The Planner February 2018

FEBRUARY 2018 CAN GOVERNMENT BANK UK’S NATURAL CAPITAL? // p.22 • DROP ZONE FOR URBAN LOGICSTICS: // p.26 • RTPI AWARDS CASE STUDY: CARROWBRECK MEADOW // p.30 • SUSTAINABLE SCORING // p.32 • NATIONS & REGIONS FOCUS: IRELAND // p.34

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

CAGED BY CONCRETE HOW REDESIGNING CITIES CAN FREE OUR PALAEOLITHIC BODIES

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CONTENTS

PLANNER 09 18

THE

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NEWS

4 The government’s environment plan: what you need to know 6 Physical activity and place

7 Newport Docks scheme will delay M4 project

OPINION

8 RTPI Scotland critiques the planning bill

14 Chris Shepley: The consultation con: Heaven knows we’re miserable now

9 Ireland changes planning regime to boost housing supply 10 The names fit at RTPI for Hills and Acres

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16 Jo Gregory: Are we overlooking the contribution of smaller housing sites?

16 Jo Wilson: London needs a strategy to improve private rented sector 17 Susan Claris: How often do you think about walking?

17 Daniel Slade/Nick Davies: Consultation on infrastructure: What France can teach us

“WE NEED TO BUILD A BETTER ZOO TO SECURE OUR COLLECTIVE WELL­BEING”

FEATURES 18 Modern cities are killing our Palaeolithic bodies, argues Gustav Milne 22 The government’s plan to protect the UK’s natural capital poses more questions than answers, says Huw Morris 26 Online retailers are competing comp with housing developers d for town cen centre sites. Mark Smulian rreports 34 Nation Nations & Regions: Ireland

QUOTE UNQUOTE

“WE HAVE CREATED – AND ARE SUSTAINING – A BROKEN SYSTEM” ANDY SOMMERVILLE, DIRECTOR AT SEARCH ACUMEN, ON NEW HELP TO BUY EQUITY LOAN SCHEME STATISTICS

COV E R | C H R I S M A L B ON

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INSIGHT

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32 Tech landscape: Two technological initiatives are offering answers to how sustainability can be balanced and assessed

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38 Decisions in focus: Development decisions, round-up and analysis 42 Legal Landscape: Opinions, blogs and news from the legal side of planning 44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute 50 Plan B: Let’s play housing minister Top Trumps

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NEWS

Report { A GREEN FUTURE

The government’s environment plan: what you need to know

By Laura Edgar

It was long awaited but the New Year brought the government’s 25-year environment plan.

Launching A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment, Prime Minister Theresa May said the government would incorporate all existing EU environmental regulations into domestic law when the UK leaves the European Union.

“And let me be very clear. Brexit will not mean a lowering of environmental standards,” she promised.

The plan states that environmental protections already laid out in national planning policy will be “maintained and strengthened”. If used “positively”, the planning system can protect natural and historic assets and “encourage high-quality green infrastructure in urban areas”. It notes that positive environmental outcomes can help reduce local opposition to development and shorten the planning process.

Here, The Planner runs through the plan’s key planning commitments, and finds out what you think.

Planning for environmental gain New development will happen in the right place, delivering “maximum economic benefit while taking into account the need to avoid environmental damage”. The government promises to protect ancient woodlands and the best agricultural land. ● New homes will be built in such a way that demands for water, energy and material resources are reduced, encouraging walking and cycling. The Environment Agency will use its role in statutory planning consultations to ensure that new developments are ●

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flood-resilient and do not increase flood risk. ● The green belt will be enhanced to become the “breathing space for our urban populations to enjoy, and our diverse wildlife to flourish, while delivering the homes this country needs”. ● Planning Practice Guidance is to be amended to clarify construction and ongoing maintenance arrangements for Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) in new developments, “tightening links with planning guidance for water quality and biodiversity”. ● Changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and Building Regulations in the longer term to encourage SUDS will be considered. ● The plan explains the government “will seek to embed a ‘net environmental gain’ principle for development to deliver environmental improvements locally and nationally” in order to enable housing development without increasing the overall burden on developers. ● A consultation is expected to take place in 2018 on a National Policy Statement for water resources. This aims to streamline the planning process for new large infrastructure schemes. ● A “world-leading environmental watchdog, an independent, statutory body” will be established to hold the government to account on upholding environmental standards. ● Create 500,000 hectares of new habitat for endangered species, support farmers to turn fields into meadows and other habitats, replenish depleted soils and provide funding for the Woodland Trust and the Community Forest Trust’s plans for a Northern Forest.

National parks and AONBs will undergo a review that considers coverage of designations, how designated areas deliver their responsibilities, and whether there is scope for expansion. ● Complete the full series of England Marine Plans by 2021, and work with partners in the devolved administrations to support those for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. ● Appoint a tree champion to promote the social, economic and environmental benefits offered by trees and forests. ●

The environment and housing The RTPI welcomes the government’s intention to make sure that housing developments improve the environment.

But Richard Blyth FRTPI, head of policy, practice and research, told The Planner that improvements to the environment “must not be used as an excuse to permit housing that would otherwise be unacceptable, such as poorquality construction or developments without the necessary infrastructure”.

He insisted that improvements to the environment must be close to where the environment damage has occurred.

“Where a housing development is near the edge of a local authority, councils will need to work together to ensure that environmental improvements are made in the most appropriate area, even if that’s in the neighbouring authority,” said Blyth.

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PLAN UPFRONT

forthcoming review of the NPPF is the government’s chance to make this commitment a reality.

“The ever-increasing volume of inappropriately placed development threats, including those posed by government-funded projects such as HS2, or the proposed A27 bypass, makes this kind of change crucial.”

Sadly for Cooper, “there is little effort by government to formally quantify losses of ancient woodland” and the “lack of centralised records could be cloaking a state of deforestation”.

“It’s now a question of ‘wait and see’ for the government to provide the follow-up action that will embed the encouraging intent signalled by the plan into legislation and policy.”

‘Worryingly vague’ Speaking to The Planner about the review on national parks, Trevor Beattie, chief executive at the South Downs National Park Authority, the newest of the UK’s national parks, said the authority had already seen the added value of the area becoming a national park.

“It’s reasonable to consider the benefits the status might bring to other landscapes not included in the original reports. It will be interesting to see how this develops, not least given our unique planning arrangements.”

Beattie was pleased to see the plan included the notion that new development should result in a ‘net environmental game’, which he said fits with a core policy in the park’s draft local plan that seeks environmental benefits from development.

“As custodians of cherished and irreplaceable landscapes, we will be looking to see how this is interpreted in the forthcoming revised NPPF.”

land and sea, but the “lack of legal underpinning is a fundamental flaw”.

“What hope can we draw from a promise to return wildlife to our land when there could be a change of mood in a few weeks, or months’, time? There must be an ambitious Environment Act in the next Queen’s Speech or all this is simply the government saying what the voluntary sector has been saying for a long time. It needs to act.”

While it is good in theory that the plan is meant to work across government, it is missing commitment from the Ministry of Housing that planning permissions “will be granted only if there is high-quality green infrastructure included, or from the Department of Health to implement green prescribing across the nation”.

Hilborne said: “A Nature Recovery Network is certainly essential, but it must be in law, and work across urban and rural areas.”

Missing legal underpinning

Short on targets

Stephanie Hilborne, chief executive at The Wildlife Trusts, said there are “fantastic words and ambitions” for

James Cooper, head of government affairs at the Woodland Trust, said the plan does go some way to setting out comprehensive and cross-government aims, but it needs to be backed up with action. “It is short on specific targets, deadlines, mechanisms and funding options.”

He said the trust particularly welcomes the restated commitment to increase protection for ancient woodland. The

“THE LACK OF LEGAL UNDERPINNING IS A FUNDAMENTAL FLAW” – STEPHANIE HILBORNE

Julia Thrift, projects director at the TCPA, questioned whether the plan meets the basic criteria set out by the Natural Capital Committee, which was set up to advise the government on how to leave the environment in a better state than it was inherited. This included a clear vision, actions and investments to deliver it, measurable milestones and robust governance.

For Thrift, the plan sets out a “clear vision of a beautiful, functional and resilient environment that will benefit us in a multiple of ways”, but it is “worryingly vague” on actions. Highlighting “we will seek to embed a ‘net environmental gain’”, she wondered what “seek to” means and how it will be enforced.

“The plan is full of phrases such as ‘seek to’, ‘explore’ and ‘support’. It identifies little or no new money. The ‘measurable milestones’ are mentioned, but have yet to be developed.”

But she said the plan should not be dismissed. While she noted that the whole of government has signed up to the plan and that there are opportunities, such as the update of the NPPF, to include this policy, unless the government embeds the plan in law with mandatory rather than optional actions, “the next generation will inherit an environment that is worse than today’s, not better”. n Read A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment at: bit.ly/planner0218-25yr

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NEWS

Analysis { being physically active can reduce the chances of developing dementia by “up to 30 per cent”.

“It isn’t the obesity side of it – it is the activity. It is the activity that has the physical health benefits and the mental health benefits.”

Bird agreed. “We focus on obesity all the time but actually, physical inactivity is as bad.”

Jump to it

ACTIVE TRANSPORT

For Bird, “quick learning and savings” can be made. Creating More use of parks is key active communities does not to boosting levels of physical activity mean leisure centres, gyms and sport.

“This is where we can recruit them from, but delivery is in the parks, it is in the green spaces, the workspaces, the streetscapes and schools.

Physical activity is embedded everywhere.”

Claris added that it is about having places to stop and rest and people being able to choose walking and cycling. Travel plans can also help. “They can support active travel and provide us with information, improve infrastructure.”

However, they do need to have “more Chronic stress leads to chronic teeth” to be effective. inflammation, the cause of anxiety, Key for Claris, though, is getting dementia, cardiovascular disease, and consideration of the co-benefits of active other Western diseases.

“These are the things the NHS is really struggling with.”

Susan Claris MRTPI, associate director of transport consulting at Arup, added to “DELIVERY IS IN THE PARKS, IT this bleak picture, noting how an increase IS IN THE GREEN SPACES, THE in car use was a “major” contributing WORKSPACES, THE STREETSCAPES factor to low physical activity in the UK. AND SCHOOLS. PHYSICAL “One in four women and one in five ACTIVITY IS EMBEDDED men are classed as physically inactive.

EVERYWHERE” One in 10 men has type 2 diabetes.”

Talking about London, she said that the transport into decision-making. capital has the “lowest car ownership of “If you have benefits that accrue in the anywhere in the UK," and was “the only health sector, how do you achieve those if place that has fewer cars than the expenditure is in the transport sector? households.” However, she continued, We are still grappling with that.”

London still sees one in seven journeys Priority needs to be given to walking and made by Londoners being shorter than a cycling, to active transport. And it isn’t just single kilometre, with third of journeys down to planning, said Claris. “It is us as shorter than two kilometres. individuals. It is for us as employers to do With dementia now the leading cause what we can to encourage active transport. of death in the UK, Claris highlighted that I think for me it is the priority.”

Physical activity and place

By Laura Edgar “We have got it all wrong.”

That’s what Dr William Bird, CEO and founder of Intelligent Health, told attendees at the annual RTPI and Transport Planning Society (TPS) conference – ‘Spatial planning and sustainable travel’.

Connecting people with place, connecting people with each other and giving people autonomy and purpose is what we have wrong.

Instead, “we have got loneliness, which has the same risk factor as smoking”.

A disconnect between place and people, with people not wanting to be outside amongst noisy traffic or in a hostile environment where they feel unsafe, Bird explained. “So you have got disenfranchised communities that don’t have any connection to place at all.”

This, continued Bird, leads on to chronic stress, which has a damaging impact on a person’s lifestyle, “changing it to become inactive with a poor diet, leading to smoking and alcohol”.

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PLAN UPFRONT

Green light for 3,500-home Derry scheme Newport Docks scheme will delay M4 project Transport and economy secretary Ken Skates has unveiled major new proposals for a £136 million revamp of Newport Docks as part of the building of the M4 relief road.

The proposed work will mean a delay of up to two years for the scheme, Skates told Assembly Members in a letter.

Port owner Associated British Ports (ABP) had objected to the government’s preferred route for the new M4 relief road, the so-called Black Route, which would involve building a bridge over the docks.

The letter explained that collaboration between the government and ABP had resulted in proposals to integrate the docks facility with the M4 project.

The works include construction and refurbishment of quays, rearrangements of tenants and replacement of cranes, shaped around the new section of motorway and its new junction connecting the docks to the Trans European Motorway Network.

Skates said the new proposals would address the concerns of the port, which “supports approximately 2,500 jobs and contributes £173 million per year to the Welsh economy”.

“The enabling works would safeguard employment across the many sectors the port serves including steel, timber, agriculture, renewable energy generation and recycling.”

The M4 relief road project is currently subject to a public inquiry.

Derry City and Strabane District Council planning committee has approved outline proposals for a new neighbourhood in Derry, providing up to 3,500 new homes.

The 118-hectare scheme involves the phased development of land west of the Buncrana Road between Whitehouse Road and Benview Estate, Coshquin in Derry, for a mix of housing, local community facilities, open space, cycle/ pedestrian routes and vehicular access, a primary school, a church, drainage and other infrastructure.

Pragma Planning and Development Consultants Ltd made the application on behalf of Coredale Management Ltd. The location is designated for housing development in the Derry Area Plan. The proposals prioritise walking, cycling and public transport.

Dan Kelly is chairperson of the planning committee. He said: “This is a significant boost for the Buncrana Road area of the city and is a really good news story for the entire North West region.

“This application is in keeping with council’s commitment to developing housing, regenerating and investment in this area of the city as outlined in our Strategic Growth Plan.”

INEOS challenges Scotland’s fracking ban Chemical firm INEOS has announced that it will seek a judicial review of the Scottish government’s “effective ban” on fracking as part of the administration’s opposition to onshore unconventional oil and gas development in Scotland.

Last October energy minister Paul Wheelhouse told MSPs that the administration had written to local authorities across Scotland to make it clear that the direction over a moratorium introduced in January 2015 would remain in place indefinitely.

“We will use planning powers to ensure that any unconventional oil and gas applications are considered in line with our position of not supporting unconventional oil and gas,” said Wheelhouse.

This move came after a consultation

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exercise that overwhelmingly backed a ban.

Wheelhouse said 60,535 people had responded to the consultation. More than 99 per cent of them had opposed fracking.

INEOS, which holds two licences for fracking in Scotland, said it believed the ban was unlawful and a “misuse of ministerial power”.

Tom Pickering, operations director at INEOS Shale, said: “The decision in October was a major blow to Scottish science and its engineering industry, as well as being financially costly to INEOS, other businesses, and indeed the nation. We have serious concerns about the legitimacy of the ban and have therefore applied to the Court of Sessions to ask that it review the competency of the decision to introduce it.”

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NEWS

Analysis { PLANNING IN SCOTLAND

RTPI Scotland critiques the planning bill

By Laura Edgar The Planning (Scotland) Bill, published in December 2017, comprises measures that aim to improve planning outcomes by strengthening processes for participation of a whole range of stakeholders right across the country’s planning system.

A supporting policy memorandum states that the bill will focus planning and planners on “delivering the development that communities need rather than focus on continuous writing of plans that lack a clear route to delivery”.

It also aims to empower communities to have a “real influence” over future development; strengthen the strategic role of planning in coordinating and supporting the delivery of infrastructure; and reduce complexity while improving accountability.

The Planner spoke to RTPI Scotland about some of the measures in the bill and what it thinks about them.

New liaison mechanism The bill repeals the requirement to prepare Strategic Development Plans (SDPs), something the institute “fully expected” to happen.

However, it is concerned that SDPs need to be replaced by a mechanism that requires neighbouring councils work together to find solutions to contentious issues.

RTPI Scotland noted the bill’s requirement for local authorities to contribute an evidence report to National Planning Framework (NPF) preparation.

“While welcome in principle, the clause requiring neighbouring

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this needs to be properly resourced to authorities to cooperate when doing this ensure that it reduces inequalities, is appears quite weak – how do we ensure accessible to all who want to be involved, that constructive cooperation to identify and crucially, improves outcomes.” and overcome shared challenges will The bill makes provision for the take place?” introduction of an infrastructure levy. It The bill sees the NPF become part of would be payable to local authorities, the statutory development plan. Scottish with the money used to fund or Planning Policy – currently as with the contribute to infrastructure projects, in NPF a material consideration, is to be an attempt to incentivise delivery as well incorporated into the strengthened NPF as unlock sites planned for development. and therefore also become part of the Although RTPI Scotland supports the development plan. move in principle, it hopes that this is This is something the institute asked just the first step in addressing the for and strongly supports – a document critical infrastructure shortfall facing the that incorporates both policy and spatial country. It said throughout the review vision. process it has urged the Scottish Existing Community Empowerment Government to consider “how there is legislation means spatial planning going to be improved horizon scanning should already take account of for infrastructure needs, and in the Community Planning outcomes, but the absence of statutory regional planning, bill reinforces this. It explicitly requires the drive needs to ensure that key local development plans to take account projects are delivered”. of any relevant Local Outcome The Scottish Government has included Improvement Plans. The bill also Simplified Development Zones (SDZs) in introduces local place plans, which the bill, which aim to “improve on” would be prepared by community Simplified Planning Zones (SPZs). The bodies. policy memorandum states that SDZs Kate Houghton MRTPI, planning would “support effective delivery of policy and practice officer at RTPI development through zoning of land, Scotland, told The Planner: “I think the front-loading of scrutiny and aligning of bill would benefit from some clarity consents”, building on current here. We risk entrenching twin-track provisions. community planning and spatial planning, “WE RISK creating unnecessary Skills and resources ENTRENCHING work and confusing The bill will see the RTPI’s TWIN­TRACK communities.

