The Planner September 2017

SEPTEMBER 2017 THE NAKED TRUTH ABOUT COMMUNITY BUILDERS // p.24 • PLANNING AND THE PROCEEDS OF CRIME ACT // p.28 • RTPI AWARDS CASE STUDY: THE HUNG SHUI KIU PROJECT // p.32 • NATIONS & REGIONS FOCUS NORTHERN IRELAND // p.34 •

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

LONG LIVE SOUTHBANK HOW SKATEBOARDERS TOOK ON THE PLANNING SYSTEM AND WON

01_cover_SEPT.indd 1

21/08/2017 12:42

Current Issues in Planning 2017 7 December 2017 | London

Book Now from

ÂŁ349 +VAT

020 3122 0138 rtpiconferences.co.uk/currentissues p02_PLN.SEPT17.indd 2

17/08/2017 11:10

PLANNER 07 18

CONTENTS

THE

SEPTEMBER

20 17

NEWS

4 Councils have leading role in air quality battle 5 Clark approves East Anglia wind farm

6 Government troubled by leasehold on newbuild houses

OPINION

7 Gwynedd and Anglesey joint plan approved

14 Chris Shepley: No skirting the issue – planners are woven from many strands

8 Shelter Scotland says 44% of callers fear losing homes 9 Major scheme planning times worsen in Scotland

16 Wei Yang: The world deserves an impartial planning profession

10 Chief planner writes to officers about counterterrorism role

16 Dan Jestico: France’s ban on petrol and diesel engines could spark a revolution in the UK

11 Sargeant sanctions Right to Buy suspension in Cardiff

17 Monica Lennon: World-class planning?

Not at this rate, Scotland

15

17 Tony Crook: Why the built environment industries are better together

FEATURES

“BATTERY ATTERY STORAGE IS THE MISSING PUZZLE PIECE WHICH WILL ALLOW US TO MAXIMISE THE POTENTIAL OF OUR WORLD­BEATING RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES” EMMA PINCHBECK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT RENEWABLEUK

C O V E R I M A G E | N I C K C O N S TA N T

p03_contents.indd 3

INSIGHT

18 How a group of skateboarders took on the planning system – and won 24 When planners turn developers, they do something a little different from the norm.

By Francesca Perry 28 Planning enforcement teams en are using confiscation ar orders under proceeds or of crime legislation.

Hu Huw Morris reports 34 Nations & Regions: No Northern Ireland

QUOTE UNQUOTE

“WE’VE GOT A COMMUNITY HERE THAT IS INCREDIBLY WELL ROOTED IN ITS SPACE AND HAS INCREDIBLE CREATIVE POTENTIAL”

32

38 Decisions in focus: Development decisions, round-up and analysis 42 Legal landscape: Opinions, blogs and news from the legal side of planning

14

44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute 50 Plan B: The Rime of the Ancient Planner: Our compendium of planning inspectors’ laments

24 S E PTEMB E R 2 01 7 / THE PLA NNER

3

21/08/2017 09:33

NEWS

Report { AIR POLLUTION

Councils have leading role in air quality battle

The RTPI’s James Harris feels that the government’s recently announced transport investment strategy seems antithetical to its stated air quality plan

By Laura Edgar

The UK Government’s plan to tackle roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations and improve air quality gives local authorities a leading role.

It also bans the sale of diesel and petrol cars from 2040.

A consultation on government plans to improve air quality saw 743 responses, including feedback from the RTPI. The institute’s submission said the UK Government should join up land use and transport planning so that new developments prioritise active travel – walking and cycling – and public transport.

The plan notes that while it has improved, poor air quality persists in certain areas of the country as a “direct result of the failure of the European regulatory system to deliver expected improvements in vehicle emissions”, affecting people’s health.

It says that given the “local nature” of the problem, local action is needed.

“Local knowledge is vital to finding solutions for air quality problems that are suited to local areas and the

communities and businesses affected.

A leading role for local authorities is therefore essential.”

The government says it does recognise the need for strong national leadership and will set out a clear national framework for the steps that local authorities need to take.

The government will provide financial support so that local authorities can develop and implement their plans and pursue national measures to reinforce their efforts. The plans need to be implemented “at pace”.

Councils’ vital role News that the sale of new diesel and petrol vehicles will be banned from 2040 was welcomed by many, including Friends of the Earth (FoE).

But the campaign group also pointed to the plan’s failure to mandate introducing Clean Air Zones.

Oliver Hayes, air pollution campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Ministers know as well as anyone that Clean Air Zones are essential to give us breathable

air fast. Their omission from the plans is a scandalous response to a health crisis that leads to 40,000 premature deaths annually.”

Hayes further accused the government of failing to enact measures that could curb pollution in UK towns and cities now, and of “passing the buck to local authorities”.

Speaking on the BBC’s Newsnight following the plan’s publication, Martin Tett, environment spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA), said: “Local government is prepared to play its part in solving the problem. We are local, we are near to people, we are in towns, we are in communities, and we know our residents. We know the sort of solutions that are required, but the devil is always in the detail. You have got to have the right funding available at the right time to solve these sort of issues, and that can cost a lot of money.”

In an earlier statement, Tett also said it is “right” that the plan recognises the “vital role” councils have in improving air quality and the LGA’s calls for extra funding for councils to tackle air quality.

A cross-boundary problem Government plans to tackle nitrogen dioxide concentrations include a ban on the sale of diesel and petrol cars from 2040

4

T H E P L AN N E R \ S E PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p04_05_news.indd 4

Ben Kite, managing director at ecology consultancy EPR, told The Planner it is good that the government has set overall strategic targets and made money available to various bodies to achieve them. It is not unusual or wrong for local authorities to be part of the delivery mechanism.

However, Kite is not convinced the government has really thought through the trans-boundary nature of both air pollution and the sources of it.

Referring to the government’s statement in the plan about the “local nature” of air pollution, he said the government has oversimplified the problem.

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

21/08/2017 09:34

PLAN UPFRONT

Clark approves East Anglia offshore wind farm “Areas with air pollution problems are often affected by traffic originating in different adjoining local authority areas, i.e. the problem is the cumulation of air pollution from traffic originating in different areas acting ‘in combination’.”

For Kite, councils will need additional support to work with neighbouring authorities to tackle problem areas, and planning has a “significant role” to play in this.

Much of the traffic is caused by populations commuting into and out of employment areas from residential areas. “Planning to bring jobs, services and people closer together and within reach of walking and cycling trips can reduce this problem.”

This, Kite said, is where central government and bodies such as the Environment Agency and Traffic Scotland will need to facilitate the development of seamless strategies between multiple local authorities.

While the RTPI has welcomed the financial support made available to local authorities, James Harris, the institute’s policy and networks manager, said that the plan still creates barriers for local authorities that wish to set up congestion charging zones and restrict polluting vehicles.

Harris noted that the government’s transport investment strategy was launched early in July, stating that the air quality plan “fails to make the connection between proposals for increasing road capacity… and the potential for increased traffic in urban areas”.

“Over the long term, we need a more integrated approach to transport and land use planning in order to reduce car dependency and prioritise sustainable modes of transport.”

Energy secretary Greg Clark has granted development consent to the East Anglia THREE offshore wind farm because of the ‘national need’ for such a development.

The development consent order will see ScottishPower Renewables build up to 172 wind turbines 46 miles off the coast of East Anglia. Turbines will reach up to 247 metres to the tip.

The scheme will have an output capacity of up to 1,200 megawatts (MW) and could produce enough electricity to power the annual demands of nearly a million homes, according to the developer.

The East Anglia THREE project is one of four the firm wants to develop off the East Anglia coast and the second to receive planning permission.

East Anglia ONE is under way and preconstruction work is taking place.

ScottishPower Renewables has said this next generation technology would help to ensure that offshore wind is one of the cheapest forms of low-carbon electricity.

As well as the turbines, the development also includes two meteorological masts; a network of inter-array sub-sea cables; underground electrical connections and six offshore electrical stations.

Keith Anderson, CEO of ScottishPower Renewables, said: “With the support of a highly skilled supply chain, East Anglia THREE will further enhance the UK’s leading position in

IN NUMBERS...

The East Anglia THREE offshore wind farm in numbers

172

Up to 172 turbines

It will be built 46 miles off the coast Height of up to 247 metres

Output capacity of 1,200MW

offshore wind. No other sector ticks all of the boxes in its ability to support the government’s plans for rebalancing the economy and promoting economic diversity through the industrial strategy.”

Emma Pinchbeck, executive director at RenewableUK, said the approval is a “vote of confidence” in the offshore wind sector.

“This huge clean energy project is a great example of how offshore wind can enable the government’s industrial strategy. The project is expected to create thousands of skilled jobs throughout its 30-year lifetime.

Not only will the wind farm use the latest innovative turbines, but it will also provide a massive boost for local businesses to grow.” n The consent order and full supporting documents can be found on the National Infrastructure Planning website: bit.ly/planner0917-three

S EPTE MB ER 2 01 7 / THE PLA NNER p04_05_news.indd 5

5

21/08/2017 09:34

NEWS

Analysis { LEASEHOLD HOUSES

Government troubled by leasehold on new-build houses

By Laura Edgar Leasehold generally applies to flats with shared spaces, but the government has suggested homes are now being sold in such a way, and it is consulting on plans to stop the practice.

Its consultation document says leasehold houses are “more prevalent in the north of England”. Developers argue, it continues, that selling new-build leasehold houses in some areas of England is an accepted custom and practice.

The document states :“In some parts of northern England this has resulted in leasehold becoming the default tenure for consumers wanting to buy a newbuild house. It is particularly common practice in parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside, but is not limited to these parts of the country.”

The Department for Communities and Local Government estimates that there were 1.2 million leasehold houses on the owner-occupied and private rent sectors in 2014/15. It says its concern is that houses are being sold on a leasehold basis to create income from ground rent or to generate additional income from the sale of the freehold interest after contracts have been exchanged.

Distorting the market Plans to ban leaseholds on new-build houses are a step in the right direction for Mark Farmer, co-founder and CEO at real estate and construction consultancy Cast. He said this and ground rents “artificially distort a housing market that is already struggling with issues surrounding affordability”.

A ban on such practices may help to recover some public confidence in the sector, he added.

6

House builders could be abusing leasehold tenures

Like Farmer, Ian Fletcher, director of real estate policy at the British Property Federation welcomed the consultation.

He said the motivation seems to have been to raise unreasonable ground rents.

“The government is right to clamp down on house builders who have been abusing this form of tenure, and with it their customers”.

Proposals should not stop communities coming together Daniel Halstead, partner at law firm TLT, said the company had not seen houses being sold as leasehold, nor did it see the issue as “hugely prevalent in the market”. On leases containing escalating ground rent provision, Halstead expected “any reform to seek to limit the scope of allowed increases in line with RPI (Retail Prices Index), rather than a simple and clearly controversial doubling of ground rents. Across the industry, increases in line with RPI are generally viewed as a fair and reasonable standard”.

Although welcoming the proposals, Catherine Harrington, director of the National Community Land Trust Network, said they “shouldn’t stop communities from coming together to

DEVELOPER TAKES FREEHOLD BACK

Countryside Properties has agreed to buy back a number of the freeholds on its houses it sold to ground rent company E&J Estates, The Guardian has reported.

The property company will release homeowners from clauses where ground rents double every 10 years.

According to The Guardian, E&J Estates has written to leaseholders to say it that it has sold the freehold back to the developers.

Countryside Properties said in a statement that it recognises that a 10-year doubling of ground rents increases “too quickly” and it has “taken action to address this issue”.

Campaigners have said the deal does not go far enough.

build the affordable housing they so badly need”.

The network is urging government to reflect the distinctive needs of community land trusts in its reforms – they are “playing a key role in building a fairer housing market, but to do that they need to be exempted from these onesize-fits-all proposals”.

Questions remain over existing leaseholders While this is “great news” for future homeowners, for Mark Scott, a specialist in residential property at law firm Blake Morgan, “a big question mark remains over existing leaseholders who are facing rising ground rents and potentially unsellable properties”.

Morgan suggested possible solutions, including that changes could be made to existing legislation to remove the loss of rent element from the calculation, which he said would reduce the cost to extend the lease. “This would sit nicely alongside the government’s thinking that ground rents are unfair in the first place.”

T H E PL AN N E R \ S E PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p06_07_news.indd 6

21/08/2017 09:36

PLAN UPFRONT There are plans for 7,184 new homes across Gwynedd and Anglesey

Significant rise in housing activity in Northern Ireland Work began on more than 1,800 new houses in Northern Ireland in the first quarter of 2017, an increase of 16 per cent on the figures for the same period last year, according to official figures. n 1,699 of the 2017 housing starts were in the private sector n During 2016/17, there were 1,604 new social housing dwelling starts and 1,387 new social housing dwelling completions. n Work started on a total of 7,724 new houses during 2016/17, the best performance since 2010/11. This is down on peak year 2005, when there were 15,000 starts.

Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin January-March 2017: bit.ly/planner0917-bulletin

Gwynedd and Anglesey joint plan approved Councillors at Gwynedd and the Isle of Anglesey councils have agreed a joint local development plan outlining a new planning policy for future land use and development for the period from 2011 to 2026.

The two councils have been working together for six years to prepare the joint plan.

In July, independent planning inspectors endorsed the plan, which doesn’t include the parts of Gwynedd inside the Snowdonia National Park.

The plan features proposals for 7,184 new homes across Gwynedd and Anglesey, with the inspector stating that the allocated sites

Government frees up £54m to release land for housing The government has launched a £54 million package that aims to transform local communities and release land for thousands of new homes. It is part of a new cross-government partnership to make smarter use of government-owned property in England. £45 million of the money comes from the Department for Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG) Land Release Fund, launched in partnership with the Cabinet Office and the Local Government Association’s (LGA) One Public Estate Programme.

The government said it would ensure that councils release some of their unused or surplus land for housing, helping to meet its ambition to unlock enough council-owned land for at least 160,000 homes by 2020.

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

p06_07_news.indd 7

and the identified windfall potential are “realistic and appropriate” with the level of contingency “adequate to reflect the deliverability concerns”.

Gwynedd Council approved the plan with the chairman’s casting vote after a deadlock of 30 votes apiece.

According to the Daily Post, Welsh language activists urged Anglesey councillors, who voted a few days after those in Gwynedd, to reject the plan because of concerns over the impact that the new housing might have on the language in the two counties.

Anglesey councillors voted by 21 votes to five in favour of the joint plan.

Llinos Medi, leader of Anglesey Council, said: “We must be prepared for significant changes in the local economy and providing land to create new jobs and affordable homes for our young people, in the right places, is vital. [The plan] will help realise our aim of creating strong and sustainable local communities and help protect the Welsh language.”

Dyfrig Siencyn, leader of Gwynedd Council, said the plan is based on “comprehensive” evidence regarding the matters most important for local people housing, including affordable housing, jobs and the Welsh language.

Councils are now able to bid for the funding, which could be used for land remediation and small-scale infrastructure. In addition, One Public Estate is making £9 million available to support councils to deliver property-focused programmes. By 2020, councils in the programme are expected to have delivered £615 million in capital receipts, with £158 million in running costs saved, 44,000 new jobs and the release of land for 25,000 homes.

The partnership between the DCLG and One Public Estate aims to give local authorities greater access to support from across government to release more land efficiently.

Richard Blyth, RTPI head of policy, said he welcomed in principle the use of underused public land for housing purposes and for the release of money to assist in making land fit for purpose.

“However, caution should be expressed for two reasons. First, it may be in the best interests of a place for its assets to remain in public ownership and generate long-term revenue, and second, if the highest capital receipt is pursued to the exclusion of all other objectives, the risk is that the homes may not be affordable.”

S EPTE MB ER 2 017 / THE PLA NNER

7

21/08/2017 09:36

NEWS

Analysis { SCOTTISH HOUSING CRISIS

Shelter Scotland says 44% of callers fear losing homes

IMPACT REPORT FINDINGS

Impact Report 2017/17 contains a number of statistics about the state of housing in Scotland, including:

By Laura Edgar According to a report by Shelter Scotland, 44 per cent of those contacting the charity needed help to keep their home, laying bare the housing issues in the country.

The report looks at data collected from April 2016 to March 2017.

Alison Watson, deputy director at Shelter Scotland, said: “Last year we were busier than ever helping people with bad housing and homelessness.

“This report shows the disproportionate impact of Scotland’s housing crisis on young people and private renters who are both over-represented in the number of people we helped.”

She said the main reasons people are asking for help are a shortage of truly affordable homes, harsh welfare reform, stagnant wages and the high cost of keeping a roof over their heads.

“Struggling to afford or pay housing costs is the biggest presenting problem people have when coming to us for help.”

Kate Houghton, policy and practice officer at RTPI Scotland, told The Planner: “Provision of a diverse range of affordable and decent housing is a crucial part of placemaking, and RTPI Scotland therefore acknowledges the challenge for planners expressed so clearly in Shelter’s latest Impact Report.”

Planners know they need to plan for a more diverse range of housing to suit all needs, with the continuing planning review an opportunity to make it easier for planners to do this.

“Particularly crucial”, Houghton said, “will be bridging the gap between plans and delivery – ensuring that councils

8

T H E PL AN N E R \ SE PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p08_09_news.indd 8

Young people and private renters are disproportionately at risk of homelessness

More than 21,000 people contacted Shelter Scotland through its free national helpline, digital chat service and had one­to­one advice sessions

have the tools to see new homes built in the most sustainable locations, well connected to jobs, schools, shops and community facilities.”

Sarah Boyack, the Scottish Federation of Housing Association (SFHA)s’ head of public affairs, said that although the Scottish Government’s commitment to increase the affordable housing target to 50,000 homes is welcome, a sustained long-term approach that goes beyond the lifetime of the current Parliament is needed.

“The report also shows that welfare reform is one of the main reasons that people have turned to the charity for help. Unfortunately, this is not surprising when welfare policies, such as universal credit, can see new claimants waiting up to six weeks until they receive payment.

