The Planner - March 2015

MARCH 2015 NORTHERN IRISH PLANNERS GAIN DECISION MAKING POWERS // p.22 • HOW BARNWELL MANOR RULING AFFECTS APPEAL DECISIONS // p.26 • CREATING A ROAD NETWORK FIT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY // p.28 • WOMEN PAVING THE WAY // p.42

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

PLANNER

THE

LETCHWORTH

What can 21st century planners learn from the original garden city?

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CONTENTS

PLANNER NER 10 28

50

THE

MARCH

20 15

"BY 2030, CARS WILL HAVE TAKEN OVER THE 'CHORE' OF DRIVING"

NEWS

6 Mind the gap: regions must plot for growth

7 Ignorance fuels housing crisis, says research

8 Heritage groups outline plans for split 9 Cycle superhighway scheme approved 10 Public needs to have more power 11 MSPs slam marine planning regime as “unfit for purpose”

OPINION 12 Chris Shepley: Pickles’ performance and the state we’re in 16 Ghislaine Trehearne: Money, money, money 16 Richard Cowell: Will HS2 help us realise the potential of our regional cities?

17 Jo Wilson: Regulating for better rental in London 17 Emilia Hanna: Let’s clear the air, planners

QUOTE UNQUOTE

"LONDON IS NOW STARTING TO GET THE CYCLE INFRASTRUCTURE IT NEEDS, BUT THE PACE OF CHANGE IS PAINFULLY SLOW"

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THE GREEN PARTY’S BARONESS JENNY JONES COV E R I M AG E S | A L A M Y / G E T T Y

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FEATURES

INSIGHT

18 Simon Wicks visits Letchworth and asks: what can 21st century planners can learn from the original garden city?

38 Legal landscape: Opinion, blogs, and news from the legal side of planning

22 How Northern Ireland’s planners are gearing up for the restoration of planning powers to local government. David Blackman reports 26 Last year’s Barnwell Manor ruling has had a deep impact on applications at heritage sites, says Andrew Batterton 28 Motorways in England increasingly use technology to improve journeys.

By Michael Fry

22

40 Career development: Working with politicians

18

42 Plan Ahead – our pick of upcoming events for the planning profession and beyond 44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute 50 Plan B: Rock’s supergroup of planners

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PLAN UPFRONT

Leaderr Missing the bigger city picture – The modern growth of China is never less than a fascinating topic, perhaps all the more so when viewed from this distance.

At last year’s RTPI convention we learned from Cisco Systems’ keynote speaker Anil Menon how each month sees the completion in China of building work equivalent to a city the size of London. Every month!

Also last year, the BBC reported how China was building a new skyscraper at the rate of one every five days. Every day! It’s startling, it feels anything but sustainable, and in underlines what an amazing era or urbanisation we’re living through.

It's an appreciation of the sheer scale of China’s development that can help put news from closer to home in perspective.

The recently published annual report from the

Martin Read Centre for Cities makes you wonder just how our country, one so comparatively small in size to China, can have developed such extraordinary regional imbalances.

Cities Outlook 2015 compared data for the UK’s 64 largest cities and found that for every 12 jobs created over the past decades in cities in the South of England, just one was created in cities elsewhere.

What's more, the situation continues to deteriorate.

The report talks of “a twotier economy of dynamism and decline”.

It’s interesting to note how loudly we’re now hearing the clamour for devolution as an answer for those cities ranked at the wrong end of the league table. It’s not as if the imbalance reported is the result of just a few short years of mismanagement – it’s the cumulative effect of many years’ policies at both national and regional level.

Where was this city devolution debate 10, 20 or even 30 years ago?

Devolution of powers to our larger cities may

“IT’S DIFFICULT TO AVOID SEEING THE DEVOLUTION DEBATE AS THE FASHIONABLE BY­PRODUCT OF LAST YEAR’S SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE ELECTION”

indeed have a galvanising impact, and there is clearly merit in debating the various proposals – but it’s difficult to avoid seeing the devolution debate as the fashionable by-product of last year’s Scottish independence election.

What’s not debatable is the toxic effect of unchecked house prices on the potential for economic growth in our cities.

Even those cities doing well at adding to the total available housing stock failed to keep up with the size of their populations.

It’s the kind of bizarre gap that makes you pleased that a general election is in the offing – there can be no doubt that housing will be folded into the campaigns’ immigration debates.

We may look on in astonishment at infrastructure growth in China. Perhaps we need that same sense of awe when looking at the gap between housing stock requirement and housing stock available.

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

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NEWS

Analysis { DEVELOPMENT DEVOLUTION

Mind the gap: regions must plot for growth

By Laura Edgar The gap between the UK’s best and worst-performing cities is growing, “creating a two-tier economy of dynamism and decline,’ says a Centre for Cities annual report.

Given the size of the gap between the cities that are performing well – most in the South of England – compared with those that aren’t, Cities Outlook 2015 calls on all parties in the run-up to the general election to ensure that plans are made to encourage city growth. The next government’s plans should include significant fiscal and structural devolution, allowing for flexibility on how and where money can be spent.

Considering a 10-year period of time in which the three main political parties have all held power, Cities Outlook 2015 looks at data on the UK’s 64 largest cities. It has found that for every 12 jobs created between 2004 and 2013 in cities in the South, one was created throughout cities in the rest of the UK. Additionally, it says national growth was driven in the main by a handful of cities also in the South. Population, the number of jobs created, and the number of businesses have all increased there, while in other cities, young and skilled people have moved away, business hasn’t grown and employment levels have fallen.

But an increase in house prices, the report says, threatens economic growth in even the best-performing cities.

Each city considered, except Dundee, saw an overall increase in its housing stock between 2012 and 2013, with Milton Keynes adding the most. Even so, the top 10 performing cities in housing stock growth (see table), did not increase their stock in line with populations, although the increase exceeded the national average.

The report does highlight the government’s bids during the past 10 years to rebalance the economy, including an emphasis on regional planning and urban regeneration by the Labour government (2001-2010) and the coalition’s local, place-based approach.

But the report says despite the attempts made, “the majority have ended up focusing on the granting of discrete, often small, pots of money for specific development projects within localities, rather than supporting the fundamentals that underpin urban economic success, such as transport, housing, adult skills and education”.

Moreover, little progress has been made on transferring powers from Whitehall to town halls. To rebalance the economy and support UK cities, “the next government must look to build on the positive steps” already taken, such as devolving powers to Greater Manchester. It should both: c Agree devolution deals with other UK city-regions, and c Devolve new fiscal powers to UK city-regions.

6

l TOP

10

Cities with the highest housing stock growth (1) Milton Keynes (2) Peterborough (3) Cambridge (4) Telford (5) Belfast

(6) Warrington (7) Leicester (8) Newport (9) Gloucester (10) Coventry

“ACROSS A WIDE RANGE OF ISSUES, THERE IS COMPELLING EVIDENCE THAT TAKING DECISIONS CLOSER TO COMMUNITIES, THROUGH COUNCILS, ACHIEVES BETTER RESULTS AND SAVES MONEY” DAVID SPARKS, CHAIR OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION

Andrew Carter, acting chief executive at the Centre for Cities, said: “The stark picture the report paints of the enormous gap in the fortunes of UK cities over 10 years underlines why a ‘steady as she goes’ approach must be scrapped. We must move from thinking that bundling up new funding streams with bureaucratic delays, or simply tinkering around the edges with well-intentioned announcements will be enough to reverse trends that are becoming increasingly entrenched.”

Carter added that all political parties now need to commit to their recent pledges to devolve powers to cities and a make a clear plan to “improve the quality of life throughout the UK”.

Speaking to The Planner, David Sparks, chair of the Local Government Association, said that the economic benefits of devolving powers to cities and local areas in England are too big to ignore.

“We can’t ignore the evidence that some of our great cities are being held back by being denied the sort of autonomy enjoyed by equivalent European cities.”

Sparks said devolution to cities should be just the start.

“People from across the country should benefit from more of the important decisions affecting their lives being made close to where they live, whether home is a big city or a rural area. Across a wide range of issues, there is compelling evidence that taking decisions closer to communities, through councils, achieves better results and saves money.”

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PLAN UPFRONT

60%

1/3

can’t correctly identify green belt

believe building on green belt land is prohibited

90% 77%

Almost either had no knowledge of or did not understand the NPPF

did not know how to get involved in planning

must always be green”.

He added that the general public’s lack of knowledge about housing policy in their area is “having a major impact on the industry’s ability to deliver muchneeded housing and commercial space”.

The survey reveals that more than half of those asked oppose building on green belt – despite 60 per cent not knowing what it is.

Gale said: “We believe these serious misconceptions are a barrier to investment and growth. If the industry is to make any headway in narrowing the housing gap and delivering the facilities required to keep the UK a competitive economy, we need to take urgent action to educate and inform the public.”

Decrease in new affordable homes The number of detached homes registered with the National House Building Council (NHBC) last year increased by 24 per cent, with 38,113 being built compared with 30,849 in 2013.

Additionally, the figures show that the number of semi-detached homes registered increased by 12 per cent to 31,650.

Overall, the number of properties registered increased by 9 per cent, from 133,670 in 2013, to 145,174 last year. NHBC statistics reveal that in the final quarter of 2014, 38,157 properties were registered.

Although private sector housing may have increased by 13 per cent in 2014 compared with 2013, the volume of public sector properties being registered decreased by 4 per cent. The report says this could be because of funding changes to the Affordable Homes Programme.

NHBC registration figures increase

N

24%

N

West R Midlands

33% I M AG E S | A L A M Y

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Q Wales

Minister for public services Leighton Andrews has announced that none of the three proposed voluntary council mergers met the government’s criteria and won’t be sanctioned by the administration.

He revealed this as the government published the legislation that would allow voluntary mergers and enable the administration prepare for local government reform.

“I am disappointed to report that on the basis of this assessment I am not persuaded that any one of these expressions of interest sufficiently meets the criteria for moving ahead to prepare a full voluntary merger proposal,” he said.

Andrews added: “While there were some positive aspects to each expression of interest, the prospectus was clear on what would be required. This included the need for both applicant authorities to set out a compelling vision for the new authority and to provide assurance that post-merger arrangements would reduce complexity and increase coherence and coterminosity of public services.”

He later told assembly members in the Senedd that he was looking for “fundamental reform” of local government, not the creation of “bigger councils going about their business in the same way”.

NHBC chief executive Mike Quinton said: “We are encouraged to see that overall house building levels grew by 9 per cent last year – building on the strong volumes registered in 2013. The regions were the big drivers of growth in 2014, showing that the recovery is no longer centred in London and the South-East.”

Quinton added that the UK is still building fewer homes than before the economic downturn. “With the general election just three months away, it is therefore very encouraging that housing remains a top priority for all the main parties,” he concluded.

Q Yorkshire and Humber

16%

9N N N 9%

Q Scotland

Northern R Ireland

10%

17%

Q London

want it to be easier to get involved in planning

Welsh minister cold-shoulders first voluntary merger proposals

Ignorance fuels housing crisis, says research The British public’s lack of understanding is exacerbating the housing crisis, says planning consultancy Iceni Projects.

Following responses to research it undertook, the consultancy is calling on the property industry and government to raise public awareness of planning legislation and housing policies.

Conducted by ComRes on behalf of Iceni, the study considers 2,069 responses from British adults to a survey carried out between 17 and 18 December 2014.

Andrew Gale, director of Iceni, said the research shows there is “a fundamental lack of understanding on key issues of planning policy, such as a misunderstanding that green belt

68%

N

The proposed voluntary mergers were: 1. Torfaen County Borough Council and Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council 2. Bridgend County Borough Council and Vale of Glamorgan Council 3. Conwy County Borough Council and Denbighshire County Council

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NEWS

Analysis { HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT

Heritage groups outline split

By Laura Edgar As spring approaches, so too does the separation of English Heritage into two organisations.

And it has named the two chief executives who will take over after the split.

From April 1, charity English Heritage will look after the National Heritage Collection (NHC), of which there are 402 sites and monuments, including Stonehenge and parts of Hadrian’s Wall, under terms of a licence agreement, initially for an eightyear period.

Historic England will be a government service offering “expert and constructive advice” to help people safeguard and enjoy England’s historic places.

Pleased with the government’s backing and receiving a positive response during public consultation, English Heritage explained to The Planner that it has been a struggle to run both halves under one body.

A spokesman said: “The one-off grant from the government will allow us to undertake a backlog of repairs to various properties in the National Heritage Collection and also invest in some capital projects that will generate income and help the new English Heritage charity become self-sufficient. Our annual grant-in-aid from the government was never going to be enough to tackle the repairs.

“And the split means that Historic England will be able to give more focus and resource to providing expert, constructive advice on all the rest of England’s heritage – the historic environment all around us.”

To the right, The Planner takes a look at each organisation.

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ENGLISH HERITAGE

HISTORIC ENGLAND

c Kate Mavor takes on the position of chief executive after being chief executive at the National Trust for Scotland since 2009. c The body aims to address a backlog of conservation works required on the properties and to thereafter eliminate the public subsidy requirement after eight years, contributing to running the collection sustainably. c £88.5 million government investment will go towards managing the National Heritage Collection. This should enable it to become self-financing. c £52 million: conservation works and continual improvement of visitor experience c The remainder: capital investment and small interpretive projects. c Grant-in-Aid will be received on a declining basis until 2022/23. c Benefits of separation c NHC condition will be improved and investment in it will contribute to economic growth. c Separation from Historic England and independence from the government “will make it easier for the charity to assess sources of funding from third parties”. It will also be able to plan further ahead without the constraints of the government’s spending controls.

c Duncan Wilson OBE will be the body’s chief executive. c The body’s role will be to “champion and support” the efforts of individuals and organisations including national government, through its research and expertise, grants and advice. c It will work to ensure that policy-makers and politicians understand the benefits of England’s national heritage, with heritage reflected in relevant laws and planning practice. c It “aims to make the heritage protection system work better for owners, developers and infrastructure providers, reducing unnecessary bureaucracy without reducing protection for heritage”. c It has vowed to be more visible and make data about the historic environment more accessible. c It supports change through Constructive Conservation, helping relevant bodies plan for sustainable conservation and demonstrating that heritage supports sustainable economic growth. c It will advise prospective applicants and local planning authorities to secure sustainable development in all stages of the process. c It will continue to “provide advice to local planning authorities on the adequacy of the policies for the management of the historic environment in their local plans.”

Kate Mavor said: “It is a privilege to lead English Heritage on the first stage of its new journey as a charity.

English Heritage looks after sites where significant moments in history happened.

Individually and collectively, these precious places tell a remarkable story. I look forward to building on the great successes of my predecessors.”

Duncan Wilson said: “England’s heritage is one of our greatest national assets and, as its guardian, Historic England must make sure that it is not only passed on to future generations in the best possible state, but also that we make best use of it, and that more and more people share our passion for it.”

I M AG E | G E T T Y

16/02/2015 14:56

PLAN UPFRONT London’s cycle superhighways will cost about £60 million

Government scraps Green Infrastructure guidance

Cycle superhighway scheme approved The Transport for London (TfL) board has approved plans for the construction of two cycle superhighways (CS) through London city centre.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson explained before the plans were approved that the revised plans, for two continuous cycle routes that will run east to west and north to south, addressed concerns about potential traffic delays caused by the east to west route.

As well the approval of the north to south and east to west routes, the board also approved plans for CS1 and the inner section of CS5, and upgrades to existing routes – CS2, CS3, CS7 and CS8. Work on the schemes will begin in March.

TfL said that the schemes will cost about £160 million to deliver between now and the end of 2016, transforming “London’s streets and spaces to places where cyclists feel they belong and are safe.”

Speaking to The Planner, Rosie Downes, campaigns manager at London Cycling Campaign, said: “High-quality cycle superhighways were one of the key measures that the Mayor of London promised to deliver when he signed up to London Cycling Campaign’s ‘Love London, Go Dutch’ campaign in advance of the mayoral elections in 2012. The new routes represent a major advance in creating streets that are safe and inviting for people of all ages and abilities to cycle.”

Groups including the Landscape Institute, the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), Groundwork UK and The Land Trust have written to the government in response to the removal of the Green Infrastructure Guidance from the National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG).

The organisations are concerned that without proper updated green infrastructure guidance in the NPPG – a link to which until recently could be found on the Natural England website – it will carry very little legal weight in the planning process.

Green infrastructure will effectively “become ‘downgraded’ throughout the planning system,” said Noel Farrer, Landscape Institute president.

Kelly bangs drum for housing supply drive Ireland’s environment minister Alan Kelly has highlighted the administration’s commitment to increase housing supply, particularly in respect of affordable housing.