COMMUNITY PLANNING proposal that a post should “We are very be created to support the AND SPATIAL supportive in principle PLANNING, CREATING development of planners’ of communities UNNECESSARY WORK skills. The institute wants proactively preparing the support to be available AND CONFUSING plans, but are clear that to planners in the private COMMUNITIES"

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PLAN UPFRONT

Homes England launches

and third sectors, as well as the public sector.

A supporting financial memorandum claims that moving from a five-year to 10-year cycle for local development plans would save between £17 million and £25.5 million over 10 years.

RTPI Scotland has supported extending the plan cycle on the basis that “it would free up local authority planners to drive delivery of the plan”.

Houghton said: “We are very concerned that the predicted saving reveals that in fact extending the cycle is expected to reduce the resourcing that local planning authorities will need to fulfil their statutory plan-making responsibilities, with delivery falling by the wayside.”

She concluded: “We look forward to continuing to work with the Scottish Government and other stakeholders to refine the bill as it makes its way through the parliamentary process”.

Let The Planner know what you think about the measures set out by the Scottish Government in the Planning (Scotland) Bill by emailing: editorial@theplanner.co.uk n The Planning (Scotland) Bill and supporting documents can be found on the Scottish Parliament website: bit.ly/planner0218-scotbill I M AG E S | G E T T Y / A L A M Y

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Housing secretary Sajid Javid has launched national housing agency Homes England, the successor to the Homes and Communities Agency. The move was set out in 2017’s Autumn Budget.

The government says Homes England will bring together the body’s existing planning expertise and its new land-buying powers to play a “major role” in securing land in areas where people want to live, support SME builders into the market and resource brownfield sites.

The agency will work with the government to deliver its target of 300,000 homes a year.

Javid launched Homes England while visiting Alconbury in Cambridgeshire, a former airfield that is set to deliver 5,000 new homes. He said: “This government is determined to build the homes our country needs and help more people get on the housing ladder. Homes England will be at the heart of leading this effort.

“The development at Alconbury is a prime

example of how the agency has worked to deliver thousands of new homes, as well as improve roads and create space for local businesses. The new agency will be key in replicating this approach right across the country and will help us build a Britain fit for the future.”

Sir Ed Lister, chairman of Homes England, added: “We will take the lead in delivering better-quality homes and great places that set the bar high for others. We will also stimulate demand for Modern Methods of Construction and ultimately disrupt the housing market.”

Ireland changes planning regime to boost housing supply Housing minister Eoghan Murphy has published updated draft planning guidelines designed to boost the number of flats proposed in Irish cities and towns.

Height restrictions on residential buildings are to be altered to allow for easier construction of high-rise developments. Other changes include altering a requirement to have car-parking spaces in urban areas that are well served by public transport. Ministers also wish to increase the cap on the number of units that can be on a floor for every lift or staircase from eight to 12.

Murphy said: “Urban development in Ireland needs a lot more apartment provision so that we can enable our cities and towns to become the places that people want to see in a modern society and a modern economy.”

He added: “These new measures will address a number of challenges that we currently face. They will make it a lot more cost-effective to build apartments, with the removal of parking space requirements and increasing the number of units that can be built.

“They will attract greater investment into the build-to-rent sector, which will relieve the huge pressure we are currently seeing in the rental market.”

The most significant change is to height restrictions. Currently residential developments in low-rise areas of innercity Dublin can be only six storeys (about 24 metres high), with lower limits in the suburbs. The minister intends to remove that cap and instead use the suitability of the site as a guiding principle.

The Department of Housing has insisted that there will be no change to key quality safeguards, including internal space standards for one, two and three-bedroom apartments, floor-to-ceiling heights, or the storage and amenity space requirements. n Read the new government guidelines at: bit.ly/planner0218-flats

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NEWS

Analysis { The names fit at RTPI for Hills and Acres January proved to be a month of more than usual renewal at the RTPI with new names for the roles of both chief executive and president.

Before the institute’s annual presidential inauguration, the RTPI Board of Trustees announced Victoria Hills MRTPI FICE as its new chief executive from 26 April. Hills is to replace Trudi Elliott, who will step down from the role she has held since 2011 to focus on new projects.

Hills has been chief executive officer for the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, the UK’s largest regeneration project, since 2015. Corporation chair Liz Peace CBE called Hills “a key figure in setting up the OPDC and leading it through its challenging early years. She has done a great job in managing the multiple relationships with the board and key stakeholders, and has played a clear role in enhancing the impact and profile of the of Old Oak and Park Royal Opportunity Area”.

A chartered town planner, Hills brings to the RTPI more than 20 years of experience working at senior levels in planning and transport. Chair of the RTPI Board of Trustees Graham Stallwood FRTPI called Hills “a powerful addition to our campaign promoting the value of planners and planning both in the UK and internationally”.

Days later, the annual transfer of the RTPI’s presidential chain of office took place. Outgoing president Stephen Wilkinson praised the housing white paper, suggesting that the government “deserves credit for the honesty in the

it’s so important to collaborate with other countries; we don’t have all the answers.”

Acres said that he had made the most of his name over the years: “Like weather forecasters Sarah Blizzard and Neil Sleat, I belong to that very special club who have surnames ideally suited to their jobs.”

Victoria Hills At school, Acres learned takes over as the RTPI’s early on that having a chief executive name at the top of roll-call in April lists meant he was likely to be picked first, and so learnt to volunteer for tasks before being framework it set out, and for the increase selected. “Thankfully, that willingness to in planning fees to offset constraints on step forward and volunteer has stayed with planning departments”. me all my life and is probably partly why I’m However, “the real issue remains housing here today.” affordability. It’s an impossible burden for The new president ended by equating many families to address, and this issue planning with the health of the nation. alone will not be fixed by increases in “We often marvel at the life-changing availability”. discoveries of medical science,” said Wilkinson spoke of planning’s “moral Acres. “Planning is not quite as dramatic purpose”, praising the UK’s planning and it may not have the capacity to save systems’ “so important” ethical standards, lives - but it does have the capacity to and adding that planning should remain fully engaged in Brexit and do more to change them. There is an old adage that the explore land value capture. operation was successful but the patient sadly died; in other words, process often Acres of space triumphs over product. But in my view, Looking ahead, incoming president John planning is about getting things done.

Acres immediately identified April’s Focusing on outputs and not just inputs, Commonwealth Heads of Government it should not be seen as just a regulatory Meeting in London as a key event and “a activity, but as an answer and maybe even a unique opportunity for us to learn more; cure for the ills of society.”

JOHN ACRES IN QUOTES “Planning is the glue which holds the decision-making process together; the oil which smoothes the economy; and the fuel which facilitates positive change” “We don’t become planners to be popular. But you know, I can’t think of a more worthwhile profession to be involved in.”

“Planning is essential to a modern

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economy, with decisions vested in the democratic process for which planners are vital guardians” “I am keen to use my experience in both sectors to steer the institute to foster new ways for local authorities and developers to work together” ”Planning can shape places, support the economy at every level, and make communities more resilient”

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LEADER COMMENT

Opinionn You’ve got to feel it to deal with it – Nominative determinism – the idea that people end up in work befitting their names – came to the planning profession last month with the announcement of Victoria Hills as the RTPI’s new CEO and John Acres taking over from Stephen Wilkinson as the institute’s president for 2018.

Hill and Acres – two detectives in a countryside crime drama? In this editor’s fever dream, perhaps.

But a landmark and a measurement of distance?

That’s for certain, making Hills and Acres most certainly apposite names for people representing town (and country) planning.

Once you start down this path it can be hard to stop.

A recently employed colleague surnamed ‘Keen’ certainly seems very engaged in his new work, and over the years people have, perfectly reasonably, I suppose, often linked my

Martin Read surname to the work I do.

And there’s something else more broadly I’ve noted about nominative determinism, something particularly concerning the two new names at the RTPI; where the names fit the work, so to does an innate enthusiasm to see it through.

When Victoria Hills arrives at the RTPI in April she’ll have come from the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, where her enjoyment of the challenge to plan one of the UK’s

biggest development sites is recognised in the results..

Hills is described by OPDC chairman Liz Peace as a “key figure” and thanked by the Mayor of London for her “leadership, commitment and dedication”.

Meanwhile, it was notable during John Acres inauguration just how many of those who had trained and worked with John Acres were in the audience to see him take the chain of office, assuming a role he clearly sees as a major milestone in his professional life. I was struck not just by his quiet commitment to the work ahead, but by the marked effect he’d clearly alreadychad on others; a

“MAYBE THERE’S SOMETHING TO THE IDEA THAT PEOPLE EXPRESS AN ‘UNCONSCIOUS PREFERENCE’ FOR THE WORK THEY DO WHEN THEIR NAMES FIT”

desire to commit to his work and beyond. (Here, after all, is a man who sees involvement in planning appeals as something to fit in outside of the day job.)

Maybe there’s something to the idea that people express an “unconscious preference” for the work they do when their names fit. But we should recognise people’s enthusiasm for planning whatever its origin.

In a month when it took four days following the Cabinet reshuffle to clarify the name of the latest in a long line of planning ministers, it was heartening to see someone eager to pursue a planning policy issue doing so in Parliament with great gusto.

When John Spellar MP introduced his Planning (Agent of Change) bill, making the case that the music industry’s success is linked to the protection and survival of its venues, he did so with the kind of energy and vigour such interventions surely deserve.

Here’s to planning’s natural enthusiasts - we need them.

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

Inbox

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

Leslie Smith – It was good to see my long-term friend and fellow enforcement enthusiast Jane Jones in The Planner (January 2018, p.47), but I must disagree with her on the removal of the four and 10 years rule. This was put forward as part of a review of enforcement in Wales some years ago and discussed at the NAPE conference in Gateshead, which is some distance from Wales. Thankfully, it did not proceed beyond that.

The Carnwarth report brought in the rule because neither operational development over four years old nor a material change of use over 10 years old can be said to have had a noticeably detrimental effect on the environment; if it had it would have been reported.

To remove the rules would encourage lazy enforcement, what Jane says is the burden to “provide evidence to prove a case”. It would also be unfair to prospective purchasers as they would have to go back to the past planning permission on the site and confirm to themselves that it had been constructed or was being used in accordance with that permission or risk enforcement action at a future date. A similar scenario applies in respect of listed buildings, where there is no immunity over time in respect of inherited breaches where new owners then assume liability.

This would then allow enforcement action to be reduced to the question of expediency and, at the present time after many cuts, expediency is being judged not against planning harm but against the resources of the local planning authority to take

Elaine Paterson – Leading up to the release of the Scottish Planning Bill in December, organisations such as Planning Democracy (with which I have been involved in a voluntary capacity) have campaigned for a better balance in the planning system between the rights of developers and communities. An Equal Right of Appeal (ERA) is an essential part of the balance but does not appear in the bill, and the RTPI does not support ERA either.

Adjustments to the developer right of appeal and limited circumstances for all parties, plus a definition of community body similar to that in recent Scottish community empowerment legislation) to embark on the appeal process would ensure that the system is not overwhelmed and vexatious appeals are avoided.

I’d urge the RTPI to think again on ERA and lobby the Scottish Government to include this measure in the new legislation.

enforcement action.

Enforcement would become “a more efficient, effective and transparent system” with more properly trained, dedicated enforcement officers, not by reducing a ‘burden’ which actually should be the basis of their role.

Leslie Smith BA (Hons), MA AssocRTPI, past chairman, NAPE

Nigel Roberts – Martin Read’s summary of what technology could mean for how we live, work, and play (The Planner, January 2018) raises serious issues for all involved in planning. Unquestionably the amount of potential change

The Scottish Government has insisted that front-loading of community involvement could obviate the need for ERA. Planning Democracy argues that while more genuine opportunity for early community involvement is needed, no matter how well this is done there will always be instances where conflicts of interest remain unresolved up to the end of the planning process, and ERA is the ultimate equal opportunity safeguard.

Of course, the better the frontloading the less likely it is that communities will need to use the appeal process.

One element of this frontloading is the introduction of Local Place Plans (LPP), loosely modelled on England’s Neighbourhood Plans (NPs).

But these LPPs will be far weaker than NPs as they will not form part of the statutory Development Plan. The LPA will only be required to have regard to the LPP. NPs aren’t perfect, but they at least form part of the

makes reading the future even more difficult, but from a planner’s viewpoint it makes the pursuit of assessing and understanding the nature and implications of such change in society even more important.

John Acres in the same issue highlighted that other game-changer, Brexit, and the big changes in Britain over the coming years that will fundamentally affect planners.

At a stroke, it too must change the critical growth assumptions on which all plans are based.

Are these issues being taken seriously enough by those involved in plan preparation? I recently reviewed the Babergh and Mid Suffolk local plan consultative draft (I live in the

Development Plan once they have been through their process.

I am on the steering group for Berwick-upon-Tweed’s local plan and have experienced how onerous the process is for communities (as well as dismay that it amounts to part-privatisation of planning as consultants need to be involved).

For the Scottish Government to expect communities to go through such a time-consuming process for a result that can so easily be ignored in decisionmaking by LPAs is disingenuous to say the least.

The RTPI should pick up on the false promises that LPPs seem to offer to ensure that community engagement results in meaningful plans that carry equal weight to the LPA element of the Development Plan. LPPs should not only have statutory weight as part of the Development Plan, but should be modelled using lessons from the English experience.

Elaine Paterson MRTPI (rtd)

area). It ran to hundreds of pages, including appendices.

Brexit was not mentioned! The employment, retail and housing assumptions – and draft policies – paid no attention to the impact of technology of the sort referred to above.

The growth projections to 2036 were run off forecasts before the Brexit referendum date. In effect, it was planning for a world we know today – the future being too difficult to begin to ponder. I raised my concerns and was told they (the planners) had ‘done their best’.

How can planning be expected to address the future when no one knows? Was it ever thus?

Nigel Roberts MRTPI(Rtd) Former Real Estate Strategist

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CHRIS SHEPLEY

O Opinion The public participation problem: Heaven knows we’re miserable now We’d just like your views on these questions to help us put together the scheme we absolutely haven’t already decided upon: 1. Which of the following options would you prefer – a) a lovely new park, or b) a festering, smelly tip?

2. Do you consider the objectives of economic growth, environmental benefits, improved access ... and quality of life are right for this project?

3. What will you miss most when we knock down your house?

One of these (the second) was a genuine question in a recent consultation exercise; the others are taken from the satirical Grotton oeuvre. But all of them leave something to be desired, and we should be thinking more deeply these days about the adequacy of 21st century public involvement in planning.

I was talking the other day to the late Arthur Skeffington, who died in 1971, only two years after the seminal report on public participation in planning which was produced by a committee that he chaired. The cloud on which Arthur now resides was passing overhead, and I hired an excellent medium to moderate the conversation (average mediums being useless in these situations).

Arthur was, I am pleased to say, very happy in himself, and the celestial beauty of his harp was admired heaven-wide. But he kept an eye on what was happening down here and pronounced himself disappointed with recent trends. He stressed

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that his report was about “participation”, and pointed to page 1,120 of my dictionary (there was a copy in the empyrean library), which refers to “becoming actively involved”. Consultation, however, according to page 337 is merely about “having regard for a person’s feelings, interests etc, in making decisions or plans”. This, in Arthur’s view, was a critical difference. But mere consultation was the preferred approach de nos jours.

He complained – in the first of three cosmic grumbles he was able to outline before he disappeared over the horizon – that the modern tendency was to produce a plan or scheme, plonk it in front of people, and ask them what they thought of it. Too late for ‘active involvement’, the ‘plonkees’ could do little other than to react to what they

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“THE PLONKEES COULD DO LITTLE OTHER THAN TO REACT TO WHAT THEY USUALLY SAW AS A FAIT ACCOMPLI” usually saw as a fait accompli and to hope that at least a few of their concerns would be taken on board. Regularly they were left disappointed.

Arthur acknowledged that some people do it properly, but few readers of this journal (which incidentally is widely circulated in the hereafter) will be lacking in experience of the lesser approach.