The SFHA has repeatedly called for the roll-out of universal credit to be halted until it can be shown to be working safely and will continue to lobby the UK Government on this and other welfare reforms which are negatively affecting our members and their tenants.” n The Impact Report can be found on

46% of those needing help were private renters, a disproportionate number considering the size of the sector, which provides 14 per cent of homes in Scotland

16 ­ 34 46% were between 16 and 34 years old

44% said they needed help to keep their home

the Shelter Scotland website: bit.ly/planner0917-shelter

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

21/08/2017 09:37

PLAN UPFRONT

Major development planning times worsen in Scotland Planning decision times for major developments in Scotland have reached a nadir. Official figures released in August suggest they are the slowest on average since records began five years ago.

The statistics for 2016-17, published by the Scottish Government, revealed that the average decision time for major developments (246 applications) was 37 weeks, six weeks slower than the average of 31 weeks in the previous year and the slowest annual figure since the start of this data collection in 2012/13.

Decisions for most categories of major developments were slower, apart from minerals and waste management applications.

In particular, the average decision time for major housing developments was 44.9 weeks for 2016/17, more than four weeks

slower than the previous year ( 40.6 weeks).

But the average decision time for local developments ( 26,986 applications) in 2016/17 was 9.2 weeks, four days quicker than the average of 9.7 weeks in the previous year and the fastest annual figure in five years.

Craig McLaren, director of RTPI Scotland, said: “The figures perhaps point to the need for analysis to determine what the factors are in increased processing times for major planning applications. It could be a number of things such as a lack of resources in planning departments, project management or Section 75 agreements not being signed off. It will be useful to gain an understanding of this to help inform the forthcoming planning bill and planning review.”

Boost for rapiddelivery homes for Dublin Irish housing and planning minister Eoghan Murphy has approved €15.3 million of funding for the construction of 70 rapid delivery houses at three locations in Dublin City.

The houses will be built at Ballyfermot ( 53 ), Rathvilly Park ( 13 ) and Finglas ( 4 ).

The move highlights growing interest in this form of housing supply for the capital, with the city council planning nearly 900 ‘rapid-build’ homes, 70 per cent of which will be flats for vacant sites across the city.

Up until now rapid-build housing has been used to house homeless families living in hotels, but the new development at 19 locations will be used for applicants living in general social housing as well as homeless people.

Global status of Wales’s national parks in peril The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas has warned that Wales’s national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs) risk forfeiting their status as internationally recognised protected areas if proposed reforms to the planning and designation regime are implemented.

The organisation’s UK Assessment Panel voiced concerned about the Future Landscapes report, commissioned by the Welsh Government and published in May 2017.

The panel complained that the main thrust of that report diluted a key element of an earlier review carried out by professor Terry Marsden of Cardiff University, which stressed the primacy of the conservation purposes underpinning the landscape designations.

It said the latest report represented a big retreat from the clear messages and recommendations of the Marsden report.

“There is no discussion of the purposes of designating these areas, and their conservation purpose is hardly mentioned… While the report does not disown the Marsden recommendations, its silence about most of them means that they now appear to be in limbo.”

The panel is particularly critical that Future Landscapes talks about national parks and AONBs as “catalysts for regional development in rural areas”, which it regarded as a much less environmentally sensitive aim.

“If acted upon, the recommendations in the Future Landscapes report would make it impossible for the panel to continue to accord international recognition to Wales’s national parks and AONBs as protected areas,” it added.

A Welsh Government spokesperson, quoted in Wales Online, said: “We will consider the comments made by the UK Assessment Panel of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas. They will also be forwarded to the Future Landscapes Wales chair, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM, and the wide range of stakeholders involved in the Future Landscapes Wales programme.”

S EPTE MB ER 2 017 / THE PLA NNER p08_09_news.indd 9

9

21/08/2017 09:38

NEWS

News { Chris Boardman named Greater Manchester’s first cycling commissioner Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has appointed Chris Boardman as the region’s first cycling and walking commissioner.

The Olympic gold medallist and cycling advocate will work across the city region to improve safety and conditions for cyclists and pedestrians, promoting both as healthy alternatives to cars and public transport.

The appointment came as Burnham launched the Greater Manchester Moving Plan. The four-year plan brings together Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership and Sport England to get Greater Manchester’s residents more active.

Currently 38 per cent of residents are not active enough to benefit their health, at an estimated cost of £26 million a year to health services. Greater Manchester Moving aims to get 75 per cent of people active or fairly active by 2025. One of the key aims of the plan is to work with schools and colleges to integrate the recommended amount of physical activity per day into the curriculum.

Boardman, who won Olympic gold in the individual pursuit in 1992, has become a respected campaigner for more and better cycling infrastructure.

In his new role, he will have senior oversight of the development of policy and investment plans for cycling.

“My first priority will be to pull together all the people who need to be involved in making cycling and walking viable, attractive and an important part of the transport network in Greater Manchester,” he said. “Cycling isn’t currently a big part of how people get around in the region but surveys have showed there is real desire to ride more, if we create an attractive, safe environment.”

10

T H E PL AN N E R \ SE PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p10_11_news.indd 10

Chief planner writes to officers about counter-terrorism role Steve Quartermain CBE has written to local authority planners across England reminding them of the important role the planning system has in counterterrorism and crime prevention.

In the letter, the government’s chief planner draws attention to paragraphs 58 and 69 of the National Planning Policy Framework. These recommend that planning authorities should ensure that their policies and decisions aim to create safe and accessible environments where crime and disorder do not undermine community cohesion and quality of life.

Paragraph 164 says that when preparing local plans, councils should work with local advisers to make sure they take into account the recent data about sites at risk from “malicious threats and natural hazards”, and to take steps that could reduce vulnerability / increase resistance.

Highlighting the design section of the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG), which includes crime convention and security

Quartermain: Planners must heed counterterrorism advice

measures, Quartermain says that preapplication discussion between planning officers and security advisers – such as counter-terrorism advisers and police crime prevention design advisers – “will ensure that authorities and applicants share an understanding … of the level of risk and the sort of measures available to mitigate the risk in a proportionate and well-designed manner”. n See: bit.ly/planner0917-quartermain

New mapping tool highlights threat to Scottish coastline Nearly a fifth of Scotland’s coastline is at risk of erosion, threatening some of the country’s most prized land and infrastructure within the next 30 years, according to a new mapping tool.

The potentially devastating effects of climate change and coastal erosion have come to light after experts from the Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the University of Glasgow studied coastlines dating back to the 1890s, to plan for the future of Scotland’s coastal landscape.

The ‘Dynamic Coast: Scotland’s National Coastal Change Assessment’ (NCCA) uses more than 2,000 maps and one million data points to make its predictions. It identifies past erosion and growth rates, and extrapolates data to show possible

changes to Scotland’s coastline.

Environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: “More than 9,000 buildings, 500 kilometres of road, 60 kilometres of rail track, 300 kilometres of water supply lines and vital airport runways, such as Islay, are protected by natural defences. However, some of these already face serious damage.”

Professor Jim Hansom, principal researcher from the University of Glasgow, added: “Since the 1970s the extent of erosion is up 39 per cent, the erosion rate has doubled and accretion extent (growth of sediment deposition) is down 22 per cent… we are seeing a net loss of coastline.” n You can read the NCCA here: bit.ly/planner0917-ncca I M A G E S | A K I N FA L O P E / A L A M Y / I S T O C K /

21/08/2017 09:39

PLAN UPFRONT More than 8,000 people are on the waiting list for social housing in Cardiff

Sargeant sanctions Right to Buy suspension in Cardiff Welsh communities secretary Carl Sargeant has announced that the Right to Buy will be suspended in Cardiff for five years as the city council looks to guarantee that social housing is available for those who need it.

Over the past 30 years, the Right to Buy has led to a “significant reduction” in social housing stock, according to the Welsh Government. Between 1981 and 2014, 138,709 council homes were sold – a loss of 45 per cent of social housing.

Sargeant said: “I have agreed to Cardiff Council’s application to suspend the Right to Buy to help them deal with the pressure their social housing is facing and to ensure that homes are available to those in need.”

In March 2017, the Welsh Government put a bill banning the Right to Buy and

associated rights before the National Assembly for Wales.

“The Right to Buy is depleting our social housing stock. This damaging policy is further increasing the pressure on our social housing supply and is forcing many vulnerable people to wait longer for a home,” Sargeant said.

“Legislating to end the Right to Buy is the only sure way to prevent this and give social landlords the confidence to invest in building more of the affordable homes Wales needs.”

Lynda Thorne, Cardiff Council cabinet member for housing and communities, said: “I am very pleased that the Welsh Government has granted the council permission to suspend the Right to Buy

Council reviews planning decisions owing to wrong air quality data Errors made in monitoring air quality

by Cheshire East Council have affected planning applications across the area, so the council is now reviewing whether mitigation measures are required.

Concerns about monitoring of air quality were first raised at a council cabinet meeting on 12 July 2016. A report submitted to the meeting identified data inaccuracies on air quality that had affected the 2015 and 2014 submissions to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The council’s internal audit team undertook a review and then commissioned an external investigation.

The investigation’s findings suggest that serious errors have been made in the council’s air quality data for 2012, 2013 and 2014. “It is clear that these errors are

the result of deliberate and systematic manipulation of data from a number of diffusion tubes,” said the audit report.

Additionally, phase two of the investigation included a review of planning applications where publications of revised air quality data may have affected decisions.

scheme in Cardiff for five years. Local authorities are able to do this in areas of housing pressure and that is certainly the case in Cardiff.

“Cardiff is one of the UK’s fastestgrowing cities and with over 8,000 people currently on the waiting list for social housing, we have to do everything we can to ensure we are providing good-quality housing for those most in need, both now and into the future.”

Thorne added that in 1985 the council had 23,000 homes, but now, largely through the Right to Buy, the current stock is in the region of 13,400 properties.

“This decision enables us to safeguard our much-needed housing provision for current and future generations.”

Findings indicate that applications in Nantwich, Congleton, Crewe, Holmes Chapel and Sandbach were affected.

Sean Hannaby, the council’s director of planning and sustainable development, said: “The planning service is currently analysing the relevant planning applications to assess whether any additional mitigation measures are required.”

He added that in July 2016 the then director of public health assured the council that no immediate health protection measures were needed as a result of the errors. “I have been assured this advice still stands.”

The air quality team has reviewed its processes and procedures and a number of quality control measures are in place.

Hannaby said: “Our council website now contains the correct data and supporting information and our annual status report for both 2016 and 2017 containing the accurate data will be submitted to Defra within the next few weeks.”

S EPTE MB ER 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER p10_11_news.indd 11

11

21/08/2017 09:40

ADVERTISEMENTS

Consultants { Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment Townscape Assessment

Planning our sustainable future

Birmingham Bristol Derby Exeter Glasgow London Warrington

Expert Witness, Public Inquires & Appeals Strategic Land Promotion Local Plan Representations Green Belt Assessment Sensitivity and Capacity Appraisals Minerals and Waste Development Urban Design, Public Realm and Masterplanning Regeneration and Renewal Heritage Landscapes and Restoration Landscape Design and Implementation Ecological Consultancy and BREEAM

Mark Flatman - mark.flatman@lizlake.com Head of Landscape Planning

Contact:

01279 647 044

Joanne Farrar +44(0) 0203 214 8889 Joanne.farrar@atkinsglobal.com

www.lizlake.com Stansted | Bristol | Nottingham

border

archaeology

http://www.atkinsglobal.com/urban-planning

THE BUSINESS MONTHLY FOR PLANNING PROFESSIONALS

archaeology & built heritage

}

TO ADVERTISE IN T H I S S EC T I O N : SINGLE BOX: 55MM HIGH X 90MM WIDE DOUBLE BOX VERTICAL: 113.5MM HIGH X 90MM WIDE DOUBLE BOX HORIZONTAL: 55MM HIGH X 184.5MM WIDE working throughout the UK

e: ask@borderarchaeology.com

t: 01568 610101

borderarchaeology.com

Contact Daniel Goodwin: Daniel Goodwin@redactive.co.uk 020 7880 6206

ISO 9001 | ISO 14001 | OHSAS 18001

12

T H E PL AN N E R \ S E PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

PLN Directory SEPT17.indd 12

17/08/2017 11:20

LEADER COMMENT

Opinionn A picture paints a thousand words – and more, perhaps, for planners – Ah yes, the halcyon days of April 2017. A happier time, imbued with a sense of hope and spring-time renewal, all played out to the steady drum of our strong and stable government, the Fixed-Term Parliament Act obliging it to stay on its firmly fixed course through to 2020. No ifs, no buts.

All changed when the prime minister decided a fresh mandate was in fact needed to ensure Brexit went swimmingly, and thus a general election was required. One of the many upshots of this decision was the loss of planning minister Gavin Barwell, a man we had only recently profiled in these pages.

I was reminded of Barwell when, last month, the people behind London’s infrastructure mapping application invited me in for a quick tour around their newly updated online

Martin Read mapping tool. It’s quite something. Anyone can access the tool, with which you can explore current and future infrastructure projects by turning layers of detail on and off as you require.

Whatever your interest, you can quite literally draw a picture of the activity on top of or adjacent to your proposal that can potentially influence the decisionmaking process. Utilities providers can work out what operational synergies they can take advantage of, while

builders can easily assess any infrastructure deficits that could stall development in future. It reminded me of Michael Batty, Bartlett Professor of Planning at University College London, and his demonstration at last year’s Lichfield lecture.

Digital mapping, it seems, is the tool of the moment.

Back in April, Gavin Barwell had mentioned how much another mapping application had impressed him, one which allowed the overlaying of local authority’s planning policies on to a detailed ONS map, thus allowing for the immediate identification of hundreds of small sites that were both

”WITH SO MUCH SURROUNDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAPPING TOOLS IT SEEMS LIKELY WE’LL LOOK BACK ON 2017 AS THE YEAR MAPPING APPLICATIONS REALLY TOOK OFF”

suitable for building on and consistent with the council’s planning policy. It would otherwise have taken an age driving around to identify such sites.

With so much activity surrounding the development of mapping tools it seems likely that we’ll look back on 2017 as the year mapping applications really took off. The upshot?

Hopefully more longer-term thinking, more sensible cross-boundary cooperation between differing but related authorities, and a more reliable and gradual assessment of what can and can’t be attempted.

Here at The Planner, our daily assessment of the latest appeal stories includes the use of Google Maps to fly straight into the streets and land in question. It’s amazing just how ubiquitous these tools can become before you realise that’s just what’s happened. In the case of mapping tools, here’s hoping they will add a positive new dimension to the planners’ decision-making toolset.

CONTACTS Redactive Publishing Ltd Level 5, 78 Chamber Street, London, E1 8BL, 020 7880 6200

Sub-editor Deborah Shrewsbury

ISSN 2053-7581 SUBSCRIPTIONS

Picture editor Claire Echavarry

£120 – UK £175 – Overseas

Designer Craig Bowyer EDITORIAL

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

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

Display sales 020 7880 6200 sales@theplanner.co.uk

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

Recruitment sales Emma Phillips – 020 7880 7556 Katy Eggleton – 07902 318067

Consultant editor Huw Morris

PRODUCT ION

Features editor Simon Wicks simon.wicks@theplanner.co.uk

Production manager Jane Easterman

Reporter Laura Edgar laura.edgar@theplanner.co.uk Content development executive Matt Moody

Senior production executive Aysha Miah-Edwards PUBLISHING Publishing director Joanna Marsh

RT P I C O N TA C T S

Average net circulation 19,072 (January-December 2014) © The Planner is published on behalf of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) by Redactive Publishing Ltd (RPL), 17 Britton St, London EC1M 5TP. This magazine aims to include a broad range of opinion about planning issues and articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the RTPI nor should such opinions be relied upon as statements of fact.

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

Membership membership@rtpi.org.uk 020 7929 9462 Education education@rtpi.org.uk 020 7929 9451 Planning Aid England advice@planningaid.rtpi.org.uk 41 Botolph Lane London EC3R 8DL Media enquiries Rebecca Hildreth rebecca.hildreth@rtpi.org.uk 020 7929 9477 The Planner is produced using paper that is elemental chlorine free and is sourced from sustainable managed forest.

S E PTEMB E R 2 0 1 7 / THE PLA NNER p13_Leader.indd 11

13

21/08/2017 14:59

CHRIS SHEPLEY

O Opinion No skirting around the issue – planners are woven from many strands My attention was drawn to a recent piece in our local paper. Headed “Don’t skirt the rules, school warns pupils”, it dealt with the thorny issue of the lengths of the skirts of pupils, usually girls, I think, though these days it is right not to make that assumption too readily. Clarity is supplied by the convenient provision of a snap of a schoolgirl wearing a skirt, so that the reader could readily grasp the burden of the argument.

This is a topic that regularly exercises the minds of reporters on local papers.

But this piece interested me because of the following instruction from the school: “The hem of the skirt should be no more than a planner’s width from the knee when the student is kneeling down”.1 I have hesitated to make further inquiries on this point.

I am not sure whether the school employs a planner for the purposes of measurement, nor whether having such a placement on one’s CV would be a career advantage. Since planners in my experience vary considerably in size, I guess that filling the post must have involved some delicate judgements. I am not myself looking for posts of this kind, no longer needing to inflate my considerable portfolio.

But being at the slimmer end of the spectrum, I might have found favour with parents understandably opposed to the extreme truncation of their daughters’ apparel. A more substantial planner might be best advised to eschew this opportunity.

The best use for most

14

“I HAVE HEARD IT RUMOURED THAT ONE OF OUR LARGER MEMBERS WAS EMPLOYED AS A BOUNCY CASTLE” planners is, of course, actual planning, which they accomplish with some distinction, but many other purposes can be found. I knew one who broke the British 3,000 metres indoor record.

And another who became one of the world’s leading opera singers. My Grotton friend Steve Ankers wrote a book about being married to a vet.

He found this rather easier than most of us would, being married to a vet himself.

My other Grotton friend, David Kaiserman, collects stamps. I’m not sure of the

T H E PL AN N E R \ SE PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p14_shepley_.indd 14

details but his collection, well known in national philatelic circles, seems to comprise British stamps from some very precise period in the thirties.

