Kevin Parker

Some initial key headlines in Labour’s manifesto for planning include: Immediate update to NPPF Restoring mandatory housing targets Strengthening ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’ Aim of building 1.5 million homes Investment in more planning officers in planning departments Brownfield first approach Strategic review of Green Belt and release of lower quality ‘grey belt’ Reform of CPO powers Combined and Mayoral Authorities to strategically plan for housing growth in their areas Roll out of a New Towns programme Deepening devolution settlements for existing Combined Authorities New statutory requirement for Local Growth Plans that cover towns and cities across the country https://lnkd.in/erdRxmyU

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Some interesting statistics for planning performance in the period 2023 – 2024 in the latest Planning Insight report. Looking specifically at Liverpool: - The total number of applications received is down 4% to 2,481. This is compared to an 11.5% drop nationally – not totally unexpected in an election year. - The above figure equates to 89 applications per case officer over the 12-month period (although these won’t be shared so evenly) - Liverpool is ranked second in the list of LPAs who issued the fewest enforcement notices per 1,000 applications received. This should be seen as a positive and suggests the enforcement team manages to resolve breaches through other means (i.e., the cessation of unlawful development, or via submission of an application) - However, by far the most interesting figure is that the total number of major applications decided has dropped to 32, a reduction of 46%. There could be a myriad of reasons why fewer major applications have been determined. The most obvious one being that fewer were submitted. If that is the case, why? It’s quite common for major development schemes to pause ahead of a general election, especially when both political sides talk about introducing significant planning reforms if elected. This would seem a logical conclusion. That said... (despite the fact that I find it a little unfair to draw constant comparison with the development of Manchester) if you look 35 miles along the M62, you’ll see that they increased decisions of major applications by 21% over the same period, despite receiving 5% fewer applications overall. You can read the rest of the report and see the full set of statistics for each LPA here: https://lnkd.in/dG4Q-CGJ #Planning #Liverpool #Development

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Another week, another planning committee (there is a theme here.... 😊) Really very interesting debate amongst Members on this amended scheme for 340 homes, access but also open space on site. Casting vote of chair, which of course happens (but is quite rare for us). I can say (and did so in my report) that this is a good scheme. Yes, there is some harm - including less than substantial harm to designated heritage assets. Obviously when considering impacts on the significance of a designated heritage asset, great weight should be given to the asset’s conservation (and the more important the asset, the greater the weight should be). This is irrespective of whether any potential harm amounts to substantial harm, total loss or less than substantial harm to its significance. But, Parliament has allowed a category of less than substantial harm to be weighed in the context of public benefits. In this site, which ever way you look at it, the package of benefits is considerable, including open market housing, affordable but also custom and self build on site. Huge area of open space on site, off site youth adult contributions, then 25-45m deep buffers to Ancient Woodland. If that not enough, there's 12ha of SANG and a well considered SuDs scheme that will secure betterment to on site surface water issues. This case was controversial and there were objections - which I respect. This includes from the highway authority (which still need some work to fully resolve via s278), but am posting this as its an example of positive negotiation and long discussions with local people. If you do things correctly, you can secure an amazing package alongside housing. OK, I'll be honest, I did look sideways when it went to casting vote of chair (!) Also, I think its the first committee meeting I have ever been to where Optimus Prime was mentioned. Beat that peeps 😘 Good weekend all.

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LIVERPOOL CITY REGION REVISED STANDARD METHOD IMPLICATIONS The outcome of yesterday’s announcement by the government regarding annual housing requirement uplifts for local authorities in the Liverpool City Region are shown below. Angela Rayner has also confirmed that, unless an emerging Local Plan has reached Examination, it should be re-worked to take into account the revised housing targets. This suggests Wirral will continue with current housing need figures. Liverpool, Knowsley, and Sefton have Local Plan reviews underway, which will need to take into account the below revised figures. Halton and St Helens, having recently adopted Local Plans, will only apply the updated figures when they review the plans (assumed to be in 2027, being 5-years post adoption). The Liverpool City Region Spatial Development Strategy is at an early stage of preparation and will therefore also have to take account of the new figures. Certainly lots of opportunities both for the promotion of land and, in some cases, for planning applications on 5YHLS shortfall grounds. You know where we are! #Housing #Planning #LiverpoolCityRegion

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With the national growth focus and upcoming planning changes from government, this is a good time for landowners to get involved in submitting land for potential allocation either in East Herts specifically or across the country.