His second concern, and one with which we all wrestle with little success, is the obvious fact that most of those who actively engage are white, middle class, getting on a bit, educated at some majestic

institution rather than the University of Life, and apt to object to things. We’ve heard about the hard-to-reach, but because they are hard to reach they are rarely reached in any meaningful way other than by questions such as No. 3 above.

And his third is that proper participation requires time and money, both of which are in short supply down here on Earth. Easy for Arthur to say, of course, because eternity is probably long enough for quite sophisticated exercises and apparently up there among the cherubs there is plenty of lengthy debate. Here, though, adequate resources are simply not allocated to this vital process and we are all the poorer for it. Nor is there the authentic political commitment that might enable this to be rectified.

As Arthur’s cloud drifted beyond the medium’s range, I thought, is it not time for another Skeffington? Should we not be renewing our efforts? It is probably true that, in planning, we are better than most other sectors in this matter. But we are definitely not good enough.

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

22/01/2018 10:13

Quote unquote FROM THE RTPI AND THE WEB “We have created eated – and are e sustaining – a broken system”

“With more than 67 per cent of 16- 24-year-olds supporting development in the green belt, perhaps politicians will now be bolder with their rhetoric – and policies”

ANDY DY SOMMERVILLE,, RECTOR AT SEARCH DIRECTOR EN,, ON NEW HELP TO ACUMEN, QUITY LOAN SCHEM Q EM ME BUY EQUITY SCHEME STATISTICS

REBEKAH PACZEK OF SNAPDRAGON CONSULTING ON HOW SUPPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT IS STRONGEST AMONG THOSE STRUGGLING MOST WITH THE AFFORDABILITY AND AVAILABILITY OF HOUSING

“The consultation is basically suggesting planning applications will be required for more or less everything and anything” “Four housing ministers in three years makes it difficult for the industry to establish an effective working relationship with government”

DOUG HUGHES, OF HUGHES ARCHITECTS, ON THE PLANNING LAW IN WALES CONSULTATION

RICHARD BERESFORD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF BUILDERS NFB

“The planning system has become as tangled again as it was at the time of the great bonfire of the previous planning policy statements and circulars in 2012”

“While many developments focus on swimming pool and spas, our research has found that lounge areas and reading rooms are more important to this age group”

SIMON RICKETTS OF TOWN LEGAL DISCUSSING THE 'UNCLEAR RELATIONSHIP' BETWEEN THE NPPF, PPG, AND WRITTEN MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS

JAMES FENNER, FOUNDER OF CONSULTANCY SILK ROAD, ON WHAT THOSE OVER 70 YEARS WANT FROM HOMES FOR THEIR RETIREMENT

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

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

O Opinion

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Jo Gregory MRTPI is a senior planner and urban designer for Urban Imprint

Are we overlooking the contribution of smaller housing sites?

We are all aware of the debate surrounding the housing crisis surroun and discussions on the need to build more houses. The House of Lords’ economic affairs committee stated in late 2017 that this need equates to a minimum of 300,000 new homes a year.

This has resulted in a familiar ‘formula’ being rolled out: high housing targets plus historic shortfalls equals allocation of large housing sites. These are often in the form of ‘sustainable urban extensions’ (SUEs) of between 500 and 2,000+ units.

Perhaps this response makes sense.

Fewer landowners, fewer p l a n n i n g applications, fewer section 106 agreements and the evidence, on paper at least, needed to reach that allimportant five years of housing land supply.

But these sites are prone to hold-ups, rely on infrastructure projects and can fail to deliver. This is not unusual for all development sites, but it causes issues when SUEs form such an integral element of a council’s housing land supply. The housing market does not march to the same beat as the planning system’s fixation on a five-year supply.

Our focus on large allocations results in us missing opportunities offered by smaller sites. These can cumulatively make a significant contribution to supply and offer a flexibility that larger sites cannot.

Local and regional

housebuilders operate within strict timetables, meaning that sites are delivered fast once planning permission is given.

Their brand is locally based, meaning that it is crucial that they deliver a quality product. Smaller sites are able to respond sensitively to existing settlement character, do not result in pressure points on existing infrastructure and can respond directly to local need.

Local housebuilders are keen to build but often slip through the gap between large allocated sites and windfall sites. So gaining permission can be a long process. While large allocated sites take years to go through planning before they start to deliver, local housebuilders are keen to deliver now yet face an uphill battle to develop windfall sites considered too small to allocate.

We need to value more highly the contribution of smaller sites to the economy, housing delivery and crucially the delivery of goodquality housing responsive to local context.

The government appears to have recognised this with the brownfield register and a requirement in the last Budget for planning authorities to bring forward 20 per cent of their housing allocation as small sites.

But it remains to be seen how this will be implemented. Small sites might not solve the housing crisis alone, but their potential has certainly been overlooked.

“THE HOUSING MARKET DOES NOT MARCH TO THE SAME BEAT AS THE PLANNING SYSTEM'S FIXATION ON A FIVE­YEAR SUPPLY”

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Jo Wilson is head of policy at the independent policy network Future of London

London needs a strategy to improve private rented sector

London’ private rented sector London’s (PRS) fo forms more than a quarter of the capital’s households. But its rocketing rents, low-grade stock and inconsistent management are failing its users.

Over three years, Future of London investigated strategies to improve London’s PRS. The message of our final report is collaboration: the sector’s complexity will not be tackled by a single organisation or policy, but by greater alliance between public, private and community entities.

As the PRS has grown, so have its functions. It is a substitute for social housing and owneroccupation, and often a more appropriate (and affordable) option for councils securing temporary accommodation than B&Bs. Local authorities have significant roles to play in the new-build PRS – or ‘build to rent’ – market, as developers, landowners and planning authorities. The report identifies 13 council-run development companies with ambitions to build thousands of homes for private rent, alone or with a development partner.

To realise these objectives, councils must be realistic: a high return on their land may impinge on viable levels of affordable housing, and vice versa. New developments are a fraction of London’s PRS. The sector’s known challenges of poor

management, hazardous conditions and high rates of eviction reside within the existing sector. But practitioners and policymakers can respond.

• Private renters are an invaluable source of intelligence, and can help build cases against criminal landlords. Councils and housing associations should create opportunities for renters to help shape policies and services.

Vulnerable renters will need more support – enlisting voluntary sector partners to offer targeted services should reduce eviction rates.

• England should join the devolved nations by developing a mandatory landlord registration system – a low-cost mechanism to connect landlords and local government. It could be accompanied by an online platform to provide landlords with comprehensive information on regulation and standards, retrofit and energy efficiency, and a forum to share experiences.

• London’s PRS challenges are more severe than in other regions.

The Greater London Authority’s new rogue landlord and agent checker and big increase in local landlord licensing schemes prove the drive to improve London’s PRS. Central government should grant the mayor more resources to consolidate this work.

“LOCAL AUTHORITIES HAVE SIGNIFICANT ROLES TO PLAY IN THE NEW­BUILD PRS – OR ‘BUILD TO RENT’ – MARKET”

Engaging London’s Private Rented Sector: bit.ly/planner0218-prs

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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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Susan Claris is an associate director in the Transport Consulting Group at Arup

How often do you think about walking?

As a planning professional working in the built environment it is highly relevant to your working life, but how often do you think about walking?

For many, walking is both a valid mode of transport in its own right, as well as a part of most other journeys, whether by bike, bus, train or car.

Yet the distance people walk has gone down by about a fifth over the past 15 years – to an average of four miles a week. But averages can be misleading: four out of 10 adults aged 40 to 60 in England walk less than 10 minutes continuously at a brisk pace in a month. And fewer than a third of all car trips are shorter than two miles.

There is potential for change.

What would our towns and cities look like with more people walking and fewer short car trips? Air quality would improve and congestion would fall. Having people walking through urban spaces also makes them safer for others and it’s a great social leveller.

People on foot make urban centres vibrant and support economic activity. Transport for London found that people who walk to town centres across London spend more a week than those who come by bus, train, tube, bike or car. More walking would improve the physical and mental well-being of individuals, families, communities and the

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BLOG

Daniel Slade has just moved from the Institute for Government to join the RTPI as a research officer. (Nick Davies, associate director at the Institute for Government, edited this piece.)

Consultation on infrastructure: What France can teach us

nation – and help reduce the £7.4 billion a year cost of inactivity to the UK. But it would require transformative change. Many towns and cities suffer from a legacy of being designed for the car. Planners can help to place walkability at the heart of our urban areas.

We need to act to achieve safe and efficient transport systems, such as improving walkable connectivity, pedestrianisation, better integration with public transport, reducing vehicle speeds, improving crossings and signage.

We need to create more liveable e n v i r o n m e n t s, reusing redundant i n f r a s t r u c t u r e, improving street design and furniture, creating pocket parks, improving micro-climates and having active façades.

We can help to create a sense of place and community through open-street events, public art, street fairs and inclusive design.

And we can take actions for smart and responsive cities, creating playful interactive environments, providing wayfinding systems, monitoring the city and using digital evaluation tools.

We can design physical activity back into our everyday lives by facilitating walking as regular daily transport. And as walking boosts thinking and creativity, what better way to do this than by going for a walk?

“PEOPLE ON FOOT MAKE URBAN CENTRES VIBRANT AND SUPPORT ECONOMIC ACTIVITY”

Over the p past year the Institute for Government has been trying to Governm answer this question: Why is answe infrastructure decision-making in the UK often so poor, and what can be done to improve it?

An issue that kept emerging was the government’s approach to community engagement – a sense that government decides on major projects unfairly and without enough local input. This galvanises opposition, leading to delay, uncertainty and diminished faith in decision-makers.

The main route by which big projects in England gain planning consent – the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) planning regime – can contribute to such feelings as public input often comes too late.

Critically, under the NSIP regime, the principle that developments of particular types should go ahead is established in National Policy Statements (NPSs).

Communities can have a say on NPS drafts during formal consultations, but often find it hard because NPSs are generally vague, and do not explain which parts of the country will be affected. The quality of consultations on individual infrastructure projects can also be variable, with not all project sponsors aware of the benefits of full public engagement.

How might we improve this?

France’s Commission Nationale du Débat Public (CNDP) provides a potential model. The CNDP – an

independent public body – was set up to guarantee “public participation in the decisionmaking processes of major infrastructure projects of national interest that present important socio-economic stakes”.

It hosts debates on contentious projects as early as possible. All sides are given equal resources to make a case. The CNDP summarises these views in a report, to which project sponsors must respond. Of the 61 projects on which the CNDP facilitated debates between 2002 and 2012, 38 made significant modifications.

French project sponsors view the CNDP process as a valuable exercise in public engagement and data collection; the public see it as i ndependent, impartial, and a real chance to have their voices heard.

Our government should create an independent commission for public engagement (CPE) to: • Facilitate public debates with communities likely to be affected when NPSs are developed or updated.

• Advise project sponsors consulting during the ‘preapplication consultation’ stage of the NSIP planning regime.

• Facilitate in-depth deliberations with representative, randomly selected citizen panels.

The benefits of a CPE, which would cut delays and overruns that cost developers and taxpayers millions of pounds, would far exceed its likely costs.

“THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD CREATE AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSION FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT”

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ESCAPE FROM THE HUMAN ZOO P L A N N I N G FO R W E LL ­ B EI N G

Once zoos were just penal colonies for captured animals wrenched from their natural habitat. Unsurprisingly the poor creatures exhibited problems, rarely breeding successfully in captivity. Today, the well-being of animals in our zoos and wildlife parks is better understood and catered for, with attempts to mimic elements of their lost environment. The better the surroundings simulated their ‘natural’ habitat, the healthier they were.

Given that we humans are also primates, might there be a lesson for us here, too? After all, some 3.4 billion people (50 per cent of the world’s population) are already urbanised, living in our own concrete zoos. But towns are not our natural habitat: for the majority of the last few million years, we and our immediate ancestors survived as hunter-gathers, living off the land in small tribal societies, working closely with nature.

Culturally, society is clearly evolving at remarkable speeds, with its new towns and new technologies. But biologically, significant evolution has been much, much slower: our bodies are still broadly Palaeolithic, much as we were long before extensive agriculture or the first towns were developing, 5,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Consequently there is a real mismatch between modern urban living and that ancient part of our genome that supported ‘huntergatherer’ lifestyles. The long period of gradual human evolution is still stamped deep into our DNA as our genetic ‘normal’. Our uncivilised teeth and our digestive system still reflect an omnivorous need for fresh fruit, vegetables, roots, nuts, berries, meat and fish, rather than the abnormal pre-packaged, over-processed, sugar-enhanced products.

Our uncivilised lungs still only operate effectively with fresh air, not with abnormal exposure to toxic fumes, tobacco or diesel particulates. Our bipedal physiology still demands a daily workout, based on an ancestral lifestyle of regular walking, carrying, climbing and bending, rather than abnormally sedentary lives.

And then there’s our uncivilised immune system: this still needs the microbiota obtained externally from plants, trees, animals, soil to function effectively, and we still need to top up our vitamin D levels by working outdoors.

An enhanced understanding of the innate

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

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MODERN CITIES ARE KILLING OUR PALAEOLITHIC BODIES, ARGUES GUSTAV MILNE. ALTHOUGH WE CAN’T CHANGE OUR BIOLOGY, WE CAN CHANGE OUR LIVING ENVIRONMENTS

“OUR BODIES ARE STILL BROADLY PALAEOLITHIC, MUCH AS WE WERE LONG BEFORE EXTENSIVE AGRICULTURE OR THE FIRST TOWNS WERE DEVELOPING”

and immutable evolutionary determinants of our health should have a much more central role in modern urban design. How might we reconfigure our townscapes and buildings on lines better suited to the physiology and psychology of the proxy hunter-gatherers that, biologically, we still are?

If were able to achieve this, our urban wellbeing would be improved, the scourge of ‘Western lifestyle diseases’ contained, and the cost to the National Health Service diminished.

As in a modern zoo, the better our urban surroundings simulate our ‘natural’ habitat, the healthier we urban apes will be.

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22/01/2018 14:25

AAREE MODERN AR RN TOWNS KILLING US? For the first r time in human hi history more people le across the globe now llive in cities than in rural rur ural communities. And more mo towns will have to be built to accommodate a population hav estimated to rise from 7.2 billion to 9.6 billion by 2050.

But the fundamental question is this: are these artificial environments called towns bad for us? Indeed, is urbanisation actually killing us?

Although there are major benefits to city living, there are also major costs, such as the seemingly unstoppable rise in obesity, coronary-related problems, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and various types of cancer.

The World Health Organisation lists all of these in the 10 most common causes of death in modern, urbanised societies. Do these deaths represent that mismatch between human biology and urban culture, or are they

HOW TO BUILD A BETTER HUMAN ZOO

Provide fresh water and sound sanitation systems. ● Ensure good air quality (e.g. ban vehicles that emit diesel particulates). ● Put human locomotion at heart of transport policy/ street design (e.g. trafficcalming measures, cycle tracks, pedestrianisation). ● Develop integrated public transport systems that help limit car use. ● Develop designated safe cycle and pedestrian route-ways. ● Extend urban green space – pocket parks as well as central parks. ● Promote/develop participatory urban green space (e.g. ●

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allotments, community gardens, city farms). ● Promote sport through development of pitches and maintained sports facilities. ● Develop programmes of street greening and promote roof gardens and green walls. ● Limit development for highrise buildings for residential use (maximum six storeys preferable) ● Encourage street-based neighbourhoods rather than enclosed estates. ● Ensure that residential buildings have adequate natural light and access to some outside space (garden, patio, terrace or balcony).

just an inevitable result of the ageing process?

There is compelling research that challenges the inevitability of death by Western lifestyle diseases, suggesting that living in such artificial environments may well be exerting an unanticipated negative impact on modern urban well-being.

A major long-term study by Staffan Lindeberg showed that ALL those fatal ‘Western’ conditions are rare or non-existent in un-urbanised communities that still maintained an ‘ancestral’ lifestyle, such as that in Kitava, Papua New Guinea (Lindeberg 2010 Food and Western Disease: Health and Nutrition from an Evolutionary Perspective) Detailed archaeological studies show graphical support for this contention, demonstrating how 5,000 to 10,000 years ago the transformation from ancestral practices to farming and urbanisation damaged our collective well-being.

That Neolithic period is associated with the first evidence, not just of intensive farming, but also of tumours, anaemia, diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH, a proxy for obesity) and osteoporosis.

As for the Romans, they not only introduced the civilising idea of urbanisation to these islands 2,000 years ago, but also scurvy, rickets, osteomalacia, gout, rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis, osteitis, poliomyelitis and leprosy.

None of these conditions were seen in the prehistoric, largely un-urbanised tribal populations that lived here before the Roman invasion of AD 43 (see, e.g. Health and Disease in Britain, from Prehistory to the Present by Charlotte Roberts and Margaret Cox, or Brenna Hassett’s Built on Bones). Urbanisation was, and often remained, a mixed blessing.

