Friday 28 June 2013

Labour Don't Know their Planning Acts from their .....But I have a Cunning Plan

Last weekend Labour Leader Ed Miliband spoke to the National Planning Forum in Birmingham and, amongst many other things, suggested that there should be a 'use it or lose it' policy toward those dastardly housebuilders who are not building out their sites and are therefore solely responsible for the economic woes of this country. He said:

"Across our country, there are land-owners with planning permission, sitting on land, waiting for it to accumulate in value and not building on it.
We have to change that.

Including giving councils real power to say to developers that they should either use the land or lose the land".

Hmm. Hold on their Ed m' lad (why do I keep hearing Pitt the Younger in that  'Rotten Borough' episode of Black Adder) isnt that a bit like shooting the golden goose?

And anyway, if he had bothered to read Section 94 of the Town & Country Planning Act the powers are already there. Section 94(2) states:

"If the local planning authority are of the opinion that the development will not be completed within a reasonable period, they may serve a notice ("a completion notice") stating that the planning permission will cease to have effect on the expiration of a further period specified in the notice". 

Such a period must not be less than 12 months after the notice takes effect.

So authorities across the land could serve completion notices like confetti right now on all those uncompleted housing sites and apply the 'use it or lose it' principle at no real cost to the authority.

In 35 years of practice I have never seen this power (which has been around for all that time) put into practice. Why not? The concept is fundamentally flawed primarily because it is self defeating. We would effectively switch off all those sites that have been carefully curated in Local Plans to deliver to the raft of planning and development criteria . Where's the sense in that?

There is no point using a big stick to beat up anyone who doesn't deliver on a promise that they never really entered into in the first place. If that principle applied the Government should rightly be threatening to shut down our car industry for failing to sell sufficient new cars, or our our high street retailers for not selling enough 'stuff'.

Well, as Baldrick was prone to saying 'I have a cunning plan'.

Up to now both this and the previous Government have been stressing the desire to 'get the housebuilding sector going' and to kick start the economy by building for the future'. Clearly failing to realise that it is not the housebuilders fault per se, but the fact that people cannot afford to buy new (or any) houses because they have all just been made redundant and/or can't get a mortgage from any bank; even if their first born were handed over in part-ex.

Housebuiders like to build houses. That is their raison detre (the clues' in the title). But having bought land at the top of the last economic cycle, spent the annual budget of a small nation state to secure planning permission and set aside another substantial 'wedge' for all that Community Infrastructure Tax Levy, let alone the cost of building any houses in the first place, it is not surprising that the average developer wants to recoup some of that cash in order to remain solvent. Or am I being just a silly old liberal planner here?

We want affordable housing, and lots of it. Not solely social housing for rent, but houses that people can actually afford to buy. That gets them on the housing ladder. That may become their pension scheme in the longer term!

So what we really need is affordable 'market' housing. OK so far? 

Why not make a provision in planning that a proportion of the 'affordable housing' element of most modern planning permissions can be provided as 'affordable market housing', instead of just handing over 35% or more of the land value to a Housing Association. 

I'm sure there would be a clever contractual (Section 106?) means of ensuring that house prices reflect local purchasing capabilities (we sort of have that now anyway) for a period of years so that the properties remain 'affordable' for sufficient time and then can be released to move on up the value ladder, whilst more affordable market housing comes up behind to replace it. 

We know from the '£60,000 House' competition of a few years ago that good quality houses can be built down to a price. So let's enable the developers to get clever (subject to the usual design and planning controls), whilst they can also make a small turn on their investment, rather than look at the affordable housing quota as a cost to recover from the remainder of any housing scheme.

The developers would have something practical to go at, the banks could justify more flexible mortgages secured against properties with a defined value, and the Government would receive the approval of a public who could begin to return to an ownership model whilst also revving up the development sector.

Just a thought.

Tuesday 25 June 2013

Streamlining the Planning Application Process - From Today!!

Today's the day - for yet another round of updating and change in the town planning system. This time it might just be helpful.