Speaking as the Irish government launched its latest strategy on jobs, Kelly explained that the government’s current six-year Social Housing Strategy committed

I M A G E S | A L A M Y / G E T T Y / PA / S H U T T E R S T O C K

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ministers to provide 35,000 new social housing units at a cost of €3.8 billion.

Kelly stressed: “The strategy restores the state to a central role in the provision of social housing through a resumption of direct building on a significant scale by local authorities and approved housing bodies.”

It is estimated that some 29,000 jobs will be created and sustained over this period.

He added: “We are on track to exceed our target of 100,000 additional jobs by 2016 – we have already achieved 80,000.

“We are setting a goal to bring employment down to 2.1 million by 2018 – two years earlier than our original target – effectively restoring all jobs lost during the economic crisis,” concluded Kelly.

In the letter – sent to the departments for environment, food and rural affairs, and communities and local government – the groups highlight their concern that the removal of this guidance comes at a time when issues such as the mitigation of climate change and public health are being increasingly acknowledged.

Kate Henderson, chief executive at the TCPA, said: “Without this guidance on green infrastructure we risk creating poorer quality, less sustainable places which will have a serious impact both on human health and wellbeing, and on the natural environment.”

Additionally, the organisations voiced their concerns that the loss of the guidance “undermines the ability of all users of the NPPG to find up to date, relevant information on the key concepts behind green infrastructure” as well hamper efforts to deliver “multifunctional green infrastructure on the ground.”

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NEWS

Analysis {

David Tittle: “The best community engagement starts with a conversation about place”

C O M M U N I T Y C O N S U LT A T I O N

Public needs to have more power

By Laura Edgar “Everybody should be able to live in a place that they can be proud of”, said Freddie Gick, Civic Voice chair, speaking at the parliamentary launch of the body’s manifesto, Localism For Real.

That is the message of Localism For Real, Civic Voice’s ambition, as declared on the manifesto’s front page.

Although the take-up of neighbourhood planning is growing, many people, the manifesto explains, feel their communities – in villages, towns and cities – are being shaped by developers and planning inspectors.

“Today, our shops and offices are often run by international companies. Their owners often do not live locally. National governments tend to have desire to control as much centrally as possible. We begin to feel powerless to effect what happens locally. We are not, nor should we be,” Griff Rhys Jones, president of the Civic Voice explained in the manifesto introduction.

Similarly, speaking to The Planner, David Tittle, Civic Voice trustee, chief executive of MADE and chair of the Design Network, said: “There is a lot of bad practice in community consultation which leaves people feeling frustrated and manipulated.”

Through the manifesto, the Civic Voice has laid out what it wants the next government to do to address community feelings of powerlessness. b Make improving the quality of the public realm in our cities,

c c b c

b c

towns and villages a priority.

This includes: Every area must have an up-to-date local plan; Planning authorities need sufficient resources to produce timely plans focused on quality; Give all citizens opportunities to actively shape the future of their place.

“Both local plans and major planning applications should be shaped through an inclusive process of collaborative planning, not just passive consultation.”

Give local communities the powers they need to enable their town and city centres to prosper.

Need to move away from out-of-town retail and leisure facilities that that are car-dependent. Planning needs to be strengthened to discourage this.

The manifesto then, is about ensuring that communities are involved. Tittle said the best community engagement starts with

10

a conversation about place and what needs addressing, rather than worked-up designs.

“That way people can see the need for change and will begin a positive discussion about the shape of new development.”

The launch also involved the introduction of the Civic Voice’s Collaborative Planning For All, which was produced in partnership with John Thompson and Partners (JTP).

It focuses on the charrette approach to planning, which can be used for a range of cases including local plans and strategic housing allocations.

Collaborative Planning For All suggests that charrettes should reach out to the whole community, the old, young and the hardto-reach. These meetings can be held over several days to ensure that everyone has the chance to attend and get involved in the planning process.

Tittle added that the best way to secure good community engagement “would be to make it a requirement in planning validation checklists that for schemes over a certain size the applicant has to present an independently verified report of the community engagement undertaken, along with a design review report”.

With the Civic Voice calling on political parties to adopt Collaborative Planning for All and looking “forward to sharing [their] ideas with policy-makers”, JTP told The Planner what comes next for localism and charrettes.

“The next steps are to fund a series of pilot schemes in order to gain an understanding and appreciation of how the charrette process can be implemented within the planning process.

“A similar path has been and continues to be followed in Scotland, where charrettes now form an integral part in the creation of exemplary places.”

Freddie Gick, chair of Civic Voice said: “We want to see a new approach in which local authorities are required to demonstrate that local planning decisions can be made only after it has been demonstrated that there has been active participation in the process by the local community.”

David Tittle said: “Since its foundation five years ago Civic Voice has been very successful in lobbying government on a range of issues. However, it has been mainly reacting to government proposals. Localism For Real puts us on the front foot and enables us to proactively put forward our own ideas to the politicians for the first time”

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PLAN UPFRONT

2

ND >>>LONDON

MSPs slam marine planning regime as “unfit for purpose” Despite five years in the making, the administration’s National Marine Plan is still not “fit for purpose”, warns the Scottish Parliament.

Committee convenor Rob Gibson MSP said: “Multiple uses are made of our

NI Key planning transfer powers approved An important milestone for the transfer of planning powers to local councils has been reached – the Northern Ireland Assembly has approved Commencement No 2 Order under the Planning Act. Environment minister Mark H Durkan said: “Backing for this order keeps on track the transfer of planning functions to the 11 new district councils for April 2015.

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14

TH >>>MANCHESTER

marine environment, and increasingly these are coming into conflict. But the Scottish Government’s draft National Marine Plan does not provide a clear and concise set of policies that can be consistently applied by decision-makers and those using the marine environment.

“There is a danger the plan in its present form will create conflict by having highly prescriptive actions in some areas, while setting out vague aspirations in others.”

The committee has voiced misgivings over how regional marine planning will interact with the national plan. It said that the current draft does not give sufficient guidance to local authorities to ensure a consistent approach.

The MSPs have questioned whether local authorities have the required levels of experience, expertise and resources to successfully develop and implement regional marine plans.

“It will help see power moving closer to local people with stronger councils with more responsibility and local accountability for planning – local planning decisions and plans being made by councillors responding to local needs with local solutions.”

He said: “Recent capacity building initiatives will equip councillors with the knowledge and skills to carry out their new role and to have the confidence, as well as the competence, to make sound planning decisions from day one”.

Durkan added: “Under the new system, local councillors will have a real opportunity to transform the look and feel of their own areas and create places that reflect the local culture and environment.

It will bring planning back to where it belongs – in the local community – making it more locally accountable. It will also bring the North into line with the other jurisdictions in these islands.”

19

TH >>>BIRMINGHAM

>>>

Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index n

London is world’s second most sustainable city Three English cities are in the top 20 of the Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index, which was compiled by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

The report, which assessed 50 urban areas across the world, considered economic (profit), social (people) and environmental (planet) characteristics, with Europe taking seven of the top 10 places.

Second only to Frankfurt, London was let down by its poor air quality, congestion levels and its housing crisis. In the city’s profile, it is described as becoming a victim of its own success.

“For years, London has suffered from under-investment in its infrastructure and is struggling to meet the demands of the existing population, let along the impact of growth,” with congestion and ageing infrastructure at the heart of its current issues, says the profile.

But report does record that the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has recognised these issues and has launched his 2020 Vision, which aims to make London “the greatest city on Earth.”

Manchester, ranked 14th overall, scored well socially (health, education, work-life balance), while Birmingham peaked at 10th for its environmental characteristics (greenhouse gas emissions and recycling rates), ranking 19th overall.

John Batten, global cities director at Arcadis, said: “City leaders need to find ways to balance the demands of generating strong financial returns, being an attractive place for people to live and work in, whilst also limiting their damage to the environment.”

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CHRIS SHEPLEY

O Opinion Pickles’ performance and the state we’re in Imagine, if you will, an authority somewhere in the UK. In 2010/11 it was performing well, with 94 per cent of cases being determined within prescribed timetables.

However, by 2013/14 (the most recent figures we have) only 65 per cent were meeting the timetables.

The authority gave reasons for this. Of the cases that missed the target in 2013/14, 42 per cent “raised unusually complex issues”, 46 per cent were because of “workload pressures”, and the remainder were delayed by a day “as a result of the need to make minor corrections”.

The usual subsequent procedure is clear. Eric Pickles makes a speech condemning in the most colourful language the inefficiency of the authority concerned, and complaining about the impact on business, the economy, and the future of the human race.

There is dark talk of special measures. It is debated at private lunches with the CBI. Various reforms to the planning system are conjured up, bearing little relevance to the issues involved.

None of this has happened in this case. And there’s a simple reason for that. The figures I quote refer to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG ) itself. They refer to the performance of Mr Pickles in dealing with calledin and recovered cases.

And let neither ministers nor anyone else point the finger of blame at civil servants. DCLG has been

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“BELEAGUERED OFFICIALS ARE WORKING SENSELESS HOURS TO TRY TO KEEP THE SYSTEM AFLOAT” subject to particularly savage cuts, and beleaguered officials are working senseless hours to try to keep the system afloat.

One reason for the tardiness of the Picklesian sausage machine is likely to be the increase in the number of cases recovered for decision by Pickles. These are primarily in the areas of housing, gypsies and travellers, and wind farms.

Some figures I’ve seen from Renewables UK suggest that the number of English

recoveries rose from four in 2010 to 94 in 2014. Housing rose from zero to 35, wind from four to 20, and gypsies and travellers from zero to 27.

This is bad news for at least two reasons. First, it suggests that the secretary of state does not trust his inspectors to make the ‘right’ decisions. Because I know from close experience that his inspectors are admirable and professional people, this implies in turn either that the guidance is unclear, so that inspectors have difficulty in following it; or that the guidance is not unclear, but the decisions that flow from following it are not those that he would prefer to see.

Second (and I’m going to sound a bit like that nice Mr Osborne now), it leads to delay, inefficiency, extra work, a disincentive to investment, and consequent

damage to the economy.

Renewables UK, just for example, argues that the 56 wind farms (more than two turbines) recovered since 2013 had an investment value of more than £600 million and would support at least 2,000 jobs (90 per cent of those so far determined have been refused, which might please some people, but that’s not the point).

The courts have determined that ministers’ approach to gypsies and travellers is unacceptable for equality reasons (and, incidentally, they’ve given an interesting insight into pressures within the department). The current methodology creates uncertainty and instability in the planning process.

Unpredictability means investors and developers in the various affected sectors find it hard to make investment decisions. It seems to me to be contrary to all the government’s oftstated aims for planning.

I don’t suppose much will change before the election in May. But we need to monitor more closely what is happening, and why, when it comes to recoveries. All of us want efficient and timely planning decisions. Except, it seems, Mr Pickles himself.

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

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

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Quote unquote FROM THE WEB AND THE RTPI “(It) would lead to the loss of a housing g unit which would not meet S14 of Westminster’s sterr’s City Plan: Strategic Policies adopted November b 2013. Negotiation could not overcome the reasons for refusal” WESTMINSTER PLANNING OFFICER MATTHEW REES RECOMMENDS REFUSAL OF A QATARI ROYAL FAMILY APPLICATION TO KNOCK TWO MANSIONS INTO ONE IN REGENT’S PARK

“London is now starting to get the cycle infrastructure it needs, but the pace of change is painfully slow and the lack of ambition is criminal” THE GREEN PARTY’S BARONESS JENNY JONES ON CYCLE SUPERHIGHWAY APPROVAL

“It’s illogical to spend billions on Crossrail so commuters can reach Central London more quickly, while… eroding the very jobs which those people would travel to”

“The loonies out there in the cycling world, they’re almost the sort of Isis of London.

Their views and their politics – if you are not with them, then nothing is too bad for you”

WESTMINSTER PROPERTY ASSOCIATION CHAIRMAN DANIEL VAN GELDER ON THE ‘VACANT BUILDING CREDIT’

STEVE MCNAMARA, GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE LICENSED TAXI DRIVERS ASSOCIATION

“The big decisions on infrastructure should of course be taken by our politicians, but it’s simply unacceptable that governments carry on doing so without any real framework or proper process” ROBBIE OWEN, INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING EXPERT PINSENT MASONS

“It’s quite something when those who might benefit the most from this ill-thought through policy are calling for it to be scrapped” LABOUR’S SHADOW HOUSING MINISTER EMMA REYNOLDS, ON ‘VACANT BUILDING CREDIT’ I M AG E S | A L A M Y / G E T T Y / I STO C K

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“This government makes no apologies for seeking to safeguard green belt protection and trying to bring a sense of fair play to the planning system.”

PLANNING MINISTER BRANDON LEWIS ON HIGH COURT RULING THAT ERIC PICKLES DISCRIMINATED AGAINST GYPSIES OVER GREEN BELT APPLICATIONS

MAR C H 2 0 15 / THE PLA NNER

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CORRESPONDENCE

I Inbox

YOUR NEWS, VIEWS AND QUESTIONS F E E D B ACK

Alan Wenban-Smith — The Planner story (‘Ignorance fuels housing crisis, claims research’, 27 January) quotes research attributing the lack of public enthusiasm for development to ignorance of planning policy.

But is it possible that the public is a bit sceptical about builders’ motivations, intentions and performance?

Consider the following: (1) The equation of need for new housing with projected net household growth permits the lazy assumption that the additional houses meet the needs of new households. But new households can seldom afford new houses (to buy or rent), but depend on turnover of existing stock in cheaper areas. Builders’ rhetoric may be about meeting housing needs, but their practice is to sell to those who have the money to pay, because they are already housed.

(2) The price of new housing is set by prices of similar existing stock (90 per cent of the market). Expectations of house price growth are fuelled by the supply of money for acquisition of property – this has been expanded over years by tax breaks, global financial dysfunction, quantitative easing and Help to Buy. Landowners capture these expectations in option agreements on land, meaning that builders cannot afford to build if prices do not continue to rise. These factors combine to limit increases in output and limit ‘trickle down’ in terms of generally lower prices (even if output increases hugely, as demonstrated by Barker and the National Housing and

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Planning Advice Unit).

(3) Strategic Housing Market Assessments project housing needs in a resource vacuum, meaning there is no relationship between needs and the resources (public and private) required to meet these needs. This results in excessive land allocations from which builders select the most profitable locations. This is exacerbated by affordable housing percentages, which are used to boost numbers for land supply purposes and then negotiated downwards.

The dispersed pattern of development that results places more demand on infrastructure and services, beyond that financed by the Community Infrastructure Levy or S106. If supplied publicly, meeting the demand reinforces dispersion and car-dependency in a vicious circle, undermining regeneration of existing settlements – and thus their role in meeting real housing needs. If not supplied, congestion and over-stretch of services follows.

So the public may have good reasons for remaining unpersuaded by either the merits or the efficacy of bowing to builders’ demands for more land. Without reforms to the sector, and a planning system that engages better with the resource realities and with the wider impacts of development, more land is not an answer to the housing crisis.

Alan Wenban-Smith Urban & Regional Policy

David Marshall —

time. Those of us who have been members for some considerable time like to know if former colleagues are still in the land of the living.

David Marshall RTPI (RTPI member since 1964)

The RTPI does indeed collate details of recently deceased members. We can’t guarantee how frequently we’ll publish that list, but we can guarantee that all such details will appear when we have them – Ed

Ian Lindley — Recent calls to review green belt policy and concerns over inadequate Green Infrastructure Guidance suggest that proper consideration for the role of Green Wedges is now due.

During the 1980s, Leicester adopted use of Green Wedges as a preferred alternative to green belt. Using wedges that radiate from the city centre towards the rural fringe provides for a network of intervening development and

transportation corridors.

With many wedges connected together through central green corridors and at the rural fringe via a cross-authority fringemanagement initiative, wedges can be purposely defined to meet a host of social/cultural, environmental and economic needs and aspirations including: working agriculture/city farms; flood land; clean-air corridors; open space recreation and sport; landscape and nature conservation, while providing for pleasant commuter and casual walking and cycling.

Wedges avoid the need for development to ‘leapfrog’ a belt and can avoid the continuous inner boundary erosion by development of much green belt by expanding in parallel to the planned release of land within the development corridors. This ensures continued access to green infrastructure and open space services by new development.

Ian Lindley

ON THE WEB @ThePlanner_RTPI The Planner Think Tank group on LinkedIn is live – and we’re keen to invite you in.

We’re always happy to receive your emails, or even physical letters (getting actual post is such an exciting novelty these days) – but The Planner’s Think Tank group is where we engage with you ahead of, during and after publication of news and features. We also use the group to conduct

surveys, elicit response to topical questions and amplify debates. If you’re in the RTPI’s own group, you’ll probably see us asking the odd question there as well.

So, please visit us and join the group at The Planner Think Tank. See you online.