He let me see these once, and I was mightily impressed.

Admittedly they all looked the same to me, but he assured me that to an expert the minute but critical differences between them, when viewed through the Jodrell Bank telescope (which is not far from where he lives), were of vital importance. They are, I gather, very valuable indeed to those few other people with access to Jodrell Bank.

Other pursuits of which I am aware include the really rather useful one of being an MP (Helen Hayes), the slightly more prosaic writing of books about disused railways, playing the guitar in a band, being Malvolio, a croupier, a bartender, a pilot, a health

food vendor, a tour bus guide, and (as a result of bumping off a man to whom he owed money) a guest of Her Majesty.

I have heard it rumoured that one of our larger members was employed as a bouncy castle, though there is no photographic evidence.

Most of these activities are probably more useful and dignified than acting as a measuring device for the skirts of schoolgirls; but if one of our readers has adopted this as a sideline I wish him or her good fortune, and continued anonymity.

In other local news, readers may recall this column in June, when it commented on a consultation exercise relating to a cable car. Its promoters have commented that I should have mentioned that my wife is involved with the local residents’ association and I am happy to rectify that omission. However, the principle of the cable car was not supported by the majority of respondents to the consultation and the proposal is not being progressed.

1

Bath Chronicle 15 June 2017

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

21/08/2017 09:41

Quote unquote FROM THE RTPI AND THE WEB

“That it has taken aken th the he council to step just p in ju ust he tells you how severe tthe loss of gay spaces ces across London has become” PAUL FLYNN, A REGULAR AT THE JOINERS J UARDIAN ON THE ARMS, TALKING TO THE GUARDIAN N THE CAPITAL LOSS OF LGBT VENUES IN

“Battery storage is the missing puzzle piece which will allow us to maximise the potential of our worldbeating renewable energy resources”

“I accept that the Blues Brothers, as far as I am aware, have no historical association to Bedford”

EMMA PINCHBECK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT RENEWABLEUK

INSPECTOR D M YOUNG FROM PINS IN REPORT OF PLANNING APPEAL FOR A PAIR OF BLUES BROTHERS STATUES OUTSIDE A BEDFORD NIGHTSPOT

“There’s a lot of cogs. There’s a lot of red tape. It can be frustrating. But it definitely moves along if you put in the effort and the time and the commitment” STUART MACLURE, LONG LIVE SOUTHBANK

“The statistics speak for themselves - on average, a household in Scotland becomes homeless every 19 minutes” I M A G E S | I S T O C K / A L A M Y / E WA N M U N R O

p15_quoteunquote.indd 15

ALISON WATSON DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SHELTER SCOTLAND, ON THE CHARITY’S LATEST REPORT

“It wasn't until I started working at City Hall that I realised how gay it was here” AMY LAMÉ, LONDON'S NIGHT CZAR, EXTOLS THE CULTURAL VIRTUES OF THE CAPITAL

S EPTE MB ER 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER

15

21/08/2017 09:42

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

O Opinion

1

Wei Yang is founder of Wei Yang & Partners

The world deserves an impartial planning profession

United Nations N members have endorsed endors the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda (NUA). But neither is legally binding. If we are not careful, the failure to implement the 1996 Habitat Agenda adopted at Habitat II will happen again.

This time, it will be at a much greater cost to the globe.

Encouragingly, the importance of ‘urban planning and design’ is highlighted in the NUA, which recognises that planning can formulate medium and long-term objectives that reconcile a collective vision with the rational organisation of resources to achieve it. It is time that the planning profession takes a leadership role.

But is this just a theory? It is ever harder for planners’ independent longterm and strategic advice to be taken. In many countries, urban planning has been instrumentalised by politicians and developers. It has become a major issue that politicians come and go, and their short-sighted policies leave a mess behind. Planners seem to have become invisible to the public, while most of us have become government’s planning function officers or developer’s agents.

The birthplace of modern town and country planning, Britain is experiencing severe challenges to the core values of planning. The vacuum of a national spatial plan, abolition of regional plans and exclusion of ideas of social justice

from the purpose of planning in the NPPF are fundamental issues.

It is easy to forget that the art and science of modern planning was an invention not by government, but by people like Howard, Unwin, and others with social justice and the long-term vision of communities in their hearts.

The world deserves an impartial planning profession and Britain should take the lead. I see planners as doctors of our cities and towns: we can identify issues and potential, draw up long-term crosssector strategies, and create healthier communities.

Can we learn from other professions to invent a different planning system in which planners can keep a distance from politics and create policies for the long term and strategies for both the nation and local areas with key stakeholders? Once endorsed by the public, such strategies must not be changed by political shifts.

Howard once said: “I realised, as never before, the splendid possibilities of a new civilisation based on service to the community and not on self-interest, at present the dominant motive. Then I determined to take such a part as I could, however small it might be, in helping to bring a new civilisation into being.”

If his ‘small’ part was to create the garden city movement, what would stop us from regaining the impartial role of the planning profession now?

“IN MANY COUNTRIES, URBAN PLANNING HAS BEEN INSTRUMENTALISED

BY POLITICIANS AND DEVELOPERS”

16

2 BLOG

BLOG

Dan Jestico is director, sustainable development, for Iceni Projects

France’s ban on petrol and diesel engines could spark a revolution in the UK

In 23 ye years’ time every Thomas, Richárd et Henri could be driving electric vehicles, following the French government’s decision ban sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040. The UK followed suit three weeks later. These moves are the boldest steps taken to tackle road transport emissions while improving air quality.

Here, carbon dioxide emissions from transport are unchanged since 1990 and now make up the largest single source of UK CO2 emissions – and poor air quality accounts for 40,000 early deaths a year.

If the UK is to achieve its pledged 80 per cent cut in CO2 emissions by 2050, transport emissions will have to be cut.

These policy targets appear to be ambitious legislative stances, set out by proactive governments keen to tackle pollution. Or is the market going to get there first?

Only 0.6 per cent of new vehicle registrations in the EU in 2016 were for pure electric vehicles, but the market is growing rapidly.

And sales of diesel cars are falling. By 2040 it may be that the idea of banning fossil fuel cars will be extraneous.

Our cities will become more pleasant places to live. Reduced smog and traffic noise will mean we’re more willing to open windows to ventilate buildings instead of relying on air conditioning. Less heat rejected from buildings will reduce the

urban heat island effect.

But for this to happen we need serious investment in our electricity grid. The government has also announced a £246 million investment in battery technology. Along with adoption of electric vehicles and falling costs in photovoltaic panels, this means more people will be able to generate and store energy in their homes and cars.

With smart meters and demand-side response technologies, traditional consumers will become ‘prosumers’ – both producing and consuming electricity. This will cause significant disruption to the ‘big six’ energy suppliers: the nationwide electricity infrastructure still needs to be in place, but reduced consumption from centralised sources will mean fewer people paying for it.

The grid needs to become a lot smarter. None of this is as a result of government policy. It’s down to market forces and falling technology costs.

Electric vehicles will not solve congestion or our reliance on roads for transport, but as technology improves and infrastructure grows, barriers to entry in the electric vehicle market will fall. The UK and French targets may seem audacious in 2017, but by 2040 the notion of a petrol or diesel car may be met with Gallic shrugs on both sides of the Channel.

“BY 2040 IT MAY BE THAT THE IDEA OF BANNING FOSSIL FUEL CARS WILL BE EXTRANEOUS”

T H E P L AN N E R \ SE PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p16_17_blogs.indd 16

21/08/2017 09:45

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

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

3

Monica Lennon MSP MRTPI is a Labour Party member of the Scottish Parliament and a chartered town planner

World-class planning? Not at this rate, Scotland

Pledging to lead a country and make it the best place for children to grow up is a gutsy and bold commitment. It is a long-term project that must stand up to international scrutiny, and few would dare to make the claim in the first place. Except the Scottish Government has.

As an opposition MSP, I’m not afraid to say I share this ambition to make Scotland a more successful country in every sense.

The planner in me, however, needs to see a convincing ‘best in the world’ blueprint.

A planning bill at Holyrood later this year will put the placemaking prowess of Scottish ministers under the microscope.

Is Scotland on track to be the best of the best? The patriotic Scot in me would love to say “Aye!” But the evidence screams “No!” A world-class country needs a world-class planning system. You can’t achieve that by writing off planners.

Someone in the Scottish Government has to see sense and reverse the shrinking of the planning workforce.

What has been trailed so far appears underwhelming; a planning bill devoid of radical action on placemaking and no serious attempt to connect planning to the public health agenda.

Recent figures reveal that deaths by suicide or linked to

4 BLOG

BLOG

Prof Tony Crook CBE FRTPI is professor emeritus of town and regional planning at the University of Sheffield and a trustee of the RTPI

Why the built environment industries are better together

alcohol or drug harm increased in Scotland last year. And whether it’s mental health or housing or obesity, the term ‘crisis’ can be added without exaggeration.

Everything is screaming out for a life-changing approach.

Planning has to influence every strategy and spending plan. This calls for bold action and public health must be embedded in any shake-up of planning. But there’s no spotlight on the relationship between planning and health inequalities. That’s a travesty.

The Scottish Government is taking positions on what it won’t do. It is not keen on a rightsbased planning model where communities are equal to developers and has ruled out equal rights of appeal. SNP ministers swear by frontloading, but still too many people feel that planning is something that is done to them, rather than a process in which they have a real stake. For Scotland, the planning bill is a chance to engage with a growing planning democracy movement.

The nation of Patrick Geddes has puffed out its chest to the world and said “watch us become the best”. Planners in Scotland, don’t you feel it’s time to reclaim your place and bring your own placards to parliament? Ensure that Scotland has the planning system it desperately needs, not the one the Scottish Government is in danger of settling for.

“THERE’S NO SPOTLIGHT ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PLANNING AND HEALTH INEQUALITIES. THAT'S A TRAVESTY”

I was re recently elected deputy chairman of the Construction chairma Industry Council (CIC) and will Indus become its chair in June 2018.

CIC is the representative forum for all the built environment professions. Membership covers 42 professional institutes; CIC thus provides a single voice for 500,000 individual professionals and more than 25,000 firms of construction consultants.

I’m the first chartered planner in this role and I believe I can bring our profession’s knowledge, skills and experience to bear on the key issues facing all built environment professions, such as infrastructure investment, education and training, standards and regulation.

As planners, we look at issues in a cross-cutting and systemic way, both spatially and temporally. We examine how individual projects fit in best alongside others, looking at the impact they have on each other and over time. A key task is to ensure that planning policies and development management help ensure our built and natural environment nurtures competitive economies, socially cohesive communities and sustainable outcomes.

That is not to say that our colleagues in the other built environment professions ignore these issues; while each profession has its specific roles and responsibilities in designing constructing and managing the built environment, there is much

that we can do together.

This is where the voice of CIC can add to the individual voices of the professional bodies. By working collectively on these ‘cross-cutting’ issues, CIC can help ensure that our built environment is environmentally sustainable, inclusive, accessible.

Above all, it must be safe, something that the Grenfell Tower tragedy reminds us.

I look forward to working with colleagues across our professions.

The work being done to prepare CIC’s evidence to the judicial inquiry on Grenfell Tower shows how vital the linkages between our professions are and also that by ensuring we take a more systemic view of the environment we can do our best to ensure no such tragedies are repeated.

I grew up in the contracting and housebuilding industry. The family business was founded in 1843 and built houses in North Kensington and Buckinghamshire.

I didn’t follow my chartered surveyor father into the business but became a chartered planner, cutting my professional teeth in the GLC while also spending time as a Shelter volunteer campaigning for housing rights in North Kensington. Housing and building has been part of my life ever since, including when I moved to the University of Sheffield, where I was encouraged to play a role as a chair, trustee and non executive director of many national housing and regeneration organisations.

“AS PLANNERS, WE LOOK AT ISSUES IN A CROSS­ CUTTING AND SYSTEMIC WAY”

S EPTE MB ER 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER p16_17_blogs.indd 17

17

21/08/2017 09:46

S R A L L I P THE TY I F O MMUN O C SIMON WICKS AND STUART MACLURE ON HOW A COMMUNITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN LONDON HAS MASTERED THE PLANNING PROCESS TO LAUNCH A RADICAL RESTORATION

18

T H E PL AN N E R \ SE PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p18_22_Skaters.indd 18

21/08/2017 09:47

LO N G LI V E S O U T H B A N K

As skateboarder and film-maker George June 20th 2017 saw a landmark planning Toland puts it: “I don’t think they understood permission granted – marking the end of a why we didn’t want the replacement. If you determined campaign to save and restore don’t skate maybe you’re not going to one of London’s most visible cultural spaces. understand. But imagine if they knocked Though the design of London’s South Bank down Stonehenge and built some identical is admired by many as the apogee of post-war old looking rocks. It wouldn’t have history.”

Brutalist architecture, the use of one part of it Southbank’s skateboarders fought back has – to some people’s minds – straddled the once more, now with a formal campaign, boundary between use and nuisance.

Long Live Southbank. They published a book The Undercroft beneath Queen Elizabeth about the Undercroft; designed and sold Hall, completed in 1967, is regarded as the merchandise to raise funds; crucially, they home of British skateboarding and said to be collected more than 150,000 signatures the longest continually skated space in the opposing the redevelopment. world. It’s agreed that skateboarders first Guided by Paul Richards (creative director took to its geometric surfaces in 1973; of arts collective BrazenBunch and photographic evidence dates from 1976. facilitator/coordinator for Long Live By 1977 it was fast becoming home to Southbank), and with pro bono help from skateboarders and rollerbladers. They may planners and lawyers, the skateboarders have been uneasy bedfellows with learned how they could use the planning consumers of the higher arts in the buildings system to their advantage. that enclose the Southbank Incredibly, they succeeded in Undercroft, but their presence “IMAGINE having the Undercroft declared an was testimony to the IF THEY Asset of Community Value. The case subversive spirit that KNOCKED DOWN for protection was strengthened by underpinned the design of the STONEHENGE drawing on Heritage Lottery Fund South Bank’s exterior spaces.

AND BUILT SOME Conservation Management Its London City Council IDENTICAL OLD­ Planning guidance, English Heritage architects were leading lights LOOKING ROCKS. Conservation Principles and in the Archigram movement, IT WOULDN'T London Plan heritage policies. Even whose vision of the modern HAVE THE SAME the Mayor of London spoke up for city was fuelled by a liberating HISTORY” skating at the Undercroft. sense of architecture as an In 2014, the planning application exploration of mobility, was withdrawn and Long Live technology, consumerism and Southbank signed a deal with the the glamour of the future.

Southbank Centre, Lambeth The Greater London Council Council and Arts Council England supported use of the that guarantees the future of the space.

Undercroft for skateboarding. But when the Emboldened, the skateboarders wondered GLC was abolished in 1986 and management what else they could achieve. Could they taken over by the Southbank Centre and the possibly reclaim and restore the lost space, Arts Council, a lengthy campaign to expel now hidden behind hoardings? the skateboarders got under way.

So began a second campaign which has But the skaters, graffiti artists and BMXers engaged young people even more deeply in persisted, with onsite ‘jams’ and protests. By research, design, and negotiation. With the early 2000s there was a tense détente. unexpected professionalism, they got the Then, in 2004, the Southbank Centre closed Southbank Centre to the table to work up a off two-thirds of the Undercroft for storage joint planning application. and office space for staff displaced by the The plan will bring as much of the space refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall. back into use as possible and restore it as They promised that the hoardings would closely to its original design as feasible. It will come down within 18 months. They did not. also provide a young people’s centre to be In March 2013, the Centre proposed a £120 run by the Southbank Centre. It was passed million redevelopment of its ‘Festival Wing’ in June, with not a single objection. that would turn the Undercroft into Now the fundraising begins. The estimated restaurants and coffee shops. It offered the restoration cost of the Undercroft, features of skaters a purpose-built skatepark beneath which have been damaged or removed, is nearby Hungerford Bridge. £790,000. It’s a huge ambition. But the But this missed the point; the attraction of skaters of Southbank have already shown the Undercroft is in its being a ‘found’ space they are more than ready to face a challenge. and not designed for skateboarding.

I M A G E | N I C K C O N S TA N T

p18_22_Skaters.indd 19

S E PTEMB E R 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER

19

21/08/2017 09:52

P O RT R A I T | S T UA RT M AC LU R E

Louis Woodhead, 22 Louis, from Forest Hill, has perhaps been the most prominent of the skateboarders fronting the campaign. Involved in LLSB since 2013, he has skated Southbank since his early teens “We spent a lot of time getting our proposal very well grounded in fact and making sure we had a strong case. We wrote a series of reports that we gave to the Southbank Centre and they invited us in to speak to them.

“We established the exact space in question, how long each element of the Undercroft had been skated and got exact dates for when spaces were closed.

“We put forward a positive case. We’ve

got a community here that's incredibly well rooted in its space and has incredible creative potential because the space itself has got this.

“But this space isn’t as big as it always has been, and we know it can be even stronger as a space and as an organic community that congeals together around that space – and all the things that come out of this with regard to career prospects, such as film, photography and media, art and design.

“The international element was really strong for me, too..

People follow us from the USA and we’ve got people coming from Japan to skate.

“That brings huge positivity to the community. Imagine a young person from the inner city of London. Without a space like that they wouldn't necessarily be exposed to positive internationalism like that. It broadens people’s minds a bit.

“I’ve spent a huge amount of time at Southbank over the last five years. My closest friends have come from there, a lot of the moments I treasure.

It’s very important. I feel London should be doing an awful lot more to embrace creativity in a real way and an uncontrolled way.

When I say that, I mean in a freer way.”

Ed Sano-Davies, 26 Ed is finishing a master’s degree in environmental design and engineering.

Aside from working on merchandise sales, he’s played a role in challenging assumptions relating to the planning and design process “One of my modules was designing space for sound. My tutor told me to choose a space in London and come up with an acoustic intervention.

I thought ‘What can I do on skateboarding?’

The big issue is noise complaints.

“Basically I designed a velvet membrane to be suspended along the path the skaters follow.