EVOLUTIONARY­CONCORDANT URBAN DESIGN Approaches to urbanisation that attempt to address this real challenge and specifically incorporate well-being include Ebenezer Howard’s Garden Cities (Howard 1902 [1898]), New Urbanism that developed in the 1970s (Congress for New Urbanism) and the Healthy Cities movement, which originated in Toronto in 1984. Less than 20 years after its foundation, 1,300 cities in 29 countries had signed up to the Healthy Cities movement.

An evolutionary-concordant urban design protocol not only builds on those ideas but also, more importantly, underpins them.

It is appreciated that we have a personal responsibility for our own dietary and activity regimes, should we wish to follow a proxy Palaeolithic path. But it’s not just our individual lifestyles that need reconfiguring, as change is also needed in town planning, in the fabric,

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P L A N N I N G FO R W E LL ­ B EI N G

design and layout of our cities. All need to operate on evolutionary-concordant lines to make a real difference to tomorrow’s urban well-being.

An evolutionary-concordant town would promote the idea of ‘greened cities’, not just with large central parks, but also with smaller ‘pocket parks’, tree-lined streets, roof gardens, green walls, and the greater provision of pitches, sports fields and allotments. These elements are essential not only for biodiversity, but also for fostering our uncivilised immune systems, dependent as they are on microbiota absorbed from the natural environment.

Further, active lives can also be encouraged and promoted through increased pedestrianisation, riverside paths, designated cycle lane schemes and coherent public transport provision.

“OUR BODIES ARE STILL BROADLY PALAEOLITHIC, MUCH AS WE WERE LONG BEFORE EXTENSIVE AGRICULTURE OR THE FIRST TOWNS WERE DEVELOPING” Another major inducement for all those contemplating urban walking or cycling is the banning of fatal diesel particulates and other noxious emissions. The protection of our uncivilised lungs and respiratory systems (designed solely to cope with fresh air) is essential. Every year, some 400,000 people across Europe die prematurely as a consequence of their long-term exposure to such pollution: an unnecessary and shameful statistic.

If our streets, parks and buildings genuinely facilitate active commuting, then a major report by Lucy Saunders (Transport for London) lists the benefits. It estimates that, in London alone, more than 4,000 premature deaths, nearly 800 more cases of breast cancer, up to 500 more cases of colorectal cancer, 1,500 extra cases of coronary heart disease and nearly 45,000 more cases of type 2 diabetes could be avoided simply by increasing activity levels. Such basic changes in our cultural and health behaviours, supported and promoted by relevant town planning initiatives, really would save lives.

As Professor Stephen Marshall has argued, if we are really to achieve healthily humanfriendly cities, we may need a step change in attitude. The health and well-being agenda should be no less deserving,

“AS FOR THE ROMANS, THEY NOT ONLY INTRODUCED THE CIVILISING CONCEPT OF URBANISATION TO THESE ISLANDS 2,000 YEARS AGO, BUT ALSO SCURVY, RICKETS, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND LEPROSY” strategic or systematic than the safety or accessibility agendas.

Just as policymakers would not knowingly create an unsafe road layout nor install a public building without wheelchair access, arguably a acces ss, a guably no planning or transport policy sh should hou o ld knowingly be implicated with unhealthy unh healthy urbanism (Marshall et al, Town an and Country nd Cou untry Planning Journal, 2015 pp125-129). p125-129). At the very least, such a necessarily wide-rang wide-ranging ging agenda should include closely integrated tegrated considerations of urban green space, spac ce, human locomotion and clean air as standa standard. ard.

We need to build a better ter zoo to secure our collective well-being. Many unrelated ny unrela ated bodies following different lines of enquiry y reached similar conclusions as to the potency poten ncy of the evolutionary determinants ts of health heallth and urban design. Although most had ad little concept co oncept of the underpinning deep genetic tic imperatives, impera atives, all could see positive results.

These include health professionals rofessionals constructing beneficial activity ctivity regimes, reg gimes, as well as the walkers and d cyclists who had long practised them; social workers looking at the benefi enefits of urban sport; the NHS contemplating templatin ng the ever-rising costs of the obesity besity epidemic; architects designing buildings gning bui ild l in ngs for humans; community groups pressing for better streetscapes; town capes; to own n planners working with public health officials; urban designers who value green space.

The unifying paradigm underpinning all such varied initiatives is the deeper concept of evolutionary concordance. For all those who are trying to make urbanisation work, a better understanding of our shared deep past will materially assist the construction of a more normal, healthier future. Homo Sapiens are not best adapted for living in modern towns: we can’t change our biology, but we can change our towns. n Gustav Milne is an archaeologist and lecturer who coordinated research for University College London’s Evolutionary Determinants of Health and Urban Wellbeing project. He is the author of Uncivilised Genes: Human Evolution and the Urban Paradox, published by Crown House Publishing

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ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING

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ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING

THE GOVERNMENT’S LONG­AWAITED 25­YEAR ENVIRONMENT PLAN SETS HIGH AMBITIONS FOR PROTECTING AND ENHANCING THE UK’S NATURAL CAPITAL. BUT HUW MORRIS FINDS IT POSES MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

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harles Baudelaire said the devil’s biggest trick is to convince the world he does not exist. Several commentators on the government’s 25-year environment plan argue the devil will be in the detail for it to work.

The vision is there. A healthy environment is “a central priority”, according to Prime Minister Theresa May, and vital to happiness, well-being and a thriving economy. Turning that vision into reality is trickier.

A case in point is the plan’s aim “to embed” a new planning principle of “net environmental gain” when building housing and infrastructure.

The idea derives from the concept of natural capital, which both underpins the plan and aims to take full account of natural assets that benefit humans. Forests, woodland, urban green spaces, rivers and wetlands are among many such assets. So, too, are our mineral and fossil fuel resources, our marine environment and even our water supply.

It could be significant if it gets off the drawing board. But there are many obstacles and the plan does not confront them.

The first issue is its wording. The plan has references aplenty to “exploring”, “considering” and “consulting” on options. Then come the

get-out clauses. A typical example is that the planning system “should provide biodiversity net gains where possible”. Another is a promise that “we will explore strengthening this requirement for planning authorities to ensure environmental net gains across their areas, and will consult on making this mandatory – including any exemptions that may be necessary”.

Developers immediately noticed this.

“The reaction so far is very level-headed,” says Ian Fletcher, the British Property Federation’s director of real estate. “Our members want to ensure their buildings and developments are sustainable and the key thing is the long lead times to do that in a 25-year plan. But the details need to be worked through.”

Such details, he notes, are the nature of the “exemptions” alluded to under the plan, which he describes as “an opportunity to get this

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right”. He adds: “It’s not the end objective that frightens our members but they get slightly depressed with a process of providing loads of evidence for environmental and building requirements for a large site. They might fear this adds to the bureaucracy.”

A second issue is that the plan goes against the scorched-earth approach adopted by successive governments to planning regulations and resources, with environmental issues losing their standing. The plan does not say it but fundamental reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework will be a first step. Getting those reforms to reflect UN Sustainable Development Goals would be another.

“There is a great deal of government rhetoric but a massive gap with what is happening and a lack of acknowledgement of other government reforms to planning in the past few years which have downgraded the environment,” says Hugh Ellis, the Town and Country Planning

GREATER MANCHESTER URBAN PIONEER One of natural capital accounting pilot schemes launched in 2017, the urban pioneer was selected to test and advise on the new approaches to natural capital protection and enhancement, focusing on how environmental enhancements improve lives.

It is built on a partnership with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which has devolved responsibilities for health, skills, planning, and economic development.

The pioneer is supporting the authority in understanding the benefits of investment, including the development of a natural capital account.

Anne Selby, a key player and chief executive of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, said the pilot has been pushing strongly for a biodiversity compensation scheme. “Some of the chief planning officers are up for this, others less enthusiastic,” she says. “We are also working up an investment plan for Greater Manchester’s natural capital and

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its ecosystem services. Of course, markets for ecosystem services are still in their infancy.

“Public health directors have been good allies to the environment movement. Both groups want to see access to green space embedded within the Greater Manchester Spatial Strategy. There a is strong recognition of the links between health and environment, and it’s important to break out of our silos.”

So what do planners need to do?

“We need to get some good continuing professional development about natural capital and ecosystems services and certainly I need to get all Greater Manchester’s planners ready for biodiversity compensation thinking. The future of land use will be changing post-Brexit and planners could have roles in working on coordinating group bids for funding for ecosystems outcomes.”

“IT’S NOT THE END OBJECTIVE THAT FRIGHTENS OUR MEMBERS BUT THEY GET SLIGHTLY DEPRESSED WITH A PROCESS OF PROVIDING LOADS OF EVIDENCE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND BUILDING REQUIREMENTS FOR A LARGE SITE” Association’s policy chief. “There is an enormous challenge of credibility in the plan.

The priorities should be climate change and with it building in resilience and adaptation followed by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. These should be front and centre, but they are not.”

An arid zone The plan is noticeably quiet on how a natural capital-influenced approach could be applied across Whitehall, particularly those departments crucial to infrastructure planning.

The newly renamed Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is one obvious example, but so are the Department for Transport and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

That’s before winning hearts and minds at the Treasury, Cabinet Office or No 10. Two senior sources heavily involved in pioneering natural capital approaches to accounting and policymaking, who had seen an earlier draft of the plan, had warned civil servants to spell out each department’s commitments to the environment and action plans for fulfilling them. This was not taken on board.

Then there is leading by example. Where is the net environmental gain approach to major infrastructure projects? HS2 is a prime example, which some environmentalists deride for destroying ancient woodlands. Yet even before the plan was published, Defra had ruled out including natural capital in the National Infrastructure Plan.

This is all before considering what investors want. Here be demons. The Planner spoke to one investment analyst – who asked to remain anonymous – who noted the absence of cohesion across Whitehall. He said the plan had to send clear signals to the market that natural assets is a long-term area for investment with a potential pipeline of projects.

It also had to include legally binding targets accompanied by robust action plans and regulation focused on outcomes. An investment fund dedicated to priority natural capital projects was also needed. This is all before financiers start the heavy lifting of setting up the myriad of funds, financial mechanisms and models required to stimulate, attract and enable investment. The plan, he said, did not have any of this.

“You can’t expect in the short-term financial services and businesses to put money into the natural environment projects on their own,” says Ecosystems Knowledge Network coordinator I M AG E | G E T T Y

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Bruce Howard. “The challenge is getting the public and voluntary sectors to work with the private sector so there is a mix of funding.”

So how will we know if the plan is working? It says metrics – covering clean air, water, plants, wildlife, environmental hazards, resources, enhanced beauty and engagement with the natural environment – will have a critical role.

Existing indicators and associated statistics, data and monitoring systems will require careful selection alongside the development of other indicators. “Metrics assume you can value what people want with the environment,” says Ellis.

“What might be worth £1 to Michael Gove might be worth £1 million to me.”

This point is tacitly acknowledged in the plan.

“Not all aspects of natural capital – the contribution of wildlife, for example – can be robustly valued at present and we do not always need to know a monetary value to know that something is worth protecting,” it says. “For this reason we regard it as a tool, not an absolute arbiter. It is just one tool among many in the formation of policy but a very powerful one in ensuring that we think of our responsibility to future generations to hand on a country, and a planet, in a better state than we found it.”

Green shoots Which all leads to another crucial question.

Where is the legislation to back up the plan?

“The one thing that I think is notable by its absence is a commitment to translate ambition into law,” says RSPB global conservation director

“METRICS ASSUME YOU CAN VALUE WHAT PEOPLE WANT WITH THE ENVIRONMENT. WHAT MIGHT BE WORTH £1 TO MICHAEL GOVE MIGHT BE WORTH £1 MILLION TO ME”

How wedded are the Treasury, Cabinet Office or even No 10 to a natural capital-influenced approach?

Martin Harper. “The only way to ensure that the ambition in the plan is met and momentum sustained, is by establishing a new Environment Act essentially to do for the restoration of nature what the Climate Change Act has done for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Nevertheless, the plan could be “a turning point, where we start to restore our environment rather than destroy it”, says WWF executive director of advocacy and campaigns Tony Juniper, with natural capital informing key choices and long-term decisions.

“The idea of natural capital signals a shift toward valuing our natural assets and is a crucial step, not just for the government to make, but also businesses, organisations and the wider public. The better the understanding of how nature contributes to our health, wealth and security, the better protections it will be given and the clearer the case for investing in it.

“For the plan to start to make the impact that our environment so desperately needs requires the commitments in it to fast become a reality.

They also need to backed by the force of law, money and a new environmental watchdog.”

For this to be a turning point, the government will have to do a lot more thinking, offer a lot more detail and do more than cheerleading from the sidelines. So far this is where speaking of the devil does not mean he shows his horns.

Huw Morris is a freelance planning journalist and consultant editor of The Planner

Ecosystems Knowledge Network is holding a Natural Capital Investment Conference in London on 1 March. Speakers include the Rt Hon John Gummer Lord Deben, Shirley Trundle, and Tony Juniper. bit.ly/planner0218-natural

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U R B A N LO G I S T I C S

IN THE ULTRA­COMPETITIVE WORLD OF ONLINE RETAILING, DEMAND FOR ‘URBAN LOGISTICS’ HUBS IS RISING. BUT DELIVERY FIRMS ARE ALSO HAVING TO COMPETE WITH HOUSING DEVELOPERS FOR TOWN CENTRE SITES, AS MARK SMULIAN DISCOVERS

THE LAST

MILE hen someone says they bought something online it can sound as though the product concerned has sprung fully formed from cyberspace onto their doorstep.

It didn’t, of course. But while it is well known that online retailers have giant warehouses near motorways, and the doorstep courier is now an unremarkable figure, what about the middle stage of this process?

Planners should look, because this quickly changing trend in retailing is creating a new demand for employment land in urban areas just as the pressures to increase housebuilding mean that such sites may be lost to residential use.

This is where demand for homes, demand for jobs and attempts to build economic growth can all clash.

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The ‘middle’ stage, commonly called ‘urban logistics’, arises because it is rare that something can go straight from a motorway depot to the end user.

Products ordered online have to go somewhere first – lorry loads must be broken down for local delivery, goods must be temporarily stored and van or motorbike drivers need somewhere to collect packages.

The logistics industry needs sites on, or very near, main roads into towns but which are also far enough into a built-up area to allow for convenient deliveries by couriers.

Operators, though, can seldom match the sums residential developers offer for land and even where sites are allocated to employment uses, the pressure on local authorities to deliver new homes may be such that the logistics industry is outbid.

Urban logistics might have commanded little previous attention among planners, but a flurry of research suggests that will change as the

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industry steps up pressure for its needs to be recognised in local plans and money flows into the sector.

Appealing sites Property firm Cushman & Wakefield, for example, said in its autumn 2017 report Urban Logistics: The Ultimate Real Estate Challenge? that demand for space to facilitate ‘last mile’ deliveries had grown in tandem with e-commerce orders as part of a shift observable across Europe from conventional retailing through shops.

Most ‘last mile’ deliveries are urban and these journeys can comprise up to half of supply chain costs, so the further that depots are from customers, the higher the cost.

And not only that – online retailers compete on speed of delivery to customers rather than just on price. Securing a good urban logistics site gives an important competitive advantage.

London stands out with an urban logistics

“WHEN PEOPLE BUY THINGSS ON ONLINE NLINE THEY NOW EXPECT TO RECEIVE EIVEE TTHEM HEM AS RAPIDLY AS POSSIBLE – TH THE HE SAME DAY IF THEY CAN – AND THAT ATT IISS WHAT RETAILERS COMPETE TO OFFER” FFFER R”

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“THERE PROBABLY NEEDS TO BE SOME GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION TO PROTECT THESE USES”

space requirement estimated by Cushman & r Wakefield at almost 870,000 square metres, a total expected to reach 1.2 million square metres ex by 2021.

2021 Other Othe cities are affected, too, and while the logistics l i ti industry would ideally like central sites it must usually settle for those located, roughly, between inner and outer ring roads or on the urban periphery.

David Binks, one of the report’s authors, says: “Goods will go from their central warehouse or consolidation centres, which can be on motorways, to urban centres for individual distribution because when people buy things online they now expect to receive them as rapidly as possible – the same day if they can – and that is what retailers compete to offer.

“Land is needed in urban areas for this and local authorities should plan for it as there will be more pressure for this as shopping habits change.

“The land is B8 industrial, and I don’t think it needs its own use class – just that when land comes vacant local authorities should preserve it in employment use.”

He admits that urban logistics is “potentially an emerging new demand for land that planners have not had to consider before”, adding: “Traditionally these sites fell to residential uses or other higher value ones so planners now need to consider protecting these.”

Binks cites the example of some local authorities in the midlands protecting B2 sites for advanced manufacturing as a possible model for safeguarding B8 sites for logistics.

“You have got government policy that is very biased towards residential. But it is also government policy to support digital industries, of which this is part, so there probably needs to be some government intervention to protect these uses,” he adds.