Section 6 of the Growth & Infrastructure Act and The Town & Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) (Amendment) Order 2013 (SI2013/1238) introduce new validation and processing procedures for planning applications. 

The changes implement the findings of the Governments' consultation paper, "Streamlining information requirements for planning applications consultation" (Dec 2012) and considers four principle issues:
  • Simplifying Design and Access Statement requirements
  • Improving validation
  • Changes to decision notices
  • Permitted Development Changes

There is also a useful link to an explanatory Memorandum PDF from the above link that sets out the changes that come in to force today.

In brief; there are new thresholds for Design & Access Statements that will only now be required for certain major developments although lower thresholds still apply in Conservation Areas and World Heritage Sites.Applications for Listed Building Consent will still require a D & A.

With regard to Validation of planning applications, some common sense is being injected into what has become an expensive and often unnecessary box ticking exercise. This is principally twofold. Information requirements must now have regard to the nature and scale of the proposal such that unnecessary detail is reduced. 

This means that the existence of an item on a validation list does not compel the applicant to provide it. He or she first has to consider whether the item in question is reasonable and necessary. 

The change also means that a local authority cannot withhold validation on the grounds of insufficient information, unless they can justify the need for additional information against the tests set out in the DMPO. And if they do - and the applicant disagrees - the Council are required to issue a non-validation notice which may then be considered on appeal for non-determination. 

Reasons for approval on decision notices are no longer required. This is seen as a replication of the detail in Officer's Reports which cover the ground in full anyway.

Finally, the changes to Permitted Development Rights (discussed in this blog at the end of last month ( http://theplannerman.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/quick-planning-guide-to-new-permitted.html ) are enacted to provide new permitted development rights for various changes of use relating to office buildings, agricultural buildings and state-funded schools.




Tuesday 4 June 2013

Changes to Planning Application Procedures Due this Month



The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is issuing new rules to reduce the number of applications that require a design and access statement and to remove the requirement for councils to provide a summary of reasons for approval on decision notices.

These changes to the Development Management Procedure Order will come into force on the 25th June.

Design and Access Statements
Certain applications for planning permission must be accompanied by a design and access statement, as well as specifying the content which must be included within such statements. The effect of the amendment is to reduce the number of types of applications which must be accompanied by a design and access statement, and to simplify their required content. Under the amended article 8, a design and access statement is now only required with applications for major development (subject to certain exceptions). A design and access statement is also required for certain applications for development (which are not major development) in a conservation area or a World Heritage Site.

The DCLG said: "Reducing the number of applications that require a design and access statement would remove statutory burdens on applicants, but it is not considered that this would be at the expense of good design and accessibility."

In conservation areas and World Heritage sites there would be lower thresholds for applications  and a design and access statement will be required with planning applications for the provision of "one or more dwelling; or a building or buildings where the floorspace created by the development is 100 square metres or more”.

Appeals against requests for Unnecessary Evidence
The effect of the amendments will be to provide a right of appeal for non-determination of applications in circumstances where an applicant considers that a local authority is requiring particulars or evidence that do not meet the requirements set out in article 29(4)(bb). In such cases, article 10A provides that the applicant may send the local planning authority a notice. Where an applicant sends such a notice and the authority do not waive the information requirement the application is then described as a ‘non-validated application’. 

On receipt of an article 10A notice a local planning authority could accept the notice and determine the application. Alternatively a local planning authority could reject the article 10A notice. However, this Order amends article 29 to provide that the local planning authority are required to determine a non-validated application within the time periods set out. If a local planning authority fails to determine a non-validated application within the relevant time then an applicant may proceed to appeal on grounds of non-determination under section 78 of the 1990 Act. 

Changes to Decision Notices


Where a local planning authority determines an application for planning permission, they must issue a written notice of decision and set out the content of such notice. The effect of the amendment is to remove the requirement to include both a summary of reasons for the grant of permission and a summary of the policies and proposals in the development plan which are relevant to the decision to grant permission. There are transitional provisions for applications submitted before the coming into force of this Order.

The full Amendment Order can be viewed HERE