Actually it would work.

Although it hasn’t been

18

T H E PL AN N E R \ A U G U ST 2 0 1 7

p18_22_Skaters.indd 20

incorporated into the final plans, we used my model of the space to send off to 3D printers to have a 3D model of the space to use as a visual aid for meetings with the Southbank Centre.

“I think they (the Southbank Centre) are a lot more conscious in the way they approach us now than before.

Paul has earned us a lot more authority. Before, they were making decisions on things without consulting us.

“Towards the end we had a delay with the flood risk assessment.

The first one was done using old flood level data from the Environment Agency and the EA requested we update it. The

Southbank Centre said they were going to use this company and it’s going to cost x. We said ‘Hang on I’m sure we can find someone who'll do it for free.’

And we did.”

“When I first came to Southbank there was a sense of coming somewhere special.

I was happy just to watch and see what it was about. I had some friends visit from Tokyo. The first day the first thing they wanted to do was go to Southbank because it’s world renowned.

The space has so much heritage within skateboarding “This is a once-in-alifetime opportunity.

It’s been quite an achievement.”

P O R T R A I T S | B E N S T E WA R T

21/08/2017 09:53

LO N G LI V E S O U T H B A N K Stuart Maclure, 23

Southbank timeline

Stuart, a planning graduate who wrote his dissertation about the Southbank skateboarders, has been working with the campaign for two years and has contributed to the proposals and their evaluation “I’m really interested in the way people engage with cities and how you engage with space because it’s intrinsic in a skateboarder’s mind.

Every skateboarder will look at a city differently from a regular pedestrian.

“Some things happen by accident. You can say Southbank happened by accident, but Denis Crompton (LCC architect and Archigram founder) and his team, they thought about that.

A lot of this hasn’t happened by accident.

“It’s the epicentre of UK skateboarding.

It’s hugely important for the London skate scene. You recognise it immediately in photography. Every skateboarder you meet around the world

knows Southbank.

“Skateboarders, the graffiti community, BMXers – they like being left to their own devices. A lot of people underestimated their capability. And it’s really great to see the progress and the positivity.

“Once it was saved and LLSB was more established, the thinking was ‘What else can be done?’ So we decided to try to get the whole space restored. We thought of this great restoration project that would almost double the space and we started working on it. We worked with Historic England on this new phrase – ‘reclaration’.

It’s a cross between reclaiming space and restoring it.

“Some of the alteration behind the hoarding has been structural change. Some of it we just couldn’t get back. So there was a certain degree of compromise. But that’s something we learned about the planning process.

“There’s a lot of

“THERE WAS A CERTAIN DEGREE OF COMPROMISE. BUT THAT'S SOMETHING WE LEARNED ABOUT THE PLANNING PROCESS”

moving parts. There’s a lot of cogs. There’s a lot of red tape. And a lot of really interesting people. It’s challenging.

It can be slow. It can be frustrating. But it definitely moves along if you put in the effort and time and commitment and are willing to meet up with people.”

1572:

1967:

1976:

With theatres established along the South Bank, the cultural legacy of the area is under way, with creative freedom booming

Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room open, including Undercroft walkway

First photo capturing skateboarders using the Undercroft

1951: Festival of Britain.

South Bank complex begins

GETT

Y

1973:

1988:

First recorded use of the Southbank Undercroft by skateboarders

‘Smell of death’ jam held at Southbank, bringing the Undercroft community together

S E PTEMB E R 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER p18_22_Skaters.indd 21

21

21/08/2017 09:55

LO N G LI V E S O U T H B A N K

Why is Southbank special?

2004: ‘Moving Units’ project begins, adding skateable objects to the Undercroft space

2004: Southbank Undercroft space reduced and temporary hoardings erected

I M A G E | N I C K C O N S TA N T

“It wasn’t made for skating. That’s why everyone loves it,” he stresses. “Trying to make a purposebuilt replacement takes away from what Southbank is – a natural skate park.

“It’s one of those places you have to go as a skateboarder, especially in London. It looks so interesting, the architecture and everything about it. The walls are just layers of paint. All the lines are really tight – it’s all straight lines, which you don’t really get with a lot of other places. It’s really smooth. It sounds so good – the noise of the wheels on the paving slabs.”

“IT'S THE PILLARS, THAT'S WHAT'S ICONIC ABOUT SOUTHBANK. EVERYONE ACROSS THE GLOBE RECOGNISES THAT PILLAR”

The campaign

The famous Southbank Undercroft offers a walkthrough beneath the experimental, Brutalist buildings that make up the South Bank complex.

It’s formed by large structural octagonal reinforced concrete pillars, supporting the structure overhead. The sides of the Undercroft were open, but much has now been closed.

The complex was designed by some of the most daring architectural thinkers of the 1960s – including Ron Herron and Warren Chalk. The Undercroft itself was designed by young architects working with London County Council who, through the Archigram movement, dominated UK architecture's avant garde.

Critically, Archigram’s approach to design was fun, with a belief that urban architecture needed to reflect the mobility, liberating potential and social complexity of the modern city.

As a ‘found’ space discovered by skateboarders, the Undercroft fulfils this vision. It’s been drawing skateboarders since 1973 and has become the heart of British skateboarding and one of the world’s most important skating spots.

“I’m in love with this building,” says Savannah Keenan, 19, a skateboarder, sports model and student of fashion PR. “It’s the pillars, that’s what’s iconic about Southbank and what we have as our logo. Everyone across the globe recognises that pillar.”

“I always complain about it to my friends,” she continues. “It’s slippy and it smells. It’s not that glamorous, but it’s Southbank so it’s special.”

Skating since 14, Savannah describes its appeal as “the lack of rules. It’s the freedom. With judo, for example, you had to be at this class at a certain time and work with a team. With skating you could get to it wherever you want to.”

Skateboarding film-maker George Toland, 21, notes that it’s the imperfections of Southbank that make it so special.

Long Live Southbank, in partnership with the Southbank Centre, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to restore the Southbank Undercroft for skateboarding, graffiti and other free creative activities.

Donate: www.llsbdonate.com.

Volunteering/fundraising: hello@llsb.com.

Info: www.llsb.com Restoration proposal, with history of the Undercroft and LLSB (pdf): bit.ly/planner0917-undercroft

2013:

2016:

Long Live Southbank (LLSB) established after Festival Wing plans submitted

LLSB and South-bank Centre form a partnership and joint project team

2014:

GETT

Y

LLSB successfully saves the Undercroft space

22

T H E PL AN N E R \ S E PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p18_22_Skaters.indd 22

2017:

LONG LIVE SOUTH BANK.

LLSB launches campaign to restore Undercroft and build a young people’s centre to grow capacity for free creative use

P O R T R A I T S | B E N S T E WA R T / M A R K K E N D R I C K

21/08/2017 09:57

Planning for Sustainable Development Prof Peter Head CBE FREng FRSA The Nathaniel Lichfield Annual Lecture 8 November, 6.30pm UCL, London WC1

Tickets: £15 including VAT The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception

Book now www.rtpi.org.uk/NLL

Supported by:

@RTPIPlanners RoyalTownPlanningInstitute @rtpiplanners

p31_PLN.SEPT17.indd 2

17/08/2017 11:24

I N T E R V I E W : C O M M U N I T Y B U I LD I N G

24

T H E P L AN N E R \ SE PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p24_27_interview_.indd 24

21/08/2017 10:05

NAKED TRUTH WHEN PLANNERS TURN DEVELOPERS, THEY DO SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT FROM THE NORM, AS FRANCESCA PERRY DISCOVERS

A

s prices continue to rise rapidly – and market: young people who want to own an wages don’t – so the no-frills affordable home and shape it according to their industry booms; stripping back own tastes and needs.” services like air travel or Double and Bagenal – with friends Simon supermarket shopping to absolute Chouffot and Harry Dwyer – founded Naked basics in order to remain affordable.

House in part out of frustration at their inability But now the idea has spread to housing: to own a home in the city, and at the type of the skeleton homes provided by non-profit ‘affordable’ housing being built. developer Naked House Community Builders Their significant experience in the planning have no partition walls, flooring, wall finishes or and regeneration sectors meant they were better decorative features. On the other hand, they are equipped than most to navigate the tricky waters selling (at least in their current development) for of non-profit property development. Both had 40 per cent less than standard new builds. Is this studied urban planning: Double worked as a the easyJet of housing? planning consultant and urban designer and Established in 2013, Naked House hit the Bagenal was a planning adviser to CABE before headlines after London mayor Sadiq Khan managing housing estate regeneration projects announced in May that he would be granting for a local authority. £500,000 to its current project in Enfield. The “We know the system, so we have an idea North London development consists of 22 homes about how it can be improved,” explains Double. across three sites, ranging from one-bedroom flats “We’re able to talk the right language and we to family-sized terraced houses, which on average know the relevant planning policy – and are 15 per cent cheaper to build than standard new obligations – when communicating with local homes because of their stripped-back design. authorities. It means we can push back and work To some, the idea of buying a shell home may in a more collaborative way. We realised the sound laughable, but this is no gimmick: the biggest obstacle was the finance structure and Naked House model is a response to the capital’s land ownership, rather than the design.” housing crisis from four young residents – two of “Development funding was the biggest whom, Neil Double and Rachel Bagenal, are challenge,” agrees Bagenal. “As a new player, we trained planners. are riskier than others, so accessing “People in their 20s and 30s in affordable loan funding is difficult.

“WE KNOW THE London have grown up in a housing But my background gave me an SYSTEM, SO crisis; we have a desire to try and do understanding of how the industry WE HAVE AN something differently, and better,” works, meaning that I was able to IDEA ABOUT says Double. “We know our product work within the system to find ways HOW IT CAN BE isn’t for everyone, but we still feel it to improve things. The Naked House IMPROVED” responds to a significant part of the model evolved directly from my own I M AG E S | JON E N O C H

p24_27_interview_.indd 25

S E PTEMB E R 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER

25

21/08/2017 10:07

I N T E R V I E W : C O M M U N I T Y B U I LD I N G

professional and personal exasperations with mainstream housing products.”

Aiming for diversity As Naked House sees it, much current property development is a speculative numbers game only focused on one section of the market.

“The development industry is pumping out units that don’t relate to what people want,” says Double. “But we want to bring people in at an early stage, and tailor our model for them.”

“The lack of variety in housing developers and products is a big issue,” adds Bagenal. “The market is dominated by a small number of large developers who are mostly driven by profit, and prefer to stick to standard dwelling types that they know will sell. We need more diversity across the board.”

Naked House is not alone. While housing associations have long been building more affordable homes as an alternative to the property market, the UK is seeing the rise of community-led housing in the form of co-ops and Community Land Trusts (CLTs), developing neighbourhoods of housing where management structures ensure that homes stay affordable. Over the past seven years the number of CLTs in England and Wales has grown from 36 to 225.

Although by definition a bottom-up approach to housing delivery, it’s increasingly a model gaining political weight, with Khan and his predecessor Boris Johnson recognising the need to support such schemes in the capital, and the government last year announcing a

£300 million Community Housing Fund to support CLTs. Naked House aims to establish a type of CLT model to ensure that homes can’t be sold for a massive profit, but Double admits it won’t be as radical as some CLTs, which anchor prices to local income.

“We’re a middle ground – but we’re tapping into the self-build culture. We want to get people to be more active participants in making a home.”

The Enfield homes should sell for between £150,000 and £350,000, while the average house price in London is £580,000. They will be sited on derelict land home to council estate garages and car parks, and the idea is that Enfield council, which would receive ground rent from house buyers, would retain the freehold. A resale covenant in the lease will keep the homes affordable in perpetuity.

But since this interview took place the government has begun a consultation into whether developers should be stopped from selling new houses with leasehold, rather than freehold, ownership. When asked how this was affecting Naked House’s schemes, Bagenal said: “We are in touch with DCLG about the new legislation and are submitting a response to the consultation.

We are optimistic that there will be an exemption for affordable/community-led schemes that aren’t abusing the leasehold model. So for us it’s business as usual.”

Work is expected to begin on the OMMX Architects-designed homes next year, with residents moving in by 2020, subject to planning consent. If the scheme is successful, Naked House wants

Non-profit developers Other alternative, non-profit housing developers in the UK include: East London Community Land Trust, London’s first CLT, is creating 24 homes on GLA-owned land in Mile End selling for less than half the market rate, and which will remain permanently affordable by being linked to local income. The homes are part of a wider

26

T H E PL AN N E R \ S E PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p24_27_interview_.indd 26

development delivered by Linden Homes, but former mayor Boris Johnson ensured that Linden worked with the CLT in order to deliver genuinely affordable housing.

LILAC (Low Impact Living Affordable Community) is a co-operative scheme of 20 homes in Leeds designed as co-housing and made from local straw

I M AG E S | JON E N O C H

21/08/2017 10:08

to roll the model out to other local authorities in London. But considering that it took 18 months of collaboration for the non-profit to agree terms with Enfield, I ask whether they are hopeful about repeating the process. “Well, there are some progressive councils more open to the approach,” says Double.

Beyond silos Herein lies the crux: these alternative, affordable models of housing development are usually only possible with buy-in from local authorities. For Naked House, it was “a slog and a struggle” to secure land.

Not equipped with the kind of capital to purchase land on the open market, and not wishing to do so in order for the affordable housing to be viable, nonprofit developers often need to focus on negotiating leasehold with local councils and appeal to their legal planning obligation of “best consideration”. It is planners, they believe, that hold the key.

Double says: “Planners shouldn’t just fall back on rules and regulations; they should be ambitious, proactive, work with innovative housing developers and overcome barriers together.”

Bagenal adds:“I think more planners, urban designers and architects should become developers. Bringing a different skill set and outlook could really improve the industry. It is brilliant to be in a position where you can genuinely shape a project from the start, rather than simply reacting to it or influencing from a distance.”

Naked House’s founders don’t describe themselves as planners or developers – but it is precisely this blurring of boundaries that is their goal. “We all need

to be environmentally friendly. Opened in 2012, the project was enabled through the establishment of a Mutual Home Ownership Society, an equity-based leaseholder scheme, ensuring that the cost of the homes remains affordable for future generations.

The Rural Urban Synthesis Society (RUSS) is a volunteer-led CLT based in

to get involved in the built environment and break out of our silos,” he adds. “We should work collectively to change the status quo.”

The Enfield project may deliver affordable housing for London’s young people, but it is a lot of work and negotiation for only 22 homes while England needs to build 300,000 homes a year. But non-profit developers like Naked House are part of a growing movement that aims to prioritise community need in a way that for-profit developers simply do not. And these models of affordable and alternative housing are multiplying.

The small-scale, piecemeal approach to housing development is a vital part of providing enough homes. The government’s white paper on housing acknowledged the role of the SME housebuilding sector in tackling the housing crisis. Planning authorities then have a responsibility to support and enable these SME developers, but as the UK’s planning departments have seen cuts of 46 per cent since 2010, the situation is strained.

“We need to start earmarking land for alternative housing,” says Double. “It’s in planners’ power to do that.”

Public planning has the ability to champion such models, but it can only be done with the support of a national planning policy framework that enables such initiatives while stopping larger developers landbanking and skimping on affordable housing quotas. If this crisis is to be eased, it is time, as the founders of Naked House say, to work collectively.

“I THINK MORE PLANNERS, URBAN DESIGNERS AND ARCHITECTS SHOULD BECOME DEVELOPERS”

South London, founded in 2009 with the aim of creating sustainable neighbourhoods and permanently affordable homes managed by residents.

RUSS’s first project is a scheme of 33 new homes in Ladywell, Lewisham.

It is planned to start construction in January 2018, and offers self-build opportunities for local people.

S E PTEMB E R 2 0 1 7 / THE PLA NNER p24_27_interview_.indd 27

27

21/08/2017 10:11

P L A N N I N G E N FO R C E M E N T

NO HIDING PLACE IT WAS ONCE A TOOL FOR TACKLING DRUG DEALERS AND GANGLAND BOSSES – NOW PLANNING ENFORCEMENT TEAMS ARE USING CONFISCATION ORDERS UNDER PROCEEDS OF CRIME LEGISLATION. HUW MORRIS REPORTS ON HOW THEY ARE SECURING MILLIONS OF POUNDS

I

t started with an anonymous tipoff. This led to the discovery of illegal bedsits that would not have been out of place in the Third World. It would ultimately result in a massive payout, some of which will be reinvested to tackle criminality.

When London Borough of Barking and Dagenham planning enforcement officers raided the property at Longbridge Road, they discovered a 37ft extension comprising four flats in filthy conditions. These were rented out

by Zoofshan Malik through Emerson Knight Estates, of which she was a director.

Snaresbrook Crown Court ordered Malik, of Upney Lane, Barking, to pay a £220,000 confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 after the council argued that she had benefited from her offending following an earlier hearing on the illegal extension.

28

The court took into account Malik’s criminal lifestyle, which was uncovered as a result of the investigation. This included rental income from the illegal extension of around £108,000. The remainder was made up of numerous unidentifiable cash deposits made into Malik’s accounts. Some of this was income from her partner’s businesses that had been directed through her accounts to avoid tax. Barking and Dagenham claimed 37.5 per cent of the pay out. The extension has now been demolished.

“This illegal extension and filthy flats would not have looked out of place in a Rio slum,” said cabinet member for community safety and enforcement Laila Butt. “What makes matters worse is her connection to the estate agency – she knew the law and was intentionally exploiting people who find it hard enough to find property to rent at affordable prices.”

Meanwhile, in North London, Amir Golesorkhi turned his garage into two small substandard flats that he rented out for seven years while he lived in the main house in Ridge Close, Colindale. London Borough of Brent planning enforcement and trading standards officers

T H E PL AN N E R \ SE PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p28-31 poca feature.indd 28

21/08/2017 10:13

E R A S D R N E A D , R S O E ED TO N N I O F I T N A L A C T H I S T T I “CONFLY HIGHERIES ARE EN” E L T G A I A R R T E O N GEN NG AUTH PERCE A I N P N E A E K PL

S EPTE MB ER 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER p28-31 poca feature.indd 29

29

21/08/2017 10:13

P L A N N I N G E N FO R C E M E N T

described the flats as “not particularly nice places to live, especially as access was down a narrow, overshadowed alley via a side door”.

