MAY 2019 THE GROWING PAINS OF HS2 // p.4 • MAKING HIGH STREETS FIT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY // p.22 • MINERALS EXTRACTION VS BIODIVERSITY NET GAIN // p.26 • THE ETHICAL PITFALLS OF DATA // p.31 • NATIONS & REGIONS: LONDON // 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
Art of persuasion BRENT’S ALICE LESTER ON INFLUENCING ENFORCEMENT AND GROWTH IN A BOROUGH OF CONTRASTS
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Senior Strategic Land Manager
Now is the moment to join our growing family At family-owned Mactaggart & Mickel we take pride in creating high-quality products and delivering ground-breaking solutions and exciting new projects within the construction industry. At the heart of our business are our People, who are key to our success and whom we nurture, develop, reward and care for. We are proud to be the first housebuilder in Scotland - and the second in the UK - to be awarded the coveted Investors in People Platinum accreditation for the investment and care in our People. We are now recruiting for a number of roles to join our Strategic Land team, including the Senior Strategic Land Manager position.
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If you would like to join our award-winning growing family, view our latest vacancies and apply online at: careers.macmicgroup.co.uk
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CONTENTS
MAY
09 NEWS 4 The spiralling costs of HS2 6 Raising the democratic potential of planning
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8 Green light for Dublin flats scheme that beats former height restrictions
OPINION
9 Key infrastructure funding boosts Ravenscraig scheme
14 Louise BrookeSmith: Looking back to move forward
10 RTPI and Liverpool City Region to tackle climate change
16 Dr David W Smith: Bird net tweet storm underlines PR value of wildlife care
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16 Aimee Stimpson: Healthy collaboration: why planners and health professionals should work together 17 Dr Des Purdy: Who actually gains from biodiversity proposals? 17 Katy Lock: A new future for new towns
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“THE LIVING CONDITIONS WE ENFORCE AGAINST ARE ABSOLUTELY DIRE. WE HAVE NO QUALMS ABOUT CLAMPING DOWN ON THAT”
COV E R I M AG E | PE T E R S E A R L E
22 Serena Ralston asks: How do we make the high street fit for purpose in the 21st century?
34 Nations & Regions: London
“NOT EVERYTHING THAT FLOATS IS A BOAT” INSPECTOR DIANE FLEMING GIVES IT TO US STRAIGHT IN ONE OF HER RECENT RULINGS
31 Tech landscape: Part one of a two-part examination of the ethics of data use in planning
18 Huw Morris talks to Alice Lester about planning in an age of austerity – and what’s right and wrong with national policy
26 Mark Smulian looks at how the minerals extraction industry is approaching the challenge of planning for biodiversity net gain
QUOTE UNQUOTE
INSIGHT
FEATURES
34
38 Cases & decisions: Development decisions, round-up and analysis
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42 Legal Landscape: Opinions, blogs and news from the legal side of planning 44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute 50 Plan B’s salute to a visionary town planning appeal decision – the Headington Shark
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NEWS
Report { Major civil engineering works were set to start last November. These have now been put back until after the summer to give contractors extra time to reassess costs
HIGH SPEED 2
The spiralling costs of HS2 HS2 is running hugely over budget and costs are rising. Huw Morris runs a slide rule over the figures and reveals further challenges down the line Comedian John Bishop admits he was reluctant to sell his home to HS2, a project he strongly criticised in the past, but says he had no choice. Bishop bought Whatcroft Hall, in Northwich, Cheshire, for £2.25 million in 2011 before carrying out extensive renovations and putting it up for sale in 2016. This was before the proposed route was announced. When it was, the track was around 150 metres from his home and rendered it unsellable. Under HS2’s ‘need to sell scheme’, which allows owners with a ‘compelling reason’ to sell their homes to the project, Bishop has now sold the mansion for £6.8 million. Although the comedian’s case is in a later phase of the £56 billion project, concerns are escalating that HS2’s costs are out of control on its first phase from London to Birmingham. So much so that ministers have now put a block on funding and are looking to appoint consultants to control the project. Last September, the National Audit Office said the estimated cost for HS2 to buy land for phase one had tripled in six years to more than £3 billion and warned this could rise further. Figures obtained by activists against HS2, using Freedom of Information requests in February, confirm this trend. Around £2.05 billion has been spent on land and property on the first
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leg, compared with the £1.1 billion originally budgeted. The requests reveal that 745 properties have been bought up until February 2019 but 819 offices, shops, farms and houses had still to be purchased.
Conservative leadership contenders Boris Johnson, David Davis, Andrea Leadsom and Liz Truss either casting doubt on the project or urging for it to be scrapped. Major civil engineering works had been planned to start in November 2018. This slipped to March before Delays in progress being extended to June to allow Ministers are so alarmed by the figures contractors extra time to make the best that they have delayed signing off the of the scheme’s designs. first half of HS2’s construction costs. A This date has been put back again to formal ‘notice to proceed’ on the major “after the summer” to give contractors construction works for the first phase more time to rethink costs. of the project was due to be issued in Meanwhile, according to HS2’s June. This has now been put back till procurement portal, the company the end of the year. The notice would is seeking to appoint two major have unlocked up to £27 billion, but consultancy firms to work on project ministers are not allowing HS2 to enter control and cost management for into agreements with contractors based an estimated contract value of £230 on the current design and cost. million. A project control consultant The move by embattled transport would work on programme secretary Chris planning, reporting and Grayling is in “‘SOMETHING HAS risk management as part line with other TO GIVE’ IN AN of a deal that could be Brexiteers’ UNHOLY TRINITY OF worth around £125 million increasing rancour CHALLENGES FROM at the project, with SCOPE, COST AND TIME” over eight years. A second I M AG E | H S 2
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PLAN UPFRONT
Birmingham
£1.1 billion Original budget for buying land and property between London and Birmingham
£2.05 billion What HS2 has already spent buying land and property between London and Birmingham
SOLD
745 The number of properties bought so far
819 Offices, shops, farms and houses still to buy
£200 million The value HS2 put on land near Euston Station
£700 million The value of that land claimed by owner Sydney & London, which is suing HS2
£104 billion HS2’s estimated final cost, according to infrastructure expert Michael Byng
HS2 – IN BRIEF
£230 million The value of contracts HS2 is now tendering for consultants to project manage and control costs on the scheme
£56 billion HS2's overall official budget
London
consultant would support commercial management covering HS2’s procedures, processes and systems in a separate contract potentially worth around £105 million. Shortlisted companies will be invited to bid in July. Other challenges are on the horizon. Sydney & London Properties, which owns four offices and land in front of HS2’s terminus at Euston Station, is preparing to launch a major lawsuit against the company for not taking into account the area’s redevelopment potential when buying the land, citing work on a masterplan it has been developing with partners since 2008. HS2 valued the site at less than £200 million but Sydney & London puts the value at more than £700 million, making it the biggest compulsory purchase order in UK history. Michael Byng, an infrastructure consultant who designed the methodology used by Network Rail to assess its project costs, puts the figure at about £104 billion, nearly double the existing figure, including the extensions from Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. Sir Terry Morgan, who quit as HS2
Phase one of HS2, connecting London to the West Midlands, received Royal Assent in 2017. Construction is under way and has attracted record levels of foreign investment to the West Midlands, with more than 7,000 jobs created in Birmingham as a direct result of HS2, and about 100,000 more expected around the new Curzon Street and Interchange stations. Phases 2a and 2b, connecting the West Midlands to the East Midlands, Crewe, Manchester, South Yorkshire and Leeds, still require parliamentary backing to proceed. Phase 2a is scheduled to receive Royal Assent before the end of 2019, with phase 2b following in early 2023.
chair last December, made the bombshell admission at the House of Lords’ economic affairs committee in January that “nobody knows” the cost. He added that “something has to give” in an unholy trinity of challenges from scope, cost and time. This is leading to considerable speculation within the civil engineering industry that the project will be forced to run fewer trains at lower speeds to remain on budget (the original scope of the project was 18 trains an hour at a top speed of 250 mph). Morgan admitted that “most people regret” calling the project HighSpeed 2. “It is about creating capacity,” he said. “Connectivity is a really strong issue, particularly when you look at the Midlands going north. It’s a dreadful journey if you travel, say, from Birmingham to Leeds. It will collapse from well over two hours to around 40 minutes.”
The connection quotient This remains HS2’s strongest card. The line will connect eight out of the country’s 10 biggest cities, stop at 25 stations and could connect between 25 and 30 million people when integrated with upgrades to the existing network, particularly Northern Powerhouse rail and the Midlands rail hub. Its supporters maintain that it will be a key force in helping to rebalance the UK economy and the scheme has so far created around 7,000 jobs. At its construction peak, around 30,000 jobs will be created, of which 70 per cent will be outside London. In January, more than 40 leading business figures from the Midlands and the North of England called on national politicians to commit to completing HS2 phase two in its entirety, arguing that people and places beyond Birmingham should not be denied the employment and growth opportunities HS2 would bring. Those business leaders are now painfully aware that the unholy trinity of scope, cost and time might be combining against them.
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NEWS
Analysis { PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Raising the democratic potential of planning By Laura Edgar
Roberta Blackman-Woods, Labour's shadow planning minister, has called for a national plan to set out the big priorities for the delivery of housing and infrastructure. We have a national infrastructure plan, detailed by the National Infrastructure Commission, Blackman-Woods said, which does a “very good job” of setting out what infrastructure is needed, “but it doesn’t tell us where it should go, when they should go there, what the priorities are for their delivery”. Blackman-Woods was speaking at the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Civic Societies’ meeting at the end of March. The meeting, facilitated by Civic Voice, focused on public participation in the planning system. Panel members agreed that there should Planning Association (TCPA), argued that be a national target of what should be there had to be a definition at national level achieved overall as the homes needed are of the key requirements for the country as a delivered. whole. This could be for major Andrew Taylor FRTPI, director at infrastructure schemes, economic need or Countryside Properties, said the difficulty housing needs, but “there has to be a with local plans is that what national perspective on is required is different from what has to be achieved, district to district, and that in turn has to be borough to borough. A “YOU DON’T ONLY MAKE reflected in regional or national plan would help to PLACES ONCE. WE HAVE sub-regional plans”. create a “national standard” TO MAKE PLACES AND Noting the scars he has of what should be achieved. REMAKE PLACES, WE from previous efforts made “If it’s something everyone 20 years ago to create NEED REGENERATION has to abide by, it has to regionally devolved AS WELL” happen,” he said. authorities when ROBERTA BLACKMANWOODS Likewise, Nick Raynsford discussing the Raynsford hon. MRTPI, president of Review, Raynsford said the Town and Country there has to be a tier
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between the national and local government levels. Combined authorities might be able to perform this function, he explained, but in other parts of the country “where there is a less clear pattern we will have to find ways of articulating issues at that sub-national level”. This would mean cross-boundary issues could be “considered properly and coordinated effectively”. Place and people Blackman-Woods gave an insight into what she has learnt as part of the Labour Planning Commission, which was launched in September 2018 and has RTPI chief executive Victoria Hills on its committee. It is targeting the revival of town centres and neighbourhoods, issues I M AG E S | G E T T Y / C I V I C VO I C E
17/04/2019 11:37
PLAN UPFRONT
Pre-application such as land banking and “WE NEED TO OPEN negotiations tend to be access to modern PLANNING UP TO between the local authority technologies, and driving PEOPLE” and the developer, he said, up the quality of housing. DAVID KNIGHT but the community or at Through the commission, least a third-party interest, Blackman-Woods wants to is needed to provide talk to as many people oversight in the (developers, planners and negotiations in the pre-application stage. communities) across the country as A former local government employee, possible. Acknowledging the housing Taylor said large strategic development crisis, she put the emphasis on could take 15 to 20 years until completion. placemaking – “and you don’t only make He encouraged people to engage to make places once. We have to make places and the local authority “your friend” and to remake places, we need regeneration as understand the community, because if not, well, and we want that to be the focus of “you are fighting the entire way and that is the planning system, and we want that to an awful long time to be fighting for”. start with local communities”. Taylor said he wants leadership from the Citing Japan as an example of community, not a packed hall of people somewhere that has found ways of finding shouting. He said they should get the plans time for discussion and negotiation, Gavin out, as well as pens, to discuss everything Parker, professor of planning studies at the in detail. Identify who to talk to in the University of Reading, advocated for there community, who represents the various to be more time spent on engaging and views and build up trust. negotiating. We can’t “be browbeaten into David Knight, director at DK-CM, thinking that everything has to be done so highlighted that participation is talked fast and rapidly that we can’t find time and about with promises that often deliver energy to meet and discuss”. little. “Sometimes it works but often it lets us down and doesn’t feel like participation achieves what it set out to do.” In his own research, he contends that the idea of participation needs to be reconceptualised. “It is not so much that we need to invite the public into planning, more that we need to open planning up to people.” He “suspects” greater openness about what is at stake in planning might be the key to unlocking its democratic potential.
Roberta Blackman-Woods called on people to tell the government to deliver homes properly through the planning system
A note on quality To affirmation and shouts of ‘hear, hear’ across the room, Blackman-Woods spoke against permitted development rights as a means to delivering the homes the country needs. Citing evidence from Shelter and the TCPA about the “poor” types of homes permitted development is producing, she urged the audience as a collective to tell the government: “Please don’t do this; we know you need more homes, but please deliver them properly through the planning system.” The commission wants to improve housing quality but says this can only really be done with an “enhanced” set of national standards.
MAY 2 01 9 / THE PLA NNER
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NEWS
News { Green light for Dublin flats scheme that beats former height restrictions Developer Cairn Homes has been given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála for a residential scheme of 377 flats in seven blocks up to eight storeys high in the Marino area of north Dublin. Eight houses will also be built on the 3.2-hectare site. The project was considered under the fast-track planning regime for major housing developments and is the first to exceed city height restrictions following moves by the government to encourage higher-density projects. The development will include 367 car parking spaces, 682 bicycle parking
spaces, as well as a crèche and gym for residents. Several local and national politicians opposed the proposals, as did many Marino residents. According to the Irish Times, the planning agency concluded that the housing development “would not result in a significant adverse impact on residential amenities by way of overlooking, overshadowing or visual obtrusion”.
The scheme for the Marino area involves 377 flats in seven blocks of up to eight storeys
Business secretary approves Teesside power station Business secretary Greg Clark has granted a development consent order for a key power plant on Teesside. Sembcorp Utilities (UK)’s proposal for a gas-fired combined cycle power plant on the site of the former Teesside Power Station could generate up to 1,700 megawatts of electricity. The application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in November
The power plant forms a nationally significant infrastructure project
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2017 and accepted for examination a month later. Clark’s approval supports the inspectorate’s recommendation for the scheme made in January 2019 after it was found to be consistent with National Policy Statements for energy and fossil fuel electricity generation infrastructure. The station will include up to two gas turbine
units, up to two steam turbine units, ancillary plant, hybrid water coolers, with some land on the site set aside for possible future carbon capture equipment and provision of combined heat and power. The decision is the third major project to be approved this year following development consent orders granted to Tilbury 2, a new facility to be built at the Port of Tilbury, and Hillbrook Power, a gasfired plant proposed in Bedfordshire. Planning Inspectorate chief executive Sarah Richards said the power plant is a nationally significant infrastructure project examined within the timescale laid down under the Planning Act 2008. “This provides developers and investors with the confidence to build and improve the infrastructure this country needs to secure future economic growth,” she added.
I M AG E S | A L A M Y / G E T T Y / N O RT H L A NA R K S H I R E C O U N C I L
17/04/2019 11:37
PLAN UPFRONT
Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility
Key infrastructure funding boosts Ravenscraig scheme The councils involved in the Glasgow Region City Deal have agreed to spend about £70 million on a package of transport measures to improve the infrastructure serving the area around the Ravenscraig site in North Lanarkshire, identified as a strategic development location for the sub-region. At 455 hectares, the former steelworks is one of Europe’s largest brownfield regeneration sites and accounts for 13 per cent of the Glasgow city region’s vacant and derelict land. The money will be spent on new and upgraded roads from the M74 at Motherwell – through Ravenscraig, to the M8 at Eurocentral, and onwards past Airdrie – and a new link road to the A73 south of Cumbernauld. The road schemes are key to advancing redevelopment of the site, a revised masterplan for which is being considered by North Lanarkshire Council. This includes proposals for: • 3,000 new homes • 19,000 square metres of office space • 63,000 square metres of industrial space • 30,000 square metres of retail space • five primary schools • an extension to the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility • a new seven-hectare town park Paul Kelly, deputy leader of North Lanarkshire Council, said: “The regeneration of Ravenscraig is of major strategic and economic importance to North Lanarkshire and the wider area.”