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Oxford City Council Local Plan 2040 Update. The Inspectors' Matters, Issues and Questions (MIQs) have been published and stage 1 hearings covering legal compliance including duty to cooperate, and housing need, capacity and housing requirement are scheduled for 11-13 June 2024. From our initial review of the representations, with the exception of the Home Builders Federation, Stantec is alone in representing the housebuilding sector, acting on behalf of L&Q Estates, Cala Group Limited, Vistry Group, Peabody, Gladman, Ptarmigan Land and Pye Homes. Aside from the vital importance in securing a plan-led approach for Oxford and a basis by which the local plan reviews for the surrounding districts can avoid delaying planning for the unmet housing need, this examination is going to be fascinating for all sorts of reasons. I would recommend to planning students, junior planners and even Shadow Ministers, that this is one well worth attending to observe the planning system in practice. Mark Behrendt Chris Maidment Dave Valler Connor Sheffield Lillian Duffield MRTPI RTPI South East

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It is disappointing to learn that East Renfrewshire Council (ERC) has become the 12th council to declare a housing emergency in Scotland. What is even more disappointing was the fact that they proposed an indicative Local Housing Land Requirement (iLHLR) at the same meeting that falls short of meeting both historic annual completions and the level of need identified by Housing for Scotland in recent research. ERC are not the first council to declare an emergency at the same time as proposing their iLHLR. Housing emergencies will not be solved quickly, but at the very least there needs to be a connection between housing supply in forthcoming local development plans (LDP) and how housing emergencies are addressed. New LDPs will set the housing requirement for 10 years. A failure to set a more ambitious LHLR in the next LDP falls short in meeting current need let alone give options for tackling the housing emergency. When formulating their actions to address the housing emergency ERC, and other councils, are urged to over allocate land for housing as part of their strategy to address the housing emergency. A failure to do so will only reduce potential solutions to solve the local and national housing emergencies.

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🚨 New NPPF coming Tuesday 30 July for eight-week consultation, targeting adoption late September 2024. The changes - to be introduced less than 12 months from the December 2023 NPPF - intend to provide: - increase by 50% of "mandatory housing targets". - if Council's cannot meet their housing need on brownfield land, "they must review protections for the green belt". - change in the calculation of local housing targets, including "toughened" affordability assessments to account for "how many people might move into an area if housing was cheaper." - removing the advantage of "oversupply" in previous years in the context of needing to provide a five year supply of land for housing delivery. - Rayner & Reed (Environment Sec) wish to allow the construction of homes in 'nutrient neutrality' catchments, however maintaining that appropriate mitigation needs to be in place prior to occupation. #Planning #NPPF https://lnkd.in/ekUaVY3E

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Hello planning people, today I talk targets! All London boroughs are going to have to work harder to deliver more homes under a revised NPPF. Here I explain a little about the methodology for assessing local housing need and why some borough’s targets are going up and some are going down. But the reductions aren’t that consequential because every London borough will need to improve on what they’ve been doing in recent years. As ever the message is build, build, build (or at least consent, consent, consent). #NPPF #HousingTargets #PlanningReform

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An enforcement appeal worthy of note (maybe?) to LPAs folks out there. Insp Hilary Orr who gives expert and pithy canter through the tests to be met for each enforcement ground of appeal to succeed. CPD and/or a pretty darn good explanation on how to approach. How do you present your evidence? Well..... In this case, Insp Orr says: "One striking feature of the appellants evidence is that it is not in the form of sworn affidavits. It is understood that this was not possible initially due to COVID 19 restrictions. However, it is not clear why this was not resolved as the restrictions were lifted. Sworn evidence given on oath carries with it the risk that giving false evidence, could render the individual liable to prosecution. Accordingly, sworn evidence will usually carry greater weight than unsworn evidence. Accordingly, these statements will carry less weight". If the dates of occupation then go on to overlap, have gaps in them and there is contradictory evidence then you are well up against it. Note we had no counter evidence, but there was still doubt. You only need doubt on the balance of probability.... very neatly summed up by Insp Orr " I recognise that this conflicting evidence, in itself, is not decisive. Be that as it may, the decisive point is whether in the light of the cumulative weight of evidence, there are sufficiently clear, detailed and consistent facts in support of the appellants claim on the balance of probability." Didn't go all our way, we failed on the residential amenity point. No biggie, we will review and learn from that. Name to look out for : Kieran Balmer. Not on LinkedIn but part way through his Masters. Learning the beat. Tucked under the wing of Niall Mileman who is as old as the enforcement hills here in Wealden.... and knows a thing or too 😊 #teamwealden #planningenforcement #niallmilemanrocks

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I am aware that East Lothian recently withdrew their Evidence Report from the Gate Check process. They are now due to consider declaring a housing emergency tomorrow. Coincidence? Hopefully. The evidence East Lothian present and decisions taken in the coming months will dictate the duration and extent of their housing emergency. New local development plans and the associated housing figures will be set for 10-13 years. Back in August the Council approved an annual target of 660 homes when 900 are being built annually. The Scottish Government want Councils to be ambitious in setting their Local Housing Land Requirement. Targeting less homes than currently being built is not ambitious. Difficult decisions will have to be made, but house building can be part of the solution. If the Council do review their evidence they should, as a minimum target 900 homes per annum.