The road transport industry finds the problem of urban logistics most acute in London, but also present in other urban centres.

Natalie Chapman, head of policy for London at the Freight Transport Association, says: “There was some recognition in the London Plan of issues of industrial land supply but in places with rising land values, and residential

EXPECTED RISE IN ONLINE SALES IN EUROPE FROM 2016­21

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policy pushing for more homes to be built, it is difficult to keep land in industrial use.”

The result, Chapman says, is that depots occupy sites more distant from population concentrations and so delivery journey distances get longer, resulting in higher volumes of road traffic “because if the time taken to make deliveries cannot be made during drivers’ shifts then you need more vehicles to do it, which is counter-intuitive for ‘click and collect’.

“People want personal deliveries to home or work and for that you need a consolidation site and it is looking tricky to find those. We need new developments planned so the land is there to provide these services that people expect.”

Air tight Technological solutions to the ‘last mile’ problem are some way off when it comes to drones, but electric vehicles are a little nearer.

These offer considerable gains in reducing air pollution but, because their range between charges is shorter than that of a motor vehicle, any spread of electric vehicles will increase

“IT IS IN THESE URBAN, LOCAL FACILITIES THAT WE SEE THE GREATEST POTENTIAL FOR PRIVATE INVESTORS SEEKING SECURE LONG­TERM RETURNS” demand for urban logistics sites.

“People want to encourage them because they reduce pollution but as their range is limited you need a consolidation centre they can use or they are less viable,” says Chapman.

She speculates that as shopping migrates online from the traditional high street, redundant retail premises might be converted for logistics centres. In London in particular, where measures such as the congestion charge have reduced private car use, converting car parks for logistics may be possible.

ANTICIPATED INCREASE IN REQUIRED URBAN LOGISTICS SPACE IN LONDON BETWEEN 2017 AND 2021, FROM 870,000 TO 1.236 MILLION SQUARE METRES

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U R B A N LO G I S T I C S Commerce is fighting forr industri industrial ial ent’s biass is land while the government’s g towards land for housing

Similar sentiments appeared in last September’s manifesto of the UK Warehousing Association, which said a “paradigm shift” from shops to online retailing was making unexpected demands on logistics firms.

“More warehouse space will be required in and around conurbations to replenish stock in the time frames required,” it said, adding that were planners to suggest rescinding night-time bans on commercial vehicles, it would cause public objection and comment, at the least.

Property firm Knight Frank has predicted that there will be increasing financial muscle behind urban logistics, which may partly rebalance the position with housebuilders when competing for land.

Its head of capital markets research Anthony Duggan explained in a blog post that “for retailers, speed of delivery has overtaken price as the main competitive battleground”.

“Increasingly, the key to winning market share is to offer the latest order cut-off times and the earliest delivery slots.”

This meant even traditional retailers had switched investment from stores to online and distribution “fuelling strong growth in the number of logistics facilities”, including those for ‘last-mile’ deliveries.

Duggan said: “It is in these urban, local facilities that we see the greatest potential for private investors seeking secure long-term returns and looking to tap into the opportunities created by the rise of cities and increasing urbanisation. This translates into a number of compelling investment prospects on both the demand and supply side.”

Amy Gilham, economics director at consultancy Turley, says her firm has been helping the logistics industry “to gain a voice on this” in planning debates.

Turley’s 2015 report ort Th The eL Land and That Time Forgot found that planning lann nin ing g for industrial land lan nd of all kinds was based on o obsolete off bsolete data in much bs ch o the country and thatt “the “th the e logistics industry is… s… evolving so quickly that th hat an employment land evidence base which h is only updated every five e years is not going to reflect the realities of the the market for property ass it it currently operates”.

Gilham says: “Planning nni n ng “IN PLACES WITH RISING for urban logistics is VALUES, AND LAND VALUES massively an issue RESIDENTIAL POLICY nationally but particularly PUSHING FOR MORE in London, where so HOMES TO BE BUILT, IT IS much land is allocated for DIFFICULT TO KEEP LAND housing zones.

INDUSTRIAL USE” “There are questions about allocations of industrial land in strategic policies where mixed use land gets lost because of the pressure for new homes and the higher prices land commands as residential.”

She says some planning authorities appear ppea ar unaware of the speed of change in the logistics industry and so might provide for employment loyment and but not in the right places for urban n logistics depots because of their reliance on old evidence.

There could be objections raised to urban rban logistics because of fears that it would attract extra traffic and air pollution to populated ted areas, areas as, but Gilham says: “These sites have to be e on the th he strategic road network and there are things ings you yo can do to mitigate that, from having deliveries liverie es at at off-peak times through to simple thingss like e training drivers to close doors quietly.”

Retailers and freight firms want sites forr ur urban rban logistics and can expect a flow of investment tm men nt funds to buy them. But so, too, do housebuilders. eb buil ilders.

Planners are therefore caught between a vocal vo lobby for more homes and a less vocal but but potentially well-resourced one for logistics. sti tics.

Perhaps it is time to revisit employment me ent local plans and see if they have kept pace with ith h changed retailing.

IN

Mark Smulian is a freelance journalist specialising in the built environment

FORECAST INCREASE IN EUROPEAN PARCEL VOLUMES BETWEEN 2016­2021

COST OF LAST MILE DELIVERY ANNUALLY SOURCE: URBAN LOGISTICS: THE ULTIMATE REAL ESTATE CHALLENGE, CUSHMAN AND WAKEFIELD, 2017

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CASE STUDY

Bounded on one side by the A1067 Norwich to Fakenham road, the site was subject to several planning constraints

TAKING THE GREEN ROUTE AWARD: EXCELLENCE IN PLANNING TO DELIVER HOUSING PROJECT NAME: CARROWBRECK MEADOW KEY PLAYERS: NPS GROUP, BROADLAND DISTRICT COUNCIL, BROADLAND GROWTH LIMITED, HAMSON BARRON SMITH, RG CARTER

B Y D AV I D B L A C K M A N

Delivering cutting-edge, sustainable yet affordable housing is a hard circle to square. But it was achieved at a scheme on the outskirts of Norwich, which though small in scale, tackles some big questions.

Located in the former grounds of a large private house called Carrowbreck House, the Carrowbreck Meadow is just outside Hellesdon, a village in a suburb of Norwich in Norfolk. The building had been vacant for 11 years when Broadlands District Council bought it in 2014 for use as a training facility.

Following the building’s renovation, the surrounding land would be surplus to requirements – and development of the site was handed to Broadland Growth Limited (BGL), a joint public/private sector venture between property consultant NPS Group and the local authority.

But the 0.96-hectare site was not the easiest to work with. Bounded on one side by the A1067 Norwich to Fakenham road, it was subject to a number of planning constraints – and being outside Hellesdon’s defined settlement boundary, any development would be a departure from the adopted local plan.

And while the site was included in a

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larger site allocation through the local plan review process, this carried no significant planning weight because the document had not been adopted.

The grounds also contained a number of mature trees, the largest of which were on their edges. However, the house’s location, on the edge of a built-up area and accessible to services and facilities in Hellesdon and Norwich, meant that it was a relatively sustainable site for new housing.

COMPROMISE IS THE KEY “It looks on the pictures like it is in open countryside, but it was more like a private garden,” says Richard Smith, senior planning consultant at NPS. The council was keen for the development to meet the super air-tight Passivhaus building standard, which results in energy use of only 15 kilowatt hours per square metre, compared with 200kWh for conventional homes.

BGL initially suggested the site could accommodate up to 30 houses, which would involve significant tree clearance.

But the fact that the local authority had a stake in the project didn’t mean that it received an easy ride from planners.

After Broadland’s arboricultural officer raised concerns about the scale of the proposed tree clearance, NPS went back to the drawing board to reassess the site’s development potential.

It identified the key site constraints and used an independent tree consultant to identify the quality and value of the site’s trees. It also found that, as well as being more suited to its woodland setting, I M AG E S | J E F F E R S ON S M I T H / H A M S ON B A R RON S M I T H

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W H AT T H E J U D G E S S A I D

The joint venture came up with a plan for 14 Passivhaus homes – six earmarked as affordable

a smaller-scale development of family housing had the potential to be more profitable than the higher-density scheme initially proposed.

The joint venture came up with a plan for 14 Passivhaus homes, six of which were earmarked as affordable housing units, in a community woodland setting.

The inclusion of the six affordable housing units, which equated to 43 per

THE DEVELOPMENT IS ON TARGET TO RECOUP MORE THAN £1 MILLION FOR THE PUBLIC PURSE FROM LAND VALUE, FEES, EQUITY AND PROFIT cent of the development, exceeded by 13 per cent the policy requirements set out in the Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk Joint Core Strategy.

These homes were to be provided as shared equity, sold at 75 per cent of their value on the open market with the council retaining the balance.

Offering them on an equity rather than rented basis overcame the financial viability challenges of the scheme stemming from its small scale and the additional costs involved in building to Passivhaus standards.

“We were impressed with the innovative and proactive approach taken and the excellent use of publicly owned land,” observed Nick Raynsford, chair of the awards judging panel.

“With over 40 per cent of affordable housing on the site, it is a great example of how innovation, quality and affordable housing could be delivered hand in hand.”

Architect Hamson Barron Smith ensured that the design was tenure blind, meaning that it is not possible to distinguish the homes that have been sold off below the market price.

Some trees had to be removed to reduce overshadowing of the houses, which would have made meeting the Passivhaus requirements more difficult.

At the same time, by increasing the developable area, the removal of the trees helped the scheme to stack up financially.

Working with Broadland’s arboricultural officer, NPS negotiated the removal of trees on the edges of the site, thus increasing by a third the developable area from 0.3 to 0.44 hectares. Broadland Council also compromised on its open space cost requirements, taking into account BGL’s commitment to exceeding the affordable housing requirement and providing an energy-efficient development. BGL provided a smaller contribution towards formal open space off site.

SUCCESSFUL ENGAGEMENT When the application was submitted, NPS made the case for the housing on the grounds that an acknowledged shortfall in a five-year housing land supply exists in the Norwich Policy Area.

The joint venture also carried out extensive pre-application engagement with the neighbouring community, which had expressed disquiet about development

beyond the established settlement.

The design of the scheme helped to damp neighbours’ objections, blending a contemporary approach with traditional elements in terms of scale, massing and materials, such as white render, blackstained timber cladding and slate or plain red roof tiles.

“This gave the scheme its own distinctive character while still respecting traditional Norfolk architecture,” says the awards submission.

The extensive pre-application engagement with the local community meant that once the application was submitted, only two representations were received from neighbouring properties and one comment from a ward councillor.

“It’s a successful example of how a collaborative approach can deliver innovative housing in an attractive [community] woodland setting which brings about social, economic and environmental benefits for occupiers and the local community,” says Matthew Rooke, Broadland’s area planning manager.

Richard Smith of NPS says Carrowbreck stands out as a good example of how a public/private vehicle, which the government is keen to encourage to spur housebuilding, can deliver social and environmental benefits while also helping the council’s bottom line.

The development is on target to recoup more than £1 million for the public purse from land value, fees, equity and profit.

“The award is testimony to the excellent teamwork and vision of our planning team working alongside HBS to deliver an innovative mixed-tenure housing scheme on publicly owned land that delivers excellence in housing,” says Smith.

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SUSTAINABLE SCORING TWO TECHNOLOGICAL INITIATIVES ARE OFFERING ANSWERS TO HOW THE THORNY ISSUE OF SUSTAINABILITY CAN BE BALANCED AND ASSESSED. HUW MORRIS REPORTS

First it requires weighing up all the relevant factors. Conflicting issues must be considered carefully. Then a final judgement is made.

Put simply, it’s the planning balance. But if only life were that simple.

Environmental objectives can be particularly complex to resolve. Two recent initiatives – one from the private sector, the other from a local authority – offer their own technological solutions.

Both have developed scoring systems for judging sustainability. The first, by Iceni Projects, helps to assess an individual project. The second, by Leeds City Council, has put the authority’s plans under the sustainability microscope.

Iceni’s project for the Sustainable Development Commission is a free online scorecard. It judges a proposal by how well it meets the definition of sustainable development under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Aimed at planners, developers as well as community groups, the resource scores schemes under the three pillars of sustainability – social, environmental and economic – and how they balance these pillars against each other.

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When the ink fades Iceni’s sustainable development director Dan Jestico says the scorecard, devised by a panel of industry professional chaired by former planning minister Nick Raynsford, allows users to see to what extent a scheme has a “golden thread” of sustainability running through it.

“Although the NPPF has a presumption in favour of sustainable development at its heart, assessing the degree to which a project complies with this is highly subjective,” he says. “If a proposal clearly demonstrates wider benefits to the area outside the redline boundary of the site, through an enhanced public realm or diverse employment opportunities, should

we be so concerned about whether the project is BREEAM-certified? A truly sustainable community is one that people enjoy long after the ink on the BREEAM certificate has faded.”

Jestico says a narrow view of sustainability is in danger of driving the development sector when attention should be focused on broader aspects. For example, what will a particular environment look like in 10 years’ time or how will a project enhance people’s health and well-being?

“These issues are rarely addressed by sustainability policies, yet they are vital in ensuring a community is sustainable following the practical completion of a project,” he adds.

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LANDSCAPE P32 TECH P34 REGIONAL P38 DECISIONS P50 PLAN B P51 ACTIVITY

Leeds challenger Meanwhile, Leeds City Council has as grappled with a challenge familiar to local authority planners elsewhere. All new planss have go through a sustainability appraisal under UK and European law. Proposals are duly tested against sustainability objectives. tives. But inevitably their impact can be wide-ranging. de-ranging.

Sometimes they are even contradictory. dictory.

The council’s planners became increasingly aware of the shortcomings mings two years ago. Different weights were given to the same decision-making criteria a under different sustainability objectives scored at different times. Any conclusions ns of the impact on individual objectives often ften involved a myriad of factors. Not all of them were fully recorded. In short, t, it was sometimes a muddle.

Last year, Leeds adopted a new scoring process for sustainability appraisal. al. Under the new system, planners used an n Excel spreadsheet to create sub-criteria for each sustainability objective that could be individually scored. The scores could uld then be combined to generate overall scores cores for each of the sustainability objectives. ctives.

The prototype was transformed into nto an operational database. This runs on n Access, part of the Microsoft Office package. age “The main reason for introducing the new approach was to be more systematic,” says Leeds’s planning strategy team leader Robin Coghlan.

“Our previous approach would normally have brought together a small group of planners to score each of the plan proposals against the sustainability objectives. The scoring was based on an open discussion of the effects recorded in writing. This could be long-winded and had the potential of reaching different conclusions when particular effects were considered under different sustainability objectives.

“By deconstructing the sustainability objectives into smaller bite-size criteria means that complex effects can be simplified, understood and properly recorded.

The Access database software means that The users are taken step by step through the process, so no effects can be missed and the overall effects can be clearly understood.”

So what does the scoring system do? The new approach dissects 23 sustainability appraisal objectives into 78 decision-making criteria.

Once a plan proposal has been scored against all decision-making criteria, the appraisal team can see the scores of the range of factors that have a bearing on a decision. For example, assessing how to “reduce disparities in levels of economic and social deprivation” is made easier by seeing the relevant scores. The final stage of the process sets all relevant criteria against sustainability objectives.

Taken together, the system generates overall scores for the sustainability appraisal

“ALTHOUGH THE NPPF HAS A PRESUMPTION IN FAVOUR OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AT ITS HEART, ASSESSING THE DEGREE TO WHICH A PROJECT COMPLIES WITH THIS IS HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE”

objectives The objectives.

The appraising team can see easily the decision-making criteria scores and then make informed judgements.

The first benefits from the system came when Leeds carried out a sustainability appraisal of the Core Strategy Selective Review, which is currently under preparation.

“The new approach has helped officers to better understand and record effects of proposed policies in a more systematic way,” says Coghlan.

“It provides security that there is an electronic track record of how scoring decisions were made. Another advantage is that the baseline evidence can be structured to reflect the 78 decision-making criteria.”

Coghlan points out that as the software runs on a common platform, it could be used by any organisation using Microsoft Access. Leeds has not yet considered how it could be made available more widely. n Iceni’s online resource is available at bit.ly/planner0218-score

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Nations & Regions focus { IRELAND

State of recovery Ireland (also known as the Republic of Ireland) covers five-sixths of the island of Ireland. Temperate and wet, its interior plains are surrounded by hills and mountains, with rugged sea cliffs on the west coast.

Two-thirds of land is agricultural, and half the 4.75 million population lives in and around four cities: Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick. Dublin has a population of 1.1m, and a functional urban area of 1.8m people. Cork – population 208,000 – is the next largest city. Ireland’s population is, however, forecast to grow by a million people by 2040.

Until the early 1980s, the economy was based on agriculture. High-tech firms such as Google and Facebook have accelerated a transition to a knowledge-based economy, attracted by the corporate-friendly tax climate and educated population.