First Northern Ireland city deal is ratified Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley, the Belfast City Region Deal partners and the Northern Ireland Civil Service have all signed the heads of terms for the Belfast City Deal. The deal, the first for Northern Ireland, will see the UK Government invest £350 million in the Belfast region over the next 15 years. This aims to support and encourage economic development across the region and create jobs. It is proposed that once the devolved institutions are restored, the Northern Ireland Executive will match this investment. The Belfast City Region Deal partners will invest more than £150 million. Investment from the private sector is expected to bring the total investment package to over £1 billion. Speaking on behalf of the Belfast Region City Deal partners, Belfast’s Lord Mayor Deirdre Hargey said: “This is an investment which will improve quality of life for people living here and further enhance our attractiveness as a destination of choice for investors, visitors, new residents and students alike.” It is estimated that the deal will see the delivery of more than 20 projects to help to create up to 20,000 new and better jobs and have a positive impact on the most deprived communities, delivering a balanced spread of benefits across the region (see left). Bradley said she is also working with chancellor Philip Hammond to secure a city deal for the Derry/Londonderry region.
Carbon-cutting blueprint published in Wales The Welsh Government has committed itself to a major increase in tree planting to meet the country’s carbon reduction goals. It should see Wales reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050. Ministers have just published a 200page strategy, Prosperity for All: a Low Carbon Wales, which sets out how the country will meet its first carbon budget, due by 2030, as well as setting the country on course for the later target. The blueprint says tree planting needs to increase to at least 2,000 hectares a year soon, before doubling to 4,000 hectares a year “as rapidly as possible”.
Its other key policies include: • Commissioning an independent feasibility study on carbon capture use and storage. • Reducing emissions from power generation in Wales using consenting, planning and permitting powers; • Developing a policy position on the fuels used to generate power. • Encouraging the take-up of electric vehicles by developing a rapid charging network. • Planning for buses, taxis and private hire vehicles to be zero-emission by 2028. • Reviewing building regulations so
higher energy-efficiency standards can be set for new-builds. Environment minister Lesley Griffiths told AMs: “The plan pulls together 76 existing pieces of policy from across the Welsh and UK governments and the EU where decarbonisation is integrated either as a direct outcome or a wider benefit. “Some … are new Welsh Government policies that have come on stream since the start of the budget period, such as the economic action plan and renewable energy targets, or revamped policies such as Planning Policy Wales, where decarbonisation is now a central pillar.”
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NEWS
News { RTPI and Liverpool City Region to tackle climate change The RTPI and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority are working together to develop a climate resilience policy which will be incorporated in the region’s emerging Spatial Development Strategy (SDS). The initiative, the first of its kind in England, will see the institute and the combined authority work with Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral councils, as well as experts from the universities of Liverpool and Manchester, to identify specific issues and needs across the region. The climate resilience policy will have legal weight and, as it will be included in the SDS, will join up with housing, transport, green space and other planning policy to mitigate the effects of climate change. It aims to put fairness, equality and
HOUSING
inclusion at the city region’s response to climate change. Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “Climate change is the biggest challenge we face, not just as a city region but as a society. We are the first city region in the country to work in this collaborative way with a national planning body on this globally significant issue. This work will help us understand how we can build climate change resilience into our future plans.” Future decisions on planning applications will need to take the climate resilience policy into account, and the others in the SDS once it is published. This aims to safeguard the city region against the effects of rising sea levels, increased risk of flooding and extreme weather events.
The RTPI added that the work would feed into guidance it is producing for other organisations that are taking a strategic planning approach to climate change.
Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
CONSTRUCTION VALUES
£5.4 40,580 165,160 88,600 the estimated number of new dwelling starts in Q4 of 2018
the total of new dwelling starts in 2018
BROWNFIELD LAND
10
the number of decisions granted between October and December 2018 by district-level planning authorities
billion – the total value of construction contracts awarded in February, which is 0.5 per cent down on the value awarded in January, but represents a year-on-year increase of 10.6 per cent.
Source: Campaign to Protect Rural England
1
2/3
120,000
million homes could be accommodated on the land listed in brownfield registers
of these sites are ‘shovel-ready’
homes – the homes that can be accommodated on the land added to the registers in the past year
£ Source: Barbour ABI
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LEADER COMMENT
Opinion onn Spiralling costs vs. a need to believe – We didn’t plan it this way, but it transpires that Michael Heseltine bookends this edition of The Planner. At the back, Plan B recalls the then environment secretary’s famously eloquent justification of the Headington Shark. Here at the front you may have already read our update on the troubled HS2 project – a project for which Heseltine voiced strong support when he presented the RTPI’s Nathaniel Lichfield lecture way back in 2013. In the more than five years since the former deputy prime minister’s lecture, it’s remarkable to consider how little the arguments have changed regarding HS2. As the costs involved have continued to rise, MPs and experts have routinely questioned those costs and the perceived benefits – just as they were doing in 2013. Two general elections and a pivotal referendum later, we’re no nearer a settled
Martin Read view on the future of HS2. There is, I think, a link between something as little as Heseltine’s stirring defence of a fibreglass shark on a suburban Oxford house and Heseltine’s stirring support for the UK’s most high-profile infrastructure project. Both, to his mind, involve dealing with fear. The fear – exaggerated, he said, and so it proved – of multiple shark tails rising across the city of dreaming spires; and the fear of failing to deliver on all the
placemaking and economic potential of HS2. In the latter case, Heseltine spoke back then of a necessary “act of faith”. “All over the world governments are making decisions about a future they cannot predict but in which they believe,” he said. Essentially, the longer the term of the project, the more it is necessary to accept certain levels of uncertainty in the short term to achieve said longer term, gamechanging gain. Yes, the costs of HS2 might just end up, in the reckoning of some, at nigh on double the current projections. But Heseltine’s mantra was all about keeping your eyes on the ultimate prize. And there’s something to the
“THIS KIND OF ‘BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME’ ARGUMENT DOESN’T COME MUCH LARGER THAN THE PROMISE OF HS2”
argument that in this highest profile of high-profile projects, the grandest of outcomes – in this case a historic rebalancing of the UK economy through a route that greases both Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine – is something that will be worth it in the end. Heseltine used by way of comparison the development of the London Docklands, which occurred on his watch in the 1980s – and included the birth of another rail route, today’s Docklands Light Railway. It’s difficult to imagine London without its 21st century Docklands business district, but just such a leap of faith was necessary back then. This kind of ‘build it and they will come’ argument doesn’t come much larger than the promise of HS2 and the routes set to link to it. And while it’s inevitable that concerns will remain about this precarious project, for many, HS2 remains a potent signal of the nation’s future aspirations. It’s easy to see the appeal of that just now.
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John Milverton – I read with interest the recently published Housing Delivery Test (HDT) and looked in particular for South Hams District Council (SHDC), which has an almost unbroken record of failing to meet its own housing delivery targets – between 2003 and 2018 the target was 9,350 houses but only 3,215 were actually built, resulting in one of the least affordable housing markets in the country. The 2006 Local Development Framework recognised there was a problem, and SHDC adopted a “challenging target” of delivering 600 houses annually until 2016. In the event, rather than 5,400 houses built the total achieved was 1,950, a shortfall of 64 per cent – a signal failure by anyone’s standards. The newly adopted joint local plan sets a target of 510 houses a year from 2014 so between 2015 and 2018 1,530 houses should have been built, but (in the middle of a housing boom), only 1,265 were – a shortfall of 17 per cent. It is understood that numbers built fell further in 2018-2019. Miraculously, however, in the recently published HDT, South Hams District Council is shown to have delivered nearly twice its housing target for 2015-2018. This over-delivery has been achieved by lowering the housing target retrospectively from 1,800 to a mere 663. This not only disguises the problem of chronic long-term housing underdelivery, it also means SHDC needs take no steps to correct it. Presumably SHDC is not alone in gaming the system and it must be a concern that councils are presenting dubious figures to avoid their responsibilities of delivering houses. John Milverton MRTPI, planning consultant
Catherine Ryder – The government is right to invest in tackling the housing crisis, and the £250
million of funding allocated by James Brokenshire could have a real impact by helping to unlock thousands of new homes across the country. The secretary of state is also right to recognise that the housing crisis is a national one, and needs action across the country to tackle it. However, it’s important that we recognise how far we still have to go. Solving the housing crisis will also require major changes to the way that land is bought and sold. Land needs to be made cheaper so that housing associations can afford to buy it. We are glad to see that the government is also planning to use surplus MoD land to build new homes, but ministers must use e this opportunity to use public land for the public good by ensuring at least half of the homes are affordable.
Ma sure you Make ha have us available on your feed by fol following @Th @ ThePlanner_RTPI for news and co comment, and @Th @ ThePlannerJobs for the latest ap appointments and job opportunities.
Catherine Ryder, head of policy, National Housing Federation
Maddy Longhurst – I am interested in articles relating to planning ideas and policy that support the e development of localised and bio-regionall agroecological food systems for cities and I can’t find anything on The Planner website. Perhaps it’s time to make it a theme in its own right now that it is a vitally important land use issue affecting our towns and cities in adapting to postBrexit and climate-impacted new world. Maddy Longhurst, Bristol
Corrections On page 24 of our March 2019 feature, ‘Promoting diversity in planning’, we incorrectly called Alison Mackay, of the organisation Women in Planning, ‘Alison McClintock’; our apologies for that, Alison. Readers may also have noticed that our April edition’s Nations & Regions focus on Ireland included a fact file column from the previous month’s focus on Wales. Again, our apologies for this – the online version of the feature contains the correct information.
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LO U I S E B R O O K E S M I T H
O Opinion
Looking back to move forward Are we any good at learning from the past or, in this digital age, is that sacrilegious? With the pressure on us all to be ‘born again’ millennials, or to ‘get down with the kids’, recreating the Ladybird Book of Village Life seems to be deeply frowned upon. However, when we actually think about it, community spirit and camaraderie is actually at the heart of how we want to live – unless you value the hermit’s existence or the life of a devout nun. Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for ‘living and let living’ and if that’s your calling, then it’s fine with me. But most of us like a bit of interaction with fellow humans, the ability to meet, share a meal, listen to some music or generally have the opportunity to congregate. The perfect storm that is online shopping meeting autonomous transport and flexible working allows many people to log on and clock up their working hours wherever and whenever they desire. Our high streets simply don’t need to be repetitive clones of each other, across the country. Indeed, given the demise of so many traders, nowadays they couldn’t, even if they wanted to. Gone is the standard line-up of clothes retailers, department stores and electrical shops. How many of us can remember walking down a high street and passing Woolworths, BHS, Poundworld and then turning the corner to find Maplins, Banana Republic and Austin Reed, before heading back to the car park via Athena, Blockbuster and Tie Rack? Or making a special trip to Barratts and Freeman Hardy & Willis to buy the kids’
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school shoes and of course C&A for those ‘coats and ’ats’? Primark may have taken the place of the latter and indeed is bucking the trend as it is about to open its biggest global store in Birmingham. But for the likes of Rumbelows, Tandy and Dixons, the only alternative is a Google search, the indulgence of a PIN number and, hey presto, you have your new electronic gadget or super deluxe low-energy white goods in your arms within hours. Will other household names join this list of the great but fallen? Of course they will. But what of the gaps they leave behind? Charity shops and pop-up art studios now embellish the raft of food and drink establishments that are clinging on in the age of vegan, low-carb, low-fat menus. But is this enough? Should we be thinking more along the lines of what else those high
“THE DIGITAL AGE HAS BROUGHT US BACK TO THE FIRST MILLENNIUM – BUT WITHOUT THE SMALLPOX OR BLACK DEATH” streets could offer as opposed to simply filling the holes with short-term players? While the very nature of how we all work, live and play has changed in terms of how we use digital systems, there remains a fundamental need for most of us to have some form of interaction, be it social, nutritional, political or, heaven forbid – face-to-face conversation. The ability to congregate for a meal or drink, to play games, to talk or be entertained will still be important.
The good news is the speed at which some local planning authorities are rising to this challenge. Planners are adept at recognising how our town centres should be flexible places and spaces for this brave new world of interaction, rather than pure service and retail activity. So we are seeing some fabulous initiatives for new living accommodation, mixeduse centres, community space, festivals and celebrations, and market spaces unencumbered by brand names or retail chains but simply places where people can bring their goods to sell to the community. Hold on, that sounds rather like a medieval enactment. Perhaps that’s the answer. We’ve come full circle and the digital age has brought us back to the first millennium – but without the smallpox or Black Death. Perhaps looking back at what has historically made a good centre work for its community, but having a digital twist, isn’t such a bad idea after all. Who will join me in some May Day celebrations in the form of a ceilidh along the high street?
Dr Louise Brooke-Smith is a partner at Arcadis LLP and UK Head of Development and Strategy Planning
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Quote unquote FROM THE RTPI AND THE WEB “We are woefully underestimating stimating the size and st scale, ass well w as the costs and benefi efits, s, of rural-to-urban water wat ater reallocation” DR DUSTIN IN GARRICK,, A ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR VIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT M AT THE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ITY OF OXFORD’S S SMITH SCHOOL OF UNIVERSITY NTERPRISE AND TH HE ENVIRONMENT,, ENTERPRISE THE SYST TEMATIC GLOBAL ON THE FIRST SYSTEMATIC EW OF WATER REALLO OCATION FROM REVIEW REALLOCATION URB RBAN REGIONS RURAL TO URBAN
“There simply isn’t the confidence or funds ds available for a vastt number of young movers” vers”
“I isn’t enough for “It developers simply d to build houses; we need to build w communities. co Schools are at Sc the centre of any th community.” co SC SCHOOLS MINISTER LORD AG AGNEW ON NEW GUIDANCE SE SETTING OUT HOW COUNCILS CA CAN SEEK FUNDING FROM HO HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN TH THEIR AREA AND USE IT TO CR CREATE SCHOOL PLACES
I M AG E S | I STO C K / A L A M Y
ANGUS S ELPHINSTONE,, CEO OF NG FIRM ANYVAN.COM,, IS MOVING NG THE PINCH FEELING
“Until we have e a brownfield-first approach, a large arge number of sites that could be transformed into new homes will continue to be overlooked” REBECCA PULLINGER, PLANNING CAMPAIGNER AT OTECT RURAL ENGLAND,, WANTS THE CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT GOVERNMENT TO ACT
“B “Britain’s planning rules cause ru environments that en are bewildering, ar illogical ugly. ill logical and ug forgotten We have forgot W that areas are th hat urban area grown.” gr rown.” AR ARCHITECT RCHITECT DAVID RUDLIN RUDL GOES FO OR THE JUGULAR J IN A RECENT FOR GU UARDIAN ARTICLE GUARDIAN
“You’ve got to hav have ave greater certainty and you’ve got to o have the ability to ensure the [local] plan is implemented” NICK RAYNSFORD, PRESIDENT ENT RY OF THE TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ASSOCIATION
“Not everything ev oats is a that flo boat” INSPECTOR DIANE FLEMING GIVES GI IT TO US STRAIGHT IIN ONE OF HER RECENT RULINGS RU
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B E S T O F T H E B LO G S
O Opinion
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Dr David W Smith is eastern regional director for ecological consultancy EPR
Bird net tweet storm underlines PR value of wildlife care
There ha have been several recent inciden incidents where netting placed around trees and hedges on construction sites or on buildings has trapped birds with fatal consequences. This has caused public outcry, negative social media coverage and a petition to make netting installation a criminal offence. This negative attention has shown how invested the public is in our wildlife and highlights the risks in how developers and business owners respond to legislative constraints. The purpose of netting is to create a barrier between birds and vegetation, buildings, or other structures to stop them nesting. This can avoid costly delays in building projects because active nests, eggs, and chicks are afforded stringent legal protection. Netting can also reduce threats to the birds by preventing them nesting in areas where there is a risk they could be disturbed or harmed accidentally. Netting is an extremely useful tool and, if used correctly, it can actually be in the interest of birds and other wildlife. But it should not be the first point of call for consented projects. Other options, like carrying out work outside of the nesting season or rendering nest sites unusable in other ways should be considered first. If netting is used, it is vital that the correct specification is installed, checked regularly for damage and maintained. Netting needs to be
fitted correctly (e.g. without gaps that enable birds to enter), under professional supervision and at the right time of year. If there is a failure in any of these steps the risk of trapping birds and other wildlife increases enormously. It’s also key to emphasise that planning decisions should always be based on the actual value of a habitat for breeding birds, rather than on temporarily reduced use caused by netting off habitats prematurely. There is nothing to be gained in planning terms by preventing birds from using habitat prior to consent being granted – netting only has a legitimate role in risk management once proposals are consented and work is planned. If work has already been consented, other options, such as removing features outside of the nesting season, might be possible. Reputational damage takes a long time to repair, and the power of social media for citizen reportage in instances where netting has led to wildlife harm will no doubt worry developers and building managers. By not taking a one-size-fitsall approach, and considering the wider opportunity not just for wildlife good practice but also for recognition as a custodian of nature, developers and business owners can benefit from the value of working around, and with, wildlife.