Harrow Crown Court found Golesorkhi guilty of breaching a planning enforcement notice served by Brent in April 2008. In spite of the notice, he continued to house tenants inside the flats until late 2016. He was fined £12,000 but ordered to pay £161,141 in confiscation proceedings.

“Housing tenants in poor conditions is unacceptable and rogue landlords will pay heavily out of their pockets if they do so,” said Brent’s cabinet member for housing and welfare reform Harbi Farah. “Overcrowding, poor safety in the home, micro flats and

DEL BASSO AND GOODWIN V R

The leading case in the field, Del Basso and Goodwin v R, has encouraged POCA proceedings across the country.

Del Basso’s company rented out land to Bishop’s Stortford Football Club. Conditional planning permission had been secured for the land to be used for car parking on match days but an application for a park-and-ride scheme was turned down. Part of the land was then used as a park-and-ride facility for Stansted Airport.

Del Basso failed to comply with an enforcement notice by East Herts District Council requiring an end to this operation.

The park and ride scheme continued despite the local authority’s successful legal proceedings. A second prosecution was launched and the defendants pleaded guilty.

POCA proceedings were then launched against Del Basso and his business partner because income from the park-and-ride scheme was paid into their bank accounts and was deemed a financial benefit.

In the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Leveson quoted with approval comments by Judge Michael Baker at an earlier hearing. “Those who choose to run operations in disregard of planning enforcement requirements are at risk of having the gross receipts of their illegal businesses confiscated. This may greatly exceed their personal profits. In this respect they are in the same position as thieves, fraudsters and drug dealers.”

Del Basso received a confiscation order of £760,000. The case showed that the purpose of a confiscation order is to deprive defendants of the product of their crime and not to operate as a fine.

30

unlicensed properties are issues that we take very seriously.”

The rise of POCA These are just two examples of an increasing trend of planning enforcement teams using the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA.) The act is usually associated with drug dealers, money launderers and gangland bosses. Now it is a very effective tool for tackling planning breaches while boosting cash-strapped authorities’ enforcement budgets.

“Local authorities are becoming more aware of the potential to financially penalise those who intentionally breach planning rules for profit,” says Neil Whittaker, a member of the RTPI’s National Association for Planning Enforcement management committee. “It is commonly felt throughout the enforcement community that court fines are generally far lower than they should be for planning offences and are often less than the profit made by the individual, which in no way acts as a disincentive to those looking to profit from planning breaches.”

So what are the advantages of using POCA? Under the Home Office’s Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS), 50 per cent of any paid confiscation order goes to the government and the remaining 50 per cent is divided between the court – which receives 12.5 per cent – while the prosecuting authority and investigating authority each get 18.75 per cent.

That means a council acting as both prosecutor and investigator can gain 37.5 per cent.

Although not all POCA cases are high profile, a cursory glance at the figures shows that planning enforcement departments across the country can reap millions of pounds by following the proceedings. “The more councils do it, the more interest it generates from other councils,” says

“THIS ILLEGAL EXTENSION AND FILTHY FLATS WOULD NOT HAVE LOOKED OUT OF PLACE IN A RIO SLUM”

T H E PL AN N E R \ SE PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p28-31 poca feature.indd 30

21/08/2017 14:25

P L A N N I N G E N FO R C E M E N T

Ivy Legal partner Izindi Visage. “It acts as a disincentive for would-be offenders and incentivises local authorities to prosecute offenders.”

The turning point came with the Del Basso case in 2010 (see box), which established the principles of applying POCA in the planning sphere, although Estelle Dehon of Cornerstone Barristers points to a significant rise in its use since 2016.

She cites Brent obtaining a confiscation order of £555,000 against a landlord who unlawfully converted a house into nine flats. Mid-Sussex District Council obtained a £34,000 confiscation order against two men operating an unlawful parking operation at Gatwick. Westminster City Council secured more than £300,000 from the unlawful conversion of buildings to cramped flats. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council obtained more than £132,000 against an individual who built holiday homes without planning permission. Meanwhile, the London Borough of Hillingdon obtained a £140,000 order against a landlord who converted her house into flats without permission.

“More authorities are building up expertise in

preparing for and obtaining confiscating orders, particularly in conducting the requisite financial investigations,” says Dehon.

“There is a significant financial incentive, as confiscation orders are generally much higher than fines, and planning authorities are entitled to keep a percentage of the amount confiscated.”

Since the Del Basso case, POCA has continued to grow within planning enforcement as word spreads of its powers, says Whittaker.

“The use of POCA will continue to increase as local authorities realise the full potential of the powers available to them to penalise those who continually profit illegally from their planning breaches,” he adds. “It has the potential to add significant resources to historically underfunded planning enforcement services.”

Get wise to POCA ‘POCA in planning enforcement’ is a oneday course run by the RTPI in London on 20 September. Course leaders include Izindi Visage, Estelle Dehon and Scott Stemp. bit.ly/planner0917-poca

POCA: How it works POCA applies where a defendant has benefited from criminal conduct of sufficient value. Confiscation proceedings start with the successful prosecution in either a magistrates’ or crown court for failing to comply with an enforcement notice.

According to Estelle Dehon of Cornerstone Barristers, a benefit can be an increase in the capital value of a property attributable to criminal conduct – for example, an increase in value of a listed building from unconsented work; a sum saved from criminal conduct – lower cost of advertising because of lack of compliance with regulations; or obtaining direct income because of the breach – higher rent generated by unauthorised flats.

“The planning authority will usually appoint an accredited financial investigator to determine what benefit may have been obtained and what the recoverable amount may be,” she says. “Although confiscation orders are obtained on the civil standard of proof, a financial investigator is usually crucial to a successful application under POCA.” Scott Stemp of No5 Chambers says confiscation works by assessing the value of an individual’s benefit from criminal offending – both the identifiable benefits from the offence prosecuted plus other benefits which come from unidentified sources – these are usually “deemed” to be criminal

proceeds unless the defendant can prove otherwise.

“Having assessed how much benefit a defendant has had, you then assess what assets are available to the defendant,” he adds. “This can include any asset they hold or have an interest in, or anything they’ve tried to hide their ownership of – for example, by giving it away or putting it in the name of a family member or spouse. It doesn’t matter whether it’s related to the criminal offence or not.

“The court will then order payment of as much as the defendant can afford up to the value of the criminal benefit. That amount has to be paid within three months or the defendant can go to prison. When they come out, they are still liable to pay the order.”

Criminal conduct is any offence for which the defendant was found guilty. A “criminal lifestyle” is established under POCA when an offence has been committed for at least six months. Dehon adds: “If this is shown, it makes recovery more likely as it triggers very serious assumptions against the defendant, including that all the property the defendant has received in the six years prior to the date proceedings were started, and any property he owns at the date of conviction, were obtained as a result of his ‘general criminal conduct’. Property includes both money and real assets.”

S E PTEMB E R 2 0 1 7 / THE PLA NNER p28-31 poca feature.indd 31

31

21/08/2017 10:16

C A S E S T U D Y – I N T E R N AT I O N A L

2017

CASE ST UDY

FROM BROWN TO GREEN AWARDS: RTPI INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR PLANNING EXCELLENCE PROJECT NAME: HUNG SHUI KIU NEW DEVELOPMENT AREA PLAN KEY PLAYERS: HONG KONG GOVERNMENT; URBIS

BY M A R K S M U L I A N

Hong Kong’s Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area Plan shows how a sustainable new town can be designed in a part of the world noted both for its population density and its scarcity of available land.

The plan has also received accolades from government and planning officials, having also been awarded the highest honour by the Hong Kong Institute of Planners.

Land for new homes is at a premium – the territory has 2,754 square kilometres for a population of 7.347 million – so Hong Kong has too often built vast housing estates remote from workplaces.

This also too often means long commutes, which creates traffic congestion, meaning that older housing is torn down with concomitant meagre provision of amenities for residents of the new homes.

Planners working on Hung Shui Kiu set out to avoid these pitfalls and provide a new model of how developments in Hong Kong might proceed – the territory will need 9,000 hectares of land in the next three decades to ensure a fair living environment for future generations. The ultimate aim is to increase the average person’s living space from the current 170

32

square feet to 270 sq ft to put it on a par with that of Singapore.

The planners’ main focus here, though, was on how to turn a vast brownfield site into a new town.

The scheme also incorporated sustainability features, both in green transport and water conservation. And while such elements might be familiar elsewhere, they are innovatory in Hong Kong.

THE PLAN Hung Shui Kiu lies in the western part of the New Territories of Hong Kong and in 2003 it was designated for a potential new town. However, it posed formidable logistical problems.

Plans for the 190 hectares site proposed homes for about 218,000 residents in 61,000 flats – 51 per cent would be public housing, a proportion above the Hong Kong average. Planners were set the unusual brief of retaining a traditional low-rise ancestral village and allowing villagers to return to visit its site.

As part of the project, a major distributor road has to be relocated to provide an additional five hectares of land for 10,000

“AN EXEMPLAR OF INCLUSIVE PLANNING OTHERS CAN LEARN FROM” residents. It’s a town intended to become a regional economic hub, with space for commercial and industrial uses to create 150,000 jobs. Some of the industries already using the site have been relocated to industrial zones elsewhere.

Efforts were made to minimise the impact of the new development on existing villages, but some 1,600 households will be affected and a local rehousing site has been reserved for those residents, and compensation plans are being pursued.

THE PROCESS Construction is set to take place between 2020 and 2035. To date, Hong Kong-based planning firm Urbis has led the work, using planning, urban design, engineering and environmental expertise in its design for Hung Shui Kiu as a sustainable and

T H E P L AN N E R \ S E PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p32_33_case study_INTER.indd 32

21/08/2017 10:17

If successful, Hung Shui Kiu could point the way for future city development in Hong Kong

Rainwater harvesting – also not yet widely used in Hong Kong – will be used to collect water for irrigation and toilet flushing.

Hung Shui Kiu will, together with adjacent communities in the wider north-west of the New Territories as a whole, form a major new development cluster using the approach pioneered in this plan of integrating existing villages with new housing served by a network of open spaces, public transport and watercourses.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

desirable place to live, work, play and do business.

The planning team adopted a number of approaches considered radical in Hong Kong, where land is scarce and there is consequently tremendous pressure to develop as densely as possible.

The territory has a crisis of housing affordability, which has led to the construction of new housing developments on such available sites as can be found, often entailing long journeys to work.

Hung Shui Kiu, though, has been designed with sufficient employment opportunities to overcome this problem.

This meant that not all the site was used for housing but that it was developed for mixed uses – also something of a departure for Hong Kong.

Another departure from normal practice has been to structure the development around existing villages, natural features and the numerous local watercourses, integrating them into an urban environment in balance with nature and culture.

The new town is served by green transport options including a light rail service, pedestrian walkways and, naturally, cycle

W H A T T H E J U D G E S S AY Nick Raynsford, chair of the judging panel, said: “We were impressed by how the planners integrated public transport, a high level of affordable housing, employment space, community needs and green spaces on the site. This new town project is strategically located on land identified in the wider strategic plan for Hong Kong, reinforcing the effectiveness of a plan-led approach. Rather uniquely, and importantly, they have retained an ancestral village and have ensured the original occupants can continue to live there – an exemplar of inclusive planning others can learn from.”

tracks between development clusters.

A water management and sustainable drainage system has been included with the Tin Shui Wai River, with other smaller watercourses restored to create habitats for wildlife.

A flood retention lake regulates stormwater and provides a recreational amenity.

The Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area Plan has been well received across the board, from residents of existing villages to the Hong Kong government and private sector stakeholders.

The planning team invited the public to take part in an engagement process to inform the development – yet again a relatively unusual approach.

Feedback showed that preservation and integration of ancestral village settlements would be an important issue for residents and also that public markets should be included.

Following the consultation, a number of measures have been enshrined in the plan, from the use of buffers to create physical and visual separation through to the provision of community, civic and recreation facilities intended to facilitate integration.

An Environmental Impact Assessment has demonstrated that the plan is technically feasible and a detailed implementation programme, with phasing and packaging of works, has been formulated.

Preparatory work is set to start this year and the first residents should move in during 2024.

The planning team’s emphasis on ensuring an appropriate mix of housing to employment in Hung Shui Kiu sets an important precedent as Hong Kong seeks to accommodate population growth while also ensuring the competitiveness of its economy.

If Hung Shui Kiu succeeds it will create a new model for Hong Kong’s housing planners.

S EPTE MB ER 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER p32_33_case study_INTER.indd 33

33

21/08/2017 10:17

LANDSCAPE

Nations & Regions focus { NORTHERN IRELAND

Adapting to change The past two years in Northern Ireland have been wrought by political upheaval.

As the only part of the UK with a land border with the EU, last year’s Brexit vote left planners grappling with issues that don’t respect political boundaries, such as the energy and the environment.

Soon after, the country’s powersharing agreement broke down, leaving much of its budget in the hands of the civil service, with no mandate to make political spending decisions.

Continuing negotiations have raised the controversial prospect of a return to direct rule from London.

Most recently, the DUP’s deal with the Conservatives secured extra funding in the aftermath of the election, raising further difficult questions on devolution.

All three factors have contributed to agile system that would invite overdue growing concern over the future of the investment in the region’s towns and peace process. cities. The changes are still ‘bedding down’, All this has happened against however, as staff adjust to their new roles. the backdrop of Related services that remain an unprecedented centralised, such as the Roads “INVESTORS transformation to the Agency, are still adapting too.

ARE GRADUALLY Northern Irish planning Despite this uncertain WAKING UP TO system. Previously fully atmosphere, there’s no THE POTENTIAL centralised, planning shortage of opportunity in FOR GROWTH powers were devolved to 11 the region. After years of ACROSS local councils in sweeping underinvestment, investors THE AREA” changes that also saw are gradually waking up to legislation reform, policy the potential for growth change and the introduction across the area. of a plan-led system for the The challenge for planners first time. is to weather any political Planners hoped these changes would storms and deliver great places for the mark a turning point, creating a more region’s 1.8 million people.

MAJOR PROJECTS

1

2

1. Ulster University City Campus The university’s move into the heart of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter will create a new city centre campus through new development and historic refurbishment. The project has also kick-started demand for purpose-built student accommodation in Belfast. n bit.ly/planner0917-uni

2. Tyrone-Cavan Interconnector

3

A complex plan to link Northern Ireland’s national grid with its neighbours south of the border. The project will improve energy prices and reliability, but it has been opposed by environmentalists who tried to have it moved underground. n bit.ly/planner0917-cavan

3. Ebrington Regeneration An ongoing regeneration of the former Ebrington Barracks in Derry/Londonderry, which saw its £5.5 million first phase completed in 2014. The development is linked to the city by the Peace Bridge and is continuing to attract investors. n bit.ly/planner0917-ebrington

34

T H E PL AN N E R \ S E PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p34-36 regional focus.indd 34

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

21/08/2017 12:43

Northern Ireland Interview: A new way of working Maura Fox is head of planning for Derry and Strabane District Council.

Here, she talks about how planners in the province are adjusting to a new way of working.

“There’s been a significant amount of cultural change [with the shift from a central government to local planning system]. Just in terms of how central and local government differ, for example, many of us have moved into council offices now.

“In terms of the actual planning powers themselves, some decisions are in the hands of planning committees. The majority of decisions are delegated to planning officers.

You could say that Planning Committees can allow for more public participation and transparency than the previous system. Now we advise, when you really are only giving recommendations and not making final decisions.

Planning Committees differ across NI. Different stages have been more challenging than others, It’s a steep learning curve for members and officers alike.

“On a positive, we’ve started production of our POPs (Preferred Options Papers, which provide the basis for consulting with the public on options for dealing with key issues in a plan area). We haven’t had up-to-date LDPs for so long and expectations are high.

“In Northern Ireland there’s a big emphasis on the linkage between the local development plan and the community plan. In our area, we’ve

got an engagement plan out in advance of producing the POP and the consultation stages.

“There’s always been an emphasis on community consultation here in the north west.

We’ve embarked on an EU project in which we’re trying to find different different ways of engaging with the public. For example, we’re trying to spark their interest in landmark buildings/sites and we’re going to do some work with children and young people because that’s a big population.

“In a few years’ time I would like to think we have got rid of legacy cases [of applications building up as they new system beds in] and we have improved systems where we’re able to do more in terms of quality. I’d like us to be a more involved with regneration – we haven’t had time to be as integrated with other parts of the council as we’ve been getting the planning system bedding in locally.

“They’re moving towards job creation and economic growth. It’s very interesting and we’d like to spend a bit more time enjoying that and being a part of it.

“In the North West, significant regeneration projects, Council’s own Capital projects and ex-military sites such as Fort George and Ebrington are underway and others in the pipeline.

“I do think we need to press on and extend ourselves in a proactive way a bit more. We really do have a role to play and we do need space and time to be able to get there.”

Valuable skills In the past, a centralised system and limited investment contributed to a sluggish job market for planners in Northern Ireland. Since devolution, however, this has been changing fast, with growing opportunities in both the public and private sectors.

Now that planning in Northern Ireland is plan-led, experience of working as part of a plan-led system is invaluable.

Devolution has brought huge logistical and legislative changes – as well as policy experience, development management is a highly sought-after skill.

Now that planning has been devolved to local communities, community engagement skills are crucial.

S EPTE MB ER 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER p34-36 regional focus.indd 35

35 21/08/2017 12:43

LANDSCAPE

Northern Ireland RECENT SUCCESSES National Trust Visitor Centre at Giants Causeway An £18.5 million visitor centre for Northern Ireland’s famous world heritage site, the building was shortlisted for the 2013 Stirling Prize for its sensitive and ‘low-impact’ design.

