. All Chartered members commit to plan, undertake and record 50 hours of CPD in each two-year period. Undertaking CPD diﬀerentiates you from someone who is just practising planning and sends a message to employers, clients and the public that RTPI members are competent and professional. RTPI Learn provides a range of free modules that you can dip into whether you have ﬁve minutes to spare on the train or an hour over lunch. Visit RTPI Learn and spread the word: bit.ly/planner1118-learn

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RTPI NEWS

2019 SUBSCRIPTIONS: MAINTAINING SERVICES FOR MEMBERS GRAHAM STALLWOOD FRTPI, CHAIR, RTPI BOARD OF TRUSTEES The value, prestige and influence of RTPI membership continues to grow as membership numbers reached more than 25,000 for the first time this year, underlining that the RTPI is the largest membership institute for professional planners in Europe. Following the members’ survey of 2017, we have worked to raise the profile and influence of the Institute and the profession across the UK, Ireland and beyond: n We are campaigning to get more planners at director level of local authorities. n We have featured in all the national broadsheets, appeared on national radio and TV, and in most regional press over the past year. n We have held meetings with ministers and provided input on government consultations across our nations, increased our presence at party conferences, published research reports, policies and practice notes. n We led on the government consultation of an overhaul of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the reform of developer contributions in England. In 2019 we will continue to listen to your feedback. Four themes emerged from the recent member survey that will frame an action plan for our future activities: raising the profile of planning; diversity and inclusivity; value of membership; supporting planning services. The Board of Trustees has agreed that to maintain core services, increase our impact, profile and influence, continuously improve and grow our offer to members in 2019 the annual subscription rate will increase by 3 per cent. Members will shortly receive details of their RTPI subscription, explaining the changes to rates for 2019. The highest rise is for Chartered, Fellow and Legal members and will be £9 a year, or 2 ½ pence per day. Subscriptions are due for renewal on 1 January annually. n If you have any queries, email subscriptions@rtpi. org.uk, or phone +44 (0)20 7929 9463. n Make sure you’re getting the most out of your membership: www.rtpi.org.uk/membership/member-benefits/

How do you make your projects a success? For good planning outcomes, planners increasingly need good project management skills. We have designed this masterclass to meet the needs of everyone who has to manage projects and deliver results under time pressure. It addresses the major stages of project management and gives you the tools, methods and techniques you need to manage your projects successfully. To be held at Etc venues, Bishopsgate Court, 4-12 Norton Folgate, London. Book now: bit.ly/planner1118-projects

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