“THERE IS NOTHING TO BE GAINED IN PLANNING TERMS BY PREVENTING BIRDS FROM USING HABITAT PRIOR TO CONSENT BEING GRANTED”
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Aimee Stimpson is Public Health England’s national lead for healthy places
Healthy collaboration: why planners and health professionals should work together
Research on the wider determ determinants of people’s health suggests that around 50 per cent of people’s health is affected by socio-environmental factors. To improve the nation’s health we need those working in the built and natural environment professions, including town planners, to create healthy places. Public health teams appreciate the established history of the town planning profession in creating high-quality places and environments for people to live, work and play. Indeed, the origins of the agenda began with a joined-up approach between planning, housing and health. Only since public health duties moved back to local government in 2013, have concerns for health and widening social inequalities such as life expectancy, been increasingly included in plans and strategies. That is why public health professionals working in government agencies such as Public Health England (PHE) and its regional centres are keen to support planners by adding value to the planning process. We must work towards a shared common understanding of what we believe makes up a healthy place, based on robust evidence of the relationship between the environment and health outcomes such as physical and mental health. PHE’s spatial planning and health evidence
resource identified five aspects of the built and natural environment that can underpin local plan policies and development proposals: neighbourhood design, housing, better food, natural and sustainable environment, and transport. There may be a feeling that the planning system already reflects these aspects, as the Town and Country Planning Association’s State of the Union report found in its review of all English local plans. PHE welcomes the NPPF’s commitment since 2012 to recognise its role in promoting healthy c o m m u n i t i e s. Initiatives such as the Garden Communities and Healthy New Towns programmes and commitments in the recent NHS Long Term Plan are helping to shift expectations on built environment standards. PHE’s Healthy Places programme, launched in November 2013, now includes five strands straddling planning, housing, natural environment, transport and nationally significant infrastructure projects. The focus is to convert evidence into both policy and practice by working across the national and local systems and engaging with the development sector. We will focus on actions that have the best potential to cut health inequalities as places are planned, designed and operated – for people now and for future generations.
“WE MUST WORK TOWARDS A SHARED COMMON UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT WE BELIEVE MAKES UP A HEALTHY PLACE”
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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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Dr Des Purdy is senior ecologist at ProVision
Who actually gains from biodiversity proposals?
As part o of its 25-year Environment Plan, the government has committed to be “the first generation to leave the natural environment in a better state than it found it”. To this end, environment secretary Michael Gove ran a public consultation to assess how best to integrate the government’s commitment to build 300,000 new homes a year with biodiversity enhancement. The government has yet to produce definitive guidelines on the mechanisms to be followed. But in his Spring Statement, chancellor Philip Hammond set out the government’s intention to make biodiversity net gain compulsory within planning policy. Local planning authorities have taken varied approaches to securing biodiversity gains. This contributes to an impression that the interpretation and implementation of policy differs between local authorities, and is frequently subject to requests for additional surveys, all of which contribute to delays, frustration and expense for developers. Current policy and practice suggest that in most cases, net gains are achieved by local judgements following a negotiation process, often through section 106 agreements. What the government is proposing is a single, consistent, national approach. This new system would use an existing
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Katy Lock MRTPI is projects and policy manager (garden cities and new towns) for the Town & Country Planning Association (TCPA)
A new future for new towns
‘Defra metric’ to determine the ecological value of habitats at any given site. A site score is ascribed based on habitat distinctiveness, condition and extent, expressed as biodiversity units. An improvement of at least 10 per cent is proposed. Reaction to confirmation that biodiversity net gain will be made compulsory has been mixed; industry bodies have raised concerns about the potential for more costs and delays. These are likely to arise from the need for developers to familiarise themselves with new rules. The policy also raises questions regarding a lack of clarity in the consultation proposals. Environmentalists have concerns about whether these proposals might permit developments that would otherwise have been rejected, as proposals now offer the chance to buy off-site investments as compensation for habitat loss. Without careful governance, this may lead to local species losses. Another worrying aspect of the Defra metric is the failure to account for individual wildlife species and an admission that no metric will be able to take every detail of biodiversity into account. It is laudable that government strives to deliver net biodiversity gains through development, but it is uncertain whether these plans will improve the system as far as ecological receptors are concerned.
“ENVIRONMENTALISTS HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT WHETHER THESE NEW PROPOSALS MIGHT ACTUALLY PERMIT DEVELOPMENTS THAT WOULD OTHERWISE HAVE BEEN REJECTED”
As someone some who has spent a lifetime defending my hometown off M Milton Keynes, I was excited to attend the March opening of its new gallery. This not only provides a new arts and events space for the city but may even make people think differently about the country’s most successful new town. The post-war new towns programme was the UK’s most ambitious large-scale townbuilding programme. Today, they are home to 2.8 million people. The development corporations that managed the creation of the new towns left outstanding legacies, including green space networks, good-quality social housing and an emphasis on community development. The towns’ physical design and civic art are now recognised as important modern heritage assets, which could be catalysts for their renewal. But as they were built at speed (and, under the constraints of the day, using cheap materials), whole estates are now in need of renewal. Tired-looking buildings affect contemporary perceptions of what were once ambitious schemes. The government-dictated ‘fire sale’ of assets has also left the new towns – with the exception of The Parks Trust and Community Foundation in Milton Keynes and Nene Park Trust in Peterborough – with no means to look after the facilities provided by the
development corporations. Tight administrative boundaries resulting from the way the corporations were wound up are also affecting the way some new towns are able to plan for growth. The TCPA, which recently held a conference on ‘A New Future for New Towns’, will soon be publishing a report on new town renewal. Our research into the new town legacy highlights key lessons for a fresh new towns programme: • Government must play a leading role in identifying need and locations, including a national spatial plan and support for local authorities to identify locations. • A dedicated consent regime (New Towns Act) and modernised new town development corporations, which commit to garden city principles including long-term stewardship. • New towns should be places of innovation in design and sustainability, but not experimentation at the expense of residents. • New Towns can pay for themselves – alongside the capturing and sharing of land values, the £4.75 billion Treasury loan to the new towns was repaid by 1999. The new towns are unfinished business, and it is our responsibility to celebrate them and encourage all parties to finish the job. But we must also capture the ambition and learn the lessons of the past when delivering new places today.
"THE POSTWAR NEW TOWNS PROGRAMME WAS THE UK’S MOST AMBITIOUS LARGESCALE TOWNBUILDING PROGRAMME"
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BRENT INTO
PHOTOGRAPHY | PETER SEARLE
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I N T E R V I E W : A LI C E LE S T E R
SHAPE ALICE LESTER IS NEWLY PROMOTED TO DIRECTOR OF REGENERATION, GROWTH AND EMPLOYMENT FOR BRENT, A LONDON BOROUGH UNDERGOING MAJOR RENEWAL. SHE TELLS HUW MORRIS ABOUT PLANNING IN AN AGE OF AUSTERITY, WHY ENFORCEMENT IS ABOUT PERSUASION AND WHAT’S RIGHT AND WRONG ABOUT NATIONAL POLICY
Early in her career Alice Lester had an experience that made her wonder whether things could get any better. As a junior planning officer at Westminster City Council, her patch was the W1 postal district, an area featuring some of London’s most notable landmarks, as well as such places as Mayfair, Regent Street, Oxford Street and Soho. “My first unaccompanied site visit was to see some air conditioned units on the roof behind the Coca-Cola sign at Piccadilly Circus,” she says. “I know it was only air conditioned units in a non-residential area but what an area and what a site. It was so thrilling to be part of this. I thought it could not get any better.” But it did. Previously the London Borough of Brent’s head of planning, transport and licensing, Lester was promoted in April to operational director for regeneration, growth and employment at the council. Brent is London’s sixth largest borough. The epitome of the capital as a city of parallel universes, it has the characteristics of an outer and inner London borough. Brent’s Borough Plan 2019-2023 was adopted in February and it is sifting through responses to its preferred options. Planning is central to key strategic priorities such as regenerating the borough to provide homes, jobs and transport through to building stronger, safer communities and improving the environment. All of this is occurring in the face of considerable pressure. The borough’s 335,000 population is expected to grow to around 350,000 by 2023 and more than 375,000 by 2030. Those residents are also living longer. The number aged 65 and over is expected to rise by 15 per cent during the lifetime of the plan and by 41 per cent by 2030. Like all councils, Brent has taken a clobbering in the austerity era, with budget cuts of £164 million since 2010. It faces further significant cuts of around £40 million in the next four years. “We have to adapt to work within the framework we’re in,” says Lester. “We have got quite astute at finding income sources and the prudent use of those sources.” Those sources include the community infrastructure levy, section 106 money to fund posts and planning performance agreements to pay for project officers. Then there is the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) 2002.
Crackdown Brent takes a tough line on enforcement and has been in the vanguard of local authorities using POCA to crack down on rogue landlords and unscrupulous developers. In 2017-18, this
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raised £91,842 for enforcement officers. The council carries out around 700 investigations of planning breaches a year. In 2018-19, it issued 141 enforcement notices, 72 of which related to poorquality, unauthorised residential conversions such as ‘beds and sheds’, changes of use to substandard flats, and houses in multiple occupation. “We are robust in using the tools available to us to stop the worst breaches of planning control,” she stresses. “The living conditions we enforce against are absolutely dire. We have no qualms about clamping down on that.” Of the many cases brought by Brent, one sticks in the mind. Lester cites the long-running but ultimately successful prosecution of Salah Ali, a landlord who persistently breached planning law and was ordered to pay the record sum of £1.438 million for converting a house into 12 flats without consent. This was ultimately reduced on appeal to £544,358. “I get summaries of cases from the enforcement team and I often wonder what kind of people think this is a good way to make money. It’s unbelievable.” However, Lester also stresses “a more positive” element to enforcement. Under Brent’s town centre improvement project, an enforcement officer works with property owners to improve street frontages. Initially focusing on Harlesden and Neasden, two of the borough’s priority town centres, this involves the partial use of section 215 notices under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which are triggered when a council considers the condition of land or buildings harms an area. The programme is due to be rolled out
C A R EER
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The borough’s 335,000 population is expected to grow to around 350,000 by 2023
15% The percentage increase in residents aged 65 and over that is predicted during the lifetime of the plan
HIG HL IG HTS
A LI C E LE S TE R MB E Born: Reading, 1962 Education: Kendrick Girls School (O- and A-levels), Swansea University (BScEcon geography and psychology 1983), University College London’s Bartlett School (MPhil town planning 1986)
198691
200105
201416
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Junior, then principal planning officer at Westminster City Council
Development control manager as a job-share at the London Borough of Islington
Trustee, TCPA
Promoted to operational director for regeneration, growth and employment
Head of the Planning Advisory Service
Head of planning, transport and licensing, London Borough of Brent
1991 2001 Team leader in development management at the London Borough of Camden
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Awarded MBE for services to planning
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to other town centres and accompanies another initiative to remove estate agency boards. “We haven’t used that many notices as this has been all about persuasion,” she says. “Where possible we work with the alleged transgressors to resolve things without action. We often invite a planning application so we can regularise things. We only enforce when it is in the public interest.”
Wider vistas Before taking up the reins at Brent, Lester spent 11 years as head of the Planning Advisory Service (PAS), which she describes as “a breath of fresh air” and as “still working in local government but not for a specific council, still in planning but not a planner”. She gained a valuable “non-London perspective” about the different challenges confronting small, rural councils through to big metropolitan authorities. “It enabled us to talk to councils all over England, developing new ideas and relationships with policymakers in government and to work with a variety of councillors. It was quite
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“THE LIVING CONDITIONS WE ENFORCE AGAINST ARE ABSOLUTELY DIRE. WE HAVE NO QUALMS ABOUT CLAMPING DOWN ON THAT”
humbling to see the work outside of London. I thought I had dealt with big complex applications but I hadn’t. When you get outside of London you see people dealing with 1,000-home schemes on contaminated sites, the green belt, rural issues and a variety of challenges I had no idea about.” The experience made Lester conscious of the political and corporate backing she receives at Brent. “I was given money to invest in 2016 because this council recognises the value of planning in attracting inward investment – council tax, new homes bonus, infrastructure funds – so it sees the value of a good planning service for attracting building in the borough.” She is painfully aware this is in contrast to many other planning departments. “They have to try to demonstrate what planning can do. It’s not just about regulation. It is visionary, sets out the spatial plan for the area, what development can happen and where. “If you are not doing that, clearly there is not going to be any interest in the borough and people won’t come. Some councils don’t care whether they have development but a lot of places do because it keeps areas alive. If a place wants to stay the same, it has to change because it has to respond to the changing environment around it. “At PAS, I talked to councils with villages that were dying, wanted to survive but didn’t want to accept development to enable kids to go to school or for the pubs to stay open. It’s quite simplistic, but if you want a village to survive you might have to change the boundaries.”
Slings and arrows
“IT WAS QUITE HUMBLING TO SEE THE WORK OUTSIDE OF LONDON. I THOUGHT I HAD DEALT WITH BIG COMPLEX APPLICATIONS BUT I HADN’T”
n Huw Morris is
The Planner’s consultant editor
With some stoicism, Lester reflects on how the reputation of planning has endured the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune during her career. “The status of planning in the eyes of the government and planning’s ability to support the economy and deliver homes and jobs has been very varied,” she observes. “When I started my career in the mid-1980s, we had Nicholas Ridley saying we should never comment on design and this was left to the applicants and architects. Now we have James Brokenshire and Kit Malthouse extolling the virtues of good design and putting the onus on planners to ensure we achieve it. “Between the two views, there have been ups and downs about planning’s role in interfering with the market and intervening in a good way to manage placemaking.” A real turning point, she says, was last year’s launch of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) attended by Prime Minister Theresa May. “It’s unheard of in my career that a prime minister should endorse planning as a
means to a good end. The status of planning is still pretty high in the eyes of the government with the exception of the Treasury, which has never liked it and never will.” That said, Lester is wary about chancellor Philip Hammond’s Spring Statement announcement of an accelerated planning green paper. Like many, she is dubious about yet another government review in the aftermath of those by Killian Pretty and Penfold. “We don’t need another review,” she says tersely. Lester likes the 2012 NPPF for reducing the amount of policy and guidance, as well as last year’s revamped version for consolidating this with its emphasis on plan-making. But bugbears remain. “I support the primacy it gave to planmaking, but I don’t think the public is in tune with that as they tend to respond to applications in their street rather than at the plan-making stage, which is a shame. Local authorities are also very varied in their abilities to engage with the public at the plan-making stage. “I don’t think the housing delivery test and methodology is a very good tool. There’s a lot that planning authorities can do to support housing growth, but they should not be accountable for private sector delivery or the lack of it. You can put the building blocks in place by allocating sites but their housebuilding programmes depend on many factors not related to planning. Planning can help minimise the risk by giving certainty, but we can’t make their investment decisions.” She has similarly mixed views on the draft London Plan. Like many of her contemporaries across the capital, she supports its attempt to densify appropriate sites in the suburbs, but says the Greater London Authority’s methodology for doing so has come up with a “fanciful, piein-the-sky target for Brent”. Its overall annual housing target goes up from around 1,500 to 2,900. “While we are a pro-growth borough, and ambitious in our proposals we think that is too high.”