Seamus Heaney Home Place The conversion of a police station once heavily fortified during the Troubles, into an arts and literary centre exploring the works of local poet Seamus Heaney. The scheme won the 2017 RTPI Award for Excellence in planning for built heritage. n bit.ly/planner0917-heaney

Giant’s Causeway

visitor centre, Bu

shmills

Queens University Belfast

Seamus Heaney Home Place

Living Places strategy A Department for Infrastructure initiative aiming to guide the province’s new planning authorities on how to design good places. It was commended at the 2016 RTPI awards, and efforts are now under way to widen the strategy. n bit.ly/planner0917-living

Signposts The RTPI’s Northern Ireland branch was formed in 1974 and has grown to more than 600 members. It is chaired by Beverley Clyde and represented on the general assembly by Diana Thompson. The RTPI's director for Northern Ireland is Roisin Willmott. n RTPI Northern Ireland web page, with news, events, policy, contacts, and so on: bit.ly/planner0917-rtpini n Conferences and events: RTPI Northern Ireland's annual planning conference will be held on 26 September 2017 in Belfast: bit.ly/planner0917-ni n Young Planners in Northern Ireland: NIYP organises social events and study trips, as well as linking up with other related professions: bit.ly/planner0917-ypni n Courses: Queens University Belfast and the University of Ulster both offer RTPI-accredited planning courses.

Connswater Project

Connswater Project An extensive regeneration project in Belfast, constructing a 9km linear park and cleaning up large stretches of the Connswater river to create a pleasant walking route through the east of the city. n bit.ly/planner0917-connswater

36

THE P PLL AN N E R \ D SEECPTE EM MB MB BE ER R2 20016 1 167

p34-36 regional focus.indd 36

n Consultancies: There is a strong representation of smaller consultancies in Northern Ireland, which has grown further since devolution. Large consultancies include Turleys, Juno Planning, ARUP and WYG. n Email: northernireland@rtpi.org.uk n Twitter: @RTPINI n Find your RTPI region: www.rtpi.org.uk/the-rtpi-near-you

Next month:

Yorkshire I M AG E S | A L A M Y

21/08/2017 12:44

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

ARDS & NORTH DOWN BOROUGH

Developments in Ards and North Down ARDS AND NORTH DOWN BOROUGH COUNCIL IS WORKING TO DEVELOP AN INTEGRATED STRATEGY TO WORK AS A STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL BLUEPRINT THAT WILL BE THE FIRST OF ITS KIND IN NORTHERN IRELAND

T

Queen’s Parade in Bangor Town Centre is the subject of a £75m redevelopment

he borough of Ards and North transferred planning powers can bring to improving the quality of life for residents of Down (AND) is situated on the borough.

Northern Ireland’s eastern coast.

The council is currently working in One of 11 new super councils conjunction with The Paul Hogarth Group created under the 2015 Review of Public to develop an Integrated Strategy, the first Administration, it combines the legacy of its kind in Northern Ireland. This will act council areas of North Down to the north, as the strategic and operational blueprint with a predominantly urban concentration (80 per cent of residents live in the northern for tourism, regeneration, economic development and planning context to 25 per cent of the borough) and Ards, with 2022. One of its main its strong rural network of purposes will be to define villages and rich countryside.

“AND’S STRATEGY and agree the priorities AND is bounded by the WILL POSITIVELY to grow the economy shores of Belfast Lough to the INFLUENCE THE including tourism north and the Irish Sea to the CREATION AND priorities, regeneration east, while Strangford Lough, DELIVERY OF THE initiatives (both urban with a reputed 365 islands, NEW LOCAL AREA and rural), enterprise and provides the coastline to the PLAN REQUIRED business development west of the area and creates the UNDER THE solutions and the council’s Ards Peninsula to the east. With PLANNING ACT” investment proposition a population of 157,000, AND within a planning context. comprises a unique mix of The strategy will positively urban and rural communities influence the creation and and is blessed with around 115 delivery of the new Local miles of coastline.

Area Plan required for the borough under A new corporate plan sets out the the Planning Act (NI) 2011. council’s intent to make the borough the best place to live, work, visit and invest. Its vision is of a place to be proud of which Bangor’s Queen’s Parade is more prosperous, vibrant, healthy and The planning team has recently engaged sustainable – where people enjoy an positively in a pre-application discussion for excellent quality of life. an extremely long-awaited proposed £75m redevelopment of the Bangor Town Centre seafront area known as Queen’s Parade.

Planning ahead Regeneration of this semi-derelict area of the Planning sits within the Directorate of town has been discussed for more than 20 Regeneration, Development and Planning years but has yet to come to fruition. A new which seeks to exploit the unique consortium, ‘Angelvale’ (named according opportunity that the still relatively newly

to the popular legend that St Patrick once rested in Bangor and dreamt the valley was filled with angels) has been chosen by the Department for Communities and the council to become the preferred developer for the site, subject to contract.

The mixed-use proposal includes a wide range of facilities to balance indoor/ outdoor, daytime/evening and social/ commercial activity. It aims to attract a wide spectrum of additional visitors and spend per visit by primarily focusing on entertainment, leisure and hospitality. The proposals include a four-star signature hotel with 80 beds that will overlook the waterfront and the enhanced pedestrian plaza. A ‘winter garden’ will connect the entertainment and commercial elements via a covered space that can be used to house pop-up events, markets and exhibitions. A maritime centre and seafront hospitality area adjacent to the waterfront plaza will be used for events and concerts overlooking the marina.

The proposals also integrate social investment in health, education and affordable homes, and while maintaining a strong main street retail frontage will also aim to grow high-quality niche retail to attract some exclusive offerings to the Northern Ireland marketplace.

Become a planner in Ards and North Down Borough Browse vacancies on The Planner Jobs website where you’ll find news, advice and opportunities in Ards and North Down Borough and beyond.

S E PTEMB E R 2 0 1 7 / THE PLA NNER p37_RTPI_advertorial_V2.indd 37

37

21/08/2017 14:08

LANDSCAPE

DiF { D

DECISIONS IN FOCUS

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

Conversion of Sky HQ to 297 flats is allowed ( SUMMARY Four Brentford office blocks can be converted to 297 flats under Class O of the General Permitted Development Order (GPDO), after an inspector granted prior approval for issues relating to traffic and transport. ( CASE DETAILS The appeal relates to New Horizons Court in Brentford, comprising four large office blocks formerly used by broadcaster Sky TV. The proposal sought permission for a change of use from class B1 (office use) to class C3 (residential) under Class O of the GPDO. The scheme required prior approval

from Hounslow Council on three issues: transport, contamination and noise disruption. The council granted approval for all but the transport issue, arguing that the scheme would cause a harmful increase in traffic.

The council said estimates for car use had been based on offices closer to town centres and amenities, and better linked to public transport. It cited the walking route to the nearest service centre, which involves crossing a six-lane A-road using an “unattractive” subway crossing or stepped bridge, saying residents would have to rely on cars. Inspector Olivia Spencer disagreed, noting that there is a Tube station, food shops and other facilities within walking distance, and that the speed limit at the main road crossing is 40mph.

Sky TV’s former buildings in Brentford are to be converted into flats

As to the council’s argument that more people would leave the site during the morning peak period to commute than if it remained in office use, causing a “tidal switch” in both pedestrian and vehicular traffic, Spencer noted that not all residents would take the same route, and that the increase in outgoing traffic would be balanced by people no longer approaching the site to work there. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Spencer concluded that “at worst, there would be no significant change” in the volume of traffic to and from the site, adding that there was strong evidence to suggest the number of carborne trips would fall. The appeal was allowed.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeal Ref: APP/ F5540/W/16/3165795

HEALTHCARE

Dementia unit would create ‘onerous’ living conditions ( SUMMARY A 63-bed dementia care unit proposed for a business

38

T H E PL AN N E R \ S E PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p38_41_dif.indd 38

park in Cornwall has been blocked despite local need, after an inspector ruled that noise from a nearby roundabout would create ‘onerous’ living conditions for sensitive occupants. ( CASE DETAILS The appeal site is a currently unused parcel of land that forms part of St Austell Enterprise Park. The park is expected to play a key part in the China Clay Area Regeneration Plan, making a significant contribution to the 704,000 square metres of employment floorspace proposed in the Cornwall Local Plan. Thus, proposals that would cause a loss of business space must prove a lack of business demand through at least nine months of marketing.

Inspector Mike Fox noted that no marketing had taken place, and that an offer had been made but rejected, indicating a “reasonable prospect” of business use for the site. He also observed the recent approval of a 1,500-home eco-community close by, adding weight to the need to preserve employment land to meet the employment need of the new development.

Cornwall Council also said noise from future industrial development in

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

21/08/2017 10:19

A zoo in Ware was refused permission because no special circumstances exempted it from green belt rules

the park, in particular class B2 (industrial use), would harm the living conditions of the unit’s residents, creating a conflict that would limit the viability and continued development of the park.

Fox disagreed, noting that existing permissions of this kind were approved subject to noise-limiting conditions.

He rejected the council’s interpretation that these conditions only applied to development existing at the time permission was granted.

But Fox was concerned by the noise from the nearby A391. He noted that the site is subject to traffic noise from the road, further exacerbated by a roundabout that causes vehicles to brake and then accelerate. He said the only way to achieve an acceptable ambient noise level at night would be to keep the unit’s windows closed at all times.

He ruled that this would create a “contrived” situation resulting in poor quality living accommodation, which would be “particularly onerous” for dementia sufferers who were likely to remain in the unit permanently. ( CONCLUSION REACHED In the planning balance, Fox noted that although the scheme would not harm the viability of the enterprise park, it would result in significant loss of employment land. He noted the community need for dementia care facilities, but ruled that the unacceptable harm to the living conditions of “particularly sensitive” future occupiers carried most weight.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeal Ref: APP/ D0840/W/17/3169531

HOUSING

Javid overrules inspector on 760 Berkshire homes ( SUMMARY Sajid Javid has overruled an inspector’s decision to approve two appeals for schemes totalling 760 homes in Thatcham, west Berkshire, finding ‘insufficient evidence’ that the delivery of housing in the area is under threat. ( CASE DETAILS Javid recovered two appeals relating to two sites about two miles apart on the outskirts of Thatcham, a town west of Reading. The first proposed 495 homes, along with a primary school and public space.

The second proposed 265 homes, a doctor’s surgery, plus outdoor facilities.

West Berkshire Council opposed the schemes on the grounds that they would take place on undeveloped countryside beyond the town’s settlement boundary, and did not accord with the local development plan.

Local people also opposed the scheme, saying the area’s infrastructure had not been allowed to catch up after decades of housing growth, including 401 homes recently permitted in nearby Newbury, as reported in The Planner.

Inspector John Chase advised the secretary of state that both appeals should be allowed on the basis that various threats to the delivery of housing in the area meant the council could not prove a fiveyear housing land supply, engaging paragraphs 14 and 49 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

He found that the economic

and social benefits of more housing would outweigh the potential harm to the “environmental quality” of the area. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Considering evidence of the threat to housing delivery in the area “insufficient” (the area’s housing supply was found to be 5.47 years), Javid ruled that the schemes should be determined in accordance with the local development plan, finding in favour of the council and dismissing both schemes.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeals Refs: APP/WO340/W/15/3141449/ APP/WO340/W/16/3144193

COMMERCIAL

Herts zoo refused permission a year after opening ( SUMMARY A zoo in Ware, Hertfordshire, that did not seek planning consent until three months after opening was refused permission at appeal after an inspector ruled that no special circumstances exempted it from green belt rules. ( CASE DETAILS The appeal relates to

Ventura Wildlife’s Zoological Gardens adjacent to a Van Hage garden centre in east Herts green belt. The facility is home to exotic animals including lemurs, tropical birds, a zebra and a reindeer.

The appellant said the facility is exempt from green belt restrictions because it was built on previously developed land. Inspector Chris Forrett noted that this applied only to the zoo’s entrance; the rest of the facility was built on a previously undeveloped field.

Forrett also dismissed the appellant’s argument that the parts of the facility on undeveloped land did not constitute buildings. He cited the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which defines a building as “any structure or erection”, ruling that the fences and and enclosures should therefore be considered buildings.

But he did accept that the zoo could be considered an outdoor recreational use, leading him to assess its impact on green belt openness.

Forrett found that the height and bulk of some of the enclosures had significantly impacted openness. He noted that although the area is dominated by the adjoining garden centre, the area

SEPTEMBER 2017 / THE PLANNER p38_41_dif.indd 39

39

21/08/2017 10:22

LANDSCAPE

DiF { D beyond it is undeveloped with a rural feel. The facility had extended built form into this area, causing an urbanising effect that harmed the character of the area.

Against this harm, Forrett weighed letters of support the facility had received from several organisations including the International Zoo Veterinary Group, the University of Hertfordshire, and the Visit Hertfordshire tourism board.

Forrett also acknowledged that the zoo provides seven full-time jobs and 15 volunteer positions, as well as various education programmes for local children. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Forrett ruled that the benefits of the facility did not constitute the ‘very special circumstances’ that are required to overrule green belt regulations and so he dismissed the appeal.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeal Ref: APP/J1915/W/3169678

DECISIONS IN FOCUS COMMERCIAL

Council must pay costs for ‘vague and generalised’ objection to holiday lodges ( SUMMARY An inspector has given his approval to six holiday lodges in the Stour River Valley, ordering Canterbury City Council to cover the costs of the appeal because its ‘vague and generalised’ reason for refusal amounted to unreasonable behaviour. ( CASE DETAILS The proposal sought permission for six singlestorey timber and slate lodges to be used as holiday lettings, as well as reception and store buildings and a parking area. The appeal site is a field within the Stour River Valley, which is a designated Area of High Landscape Value.

The appellant estimated the scheme would cover 20 per cent of the site with built development.

( CONCLUSION REACHED The appellant submitted a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA), which found that the scheme’s impact on the landscape would be “minor in nature”. Inspector Claire Victory observed that the development would appear as a group of agricultural buildings, associated with orchard adjacent to the site.

Concluding that the overall effect on the character of the area would be neutral, she allowed the appeal.

In a separate costs decision, Victory found that although the council had alleged the scheme would cause “significant harm” to the character of the area, its objection was “vague and generalised in nature”, and it had failed to substantiate its reason for refusal. She concluded that council had behaved unreasonably and must pay the costs of the appeal to the appellant.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeal Ref: APP/J2210/W/16/3166055

RENEWABLE ENERGY Javid decided that grouping wind turbines with others on the Isle of Sheppey would lessen their impact

Javid approves more wind turbines on Isle of Sheppey ( SUMMARY Sajid Javid has granted permission for four further wind turbines on the Isle of Sheppey, northern Kent, ruling that their harm to the landscape would be considerably reduced by grouping them next to an existing wind farm. ( CASE DETAILS The proposal, originally submitted in December

40

T H E P L AN N E R \ SE PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p38_41_dif.indd 40

2013, sought permission for four wind turbines of up to 126.5m in height.

Inspector Paul Griffiths found that there would be no significantly harmful impact on the landscape, because the new turbines would be grouped together with the area’s existing wind farm, adding to an “already dominant cluster”.

Swale Borough Council opposed the scheme on the grounds that the turbine would introduce “alien moving features of vertical emphasis, in complete contrast with the flat landscape”.

Javid sided with the inspector, noting that it was “difficult to square” the council’s position with the fact that it had “clearly found the existing turbines acceptable in landscape terms”.

Furthermore, the council’s emerging local plan endorses the appeal area as “suitable for large scale wind energy development”.

Javid agreed with Griffiths’ finding that none of the homes close to the site would “become unattractive places to live”.

He acknowledged concerns raised by the Ministry of Justice that the visual impact of the scheme on prisoners at nearby HMP Swaleside prison could lead to “supervisory difficulties” for the staff there. But he was not persuaded, noting that prisoners’ living conditions would be no more adversely affected than local residents. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Javid weighed the “considerable renewable energy benefits” of the scheme against its potential harm to the landscape. Noting that any I M AG E S | G E T T Y / A L A M Y

21/08/2017 10:22

An inspector ruled that the Timpson ‘pod’ would not affect Spalding’s shoppers or local businesses

adverse impacts would be “considerably mitigated” by grouping the proposed turbines together with existing ones, he ruled that the scheme’s benefits carried most weight.

Appeal Ref: APP/ V2255/W/15/3014371

HOUSING

Affordability of starter homes ‘cannot be a reserved matter’ ( SUMMARY An inspector has refused outline permission for eight ‘affordable’ starter homes, rejecting the appellant’s suggestion that he would secure their affordable status through a fully detailed application at a later stage. ( CASE DETAILS The appeal site is an area of land used for car repairs and servicing, given a “verdant character” by the mature trees enclosing it, in Sudbury, Suffolk.

Plans to build seven homes on the land were blocked in 2013, when an inspector ruled that the trees physically separated the site from the neighbouring residential area, and allowing construction would therefore urbanise the area.

The new proposal was made in the context of the written ministerial statement of 2nd March 2015 (WMS), which established

a “starter homes exception sites policy”, allowing starter homes to be built on underused or unviable industrial and commercial land.

According to Planning Practice Guidance (PPG), to qualify as a starter home an obligation is required to guarantee that the home is sold at an affordable price – at least 20 per cent below market value, initially and for five years thereafter – to people who have not purchased a home before, and who are under the age of 40.

The appellant sought outline planning permission and failed to submit an obligation, suggesting the above requirements could be secured as “part of a future detailed planning application”.

But inspector L Fleming found this approach incompatible with PPG rules. He added that these rules also prevented him from securing the affordable housing through conditions.

“Positively worded” conditions that require the applicant to enter into a planning obligation are not allowed because they generally fail the test of enforceability.

“Negatively worded” conditions are allowed only in exceptional circumstances, for “complex or strategically important” schemes that would otherwise be at risk. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Finding no evidence of

exceptional circumstances, Fleming ruled that there was no mechanism available to make sure that the homes would remain affordable if he granted permission.

Because affordability could not be guaranteed, Fleming assessed the proposed homes as “open market housing”, which are not exempt under the WMS. On this basis he found harm to the character of the area, some highway safety issues, and an unacceptable reliance on private car travel.