Please forgive me if the list of members’ deaths appears in The Planner, but I have not seen it for some

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

O Opinion

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Ghislaine Halpenny is assistant director for planning and development at the British Property Federation

Whateve Whatever the colour of a new governm government, cuts will go deeper, particularly for councils, and planning departments will be among the worst hit.

The government consulted in 2011 on the localisation of planning fees, which prompted the Planning Advisory Service to carry out some impressive benchmarking work looking at the ways in which fees could be set at a local level.

Back then, the response from the industry was tentatively ‘positive’.

There was a strong feeling that if there were to be an increase in fees, it should herald an improvement in the service delivered by local authorities, or at least that current standards would be maintained.

The coalition, rightly or wrongly, was not brave enough to make the jump to locally set fees, and the landscape has changed since then. Not only is there less money for planning departments, but there is also a severe skills deficit as planners are tempted into the private sector, where salaries and prospects for promotion far outstrip those on offer elsewhere.

The British Property Federation held workshops on Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs) in 2011, and found lack of interest from both private and public sector representatives outside the South-East. These days,

Richard Cowell is development and planning manager at Birmingham City Council

Will HS2 help us realise the potential of our regional cities?

Money, money, money

though, when the subject of PPAs arises there are tales of good (and bad) experiences from all over the country.

What is clear is that PPAs clearly solve some very real problems. Although PPAs are primarily a project management tool with which to agree actions and dates, they can also involve a negotiated payment from the applicant to the local authority.

This will be used to fund a dedicated planning officer to concentrate on the project in question or to fund other officers working on other applications.

Either way, this payment ensures a good service, with a dedicated officer to help the PPA applicant through the system.

The question is, have PPAs just removed the need for locally set fees? The answer to this may well be ‘yes’. Even if smaller applications that do not need a PPA are put to the bottom of the pile, as the larger applications are being paid for, this may free up other planning department resources to deal with the smaller applications.

Some suggest that the use of PPAs in this way highlights the need for a comprehensive review of the charges involved in the planning system. Others, however, see this as a way for the deficit in departments to be quietly met by larger developers, and for everyone to benefit.

“HAVE PLANNING PERFORMANCE AGREEMENTS JUST REMOVED THE NEED FOR LOCALLY SET FEES? THE ANSWER TO THIS MAY WELL BE YES”

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The nati national investment in the HS2 rai rail network represents one of the single biggest spurs for regeneration in the UK. It has the potential to contribute to the rebalancing of the economy, driving growth and economic prosperity across the regions.

Here in Birmingham we are already putting in place plans to capture this. The launch of the Curzon master plan in February 2014 sets the scene for the regeneration of the area around the city centre terminus station.

We also launched a plan to support the growth of our central business district to create an international service sector hub and draw on the enhanced connectivity that HS2 will bring.

This is on top of the big investment that is happening across local infrastructure and big developments.

Being involved at the forefront of these major projects is a huge privilege. There is a real excitement about what can be achieved in Birmingham, and planners are leading the way.

There is, however, an acute awareness that for this to truly work we need to plan over a much wider geography than just the administrative boundary of Birmingham.

We’re already feeling the shortcomings in the system in the form of the city’s significant housing shortage, exacerbated

by a lack of available land. Add in the desire to rebalance the UK economy and the impact of HS2, and we will certainly see more pressure for land and everything that is needed to deliver successful places.

Localism, duty-to-cooperate and sub-regional planning are fine, but they will not provide the tools to effectively plan for what we hope will be a transformation in the regional economy.

So while we plan at a local level for growth there is a layer of activity missing that will ultimately determine whether we can deliver enough housing, employment space and local infrastructure to realise its full potential. If the government can turn the multitude of policy guidance into the concise NPPF, then surely a streamlined version of regional planning can be achieved.

The availability of funding and financing, skills and local infrastructure will also be key to maximising growth.

We need to take a far longer-term perspective on these aspects.

So while we push ahead with our local approach to realising the full potential of HS2, the short-term decision of five years ago to abolish regional planning may limit the impact of one of the government’s flagship projects. There is still time to rethink the approach and secure the bigger prize.

“FOR THIS TO TRULY WORK WE NEED TO PLAN OVER A MUCH WIDER GEOGRAPHY THAN JUST THE ADMINISTRATIVE BOUNDARY OF BIRMINGHAM”

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

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

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Jo Wilson is head of policy at independent think tank Future of London

Emilia Hanna is an air pollution campaigner for Friends of the Earth Scotland

Let’s clear the air, planners

Regulating for better rental in London

priv The private rented sector (PRS) has un undergone rapid growth in London since 2001, and is set to become the dominant tenure, housing 37 per cent of the population by 2025 (said the Greater London Assembly in 2014).

This is putting pressure on the public sector, increasingly beholden to private landlords for housing provision, while paying for the often poor quality found in private properties.

Ageing housing stock is a factor here, but with 10 per cent more homes in the PRS falling below the standards of decent homes than in both social rented and owner-occupied housing, there are significant specific challenges.

National and pan-London policy leans towards the idea of selfregulation, but many boroughs are building stronger reactions locally.

They could offer protection to the growing number of vulnerable tenants in the sector.

The licensing of all landlords, rather than only those who let houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), is gaining traction as a legitimate approach for boroughs to regain control of an increasingly unwieldy PRS. In the 30 months since the Newham Council’s licensing scheme began it has identified most of its landlords and refused licences to those who fail to meet basic conditions. Other

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boroughs are trying to implement similar schemes.

In hard times, an obvious question is whether these schemes can be self-sustaining.

Can licensing fees cover the staff, legal and admin costs of dealing with the thousands of landlords in each borough?

Other issues are whether licensing schemes are the most effective way to improve the sector, whether all boroughs share the same objectives for licensing and, whether a London-wide approach would be more efficient.

For us to have a healthy PRS, the public sector needs to foster better relations with its landlords.

This means weeding out criminals, and improving and maintaining as much of the stock as possible. Landlords must be on board to make this happen.

Increased regulation should be handled with care. It seems implausible that, as some have warned, landlords will flee the sector if they are ‘punished’ by licensing fees, despite consistent capital growth.

But some may need encouragement to take ownership of their role in our housing landscape.

Future of London will investigate landlord licensing as part of a three-year research programme, funded by Oak Foundation and Trust for London, on reforming the PRS.

“CAN LICENSING FEES COVER THE STAFF, LEGAL AND ADMIN COSTS OF DEALING WITH THE THOUSANDS OF LANDLORDS IN EACH BOROUGH?”

Scotland Scotland, like the rest of the UK, is in breach bre of European air pollution limits that were due to be met back in 2010. Air pollution is estimated to cost Scotland more than £1.6 billion in NHS spend and lost days at work.

North of the border it contributes to more than 2,000 premature deaths a year, making it responsible for more fatalities than alcohol and drug abuse combined.

Edinburgh has five designated “air quality management areas”, aka air pollution zones.

St John’s Road is the capital’s worst area with sky-high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide – the number of permissible hourly NO2 spikes for 2015 was already exceeded by February 2.

St John’s Road is an arterial route west of the city, flanked by elegant town houses that sit three metres from the road’s edge. When the houses were built in the 1930s, St John’s Road was connected to the city centre by tram and rail, so traffic pollution was not something that town planners worried about.

The tram network has closed, traffic congestion has thickened, and pollution levels have soared.

Mistakes of the past can be forgiven because town planners could not have foreseen the motoring industry boom and its resulting health impacts. But planners today cannot ignore the evidence and have a responsibility to manage development

in a way that improves and does not worsen air quality.

Given the problems on St John’s Road it is hard to see how two new proposals could possibly remedy the situation. One is a supermarket with a 140-space parking lot, smack in the middle of the pollution zone and 150 metres from a primary school.

The other, a 670unit housing development in the green belt west of the pollution zone, has been called in by the Scottish housing secretary.

Both developments are likely to increase traffic flows on the already over-congested St John’s Road.

Scottish Planning Policy says planning decisions must “consider the implications of development for air quality”.

This is too weak and is unlikely to lead to proposals being refused on air quality grounds.

The Scottish Government’s recently launched Low Emission Strategy aims to integrate our planning, transport, and air quality policies. But the draft strategy skirts the issues, talking about the need to “consider” and “take account” of air quality.

If Scotland is to avoid fines for breaking EU law, and protect the health of its citizens, planning policy needs to include a far more specific requirement to reject new developments that add pollution to existing air quality management areas.

“MISTAKES OF THE PAST CAN BE FORGIVEN … BUT PLANNERS TODAY CANNOT IGNORE THE EVIDENCE”

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GARDEN CITIES

MODEL TOWN

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Does the garden city model offer a realistic approach to 21st century living? Simon Wicks visits Letchworth to find out what planners can learn from the financial and governance arrangements in the original garden city

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snowy day in February may not be the best time to see a garden city. But a town is a town and has to function as a place to live and work, whatever its position in the planning pantheon.

Besides, touring Letchworth without its greenery allows me to see it in a state of undress, as it were, and to ask: is the original garden city still blooming? Or is it a living museum, a failed social experiment that should fade into irrelevance?

Parker’s original plan for Letchworth. It could pass muster today, he says, and evidences new planning principles that are standard now, such as zoning and a green belt.

New garden city developments will need to be similarly pioneering, argues Ames. “Howard’s legacy should be a forward-looking legacy, not constantly looking back.” It has to be a “social city” for the 21st century.

“The economics has been done to death, and the different delivery mechanisms. But there hasn’t been an advanced debate about the social city, about what it takes to make great places to live. Letchworth can lead that discussion,” Ames insists. “The other thing I would respectfully suggest other places can learn from is having the stewardship model in place before a spade goes into the ground.”

Community governance A pioneering place Letchworth was a social experiment. Ebenezer Howard’s garden city vision was a utopian dream of flight from the squalor of urban capitalism into a kinder, more egalitarian world of agriculture and artisanship.

Like the arts and crafts movement that informed its aesthetic, it was at once nostalgic, even conservative, and progressive, even socialist. It seems almost quaint in our knowing age – though in 1936, George Orwell claimed that Letchworth was full of “sandal-wearing, sex-maniac, ‘Nature Cure’ quacks, feminists and fuzzy-haired Marxists”.

When another George – Osborne – announced that Ebbsfleet was to herald a new wave of garden cities, he was more likely pandering to the shires than the “fuzzy-haired Marxists” of today. How else to sell the idea of mass development on England’s green and pleasant land than to wrap it in a horticultural package? Gardens? Lovely.

But strip away the green and peer through the fences of its cottagey homes, and Letchworth is surprisingly demotic.

“Howard’s vision is not about [house and garden] design,” insists David Ames, head of heritage and strategic planning for the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation. “It’s about long-term governance and community.”

In the town museum, Ames guides me to Raymond Unwin and Barry “Howard’s legacy should be a forward-looking legacy” – David Ames (top right)

Déjà vu hits as I tour housing in the company of Letchworth’s town historian Josh Tidy. I’ve seen these houses before – uniform, a touch cottagey, yet plain, set back from communal greens in avenues and cul de sacs.

They remind me of the council estates of my youth on the outskirts of my provincial market town. The original garden city rose out of a desire to provide affordable housing in a clean environment to ordinary people.

The housing style emerged initially from the Cheap Cottages Exhibition of 1905, which in turn gave rise to the Ideal Home Exhibition. Unwin developed the principles to create a Letchworth ‘look’ which, in turn, informed the council house boom of the interwar years.

Letchworth, you might argue, gave us council housing as we know it – and to this day 33 per cent of the homes in the town are social housing.

Behind the greenery is a community that is not particularly prosperous and which has had, at times, a surprisingly sketchy history – it took 60 years, a hostile takeover bid and an act of Parliament to get the governance structure more or less right. Even then it was almost derailed by a disastrous town council that the citizens voted out of existence.

Nowadays there is a two-tier local authority

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GARDEN CITIES

model, with the Foundation, an industrial and provident society, providing what Ames calls “additionals”. The Foundation generates £10 million a year in income from its ownership of large chunks of the Letchworth estate.

Money is reinvested in the community according to decisions made democratically, either by a general vote or by the Foundation’s board of governors. This is made up of residents – some appointed, most elected – “HOWARD’S VISION and local authority representatives.

IS NOT ABOUT “What we can demonstrate here is that [HOUSE AND GARDEN] there’s a non-political governance model DESIGN. IT’S that genuinely involves the local commuABOUT LONG­TERM nity,” says Ames. In recent years, the GOVERNANCE AND COMMUNITY” Foundation has modernised the art deco Broadway Cinema and funded the Ernest Gardiner Treatment Centre, a free private day hospital for residents.

The Ernest Gardiner’s manager Lorraine Roberts explains that the ownership and funding mechanism means the hospital has greater independence than its NHS equivalents.

“We can decide what services will be beneficial,” she says. “To the people that use us regularly we are very important. We can spend much more time with our patients.”

The Foundation provides grants and polices planning applications to ensure that they meet the town’s planning rules. Although not a statutory body, it’s heavily involved in strategic management of the town.

“If you imagine a town with a big Article 4 direction and a very switched-on conservation team, that’s Letchworth,” says Ames.

Issues and obstacles It hasn’t always run smoothly. The consequences of the 1950s takeover bid, for example, continue to be felt in the Foundation’s reduced earning potential. The town is not experiencing population growth and its population is ageing. Although Letchworth provides 16,000 jobs for its 33,600 residents, many are low-skilled – too many high-skilled workers commute out of town.

Ames and his colleagues are working with North Herts College to bring

Power of compulsory purchase Dalia Lichfield, principal of Dynamic Planning, writes: The moment we decide to expand housing capacity land values will rocket, and landowners will reap larger benefits than future users. Is it really unavoidable?

In 2008, the government transferred powers of compulsory purchase to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). Compulsory Purchase Orders are a suitable mechanism for the HCA to purchase open land at low use value,

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close to London, yet leaving sufficient expanse of green belt to fulfil its original purposes of recreation and separation.

If that land were served by fast and inexpensive transportation into Central London, it would provide the desired housing standards and travel aspirations for many households.

If that development were owned and managed by a Garden City Corporation, collecting lease or rent payments that increase over time, they could invest it in community services – just as Ebenezer Howard was hoping to see. n Dalia’s full article can be read on The Planner online: www.bit.ly/16TFJDU

in more students and spur growth of knowledge-based industry. A biotech company is shortly to take up residence in the town, too, and the listed former Spirella factory has become a business centre.

But any attempt to alter the population profile will have to be supported by a change in the housing stock, Ames explains. Letchworth’s housing has historically been designed for families but the market now wants one- and two-bedroom homes.

The Foundation’s conservation-minded planning policies make transformation and new build challenging. “If you live in a large house and sell up, what happens in many places is that it can be knocked down and 10 flats appear. But we don’t support that. The articles of management also say developers have to share the increases in land values with us.”

Then there’s the surrounding green belt.

“We’ve been having this debate about whether the town should be allowed to grow or not. We had a consultation and the great proportion of residents accepted there needed to be more housing. We’ve got three options: build on the industrial estate; relax our policies; look at the green belt.”

The Foundation would prefer not to sacrifice industrial space or the housing policies that preserve Letchworth’s character. It’s waiting on an inspector’s report into the district’s local plan to see whether green belt development might be a possibility.

Ames acknowledges the irony of a garden city taking space from its own green belt for housing, but the town must remain a living community.

Besides, it gives Letchworth an opportunity to be pioneering once again – both in terms of the type of housing offered and the ownership model.

The ‘unearned increment’ As landowner, the Foundation doesn’t have to deal with the biggest obstacle facing a new garden city development – the market-driven economics of land.

In their winning entry to 2014’s Wolfson Economics Prize, David Rudlin and Nicholas Falk of Urbed said large-scale development was contingent on overcoming this obstacle.

“In the absence of large-scale subsidy the only solution to the economics of the Garden City is

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A new life in Letchworth

Letchworth in numbers

33,600 population

33%

In the postwar years, Londoners were encouraged to move out of the city and into new homes and jobs in Letchworth and Welwyn.

“We came here when they started the new town system and they were building the Jackmans estate for Londoners,” says Evelyn Smith, while undergoing rehabilitation at the Ernest Gardiner Day Hospital. “We came from Greenwich. We were given a place and a job – you had to have a house and a job to come here. It was a good way to come out of London.

“We enjoyed it straight away. It was so green.

When you live in London, your houses are all close together. This was lovely. I felt like I was on holiday all the time.”

of homes are social housing

16,000

jobs in 900 businesses

22%

are financial and professional services

19%

are wholesale and retail

13% 13%

what Ebenezer Howard called the ‘unearned increment’.

We are proposing a deal for landowners in which they trade a small chance of securing a housing consent on “WHAT’S LACKING IN their land, for a guarantee of receiving existing use value NEW GARDEN CITIES plus substantial compensation and a financial stake in IS CERTAINTY. CERTAINTY OPENS the Garden City Trust.”