Alice Lester is speaking at the enforcement breakfast briefing at the RTPI Planning Convention – ‘The future of planning: What’s next?’ – on 19 June: bit.ly/planner0519-PlanCon19
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TOWN CENTRES AS WE KNOW THEM SEEM TO BE IN DECLINE. IS THIS INEVITABLE? SERENA RALSTON ASKS: HOW DO WE MAKE THE HIGH STREET FIT FOR PURPOSE IN THE 21ST CENTURY?
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T H E F U T U R E H I G H S T R E ET
Town centres are under threat from all sides; from online shopping, out-of-town retail and permitted development. How can we make high streets attractive again? Here are eight suggestions from town centre experts for making high streets fit for purpose in the mid-21st century.
Recent Office for National Statistics data on job automation in England shows there are 1.5 million jobs at high risk of automation. There are huge changes coming to our economy that could have some significant implications for planning. These changes are happening now – they are already shaping what our high streets look like. We are at the mercy of a level of “IF I WERE innovation at a A BETTING speed we have MAN THEN I never seen before. WOULD SAY The big advances BY 2050 THE are around ‘plugUSE CLASS and-play’, ‘open ORDER SYSTEM source’ and the WILL EITHER ‘democratisation of LOOK VERY technology’ DIFFERENT meaning anybody, OR NO LONGER with any level of EXIST” tech skill, can transform the world through a new killer app or application of artificial intelligence. If I were a betting man, then I would say that by 2050 the use class order system will either look very different or will no longer exist. We might need ultraflexible space that can be changed to meet the needs of the latest occupier. I would bet on the need for ultraaccessible places, and our ever-ageing population means that we will need more inclusive and welcoming infrastructure and streetscape. Planners will probably need to think about the space above rather than just at street level – I’m more certain that there will be a growth in drone use than I am about autonomous cars. We may need urban airspace management plans.
The most recent government inquiry into the future of our high streets concludes that centres are at a “tipping point”, and urgently need to adapt and transform to survive. But what will a successful high street look and feel like in 2050? One thing is for sure – it will need to be less dependent on traditional retail. It’s a matter of ‘diversify or die’. One of the most effective solutions to help fix both our broken housing market and town centres has to be the delivery of more new and affordable homes on the edge of and ‘on top of’ our high streets. This will not only help to fill the long-term voids left behind by the ‘retreat of retail’, but will create more diverse communities, helping to sustain future shops and businesses through increased footfall and spend. Market halls, creative trades, pop-up shops, libraries, and doctors’ surgeries are just some of the other activities that could replace “THESE USES traditional retail. SHOULD BE These uses should be ALLOWED TO allowed to flourish FLOURISH WHERE where traditional TRADITIONAL retail formats are no RETAIL FORMATS longer viable through ARE NO LONGER more flexible VIABLE THROUGH planning policies and MORE REALISTIC proactive AND FLEXIBLE management. PLANNING Above all, l think POLICIES” the successful high street in 2050 will need to be fun, exciting, and smart. This will mean planning and curating a better balance of community, cultural, heritage and leisure attractions, alongside places to eat and drink, focused on attractive and ‘digital’ places where people can congregate and socialise. Shops will still be important, but as part of a much wider ecosystem. High streets therefore need to move away from the ‘analogue and binary’ age where retail traditionally dominated, to a more ‘digital and diverse’ future in which each centre’s character and unique qualities are identified and recognised. This renaissance will depend on local authorities taking the lead in partnership with communities, stakeholders and the private sector – as planners, placemakers, funders, developers, landlords and managers. The high street is dead – long live the high street!
Ojay McDonald is chief executive of the Association of Town and City Management
Dr Steven Norris is head of the regeneration, retail and town centre team at Lambert Smith Hampton
1. HARNESS HYPERINNOVATION
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2. “DIVERSIFY OR DIE”
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3. FOSTER PRIVATE SECTOR OPPORTUNITY High streets clearly have a significant challenge. For those locations which have created attractive and interesting places, have increased a mix of residential, workspace and leisure opportunities and
“FOR THOSE LOCATIONS WHICH HAVE CREATED ATTRACTIVE AND INTERESTING PLACES… THE FUTURE CAN REMAIN BRIGHT”
invested in events, the future can remain bright. For the rest, especially in areas of low disposable income, we could foresee Armageddon. The future, however, isn’t about the public sector stepping in – but facilitating interesting opportunities to develop organically. Nigel Wilcock is executive director of the Institute of Economic Development
4. PRIORITISE PEOPLE OVER CARS The high street of the future will – I hope – not be full of cars, vans, and HGVs. While cleaner fuels are part of the solution to air pollution, replacing 30 million petrol and diesel cars with 30 million electric cars is an expensive and wasteful ‘solution’ that still leaves our towns and cities choked with traffic jams. Nor are driverless cars a ‘silver bullet’ either: as mass transport, they too perpetuate a degraded public realm that prioritises people separated by glass-and-metal cages, pushing active travel to the margins of street space. The high street of the future will be a pedestrian-priority space. It will be easy to reach and traverse by human-friendly forms of transport, including bikes and e-cargo bikes, mobility scooters, and light hybrid pedal/electric vehicles, accessed by high-quality, spacious cycling infrastructure and accessible quiet streets. Light rail will provide safe, efficient, and non-polluting access for longer trips. Ultra low-emission zones and the air quality agenda generally will help to drive this change. Without the need for most public space to be allocated
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for cars (parked or moving), space will be freed up for parks, seating, play, and socialising. There will be many street markets, reflecting the different character of local areas, with cargo cycle delivery on offer for many items. Rachel Aldred is reader in transport at the University of Westminster
“THE HIGH STREET OF THE FUTURE WILL BE A PEDESTRIANPRIORITY SPACE, EASY TO REACH AND TRAVERSE BY HUMANFRIENDLY FORMS OF TRANSPORT”
“WE NEED TO PROTECT MUSIC VENUES FROM NEW RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS THAT CAN THREATEN THEIR FUTURE” 5. LET THE MUSIC PLAY ON Music venues are destination attractions; they can bring people into a city centre and bars and restaurants can benefit from this added footfall. They make city centres exciting places for residents and visitors; they feature in student guides and add to a city’s cultural experience. If we want to keep our existing bars, clubs, music venues and casual dining experiences in centres and potentially grow them to fill the gaps left by shops closing, we need the right economic and placemaking strategy. Venues are struggling with the huge costs of business rates and sky-high rents, unhelpful licensing authorities and rising staffing costs. We have a fantastic music industry, but it relies on music venues to sustain artistes’ development and finances. We need to protect venues – we need them to be economically sustainable, and protect them from new residential developments that can threaten their future. The adoption of the ‘agent of change’ principle into national planning guidance is a great step forward. However, we are at the mercy of local planners; many have not adopted this into local planning policies or are not taking the guidance on board. Local councils need to use the agent of change principle to keep our cities vibrant, exciting places.
n Julie Tippins is head of compliance at music venues operator DHP Family
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T H E F U T U R E H I G H S T R E ET
6. RUN THE HIGH STREET LIKE A BUSINESS The high street is still likely to be the focus for many communities, although the retail offer is likely to be proportionally less. Successful high streets are likely to be those that adapt to online retailing and diversify their offering. There will be a need to embrace flexible land use. ‘Experiences’ will be key to future prosperity. Shared spaces will become more common (we are already seeing this with shared offices and occupier collaborations, such as Sainsbury’s/Argos). General advances in technology present opportunities that high streets must embrace – the digital economy, electric vehicles and ‘final mile’ logistics. There may be fewer car parking spaces, as there is increasing investment in public transport infrastructure and congestion measures in successful centres. There will need to be better provision for an ageing and arguably less mobile population.
Rather than tinkering with the planning system (other than updating the use classes), the future of town centres will crucially depend on how they are treated by local authorities. Centres that do well are likely to be those where there is significant public sector investment in partnership with the private sector. Local authorities will need to run their town centres like businesses, reinvesting income to maintain and enhance their attractiveness to users, applying sound asset management principles. Malcolm Sharp is chair of the National Retail Planning Forum
“LOCAL AUTHORITIES WILL NEED TO RUN THEIR TOWN CENTRES LIKE BUSINESSES, REINVESTING INCOME TO MAINTAIN AND ENHANCE THEIR ATTRACTIVENESS TO USERS”
7. LOOSEN THE REGULATIONS Rigid planning, leaseholds with upwards-only rent reviews and business rates penalise certain occupiers for having property. Unless you are a major retailer, investing in any physical retail property is a major undertaking. Most investment is from the private sector, with market-driven solutions. We need to open up the high street. Although the coalition government loosened up permitted development rights, local “WE NEED TO OPEN UP THE HIGH planning authorities STREET AND LOOSEN rolled them back with RESTRICTIONS” article 4 determinations. We need national planning policy to be much more open to other uses, for example, live/work, residential and offices, and nurseries. But the key challenge is fractured ownership, as there isn’t cohesive ownership for most high streets. Business Improvement Districts, however, are very helpful in pulling together fragmented ownership. Markets have to be able to react to change and IT will have a huge impact. Successful retailers are already taking a multichannel approach. Our banks, for example, are stores rather than branches and our model is a retail one. Unlike other banks, customers can have a complete retail transaction, meaning that you can walk in without an appointment and walk out 15 minutes later with a bank account and a bank card. Or you can treat the store as a click-and-collect facility, order your card online and pick it up in-store. Calum Ewing is head of property at Metro Bank
8. EMBRACE THE ‘FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION’ What we call the ‘decline’ of the high street could just be an overdue transition of high streets – a result of the fourth industrial revolution (driven by digitisation). An example is how we’re changing how we use space, in new and agile ways of utilising existing built structures – for example, Airbnb revolutionising living spaces, WeWork revolutionising office spaces and AppearHere revolutionising retail space.
So imagine pop-up shops but working on the same kind of ‘rent a shop for the weekend’ or ‘office-by-day and bar-by-night’ basis – all facilitated with digital technology. The future of town centres will be characterised by the use of ‘space as a service.’ We’re also seeing the emergence of responsive infrastructure, such as digital street furniture and sensors embedded into the public realm. Some of these have
built-in extensible technology that provides Wi-Fi and they are changing the way we view adverts or experience the city. Immersible technology could even change how we experience streets (imagine a new digital layered experience with the help of augmented reality). Nissa Shahid is bid manager for the Digitising Planning and Standards Directorate at the Connected Places Catapult
n Serena Ralston is a freelance journalist specialising in planning and the built environment
Calum Ewing and Ojay McDonald will be speaking on ‘Town centres reimagined’ at the RTPI Planning Convention on 19 June 2019 at County Hall in London.
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M I N E R A LS A N D B I O D I V E R S I T Y
AHEAD OF THE 2019 MINERALS PLANNING CONFERENCE, MARK SMULIAN LOOKS AT HOW THE MINERALS EXTRACTION INDUSTRY IS APPROACHING THE CHALLENGE OF PLANNING FOR BIODIVERSITY NET GAIN WITHIN ONE OF THE UK’S MOST ENVIRONMENTALLY DISRUPTIVE INDUSTRIES When Cumbria County Council in March gave planning permission for a deep coal mine it could hardly have caused more outrage among environmentalists had it granted consent for a poison gas factory. Those opposed to fossil fuels were outraged. But coke will soon be mined near Whitehaven, and the episode is a reminder that proposals to dig large holes in the ground and extract minerals are almost always contentious on grounds of noise, traffic movements and pollution – though concern about seismic activity disturbing the nearby Sellafield nuclear power station was unique to this case. Cumbria has had to insist on a great many environmental safeguards and eventual site restoration to make the application acceptable and must now grapple with how to measure the impact on biodiversity. It is an extreme example, perhaps, but proposals to extract opencast coal, sand, gravel and rock are fairly common. By a quirk of government policy, planning for minerals and waste in two-tier areas of England stayed with county councils when they lost other aspects of planning. Elsewhere, unitary planning authorities are responsible. Although it may not be possible to mollify people who object to mineral extraction near their homes, opposition may be lessened by ambitious and creative plans to restore the site after its minerals are exhausted. The best-known examples are gravel pits filled with water for recreation after their use ends. It does not end there. Biodiversity covers both creatures and plants in their broadest senses and National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states: “Planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by … minimising impacts on and providing net gains for biodiversity, including by establishing coherent ecological networks that are more resilient to current and future pressures.” The NPPF goes on to say local plans should “promote the conservation, restoration and enhancement of priority habitats, ecological
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networks and the protection and recovery of priority species; and identify and pursue opportunities for securing measurable net gains for biodiversity”. Further, it adds that planning permission should be refused if significant harm to biodiversity cannot be avoided, mitigated, or, “as a last resort, compensated for”.
Immeasurable biodiversity
NATURE
The government intends to require new developments to deliver an overall increase in biodiversity, and will use the forthcoming environment bill to mandate this. This will mean that developers must assess habitats and their condition before submitting plans, and demonstrate how they can improve biodiversity. Examples of this might include green corridors, tree planting or local nature spaces. How, though, is anyone supposed to measure something as variable and open to interpretation as biodiversity gain, or indeed establish what biodiversity is present in the first place? David Lowe, leader of Warwickshire County Council’s unusually large ecology, historic environment and landscape team, has been grappling with this conundrum. “We have a team working on net biodiversity gain as part of mineral policy, but that is unusual,” he says. “Biodiversity gain impact assessments are complicated for minerals, as you might look over five years for a housing development but for minerals it can be 30 years, and if you have a multi-phased site you have to work out how to measure that, as in certain areas there will be nothing happening and others will be dug out.” Thus, were one to measure biodiversity the day before work starts and measure it again the day it ends it would appear a near total loss, but mineral extraction goes in stages and “there is a calculation that can be done for biodiversity gain but you have to know what will happen over 30 years”, says Lowe. Landowners may be allies because they will want to use the site when extraction has finished and “most people want to know what they can do about biodiversity gain because there is nowadays little enthusiasm or demand for mineral workings’ common former use as landfill sites for waste”. Lowe adds: “In Warwickshire many landowners simply want to put land back to agriculture when it is finished, which helps with biodiversity.” Biodiversity gain is incorporated into all local plans in Warwickshire, including its five districts. But, says Lowe: “I think that is unusual as we have 12 ecological specialist officers and many places only have one, which makes it difficult to do.” Lowe fears such lack of resources will hamper
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planners’ ability to engage with biodiversity gain. “I’ve have been in meetings with the Treasury and DCLG to explain that most places do not have the ecological expertise to do this and it is a burden on local authorities – a new duty without the money needed to do it.” He says Defra is due to issue policy on biodiversity gain in June “and I’m not sure that will be fit for purpose”. Ben Kite, managing director of consultancy Ecological Planning & Research, thinks there could be a major opportunity for local authorities by becoming ‘banks’ for offsetting – the payments made by the minerals industry when it is for some valid reason prevented from providing biodiversity gain on the site concerned. Kite says: “Developers can pay for offsetting and we tried to find out how that money was used, but it is difficult to get anyone to tell you. “I suspect the money has been used properly, but I’m not clear if the sort of sustained effort needed for habitat sites is there.” Minerals firms could become biodiversity ‘banks’ by consolidating money paid by companies that have to pay for offsetting and using the resulting funds for “something really creative and special”. He adds: “Local authorities may set up such offsetting funds, but I think minerals operators could also get into that business.” Kite is, though, concerned about whether attempts to produce methods of calculating biodiversity can work in the real world. “It tells you about habitats but not species, so the information on biodiversity is not definitive,” he says. “If you have a woodland, these calculators will tell you it has X value but if it is between two other woods its value increases substantially because it will be part of a wildlife corridor, and it won’t tell you that. You can get odd and perverse outcomes.”
Landowners can be allies at some sites because they will want to use the site when extraction has finished
Unintended consequences Despite these technical complexities, rising public concern about environmental matters will help to push the government to act on increasing biodiversity. The RTPI, while having no objection in principle, can see problems. Policy officer James Harris says: “One concern is that biodiversity gain measuring will require very intensive long-term work by planners, ecologists and architects and many local authorities have less of that expertise than before. It is tricky to do.