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The proposed NPPF revisions relating to design in the planning system are a step back in the right direction. The starting point was to find and delete the unhelpful December 2023 additions. So out go half the references to beautiful/beauty, including in the chapter title. Industry consensus has beauty as a busted flush, for the reasons the Planning Inspector for the London Television Centre on the South Bank articulated at the start of the year: beauty is subjective whereas ‘well-designed’ is defined in the National Design Guide, NMDC and NPPF. (See Zack Simons blog for a good summary of London Television Centre decision - https://lnkd.in/eZyQppEf). Paragraph 135 clarifies what the National Model Design Code is: the basis of LPAs drawing up local design codes, as it was always intended to be. It also downgrades local design codes from being the primary tool for assessing and improving the design of development (old paragraph 138) to being one of the tools. Quite right. District-wide design codes have been an interesting experiment, but only a partial success. Most practitioners always knew that it is impossible to code for everything over a large and diverse area. Site and neighbourhood-scale codes have been proven, however. Elsewhere, paragraph 122 downgrades the peculiar prominence the last NPPF gave to mansard roofs as opposed to other forms of upward extension. And is the final nail in the coffin for my "levelling up one mansard at a time" quip. All of which means that the latest draft NPPF publication day was a bad one for those voices that were prominent under the last government who were promoting beauty, district-wide design codes and mansard roofs.

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We've just received a consultation from a planning authority seeking views on a proposed local validation list that runs to 𝟰𝟱 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 and 15,000 words. Many requirements are proposed to be determined on a 'case by case' basis. So what point does it serve? Can't we just have a national validation list that relies on certain parameters and constraints? #commonsenseplanning

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Current CGI of planning application scheme in with trafford Council for a re-development of a brownfield site including conversion of an old un-used hall to the rear.

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Trending Now Housebuilding's top article looks into details on 'Reimagining England’s planning system' For years, England has grappled with a cycle of missed housing targets, a pattern that stems from a planning system that is no longer fit for purpose, argues Antony Pollard, head of economics at Turley The latest statistics paint a concerning picture: between April and June 2024, district-level planning authorities in England saw a 9% decrease in planning applications compared with the previous year. Check out the full story 👉 https://zurl.co/e99U (PBC Today & BIM Today) #housing #construction

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Very good outcome in the courts regarding the weight attributed to economic growth. From a renewables perspective, and particularly on Green Belt cases, were an Economic Impact Assessment undertaken to substantiate the economic benefits of the scheme, this would add another very solid string to the bow in the overall cumulative weight attached to 'other considerations' for the VSCs case. Looking forward to my next Green Belt statement 😏

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Overshadowed by the recent flurry of NPPF posts, two recent Landscape Updates you may have missed: 1. the Surrey Hills AONB/National Landscape Boundary Review published its Consultation Analysis Report last week. This is worth looking at as it includes some different proposed areas for extension and deletion to the areas proposed during the 2023 consultation. Further fieldwork is also being completed on an area of land to the west of the Surrey Hills National Landscape in East Hampshire and additional extension areas may be proposed here too in the next stage of consultation. Further details are available here: https://lnkd.in/d2kZc8Ua 2. Two new National Parks were proposed in July: one in Galloway, Scotland and the other based around the current Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB/National Landscape in Wales. Look out for updates on the consultation and designation process which will give further details on the proposed boundary and extent of each area. Further details are available here: https://lnkd.in/dWi7pb7d and https://lnkd.in/dfMNKGB7

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Looking at the NPPF through a Masterplanning & Urban Design lens, the continued commitment to well-designed homes, creation of healthy places, high quality housebuilding and making sure, through a number of safeguards, that the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’ does not lead to poorly designed development is all positive reinforcement of what we know is needed. The most significant change for me, however, lies in the clear references and points of change around increasing densities in urban areas.   Reversing the focus on local character to help determine acceptable densities for example is an interesting move. Although, understanding local character is important, there are other significant considerations that drive a need for higher densities than what exists, such as climate change and the viability of public services. But how ‘appropriate densities,’ will be determined is the challenge, if local character is no longer considered an important guide.   I was pleased to see that a strong commitment remains to Design Coding as a way of delivering great places. The change in emphasis is also interesting – moving from a District-wide approach to a greater emphasis on the preparation of ‘localised design codes, masterplans and guides’, which are focused on areas of change such as regeneration sites, areas of intensification, urban extensions and the development of large new communities. This area-based approach is also reflected in the use of ‘New Town Codes’ as proposed in today’s announced programme of New Towns. Perhaps working at this level we could provide greater clarity to design proposals and make it easier to encourage the engagement of local people who are likely to be more interested in specific sites that affect them.   Place making also features as part of the ‘golden rules’ identified in the updated NPPF to ensure public benefit is recognised in site delivery through access to good quality green space and community infrastructure. Less emphasis on the use of terms such as ‘beauty and beautiful’ is a welcome move in my opinion, given the challenge communities have in understanding and defining these subjective ideals. The new government’s preference for the continued promotion of the National Design Code and the National Model Design Code as the framework for creating well designed places feels more deliverable.

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