UP ALL SORTS OF It’s not the only solution. Dalia Lichfield, wife of the OPPORTUNITIES late Nathaniel Lichfield, has argued for wider use of FOR LAND VALUE compulsory purchase powers (see box).

CAPTURE” Ames suggests some kind of land value tax, but reflects Rudlin and Falk’s point about guarantees.

“What’s lacking in new garden cities is certainty. Certainty opens up all sorts of opportunities for land value capture, and if you can capture the value of the land then this model [the Foundation] works. If you had owned land for a long time, you would probably swap your increase for certainty.

“It requires a long-term stewardship view” – and some “decision-making” at parliamentary level. Some signs are there. The government’s Garden Cities Prospectus talks about the need to capture the uplift in value of developed land for reinvestment in “community infrastructure”, but it doesn’t offer tools with which do that.

The government has also created an Ebbsfleet Development Corporation with powers of compulsory purchase. Plus, politicians and policymakers have visited Letchworth, where they have been “receptive” to Ames’ thoughts about what makes a garden city tick.

are hospitality

are production industries

11%

are education, health and social work

8%

of the working population commutes to London

Are garden cities the answer?

Howard’s vision of the modern city continues to tease the imagination. It is romantic and utopian. It is comforting. It’s also a touch old-fashioned in an age in which we are encouraging more people to live in our cities than to leave them for semi-rural fancies in the Home Counties.

But Ames is quick to assert that Howard wrote about the “cities of tomorrow”, not the cities of yesteryear.

“The whole principle is about being a vibrant, living place where people live and work and we must protect that,” he stresses.

One could easily substitute the phrase ‘social cities’ for the ‘liveable cities’ in so much of contemporary planning discourse. Are they so different?

Ultimately, Ames is pragmatic about the role of garden cities in solving our housing crisis.

“With the amount of housing we’ve got to provide, it would be foolish to say garden cities are the answer. But they can be part of a package of measures along with other approaches such as urban extension and urban renewal. The misconception is that you lose money, but that’s never the case at all. You just have to take a long-term view of it.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND

THE PLANNER INVESTIGATES HOW THE NORTHERN IRISH PLANNING COMMUNITY IS GEARING UP FOR THE RESTORATION OF PLANNING POWERS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT. DAVID BLACKMAN REPORTS

CAUSEWAY COAST AND GLENS DISTRICT

DERRY AND STRABANE DISTRICT

FERMANAGH AND OMAGH DISTRICT

MID ULSTER DISTRICT ARMAGH, BANBRIDGE AND CRAIGAVON DISTRICT

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NEWRY, MOURNE AND DOWN DISTRICT

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P WER POW MID AND EAST ANTRIM DISTRICT

BELFAST DISTRICT

NORTH DOWN AND ARDS DISTRICT

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ince the 1980s, greater centralisation of local government powers has been the order of the day across the United Kingdom.

But one corner of the British Isles is witnessing a rare reversal of this shift. This April sees a wide-ranging devolution of powers, including planning, to Northern Ireland’s local government.

Northern Ireland starts from a very different place from the rest of local government in the UK, of course. During the late 1960s, the province’s councils were stripped of a wide range of powers, including planning, once Whitehall could no longer turn a blind eye to the way that the Protestant majority was exercising its control of local government.

The decentralisation of planning from the Northern Ireland executive is part of a wider shake-up of local government north of the border, which also kicks in at the beginning of April. The province’s existing collection of 26 tiny local authorities will be merged into 11 larger units of local government.

The new planning system will see all but a handful of major applications handled by these councils. Councils will also take over the preparation of development plans and the existing suite of planning policy statements will be streamlined into single statement (see development plans box).

A rump of regionally strategic applications will continue to be determined by the Department of the Environment’s slimmed-down Northern Ireland Planning Service, which will also retain responsibility for setting fe e s,

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SN TO RR AT PH EHRENR EI RXEXL A N D

Community plans Northern Ireland is blazing a trail on community planning.

As opposed to the more traditional land use planning, this is about planning of local service delivery that is carried out hand-in-hand with local community groups.

Other parts of the UK, particularly Scotland, have developed community plans.

But what is being developed in Northern Ireland builds on the Scottish model, argues Gavan Rafferty, lecturer in spatial planning and development at Ulster University’s School of the Built Environment.

This includes making Northern Ireland the first jurisdiction to introduce a statutory link between the local land use and community plan, reflecting the greater importance that civil society has developed in the province over recent decades.

The local development plan will be informed by and refer to the priorities

identified within the community plan.

Rafferty argues that this close integration between community and land use planning will improve the efficiency of service delivery, an important issue at a time when the province’s councils face cuts, like the rest of the UK public sector.

“The core is about joining things up and having decision-making much more streamlined so we can deliver better quality public services,” he says.

Northern Irish councils will also, like their counterparts in England, be required to publish statements of community involvement outlining how they will engage with members of the public when shaping development plans.

But the community strategies should not be confused with the neighbourhood plans recently introduced in England, explains Rafferty.

“There was talk about introducing neighbourhood plans, but it was felt that would muddy the water,” he says.

the scrutiny of local development plans, and overseeing the performance of council planning departments.

Decision-making on the ground Unsurprisingly perhaps, nobody cavils with the principle that local communities should be entrusted with making their own planning decisions.

Roisin Willmott, the RTPI’s director for Wales and Northern Ireland, says: “It’s the right way to go forward – setting strategies for local areas should be with the relevant local authority.”

Neil Dunlop, the institute’s president in Northern Ireland, agrees: “Planning powers should be at the lowest possible level and decision-makers should be on the ground. The planning system has worked reasonably well, but it doesn’t have the local flexibility and accountability that comes from local input that you get in the rest of the UK.” David Donaldson, principal at his own consultancy, Donaldson Planning, says: “Local councils are precisely where decisions should be made. It puts accountability into the hands of local people, which is undoubtedly a good thing.”

But any overhaul on the scale of that being carried out in Northern Ireland will inevitably face teething troubles.

“The principle is right, but it’s just going to take a little time to get sorted out.

Until they start dealing with live applications, we are in unknown territory.” says Willmott.

Culture shock Uncertainty over the new arrangements means, Donaldson says, that many developers are trying to push through applications before the existing system is wound up at the end of March.

The chief uncertainty surrounds how elected members and officers will get to grips with the new system.

“ALL TOO Many of the staff working in the DoE’s six local OFTEN WE WERE planning offices will be transferred to the 11 new COMMENTATORS councils, each of which will have its own chief RATHER THAN planner. Many of these officers, including all of the DECISION­ chief planners, have already been appointed.

MAKERS. THIS But these officers will have to get used to the idea BRINGS US INTO that they will now be acting in an advisory rather LINE WITH THE than decision-making capacity.

REST OF THE UK”

Timeline: 2007­2015

2007 20 2010 2013 2014 2015 Then local government minister Arlene Foster sets out plans to reform Northern Ireland’s planning system

FEBRUARY Northern Ireland executive oves approves g system planning reform

OCTOBER Environment minister Mark H Dur Durkan drops B Planning Bill containing new measures to hift functions shift uncils, to councils, ve been which have ng carried out using existing powers

FEBRUARY Durkan unveils consultation on Strategic Planning Policy Statement (SPPS), consolidating 20 existing docum documents into one

APRIL Planning powers to be transferred to local councils MAY The month set by environment minister Alex Atwood for implementation of SPPS

GAVAN RAFFETY

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“PLANNING POWERS SHOULD BE AT THE LOWEST POSSIBLE LEVEL AND DECISION­MAKERS SHOULD BE ON THE GROUND” “There will be much greater political involvement than they have been used to,” says Dunlop, who is advising Belfast City Council on the implementation of the new system.

And an even greater culture shock is in store for Northern Ireland’s elected members, who have been used to just being consulted on planning applications.

From April onwards, councillors will take over responsibility for planning decisions, which will require a shift in mindset.

Councillor Gordon Lyons, chairman of the planning committee at the shadow council of Antrim and Mid Antrim, is an enthusiast for the changes, which were backed by his Democratic Unionist Party.

He says: “All too often we were commentators rather than decision-makers.

This brings us into line with the rest of the UK.” Donaldson says: “There are some very experienced councillors who have dealt with planning applications as consultees for a number of years. Their previous role has been lobbying for or against particular proposals.

“Now they are decision-makers, the real challenge will be how they remain impartial on assessing the planning considerations. It will be fascinating to see how they balance the interests of their electorate, who have been used to lobbying their councillors, whether for or against.”

For many of these elected members, the new system will be a “reality check”, says Dunlop. “They have been able to stand back and shout from the sidelines

Development planning One of the many profound changes in Northern Irish planning is the introduction of more site-specific development plans.

Such forward plans have been an integral element of much of UK planning for more than a quarter of a century. However, this hasn’t been the case in Northern Ireland, where the main planning framework is supplied by the regional development strategy, a looser document that is more akin to the Wales Spatial Framework, says Roisin Wilmott, the RTPI’s Northern Ireland director.

However, under the planning reforms, due to come into force in April, each of Northern Ireland’s

11 new councils will be obliged to draw up its own development plan.

Michael Corr, director of Belfast’s PLACE built environment centre, believes that Northern Ireland’s planning system has suffered from an insufficiently robust framework for allocating land uses.

A downside of this approach has been a haphazard approach to channelling development, which at its worst can be seen in the scattered homes that disfigure parts of the Northern Irish countryside.

The lack of a sufficiently firm framework doesn’t breed confidence in investors, he adds: “I don’t think developers like a situation where they don’t have some level of certainty about

ROISIN WILMOTT

what they are putting forward.”

Another big change is that Northern Ireland’s existing suite of planning policy documents will be streamlined into a single statement, as has happened in England and Scotland.

But while this process has sparked concerns, Wilmott says it is mainly amalgamating and consolidating existing policies. The key change will be the introduction of a tougher policy on out-of-town developments.

for the past 40 years and sit in meetings and say one thing and say the opposite in public. They (councillors) will have to become much more careful about what they say.”

Perhaps as a result of this, he is already observing a greater reluctance to sit on planning committees than under the outgoing regime.

Dunlop says: “If they have any real sense, they will listen to their planners within the department because they are professionals and they have the experience of robustly defending their recommendations.”

Vernacular styles The upside, though, is that the planning system will be able to more effectively tap local members’ knowledge, points out Lyon.

This should lead to planning strategies that are more carefully tailored to grassroots circumstances.

It is hoped that this leads to development that is more in tune with local vernacular styles. Michael Corr, creative director of the PLACE built environment centre, believes this lack of local input can lead to the appointment of consultants who can take a ‘one size fits all’ approach to places.

This greater local sensitivity extends to economic conditions.

“We will start to see districts making the most of their competitive advantage,” says Dunlop.

Antrim’s Lyons, who was impressed on a fact-finding tour to Peterborough by how its council has integrated planning and economic development, sees devolution as an opportunity to speed decision-making. He says: “By taking planning into our own hands we want decision-making to be more efficient.”

But as Northern Ireland’s economy is suffering from a contraction of the central government subsidy that it enjoyed during ‘The Troubles’, councils will be under pressure to spur economic development by using their newly won powers to relax planning rules.

Dunlop fears that councils could end up in a so-called ‘race to the bottom’ as they compete to attract scarce job-generating investment.

A likely flashpoint is Sprucefield, the site on the outskirts of Belfast once earmarked for a John Lewis store, which became one of Northern Ireland’s biggest planning cause célèbre of the past decade. Many suspect that the local authorities on the fringes of Belfast will push for this and other out-of-town sites to be brought forward, potentially undermining efforts to attract investment into Northern Ireland’s premier city.

Lyons knows that April’s reforms mean local government is in the spotlight but he is confident that devolution will succeed.

“We know it’s an area we will be judged on because it’s one of the biggest changes. We want to make sure we get it right.”

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BARNWELL MANOR

T SINCE THE COURT OF APPEAL QUASHED PLANS FOR FOUR WIND TURBINES ON LAND NEAR 17TH CENTURY BARNWELL MANOR IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE A YEAR AGO, THE RULING HAS HAD A PROFOUND IMPACT ON APPLICATIONS AT HERITAGE SITES, SAYS ANDREW BATTERTON

he Court of Appeal’s decision in East Northamptonshire DC v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government1 and subsequent decisions has had a marked effect on the way in which the statutory tests under sections 66(1) and 72(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 are being applied.

One year on, it is clear that it has shaped the outcome of recovered appeal decisions, received favourable application in subsequent legal challenges – and changed heritage appraisal.

The secretary of state has cited Barnwell Manor in several recovered appeal decisions during the past year. Shortly following the court’s decision, Eric Pickles dismissed a number of commercial wind farm applications against the recommendation of his inspectors. On each occasion there was no difference in opinion as to the significant weight to be attached to the benefits and need for these renewable projects.

But the secretary of state considered that his inspectors had failed to give the requisite weight to harm occasioned to the setting of heritage assets, including those where the impact was judged to be less than substantial harm.

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It is also apparent that in arriving at those judgments, some reliance was placed on the views of English Heritage, even where they had been moderated by the inspector hearing the appeal. On other occasions, the secretary of state, having regard to the appeal documentation, considered that his inspectors’ recommendations underplayed the harmful impacts.

This trend continued throughout 2014 with a notable increase on preceding years, in both the rates of recovery of wind farm applications and the number of refusals. More recently in December 2014, Pickles refused a six-turbine scheme at Molesworth, Cambridgeshire, despite the developer pro-actively proposing the removal of three turbines to address concerns about harmful effects.

There was a ray of hope in September 2014, when he allowed an appeal against Newark and Sherwood District Council’s refusal of a three-turbine scheme in Newark-on-Trent2. The inspector’s recommendation to approve was upheld, which was adjudged to cause ‘some’ less-than-substantial harm to the setting of a Grade 1 listed church. On closer reading, initial optimism faded as it appeared that the harm was considered to be occasioned predominately in a single viewpoint that was already subject to deleterious impacts from other modern infrastructure.

Even less than substantial harm impacts that fail to preserve setting and that contribute to significance of a heritage asset

OF

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FOOTNOTES 1 [2014] EWCA Civ 137 2 APP/ B3030/A/12/2183042

are now expected to be afforded considerable weight, creating a strong presumption against the grant of planning permission.

In the case of Forge Field3 in Kent, concerning a rejected housing scheme, Mr Justice Lindblom confirmed that while the presumption is rebuttable “…an authority can only properly strike the balance… it is conscious of the statutory presumption in favour of preservation”.

The courts have also now confirmed that the outcome in Barnwell Manor extends to the interpretation of the character and appearance of conservation area test in section 72 of the Listed Building Act4.

Degree of harm It has become clear that the challenge for the promoters of development that is likely to affect heritage assets is significant. Recent decisions tend to support the conclusion that the degree of harm that can be occasioned to assets and their settings is much less than has previously been held to be the case. In the case of wind farm schemes at least, harm to the highest grade of heritage assets will have to be at the very low end of the spectrum to avoid risk of failure.

Barnwell Manor has practical implications for the way in which decision-makers, plan-makers and those assessing heritage impacts apply the National Planning Policy Framework. Whereas the national policy directs refusal where substantial harm is occasioned unless limited exceptions apply (paragraph 133), the requirement only to balance less than substantial harmful effects against public benefits (paragraph 134) is not, as it might otherwise seem, an even contest.

If there is a positive to take away from recent decisions, it is that both the secretary of state and the courts are becoming clear that while the impacts on setting occasioned by wind farm development could lead to the substantial harm, they

will not do so in most cases, given that most significance tends to attach to the listed building’s fabric. Harm need not lead to the point of de-listing before it is substantial, but does need to be such a serious effect that heritage value is either vitiated altogether or very much reduced.

A wider resonance Barnwell Manor is not, of course, particular to wind farm schemes, albeit it has particular resonance for the sector given that such development is more often visible over much greater distances. Pickles has in this period relied upon the impact on the setting of heritage assets in refusing other forms of development, including major residential schemes, such as a 450-unit scheme in Basingstoke5 and a 70-unit scheme in South Norfolk6 considered to outweigh a lack of five-year housing land supply.

There have been legal challenges to a number of Pickles’ refusals and indeed some of that litigation is still continuing.

For example, in December 2014, RWE Innogy UK failed in an attempt to overturn a refusal of its 10-turbine scheme at Thornholme in East Riding, Yorkshire7.