THREE WAYS TO GAIN
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In 2017, the Minerals Products Association hosted a Restoration and Biodiversity Awards at its biannual Quarries and Nature event. These three winners illustrate the variety of what’s possible when seeking to restore and improve the biodiversity of former mining sites.
This project, one of Europe’s largest habitat recreation schemes, has recreated 785 ha of lowland heathland across 30 sites. It has included the landscaping of china clay tips and pits, the seeding of these sites with heathland plant species and the planting of thousands of native trees.
1. Landscape Scale Restoration: Cornwall China Clay District Restoration and Re-Creation of Lowland Heathland Mid-Cornwall is dotted with the spoil for centuries of clay mining.
2. Planned Restoration Award: Brickworth Quarry, Salisbury This award to Raymond Brown was for the forward planning of the restoration of a new area to be quarried at Brickworth for
construction aggregates. A coniferous plantation, it was originally broadleaf woodland and the soil carries a rich native seed bank. The project will remove the conifers and manage the restoration of native woodland – increasing the woodland area overall – with a view to creating habitats that benefit species like bats, dormice, great crested newts, birds and reptiles. 3. Innovation Award: New Scroggs SSSI, Northumberland
Alchemilla micans, Britain’s rarest lady’s mantle, is found at just a handful of sites in the North East – all grasslands with shallow soils over whinstone or dolerite. One site, Keepershield, contained a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) but had planning permission for quarrying. In the late 1990s, Hanson’s transplanted the entire habitat on to bare level whinstone in a corner of the site that will eventually form part of the restoration plan. It has been so successful that the new site is now an SSSI in its own right.
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“ONE CONCERN IS THAT BIODIVERSITY GAIN MEASURING WILL REQUIRE VERY INTENSIVE LONGTERM WORK BY PLANNERS, ECOLOGISTS AND ARCHITECTS”
“The government’s intention is to make biodiversity gain mandatory, which risks elevating it above the other objectives that planners have but which are not mandatory – for example, provision for accessible transport. “If you have two sites to choose from, will people go for the one that offers biodiversity gain rather than meeting any other objectives?” Harris says it also remains questionable whether money paid for biodiversity offsetting will be part of the normal developer contribution system like section 106 and CIL. “It isn’t clear, and that might affect projects in areas of marginal viability,” he says. Another concern is the proposed minimum 10 per cent biodiversity gain, leading to a blanket approach where even though a development on a greenfield site should deliver a great deal more than a 10 per cent gain, a project on a brownfield site with no biodiversity would be looking for “10 per cent of nothing”, says Harris, adding that it should be left to local authorities to set appropriate targets. He also thinks the government should resist the assumption that development automatically does damage and the planning system exists to mitigate it. Harris explains: “If you have planners working with people early you can have win-win-wins on I M AG E S | G E T T Y / A L A M Y / S H U T T E RSTO C K
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EVENT OPPORTUNITY David Lowe is presenting on minerals extraction, biodiversity and the 25-year environment plan at the 2019 Minerals Planning Conference in Manchester on 16 May. The event is jointly organised by the RTPI and the Mineral Products Association. bit.ly/planner0519-mpc
social, economic and environmental grounds, and it’s not just a tick box.” Industry body the Minerals Planning Association says its members already “deliver large-scale biodiversity enhancement as a matter of course” and have to date created 8,192 hectares of priority habitat, with another 11,458 hectares planned (see box Three ways to gain). Senior planning adviser David Payne says: “This data is drawn from surveys of member companies and probably understates the industry’s full contribution to biodiversity. “In the past the ‘net’ amount has not been recorded systematically, but much of this will inevitably be ‘net’ given the development of land with low-value habitats and creation of nature reserves in site restoration … measurement of ‘net gain’ over the lifetime of a minerals site will [in future] need to be mainstreamed.” The association has worked with Natural England and Defra to try to ensure that any metric developed to measure biodiversity gain primarily for housing and infrastructure will also work for minerals. Any workable metric must, says Payne, recognise that minerals can only be worked where they naturally occur and that minerals extraction is temporary, with restoration including biodiversity being progressively delivered throughout the operation of a site, typically over 10 to 25 years for sand and gravel, but longer for rock. Cumbria’s coal mine perhaps shows the difficulty of assessing biodiversity gain. It will be built on land and some extraction will take place there, although the bulk of the installation will be tunnelled under the sea. A report to Cumbria’s development committee that recommended giving permission with numerous conditions, says: “In terms of overall biodiversity, with the imposition of conditions requiring ecological management plans, I consider that any residual effects can be mitigated and that there would be no net loss in biodiversity as a result of the development.” There’s a ‘but’ coming. “However, whilst a net gain in biodiversity may be achievable long term, particularly taking into account the proposals to restore large parts of the main mine site to ecological areas, I cannot conclude that there would certainly be or reach the view there is likely to be net gain in biodiversity value under paragraph 170(d) of the NPPF.” This mine will surely not be the last project on which attempts to measure biodiversity lead to disputes and confusion.
n Mark Smulian is a freelance journalist specialising in the built environment
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Tech { L A N D S C A P E
P31 TECH P34 REGIONAL P38 DECISIONS P42 LEGAL P51 ACTIVITY
THE DATA DILEMMA
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up ought to be easily resolved. The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations), with which your employer must comply, sets out rules for collecting, handling and IN THE FIRST OF A TWOPART LOOK AT THE RELATIONSHIP storing data. But their primary concern is anonymity. Meanwhile, there is more BETWEEN PLANNING, DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND ETHICS, SIMON than a little opacity at large, and plenty WICKS CONSIDERS THE ETHICS OF DATA COLLECTION that can be done with ‘anonymous’ data. “GDPR in particular places a real do with that data? How do you store it? emphasis on the individual’s right to be You walk the same route every morning, More to the point, who owns it? What’s informed,” explains Emma Erskine-Fox, passing a bus stop with an electronic to stop the software company from a technology and data protection advertising display before turning left selling data collected under your specialist at law firm TLT. into a busy commercial street. Every day, name to another business? “In smart city contexts, data as you approach, the display switches Can you answer these is just being collected about to a brand or shop that you will shortly questions with confidence? you as you go and you don’t pass. In time, these adverts become more Data is potent currency. know that’s going on. But attuned to your own tastes and buying It’s also a battleground even if you know it’s being habits. Coincidence? for concerns around collected, do you know what One day you’re approached by a rs ki privacy, transparency, and it’s being matched with and representative of Uber offering you raw ne Fox manipulation by bad faith what assumptions are being data relating to travel patterns in and players. As a planner you are in the made about you?” around the town you work in. It would midst of this, particularly if you work in Control of our personal data is a be useful for the transport plan you’re the public sector in a place where ‘smart uniquely contemporary dilemma. But putting together. Do you buy it? city’ technologies are taking root. in the Facebook age, is it really ever You’re using a third-party software In a sense, any ethical dilemmas the private? Or is it all public, whether we platform for a consultation that collects generation, storage and use of data throw like it or not? a range of personal data. What do you
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Tech T {LANDSCAPE If so, to what degree and under what conditions? Who’s setting the regulatory standard here and where should planners sit on this issue, ethically? Any answers are complicated by five truths: 1. Private actors in public spaces are collecting personal data in ways to which we have given consent, if only passively – or not. 2. They may be delivering services under contract to public authorities and generating data that's useful to planners. 3. Large companies may hold multiple contracts, thus multiple datasets. 4. Machine learning tools can analyse these and draw further inferences about 'anonymous' individuals. 5. This can add up to detailed, yet 'anonymous' profiles that inform the targeting of services at 'customers' who exhibit desirable characteristics.. Stefan Webb, director of digitising planning, and standards at Future Cities Catapult, argues that the ethical dilemma is less around data collection per se, but the collection of data for purely private or commercial purposes. “What’s interesting is the extent to which people perceive public use of this kind of data differently from private use,” he remarks. It’s a fair observation, and underpins the argument that publicly-minded use of data picked up as by-product by private firms is ethically acceptable. “If you can within the existing regulatory
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self-regulate. In either case, ErskineFox argues, to be forewarned is to be forearmed. You can mitigate potential harms, particularly by conducting a data protection impact assessment, Tools for control mandatory under GDPR. Though GDPR may offer a level of “It’s a really key compliance tool,” protection, smart city infrastructure she says. “It’s a really good overview of contains significant potential for what’s going on.” behavioural control. She continues: “At the “A smart lighting scheme same time I think that if on a residential estate – does “THE FEAR IS you think about things that have any implications THAT YOU ARE from an ethical perspective for peoples lives?” asks PUTTING IN and ‘If this were my data Rob Kitchin, director of PLACE A LARGE what would I want people the national institute for SURVEILLANCE to be doing with it and not regional and spatial analysis GRID, WHICH doing with it?’, that’s a at Ireland’s Maynooth MIGHT BE USED really good starting point. University. “Each light has its PERNICIOUSLY, Kitchin stresses the own IP address and you can OR IN A importance of transparent control it centrally. One of COMMERCIAL procurement processes the reasons that people are that address data issues interested in the lampposts is SENSE” at the outset. “If you’re that the infrastructure allows advocating putting smart you to do other things. lighting into an area and “The lighting bit is just you haven’t bothered to do one element of a connected your homework about the infrastructure. The fear is potential implications… that you are effectively putting in place “You go through a process of doing the a large surveillance grid. This might be scoping out studies and you would be used perniciously or in a commercial doing it with every technology. You’re sense. China, for example, has social asking questions about what data is scoring. They monitor behaviour and if going to be generated by this. your credits go below a certain level your “Transport for London is uniquely kids can’t go to certain schools.” good at this,” he notes. “They cover This punitive use of digital everything.” infrastructure has its commercial Webb stresses that it’s vital not to counterpart in the ‘nudge’ – for example, throw the digital baby out with the the appearance of a relevant advert ethically mucky bathwater. The range moments after you pass a sensor. “You of data that’s being generated now can can start to do things like social sorting, improve planning outcomes. predictive profiling and targeting people. “The risk is that historically the If you put mobile phone trackers on granularity and the assumptions that lampposts or bins, under GDPR you planners had to make about who they would say it’s anonymous. But if you’re were planning for was pretty blind. monitoring that every day, you start to Technology and data derived from know a lot about that person…” technology can give you a more nuanced For Kitchin this spins out into a much view. It won’t be political and it won’t bigger concern about citizen's rights and contain biases. the ownership of public space, which “We always talk about ‘How can we’ll explore in the next article. For now technology change and positively though, there is a simpler question: influence how we plan and what we should smart city tech be regulated? If plan for?’ It’s an awareness that tech can so, how and by whom? be your friend.” One thought is that regulation should be top-down, determined by public entities; another that the ‘market’ should Next month: Tech and the right to the city framework by purchasing private data deliver a cheaper service or a better outcome, then why are you not using it?”
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Nations & Regions focus { London: still the modern Babylon London is a successful, dynamic and diverse global city, an acknowledged centre for business and finance, the arts and culture. It is regarded by most of its residents and visitors as a fantastic place to live, work and visit. However, the city is not without its challenges. London, perhaps more than any other British city, is sensitive to the ebb and flow of political and commercial trends – in a sense, it could be seen as a barometer for other British cities. For example, Brexit uncertainty has had an impact on confidence in the region and house prices in prime areas have recently declined. Moreover, the city continues to grapple with the challenges that commercial success brings in the form of pressure on housing, transport infrastructure and public services alongside the need to ensure that London remains a city for all Londoners. London is a growing city, its population reaching a historic peak of around 8.8 million in 2016. How best to accommodate the future growth of the city is a central focus of the London Plan Examination, which is now under way. The current Mayor of London’s strategy is to protect the Metropolitan
Green Belt that surrounds the city and accommodate more growth in London’s many suburbs on ‘smaller sites’. Delivering this strategy will inevitably mean significant growth and change in the outer London boroughs. There is also a renewed push to deliver more affordable homes in planning decisions, and the mayor is tackling air quality and its health effects with the introduction of an Ultra Low Emission Zone from April 2019. To cater to industry, many London boroughs are planning to accommodate sectors such as light industry and car
repair businesses – the less ‘glamorous’ forms of employment – more efficiently and alongside other uses, as will be seen in new developments at Old Oak in West London and Brent in North London. The capital is also experiencing major transport infrastructure upgrades, with Crossrail, High Speed 2 (HS2), Heathrow’s third runway and the Bakerloo line extension opening up new opportunities for growth, but also bringing additional challenges for citizens and planners. As with any major capital, it is a city in a state of dynamic flux – don’t expect that to change any time soon.
IN THE PIPELINE
Bakerloo Line Extension Transport for London is planning an extension of the Bakerloo Line from its current terminus at Elephant & Castle to Lewisham via Old Kent Road and New Cross Gate, including two new stations. The scheme could be running by 2029 and its corridor could enable 30,000 new homes. bit.ly/planner0519-Bakerloo
Meridian Water, Enfield A £6 billion, 20-year regeneration programme led by Enfield Council that aims to bring 10,000 homes and
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thousands of jobs to North London, plus community facilities and a new railway station. The site neighbours the Lee Valley Regional Park. bit.ly/planner0519-Meridian
Royal Docks, Newham This project will transform disused docklands next to London City Airport to create thousands of homes, visitor destinations and a business area within London’s only Enterprise Zone to specialise in bioscience and green technology. bit.ly/planner0519-RoyalDocks
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London FACTFILE 2019
Area: 611 square miles Population: 8.78 million (Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimate) Main population centres: London’s population density is about 14,381 people per square mile compared with a UK average of 704. The UK’s 20 most densely populated boroughs are all in London, with Islington topping the list at about 40,976 people per square mile (based on 2017 ONS population estimates), followed by Tower Hamlets, Hackney, and Kensington and Chelsea. London’s least populous borough is Bromley, with about 5,681 people per square mile. UK Parliamentary constituencies: 73 (46 Labour, 21 Conservative, 3 Liberal Democrat, 3 The Independent Group) Greater London Authority representatives: Mayor of London (Labour); Assembly Members: 25 – 14 representing combined boroughs, 11 London-wide (12 Labour, 8 Conservative, 2 City Hall Green, 2 Brexit Alliance, 1 Liberal Democrat) Planning authorities: 32 borough councils, 2 development corporations (London Legacy DC and Old Oak and Park Royal DC), Mayor of London, City of London RECENT SUCCESSES
Agar Grove, Phase 1a Agar Grove phase 1a was completed in 2018 and has delivered 38 high-quality social rented homes with Passivhaus accreditation. Existing residents have played an active role in shaping the future of their neighbourhood in this exemplar of how to do estate regeneration well. bit.ly/planner0519-AgarGrove
PLACE/Ladywell This temporary development provides 24 homes for homeless families who were living in poor-quality temporary accommodation. The ground floor provides space for community and commercial activities and brings life to a
I M AG E S | I S TO C K / S H U T T E R S TO C K / G E T T Y / H U F TON + C ROW
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site that had remained empty following the demolition of the Ladywell leisure centre. The ‘pop-up’ site will be relocated within Lewisham in 2020. bit.ly/planner0519-PlaceLadywell
Coal Drops Yard As its name suggests Coal Drops Yard is a former storage space for coal deliveries at King’s Cross. The restoration of this pair of long Victorian warehouses by renowned architect Heatherwick Studios has created a new public space and high-end retail space within the wider redevelopment of King’s Cross. http://bit.ly/planner0519-CoalDrops
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LANDSCAPE
London INSIGHT: MERIDIAN WATER
Peter George is Meridian Water programme director for Enfield Borough Council Meridian Water is a 25-year, £6 billion development. One of the largest regeneration projects in the UK, it encompasses 55 hectares next to the Lee Valley Regional Park and has the potential to achieve 10,000 new homes and 6,000 jobs. Enfield has challenging housing targets, so this is an opportunity on a large brownfield site to make a major contribution to housing need over the next couple of decades. It’s a mixture of industrial land and big gas holders. Until the council intervened to lead the project, the private sector was deterred by risks including multiple ownership and the need for remediation. So the council bought land from different landowners; it now owns around 70 per cent of the site. We’ve spent £280 million on the site to date including £40 million towards the cost of the new Meridian Water railway station that opens in May 2019. We’re literally putting Meridian Water on the map. This displays the public sector at its best. Rather than just building homes, we’re taking the role of the master developer to deliver housing, social and physical infrastructure, employment and public realm. We’re looking for Meridian Water to have the most active ground
Enfield Borough Council‘s decision to buy land at Meridian Water has assuaged remediation concerns
floor of any development in London. Two-thirds of the ground floor will be non-residential and we’re working on an outline planning application for 2,000 homes, to include 22,000 square metres of workspace and 200 live/work spaces. We’ve already gained consent for 725 homes, and next month we’ll announce the first developer. The project is organised in a way that will prioritise creating positive benefit to local people in terms of creating employment opportunities, housing and access to space. We’ve got an area action plan with the inspector at the moment that seeks a minimum of 40 per cent affordable housing. The aspiration is to achieve 50 per cent where it is viable.