The banking crash of 2008 had a devastating effect, since when the

government has focused on recovery and commuting trends towards compact growth. The National Asset Management urban development and advocates rural Agency aims to recoup expenditure regeneration and regional growth. incurred by the Irish banking system on Planning and infrastructure are key acquiring loans, on advancing working to delivering the plan’s aims – not least capital and on its own costs. It plays an through: opening up land supply and important role in recycling distressed low-cost state lands; a local infrastructure land and property assets. housing activation fund; Nevertheless, as in the UK, financing of large-scale, ‘on"BREXIT Ireland has a housing crisis. site’ infrastructure; and new PROVIDES AN The government is tackling design standards for flats.

INTRIGUING this through its ‘Rebuilding A pending National BACKDROP" Ireland: Action Plan for Planning Framework (NPF) Housing and Homelessness’. aims to align spatial planning It has five ‘pillars’: address (the National Development homelessness, accelerate Plan) with investment social housing, build more homes, decisions (the National Investment Plan) to improve the rental sector, and to enable delivery of the housing plan. reinstate existing housing.

Brexit provides an intriguing backdrop.

The plan recognises the need to The Irish government is interested in the create 660,000 more jobs to achieve opportunities that may arise when Ireland full employment and to build 550,000 becomes the largest English-speaking more homes by 2040. It envisages country in the EU – presenting it with a move away from unsustainable more inward investment opportunities.

MAJOR PROJECTS 1. Dublin Docklands The Docklands regeneration will overall see 366,000 square metres of office space and 2,600 homes across 22 hectares of land under the Docklands Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) planning scheme. Grand Canal dock has already converted 250,000 sq m of derelict land into offices, apartments, shops, restaurants and a theatre; the docks are now home to the European HQs of Google, Facebook and LinkedIn. n bit.ly/p 18-dublindocks

2. Grangegorman, Dublin The Grangegorman urban regeneration will create a new city quarter on 29 hectares of

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underused land in Dublin’s inner city.

Focusing on a single campus for the Dublin Institute of Technology, it will also provide a primary school and health, community, recreational and arts facilities, as well as commercial development. n bit.ly/planner0218-ggda

1.

3. Cork City Centre A series of developments to boost employment and tourism are transforming Cork. These include 15,000 square metres of office space at One Albert Quay and the Capitol, a €50 million retail and office development. Work is also under way on a 6,000 capacity event centre on the site of the former Beamish and Crawford Brewery.

2.

3.

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Ireland Insight: Aidan Culhane is director of housing at Urbeo Residential, a former adviser to the minister for housing and planning and vice-chair of RTPI Ireland People need places to live and it is increasingly difficult to find these, especially in the cities. There’s both a supply issue and an affordability issue.

There’s been a sharp uptick in housing construction, but that’s coming off a very low base.

In 2006 we were building around 93,000 homes a year. But the development industry was pretty much annihilated by the housing boom [and subsequent crash in 2007/8] and that went down to 5-6,000. We need to produce 20-30,000 units a year and we’re running at less than half that.

The viability of some development is still marginal, and central bank lending rules are very tight – though I would be loathe to see them relaxed.

There’s no doubt it is difficult for firsttime borrowers to raise the deposit to buy a starter home.

In the rental market, the build-to-rent sector is only in the very early stages.

Our rental sector is better regulated and in a better place than the United

Kingdom, but there’s still a shortage, and rents in Dublin in particular are very high.

Ireland is very reliant on foreign direct investment, and housing cost is a factor in attracting that, and the skilled mobile workforce that we need. When housing costs are too high it also puts upward pressure on wages.

This is becoming an urgent infrastructure issue and a risk to the economy. I think housing needs to be seen as part of the infrastructure of an economy.

Dublin, like London and the English south-east, is the engine and the driver of the economy.

The challenge for planning is to deflect some development towards the other cities – Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford. But there’s more art than science to that.

And we run the risk of discouraging economic activity.

But there’s huge potential there. The National Planning Framework is a hugely important opportunity to get this right, and to put a spatial dimension into all aspects of policymaking.

The fact that it is statutory is really important. But far more important is that it is taken seriously and integrated into policy right across government.

It’s easy to write a great plan, but getting it embedded into the policymaking apparatus is the most important thing.

Valuable skills A lift on the freeze in public sector recruitment has led to new employment opportunities for planners in Ireland. A key issue is delivering development, especially housing. Experience of housing, viability and finance, delivering complex projects, the development management system and design will all be important in coming years.

Knowledge of infrastructure development and its links with development will also be useful.

Regeneration and design skills will also be in demand, in light of large-scale regeneration projects, especially in Dublin, and a growing interest in town centre renewal.

Planners with expertise in environmental impact assessments are also in demand, and ongoing renewable energy projects indicate opportunities for those with experience of wind and solar energy consenting.

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Ireland Grangegorman Urban Quarter

RECENT SUCCESSES Grangegorman Regeneration, Dublin The transformation of the Dublin Institute of Technology’s campus by Grangegorman Development Agency was awarded the President’s Special Award by the RTPI in 2015. The project is transforming a former psychiatric hospital into a new campus that provides an exemplar of masterplanning and stands out for its seamless integration with the town and public life. n bit.ly/planner0218-grange

Wild Atlantic Way The award-winning Wild Atlantic Way (WAW) was launched in 2014 as a tourism brand for the west of Ireland.

It coordinates existing touring routes along 2,500km of Atlantic coastline from Donegal to West Cork. Core to the initiative is coherent planning and management to reduce stresses on sensitive environments. n bit.ly/planner0218-wild

Wild Atlantic Way

Limerick regeneration The Limerick Regeneration Framework Implementation Plan envisages the largest regeneration programme in the state. Encompassing a range of housing, social, educational and transport projects, it includes €253m investment on physical, €30m on social and €10m on economic programmes. The plan will also see the development of the National Social Innovation Hub to facilitate the development of social entrepreneurship and local enterprise development. n bit.ly/planner0218-limerick

Signposts RTPI Ireland has a membership of more than 300 and is overseen by an executive committee chaired by Marion Chalmers. The committee promotes planning as a profession and builds links with other built environment professions. Activities include affordable seminars in support of CPD, an e-newsletter, networking events and submitting views to government.

Limerick regeneration

n RTPI Ireland web pages: www.rtpi.org.uk/the-rtpi-near-you/rtpi-ireland/ n Education: Ireland has three RTPI-accredited planning schools, with Dublin Institute of Technology recently added to University College Cork and University College Dublin. n Events: www.rtpi.org.uk/the-rtpi-near-you/rtpi-ireland/events/ n Email contact@RTPIIreland.org n Twitter @RTPIIreland

Next month:

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DECISIONS IN FOCUS

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

Monastery will not make way for housing ( SUMMARY An inspector has turned down plans to demolish a disused 1970s monastery in the Cotswolds AONB and replace it with 10 homes, as the scheme would harm the setting of the monastic community’s new home – a listed 14th century abbey. ( CASE DETAILS The appeal site sits within Prinknash Park, a bird and deer park overlooking the Vale of Gloucester that forms the setting of St Peter’s Grange, a grade I listed building dating to the 14th century. The park is owned by a Benedictine monastic community, which took up residence there in 1928.

As its membership grew in the 1930s, the community made plans to move into a new building on the other side of the park. Construction began in 1939, but the outbreak of the Second World War led to delays, and the monks were unable to move in until 1972.

At the end of the 20th century, however, the community began to

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dwindle in size, and the new building, a large concreteframed structure that rises in part to seven storeys, became too large. In 2008, the community, just 12 monks, moved back into St Peter’s Grange, and the purpose-built monastery was left empty. In 2015, an application to replace it with 10 homes was refused

by Stroud District Council, leading to the appeal.

Considering the scheme’s impact on St Peter’s Grange, inspector H Porter noted that its significance is drawn from its historic relationship between it and the park – St Peter’s was once a hunting lodge. This “potent symbiotic relationship”, he said, remained tangible, so the land forming the park should be considered part of its setting.

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Porter considered that the appeal building’s structural design and layout would preclude it from being reused or viably converted, so ruled that it “now features as a conspicuous anomaly on the landscape”, no longer serving a useful purpose.

Although demolishing the building would represent some enhancement to the wider Cotswolds area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB), he said, the introduction of residential built development to replace it would be “incongruous”, failing to preserve the quality of the countryside. ( CONCLUSION Porter dismissed the appeal, ruling that though there was much to commend in the design quality of the proposed houses, the

Monks have returned to St Peter’s Grange in Prinknash Park, but a disused 1970s monastery in the AONB cannot be demolished to build 10 homes

benefits of their provision could not outweigh the harm to the landscape and heritage asset.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeal Ref:APP/C1625/W/17/3177291

HOUSING

Inspector backs affordable housing subsidy ( SUMMARY Plans to extend and then divide a detached home in Elmbridge to create two semidetached homes must include a contribution of £37,000 towards affordable housing, said an inspector, because of the area’s “acute need”. ( CASE DETAILS The appeal relates to a detached two-storey house with a single-storey extension in Walton-onThames, Surrey. The proposal sought permission to increase the extension to two storeys, and then divide the house into two semidetached units.

Inspector Rory Macleod ruled that while the two subdivided homes would meet minimum space standards, they would appear cramped when compared I M AG E S | A L A M Y

22/01/2018 10:23

An inspector has recognised an essential need for a worker to live on her Cambridgeshire alpaca farm

with the street’s other houses, which are all set in spacious plots.

The Elmbridge Core Strategy says “development resulting in the net gain of one to four residential units” must make a 20 per cent financial contribution to affordable housing, calculated at £37,000.

But according to the written ministerial statement of 2014, which was added to paragraph 31 of the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) after being upheld by the Court of Appeal, affordable housing contributions should not be sought on sites of 10 units or fewer. Macleod noted that because of the conflict between local and national policy he had to decide which should be afforded more weight.

The council gave evidence showing that Elmbridge has one of the highest average house price levels in the UK, saying it relies on small site contributions to meet its “acute need” for affordable housing. The appellant countered that the required contribution made the entire project unviable.

Mcleod considered the council’s past approach to affordable housing contributions, which involved using viability assessments and making contribution adjustments where necessary. Finding that this approach had not hindered housing delivery, and in light of the acute need, he said the PPG could not outweigh the council’s core strategy in this case. ( CONCLUSION Dismissing the appeal, Mcleod ruled that although the appellant had not submitted a unilateral undertaking to secure the required affordable housing

concluded that the scheme would accord with local and national policy.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeal Ref: APP/V0510/W/17/3182345

contribution, he had already decided to refuse the proposal because of its character and appearance.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeal Ref: APP/K3605/W/17/3180558

HOUSING

Alpaca breeding justifies rural caravan home ( SUMMARY Plans for a rural worker’s caravan to support a smallholding in Cambridgeshire have been approved despite its marginal viability, as the inspector agreed it would be conducive to animal welfare. ( CASE DETAILS The appeal relates to a business near Haddenham, east Cambridgeshire, accommodating a small number of alpacas, pigs, turkeys, ducks and chickens.

The appellant sought permission to install a permanent caravan.

According to paragraph 55 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), isolated homes in the countryside are to be avoided except under special circumstances. One such exception is if an “essential need” for a worker to live on the site can be proved. East Cambridgeshire’s local plan (LP) also requires that the business must be financially viable – there must be

no suitable alternative accommodation available and the size of the home must be proportionate to the business’s need.

The appellant said she currently drives half-an-hour to the site from her home to feed the animals each day. Because alpacas are “not confined to a specific breeding season” and can give birth at any time, on-site accommodation is necessary to safeguard their welfare, she said.

Inspector Roy Merrett agreed, noting that although the risk of harm to animals under the current circumstances was low, to lose any of the animals would be disproportionately harmful to an “embryonic business”. Taking into account a letter of support from the chief inspector of the RSPCA, he was satisfied that an essential need exists.

Noting that the appellant’s “somewhat confused” business proposal forecast only marginal profits, Merrett said the business’s financial soundness “has yet to be demonstrated”. But he observed the site’s use of solar power and rainwater recycling as part of the appellant’s commitment to lower her carbon footprint.

He considered this “lifestyle choice” evidence that she was likely to be content with a restricted personal income. ( CONCLUSION Allowing the appeal, Merrett said he found nothing to suggest the business would not become viable, and

HOUSING

Javid allows 2,000+ homes despite flood risk ( SUMMARY The communities secretary has approved 2,025 homes on former green belt land in Gloucester that was badly flooded in 2007, ruling that environmental concerns were “not insurmountable” and could be mitigated through planning conditions. ( CASE DETAILS Developer Robert Hitchins submitted two parallel applications in July 2015, proposing 1,300 homes in Innsworth, a suburb of Gloucester, and another 725 homes in Twigworth, a village a mile north, as well as various ancillary development including schools, community centres and offices. After Tewkesbury Borough Council failed to reach a decision in time, both plans were assessed at a joint inquiry before communities secretary Sajid Javid decided to adjudicate.

The plans form part of the emerging Gloucestershire Joint Core Strategy (JCS), which is nearing completion after it was approved by each of the three local authorities involved. The aim is to build almost 32,000 homes by 2031.

Local people opposed to the plans raised concerns over flood risk, saying the site, which was badly flooded

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DECISIONS IN FOCUS

in 2007, is unsuitable for large-scale development. Part of the site is in flood zone 3 (considered to have greater than a one-in-100 annual chance of flooding) because it is near Hatherley Brook.

At the inquiry inspector Martin Whitehead considered that following the appellant’s cooperation with the Environmental Agency (EA), he was satisfied that the site would not be at risk of flooding, subject to mitigation measures including a condition stating that homes can be built only on parts of the site designated as flood zone 1 – where the risk is lowest. Javid agreed, stating in his decision that concerns over flooding were “not insurmountable”.

The site was also part of the green belt, and Whitehead noted that on this basis the scheme would be inappropriate development.

But the forthcoming JCS includes alterations to the area’s green belt boundaries, releasing low-quality green belt land for housing. ( CONCLUSION Whitehead recommended that the appellant’s work to mitigate flood risk should amount to “very special circumstances”, but in light of the emerging JCS, Javid did not consider the green

belt a factor. Concluding that, on balance, the benefits of housing and infrastructure carried most weight, he allowed the appeal.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeal Ref: APP/G1630/W/16/3164033

HOUSING

Council incurs costs with ‘Injudicious’ call ( SUMMARY An inspector has awarded costs against Fenland Council for its “injudicious” decision to refuse 32 homes for “no tangible reason” – and against the advice of its officers, having failed to undertake a balancing exercise. ( CASE DETAILS The appeal relates to scrubland within an “established residential area” in Manea, Cambridgeshire, identified as a “growth village” in the Fenland Local Plan (LP), where development will be “generally acceptable”.

In refusing the appellant’s proposal to build 32 homes on the site, the council cited conflict with policy LP12 of the local plan. It states that

An inspector awarded costs against Fenland Council for refusing 32 homes in Manea for “no tangible reason”

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if, in combination with other schemes built or approved since April 2011, a proposal would increase the number of homes in a village by 15 per cent, the appellant must be able to demonstrate “clear local community support”. If the extent of community support cannot be determined, it continues, the local town parish council must support it.

In a survey of 1,000 households about the scheme, only 19 responded, and the parish town council did not object. But the council still refused permission solely because of conflict with policy LP12. In assessing another application in December 2016, it said “failure to comply with policy LP12 should not in itself form a reason to refuse an application”.

Inspector D M Young noted that even if there has been a policy conflict, the council committee is still required to weigh this conflict in a balancing exercise.

He said there was no evidence of a balancing exercise, and had one been undertaken, “it would have been immediately apparent that the benefits of the scheme would clearly outweigh any policy conflict”.

Young cited serious misgivings with the council’s “very literal and rigid” interpretation of policy. “If there is no actual manifestation of harm,” he stated, “there would be no sensible purpose served by rejecting a development.” ( CONCLUSION Describing the council’s stance as “deeply troubling”, and with regard to evidence that it had determined other cases in a similarly

inconsistent manner, he overturned its “injudicious” decision to refuse permission, and ordered a full award of costs.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeal Ref: APP/D0515/W/17/3182366

HOUSING

Listed police station to become faith school ( SUMMARY Communities secretary Sajid Javid has green-lit plans to convert a listed former police station in Hackney into a Muslim primary faith school, saying the scheme’s public benefits would outweigh the loss of some historic fabric. ( CASE DETAILS Hackney Central Police Station is a grade II listed building within the Clapton Square Conservation Area, East London. It dates from 1904, and was used by the Metropolitan Police until 2013. The government’s Education Funding Agency bought it in 2014 for more than £7 million. The building has been vacant since it changed hands, and squatters settled inside in 2014.

The proposal sought permission to convert and extend the building as new premises for The Olive School, a Muslim faith academy that currently operates from temporary premises in Stoke Newington.

The scheme would involve demolishing some late-20th century alterations to the building, as well as parts of its original fabric, to facilitate a new three-storey classroom block to the rear.