The High Court decided that the secretary of state had provided adequate reasons

“IN THE CASE OF WIND FARM SCHEMES AT LEAST, HARM TO THE HIGHEST GRADE OF HERITAGE ASSETS WILL HAVE TO BE AT THE VERY LOW END OF THE SPECTRUM TO AVOID RISK OF FAILURE”

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3 R (on the application of Forge Field Society) v Sevenoaks DC [2014] EWHC 1895 (Admin) 4 See Forge Field and R. (on the application of Hughes) v South Lakeland DC [2014] EWHC 3979 (Admin) 5 APP/ H1705/A/13/2205929 6 APP/ L2630/A/13/2196884 7 RWE Innogy UK Limited v SoSCLG QBD (Admin) (unreported) 8 Richard Hackett Pugh v SoSCLG and Ors [2015] EWHC 3 (Admin)

for differing with the recommendations of his inspector. In the absence of evidence that Pickles had failed to ignore relevant planning policy, it was open to him to judge the harm to be greater than that assessed by the inspector. More recently, in 2015 a local resident failed in his attempt to overturn an inspector’s decision to allow an appeal against Cornwall Council’s refusal of a single turbine scheme at Lanreath, Cornwall8. The decision is another reminder that the court will not interfere with the judgment of weight afforded by the secretary of state.

So further uncertainty and trepidation lies ahead for onshore wind farm developers and promoters of other tall infrastructure and large-scale projects, whether or not you believe that the current trend is short-lived in the run-up to the general election.

Because of the amount of weight that is to be given to less-than-substantial harmful impacts on setting, there is now a real need for a toolkit or model to much better predict the outcome and understand the proper application of English Heritage’s Guidance on Setting and any current and subsequent government advice.

Until then, the weight afforded by English Heritage’s comments and the degree to which the secretary of state can alter the direction of outcome on decisions at the balancing exercise stage, on heritage grounds, will understandably continue to make developers very nervous.

Andrew Batterton is a legal director at DLA Piper LLP

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SMART MOTORWAYS

ENTER THE 1,200 Increase in vehicles per hour allowed by extra lane capacity

SUPE Driverless cars 2018

400 miles Amount of smart motorway capacity to be created by 2021 as part of a £15.1 billion government investment

4 million

Number of vehicles expected to be using smart motorways per day by 2021

MOTORWAYS IN ENGLAND ARE INCREASINGLY USING TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE JOURNEYS BY EASING CONGESTION. THE FIRST OF THESE SMART MOTORWAYS CAME INTO OPERATION IN 2006 AND MORE WILL BE DELIVERED SOON TO THE NETWORK. MICHAEL FRY, OF GLOBAL LAW FIRM DLA PIPER, EXPLAINS 28

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ERHIGHWAY 4m Vehicles using smart motorways 2021

I L L U S T R AT I O N | R O B E R T H A N S O N

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3 years Current trials could lead to driverless cars on the roads in three years’ time

{

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SMART MOTORWAYS

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elivering the 2014 Autumn Statement, George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: “For years our roads have been neglected.

Now that this government is fixing the economy, we can afford to invest properly in our roads – unlocking jobs for the future and local growth by creating a road network that is fit for the 21st century.”

In the 21st century, technology reigns supreme, and it is to be expected that in a world where products are ‘i-something’, ‘wireless’ or ‘smart’ roads will be no exception.

What are smart motorways?

Smart motorways use technology to manage traffic and apply variable speed limits in response to driving conditions and events on the motorway – actively managing the traffic. These systems are already in place on sections of motorway in England, and are managed by the Highways Agency.

Controlling traffic flow allows the conversion of the hard shoulder into a running lane, either permanently or during times of peak use. Cameras and sensors that feed into the Highways Agency’s regional control centres monitor smart motorways. Speed limits can be altered to reflect levels of congestion, and a lane can be signed as closed to traffic almost at the press of a button.

was achieved, and safety actually improved.

Under the recently published National Policy Statement for National Networks, “the government’s policy on development of the Strategic Road Network is not that of predicting traffic growth and then providing for that growth regardless. Individual schemes will be brought forward to tackle specific issues, including those of safety, rather than to meet unconstrained traffic growth (i.e. ‘predict and provide’)”.

As only one study has been published so far, it is too early to say for certain how effective smart motorways are. However, the use of the hard shoulder, by definition, provides much needed extra capacity, and the current indications are that the smart motorways are effective and worthwhile.

Importantly, the time and costs of introducing smart motorway are significantly less than motorway widening schemes, with reduced environmental effects.

What are they trying to achieve?

Smart motorways enable speed limits to be varied to head off potential buildups of congestion, and respond quickly in the event of a breakdown or accident. Managing speed and converting the hard shoulder into a running lane increases the capacity of the motorway while limiting engineering works and land take. But the cornerstone of smart motorway projects is not necessarily time-savings or safety gains (although these are welcome benefits), but predictability. Control of the traffic flow should mean that journeys on the key traffic arteries always take about the same length of time, allowing road users to plan their journeys with some reliability.

How effective are they?

Some organisations and individuals have raised concerns about safety and expressed concerns about the loss of the hard shoulder. The first smart motorway scheme, the M42, has been in operation since 2006 – a key objective was to demonstrate that the hard shoulder could be Journeys on used by traffic withthe key arteries out worsening safety. should always be of the same One of the main outduration comes was that this

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Are we likely to see more smart motorways?

In short, yes. Many smart motorway schemes are already in the planning process. Conversions to smart motorways form part of the government’s continuing £24 billion investment into transport networks. The 2014 Autumn Statement identified £15 billion of investment spread over 10 years, which will ultimately involve 100 new road schemes, and many of these planned schemes are smart motorways. For example, on 1 December 2014, Patrick McLoughlin, the Secretary of State for Transport, announced £1.4 billion for 18 new road schemes (for motorways and A-roads) in London and the south-east of England. Of these schemes, nine include an element of conversion to smart motorway.

Michael Fry is an associate at DLA Piper

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NEXT UP: DRIVERLESS CARS SMART MOTORWAYS ARE ONE PART OF THE ROAD TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION – DRIVERLESS CARS, IT TURNS OUT, ARE UNLIKELY TO BE THAT FAR BEHIND.

A

dvocates of the fast-developing driverless car technology talk of environmental and safety benefits, reducing to zero the figure of more than 20,000 people killed or injured each year on Britain’s roads.

And now the government is claiming that it wants the UK to become a “world leader in driverless technology”. To that end it has committed to publishing a code of practice this year which will allow the testing of driverless cars. Four locations in England have been selected to test both the cars and the public’s response to them; Greenwich, Bristol, Milton Keynes and Coventry.

Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board, a government-funded body) has apportioned £19 million in funding to the various projects:

Bristol A consortium will examine whether driverless cars will help to make roads safer and reduce congestion. It will also look at the public’s reaction to the technology and the legal and insurance implications.

Milton Keynes and Coventry The consortium running this project, which includes engineering consultancy Arup and car manufacturers Ford and Jaguar Land Rover, will test self-drive cars on the road and a new breed of self-driving ‘pods’ designed exclusively for use in pedestrianised areas.

Testing began in January and will continue for 18 months. The long-term view is that, by 2030, cars will have entirely taken over the ‘chore’ of driving from humans, making all of us into passengers. Whether this proves socially acceptable or not, it’s clear that these developments, coupled with the potential of forthcoming 5G data networks to enable near-instant wireless communication, will ensure that the subject of smart roads and motorways is never too far from the public consciousness as the technologies spread.

Greenwich A consortium including the Transport Research rch Laboratory consultancy, General Motors, the AA and RAC will test automated passenger shuttle vehicles ehicles and autonomous valet parking for adapted cars. ars.

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

l C O N S U LTA N C Y

ACQUISITION

RPS and CgMs – the new force in planning consultancy In August 2014 the RPS Group acquired CgMs Ltd – consolidating RPS’s position as one of the largest planning consultancies in the UK with 130 chartered town planners and an annual planning fee income of more than £78 million. It also has the largest planning consultancy workforce in London, with 55 chartered town planners.

Explaining the reasoning behind the acquisition, David Cowan, managing director of the planning and environment division at RPS commented: “The RPS group is an international consultancy advising on the development of natural resources, land and property and the management of the environment. We employ 5,000 staff across 90 major towns and cities globally.

“Planning and environmental consultancy, including heritage work, has always been a core area of the business throughout our 15 UK offices. But given the growth in the economy - and the demand for delivery of new homes, jobs and infrastructure - keeping pace with the growth in planning and environmental services required of us was becoming a real challenge.

“CgMs presented us with a fantastic opportunity to grow and complement our existing business, especially in London where many of our clients are based.

The reputation of CgMs

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"We now provide an unparallelled and integrated planning and development consultancy to our UK clients” – David Cowan professionals in planning and heritage consultancy, with clients focused in London and the south-east of England, was an excellent fit for us; the progress we have made since the acquisition last August has already exceeded our expectations.

Acquiring CgMs’ expertise has significantly enhanced our planning and heritage capabilities. Combined

with our regional planning offices and established environmental consultancy service, we now provide an unparallelled and integrated planning and development consultancy to our UK clients.”

On becoming part of RPS Erica Mortimer, managing director of CgMs, said: “CgMs had grown since its formation in 1997 to become one of the UK’s leading specialist and independent planning and heritage consultancies. The growth in demand for planning and heritage consultancy services required us to expand, and we felt that the best way to do so was to work with another leading planning and environmental consultancy to complement our client base and enable us to offer enhanced regional coverage.”

“We consider our two businesses to be complementary. We look forward to growing our planning, heritage and environmental consultancy services in the future.”

The integrated business is advising on a wide range

"We look forward to growing our planning, heritage and environmental consultancy services in the future” – Erica Mortimer of projects, from nationally significant infrastructure projects and high-rise residential developments in London through to retail and industrial developments. www.rpsgroup.com — @rpsgroup — cowand@rpsgroup.com www.cgms.co.uk — @CgMsUK — erica.mortimer@cgms.co.uk

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l LOOKING TO THE FUTURE RPS and CgMs chiefs consider how 2015 will pan out for planning not be ring-fenced as part of the need to reduce the national budget deficit. As a result, there is the distinct possibility more Local Planning Authorities may be tempted to go down the privatisation route of their planning services. If so, this could result in the loss of local accountability in planning decision making.”

"All political parties accept that more houses are required to meet the UK’s needs of 240,000 homes per annum" – Erica Mortimer

■ What will be the key planning issues at the general election?

Erica Mortimer (EM): “It has to be how are we going to build the amount of new homes – including affordable homes – that are required. All political parties accept that more houses are required to meet the UK’s needs of 240,000 homes p.a. The political question is where should they be built and are the new homes affordable?

“The issue of building houses in the green belt is highly political. Labour have just announced that it would open up the NSIP process of fast-tracked DCO applications to very large housing schemes, as part of the Armitt National Infrastructure Commission.

The question is what would the Conservatives do?”

David Cowan (DC): “There’s more consensus between the main parties about the need for better infrastructure and housing in this election than for

many years. How we pay for it is more likely to be the election issue. It will also be interesting to see how candidates for constituencies that could be affected by major infrastructure projects deal with those issues.”

■ What do you think about the future of the planning profession as whole?

EM: “There is an increasing need for highly skilled and professional chartered town planners to meet the challenges the country faces in terms of population growth and the associated pressures on providing new homes, jobs and infrastructure.

“I do, though, have concerns as to whether local planning authorities will have the adequate resources they require to provide the necessary level of skills and expertise to speedily deliver the needed new homes, jobs and infrastructure.

“Local planning authorities’ budgets will

■ How do you see the future of the planning consultancy market?

DC: “I foresee continued growth. The planning system in the UK is constantly changing because successive governments want to make it more effective, cost efficient and democratically accountable, while the environmental policies and other material considerations still need to be dealt with clearly and transparently. We have seen

this in the DCO process for infrastructure projects. I can only see this continuing.

“We are also facing a time of unprecedented population growth, especially in London and the South-East, while the UK economy is the fastestgrowing in Europe. There will therefore be a growth in demand for specialist planning consultancy advice in all sectors – especially in the residential and infrastructure sectors.

“RPS has been at the forefront of developing planning-led solutions to meet these challenges over the past 25 years. The acquisition of CgMs, together with our regional offices, provides our clients a “onestop shop” for planning and environmental services to support them from site identification and through to planning permission and implementation on site.”

"There’s more consensus between the main parties about the need for better infrastructure and housing in this election than for many years" – David Cowan

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INSIGHT

DiF { D

DECISIONS IN FOCUS

Decisions in Focus is where we put the spotlight on some of the more significant planning appeals and court cases of the last month – alongside your comments. If you’d like to contribute your insights and analyses to future issues of The Planner, email DiF at editorial@theplanner.co.uk The Court of Appeal found that the Solihull Local Plan lacked an Objective Assessment of Housing Need (OAN)

GREEN BELT

Developer’s challenge sends Solihull LP back to drawing board (1 SUMMARY The Court of Appeal has held that the preparation of the Solihull Local Plan had not been compliant with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). This was on the basis that an Objective Assessment of Housing Need

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(OAN) exercise had not been properly undertaken, and an alteration to the green belt boundary had not been justified by exceptional circumstances.

(2 CASE DETAILS A developer, whose sites were allocated to the green belt by the Solihull Local Plan, challenged the plan on grounds that there had been no NPPF-compliant OAN – Solihull had used figures derived from the Regional Spatial Strategies – nor any exceptional circumstances

to justify altering the green belt boundary. The challenge succeeded at first instance and the council appealed, arguing that the NPPF did not introduce a mandatory two-step approach for assessing housing need (requiring the OAN exercise to be undertaken first before inconsistencies with other NPPF policies can be considered).

The council further argued that justification for altering the green belt boundary lay in the fact that the sites were not considered suitable for

sustainable development.

There was also a cross appeal brought by the developers, arguing that the remission to the inspector for further examination of the offending parts of the plan had not been an appropriate remedy.

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED The Court of Appeal disagreed with the council’s arguments and held that paragraph 47 of the NPPF does introduce a mandatory two-stage approach. The court held that this was a ‘radical change’ from

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previous policy and drew attention to the requirement in paragraph 47 for local planning authorities to ‘boost’ housing supply ‘significantly’.

It was also held that the fact that a site is not considered suitable for housing development cannot alone constitute an ‘exceptional circumstance’ that justifies altering the green belt boundary (see paragraph 83 of the NPPF).

Whether development would be permitted on the sites would depend on the council’s assessment of the merits of any planning application put forward. The court allowed the developer’s cross appeal. The legal errors had first arisen in the council’s preparation of the plan and so it was right to remit the offending parts of the plan to the council for reconsideration.

(4 ANALYSIS

[1] SASKIA MOLEKAMP This judgement underlines the need for local planning authorities to undertake the OAN exercise rigorously when preparing their local plan, in order to obtain a figure representing the full extent of housing need.

Whether other policies will prevent that housing need from being met is a second-stage consideration but, as the judge at first instance (endorsed by the Court of Appeal) stated “numbers matter; because the larger the need, the more pressure will or might be applied to [impinge] on other inconsistent policies”. Local authorities should also be careful to alter the green belt boundary only where it is necessitated by exceptional circumstances (although the court did not give any

examples of what those circumstances may be).

Case reference: Gallagher Homes Ltd v Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council [2014] EWCA Civ 1610

SASKIA MOLEKAMP is a solicitor at Mills & Reeve LLP. Saskia.Molekamp@Mills-Reeve.com

ENFORCEMENT ORDERS

‘Good faith’ still a cornerstone of enforcement (1 SUMMARY The High Court held that changes made to planning enforcement provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990) – by virtue of the Localism Act 2011 – had not removed the public policy requirement of ‘good faith’ (the Welwyn principle) from planning enforcement decisions in relation to limitation periods.

(2 CASE DETAILS In the case of Welwyn, a landowner was unsuccessful in obtaining a Certificate of Lawfulness of existing use or development (CLEUD) after the Supreme Court decided for public policy reasons that he could not rely upon the expiry of enforcement action time limits because his conduct in the planning process involved deliberate, positive deception. In that case it was found that the owner had erected what looked like a barn, which was in fact used as a dwelling despite only having permission to build a barn. In the recent case of Jackson, again with reference I M AG E | SWN S

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to a barn and deceptive behaviour, the High Court considered whether legislative amendments dealing with deception had replaced the Welwyn principle. The landowner was similarly challenging a refusal to grant a CLEUD on the basis of bad faith.

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED The Localism Act’s Planning Enforcement Orders (PEO) regime had not replaced the Welwyn principle and the planning inspector was correct to refuse the CLEUD. It is well established that the law should serve the public interest and therefore courts can interpret legislation to ensure that a person does not benefit from his own wrong. Additionally, the PEO code does not cover every possible type of wrongdoing e.g. bribery and coercion.