EVENTS
Mock Inquiry 16 May, Inner Temple A real case is used as the basis for a mock public inquiry to provide training in giving evidence. bit.ly/planner0519-Mock
SIGNPOSTS
Alternative Visions of King’s Cross Tour, 25 June An event open to RTPI London and RTPI East of England members. Guide Lester Hillman has worked on the transformed urban quarter. bit.ly/planner0519-KingsCross
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London Planning Battles: The Heron Tower 30 May, 70 Cowcross Street Former adversaries discuss this most controversial of planning decisions. Did the Heron Tower change London for better or worse?
RTPI London Summer Social 25 July, Bermondsey Join colleagues from RTPI London and KDH Associates for our annual Summer Social, set within the railway arches of Bermondsey.
bit.ly/planner0519-Heron
bit.ly/planner0519-Summer
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The first homes will be completed in 2021/22. But we’ll be taking advantage of meanwhile opportunities to create a sense of place. For example, we have a deal with a company called Building Bloqs to provide the UK’s largest makerspace workshop. We also have warehouses that are bigger than Printworks at Canada Water. The Drumsheds is a new 10,0000-capacity music and cultural venue; we’re hosting the Field Day music festival there this summer. When the first homes go on site in two years’ time, it won’t be ‘where’s Meridian Water?’. The area will already have a positive connotation for people. www.meridianwater.co.uk
n Chair James Preece, james.preece@rbkc.gov.uk n Regional web address: www.rtpi.org.uk/the-rtpi-near-you/rtpi-london/ www.rtpi.org.uk/events/events-calendar/?r=4844 www.rtpi.org.uk/the-rtpi-near-you/rtpi-london/ young-planners-in-london/ n Email: london@rtpi.org.uk n Twitter: @RTPI_LONDON J U LY I S S U E :
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www.rtpi.org.uk/convention2019 #plancon19
The future of planning What’s next? 19 June 2019, London BOOK NOW Keynote speaker: Mark Prisk MP MP for Hertford and Stortford and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Housing and Planning
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LANDSCAPE
C&D { C
CASES &DECISIONS
A N A LY S E D B Y M A T T M O O D Y / A P P E A L S @ T H E P L A N N E R . C O . U K
Notice upheld against 2,000-tonne ‘waste mountain’ in Newark An inspector has upheld enforcement action against a 10-foot ‘waste mountain’ containing medical refuse that has been in place since 2015, after a criminal investigation by the Environment Agency failed to secure any prosecutions. In early 2015, waste contained in large hessian sacks was dumped on land near a residential area of Newarkon-Trent. The Environment Agency estimated that the site contained 2,000 tonnes of waste, piled 10 feet high. Although most of the waste comprised household and commercial waste, the pile also included food and medical waste. Residents complained that the waste produced “offensive odours” in warm weather and had been attracting vermin. The agency commented that it does not pay for the removal of waste because “it could be seen as an encouragement to those who operate illegally”. It raided the site as part of a national operation known as Operation Encore, and a number of arrests were made. However, the subsequent criminal investigation found insufficient evidence to bring a prosecution, and the agency was unable to seek costs to cover the clean-up of the site. The site owner said the waste had been “deposited by a trespasser without its knowledge or consent”. It obtained an order of costs against the trespasser, who
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EXPERT ANALYSIS Chris Barnfather, planning and licensing committee chairman, Nottinghamshire County Council ( “I am pleased with the inspector’s decision to dismiss the appeal, which I am sure will come as a relief to the residents and businesses who have had to live in the shadow of this unauthorised waste site for more than three years. Like them, I look forward to the site being cleared and restored as soon as possible.
( “The planning inspector supported our view that waste storage was a completely unacceptable use of land at this location and that the terms of our enforcement notice, requiring clearance of the site within a threemonth compliance period, is reasonable.
( “The dumping and unauthorised
LOCATION: NewarkonTrent AUTHORITY: Nottinghamshire County Council
INSPECTOR: J A Murray PROCEDURE: Written submissions DECISION: Notice upheld REFERENCE: APP/ L3055/C/18/3206116
was subsequently declared bankrupt. The site owner then entered into negotiations with the council with a view to selling
it the site, but the council withdrew in May 2018, instead issuing an enforcement notice requiring the appellant to clear the site within three months. Inspector J A Murray found no demonstrable need for the site to be used for waste storage, noting that there is a licensed and operational landfill site two miles away. Murray noted that the waste pile, which was visible from the road, was exposed to rain and sits on a permeable base with no engineered drainage system, creating a risk of contamination from run-off water. The appellant argued that the compliance period of three months required by the council was unreasonable,
storage of waste is a growing national problem which blights communities, and I welcome initiatives by the Environment Agency to prosecute those responsible. As the Waste Planning Authority, we will continue to hold landowners to account where they are storing waste without permission.”
indicating that a specialist waste operator would need to be contracted, which would take nearer to 12 months. Murray did not consider this justification to extend the notice, pointing out that neighbours had had to “contend with the environmental consequences of the waste since 2015”. The appeal was dismissed.
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These are just a few of the 40 or so appeal reports that we post each month on our website: www.theplanner.co.uk/decisions
‘Truly outstanding’ paragraph 79 home would not be isolated An inspector has rejected plans for a home in the Mendip Hills AONB despite its ‘truly outstanding’ design, as it could not be considered ‘isolated’ under NPPF paragraph 79 in light of the Court of Appeal ‘Braintree judgment’.
Brokenshire blocks Hertfordshire green belt gravel extraction The communities secretary has refused plans to extract 1.75 million tonnes of sand and gravel near Hertford, rejecting the appellant’s request for him to consider a revised scheme to extract 1.25 million tonnes. In 2016 the appellant, quarrying company RJD Ltd, applied for permission to extract 2.6 million tonnes (Mt) of sand and gravel at the appeal site, comprising 36 hectares of green belt land north of Hertford. That application was revised down to 1.75 Mt before being rejected by the council. Communities secretary James Brokenshire referred to NPPF paragraph 146, which allows mineral extraction in the green belt, provided that any operations would preserve openness. The appeal scheme would accord with this condition, he found, considering that the machinery and equipment to be used would “to some extent impair openness”, but would not reach a “tipping point”. But he was not satisfied with the proposed restoration works, noting that the restored landform would give the landscape an “artificial, crumpled appearance”. A Rule 6 party formed of local people raised concerns at the inquiry over the scheme’s impact in terms of noise, dust and air quality, drawing particular attention to LOCATION: Bengeo, Hertford the primary school 350 metres from the proposed AUTHORITY: Hertfordshire County boundary of the site. Council Brokenshire agreed with the inspector’s view that INSPECTOR: John Woolcock the scheme’s impact would be unacceptable in PROCEDURE: Recovered appeal this regard. Although Brokenshire DECISION: Dismissed agreed that the mineral supplies the scheme would REFERENCE: APP/ provide should carry “great M1900/W/17/3178839 weight” in its favour, he said that the harm he had identified was decisive, and dismissed the appeal. I M AG E S | S H U T T E RSTO C K / A L A M Y
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The appellants sought permission for a ‘paragraph 79’ home, referring to the NPPF paragraph that allows new homes in isolated locations if they are of “exceptional quality”. The home would be built on a vacant field in the Mendip Hills area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB). Inspector S J Papworth referred to a recent Court of Appeal ruling known as the Braintree judgment, which established that the word “isolated”, which is not defined in the NPPF, should be given its ordinary objective meaning of “far away from other places, buildings or people; remote”. Papworth noted that the appeal site’s surroundings were recognised as a hamlet, and so could not be considered isolated. The fact that the council cited a threat to the privacy of an existing home in its reasons for refusing the appeal scheme reinforced his view, he said. Although he agreed that the design of the home should be regarded as being
LOCATION: South Widcombe AUTHORITY: Bath & Northeast Somerset Council
REPORTER: S J Papworth PROCEDURE: Hearing DECISION: Dismissed REFERENCE: APP/ F0114/W/18/3208289
“of truly outstanding quality” when considered in isolation, “possibly as a standalone sculptural form”, Papworth ruled that its failings stemmed from not being truly isolated. He acknowledged that the design process had been “rigorous and borne out of considerable experience”. But, he ruled, “no matter the intrinsic quality of the design”, owing to its size and nature, the proposal would fail to fit in with its surroundings. The appeal was dismissed.
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C&D { C ‘Alien-like’ Lambeth tower would harm view of ‘Big Ben’
LOCATION: Lambeth AUTHORITY: Lambeth Borough Council INSPECTOR: Tim Wood PROCEDURE: Written submissions DECISION: Dismissed REFERENCE: APP/ N5660/W/18/3201837
The appeal site comprised a five-storey block of flats in Lambeth, South London. The appellant sought permission to demolish the flats, which were completed in 2010, to make way for a 15-storey residential tower. The £6.6 million development would provide only 11 flats, including a double-height penthouse. Lambeth Borough Council received more than 100 letters of objection to the scheme, which was described variously as a “hideous
Caravan couple evicted after 10-year barn restoration delay An inspector has upheld enforcement action against a couple living in a static caravan while restoring a listed barn in Gloucestershire, finding that they had made little progress on the works for a decade. In 2009, the appellants bought a dilapidated grade-II listed barn in the Gloucestershire countryside, with the stated intention of converting it into a home. Around the same time, they installed a static caravan on the site to live in while the works were undertaken. Permission to convert the 18th century barn, initially granted in 2007, was renewed in 2011. In that decision, the council also granted a temporary permission allowing the caravan to remain for two years while works on the barn were completed. In 2014, after little
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progress had been made, the council extended permission for the caravan for two years. When this extension expired, however, local residents complained that the couple were using the
eyesore”, a “horrendous monstrosity”, and a “horrific alien phallus”. The council was more concerned by its impact on a view of the Elizabeth Tower (known commonly as Big Ben) from the nearby Kennington conservation area. It described the “unexpected” view of an “instantly recognised building” as a “delight to the viewer”. Inspector Tim Wood agreed that the Palace of Westminster was iconic and
given its World Heritage Site status, the council was right in seeking to protect the view. The proposed tower would appear to one side of Big Ben, Wood noted, and would appear taller in perspective. Although it would not block the view, he considered, it would “compete” with it. Agreeing with Historic England’s view that the structure’s appearance would “contrast dramatically with its surroundings”, the inspector dismissed the appeal.
renovation scheme as a “guise” to live on the site indefinitely, and called for them to be evicted. In 2018 the council issued an enforcement notice requiring the removal of the caravan. The appellants argued that groundwater drainage problems and a legal dispute over ownership of part of the site were responsible for the delays, insisting that the works would be completed by June 2020 if they were granted another extension.
Inspector Tim Belcher noted that one of the appellants was “doing 20 per cent of the conversion works himself”. Work on listed buildings “needs to be carried out by a competent contractor”, he noted. Concluding that he “had no confidence” that the works would be finished by 2020, Belcher dismissed the appeal.
I M AG E S | S H U T T E RSTO C K / I STO C K / A L A M Y
Plans for a £6.6 million 15-storey tower described by local residents as a ‘horrific alien phallus’ have been blocked because the development would damage a protected view of the Palace of Westminster.
LOCATION: Huntley, Gloucestershire AUTHORITY: Forest of Dean DC INSPECTOR: Tim Belcher PROCEDURE: Written submissions DECISION: Notice upheld REFERENCE: APP/ P1615/C/18/3206277
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DECISIONS DIGEST{
SUBSCRIBE to our appeals digest:
https://subs.theplanner. co.uk/register
‘Special circumstances’ at nursery in fiveyear green belt battle A horticultural nursery in Berkshire can install a public sales area contrary to green belt regulations, an inspector has ruled, following a five-year legal battle that saw an intervention from constituency MP Theresa May. bit.ly/planner0519-Nursery
Retirement scheme’s affordable housing offer is short by £1.2m In rejecting its plans for 33 retirement living apartments in Chingford, an inspector has dismissed a developer’s contention that its offer of less than half the affordable housing contribution required by local policy was justifi ified ed o on viability grounds. bit.ly/planner0519-Chingford ly/planner0519-Chingfor
‘Floating boat shed’ is not a building, rules inspector An inspector has quashed an enforcement notice against a floating structure used to repair boats near Windsor, ruling that on balance it could not be considered a ‘building’ for planning purposes. bit.ly/planner0519-Boatshed
Abbey Road Studios advert plan fails to come together An inspector has rejected an appeal by the world-famous Abbey Road Studios against Westminster City Council’s refusal of an internally illuminated advertisement. bit.ly/planner0519-AbbeyRoad
Council must pay costs for ‘rigid adherence to policy’ Croydon Borough Council “failed to apply a pragmatic ch” and common-sense approach” in refusing plans to convert a redundant dental surgery into nto und. offices, an inspector has found. bit.ly/planner0519-Croydon on
Gatwick runway land safeguarded despite national policy change
Backgarden home for 60 pet cats would harm greenn belt sed plans An inspector has dismissed ng in the for a timber-clad building lt to house Hertfordshire green belt ntirely 60 cats as part of an “entirely ding no domestic hobby”, finding ances very special circumstances to justify the scheme. bit.ly/planner0519 C Cats ats bit.ly/planner0519-Cats
A An iinspector t h has bl blocked k d plans l ffor three homes on land safeguarded for a future expansion of Gatwick Airport, despite the government having identified Heathrow as its preferred location for a new runway in 2016. bit.ly/planner0519-Gatwick
64 solar pane panels for one home not justified
Cricket cage is a bbuilding C ilding
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An inspector has blocked a homeowner’s plan to make his property independent of the National Grid by iinstalling 64 solar panels pan in an adjacent paddock, finding unacceptable green belt harm. bit.ly/ pl planner0519-Solar
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LLegal landscape OPIN IO N
Communities & decision-making Local authorities promising to exceed the statutory minimum of consultation can find themselves penalised if they fail to meet their promise. So should they just do the bare minimum? Constanze Bell says involving communities at the earliest opportunity can avert issues later on In R (Alconbury Developments) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions [2003] 2 AC 295 the House of Lords considered the compatibility of the appeals procedure with Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In the judgment of the court the right of parties to cross-examine witnesses and advance their case orally was a factor of critical importance1. However, the right of parties to participate in planning decision-making is (and should be) engaged long before the appeal process. Recent coverage of rich San Franciscan residents objecting to a proposed homeless shelter and violent protests in Rome against the housing of Roma people in a hostel highlight how vital community involvement is for the integrity of the planning system, but also how challenging it can be to get right. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires that a local planning authority must prepare a statement of community involvement (SCI)2. The SCI should set out how the local planning
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not been adhered to in several respects. The standards went beyond statutory requirements. The Court of Appeal held that the SCI was a “paradigm example” of legitimate expectation. The right to attend and be heard at planning committee, when authority will involve people enshrined in an SCI, is a who have an interest in matter of substance, not form. development matters in their In R. (on the application area. An SCI review must be of Kelly) v Hounslow LBC completed every five years [2010] EWHC 1256 (Admin) from the date of adoption3. the local planning authority’s A duty to consult arises SCI stated that objectors where: there has been would be invited to attend an established practice and make representations of consultation; where a at any relevant committee failure to consult will lead meeting. In to conspicuous unfairness “AN SCI REVIEW Kelly, the letter informing the amounting to an MUST BE claimant of the abuse of power4; COMPLETED details of the or – crucially EVERY FIVE meeting was sent for SCIs – where YEARS FROM too late and was there has been THE DATE OF only received a promise to ADOPTION” on the night of consult. the meeting. Local planning The court held authorities that that the letter adopt ambitious and SCI created a legitimate SCIs may find themselves in expectation of notification; difficulty when they fail to notification had to be in honour their requirements. time to enable a person to Legitimate expectation effectively exercise the right comes into existence when to address the committee. there is a promise or a Promising a high standard practice to do more than what of involvement in an SCI can is required by statute. In R. create fertile ground for legal (on the application of Majed) challenge if such promises v Camden LBC [2009] EWCA go unfulfilled. An obvious Civ 1029, the Court of Appeal problem is the creation considered a case where of a perverse incentive the council's SCI, which set to adopt a ‘do minimum’ out the minimum standards position in the SCI. There for planning application is no legal requirement for notifications by letter, site local planning authorities to notice and advertisement, had
consult when reviewing and updating their SCI. Creating such a requirement and asking a community how they wish to be involved rather than telling them what to expect, is worth serious consideration to ensure public support for a plan-led system. Constanze Bell is a barrister with Kings Chambers specialising in planning, licensing, public and environmental law 1
See R (Alconbury Developments) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions [2003] 2 AC 295, at [42] 2 at section 18 3 By virtue of regulation 10A of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended) 4 See R (BAPIO Action Ltd) v SSHD [2007] EWCA Civ 1139, at paras 41 to 47, per Sedley LJ; R (Plantagenet Alliance Ltd) v Secretary of State for Justice [2015] 3 All ER 261 , at para 98 and R (Bhatt Murphy) v Independent Assessor [2008] EWCA Civ 755 at paras 47-50 and 58-9 per Laws LJ
In brief Community engagement is integral to good planning decisions Local authorities’ duty to consult is enshrined in statements of community involvement (SCIs) SCIs create “legitimate expectations” which may discourage councils from being ambitious with their consultation strategy Though not required to, authorities should consider involving communities themselves in shaping their SCI, to help them understand what communities actually want
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EVENTS
CASES
LEGISLATION
NEWS
ANALYSIS
NEWS Croydon couple to pay £100k POCA fine Croydon Crown Court has ordered a couple to pay a total of £136,240 for renting out a property despite being served with a council enforcement notice requiring its demolition. At previous trials, the court heard that in January 2012, Derek and Susan Stansbury bought the building containing nine flats at auction. They were aware that an enforcement notice was in place for the property to be demolished and the debris cleared from the site. Council officers wrote to the pair following the purchase to remind them it needed to be demolished. The notice was ignored and the property continued to be rented out. The enforcement notice had been issued to the previous owners because the building was not in accordance with the approved planning application. The couple were ordered to pay £100,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, a £10,500 fine, £25,500 in costs and a £240 victim surcharge.