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A KFC restaurant and takeaway has been allowed in South London despite a local policy restricting takeaways within 400 metres of schools

outreach programme to local schools, in accordance with the NPPF’s aim to promote healthy communities.

Javid agreed with inspector David Prentis’s finding that although there would be some limited loss of building features, the scheme would bring positive effects, including securing a suitable use for a vacant listed building, and guaranteeing the refurbishment of some its external fabric.

Noting that “the creation of state-funded schools is strongly in the national interest”, Javid said the scheme would give the school a permanent home, improve educational choice in the area, and advance equality of opportunity. ( CONCLUSION Javid said the harm to the listed building would be “less than substantial” and he considered that the environmental benefit of securing a new use for the building, combined with the social benefit of providing new school facilities, significantly outweighed the harm identified. He allowed the appeal.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeal Refs: APP/U5360/W/16/3164952 APP/U5360/Y/16/3164946

HOUSING

Air-dome allows winter tennis ( SUMMARY An inspector has approved a tennis club’s plan for a 30fttall inflatable ‘air-dome’’ in the green belt, ruling that the unmet call for all-weather

tennis facilities identified in the neighbourhood plan amounted to very special circumstances. ( CASE DETAILS The appeal was lodged by Bishop’s Stortford Tennis Club, which sits within the Metropolitan Green Belt in East Hertfordshire. The club sought permission to install an inflatable ‘air-dome’ over three of its courts in the autumn and winter so tennis could be played during inclement weather.

Inspector Graham Chamberlain considered the scheme to be development associated with indoor sport, which is not exempt from green belt development restrictions in either the East Herts Local Plan or the NPPF. Chamberlain found that although the dome would have a “notably greater volume and physical presence” compared with the existing tennis courts, it would not introduce development where there is none. He noted that the site is screened by trees, which block views from the road effectively even in winter.

The air-dome would also have a translucent finish, which would “soften its impact on longer-distance views”. Importantly, it would only be inflated for half the year, which “diminishes its overall impact”.

The appellant referred to the local neighbourhood plan (NP), which outlines an “identified and unmet need for all-weather tennis courts”.

This would allow the club to engage in a year-round

( CONCLUSION Chamberlain ruled that the benefits of the scheme, along with the unmet need identified in the NP, amounted to very special circumstances capable of outweighing the harm to the green belt. The appeal was allowed, subject to a condition that the dome must be removed during the summer.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeal Ref: APP/J1915/W/17/3183216

HOUSING

Buffer zones should not be ‘as the crow flies’ ( SUMMARY An inspector has approved plans for a KFC restaurant and takeaway in South London despite local policy restricting takeaways within 400 metres of schools, after ruling that walking distances should be used instead of linear measurements. ( CASE DETAILS The appeal relates to two ground-floor units in West Norwood within a primary shopping area (PSA) designated by Lambeth Borough Council. The units, currently vacant, have residential accommodation on the floor above. The appellant sought permission to convert the units into a KFC restaurant and takeaway, employing 20 full-time and 15 part-time staff.

Lambeth’s local plan says hot food takeaways will not

be allowed within 400m of a primary or secondary school, to combat childhood obesity by reducing pupils’ access to unhealthy food. The council refused the scheme because there is a secondary school less than 400m from the site as the crow flies. The appellant argued that the actual walking distance for pupils, following the most direct route, is 485m.

Inspector Mike Worden said it would be more practical and appropriate to use typical walking routes when enforcing such policies because direct linear measurements “could cut across roads, gardens, railway lines, etc”. Thus, he found that the scheme would not conflict with the local plan.

Citing the appeal site’s position on a busy road and the lack of parking proposed, the council said the appellant had not provided enough information about waste management, delivery and servicing arrangements.

However, the council’s officers had advised that this issue could be dealt with by a condition. ( CONCLUSION Worden agreed, granting permission subject to conditions requiring more detail on refuse storage and collection. The appellant also sought costs against the council for ignoring its officers’ advice. Worden said although the committee was not obliged to follow officers’ advice, the appellant had incurred unnecessary costs in defending a reason for refusal that could have been dealt with by a condition.

V I E W O N LI N E FO R F R E E Appeal Ref: APP/N5660/W/17/3178462

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INSIGHT

LLegal landscape PLANNING NEEDS A SPRING CLEAN – AND IT’S HAPPENING IN WALES Planning legislation needs a complete overhaul, says Charles Mynors. Legislation needs to be consolidated, reviewed and simplified to bring it into line with current practice. And it’s happening – at least in Wales Once upon a time, about 70 years ago, there was just one piece of legislation dealing with planning in England and Wales – the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947, which contained 120 sections and 11 schedules.

Since then, as a result of a succession of bright ideas by numerous governments of differing persuasions, that has grown enormously.

When the legislation was last consolidated, in 1990, it resulted in four acts, with 479 sections and 26 schedules.

They now contain 595 sections and 35 schedules. As well as the 1990 acts, there are also the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the Planning Act 2008, and numerous other acts amending one or other of those.

Whereas there used to be a new planning act every 10 years or so, in recent years there has been one passed more or less annually. Some apply in both England and Wales, but most only in England. In addition, the

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Charles Mynors Welsh Assembly has passed the Planning (Wales) Act 2015 and the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2016.

It would be possible simply to tidy this up, and put it all in one place – by the process known as ‘consolidation’.

That was what happened in 1962, 1971 and, most recently in 1990.

But that would still leave in place much redundant and confusing content, and much that does not reflect current practice.

So, for example, the duty to have regard to the development plan and to all other material considerations appears in various places, but does not apply to all planning functions. The law on demolition is needlessly confusing. The need for permission for changes to the

number of residential units is unclear.

The days when it was possible to submit an outline planning application accompanied by an OS plan with a red line have long gone, and most permissions are now accompanied by reams of conditions requiring approval of details. So do we still need two kinds of permission?

The tests for the validity of conditions are still only to be found in case law; those for planning obligations are in regulations. Both should be in the Planning Act. So, too, should the legislation governing CIL. The procedures for obtaining approval for the amendment of a planning application are needlessly complex; and there are various detailed changes that could be introduced to improve the

“IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE SIMPLY TO TIDY THIS UP, AND PUT IT ALL IN ONE PLACE – BY THE PROCESS KNOWN AS ‘CONSOLIDATION’. BUT THAT WOULD STILL LEAVE IN PLACE MUCH REDUNDANT AND CONFUSING CONTENT.”

effectiveness of enforcement procedures.

Works affecting listed buildings may require listed building consent, or planning permission, or both. A simple alteration to the definition of ‘development’ – to include all alterations to a listed building that affect its character – would mean that there would be no need for listed building consent at all.

A statutory definition of ‘curtilage’ could be included.

It should be possible to remove any unauthorised advertisement hoarding, and not just the posters stuck to it. The advertisements regulations could be changed to allow some control over unauthorised posters on farm trailers, and the trees regulations to allow control over dangerous trees and those on boundaries.

No enterprise zones, simplified planning zones, urban development corporations, archaeological areas, or rural development boards have been created for many years; the law on these could simply be dropped. Nor is there now any need for a special High Court challenge procedure, in addition to judicial review.

In Wales, at least, all this is to be sorted out. The Law Commission has issued a consultation paper setting out more than 180 possible changes. From 2020, there will just be two simpler acts covering the whole lot.

Meanwhile, in England there will still be more than 30.

For details of the Law Commission’s consultation paper Planning Law in Wales, see bit.ly/planner0218-wales.

The closing date for responses is 1st March.

Charles Mynors FRTPI FRICS IHBC was for many years a barrister at Francis Taylor Building

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LATEST POSTS FROM THEPLANNER.CO.UK/BLOGS

B LO G S A judgment in the challenge to a ministerial statement about neighbourhood planning illustrates just how confused – and confusing – the planning system is becoming, says Simon Ricketts

LEG I S L AT I O N S H O R T S Dear Mr Raab, this case illustrates much of what is wrong with planning Simon Ricketts I hope that Mr Raab reads Dove J’s judgment in Richborough Estates Limited (and 24 other co-claimants) v Secretary of State (12 January 2018). This is the challenge to the written ministerial statement (WMS) made on 12 December 2016 (without prior consultation) by Gavin Barwell.

The case illustrates the unnecessary policy complexities arising from unclear statements, ad hoc glosses to previous policies and the unclear inter-relationship between the NPPF, PPG and written ministerial statements.

It also evidences the tension between the government’s desire to increase housing land supply by ensuring that failure by authorities to provide adequately has real consequences, and its desperation to retain public confidence in neighbourhood planning.

Paragraph 49 of the NPPF asserts that relevant policies for the supply of housing should not be considered up to date if the local planning authority cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable housing sites.

Yet the WMS provided that relevant policies for the supply of housing in a neighbourhood plan should not be deemed ‘out of date’ where: the WMS is less than two years old or the neighbourhood plan has been part of the development plan for two years or less; the neighbourhood plan allocates sites for housing; and the local planning authority can demonstrate a three-year supply of deliverable housing sites.

Effectively, the five-year housing land supply target was being significantly watered down to a three-year target.

Richborough and the other claimants argued: • the WMS was inconsistent with paragraphs 14 and 49 of the NPPF; • the government had made errors of fact; • the WMS was invalid for uncertainty; • irrationality in the face of the stated intention of the NPPF to “boost significantly the supply of housing“; • breach of legitimate expectation that there would be public consultation before planning policy for housing was changed by the WMS. Dove J found for the government on all grounds. It has wide discretion and the policy was capable of “sensible interpretation”.

There is disappointment for those of us who saw Gavin Barwell’s WMS as an inappropriate attempt to rewrite a key protection that is within the NPPF against authorities that fail properly to plan for housing.

The planning system has become as tangled again as it was at the time of the great bonfire of the previous planning policy statements and circulars in 2012. In the meantime the government apparently has carte blanche to change its policies without prior consultation.

There is a heavy burden on the shoulders of those drafting the new NPPF, that’s for sure! And a massive and important job to do for our new housing minister.

Simon Ricketts is a solicitor and co-founder of Town Legal LLP. He specialises in planning, compulsory purchase and local government law. Read the full version of this article: bit.ly/planning0218-raab

Lancashire activists lose fracking appeal The Court of Appeal has rejected two challenges from groups campaigning against fracking at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site in Little Plumpton, Lancashire.

Preston New Road Action Group and campaigner Gayzer Frackman brought the two challenges forward.

In June 2015, Lancashire County Council refused Cuadrilla’s application, which the firm appealed.

Under his responsibility as communities secretary, Sajid Javid backed an inspector’s decision to approve the exploration application in October 2016.

The challengers claimed that Javid had misinterpreted planning and environmental guidance when he approved the application.

The Court of Appeal said its role was to decide whether the secretary of state “had committed an error of law” not whether his decision was “right”.

Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla, noted that the same challenges were previously dismissed by the High Court in April 2017.

“We have always remained confident that the planning consent would stand, particularly after such a lengthy and thorough review of the application and positive recommendations for approval by both the professional planning officers at Lancashire County Council and subsequently an experienced planning inspector.”

Cuadrilla, which is headquartered in Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, currently has currently has eight sites in the county.

Challenge to Newton Mearns homes fails The Court of Session has rejected a legal challenge to prevent more than 800 homes being built at Newton Mearns, despite flooding claims.

The joint CALA Homes and Taylor Wimpey project at Maidenhill Farm, East Renfrewshire, is set to deliver a new neighbourhood of 834 new homes in total, as well as a new primary school and a number of community facilities.

Colette Patton from the Newton Mearns Residents Flood Prevention Group took East Renfrewshire Council to the Court of Session for a judicial review of the authority’s approval.

She expressed concern that an existing flooding problem would be exacerbated by the new homes and said the report to the council’s planning committee was inaccurate.

In a written judgment, Lord Glennie ruled that East Renfrewshire Council had acted in accordance with the law.

“I am satisfied that the committee had before it all relevant material. The report adequately summarised that material.

“I do not find it established that the committee was misled, either because the report omitted relevant material or because it was misleading in any way,” he wrote.

“Nor was its decision irrational. It seems to me that the case for the petitioner amounts, in substance, to a disagreement with the decision taken by the committee in granting the planning application. It is well established that the court cannot interfere on that basis.”

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NEWS

RTPI {

RTPI news pages are edited

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

Pipeline of future planners: actions and ideas to inspire the next generation ANDREW CLOSE MRTPI, HEAD OF CAREERS, EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT A New Year’s resolution for your CPD? Keen to see the planning profession thrive? Helping to address the pipeline of new planners by volunteering your time, ideas or communication skills could be a way to hit both targets as part of your own professional development plan. Why not join the RTPI Future Planners initiative?

A series of new and exciting outreach projects are in development, alongside our core education responsibilities of accreditation, skills and training. Future Planners aims to raise the awareness and interest in planning among primary and secondary school pupils and university students. We’re also committed to opening access to the profession with new work-based study routes into education and membership.

Say hello to Agent Plan-it Many children just accept what they see around them without knowing

the history off the th environment i t or appreciating what goes behind the development of an area. So we have commissioned a show called ‘Agent Plan-it’ aimed at those aged eight to 13. The episodes have been broadcast on Fun Kids Radio in the UK & Ireland.

More than 600,000 young people and 150,000 parents and teachers tune into the station each month. The content will also appear on the RTPI website soon.

‘Agent Plan It’ helps schoolchild Anna understand more about the places around her, answers her questions about the built and natural environment and how planning and town planners can help.

Watch out for the second series in 2018.

Help raise children’s awareness of their world

teaching requirements for placemaking, citizenship and key skills. It is an interactive role-play board game for teachers and RTPI Ambassadors to use in the classroom.

Training teachers in planning Play the Place Makers game There will also be a new educational resource for those aged 14-plus from this spring. RTPI Place Makers is linked to the geography curricula and other

We are also producing extra resources to meet curriculum skills through lesson activities and good practice case studies.

Long term, we want planning to be an exam question.

PROJECTS TO TAKE PLANNING FORWARD Student careers talks A revised programme for planning students has been rolled out across Planning Schools, working with each local Young Planners Network.

Look out for competitions We held a second UK Schools Competition in November to celebrate World Town Planning Day and raise awareness among pupils aged seven to 18. Out of an amazing 120 entries,

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the winners came from Lancaster Royal Grammar School, Jesson’s Primary School in Dudley, Caerleon Comprehensive in Newport, North London Collegiate School, John Warner School in Hertfordshire, and Knutsford Academy in Cheshire.

Feedback from RTPI Young Planners who judged the entries: “I was so impressed and it was an enjoyable task to be involved in. The submissions were all fantastic and full of content.”

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Degree apprenticeships We hope one or more universities will be ready from September. Employers will recruit junior staff and enrol them on a course culminating in Chartered Membership.

Do-it-yourself toolkit Have an idea or event in mind? Let us know if you need any brochures. You can access advice and material online via the RTPI Ambassadors Toolkit.

Want to help?

In 2017, Ambassadors visited schools or careers events in the UK and Ireland each week. If you are an RTPI member and want to present an image of planning that is inspiring, and can spare 1-2 hours next year, become an Ambassador.

You can count it as CPD. Sign up at: bit.ly/planner0218-outreach Ideas for funding or grants? n Email: careers@rtpi.org.uk

I M AG E S | RT P I

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Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk

RTPI (switchboard) T: 020 7929 9494

Registered charity no.

262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841

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

Rob Krzyszowski MRTPI

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In light of the government’s recent Local Housing Need consultation, while planning to deliver significantly more homes is important, we must not forget quality, sustainability, location, mix and affordability. The planning system must also not forget about other important land uses such as community facilities, employment and infrastructure.

Wisely, the government’s Autumn Budget did not push further on making direct payments of CIL to individuals affected by development. Recent research suggests these would have a limited impact on reducing opposition, can be seen as ‘bribes’ and would reduce the amount available for infrastructure. Assuming development is bad per se and needs compensation is ill-conceived. The focus should be on land value capture instead.

A national one-size-fits-all approach isn’t always appropriate. For example, the Autumn Budget’s emerging policy of approving permissions ‘outside’ plans with a ‘high proportion’ of homes for discounted sale and affordable rent and the expectation for (an arbitrary) 20 per cent of housing supply on small sites would be inappropriate for most areas. A local plan-led approach should be maintained.