PEOs should therefore be considered an additional tool for local planning authority to use in enforcement matters. The High Court also suggested that the Welwyn principle could be

extended beyond exceptional circumstances, as suggested by the Supreme Court, and insisted that the severity of conduct in matters of deception/concealment would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

(4 ANALYSIS

[1] ALEX ROUND The effect of the decision is to bolster what is available to a local planning authority when dealing with breaches of planning control. There are weaknesses to the new PEO code, but it will be reassuring to authorities, residents and businesses across the country that enforcement action is available where statutory limitation periods have elapsed and the breaches of planning control have been concealed. If a PEO is not a suitable remedy, the Welwyn principle acts as a ‘catchall’ to ensure that those who deliberately conceal planning breaches cannot prosper from it. There is still uncertainty as to when the Welwyn principle will apply, however, and it is clear

The Welwyn principle aims to stop those who purposely conceal planning breaches for profit

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INSIGHT

DiF { D

DECISIONS IN FOCUS

The inspector decided that reinstatement of the hay barn would not mar its Lake District setting

that its use is most frequent in relation to the most serious planning breaches.

Whether the principle will reliably apply to less clearcut scenarios remains an element of risk for parties involved in enforcement.

(3 RESPONSE TO THE CASE It is worth keeping in mind that PEOs are not without their own time restrictions.

Once the planning authority has discovered a planning breach, and the reason it had not been identified within the statutory four or 10-year period relates to deliberate and deceptive behaviour, the authority then has 12 months to take enforcement action. In theory, the Welwyn principle could still apply outside that 12-month period.

Even though the planning world is heavily regulated, it is clear that public interest remains at the heart of it.

Welwyn Hatfield Council v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2010] EWCA Civ 26 Jackson v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2015] EWHC 20 (Admin)

ALEX ROUND is a trainee solicitor at Mills & Reeve LLP. Alex.Round@mills-reeve.com

AGRICULTURE

Reinstatement of hay barn gets green light (1 SUMMARY The decision last January by the Lake District National Park Authority not to allow reinstatement of an existing hay barn – including roofs,

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building up of walls, floors, windows, doors and stairs, together with the re-roofing of an existing abandoned farmhouse – has been overturned on appeal by inspector M Seaton.

(2 CASE DETAILS The main issue in this case was whether the proposed reinstatement of the abandoned buildings would amount to a harmful form of development within the open countryside, or have an adverse effect on the landscape and scenic beauty of the Lake District National Park. The dispute between the main parties lay in whether or not the reinstated buildings should be assessed as remaining in “nil” use, or instead assessed on the basis of their potential future use.

Within the grounds of appeal, the appellant stated that further to the proposed reinstatement of the former farmhouse and hay barn, no future use for either has been proposed and that the “nil” use would remain.

Inspector Seaton stated that in his view it was clear that this appeal, which does not propose a new use, should be assessed solely on the basis of the physical works proposed.

The council contended that the proposals would not comply with Policy CS02 of the Lake District National Park Core Strategy 2010 (the Core Strategy). It also highlighted the absence of a demonstrable agricultural need for the hay barn, which it stated would be contrary to saved policy A1 of the Lake District Local Plan and Joint Structure Plan Policies 2010.

(3 CONCLUSION REACHED: The inspector was satisfied that the scope and nature of the works of reinstatement would not appear incongruous in the context of the existing group of buildings, or the character and appearance of development in the wider vicinity. He further concluded that the works of reinstatement proposed

for the former farmhouse and hay barn would not amount to an unjustified form of development in the open countryside, and would conserve the landscape and scenic beauty of the National Park. The development would thus accord with Policy CS01 of the Core Strategy, which seeks to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife, and cultural heritage of the Lake District National Park.

The proposal would also not conflict with Policy CS02 of the Core Strategy, and saved Policy A1 of the Local Plan (which ‘seek to support development in the open countryside only in exceptional circumstances, allowing agriculturerelated developments where, amongst other considerations, it is necessary and designed for agricultural purposes’).

Application No: APP/ Q9495/A/14/2215519

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+ We’d like to incorporate your comment, insight and analysis into Decisions in Focus each month. Whether you can offer a brief obversation on a matter of interest within an inspector’s judgement or an informed interpretation of a decision, please let us know by emailing DiF at editorial@theplanner.co.uk

ROUND­UP Here are eight more decisions that we think are worth a look this month. All the details and inspector’s letters can be found on the Planning Portal website: www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk

APPEAL DECISIONS MIXED USE

(1) Application: Appeals against three refusals to demolish a former nightclub to build a 3-storey, mixed-use commercial building with six homes in Tower Hamlets.

Decision: All three appeals allowed.

Main issues: The appeal site is a former nightclub in the Commercial Road Conservation Area, next to The George Tavern, a grade II Listed building holding late-night music events.

The council’s opposition to applications for Conservation Area Consent and Listed Building Consent related to the effects of the building proposed and not its quality or to the effects on the listed building. The inspector said the scheme would preserve the area’s character. He said fears that residents of the proposed scheme would suffer unreasonable noise from the pub could be overcome by using insulation materials in construction.

Appeal references: Appeal A: APP/E5900/A/14/2211978/ Appeal B: APP/ E5900/E/14/2211988/ Appeal C: APP/E5900/E/14/2211986

ENERGY

(2) Application: Appeal against refusal of installation of a 50kW wind turbine at Dingestow, Monmouth.

Decision: Appeal dismissed.

Main issues: The inspector considered the effects of the proposal on its rural setting and bats. The turbine would be sited so that no part would be within 50m of any tree or

hedge, but as some bats use open habitats, pasture had to be included, and it was not determined whether a separation of 50m from any tree or hedge would provide sufficient mitigation. He added that the tranquility of the Llangoven Foothills should be conserved and the benefits of the proposal did not outweigh the harm.

Appeal reference: APP/ E6840/A/14/2213760

field adjoins a farmyard.

Part of the site lies in the countryside where new residential development is restricted under Policy GD1 of the Wychavon District Local Plan. The inspector said the evidence showed that there was a likelihood of conflict between agricultural and residential uses.

Appeal reference: APP/ H1840/A/14/2214045

(5) Application: Appeal HOUSING

(3) Application: Appeal against refusal to permit up to 350 dwellings, retail centre of up to 700 square metres, cycleway and footpaths in Devizes, Wiltshire.

Decision: Appeal dismissed.

Main issues: The secretary of state overturned the inspector’s recommendation to grant permission. He agreed that the site would be of an appropriate size to help to meet the requirement for the Devizes area for the local plan period, but said it would be inappropriate to permit release of this site at this time, given the stage of preparation of the draft Devizes Area Neighbourhood Plan (DANP). Overall, he ruled that the plan represented an extension of the built-up area beyond its current urban boundary.

Appeal reference: E/2013/0083/OUT

(4) Application: Appeal against a refusal to permit 19 dwellings and parking at Pershore, Worcestershire.

Decision: Appeal dismissed.

Main issues: The appeal site is 1.06 ha, including an existing residence with an agricultural field. The

against refusal to permit 13 dwellings including an onsite warden flat and parking at Moreton, Buckingham.

Decision: Appeal dismissed.

Main issues: The site lies on the edge of the village of Maids Moreton. While 13 additional homes in this location would help to meet an under-supply of local housing, this would not outweigh its harms, concluded the inspector. The proposal would significantly harm the character of the area and the amenity of neighbours by overlooking existing rear gardens.

Appeal reference: APP/ J0405/A/14/2223594

(6) Application: Appeal against refusal to allow demolition of single-storey garage blocks (33 garages), and erect six, two-storey dwellings on land in Barnet.

Decision: Appeal allowed.

Main issues: The site is flanked on three sides by inter-war terraces and later semi-detached houses. The inspector disagreed with the council’s argument that the proposal would result in a cramped development.

He said the differing levels and the separation between rear-facing elevations of the existing and proposed buildings would not harm

the area’s character or cause any loss of privacy.

Appeal reference: APP/ N5090/A/14/2222955

(7) Application: Appeal against refusal for change of use from offices to 98 residential units on the second to eight floors of a building in Hayes, Middlesex.

Decision: Appeal allowed.

Main issues: The council refused the proposal on the basis of alleged transport and highway impacts. The site is at Hayes town centre on a corner near a zebra crossing.

Hayes & Harlington train station is nearby, as are bus stops serving several routes.

The inspector said the appeal site therefore had good access to public transport and would also provide 98 cycle parking spaces.

Appeal reference: APP/ R5510/A/14/2222105

COMMERCIAL

(8) Application: Appeal against refusal for conversion of a former farm building into a holiday cottage in Tosside, Skipton, without complying with a condition attached to a previous planning permission from May 2008.

Decision: Appeal dismissed.

Main issues: The appellant said eight people could occupy the holiday cottage, dependent upon private vehicles. and he intended to use the barn as a ‘live-work’ dwelling. But the inspector ruled that the removal of the condition would result in an additional isolated dwelling in the countryside in an unsustainable location.

Appeal reference: APP/ T2350/A/14/2221992

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INSIGHT

LLegal landscape PLANNING’S LAWS OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES One law that politicians can never repeal, yet frequently ignore, is the law of unintended consequences.

Despite this, legislative and policy reforms increasingly create more problems than they solve. Planning is no stranger to this. For the first 50 years or so, the planning system was subject to gradual refinement, and the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 was the last great example of sensible, well thoughtthrough reforms that by and large worked well.

In the past 10 years, however, the system has been subjected to an almost continuous flood of illconsidered changes that have left planners and lawyers to wade through a legislative quagmire. Planning policy has also been through a massive upheaval.

But to the relief of many, the seemingly ever-expanding body of national policy has been swept aside by the NPPF. Although brevity is a virtue, it sometimes introduces new areas of uncertainty. It is no surprise, therefore, that the courts increasingly have to step in to fill the gaps.

As an example, let’s take the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the changes it brought to the development plan system.

In the foreword to a book on the act that I co-wrote, Mr Justice Sullivan began: “‘Wait till it ain’t broke any

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Martin Edwards longer, then fix it’ appears to be the rationale underlying the latest changes to the development plan system contained in the Planning and Compensation Act 2004.”

How right he was. The act’s promoters said that the new system would be up and running in three years.

Ten years later and local authorities are a long way off fulfilling that politicians’ pipe dream. Worse still, the policy requirement in paragraph 49 of the NPPF has left impotent at planning inquiries those authorities

“THE SIMPLE INTRODUCTION OF THE WORD ‘SUSTAINABLE’ HAS CREATED A WHOLE HOST OF NEW PROBLEMS”

unable to demonstrate a fiveyear housing land supply.

But it is not just planning authorities that suffer.

One very sensible reform contained in the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 was the introduction of “trigger” and “terminating” events in relation to village green applications. It seems a reasonable balance was struck between opposing interests. However, it sits awkwardly with the advice in paragraphs 188 and 189 of the NPPF, which urges early engagement with the local community.

Sometimes, if that advice is followed, it alerts objectors to the fact that a planning application is in the offing so they get the village green application in first and neutralise the effect of this reform.

Occasionally the simplest of changes can have a profound effect. The return of a presumption in favour of development was widely welcomed. The presumption had existed in one form or another up until 2004.

However, the NPPF casts this

presumption in a slightly different format by framing it as a presumption in favour of sustainable development.

The simple introduction of the word ‘sustainable’ has created a whole host of new problems. Apart from the fact that it seems impossible to come up with a handy working definition of ‘sustainable development’, the way that the NPPF tackles the issue has created such confusion that it has already led to two High Court cases.

The first, William Davis Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government [2014] EWHC 3058 inadvertently led some inspectors to adopt a formulaic sequential approach of the type specifically disavowed by the secretary of state in paragraph 12 of his decision letter of 2 July 2014 in relation to appeals at Droitwich Spa (Ref: APP/ H1840/A/13/2199085 and APP/H1840/A/13/2199426) and where he relied upon the subsequent decision of Mrs Justice Patterson in Dartford Borough Council v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Landhold Capital Limited [2014] EWHC 2636.

So this simple word led to significant confusion. As we enter the febrile run-up to the general election will it be too much to hope that any policies aimed at further reform of the planning system will be adequately thought through, realistic and workable? Past experience suggest that this may prove that hope to be in vain, irrespective of whoever wins.

MARTIN EDWARDS Martin Edwards is a planning and environmental lawyer with Cornerstone Barristers

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LATEST POSTS FROM THEPLANNER.CO.UK/BLOGS

B LO G S The government’s policy to give people more power to save neighbourhood ‘buildings of great importance’ like pubs or village halls, may not be the boon to communities that it was thought

Once a pub, always a pub?

Romola Parish New proposals to restrict the permitted development rights of pubs acquired as assets of community value may be counterproductive.

The government’s latest designs on the General Permitted Development Order 1995, unleashed on 26 January 2015, propose the removal of permitted development rights (PDRs) from pubs that have been acquired by the community as an Asset of Community Value (ACV). The government presents this as the latest in a litany of pub-friendly measures that includes changes to beer duty, corporation tax, holding of live music and flexibility over weights and measures. It is touted as a measure towards ensuring that ACV pubs remain as pubs. If the owner or occupier intends to revamp them into something else, or demolish them, they will need planning consent.

However, the impetus behind the recent community rights and neighbourhood planning initiatives is to enhance the powers of local communities to participate in the planning and development of their own neighbourhoods – a devolution of power and, one might add, responsibility. So far, so good.

Let us consider a hypothetical example: the community of

Beerswill clubs together and acquires their local pub, the Hog’s Trough.

It is now a community in control of its asset.

Currently, a pub is classed as Use Class A4, grandly called ‘drinking establishments’.

They are permitted to operate various ancillary activities (entertainment evenings, for example) and can change into any other use within Class A4 (admittedly a limited scope) but also into any use within Classes A1, A2 or A3 without planning consent. This casts the net wide over a whole gamut of retail opportunities, provision of financial or professional services as well as restaurants and cafés. It is this potential to convert into a use within these classes A1, A2 or A3 that will presumably be curtailed by the proposed legislation.

Let us return to The Hog’s Trough.

The community of Beerswill acquired it because it was a failing enterprise – a sadly frequent occurrence.

They have some funds, but not enough to prop up a business that cannot stand on its own two feet.

The residents of Beerswill, therefore, decide to diversify; they need a community focus and the Hog’s Trough could fulfil more than one function and be a truly community-embedded venture. The barn could operate as a venue for toddlers or yoga as well as weddings and entertainment events.

Part of the pub might

be given over to a café and another part to a community shop for local produce or to give space to a lost post office. Such a pub-withbenefits would clearly fulfil its community credentials with a few barrels to spare.

At present, Beerswill Ltd would not need planning consent for this. It could allow certain activities to start up and undergo a trial period and, if successful enough economically, such ventures could become more permanently established. If not, then no harm done, lessons learned and no planning time wasted.

Under the government’s new proposals, such a prudent and enterprising evolution of a community hub would require planning consent. That means time, paperwork, money and courage to branch out without the opportunity to test the local waters first.

Is this not an erosion of the very powers that the government has sought to confer upon its neighbourhoods?

The House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee has itself questioned the efficacy of the community powers conferred in its report published on 3 February 2015.

Perhaps the legislative tweak required to preserve pubs is to remove the PDRs from those pubs that are not ACVs. Dr Romola Parish is a senior associate at Travers Smith LLP, romola. parish@traverssmith.com

L E G I S L AT I O N S H O R T S Andrew Main back in court over Oxfordshire arson attacks A man has reappeared in court accused of arson following a series of fires in Oxfordshire in midJanuary. The blazes include one that caused largescale damage to council offices that housed the joint planning services for South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils. Others damaged a funeral parlour in Crowmarsh Gifford and a thatched cottage in Rokemarsh. At their peak, the fires required 27 fire crews to tackle the flames. Andrew Main, 47, of Rockmart Farm, Rockmart, is charged with four counts of arson and appeared at Oxford Crown Court by video link from Bullingdon Prison.

The case was adjourned until 10 April.

£1.5 million land banking scam shut down by Insolvency Service Gilbert Webb Estates Limited, which marketed residential-sized plots of undeveloped land in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, to the public as an investment opportunity, has been ordered into liquidation by the High Court following an Insolvency Service investigation. The company was found to have continued a land banking scheme previously carried on by Complete Building Systems Limited and other companies.

The probe showed that Gilbert Webb claimed to be regulated by the FCA and misled investors into buying near-worthless plots by saying that investing in the land was more secure than pension plans, equities or ISAs. The firm told customers they could expect short-term returns of 200-400 per cent. “This was a bare-faced scam on pensioners who have lost out financially and otherwise, unlike those behind the company, who peddled near-worthless plots of land to the public for investment,” said company investigations supervisor Chris Mayhew.

Councils and developers raise concerns about ‘vacant building credit’ A policy change reducing affordable housing contributions where vacant buildings are demolished or brought back into use has provoked concern among local authorities and the property industry.

The so-called ‘vacant building credit’ would require councils to deduct from affordable housing contributions “a financial credit equivalent to the existing gross floor space of any vacant buildings brought back into any lawful use or demolished for re-development”.

Southwark Council said this would mean brownfield sites awaiting development would deliver just a fraction of the regular affordable housing percentage. Westminster Council said it would lose up to £1 billion a year in affordable housing payments.