Suspended jail sentence for Slough landlord A landlord has been found guilty of hiding families in windowless flats that had no planning permission. Slough Borough Council refused Talwinder Singh, 57, permission to build a block of six flats – but he built them anyway in Waterbeach Road, Manor Park, Slough. He was served a planning enforcement notice in September 2010, but continued to rent out the six flats to tenants. Singh informed the council’s building control and council tax departments that the property had been returned to a single dwelling in line with the enforcement notice. He installed temporary kitchens in the illegal flats, which were dismantled and removed when council officers were set to visit. He removed windows on the top-floor attic flats to give the impression that the rooms were not being rented out, leaving tenants with children without natural light. Tenants were charged an additional fee for council tax despite paying the council for only the one property he had declared. At Reading Crown Court, Judge Paul Dugdale told Singh he was an experienced landlord who had been “greedy” and prepared to inconvenience tenants to maintain the façade. Singh admitted two charges of failure to comply with an enforcement notice between December 2011 and December 2017, as well as the false representation in December 2012, contrary to the Fraud Act 2006. He was sentenced to a 15-month prison term, suspended for 18 months. He was fined £25,000 and ordered to pay £266,177 under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Slough Borough Council was awarded £18,826 in compensation for lost council tax and £23,130 in prosecution costs.
Hillingdon cracks down on illegal encampments The London Borough of Hillingdon has successfully applied for a High Court injunction prohibiting illegal encampments on more than 350 sites. The injunction, which refers to “persons unknown”, forbids caravans, mobile homes, vans and lorries from coming on to 358 specific sites for the purpose of occupying it or depositing waste. It also prohibits any person, whether travelling on to the land in a vehicle or not – from fly-tipping there. The list of restricted sites includes 290 parks and green spaces, along with leisure facilities, public car parks and car parks attached to public buildings such as libraries and theatres. There have been 41 land incursions in the borough since January 2018, leading to clean-up costs of about £200,000. The council anticipates that the injunction will act as a significant deterrent, while ensuring the quick removal of those who ignore it. The injunction will remain in force until 18 June, when the council will return to the High Court. If the injunction is working effectively in practice, the council will ask the court to extend it for three years.
LEGAL BRIEFS ‘Extended’ rights of way? Pia Eames of Shakespeare Martineau analyses the Court of Appeal’s recent ruling on whether a right of way granted to access one piece of land can be used for the benefit of accessing a second piece of land owned by the same person. bit.ly/planner0519-rights
Court of Appeal cuts scope of POCA confiscation orders Martin Goodall considers the implications of a recent Court of Appeal decision to reduce a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act. bit.ly/planner0519-POCA
Development Management: Law and Practice This well-established conference, held on 16 May in York, will see solicitors from Squire Patton Boggs and barristers from No 5 Chambers keeping planners up to date on development management law. bit.ly/planner0519-LawPractice
Climate change protestor faces prison An environmental activist faces a court appearance and possibly prison after he disrupted a Norfolk County Council budget meeting for four hours by singing protest songs in the council chamber, Local Government Lawyer reports bit.ly/planner0519-PublicOrder
Planning Bill and Legal Update Seminar This event, on Tuesday 7 May in Aberdeen, will provide an update on the Planning (Scotland) Bill, as well as other significant legislation and case law. bit.ly/planner0519-Aberdeen
Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Bill This bill, which will in practice ban most fees to tenants in Wales, passed stage three of legislative proceedings in the Welsh Assembly and shoud be law in September. bit.ly/planner-0519-tenants
Housing secretary concedes defeat over Croydon Tower The housing secretary has accepted that his decision to refuse planning permission for a 17-storey tower in Purley was not adequately substantiated and should be quashed, says Local Government Lawyer. bit.ly/planner0519-PurleyTower
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NEWS
RTPI {
RTPI news pages are edited by Will Finch at the RTPI, 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL
Three APC candidates commended for ‘exemplary’ submissions
Professor Nicky Morrison
Nick Hirst
Thomas Fleming
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Three candidates have been awarded commendations for the excellence of their submissions for the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC). Each year more than 500 candidates submit an application for Chartered membership of the RTPI via the APC. Candidates prepare a written submission to demonstrate that they have obtained the skills and competencies of a professional planner. The three commended candidates in 2018 were: Professor Nicky Morrison MRTPI; Nick Hirst MRTPI; and Thomas Fleming MRTPI. RTPI Head of Membership Martine Koch said: “Everyone at the RTPI would like to congratulate Nick, Thomas and Nicky. The competency-based APC routes to Chartered membership have been rigorously developed over the years to ensure candidates meet the highest professional standards. “Only a small proportion of submissions are commended, so this is a fantastic achievement. This accolade highlights three exemplary submissions for Chartered status.” Employers recognise the high-quality skills and experience that are held by Chartered Town Planners. With access to various member benefits, Chartered Members have the support of the Institute at every stage of their professional career and are encouraged to get involved to shape the work of the RTPI and widen the reach of planning. APC candidates can receive a commendation when applying through any of the three routes to Chartered membership – Experienced Practitioner (EP-APC), Licentiate (L-APC) or Associate (A-APC). Professor Morrison, who submitted her application through the EP-APC route, is currently Professor of Planning at Western Sydney University, Australia, and Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge. She is a highly experienced housing academic, with 25 years’ experience in examining how changes in government policy and market conditions impact on the housing sector, and specifically affordable housing delivery.
She explained that gaining chartered status gave her instant credibility. “It’s important as a planning academic to gain strong, professionally recognised credentials. We don’t just work in an ivory tower – our evidence-based research and strategic advice is grounded in practice.” Nick Hirst (L-APC), Planning Officer at Kirklees Council, said: “Achieving MRTPI status is important recognition of my professional competence, abilities and knowledge; not only to my colleagues and those I work with, but to myself. I’m well aware that my professional development must never stop, but by being MRTPI I can look forward to some great opportunities.” Thomas Fleming (L-APC) said: “Doing the APC process meant I was able to reflect on my employment, what I’ve learned and where I felt I could improve in practice. It also encouraged me to take a longer-term view of my professional development.” n Find out more about the APC: bit.ly/planner0519-APC QUALITY ASSURING THE APC
The RTPI recently completed annual training with its APC assessors. Training is an important part of the Institute’s quality assurance and ensures integrity in the APC process and assessment model. The Institute also conducts regular guidance reviews as a means of enhancing and continually improving the process for future applicants. Enhanced guidance is due to be launched in June 2019 and applicable to new candidates applying from January 2020. . n bit.ly/planner0519-membership 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
M Y V I E W O N … F E M A LE R O LE M O D E LS Chief Planning Officer Helen Martin was delighted to take part in the RTPI’s recent Future Chief Planner initiative When I started my career in local government over 20 years ago there were few female role models. Having aspirations and ambition are a lot easier when you look around and see people; see women, just like you. It makes those ambitions seem achievable and provides the motivation to challenge the norms and break through any glass ceilings. The chance to speak to women in senior roles and see for yourself what the job involves is empowering. This is why networks like Women in Planning and opportunities such as the Future Chief Planner initiative, which gives young planners the opportunity of shadowing a chief planning officer for the day, are an important part of ensuring that future generations of planners better reflect the communities they serve. n Helen is Chief Officer – Regeneration and Enterprise at
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. She has worked for a number of authorities across the West Midlands region, and has been at Dudley MBC for the past 14 years.
Helen (above, right) is pictured with Future Chief Planner Jennifer Joule (centre) and Dudley councillor Khurshid Ahmed
POSITION POINTS
PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN WALES DR ROISIN WILLMOTT, DIRECTOR RTPI CYMRU It is disappointing that the Welsh Government’s ‘Improving Public Transport’ consultation does not recognise the close links between land use and transport provision. These links are already recognised in planning guidance and the Technical Advice Notes used by planners. Planning Policy Wales (PPW) also clearly sets out the links between land use and active travel. Local Development Plans, which are an important part of the planning system in Wales, can give detailed consideration to such links. It is important that these plans are also recognised in relevant guidance and policy in relation to the provision of public transport including bus services. All sectors and stakeholders involved must recognise that the early provision of public transport to serve new developments, together with longer-term support mechanisms, is essential to establish sustainable travel patterns. Delaying such provision until developments are at an advanced stage is more likely to result in car-based travel patterns becoming established. For the full response, visit: bit.ly/planner0519-PublicTransport
GREATER MANCHESTER SPATIAL FRAMEWORK MERLIN TOLLEY, RTPI POLICY & NETWORKS ADVISER We welcome the revised Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF). Greater Manchester is the first city-region to produce this type of document in the North of England and the RTPI supports the pooling of planning powers. We’re following developments closely in preparation for possible future guidance for other combined authorities. The RTPI also strongly encourages the principles of strategic spatial planning and the benefits it brings to economic growth, the environment, social well-being and transport. However, the document’s housing policy could have been underpinned by more robust evidence and analysis if the combined authority had access to more resources, and this risks delaying and undermining the process through legal challenges. A delay in the GMSF would be unfortunate for the wider devolution agenda and illustrates the need for combined authorities and Local Planning Authorities to have sufficient capacity supported by adequate resourcing. For the full response, visit: bit.ly/planner0519-GMSF
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NEWS
RTPI { NEWS
Entries open now for Regional Awards
Planners from Yorkshire (left) and West Midlands regions celebrate winning RTPI Regional Awards for Planning Excellence in 2018
Hot on the heels of the RTPI’s national Awards for Planning Excellence, members in England can now enter their projects in their own region’s awards. RTPI‘s Regional Awards for Planning Excellence showcase positive planning across England and highlight the impact that the work of planners has had on communities.
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In 2018, regional award winners ranged from a project to provide special protection for overwintering birds on the Solent coastline (South East) to a new neighbourhood of 2,000 homes near Ipswich (East of England). Sarah Woodford, RTPI Head of English Regions, said: “The RTPI Regional Awards raise the profile of your schemes, your team and the significance
of your work within your organisation, throughout your region and beyond. “It’s a fantastic opportunity, particularly as all the regional winners, including for the first time all the Young Planners of the Year, will be automatically entered for our national awards in 2020.” It is free to enter – all you need to do is complete a simple entry form. Winners
and commended entries will be able to display the RTPI Awards Mark of Excellence on their online profiles and email signatures. Entries close on 28 June and winners will be announced at ceremonies taking place across the country this autumn. n For more information on how to enter visit: bit.ly/ planner0519-RegionalAwards
Future Places launch
Planning APPG
RTPI President Ian Tant was at international property event MIPIM in March to announce the five places chosen to take part in the Future Place programme. Future Place is a collaboration between the RTPI, RIBA, Chartered Institute of Housing and the
The RTPI is delighted to announce that it will act as secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Housing and Planning, chaired by Mark Prisk MP. The group had its 2019 annual general meeting on 27 March, with the RTPI handling the administrative duties for the first time. The APPG is in the process of drawing up a programme of meetings for the rest of 2019 to discuss issues that its members feel merit scrutiny.
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Local Government Association, and aims to recognise and support high-quality placemaking in England. The launch was one of a number of engagements for Ian and RTPI Chief Executive Victoria Hills at MIPM as they promoted UK planning expertise to global investors.
It is hoped that there will be a further three meetings during the year, with at least one involving a site visit. APPGs bring together groups of parliamentarians – both MPs and peers – with a shared interest in a subject, enabling them to work together across party boundaries to explore issues surrounding that subject. Although the groups are informal with no official status, they are able to publish reports and often bring their findings to the attention of ministers.
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G PLANNIN AHEAD MEMBER NEWS
Key dates for 2019 Do you have your ticket for the 2019 edition of the Minerals Planning Conference? This year’s event includes sessions on ‘Strategic Planning for Urban Mineral Demand and Rural Supply’ with Dai Larner (Executive Director, Regeneration, High Peak Borough Council/Staffordshire Moorlands District Council) and ‘Minerals Extraction and the 25-year Environment Plan’ with David Lowe (Team Leader, Ecology, Historic Environment & Landscape, Warwickshire County Council). There will also be updates from No5 Barristers Chambers and Mineral Products Association Chief Executive Nigel Jackson. The event is a must-attend for anyone with minerals planning in their remit, including planners, countryside-related agencies, environmental bodies and NGOs.
16 MAY
n To book your ticket visit: bit.ly/planner0519-mpc Join the conversation on Twitter using #mineralsplanning Get your entries in before 30 May for the RTPI Awards for Research Excellence. Among the awards on offer this year is the inaugural PSS Practitioners Research Fund, commemorating the Town and Country Planning Summer School, which for 80 years provided an opportunity for planning professionals to exchange views and promote education in the science and art of town and country planning. Entries to the PSS Practitioners Research Fund take the form of a research proposal, and two winners will receive £5,000 of funding to undertake the research outlined. RTPI Research Officer Dr Daniel Slade said: “The Research Awards are an excellent opportunity for planning researchers to boost their profile and promote their work to a worldwide audience.”
30 MAY
n For more details and to enter visit: bit.ly/planner0519-RE Join the conversation on Twitter using #RTPIResearchAwards Join us for our flagship event, and the biggest and most important gathering in the planning calendar, at etc. venues County Hall in London. This year’s Planning Convention examines the future of the profession and will feature a range of sessions, including an opportunity to put your questions to chief planners Neil Hemington (Welsh Government), Angus Kerr (Dfl Northern Ireland) and Steve Quartermain (MHCLG). Special interest sessions to choose from include ‘Town Centres Reimagined’, ‘What is Good Design?’ and ‘Merging Tech with the Practical’. Don’t miss this opportunity to network with fellow planners and keep up to date with the latest industry news and developments.