Planning is about much more than housing numbers

Land value capture is better than direct payments to individuals

National one­ size­fits­all approach isn’t always appropriate

COMMITTEE PRIORITIES:

POSITION POINTS

SPATIAL PLANNING MANAGER, LONDON BOROUGH OF BRENT VICE CHAIR, RTPI ENGLAND POLICY PANEL

RTPI NORTH EAST REGION Ian Cansfield MRTPI, chair of the RTPI’s North East Region, gives an update on the committee’s current priorities: Supporting the development of new entrants to the profession within the region Encouraging closer working relationships between the professions that all contribute to the built environment Making sure that the great work of planners within the RTPI North East Region is recognised

PARTNERING FOR PROSPERITY The National Infrastructure Commission’s CambridgeMilton Keynes-Oxford Arc report outlines how a new deal is needed for long-term economic success, delivering improved infrastructure and new homes to create places where people will want to live and work. The commission has put forward a bold and integrated vision for turbocharging an important economic area of the country and creating places where people can flourish. Critical to delivering this vision is good planning. This country needs more joined-up planning for housing, transport and other infrastructure, and the environment. The report sets out a model for the government and local leaders to up their game in using planning at its most creative to help this nation fulfil its potential.

n Full report here: bit.ly/planner0218-prosperity

RTPI RESPONDS TO HOUSING METHODOLOGY CONSULTATION It is vital that we are building a profession for the future. We need to ensure that the incoming generation have the confidence and skills to play their part. The interrelationships between professions are also crucial, with roles becoming more complex and boundaries blurring. All can benefit from a greater understanding of how we work with other professions. Allied to both of the first points is the need to shout about what great work the profession is doing and the value that planning brings.

The RTPI response to the Department for Communities and Local Government’s consultation on housing need, Planning for the Right Homes in the Right Places, says housing should be planned with better economic foresight. Local housing need could be better assessed, but the proposals for a new methodology would only entrench existing housebuilding patterns and fail to address the need for a mix of housing tenures and types. The methodology does nothing to address the tendency to base housing growth on past trends, rather than on a more forward-looking strategy that takes into consideration growth aspirations or employment projections.

n Read the RTPI’s full response: bit.ly/planner0218-homes

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NEWS

RTPI { RT PI IN AC TI ON : P L AN N I N G REFORM A N D LEG I S L ATI ON

How we’re influencing the Planning (Scotland) Bill KATE HOUGHTON MRTPI, POLICY & PRACTICE OFFICER

The Planning (Scotland) Bill, introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 5 December, sets the ball rolling on major changes to the Scottish planning system.

Broader reforms will follow later in 2018 in secondary legislation and new policy and guidance, and so the bill doesn’t tell us the whole story of the Scottish Government’s ambitions.

But there is a clear role in the draft primary legislation for Simplified Development Zones, a new Infrastructure Levy, and modified Local Development Plan processes in realising a simultaneously more participative and more delivery-focused system.

The proposals for Simplified Development Zones in particular, which evolve existing arrangements for Simplified Planning Zones, appear to have been given an important role in accelerating the delivery of allocated sites.

Combining planning and roads consents has long been discussed, and Simplified Development Zones as

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proposed would package roads construction consent, conservation area consent, listed buildings consent and advertising consent.

RTPI Scotland sees this as a positive step forward, as long as the zones are based on a strong and collaborative planmaking process and do not compromise fees and therefore the ability of local authorities to fund their services.

RTPI Scotland will be engaged with the bill’s parliamentary process, and written evidence has been submitted to the Local Government and Communities Committee, responsible for scrutinising the draft legislation.

It is important that our continuing representations are informed by members’ experience, and so we invite you to send your views and suggestions to scotland@rtpi. org.uk All of the bill documents can be viewed on the Scottish Parliament website: bit.ly/planner0218-scotbill4

Strategic Environmental Assessment: four tips for success SARAH LEWIS MRTPI, PLANNING PRACTICE OFFICER Strategic Environmental Assessment/ Sustainability Appraisal (SEA/SA) is a key component of the plan-making process but is dismissed by detractors as a long-drawn-out tick-box exercise that does little to improve the quality of the final plan.

But new practice advice commissioned

by RTPI South East from Levett Therival demonstrates how – when done well – SEA/SA can be a positive tool, improving both local and neighbourhood plans, and thereby the local area that they cover.

Our advice outlines the following steps to improve the preparation.

Identify the plan’s significant impacts and ways of minimising its negative effects to make the plan more sustainable and more responsive to its environmental effects.

Use SEA/SA to document the ‘story’ of the plan – why the plan is the way it is and not something else.

Focus on the alternatives and mitigation stages, as this is where SEA/SA can best influence the plan.

Focus on key issues and effects, scope out insignificant effects, and don’t include unnecessary information.

Our practice advice logically works through the SEA/SA process, highlighting good practice and case studies to demonstrate how it can be an effective and efficient tool for improving land use plans. n Read it for yourself at: bit.ly/planner0218-SEA Get more practical advice on SEA and SA at the RTPI South East seminar in Reading on 11 May: bit.ly/planner0218-seminar

The Seven Sisters form part of the South Downs Country Park

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RTPI Y ACTIVIT E PIPELIN

Current RTPI work – what the Institute is doing and how you can help us THE 2018 DIRECTORY OF PLANNING CONSULTANTS The new online RTPI Directory of Planning Consultants, hosted

by Planning Portal, was launched in January. The easy-to-use website enables homeowners, local communities, businesses, and architects and developers who need advice on planning issues the opportunity to search for free for a consultant by location, practice name, by specialism or by key individuals.

The directory offers greater exposure and additional benefits to Chartered Members. The site is the only official RTPI directory of planning consultants, with more than 400 firms listed.

To subscribe, please visit: bit.ly/planner0218-consultants, or contact Planning Portal at: RTPIdirectory@planningportal.co.uk

BOOK FOR SCOTTISH YOUNG PLANNERS’ CONFERENCE 2018 14 MARCH, GLASGOW This year’s conference, to be held at the University of Strathclyde Technology & Innovation Centre, will look at the transformative potential of technology to change the way planners both write plans and make decisions – as well as the way in which our towns, cities and countryside function.

Well established as an unmissable event for young planners from across Scotland, the conference programme is packed with inspiring speakers, the hands-on workshops that year-on-year delegates tell us are hugely valuable CPD, and an update on the planning review from the Minister for Local Government and Housing.

More details and online booking: bit.ly/planner0218-ypscot

NEW RTPI SITE SIGNBOARDS New RTPI site signboards have been designed to provide effective and professional promotion of both individual practices and practitioners and the planning profession. Siteboards are an easy way to promote work by you and your practice – whether that’s at a development site or project you’re working on. Our approved manufacturer Absolute Sign and Print Ltd has details of the approved sign size, layout and design. To obtain a quote and to order, please contact Absolute Sign and Print Ltd directly: Tel: 029 2022 1132 or enquiries@absolutesignandprint.com.

More information: bit.ly/planner0218-absolute

RTPI’S GUIDE TO CURRENT ISSUES IN THE PLANNING SYSTEM 21 FEBRUARY, LONDON This briefing opens with an update from the UK Government followed by a briefing on key developments in planning policy and practice to give delegates an insight into the current state of Brexit negotiations with possible outcomes and impacts on key legislation. Delegates will also hear about recent international agreements on climate change and sustainable development goals and what this means for planners. Delegates will learn how they can respond to resourcing challenges while improving performance and delivery, and how to promote more proactive and positive planning.

More details and online booking at: bit.ly/planner0218-brexit

RTPI SHORTS

CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINE PANEL DECISION The RTPI Conduct and Discipline Panel has found a former Retired Member to have breached the RTPI Code of Professional Conduct for misrepresenting himself as being MRTPI and failing to use the correct designation MRTPI (Rtd) after his name, thereby failing to act with honesty and integrity and bringing the profession into disrepute.

The former member also failed to provide written terms of engagement to the client before starting work. The panel issued a warning as to his future conduct.

Retired Members of the Institute are exempt from the requirement to maintain their CPD, so members are only eligible to transfer to this class of membership if they intend to no longer practice planning or make an income from planning or, indeed, to provide professional planning advice in the capacity of a volunteer. Retired members can give their opinion or comment on a local matter in a personal capacity, e.g. as a parish councillor or member of a trust or charity, but should make it clear to all parties involved that, as a Retired Member, they are offering a personal opinion. The regulations state: “No Retired Member shall, so long as he or she shall be in such class of membership, engage professionally in town planning.”

Retired Members must always use (Rtd) next to their post-nominals once they retire, e.g. retired Chartered Town Planners would use MRTPI (Rtd). If you have any queries concerning the code, contact Sandra Whitehead, the Institute’s Complaints Investigator, by email: sandra. whitehead@rtpi.org.uk.

For queries concerning the issue of retired status please contact the Membership Team: membership@rtpi.org.uk

MEMBERS’ VIEWS SOUGHT ON LAW COMMISSION’S WELSH PLANNING LAW REVIEW The Law Commission consultation paper, Planning Law in Wales, published in November, proposes a wide range of technical reforms and is the next step to the emergence of a new Planning Code for Wales in 2020. The code will be made up of primary and secondary legislation along with planning guidance. The consultation also sets out proposals for the content of a Planning Bill that would become the principal piece of primary legislation within a new Planning Code.

RTPI Cymru is considering positions and views on the proposals set out in the paper. These focus mainly on the consolidation of the planning law relevant to Wales to undo the currently complex situation of the law being spread across a variety of acts. It also proposes reform of options for the possible unification of listed building consents and planning applications and discussion on the use of the term ‘relevant considerations’ rather than the commonly used ‘material considerations’.

RTPI Cymru calls on stakeholders to appraise unexpected consequences that may arise from the proposals and their impact in light of the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 in Wales, an act unique to Wales requiring public bodies to consider the effect of decisions on cultural, environmental and economic well-being.

The closing date for responses to the Law Commission is 1st March. To contribute to RTPI Cymru’s response, members should give feedback by 12 February.

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ADVERTISEMENTS

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Salary: £24,964 to £27,668 per annum Grade: 9 Hours: 37 hour a week Location: Mill Lane, Wingerworth or The Arc, Clowne or as determined by the Council

We are now looking for an enthusiastic and committed individual who will manage the Custom and Self build register’s increasing awareness of the register’s across the Districts as well as ensuring we fulfil the requirement to meet the demand on the registers.

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The post holder will be an integral member of the team and will be expected to work with Estates, Planning, BDC Housing and Rykneld Homes Ltd to identify sites that can be developed for Council Housing, market sale, wider estate regeneration and sites suitable for disposal to developers/builders The successful candidate should hold a qualification in Town Planning or equivalent and should have previous experience of working with Land owners, Developers and Registered Providers to bring development sites forward. Good written, oral, communication and negotiation skills together with being proficient in IT and a full current driving licence and access to a vehicle are all essential requirements.

The successful candidate will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check.

For an informal discussion please contact Karl Apps, Joint Housing Strategy and Growth Manager on 01246 217289.

• Closing date: 28 February 2018 Application Pack If you are interested in this post please go to the Jobs page on the NEDDC website http://jobs.derbyshire.gov.uk/northeastderbyshire/ Alternatively, if you would like an application pack, please: • Telephone the Contact Centre on 01246 217640 • Or email: connectne@ne-derbyshire.gov.uk Please return completed application forms to HR and Payroll Team, North East Derbyshire District Council, District Council Offices, 2013 Mill Lane, Wingerworth, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S42 6NG. The Council values the diversity of its community and aims to have a work force which reflects this. We therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community. THIS INFORMATION IS ALSO AVAILABLE IN LARGE PRINT OR OTHER FORMATS.

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BABERGH AND MID SUFFOLK DISTRICT COUNCILS Is it time for a change? Are you looking for the opportunity to rise to new challenges and really influence how our communities develop?

The ‘Heart of Suffolk’ is blessed with a beautiful, natural environment and vibrant communities. Our modern offices are conveniently located and offer great transport connections to Cambridge, Norwich and London. If you are looking for that ideal work-life balance, then we are the right organisation for you.

Want to be part of a great team? We have adjusted our structures to allow us to deliver an ambitious, new Joint Local Plan and to play our full part in a whole Suffolk based approach to creating inclusive growth and this has created the opportunity for internal promotions. We are now seeking motivated and talented people who care about the future of our communities and have the desire and skills to balance the need for growth whilst preserving what is unique about our district to join our team.

Principal Planning Officers (3 posts) £35,444 - £41,025 Senior Planning Officers (4 posts) £27,668 - £32,486

Reference: BMS00063

Reference: BMS00062

Full time or part time hours considered. Permanent or fixed term opportunities. Based at Endeavour House, Ipswich within our area and strategic projects and delivery teams.

We are looking for candidates with either a general degree and some planning/community experience or who have a masters degree and can bring a wealth of relevant experience with them.

What will be expected of you? The job is varied and comprises different elements which include (but are not limited to): G the planning decision-making process, reflecting the unique nature of the districts and how we work with our communities G ensuring that we continue to improve the quality of new development being built locally, in terms of design and sustainability, as well as the opportunities we take to deliver improvements to infrastructure and facilities of benefit to local communities G providing expert advice on all planning and associated matters in committee and appeal settings, and represent both councils at a parish and town council level on the implementation of spatial planning decision-making and development management G the opportunity to help bring forward strategic and other significant sites which will help us to deliver inclusive growth G to actively support and drive corporate and service improvement projects as part of the ongoing transformation programme.

We offer: G support and funding towards professional qualifications G a career path within our development management service G the opportunity to really influence how our communities develop G mentoring and learning from experienced team members.

We also offer flexible working options, generous leave entitlement, access to the Suffolk Green Travel Plan, essential car allowance and a pension scheme.

For an informal discussion about these roles, please contact one of our team members: G Gemma Pannell via email: gemma.pannell@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk or call (01449) 724992 G Steven Stroud via email: steven.stroud@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk or call (01449) 724884.

If you are interested in learning more about these exciting and rewarding opportunities, please visit our career pages on the Babergh and Mid Suffolk district Councils’ website: www.babergh.gov.uk/careers Closing date: 28 February 2018. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.

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

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Protegé of Eric Pickles, Lewis was once named the worst MP on Twitter.

Ran for office on a “clean expenses” pledge, to later face a call for his own to be investigated.

No friend to planners, the former barrister’s main talent seems to be an ability to say anything with a straight face.

Hence, now Tory Party chairman. Next!

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MP FOR GRANTHAM AND STAMFORD (CON) TER APPOINTED PLANNING MINIS SEPTEMBER 2012 Very bright, a thinktanker and reforming Conservative, he is unafraid to challenge traditional views – thus removed from office for being too honest about green belt reform in the run-up to an election, despite introducing the NPPF. Part of the ‘Notting Hill set’, he once shared . a flat with Michael Govey A promising career sadl held back by cancer.

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n Play yourr hand… Tw T Twee Tweet weet eet us ee us - @ @Th TheP Th ePla eP ePlanner_RTPI lann la ann n er_R err_R RT TP PI 22/01/2018 14:13

LANDSCAPE

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

WHAT WE'RE BROWSING...

Uncivilised Genes: Human Evolution and the Urban Paradox In this issue we quoted archaeologist and lecturer Gustav Milne as author of this book, which explores how to adopt “behaviours designed to reconcile the fundamental mismatch between our current urban lifestyles and our ancient biology”.

Scope for debate Citiscope, the network of local journalists covering global debates on the future of cities – and what inventive local leaders and citizens are doing on the ground – has been incorporated into Place, the Thomas Reuter Foundation’s portal for news and analysis about land and property rights. A good resource. bit.ly/planner0218-place

WHERE WE'RE GOING...

Each month the RTPI runs a range of free or low-cost events up and down the UK. Here’s our pick for the next few weeks. See the full calendar here: www.rtpi.org.uk/events/events-calendar

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING...

A Spellar performance Who knew that Labour MP John Spellar’s ten-minute rule bill introducing the ‘agent of change’ principle would be so compelling?

Spellar presents with real enthusiasm. bit.ly/planner0218-spellar

Air Quality Regulations and their Impact on Planning and Development 15 Mar 2018, Birmingham This seminar, part of the RTPI West Midlands 2018 CPD programme sponsored by No5 Chambers, examines the implications of the Air Quality Regulations on planning policy, development management and the built development generally. bit.ly/planner0218-air

Learning from Best Practice – Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning – Edinburgh 7 Mar 2018, Edinburgh This briefing will highlight the best

WHAT WE'RE PLANNING...

Our March Ma issue has diversity as its primary focus – diversity in the planning workplace as well as planning for diverse communities. have an interview with London’s night We’ll h czar Amy Am Lamé. We’ll also have our regular comment and analysis – so if there’s news, c something you think we should cover, get in someth at: editorial@theplanner.co.uk touch a

practice recognised in the winners and finalists of the Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning.

It will explain what they have achieved, what they would do differently, the process they went through, the problem they faced, the solution they devised, and how it was implemented. bit.ly/planner0218-quality

Solving Wales’s Housing Problems – Shaping and Delivering Planning Responses 8 Mar 2018, Llandudno Chaired by RTPI Cymru Chair, Tom Watson, RTPI Cymru’s Spring Conference focuses on the challenges surrounding housing and planning in Wales. Speakers will reflect on current policy, evidence and possible solutions to the issues raised. All involved in the housing sector are welcomed. bit.ly/planner0218-shaping

FE B R U AR Y 2 0 18 / THE PLA NNER 51_Month in Plan__The Planner 51

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

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

18/01/2018 10:08