Appeal Ref: APP/ E3525/W/17/3171480

COMMERCIAL

Modular Timpson’s ‘pod’ too small to harm businesses ( SUMMARY An inspector has granted permission for a modular Timpson’s ‘pod’ in a Sainsbury’s car park despite its proximity to Spalding town centre, ruling the pod’s small scale made it unlikely to affect other businesses. ( CASE DETAILS In recent years, the Timpson chain has opened small modular ‘pods’ in supermarkets and out-oftown retail areas to provide services like key-cutting and shoe repair, instead of renting traditional retail space on high streets where footfall continues to drop.

This proposal sought permission to site a pod in the car park of a Sainsbury’s supermarket that forms the centre of a large retail area in Spalding, a market

town in south Lincolnshire.

Unusually, the retail park is close to the town centre, prompting concerns that the proposal would have an impact on other businesses in the area.

Inspector Andrew McCormack disagreed, ruling that the small scale of the proposal meant it would be unlikely to significantly harm existing businesses.

He added that in any case, planning rules cannot and should not impact market forces by inhibiting competition.

McCormack also dismissed concerns about pedestrian safety, noting that although having to walk around the pod to reach the supermarket entrance could cause “minor inconvenience” for pedestrians, there would be no threat to their safety.

Regarding character and appearance, McCormack referred to the South Holland Local Plan, which requires new designs to respect an area’s existing architecture (although it permits “highquality contemporary design” in some contexts).

He acknowledged that the pod’s timber cladding would not be reflective of the brick-built retail units and train station nearby, but considered it small enough still to appear as a “subservient ancillary building”. ( CONCLUSION REACHED Noting that the pod would be built off-site and installed quickly to minimise disruption, McCormack found no reason to withhold permission.

Appeal Ref: APP/A2525/W/17/3171261

SEPTEMBER 2017 / THE PLANNER p38_41_dif.indd 41

41

21/08/2017 10:24

INSIGHT

LLegal landscape MORE HOT AIR THAN CLEAN AIR

as clean public transport are more obvious sustainable measures that reduce the environmental impact of planned developments.

Whatever is implemented, developers will have to demonstrate how and when it will address air quality impacts of proposed schemes.

The government’s Air Quality Plan leaves planners and developers in the dark, says Leenamari Aantaa-Collier

Collaboration It is well known that air pollution poses significant risks to health. The government’s Air Quality Plan attempts to tackle the impact of developments on air pollution. However, developers and local planning authorities seem to be left with more hot air than clean air.

The annual health cost of particulate matter alone is estimated to be £25.7 billion a year. If left unregulated, this figure is likely to increase.

So improving air quality is vital to safeguarding health, promoting sustainable development and driving economic growth. But with the Air Quality Plan deemed ‘not to go far enough’, developers and planning authorities remain in the dark about how best to approach the issue.

In reality, if developers and planning authorities fail to address air quality when seeking permissions, they are likely to find applications refused unless they have provided robust data on effects and mitigation measures. Even if granted, a failure to address air quality impacts could lead to third-party challenge. But with minimal guidance from the government, knowing how to carry out such measures is catching out many developers and authorities.

Take a proactive approach Ensuring that air pollution is addressed in planning

42

Leenamari Aantaa-Collier applications or environmental statements will be essential – particularly in Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs).

However, in light of recent litigation by Client Earth, relying solely on the Air Quality Plan and any AQMA plan alone is unlikely to be sufficient. The government’s 2015 Air Quality Plan was found to not address matters early enough and the forecast modelling was discredited. The most recent plan still does not do enough quickly enough.

To overcome this, planners and developers must obtain evidence that is capable of demonstrating the impact the development will have on air quality and what mitigation is proposed, as well as how and when this will deliver the results required by the

statutory framework The most recent Air Quality Plan seeks to place the responsibility to draw up air quality management plans on local planning authorities, who in the government’s view are best placed to identify and deal with localised impacts of air pollution.

Although this approach has not changed, the government has brought forward the implementation time frame, putting more pressure on authorities.

Start the process early Developers and planning authorities must think creatively about how to offset the impacts of developments on air pollution. Considering how the design of a scheme can improve air quality, such as using green energy, can introduce mitigation methods from the offset.

Established methods, such

“DEVELOPERS AND PLANNING AUTHORITIES MUST BEGIN TO THINK CREATIVELY ABOUT HOW TO OFFSET THE IMPACTS OF DEVELOPMENTS ON AIR POLLUTION”

For planning authorities, being thorough with appraisal of air quality impacts in applications and feeling comfortable to constructively raise the issue of air quality at pre-application advice stage will ensure that plans can be reviewed, tweaked and reassessed. This may involve consulting the authority’s environmental health expert about the accuracy of the information submitted and mitigation proposed to ensure more applications aren’t being refused at the final stage.

Where the authority does not have that resource, an external consultant can identify how mitigation can be delivered through conditions and obligations.

Creating a supplementary planning guidance document that sets out expectations will assist developers to comply with requirements at the outset.

Although the clarification needed from the government fell short of what developers and planning authorities required, taking no action to combat the impacts of air quality is not an option.

Considering the issues faced early on and seeking mitigating actions where required will help local authorities meet housing targets in a sustainable way.

Leenamari Aantaa-Collier is a planning lawyer at Shakespeare Martineau

T H E P L AN N E R \ SE PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p42-43_LegalLandscape.indd 42

21/08/2017 10:25

LATEST POSTS FROM THEPLANNER.CO.UK/BLOGS

B LO G S Local planning authorities could do more to help drive local schemes that would deliver in generation, storage and distribution of energy by integrating them into their local plans

L E G I S L AT I O N S H O R T S Council defends its draft plan in court

Securing the benefits of energy storage Maria Connolly and Fergus Charlton Communities taking control of energy use is nothing new. It is becoming commonplace for community energy companies to maximise collective buying power through wind, solar and mixed-use developments connected to local energy hubs.

What these schemes can deliver in terms of generating, storing and distributing energy locally should not be underestimated. Energy storage, for grid balancing or behind-the-meter projects, is already influencing the way the UK manages its energy use.

Such technology has made it reasonable to look to a future where new developments are self-sufficient in energy use. Such decentralised energy generation and use could remove the existing constraints on the national grid across the UK. Battery storage is going to play a big part in achieving our aspirations towards smart cities and sustainability. £246 million of governmentbacked investment in battery and energy storage technology furthers this trend.

Yet for these developments to become commonplace, support is needed from local planning authorities, which have the ability to integrate them into local plans and become the driving force behind change in the development industry.

For example, the Trent Basin scheme in Nottingham consists of battery storage, solar and other technologies, along with an energy company for a 150home development. The scheme has been viewed as the future of mixed-use developments.

The applicant, Blueprint, submitted a planning application to add 760 square metres of solar panels to homes approved under previous planning permission.

The energy park application also included a battery store, electricity sub-station and a temporary 5,000 square metre solar farm.

The application received no objections and was determined in eight weeks by an officer using delegated powers. Such a smooth passage through the planning system for an energy park is remarkable and indicates strong community and council buy-in.

But it was complicated. The applicant had to pre-identify not only the location of the solar farm and battery storage element, but also the location of each dwelling on which panels were to be installed. Fixing this level of detail for the planning application while running a tender completion for the detailed design and specification is not ideal.

Greater flexibility in planning guidelines would smooth over discrepancies between what is approved and what is ultimately built. To gain flexibility, schemes of this type may benefit from a local development order route rather than traditional planning permission.

While Nottingham already has a relatively modern local plan, other local authorities have yet to adopt such forward-thinking policies. Without such innovation from local plans, planning applications for integrated energy generation, storage and use schemes could flounder.

To fully benefit from local energy storage, local authorities should start to consider the role their local plans can play in harnessing the rewards this technology can deliver.

Maria Connolly is head of energy and renewables and real estate at TLT; Fergus Charlton is legal director in TLT’s planning team

Waverley Borough Council has defended its decision that a draft neighbourhood plan met the basic conditions to be considered lawful in the High Court.

The case, Bewley Homes Plc & Ors, R (on the application of) v Waverley Borough Council [2017] EWHC 1776 (Admin) concerned the draft Farnham Neighbourhood Development Plan 2013 -2031.

Examiner Derek Stubbing produced a report on the plan in February 2017 and then in May, it was passed with 10,044 votes in favour and 1,097 votes against.

Under an agreement between the parties, Waverley agreed not to make the neighbourhood plan, pending the outcome of an application for judicial review.

The challenge was brought on three grounds, including that the examiner reached an irrational conclusion that the draft plan complied with the strategic policies of the Local Plan 2002.

Mrs Justice Lang ruled that the examiner’s examination and report were both lawful. She said the grounds of challenge were arguable and so she granted the application for permission, but she dismissed the claim for judicial review.

Bid to sink ‘inadequate’ student digs fails Wycombe District Council has failed to make a developer dismantle “inadequate” student flats. It had told the High Court that the flats, in the Clock House, Frogmoor, lack natural and mechanical ventilation.

An enforcement notice was issued in 2014, saying the developer had breached planning control and that the Clock House should be restored to office use.

Developer Dr Mehrdad Rahimian appealed this to the planning inspector, which overturned the notice.

The council challenged the inspector’s decision in the High Court but Judge John Howell QC rejected its case. He heard the notice was quashed because the council had alleged the property had been turned into an unauthorised HMO, but the inspector found that the plan was to divide the property into six flats and then sub-divide those into individual units.

The inspector said he considered whether to amend the notice to allege a breach based on the individual flats, but decided it would not be “reasonable” to do so. Lawyers for the council said the inspector was wrong to decide against amending the notice,rather than quashing it, but Howell ruled that the inspector’s decision should stand.

Derbyshire homes gain go-ahead A High Court judge has rejected a bid to overturn planning permission for homes planned for land in Hilton, Derbyshire. South Derbyshire District Council refused permission for 34 houses on Egginton Road in the village in July 2016.

The Planning Inspectorate approved the homes on appeal in February, but a local resident challenged the ruling in the High Court, saying the planning inspector’s interpretation of the council’s planning policies was inconsistent with the NPPF. Nelsons Solicitors, assisted by Thea Osmund-Smith of No5 Chambers, acting on behalf of a landowners’ consortium, said the inspector was correct and it was not for the court to intervene in his judgment.

The judge agreed that the permission should stand.

S E PTEMB E R 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER p42-43_LegalLandscape.indd 43

43

21/08/2017 10:25

NEWS

RTPI {

RTPI news pages are edited

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

Help shape the Institute’s future

USE YOUR VOTE TO SHAPE THE INSTITUTE’S FUTURE You can cast your vote in this year’s RTPI elections. Look out for a letter or email from Mi Voice, this year’s election provider. Ensure you use your vote by 5pm, 29 September.

VICE PRESIDENT: THE CANDIDATES IAN TANT MRTPI TRUSTEE AND CURRENT VICE CHAIR OF POLICY PRACTICE AND RESEARCH COMMITTEE

SUE BRIDGE MRTPI TRUSTEE AND CURRENT CHAIR OF POLICY PRACTICE AND RESEARCH COMMITTEE Sue Bridge MRTPI (Trustee and Current Chair of Policy Practice and Research Committee) As the UK finds a new place in the world, we, the RTPI, must seize this opportunity to broadcast how proactive planning delivers better social, environmental and economic outcomes to create successful places. We must campaign to keep the good features of the current planning and environmental regime through effective engagement with government. We must also continue to promote the benefits of planning, from the strategic to the neighbourhood, build on our successful research programmes, capitalise on the devolution agenda, learn from best practice and draw inspiration from international colleagues. I am an experienced practitioner who has worked at a senior level in both local government and the private sector. I have a track record of delivery, working in partnership with both private and public sector agencies and stakeholders, engaging at a senior level with national and local government and promoting the value and benefits of planning both through my work with the RTPI and during my normal working day.

I care passionately about planning and the role that planners play in society. As ambassador for planning I would use my depth, breadth and variety of experience to advance the art and science of planning both at home and abroad.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES: CORPORATE (3 ROLES) Janet Askew MRTPI Peter Geraghty FRTPI Zoe Green MRTPI Colin Haylock MRTPI Roger Smith MRTPI Tom Venables MRTPI Wei Yang MRTPI

YOUNG PLANNER Aahsan Rahman MRTPI Lucy Seymour-Bowdery MRTPI

44

Throughout the period to Brexit in 2019 – and beyond – planners have a critical task of ensuring that development needs, the importance of place, and related environmental issues, remain high on the agenda in all our nations and regions. The RTPI does much already but to many members, this is ‘below the radar’. I believe now is the time to become outspoken. I have skills and experience honed through the 38 years of my career to date, which has included leading teams in major development work; working in partnership with local authority planners; promoting schemes to senior councillors, stakeholders, MPs and ministers; and raising profile through public speaking, contributions to publications, and appearances on local, regional and national radio and television (including Newsnight). Importantly, I have the time to commit to the role. I want to ‘give back’ to the profession and the Institute that has served me so well throughout my career. I am passionate about the work that planners carry out and relish the opportunity to spend time spreading the joy of this work, giving voice to our profession in the face of the continuing challenges. I ask only for the opportunity to serve.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY: CORPORATE (14 ROLES) Christopher Balch MRTPI Cecil Elliston Ball MRTPI Ellenclaire Cass MRTPI Andrew Coleman MRTPI Claire Davies MRTPI Pam Ewen MRTPI David Edmondson MRTPI Peter Geraghty FRTPI Daniel Gigg MRTPI Mark Hand MRTPI Joanna Jones MRTPI Meeta Kaur MRTPI Christopher Maidment MRTPI John Mattocks MRTPI Paul McCann MRTPI Derek McKenzie MRTPI Charlotte Morphet MRTPI

Julie Morgan MRTPI Janet O’Neill MRTPI Annabel Osborne MRTPI Aahsan Rahman MRTPI Cath Ranson MRTPI Ruth Richards MRTPI Ann Skippers MRTPI Stefano Smith MRTPI Andrew Taylor FRTPI Justin Wickersham MRTPI Richard Williamson FRTPI Jennifer Winyard MRTPI Edward Chetwynd-Stapylton MRTPI Wei Yang MRTPI

STUDENT/ LICENTIATE Annabel Le Lohe Simeon Shtebunaev Frances Thompson Che Tsun (Cleo) Au Ryan Walker

n For more information visit: bit.ly/planner0917-elections

T H E P L AN N E R \ S E PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p44_47_RTPI_news.indd 44

21/08/2017 10:26

Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk

RTPI (switchboard) T: 020 7929 9494

Registered charity no.

262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841

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

Emma Langmaid MRTPI DIRECTOR PROSPERO PLANNING I’ve always had a bit of a bugbear about the way we as planning and other professionals work together in the built environment.

Don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of good examples of collaborative working, but all too often I come across the ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality.

I think that we all, on occasions, forget what our end goal is. We get consumed by process, or pleasing the client or rule-making without thinking about why we’re really doing this. We have also lost the art of communication – the internet, social media, emails all have a place and can make working life easier (case in point, it allows me to run my consultancy from home), but it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t pick up the phone, or arrange to meet and talk face to face. You’d be amazed at the results!

Finally, I think we’ve lost the spark of creativity. I’m convinced that we can resolve many more issues than we do just by looking with a different perspective.

COMMITTEE PRIORITIES: AUDIT COMMITTEE Chair Chris Shepley MRTPI explains three of the key priorities for the committee for the next 12 months: Ensuring that RTPI’s risk register reflects the current operational and strategic challenges facing the Institute Monitoring the impact of the exit from the Kaplan contract on commercial income and regional business plans Improving the structure and focus of performance reporting to members and the publicon external bodies is maintained The committee’s responsibilities include monitoring the RTPI’s overall financial condition, the probity of financial systems and expenditure for probity and value for money.

The committee manages the relationship with the external auditors on behalf of the board, reviewing the audit plan and receiving a formal report back on the outcome of audit.

Each year, in their annual work plan, the committee elects to focus on two or three areas where their independent review can add value for the Institute.

1 Collaboration – working together not against each other for positive outcomes

2 Communication – I challenge you to pick up the phone, not email

3 Creativity – surely there’s always a solution, let’s try and help each other find it

POSITION POINTS

PAST, PLACES & TRADITIONS: BROADENING THE REACH OF HERITAGE Historic Environment Scotland has published the results of its What’s Your Heritage? project. The survey, the first of its kind conducted by the Key Agency, investigated how heritage is understood and valued by the public, and the perceived shortfalls in its current management.

Personal experiences cited by respondents highlight the importance of local heritage. The roles of practicality and purpose are also stressed, with a widespread desire to keep places ‘alive’ with caution and sensitivity. RTPI Scotland welcomes this data, which offers planners a valuable evidence base for informed policymaking.

n Read the report: bit.ly/planner0917-heritage

STALLED SPACES SCOTLAND TOOLKIT This Architecture and Design Scotland (A+DS) guide gives practical advice to communities wishing to implement temporary uses, such as allotments or outdoor cinemas, in underused and vacant town centre spaces. The toolkit is inspired by 50 Stalled Spaces projects, funded by the Scottish Government and delivered by A+DS across seven different areas. RTPI Scotland welcomes this useful resource for communities seeking a bigger role in shaping their neighbourhoods. Given resource pressures, local authority planning teams are limited in what advice they can give communities, so this data will be invaluable as the role for communities in placemaking grows.

n Read the guide: bit.ly/planner0917-stalled

S EPTE MB ER 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER p44_47_RTPI_news.indd 45

45

21/08/2017 10:29

NEWS

NEW MEMBERS

RTPI {

CHARTERED MEMBERS ELECTED APRIL­JUNE 2017

AGEND A: R TP I AN N UAL G E N E R A L MEET ING 2 01 7

Notice of the Annual General Meeting of the Royal Town Planning Institute 2017 ETC Venues Marble Arch, Garfield House, 86 Edgware Road, London W2 2EA at 13.30 on Wednesday 25 October 2017

AGENDA 1. To receive and approve the minutes of the 2016 AGM 2. To receive the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ending 31 December 2016 and the Auditor’s report 3. To appoint the auditors

4. Members’ subscriptions The subscription rates payable by the various classes of membership are available at: bit.ly/planner0917-subs 5. Question Time After the conclusion of the business of the Annual General Meeting time will be allowed at the discretion of the President for members to raise any points and for informal discussions to take place on any matter relevant to the objects of the Institute Explanatory notes of the AGM and the Institute’s annual report are available at: bit.ly/planner0917-notes If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Berenice.Seel@rtpi.org.uk. n More information on the RTPI website: bit.ly/planner0917-agm

Refreshed logo and strapline to give RTPI more modern feel A refreshed logo and strapline for the Institute is being rolled out from 1 September, following consultation with the General Assembly and approval from the Board of Trustees. The current strapline ‘mediation of place, making of place’ is being replaced with ‘Royal Town Planning Institute’. The new strapline, alongside the existing logo, will help raise the profile of the profession within the built environment sector and the public.