19 JUN
n Tickets start at £220+VAT – book at: bit.ly/planner0519-Con19 Join the conversation on Twitter using #plancon19
NEW CHARTERED MEMBERS Rebecca Bacon MRTPI Tillie Baker MRTPI Rae Baker MRTPI Camilla Burgess MRTPI Jason Butler MRTPI Astrid Coughlan MRTPI James Cox MRTPI Louise Myra Darch MRTPI Katherine Dowdall MRTPI Alec Drake MRTPI Paul Joyce MRTPI Alexandra Lavagna MRTPI Tamsin Law MRTPI Sarah Legge MRTPI Thomas Matheou MRTPI Mark McFadden MRTPI Philip Millard MRTPI Danielle Nevin MRTPI Emma Norman MRTPI Aisling O’Kane MRTPI Karen Phimister MRTPI Georgina Redpath MRTPI Matthew Rhodes MRTPI Elizabeth Sanders MRTPI Paul Thompson MRTPI Samuel Thorne MRTPI Charlotte Tucker MRTPI Layla Vidal-Martin MRTPI Duncan Wenham MRTPI Robert Wills MRTPI Maggie Zhu MRTPI
South East North West South West East of England South West London East Midlands Wales Northern Ireland West Midlands South East Wales Wales East Midlands London London South East South East South East London South West London Yorkshire London East Midlands West Midlands North East London North West Scotland London
Many congratulations to Christopher Tunnell FRTPI, the UK leader of planning for Arup, who has been elected Fellow of the RTPI in recognition of his major contribution to the planning profession for the benefit of the public.
CONDUCT & DISCIPLINE PANEL DECISION The RTPI Conduct and Discipline Panel has found one member of the Institute to be in breach of the RTPI Code of Professional Conduct. The Institute had received a complaint concerning Mr David Taylor and in line with our policy we had requested to see his professional indemnity insurance. Mr Taylor was unable to produce his documentation for the period of work covered by the complaint. His membership has now been suspended for six months. Members with any queries about the Code of Professional Conduct should contact Interim Complaints Investigator Ruth Richards: ruth.richards@rtpi.org.uk
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ADVERTISEMENTS
Recruitment { Senior Planning Policy Officer x2 Grade 10 - £32,878 to £34,788 per annum - 37 hours Senior Planning Officer (Enforcement) Grade 10 - £32,878 to £34,788 per annum - 37 hours Neighbourhood Planning Officer Grade 10 - £32,878 to £34,788 per annum ( pro rata) - 22.2 hours Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is building up its Planning team.
In addition you will be assisting in the preparation of the Joint Local Plan.
We are based in a very attractive and affordable part of the West Midlands with the Peak District and the Shropshire Hills on our doorstep.
We have a vacancy for a Chartered Town Planner to be our Senior Planning Officer (Enforcement) to lead on planning enforcement; to develop and implement enforcement policy and systems and to undertake the preparation of expediency reports on enforcement cases and make recommendations on a range of applications.
Are you interested in: • Enjoying getting involved in a diverse mix of urban and rural issues and meeting the challenges of the widest spread of affluence and deprivation in Staffordshire? • Enjoying the challenge of joint working as part of the preparation of a Joint Local Plan with the Stoke-on-Trent City Council which is addressing greatly increased housing needs and constraints such as Green Belt and development viability? • Enjoying the benefits of working in a small busy team, where your opinion will be highly valued and your enthusiasm, motivation and professionalism is important? • Enjoying the benefits of working for an authority committed to your training and development?
If this appeals to you and you are a dynamic and enthusiastic Chartered Town Planner, eager to play a key role in influencing the exciting changes ahead in the Borough and North Staffordshire, perhaps you’d like to come and work for us as one of our two Senior Planning Policy Officers. We are also looking for a motivated Chartered Town Planner keen to work with and advise local communities in the development of their Neighbourhood Plans. As the Council’s Neighbourhood Planning Officer you will be the primary point of contact for communities with the Council and will manage the Council’s involvement. You will provide appropriate technical advice, undertake, supervise and advise on community involvement and consultation with all appropriate stakeholders in relation to Neighbourhood Plans in the Borough.
The post holder will assist the Development Management Manager in the supervision and direction of the Enforcement Officer. You will have development management experience within a local authority. The Senior Planning Policy Officer posts DD397 and BB72 and the Senior Planning Officer (Enforcement) post SPO17 are all Grade 10 - £32,878 to £34,788 p.a. (plus one spinal column point market supplement of between £899 and £1,155 p.a. until 31 August 2019 with a review this spring). The part-time 22.2 hrs per week Neighbourhood Planning Officer (Post DD399) is Grade 10 - £32,878 to £34,788 per annum ( pro rata) (12 month Fixed Term Contract). For an informal conversation contact either Jemma March (Planning Policy Manager) 01782 742408 extn 2477, or Elaine Moulton (Development Management Manager) 01782 742408 or Guy Benson (Head of Planning) 07961 668246. For the job description, person specification, application form, recruitment statement and guidance notes for all of the posts visit www.newcastle-staffs.gov.uk/jobvacancies or email us at Humanresources@newcastle-staffs.gov.uk or contact Human Resources on 01782 742265/742266 (24hrs). Closing date for all posts Sunday 12th May 2019.
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ADVERTISEMENTS To advertise please email: theplannerjobs@redactive.co.uk or call 020 7880 6232
Strategic Planning Manager
Senior Planner
Full Time | Competitive Salary
Wallace Land Investment & Management is a privately owned and funded land promotion company with a proven track record in the promotion and delivery of strategic land throughout Scotland & England. We are passionate about what we do and provide a personal and professional approach to the land owners we work to deliver the maximum value from every site we promote. Job Role: Reporting directly to the Owner and the Regional Manager your role will include the identification and planning review of new strategic land opportunities, alongside managing the planning promotion, application, and appeal of existing and new portfolio sites within Scotland and the North West of England to ultimately achieving marketable planning consents. The role will be based in the Edinburgh head office. The Person: A proven track record in the promotion of strategic land is essential (4+ years), with excellent negotiation and communication skills, both oral and written. Must be self-motivated to manage and deliver multiple large projects, and work on own initiative and resourcefulness. Other Specific Requirements: • A confident and professional networker. • An innovative thinker, with drive to seek out and pursue potential developement opportunities. • Must be fully IT literate in Microsoft packages - specifically Microsoft Excel and Word; as well as a working knowledge of Google Earth too. • Sound geographical knowledge of the job role’s area. • Ideally qualified to degree standard in planning with RTPI professional qualification. • Full UK driving licence. Application Process: Please send CV and Covering Letter to Senior Strategic Land Manager Alex Forsyth at alex@wallaceland.co.uk. Please visit: www.wallaceland.co.uk
Two exciting opportunities to join the Fuller Long team. A UK-wide Town Planning & Heritage Consultancy with a highly experienced team, Fuller Long is expanding and we are looking for two planning consultants to join our London office. At Fuller Long we work on a wide range of projects from small-medium scale through to larger residential and commercial schemes. We work with a range of clients including individuals, architects, developers and Councils. The Role We’re seeking two full-time Town Planners to join us in our London office. You’ll work with colleagues to generate new business whilst providing expert advice to our existing clients. We’re looking for self-motivated candidates to manage their own projects. You’ll have strong communication skills and be able to provide quality planning advice in a timely and organised manner. Skills & Experience • Minimum of 2 years’ town planning experience • Professional writing skills with the ability to provide clear advice on a range of reports • Ability to complete thorough research, presenting the findings in a precise way • Ability to work collaboratively is essential Main Duties: • Providing town planning consultancy services • Working on projects to meet client requirements and deadlines within budget • Attending meetings with clients/local planning authorities • Research and analysis of relevant planning policy • Assisting with submitting and monitoring planning applications and appeals • Liaising with external contractors.
We are looking to recruit a Senior Planner to join our development team. The Audley Group is a market leading provider of retirement communities. Since its launch in 1991, the Group has championed and reinvented the retirement property market; challenging the care home model and introducing as a first of its kind, the concept of luxury retirement villages for the over 55s. The market is critically underserved and Audley Group’s vision is to deliver an exceptional proposition to meet the growing demand from the UK’s older population for residential accommodation with care. We have consistantly fulfilled our promise to deliver exceptional customer service within exquisitely designed villages. The successful candidate will work in our planning team and be able to work on all aspects of the planning process from site acquisitions to ultimately presenting to the planning committee. The Audley Group has enjoyed a 100% success in achieving planning. Its communities are found nationwide with sites in the Green Belt, or centred on Listed Buildings, or in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, or as part of urban regeneration scheme. Please visit our website to learn more about our recent projects.: www.audleyvillages.co.uk The successful candidate will be ambitious and have approximately 10 years of post-graduate experience. We are based in Egham in Surrey and we are offering an extremely competitive salary with many additional benefits.
We are offering a competitive salary package for both positions based on experience.
Please apply in writing with your CV to Sandy Harris at sandy.harris@audleygroup.com by Tuesday 7th May 2019.
Please provide a covering letter and CV to hello@fullerlong.com. If you wish to discuss the roles further, contact our Head of Planning, Clare Preece on 0845-565-0281.
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INSIGHT
SHARKING WITH HESELTINE As the regular reader of this page will know, Plan B is tickled by the unintentional oddities of planning appeal rulings, and in particular the quirky – indeed sometimes poetic – interjections of the nation’s routinely prosaic planning inspectors. It’s these shardss o of pe personality so a ty within the e machine that both humanise inspectorss and allow us a glimpse of the human story ory that is too often rendered merely mechanical echanical by planning’s merciless bureaucracy. Indeed, there are times when these splinters nters of feeling give us a sudden n and striking insight sight into the quiet desperation of lives ground nd into human mince by the dread ad metal of planning’s relentless turning urning policy blade. Or something thing like that. Anyway, the e point is that we’ve read more than our share of inspectors’ missives and we’ve come acrosss some entertaining and peculiar ar stories on the way. But nothing thing Plan B has encountered d can match the surreality off a 1992 secretary of state determination ermination on an application for a nondescript Victorian semi-detached mi-detached house on a fairly ordinary ry suburban street in Oxford. The application cation in question was a retrospective e one that would allow the householderr to retain a 25-foot long fibreglass sculpture ulpture of a great white shark plunging ng through the roof of the applicant’s house as if it had just dropped out of the sky. y. Installed on n 9 August 1986, the 41st anniversary of the dropping of a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, gasaki, Untitled 1986 was, its owner Bill Heine eine claimed, a comment on this event, as well as the recent Chernobyl
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n Jaws for concern? Tweet us - @ThePlanner_RTPI
nuclear reactor disaster and the work of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. But the shark itself, though surprising, striking and odd, isn’t the truly surreal element of our story. The truly surreal element of our story is that, after six years of toing and froing with a perplexed and unimaginative council that didn’t want a gigantic shark projecting from the roof a local house, the Headington Shark inspired a series of philosophical musings on the nature of place in human societies on the part of Michael Heseltine, the secretary of state for the environment. Plan B contends that this is the most history enlightened appeal decision in the histor man of British planning. First off, the great ma recognises that the Headington Shark is a work of art and, as such, its incongruity is intrinsic to its nature as a work of art. Got it? It’s art, you fools – not cosy suburban domestic architecture. You wouldn’t expect Picasso to conform to your petty rules, would you? Eh? Second, Heseltine asserts, the shark, as with other works of art, has become a local landmark and has acquired affection locally. Yes, it’s a huge fibreglass shark jutting from the roof of a suburban semi in Oxford, but it’s been there long enough now to have become normalised. OK? So far, so cerebral. But Heseltine saved the best till last. Among the council’s reasons for refusal was the fear that Untitled
1986 would inspire a mushrooming of sharks on buildings in Headington. As if. “The council is understandably concerned about precedent here,” writes the hirsute one. “The first concern is simple: proliferation with sharks (and Heaven knows what else) crashing through roofs all over the city. This fear is exaggerated. In the five years since the shark was erected, no other examples have occurred. Only very recently has there been a proposal for twin baby sharks in the Iffley Road. But any system of control must make some small place for the dynamic, the unexpected, the downright quirky. I therefore recommend that the Headington Shark be allowed to remain.” This is beautiful. Yes, it’s enlightened and humane, but mostly it’s beautiful for the fact that a senior politician is writing in a bureaucratic document about “a proliferation of sharks crashing through roofs all over the city”. If the Headington Shark had been removed from Heine’s house the very next day, it would have achieved its goal of highlighting the absurdity inherent in the application of bureaucratic systems of behavioural governance to the anarchic spirit that distinguishes creative acts from the easily manipulated conformity that you feel governments prefer to deal with. Heseltine’s sincere explanation of the need for elasticity within bureaucratic systems completes the absurdity. Fibreglass sharks crashing through roofs exist outside of our normal categories; to treat them otherwise is insane. But the council’s application of rules means that Heseltine has to. Marvellous. Why are we telling this story now? Bill Heine, cinema owner, broadcaster, prankster and provocateur, died in March – but not before he had submitted an application to have the shark listed as a local heritage asset. It’s the punchline the joke deserves. Oxford City Council, you know what to do.
I M AG E S | I STO C K / G E T T Y
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THE MONTH IN PLANNING The best and most interesting reads, websites, films and events that we’ve encountered this month WHAT WE'RE READING... Place Value and the Ladder of Place Quality
WHAT WE'RE WATCHING... Grand Designs: The Street
Urban Good has produced a guide for decision-making about the built environment adapted from Place Alliance research and supported by the Design Network. It offers a tool for architects, planners, councillors and developers to assess and advocate for high-quality places.
This is, if you will, a ‘brand extension’ to Channel 4’s well-established Grand Designs. This series takes as its focus a specific street in Bicester’s Graven Hill development with Kevin McCloud following 10 households as they embark on a five-year mission to construct their own homes, “creating a brand new street in Britain’s biggest self-build project”. bit.ly/planner0519-street
WHERE WE'RE GOING... Each month the RTPI runs a range of free or low-cost events up and down the UK. Here’s our pick for the next few weeks. See the full calendar here: bit.ly/planner0419-calendar
bit.ly/planner0519-Urban
WHAT WE'RE READING... Untangling the Tracks
Heritage and the Changing High Street
This exhibition, at the London Transport Museum from 24 May, traces the history of Thameslink from 1866 through to the recent £7 billion modernisation programme. Of particular interest from a planning perspective is its look at the challenges of communicating major infrastructure projects to large audiences in creative ways. Also on display are models of the London stations that have been transformed.
15 May, St Albans City & District Council Civic Centre The East of England has an abundance of historic market towns, listed buildings and a rich urban heritage. This event will focus on maintaining the vitality of town centres.
bit.ly/planner0519-Thameslink
23 May, The Usual Place, Dumfries Scottish Land Commissioner
bit.ly/planner0519-heritage
Exploring the Influence of Land Reform on the Scottish Planning System
Lorne MacLeod and policy officer Kathie Pollard will talk about the Scottish Land Commission’s work on land use planning. bit.ly/planner0519-LandReform
London Planning Battles: The Heron Tower 70 Cowcross Street, London The Heron Tower public inquiry centred on plans for a 42-storey tower at 110 Bishopsgate. Speakers from both sides of the argument, including Peter Rees, former chief planner at the City of London, will reflect on what it was like to be involved in such a high-profile decision. bit.ly/planner0519-Heron
Ebbsfleet Garden City Tour
WHAT WE’RE PLANNING Our June Jun edition focuses on Glasgow’s City Region, also talking to RTPI Convention speaker while we're w Vishaan Chakrabarti and asking about how we can Vishaa the town centre. For July our attention turns save th and the 50th anniversary of the the to use classes c ngton Report. You can always email editorial@ Skeffin theplanner.co.uk with your ideas for future features. thepla
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23rd May, The Observatory, Ebbsfleet Valley Kent Young Planners have organised a coach tour of the Ebbsfleet Garden City facilitated by the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation. bit.ly/planner0519-Ebbsfleet
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If undelivered please return to: The Royal Town Planning Institute 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL
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VENUE: CLIFFORD CHANCE 1O UPPER BANK STREET LONDON E14 5JJ
ANNUAL
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26 JUNE 2019 JOIN THE UK’S LEADING INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING STAKEHOLDERS to debate the issues & opportuities for national infrastructure planning SPEAKERS WILL INCLUDE representatives of MHCLG, the Planning Inspectorate, The National Infrastructure Commission, DCO promoters and local government NIPA MAY 2018.indd 1
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