Westminster Property Association (WPA) said applying the policy in Central London was “deeply flawed” and would erode the “ability of people from a wide range of backgrounds to live in the heart of our capital”. WPA chair Daniel Van Gelder also pointed out the potential loss of office space.

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INSIGHT

Career { D E V E L O P M E N T C WORKING WITH POLITICIANS

Half of planners are employed by local government and work with elected councillors from day to day.

Relations can be tense, says Mark Smulian, but understanding a politician’s priorities can ease the path to effective working

P

lanners and councillors are very different animals, but they must work together.

If planners apply policies correctly and make cogent recommendations to planning committee members, all will usually be well.

But there are times when it won’t, usually because councillors have their local community breathing down their necks against (or occasionally in support of) an application.

Politicians are preoccupied with being re-elected, or with their party holding their seat. Thus their priorities differ from those of planners.

Planners may wonder why councillors oppose a recommendation solidly grounded in law and policy, while councillors will wonder how willing planners would be to defend such a decision in front of several hundred angry people in a public meeting.

Sometimes it will be impossible to reconcile these positions, but it may help if each is able to imagine life in the other’s shoes.

representatives, which is not the role of a member of a planning committee.

“Sometimes you would see councillors obviously swayed by public opinion, including by people shouting from the gallery. I felt a lot paid lip service to the planning criteria, but were thinking more about the public outside. There was not enough training for councillors, and a lot did not know what issues they were supposed to take into account.”

Officers tended to bring decisions to Bristol’s planning committee when the arguments were finely balanced or there was significant public controversy.

Coombes recalls: “There can be things that hit all the legal criteria but which are going to cause trouble with the public, and officers often seemed surprised by that, whereas the councillors would think ‘We could have told you that’.”

She feels joint training sessions might be useful “so that officers understand political problems; things

From both sides The few people who have been both planners and councillors are perhaps best placed to understand the tensions.

Tessa Coombes, a planner who was a Labour councillor in Bristol from 1994 to 2002, says: “It can be a difficult balance. When I was on the planning committee I would regularly see new councillors who would act as ward 40

TESSA COOMBES

ANDREW CLOSE

may sound like ‘Nimby’ objections, but they are not always that. But it’s usually just training for councillors in planning rules.”

Andrew Close, head of careers and professional development at the RTPI, says planners must ensure that

l Things to remember

1

Councillors ultimately answer to voters and may therefore take positions that appear perverse to planners;

2 3 4

Put information before councillors without bias for or against an application; Don’t frame any warning over appeal costs as a threat to councillors’ independent decision-making; and Remember, councillors can be ‘predisposed’ without being ‘predetermined’.

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planning committee members have the full range of information they need before them for a decision and “it should be information you can defend”.

“Planners should be mindful of the local political context, but decisions on planning have to be in the context of rules even where local politicians are under pressure from constituents.”

From the front line Ian Briggs is both a senior fellow at the Institute of Local Government Studies and in the thick of planning battles over residential development as chair of Long Itchington Parish Council, Warwickshire.

He thinks planners should be aware of the impact of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) on councillors’ attitudes to what they see as unsuitable development.

“There is a tension in local government planning between the professionals and the representatives, and that tension has been heightened by the NPPF, which allows developers to build almost wherever they like in places that do not have local plans, which is most of them, regardless of the community’s wishes.”

Briggs argues that planners must be aware of the conflicting priorities of the multiple interests with which they engage.

“Planners have to deal with stakeholders including statutory consultees, the local community and the commercial development industry and they all have different interests,” he says.

“How do planners marshal all those conflicting interests? You don’t always get the best decision by sticking to the letter of the law.”

l Predisposed or predetermined?

Before the Localism Act 2011 few things caused more resentment among councillors than the rule on predetermination in planning, which held that if councillors campaigned

+ The cost of democracy?

Antagonism can arise when planners warn councillors that rejecting an application could lead to an appeal, with substantial legal costs were the council to lose.

Planners feel they are simply doing their job by giving such advice, but councillors can feel pressured into going against their judgement of what constituents want.

Coombes sometimes felt planning officers used costs to bully councillors into supporting applications.

“A lot of councillors do not have the strength of character to argue that against officers,” she says.

Briggs argues that councillors may see costs as a price worth paying for democracy – a point possibly lost on planners.

“If a council has taken a democratic decision it believes is reasonable but is

against an application they could not then vote on it as they had ‘predetermined’ their view in what is supposed to be a quasi-judicial process of weighing evidence.

The act loosened this so that a councillor can indicate a view but not an immovable one. They can be ‘predisposed’, so might say: “From what I have heard I would oppose this application.”

But they may not ‘predetermine’ by saying: “This application is awful and I will reject it no matter what.”

Briggs says: “If a councillor is elected by a community to promote a particular view it is difficult for them to go against the community’s interest, whatever planners say.

“In Long Itchington we have nine live applications which could, if granted, increase the number of homes from 900 to 3,000.

“When we open the community centre for developers to display their nice-looking drawings, planners always tell us to be careful about predetermination and that we shouldn’t appear to have organised the community against them, but we do what we think is right.”

then taken to appeal that can be very expensive and time-consuming, so there is a cost to democracy. But is democracy on planners’ agendas, rather than just the costs?” Briggs asks.

“Councillors on a planning committee will be under pressure from appeal costs and from other councillors worried about how much the council is spending.”

Close says talk about ‘bullying’ is “perhaps the language of politicians, but as a professional you have to put the evidence and stand your ground.

“It is part of a planner's job to make clear the consequences of decisions, which must be made on planning grounds. The law does allow councils to reject recommendations, but of course there can be consequences as it also allows applicants to appeal.”

Generally councils should not be at risk of costs if policy and procedures are followed”.

Close says the change over predisposition, “should lead to better decisions as it means that if there is strong public feeling which translates into a planning issue, it can be raised earlier in the process and taken into account so long as a councillor has not closed their mind”.

l Codes of conduct

1

RTPI members are covered by its code of conduct. For councillors there is no longer a national one, but local ones are normally modelled on that suggested by the Department for Communities & Local Government.

2

The Local Government Association and Planning Advisory Service published in 2013 Probity In Planning, aimed at both officers and councillors.

3

In general these codes are based on the seven principles of the Committee on Standards in Public Life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.

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INSIGHT

Plan ahead P

“There are enough women in planning, but are they actually getting out there and having the confidence to step up the ladder?” asks Alison Mackay, senior planner with Colliers in London and founding member of the Women in Planning network.

It’s no secret that the built environment industries have a higher proportion of male employees than female – particularly in senior positions. Women’s networking organisation, Women in Property, stresses that only 15 per cent of employees in property and construction are women.

Planning is different, Even so, just a third of respondents to the RTPI’s latest membership survey, in 2013, were women.

“It’s still male-dominated,” says fellow Women in Planning founder Charlotte Morphet.

“When we go to meetings as the main lead on a planning application or project, it can be a bit intimidating.”

She estimates, however, that there are now roughly equal numbers of male and female planning students in planning schools. A growing number of senior positions in planning and property are now occupied by women, too.

There’s Michèle Dix, formerly managing director of planning at Transport for London, now heading up Crossrail 2, and Alison Nimmo, chief executive

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editorial@theplanner.co.uk Tweet us @The Planner_RTPI

“We are a proud industry, but have lagged behind others in terms of making the most of a diverse workforce.

That’s why I’m delighted that RICS ‘Surveying the Future’ campaign will be a pillar of my presidential term” — Louise Brooke-Smith

Women stepping up For the first time, the current presidents of the three main built environment professional bodies are women. Women Paving the Way will them bring them together for an evening of explanation, inspiration and networking

Send feedback to

“Only 16 per cent of chartered architects are women. One third of the workforce is doing part-time or flexible hours, whereas the profession still relies upon a culture of long hours and unpaid overtime which suits only the few” — Jane Duncan

of the Crown Estate.

The British Property Federation has just appointed Melanie Leech as chief executive. Trudi Elliott is the RTPI’s chief exec and Kate Henderson her counterpart at the TCPA. There are prominent women in local and national government, such as Bristol’s planning director Zoe Willcox and Rosemary Thomas, chief planner in Wales.

And, for the first time, the current presidents of three of the main built environment professional bodies are women: Janet Askew at the RTPI; Louise Brooke-Smith at RICS; and Jane Duncan at RIBA, who is launching a social media campaign #SeeMeJoinMe to coincide with International Women’s Day on 8 March.

Women Paving the Way: How women are taking on leadership roles in the built environment, on 31 March at Colliers in London, will see each of the presidents talking about her path to seniority within her profession.

“They’ll be talking about

“In 2015, four of the built environment professions have female presidents, and I hope we can act as role models for young women joining the profession” — Janet Askew

how they got there, what they think the issues are for women, and what the solutions are,” says Mackay.

Among the subjects likely to come up is the thorny issue of women in senior roles in the private sector. As the list above shows, women in leadership roles in the built environment tend to be skewed towards the public and third sectors.

Change is inevitable – not least because of the number of women entering the professions, and because of the networking groups that promote the role of women in

the built environment.

Women in Planning itself is an informal professional network with more than 600 members. “We’re offering women in planning somewhere to come that isn’t so male-dominated,” explains Morphet. “It’s nice to have something where it’s more relaxed and you can learn how to network.

“We’d like the people that come to the event to feel empowered, more confident.

People usually come away from these feeling ‘Oh, it’s not just me that feels like that’.”

DIGGING DEEP Women Paving the Way What: Women Paving the Way: How women are taking on leadership roles in the built environment Where: Colliers, 50 George Street, London W1U 7GA When: Tuesday, 31 March 2015, 6.30pm Find out more and book at: https://womeninplanning. wordpress.com/upcoming-events/

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

LONDON 12 March – The challenges of waste management This event looks at how the waste industry is managing to deliver new waste developments following the recession and whether the impacts of localism, the duty to cooperate, and the new national waste policy will be effective in delivering waste infrastructure in the best locations to meet the needs of businesses and communities.

Venue: The Hatton (etc Venues), 51-53 Hatton Garden, London Details: www.bit. ly/16SCAUg

NORTH EAST 15 April – Demystifying Water Management in Planning, an integrated approach How water resources (marine, fluvial and ground) are to be managed in light of concerns about climate change and the implications for the development industry. A must for planners and engineers in both public and private sectors.

Venue: Centre for Life, Times Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4EP Details: www.bit. ly/16YG4Vx

NORTH­WEST 2 March– Planning Law Update Planning keeps the courts busy, with key decisions being made in the interpretation of policy and the NPPF, housing land supply and neighbourhood plans. This year’s event will help to make sense of it all, and looks at the implications of the election.

Venue: Football Hotel, 99 Sir Matt Busby Way, Old Trafford, Manchester Details: www.bit. ly/1BwI4QQ

12 March – Development finance and viability This event will explain the importance of viability within the planning process, consider the practical application of relevant policy and guidance, offer an understanding of financial viability appraisal methods, and the role and influence of Section 106 planning obligations and CIL. Venue: Manchester Meeting Place, University of Manchester, Sackville St Campus Details: www.bit. ly/1E0S4kl 1 April – Plan making This event will consider the challenges of preparing a local plan. It looks at the Duty to Cooperate, how to establish and manage the DtC practices and processes, and how to engage members and managers. Learn basic demographic information and what it might mean for economic growth, housing needs and delivery.

Venue: Gateley LLP, Ship Canal House, 98 King St, Manchester Details: www.bit. ly/1Md1T4o

EAST MIDLANDS 03 March – Planning, Development and the Water Framework Directive This introduces the objectives contained in the directive and set out how planners can assist in the delivery of these through the planning process to improve water quality, manage flood risk and increase biodiversity and green spaces.

Venue: New Walk Museum, New Walk, Leicester Details: www.bit. ly/1zEQIdQ 17 March – Planning for Logistics and Distribution A look at issues associated with the logistics and

DON’T MISS RTPI Cymru spring conference RTPI Cymru is teaming up with RSCW, Conwy County Borough Council and CREW to deliver a regeneration themed conference. Entitled ‘Positive Planning to Deliver Regeneration’, it deals with the Welsh Government’s planning and regeneration agendas. The ‘Positive Planning’ element references the Welsh Government’s programme, which also includes the new Planning (Wales) Bill, to enhance the planning system in Wales to enable it to deliver and how this supports the delivery of the government’s Vibrant and Viable Places Regeneration programme. Speakers include: Heledd Cressey, Welsh Government; Professor Robin Hambleton, Urban Answers; Rob Dix, Conwy County Borough Council; and Jane Jones and Huw Roberts, Snowdonia National Park Authority.

Breakout workshops will discuss: the role of the planning system in the delivery of regeneration; the challenges to delivering approved regeneration initiatives and projects on time and to cost; and the challenge of achieving a required full range of community outcomes in the preparation and delivery of regeneration projects.

Date: 12 March Venue: Venue Cymru, Llandudno, Conwy Details: www.bit.ly/199DEVK

distribution sector using Magna Park near Lutterworth as the case study. Speakers will include the developer, planning consultant, local authority planners and representatives of the surrounding communities.

Venue: Harborough District Council, Adam and Eve Street, Market Harborough, Leics Details: www.bit. ly/16Yo4uw

NORTH WEST 12 March – Development Finance and Viability This event explains the importance of viability within the planning process, considers the practical application of relevant policy and guidance, offers an understanding of financial viability appraisal methods, and considers the role and influence of Section 106 planning obligations and the Community Infrastructure Levy.

Venue: Manchester Meeting Place, University of Manchester, Sackville St Campus Details: www.bit. ly/1E0S4kl 1 April - Plan making This event will consider the challenges in preparing a Local Plan. It will look at the Duty to Cooperate, looking at

how to establish and manage the DtC practices and processes, and how to engage members and managers. It will seek to help you understand basic demographic information and what it might mean for economic growth, housing needs and delivery.

Venue: Gateley LLP, Ship Canal House, 98 King St, Manchester Details: www.bit. ly/1Md1T4o

EAST OF ENGLAND 16 March – Marine Planning Implementation Session The Marine Management Organisation is convening this free workshop for RTPI members in the East of England. It will discuss the adopted East Marine Plans and how members should consider these in their decision-making.

Venue: St Edmundsbury BC Offices, West Suffolk House, Bury Saint Edmunds, Suffolk Details: www.bit. ly/1CjiUEp

SOUTH WEST March 18 – Development Management An update on planning law and enforcement and other issues facing development management staff, including the case

studies on performance management and improving customer satisfaction.

Venue: Somerset County Cricket Club, Taunton, Taunton, Somerset Details: www.bit. ly/1E4MVrD

YORKSHIRE 18 March – Constructive Conservation at the Heart of Place-making Discover how this has brought the sustainable management of heritage assets into mainstream planning activity. With great historic towns and cities, national parks and world heritage sites, Yorkshire is well placed to understand the lessons of positive heritage.

Venue: West Offices, City of York Council, Station Rise, York Details: www.bit. ly/1KIXIwu 25 March – Doncaster: A Transforming Economy As Doncaster emerges again as a regional player, this seminar will illustrate the role planners play and examine major projects, such as the Strategic Rail Freight Interchange (iPort) and HS2 rail academy.

Venue: Civic Office, Waterdale, Doncaster, South Yorkshire Details: www.bit. ly/1ClvNvp

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NEWS

RTPI {

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RTPI news pages are edited

by Tino Hernandez at the RTPI, 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL

RTPI and the UK general election

crisis within a generation. We are advocating financial incentives to reward those areas that produce sufficient housing land.

Although there are clear boundaries about what we can do as a charity, we are encouraging our members to engage with the election debates to promote the value of planning and help us to advocate our position on important policy issues such as housing, strategic planning and devolution.

Our website now has a new resource on the UK general election – similar to the very popular one we set up in 2010. We hope the site will become your first port of call for staying on top of what’s going on leading up to and during the election. It will develop to include: advice on what members can do; how to contact your candidates; our key policy positions; highlighting any key announcements from the parties as they make them; providing links to the manifestos when they are published and what they say on key planning-related issues.

A major issue still to be resolved by the parties, of course, is the question of English devolution and how that might impact on each party’s policies. Whatever happens, the RTPI will seek to engage with the new government at the earliest opportunity.

As campaigning kicks off for general elections in the UK the RTPI is strongly positioned, says chief executive Trudi Elliott (above), particularly because of the past 18 months of research and policy work, and leadership on planning issues across the nations.

The UK general election is one of a series of elections in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland due in 2015 and 2016. The RTPI has been working to produce a number of key policy papers and the Planning Horizons series, which recommend policy solutions and thought leadership on a range of pressing challenges for both planning and the conditions in which planning operates. We’ve been clear about where the existing issues are, and what can be done to address them.