The “mediation of place, making of space” strapline is more focused on what planning is rather than what the Institute does. While it is quite memorable, anecdotally both members and non-members have indicated that it is not easily understood and does not reflect the work or purpose of the Institute. The new strapline, along with updated branding including new colours, will help give the RTPI a more modern feel.

The refreshed logo will involve updating all of the RTPI’s branded materials and a gradual phase out of previous print materials such as banners and stationery.

46

T H E P L AN N E R \ S E PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p44_47_RTPI_news.indd 46

I M AG E | E TC V E N U E S

“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.” – Stephen Wilkinson, RTPI President Julie Alexander Edward Appah Stuart Austin Zeba Aziz Jessica Bain Alison Baisden Rebecca Barnett Matthew Barron Edward Bean Neil Bearcroft Caroline Bell Hannah Bevins Catherine Blease Karen Bolton Yana Bosseva Rosemary Brake Claire Brindley Kathrine Brooks Matthew Brooksbank Matthew Bunt Raynesha Burnham Jennifer Bye Paul Chaston Michael Clare Paul Cooper Melanie Craven Kerri Crutchfield Charlotte Culshaw Sean Cunniffe Joeanne Doherty Andrew Dowell Monika Dubacka Fay Eames Noureldin Elnawawi Carol Evans Mahlon Fautua Mary Fortune Helen Frith Mark Gay Michael Gildersleeves Jacob Goodenough Ailsa Gray Andrew Grayson Emily Hadden Joanne Hall Joanna Hammond Paul Hardiman Helen Hawkes Claire Hawkes Alex Hawtin Rachel Hearn Anthony Heslehurst Elizabeth Hindle Stephen Ho Richard Hodson Emma Hopkins Dale Hunter Joshua Hymer David Jeffery Ian Johnson Katie Jones Simon Joyce Richard Katz Stephen Kay

Steven Kerry Isobel Knapp Stephanie Kober Kayleigh Lancaster Benjamin Larcombe Joe Larner Flora Macleod Christopher Maidment Gerard Manley Lucy Markham Richard Marsh Hollie Marshall Mary McCabe Dolores McCague Anna McComb Rosemarie McMenamin Richard Mears Nicholas Miller Alexandra Milne Rachel Mottram Sinéad Mullen Paul Mumford Mark Murphy Aiden Murray Michael Nelson Robyn Nicholl Sule Nisancioglu Sandra Omondi Natalya Palit Susan Parham Craig Pettit Laura Precious Catherine Queen Natalie Queffurus Amy Rainsford Louise Rich Matthew Roberts Gavin Roberts Nadia Robinson Martin Ross Antonia Round Kian Saedi Richard Sanders Rajeevan Satheesan Caroline Searle Francis Shaw Neil Smith Donna Smith Russell Smith Louise Smith Tsz-Lui So Rihards Sobols Gian Sorrentino James Stannard Sripriya Sudhakar Iain Summerfield Tom Vernon Ruth Victor Toni Walmsley Macey Emily Walsh Jane Weir Shontelle Williams Siobhan Wolverson Alison Young

21/08/2017 10:29

RTPI Y ACTIVIT E PIPELIN Current RTPI work – what the Institute is doing and how you can help us PROF PETER HEAD CBE, TO DELIVER LECTURE ON HOW TO PLAN FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The Sustainable Development Goals, which the UK is committed to delivering, will be transformational – creating inclusive growth and leaving no one behind in having access to basic services, education and healthcare. Sustainability world leader Professor Peter Head CBE will discuss how planners can play a central role in delivering sustainable development at this year’s RTPI Nathaniel Lichfield Annual Lecture. Peter is a civil and structural engineer and a recognised world authority on major bridges, advanced composite technology and sustainable development in cities and regions. The lecture, given in memory of Nat Lichfield, will be held at UCL and draws an audience of 200 professionals from the built environment.

It is once again generously supported by Dalia Lichfield. It will begin at 7pm and will be followed by a drinks reception..

Tickets £15 (including VAT). To book, please visit www.rtpi.org.uk/nll

HELP CHAMPION THE ROLE OF PLANNING AT PARTY CONFERENCES THIS YEAR Party conferences are a chance for the Institute and its members to engage with politicians, councillors, and built environment stakeholders. In September and October the RTPI is holding five events across the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative party conferences, both as a host and partner with other organisations. The RTPI events at the Labour and Conservative party conferences are outside the secure zone, which means anyone can attend. They will feature panels of politicians and planners who will consider the role for planning to deliver affordable homes for all. The Institute wants to see its members there, to engage in the discussion and help champion planning.

RTPI SHORTS

NEW TRANSPORT STRATEGY SHOULD FOCUS ON PLANNING DEVELOPMENT AROUND PUBLIC TRANSPORT HANNAH BUDNITZ MRTPI, CHAIR RTPI-TPS TRANSPORT PLANNING NETWORK The government’s new transport investment strategy recognises that the appraisal should assess the contribution to a more geographically balanced economy, and commits to exploring new ways of funding and managing economically significant roads that lie outside the strategic road network. However, these policies should explicitly acknowledge that major routes “into and around urban centres” require a multi-modal approach to improve congestion and reliability.

The RTPI is concerned this strategy does not acknowledge that increasing road capacity for private cars only provides short-term relief from congestion, as ‘induced traffic’ soon fills new lanes. This will happen even faster if new capacity unlocks car-dependent housing sites. The Institute suggests that new developments should instead be planned around sustainable transport capacity.

The RTPI welcomes references to scenario planning, especially those which account for new technologies and demographics. Uncertainty can be addressed through flexible schemes that adapt to a changing society.

However, numerous academic studies have challenged even the lowest traffic demand forecasts used in this strategy, suggesting that traffic will uncouple from economic growth. It is also unclear whether scenarios will account for different ownership models, such as fleets of shared, autonomous vehicles, which impact on the allocation of road and parking space.

Join the RTPI-TPS Transport Planning Network today: bit.ly/planner0917-network

Sign up for one of the Institute’s events: bit.ly/planner0917-conferences

SAVE THE DATE: 2017 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PLANNING ENFORCEMENT NAPE CONFERENCE This year’s NAPE conference will be held on 9 November 2017 in the majestic City Chambers, Edinburgh. Expect another sold-out day packed with presentations, open forum discussions, afternoon workshops and plenty of networking opportunities. From case law updates to the exploration of regional issues to the wider role of planning enforcement in a global context, this conference will provide a full examination of key issues in planning enforcement.

This event will once again provide the best chance to disseminate good practice and share knowledge and enforcement expertise.

NEXT YEAR’S AWARDS FOR PLANNING EXCELLENCE ARE ON THE WAY

The Minister for Local Government and Housing will join a roster of diverse speakers, including Emeritus Professor Cliff Hague FRTPI OBE and Professor Janice Morphet FRTPI. Speakers will, inspired by the New Urban Agenda adopted at the 2016 UN Habitat III conference in Quito, consider Scotland’s role in the international ambition to make cities and towns fairer, greener, and more prosperous. As ever, the conference will be a chance to share ideas with planners from across Scotland, as we anticipate a Planning Bill later in 2017.

The RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence are the longestrunning and most high-profile awards in the industry.

For over 40 years they have rewarded the brightest talent in the profession; the teams, projects and individuals that transform economies, environments and their communities all over the UK and internationally.

With planners tackling some of the most pressing issues of our time, from population growth and housing shortage, to environmental issues and climate change, it has never been more important to reward the contributions of the profession to society. Being shortlisted for one of these prestigious awards is an excellent opportunity to raise your profile as an award-winning team, consultancy or individual. Best of all, it is completely free to enter. You have nothing to lose. The 2017 awards saw a 37 per cent increase in entrants and the judges shortlisted 90 finalists across 13 categories. Given the success of the 2017 Awards, the Institute has already had a large amount of interest for the 2018 Awards. The 2018 Awards launch for entries on 18 September 2017 and close 15 December.

Book now at: bit.ly/planner0917-scotland

bit.ly/planner0917-awards

Book early to avoid disappointment: bit.ly/planner0917-nape

RTPI SCOTLAND ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2017: PLANNERS AS VISIONARIES, FACILITATORS AND ENABLERS

S EPTE MB ER 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER p44_47_RTPI_news.indd 47

47

21/08/2017 10:31

ADVERTISEMENTS

Recruitment { Graduate Planning Officer An exciting opportunity has been created for a graduate to join Nottinghamshire County Council’s Planning team.

The Job Following a review of resources in the Planning Group, a Graduate Planning Officer position has been created which has a broad range of responsibilities which would give the post holder the opportunity to gain valuable experience in all three facets of planning work: planning applications, monitoring and enforcement, and planning policy.

The post not only provides a wide range of work for the successful post holder, but also gives the Planning Group the flexibility to respond to the various peaks in workload that it experiences on an ongoing basis by diverting resources to those areas that need them most.”

Jonathan Smith, Team Manager of the Development Management Team, says: “This position is a great start to a career in planning at a busy county planning authority. The post is being specifically targeted at recent planning graduates and we have taken the conscious decision not to require any previous experience in a planning environment.”

“The County Council encourages career development and as part of this post we will provide training opportunities including workshops, courses and on-line training to develop the post holder’s planning knowledge.”

Nottinghamshire County Council is the minerals, waste and county planning authority for Nottinghamshire.

The county has rich and varied mineral resources; from significant historic deep and surface coal mining, to the present day extraction of sand and gravel, Sherwood sandstone, silica sand, clay and gypsum, applications for which are dealt with by the Development Management team.

The county also has a rich history of hydrocarbon extraction with the oil extracted here in the 1940s being the nation’s primary source during World War II. Interest in hydrocarbon extraction continues to this day and the first two planning permissions for shale gas exploration were approved by the County Council in recent months. Further high profile shale gas applications are anticipated in the near future which will generate significant public scrutiny and interest.

The planning authority also deals with major waste developments including waste transfer stations, materials recovery facilities, energy from waste facilities, biomass plants, composting facilities and household waste recycling facilities. Many of these developments

48

T H E P L AN N E R \ S E PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

PLN RECR SEPT17.indd 48

have helped the County Council deliver the recycling targets in its PFI contract and reduce the county’s reliance on landfill.

These minerals and waste developments, and the applications for them, are supported by the Planning Policy team which prepares the minerals and waste local plans for the county. The county also deals with planning applications for its own developments, such as schools, new roads and libraries. There is a dedicated team of monitoring and enforcement officers which ensure compliance with the planning permissions issued by the authority and also deal with any complaints received from members of the public.

The Location Nottinghamshire is a place people are proud to call home. A county renowned for its history and unique heritage. It is home to Sherwood Forest, the world-famous stomping ground of the legendary Robin Hood. It is a place of ambition, where people are industrious, pioneering and creative. It is a place where business thrives, creating opportunities and prosperity. It is a place for adventure lovers and explorers, and a destination for world class sport, culture and leisure.

The Planning Group is based at County Hall on the banks of the River Trent close to the centres of West Bridgford and the city of Nottingham, both of which provide a wide range of retail, leisure and sporting facilities. County Hall is next to the world-famous Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, Nottingham Forest FC’s City Ground and Notts County’s Meadow Lane Stadium.

The Employer Nottinghamshire County Council employees benefit from free car parking and a staff restaurant overlooking the river.

There is also a wide range of Council benefits to help achieve a healthy work/life balance, including a public transport season ticket scheme and a bike to work cycle scheme, complimented by showers and changing facilities at the County Hall campus.

The County Council is a Stonewall Top 100 employer, recognising its commitment to all employees regardless of age, disability, sex, ethnic origin, religion/belief, sexual orientation and gender identity.

To apply please visit: theplanner.co.uk/jobs

S e ar ch t h e p l a nne r.co .uk/ jo bs for the best vacancies

18/08/2017 17:28

ADVERTISEMENTS To advertise please email: recruitment@theplanner.co.uk or call 020 7880 7665

Chief Executive £40,000 per annum A full time and permanent role Location: Cardiff preferred.

Planning Aid Wales is the charitable organisation helping communities to engage with the land use planning system in Wales. We are core funded by Welsh Government but retain freedom to act independently on behalf of communities. Planning aid aims to give people the information and support they need to understand and engage positively with planning. The advice and guidance we give to communities is impartial, a factor that is unique in the planning sector.

Our vision is for all the people of Wales to be able to fully and effectively participate in a fair, transparent and responsive planning system.

As Chief Executive you will lead the organisation and our small staff team based in Cardiff.

You will provide direction in our proactive engagement with Local Planning Authorities and Community & Town Councils across Wales, delivering and developing both our core-funded work and a range of externally funded projects.

Matched pension contributions of up to 9% of salary payable after six months of service. Payment of professional fees. Full-time staff are entitled to 28 days of annual leave each year. This post is subject to a six-month probationary period.

For more information please visit http://jobs.theplanner.co.uk/jobs/

We are a company founded with one simple objective. Linking talented people with the best jobs, everyday…

To be more specific when we say talented people we do not mean just anyone!

We are referring to people that have experience in or around the below industries;

Qualified Social Work | Youth Offending/Probation | Care & Support Services Social Housing | Occupational Therapy | Fostering & Adoption Our years of industry experience has lead us to understand that working in these specific sectors in which we have vast experience enables us to focus the entire efforts of the business to focus on not only finding talented people but understanding their experience levels and helping provide guidance to the right next job.

When we say the best jobs what do we mean? What we mean is that we work with the vast majority of UK statutory local authorities, major housing associations and NHS trusts, this is where it stops for many of our competitors…

But it doesn’t stop with us however! We also work with charities, voluntary sector organisations, private businesses and even oversea governments on different placements/projects.

We want to find you the best job for you right now and the best job to help you in your future.

To speak to our specialised recruitment team today call us now on 0845 838 8573 or email info@ackermanpierce.com

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

PLN RECR SEPT17.indd 49

S E PTEMB E R 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER

49

18/08/2017 17:00

INSIGHT

Plan B P Plan B’s latest project is a literary journey through the undiscovered writings of the nation’s planning inspectors. We’ve trawled weeks of planning appeals to gather the best found poetry in the planning system today.

n Are you in ode mode?

Tweet us - @ThePlanner_RTPI

50

T HE HE P PLLANN AN N ER E R \ SSEEPT PT E M B E R 2 0 1 7

p50_Plan B.indd 50

21/08/2017 15:08

LANDSCAPE

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

Seventy Years in the Planning … in which Will Self walks London’s green belt ’in search of’ the 1947 Town & Country Planning Act, retracing a ramble he took with his father Peter, the journalist, town planner and political scientist. bit.ly/planner0917-self

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING...

WHAT WE'RE BROWSING...

Capital idea London’s infrastructure mapping application is a freely available tool that allows anyone to overlay suggested and funded developments, be they utilities, transport or housing projects, as well as much more besides, in an easily filterable view that allows for complete contextual analysis prior to project launch. An extraordinarily versatile planning tool for the capital. bit.ly/planner0917-london

WHERE WE'RE GOING...

Each month the RTPI runs a range of free or low-cost events up and down the UK. Here’s our pick for the next few weeks. See the full calendar on the RTPI website bit.ly/planner0817-calendar

Jane addiction Jane Jacobs’ 1960 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities came as a thunderbolt to both the planning and architecture professions. Available until 8 September on BBC iPlayer, this film tracks Jacobs’ battles with New York’s modernist ‘master builder’ Robert Moses, examining the city of today through the life and work of one of its great champions.

Watching: Citizen Jane: Battle for the City. bit.ly/ planner0917-jacobs

South West Tourism and Heritage 28-29 September, Guernsey This conference will consider the economic benefits of a variety of heritage assets and will also explore the role of tourism planning in economic and spatial planning.

Speakers will focus on Guernsey’s own heritage, the costs and benefits of wildlife at heritage sites and the social and economic value of the historic environment – amongst other topics. bit.ly/planner0917-tourism

The Conservative and Labour Party conferences 2017 23 October (Conservative), 26 September (Labour) The RTPI, supported by Planning Portal, is considering how planning can deliver on homes and places for everyone – in special sessions at both the Conservative and Labour Party conferences this autumn. Both will see a panel discussion followed by a Q&A with a working buffet lunch from 12.30pm. Chairs and participants differ, but the theme is the same at both. bit.ly/planner0917-conservative bit.ly/planner0917-labour

Northern Ireland Planning Conference 26 September, Belfast

WHAT WE'RE PLANNING...

The rem remainder of 2017 will see us looking at land reform, China’s gigantic One Belt, One Road Ro initiative, planning in Yorkshire and the South-West, as well as our regular and analysis. If you’d like news, comment c drop us a line at to contribute, cont editorial@theplanner.co.uk editori

I M AG E | G E T T Y / A & M COM M E RC E

IBC.indd 51

‘Planning a Sustainable Northern Ireland’ is the theme for the 2017 event, which will hear from Northern Ireland’s permanent secretary at the Department for Infrastructure as well as the chief commissioner for the Planning Appeals Commission. bit.ly/planner0917-niconf

S EPTE MB ER 2 0 17 / THE PLA NNER

51

21/08/2017 15:06

Boost your career High quality expert training across the UK @RTPIPlanners RoyalTownPlanningInstitute Royal Town Planning Institute @RTPIPlanners

p52_PLN.SEPT17.indd 2

Book today rtpi.org.uk/training +44(0)20 929 8400 training@rtpi.org.uk

17/08/2017 11:23