Our continuing conversations and close working relationships with ministers, shadow ministers and key stakeholders mean that we have continued to build trust and respect across the built environment industry as leaders in the field. Key spokespeople from the parties have discussed their policies with our General Assembly and we have had direct input into their policymaking bodies, including specific reviews on planning policies. We closely track what the parties are saying and, although we concentrate on the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, we track what all parties are saying on planning-related topics.

The RTPI has a number of key asks of the next government, developed from our policy work, which we will be publishing as a summary. Our policy and research recommendations, in addition to our consultation responses and key issues, have been the subject of meetings during 2014 with politicians from across the parties, including at our six events at the annual party conferences. From the next Westminster Government, the RTPI wants a stable and properly resourced planning system. Through the national Homes for Britain campaign we want a commitment agreeing to solve the housing

Key dates: c Monday 30 March – Parliament dissolved c Monday 30 March – ‘purdah’ (‘pre-election

period’) begins c April – party manifestos published c Thursday 7 May – UK general election c May RTPI – meetings with new ministers c 7 July – Planning Convention (with the new

minister)

Charities and the election There are rules that apply during the election guiding what we can and cannot do as a charity.

These can be found on our website. Although charities can attempt to influence public opinion on a particular issue if it furthers or supports its objects, they must leave it to the electorate to make their own decisions about how to vote.

A charity must not encourage support for any particular parties or candidates. Charities should be especially wary of associating or becoming associated with a particular candidate or political party in the minds of the public.

n www.rtpi.org.uk/briefing-room/generalelection-2015

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Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk

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

Registered charity no.

262865 Registered charity in Scotland SC037841

RTPI SHORTS

Sarah Woodford Regional Co-ordinator NORTH EAST REGION

(1) What do you currently do?

I work closely with our 800-plus members and volunteer committees in the North-East Region. I’m the main point of contact in the region. I help our volunteers carry out various initiatives and projects identified in our business plan. This might involve: working with our Chartered Professional Development (CPD) Steering Group to develop and organise a full programme of seminars across the region; liaising with our London office on national projects; and actively communicating with our members, highlighting local news stories, best practice and opportunities to get involved. Last year we had 1,000 people participating in our CPD and networking programme. It’s my job to make sure these events run smoothly, offer value for money for members and deliver on what they need for their jobs. The highlight is our annual dinner and awards ceremony, when our planners can celebrate their achievements.

(2) What has been your biggest career challenge to date?

I had to chaperone my former tourism boss around Moscow at a major international exhibition. It was my job to organise the stand, arrange the meetings and speak the ‘lingo’. All was going well until our taxi driver tried to take advantage of his ‘gullible tourists’ and we ended up abandoning him in the middle of nowhere.

(3) What attracted you to the role?

I’m interested in urban design and sustainability and I’d be keen to pursue a qualification in this. We do get to listen to a lot of the CPD sessions we organise, though, so we do pick things up by ‘osmosis’.

(4) If I wasn’t working for the RTPI I’d probably be…

Co-ordinating projects and events in another industry. While I’m not a ‘Planner’ with a capital P, I am a planner and strategic thinker and enjoy working on complex projects. I’ve spent most of my career in tourism and events management and love to work with unique and interesting venues.

(5) What is the best thing about your job?

The people I work with and the adrenalin of running successful events.

There is always something that crops up and you have to be on your toes to find the right solutions.

(6) What do you like to do away from work?

Exploring Northumberland’s coast and countryside with my family and, of course, travelling internationally whenever I get a chance.

(7) If you could change one thing about the planning profession what would it be?

I would like to see it made more accessible to the general public, most of whom know very little about the profession.

RTPI SCOTLAND: NO PLACE SHOULD BE LABELLED A ‘CARBUNCLE’

NCLE U B R A C ARDS AW

RTPI Scotland’s Convenor Pam Ewen has responded to the annual Scottish Carbuncle Awards crowning of Aberdeen as 2015’s winner by writing an open letter to The Herald, The Scotsman, The Press and Journal and The Courier.

She expressed the RTPI’s concern that the awards focus on the negative aspects rather than promoting the positive changes happening in our cities and regions, referring to RTPI Scotland’s successful Scotland’s Best Places initiative held in 2014 as an example. She said: “As the ‘place profession’, planners constantly strive to reach these high standards, but it is not always easy to get politicians, investors, developers and communities to collaborate, invest in quality and to take a long-term view. Given this, if we want to ensure that all of our cities, towns and villages are inspiring places we need to invest in places, planning and quality.”

BE INSPIRED AT THE PLANNING CONVENTION 2015 Planning Convention 2015 is an event not to be missed. It takes place in Central London on Tuesday 7 July 2015 and the day will feature a strong line-up of expert speakers, with keynote plenary presentations and breakout sessions. Our theme this year, ‘new politics for planning’, will help to set the agenda at the start of what is likely to be another period of challenges, following the UK Parliamentary elections in May. A packed programme will examine local and neighbourhood planning, sub-national strategic planning and cooperation, and the changing relationship between the UK’s nations and regions. We will discuss and debate new forms of engagement, environmental protection and the global priorities for planning.

Speakers confirmed so far include Eugenie L Birch, chair of the World Urban Campaign, giving an opening address on the global politics for planning.

There will also be keynote speeches from Waheed Nazir, director of regeneration, Birmingham City Council, Sasha White QC, Landmark Chambers and Michael Edwards from University College London.

Speakers and delegates will also reflect on the changes going on across the UK in terms of shifting powers and responsibilities, and provide attendees with intelligence on how these are likely to affect planning policy and practice. n Book now from £195. Contact 020 3773 5580

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RTPI { Addressing change and evolution JANET O’NEILL, CAP VICE­PRESIDENT EUROPE FOR 2012­2014, REPORTS ON NOVEMBER’S COMMONWEALTH ASSOCIATION OF PLANNERS’ SINGAPORE CONFERENCE 2014 The Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP), of which the RTPI is a member, comprises planning institutes from 26 countries. This is around 50 per cent of potential member countries, but many smaller countries have few planners and no national planning institute.

CAP’s objective is the promotion of planning as a fundamental part of governance for sustainable human settlements. Obviously, the issues facing countries across the Commonwealth vary wildly, such as the rate of urbanisation and threats from climate change. However, CAP seeks to promote co-operation between members to achieve the most effective contribution by planners.

CAP’s biannual meeting, held in Singapore late in 2014, saw regional representatives report on local progress.

In The Americas, the Caribbean Urban Forum and the Belize Association of Planners was established. In practice, planning associations in smaller countries tend to secure closer working with their governments than is often the experience in developed nations. A forerunner of the Caribbean support from CAP was the establishment of the African Planning Association with CAP sourced UN Habitat funding.

The Pacific Region’s report highlighted the experience of the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand, which led to a major contribution to UN Habitat’s guidelines on urban and territorial planning.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was held in Sri Lanka in 2013, and CAP played a significant role in the Commonwealth People’s Forum. The Heads of Government’s adoption of the “Colombo Declaration on Sustainable, Inclusive and Equitable Development” was viewed as a major support of planning.

Looking forward, CAP has stated its objective of continuing to promote the inclusion of an “urban” sustainable development goal (SDG) in the UN Habitat Post 2015 Goals to replace the Millennium Development Goals. At present, SDG11 states in the draft list that it will “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. CHOGM in Malta this year and Habitat III in 2016 are both seen as milestone events to advance this important agenda.

Other CAP initiatives reported on included Women in Planning, Young Planners, Disaster Resilience, Food Security and Health and the City. A group to review Planning Law in the Commonwealth, assisted by the RTPI, will look at modernising legislation often broadly based on the 1947 Planning Act in

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England. After six years as President, Christine Platt of South Africa stood down and Dy Currie of Australia was elected.

Following this meeting, a CAP conference – ‘Cities of Tomorrow: Smarter, Better’ – was hosted by the Singapore Institute of Planners, with significant input from international delegates.

A most memorable presentation by Dr Noah Raford, CEO of Futurescaper, presented some of the major trends and drivers of change affecting the future of cities in the 21st century.

He argued that although some of the trends shaping cities of tomorrow are clear, their interaction and impact is so far uncertain. The result will be a mix of exciting possibilities and difficult challenges or “planning paradoxes” that will define our urban political and management agenda for coming years, he added.

During a tour of Singapore and its government planning and housing department, I was amazed at the rapid rate at which informal housing was replaced after the Second World War. Nowadays more than 80 per cent of people live in public housing schemes. But, although the government owns the sites, the external areas and the infrastructure, home ownership is still allowed and 90 per cent of residents take advantage of this.

Control is strict, though; if you wish to downsize or upsize, you would need to be vetted to see if your case is justified.

High-rise living is a well-known feature of life in Singapore, but 50-storey tower blocks with running tracks and parks on the roofs were too high for me!

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STEP CHANGE ‘LONDON IS A UNIQUE CITY SPATIALLY, CULTURALLY, AND SOCIO­ ECONOMICALLY”

DS

AWAR

SAVE THE DATE – RTPI AWARDS FOR PLANNING EXCELLENCE CEREMONY 6 JULY We have received the most entries ever for the RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence. Entries closed on 16 February.

Fourteen category winners and the overall winner for the prestigious Silver Jubilee Cup will be announced at the 2015 ceremony. The event takes place at the Pullman, London St Pancras, on Monday 6 July from 6pm. Guests can network with 450 other built environment professionals at the drinks reception after the ceremony.

Tickets will go on sale later this month and details will appear at www.rtpi.org.uk.

These are the premier awards for planning in the UK and Ireland, which celebrate the positive contribution that planners and planning make to our cities and regions, highlighting exceptional examples of planning. Winning and shortlisted entries will be disseminated through the RTPI’s website. n To register your interest in tickets for the ceremony, please email your contact details to: awards@rtpi.org.uk

DATES FOR JET­SETTING PLANNERS RTPI International wants you to take note of these important events happening around the world in 2015. Go to RTPI International on the RTPI website for more information. c The New Zealand Planning Institute’s 2015 Annual Conference Back To The Future 2015 will be held in Auckland from 14 to 17 April. c The American Planning Association’s 2015 National Planning Conference will be held in Seattle from 18 to 21 April 2015. c The Irish Planning Institute will hold its 40th Anniversary National Planning Conference in Cork from 16 to 17 April. c Planning Institute of Australia’s Great Places will take place from 13 to 15 May in Melbourne. c The National Professional Planners Conference, THRIVE 2015, from June 27 to 30 in Saskatoon. c The ECTP-CEU is holding its 11th European Biennial of Towns and Town Planners with the Irish Planning Institute in Dublin. Entitled ‘Making Cities Work – Technology In Planning Practice’, it takes place from 15 to 16 October 2015. c The Caribbean Urban Forum Planning Seminar is being held from 10 to 12 June 2015 in St Lucia.

Marlon Deam MRTPI WILDSTONE PLANNING In 2010 I made the life-changing decision to move to the other side of the world and by 2011 I had relocated from Adelaide, Australia, to London.

Adelaide is one of the most liveable cities in the world but, having grown up there, I needed a fresh challenge. I studied urban and regional planning in Australia and much of the history and theory of planning was from the United Kingdom – Howard, Unwind, Abercrombie et al. I was told of the great opportunities for planners in the UK, albeit pre the economic crisis of 2008.

I worked across the public and private sector in Australia, for a local authority, a house builder and a planning consultancy. I wanted to follow a similar path in the UK. But when I arrived the economy was worse than expected and securing a local authority role at the same level that I left in Australia proved difficult. Unperturbed, I broadened my job search and my career took a step change – working at a large real estate company for a year to find my feet. Following this, I secured a position at the London Borough of Newham.

Working at Newham was an amazing and eye-opening experience.

The dichotomy of the borough was both interesting and challenging.

The socioeconomically deprived urban Victorian centres, with huge population churn and housing issues, contrasted with the ‘Arc of Opportunity’, the Docklands through Canning Town to Stratford, with some of the biggest development opportunities in London. At one moment you could be dealing with someone who had never heard of the planning system, or alternatively, to property experts about large complex schemes. Concurrently, I studied a postgraduate planning degree and converted my Planning Institute of Australia Chartered Membership to MRTPI. In my eyes, good planning is good planning, and while there are differences between the Australian and UK planning systems, the overarching principles remain the same. However, London is a unique city spatially, culturally, and socio-economically, with development at a scale far greater than Adelaide. I have learnt many things from living and working in London that I simply would not have in Australia, and there will be many more.

I now work at Wildstone Planning, a dynamic consultancy undergoing a sustained period of growth. I lead on projects all over the UK and am rapidly expanding my knowledge and network. My advice to those looking to make a change, whether it be simply moving jobs or to another country, is that it isn’t always easy, but it need not be difficult; approached with an open and positive mind, change can be one of the best things for your career.

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INSIGHT

Plan B P JIMMY PAGE d

STAR, PLANNER

Former Led Zeppelin riffmeister Jimmy Page demonstrated his grasp of planning rules while objecting to an application submitted by Holland Park neighbour Robbie Williams. Williams is hoping to build a recording studio in his 46-room Grade-II mansion, a car park, a basement and a swimming pool. His aim is, he says, to turn the place into a proper family home.

Jimmy, ‘guardian’ of the Tower House next door, protests that an overlooking window will have “significant impact on the amenity of the house and its garden”. He’s also concerned about structural damage from the building work.

“I have been responsible for the protection of the Tower House for over 40 years and I am always concerned when proposals are made for nearby properties which may be detrimental to the wellbeing of this important heritage asset.”

With his grasp of rules, love of the past and innately conservative instincts, Jimmy would probably make a perfectly competent development control/heritage planner should he ever tire of being an ageing multimillionaire rock god with a 25-year-old girlfriend.

And he’s not the only one, it seems. If Plan B were putting together a planning supergroup, these are the people we’d approach. We might have to ask Rod and Roger to alternate on bass and vocals, though.

SPORTS AND LEISURE/RHYTHM AND LEAD GUITAR:

e KK DOWNING

Once the lead axeman of Brummie heavy metallers Judas Priest, KK is now the brains (surely you mean pounds – Ed) behind a Shropshire golf resort endorsed

by Open winner Darren Clarke. KK, also known as Kenneth, said: “When I was challenged to a game of golf in the 1980s by Def Leppard, I never thought my life would take the route it has.” Neither did we, Kenneth.

MORE POSH SPORT, LEISURE AND HOSPITALITY/DRUMS:

KENNEY JONES f

The ex-Faces bucket banger and Keith Moon’s replacement on The Who drumstool has submitted an application for the UK’s “first all-weather polo and equestrian estate”.

We do hope it’s the last. Smoothly-coiffeured Kenney is hoping to build homes, a hotel and a spa at Hurtwood Park in Surrey. The proposals have attracted more than 100 objections. Probably from Jimmy Page.

URBAN DESIGN/ TRANSPORT/VOCALS (AND BASS):

ROD STEWART f

Singer Rod is a renowned model railway enthusiast. When we say ‘enthusiast’” what we actually mean is obsessed, in a kind of Asperger’s-ish way. When we say ‘renowned’, we mean there are those who consider him a true master of the craft. Rod’s Three Rivers cityscape occupies an entire floor of his Beverly Hills mansion. Based on historic New York and Chicago, it has skyscrapers, ice houses, steel mills, you name it. He’s been in Railway Modeller twice, for heaven’s sake. Roderick’s a shoo-in.

ENVIRONMENT/FLOOD PROTECTION/VOCALS (AND BASS):

e ROGER DALTREY

The Peter Pan-like Who crooner, 70, is a keen game fisherman. Some years ago he designed and developed the Lakedown Trout Fishery in the wilds of Sussex which, its website tells us, is “visual assault on the senses” (as opposed to an actual assault on some trout).

When it comes to designing attractively landscaped schemes that are both ecologically rich and provide us with some mitigation against the effects of climate change, Daltrey’s our man. Cough.

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Lest we think planning is a game for ageing millionaire rockers, some younger musicians have even stronger claims to be part of the planning band. Suede vocalist Brett Anderson had embarked on town planning degree at the Bartlett when architecture student Justine Frischmann persuaded him that designing buildings was far sexier than dull old planning. Well, you would, wouldn’t you?

But we can top even this. Bob Stanley – you know him, right? You know, the guy from that slightly obscure indie pop band Saint Etienne? The one who now writes books and stuff about pop music?

Yeah? Well, he’s an actual qualified town planner and worked as a quantity surveyor before throwing it all away to pursue his pure pop dream. Bob the Planner is a stranger in paradise and far and away the coolest person on this list and even references the 1946 Town Planning Act (sic) in interviews.

Dream on, Page, you old planning wannabe.

I M A G E S | E Y E V I N E / R E X F E AT U R E S / C O R B I S / G E T T Y / PA

DEVELOPMENT CONTROL/HERITAGE/LEAD GUITAR:

n More pop star or celebrity planners? Tweet us - @ThePlanner_RTPI 16/02/2015 15:07