19 Jan 2021
A local resident was successful in her case that Council officers had not advised of members of the statutory requirement to have special regard to preserving historic or architecturally important buildings in accordance with the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act and para’s 193 and 194 of the NPPF which require great weight to be given to conserving heritage assets. The Court found that Guildford officers had not properly advised on the heritage tests and in so doing advised members to balance less than substantial heritage harm against public benefits without taking into account the requirement to accord ‘considerable importance and weight’ to a finding of harm to a listed building. The officer report had therefore mislead committee members, leading to the Courts decision to quash the planning permission.
19 Jan 2021
In this appeal the Inspector found a pre-existing Class Q prior approval permission for a barn conversion amounted to an implementable fall-back position. By comparison of the appeal proposals with the fall-back position the Inspector was satisfied that there would be a reduced impact on the openness of the Green Belt, by virtue of reduced floorspace and volume and these amounted to VSC to justify inappropriate development in the Green Belt. Having satisfied the VSC test the Inspector found there was no reason to refuse under the first limb of paragraph 11d of the NPPF and in the absence of 5yr HLS the appeal proposal could benefit from the tilted balance.
https://acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/ViewCase.aspx?Caseid=3255105&CoID=0
19 Jan 2021
Ending at the end of this month the consultation seeks views on extending the prior approval process further to support the delivery of homes from commercial premises within the new broad E use class.
Supporting housing delivery and public service infrastructure - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
19 Jan 2021
Bucks Council are currently consulting on Further Main Modifications with an end date of 9 Feb 2021. The LP Inspector has already confirmed in December 2020 that he is minded to hold further hearing sessions. In doing so the Inspector indicates he does not reject the Council’s responses to the representations received, including that to a new housing allocation, but that the range and complexity of further representations received merit a further debate, at which interested parties can contribute.
https://www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/valp-further-main-modifications-consultation-2020-2021
16 Sep 2020
Local Plan Inspectors have written to St Albans Council (link to letter below) confirming the Council’s failure to comply with the Duty to Cooperate in preparing their Local Plan which cannot be remedied through Examination. The letter invites the Council to confirm if they wish Inspectors to write their report confirming failure to satisfy the Duty to Cooperate or whether they intend to withdraw the Local Plan.
16 Sep 2020
A Court of Appeal judgement has been handed down which considers the meaning of out of date policies for the purposes of paragraph 11(d) of the NPPF. The case concerned dismissed housing schemes due to their impact on the Worsley Greenway, protected by saved policies of the Council’s UDP. The case was brought on the basis that the UDP was time expired running to an end date of 2016 and therefore relevant policies used in dismissing the cases were out of date.
Notable sections of the Judgement which dismisses the case, include: Paragraph 68: – It is obvious that many policies will not expire with the plan but will survive beyond the plan period. Policies which address environmental protection clearly have a life beyond the expiry date of the plan; and Paragraph 71 – Whether a policy becomes out of date and if so what consequences arise from that are matters of pure planning judgement, not dependent on issues of legal interpretation.
Accordingly, policies are “out-of-date” for the purposes of para. 11d of the NPPF if they have been overtaken by things that have happened since the plan was adopted, either on the ground or through a change in national policy, or for some other reason.
https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2020/1175.html
16 Sep 2020
A campaign group ‘Rights: Community: Action’ have been granted leave to challenge the introduction of the latest changes to the UCO and GPDO. The challenge stops short of seeking the suspension of the measures. The challenge which is brought of five grounds includes that the SoS failed to consider the weight of evidence against such radical review, including failure to undertake prior consultation and consider responses and the advice of experts. The case is expected to be heard between 8th and 15th October, yet legal commentators anticipate there to be a good likelihood that the case could go to the Court of Appeal which would mean there being some uncertainty for some considerable time.
08 Oct 2019
The Conservative Party held their annual conference in Manchester between 29th September and 2nd October 2019. Announcements were made on a number of planning related matters, some of which will be included in the Accelerated Planning Green Paper expected to be published in November 2019:
Permitted Development Rights
The government will proceed with a new permitted development right to allow upwards extensions of certain buildings by up to two storeys as part of its plans to meet the ambitious target of 300,000 new homes a year. It is expected that the right will come into force in Autumn 2019 and will apply to buildings that are in uses deemed to be compatible with residential use such as existing dwellings, shops, offices, and restaurants and cafes.
In addition, there will be a new right to demolish commercial buildings to allow for the provision of housing via a two stage Permission in Principle route with local authorities able to consider issues like quality, the facade, height and parking provision.
There is also expected to be a review of existing permitted development rights, specifically office to residential, in order to improve standards and living conditions.
New National Model Design Code
The government is expected to publish a National Model Design Code next year which would be capable of being a material consideration in planning applications and appeals. Local authorities will be required to produce their own local variations following consultation with local residents, heritage and environmental groups in their area. The Code will be informed by the final report of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission and will be consulted upon in early 2020.
Planning Application Fees
Councils will be allowed to raise planning application fees in return for higher quality services and there will be an automatic rebate if deadlines are missed.
Pre-commencement Conditions
There is an ambition to reduce planning conditions by a third which follows on from the recent reforms restricting the use of pre-commencement conditions in order to enable development to start on site at the earliest opportunity.
Simplification of the Planning System
A more user-friendly tiered system will be introduced, designed specifically to simply the process for small developers and householders.
Town Centre Reform
Ministers are considering whether further planning reforms would help people assemble land, regenerate land and get housing into town centres to allow them to thrive. The Use Class Order will be reviewed given it restricts change of use between different high street uses and does not currently accommodate mixed-use shops.
Rural Infrastructure
A new £25 billion infrastructure delivery plan was introduced for rural areas including 14 new local road schemes, a £220 million scheme to transform bus services, and new plans to invest £5 billion to support the roll-out of full-fibre, 5G and other gigabit-capable internet networks in the hardest to reach 20% of the country.
Green Belt Policy
There will be no change to green belt policy following earlier advice from Centre for Cities that 2.1 million new homes could be delivered by realising green belt land within 800 metres of any train stations which have a service of 45 minutes or less to a major city.
Changes to Part L and Part F of the Building Regulations for new dwellings
A consultation was launched on 1st October on stronger building regulations that will pave the way for the Future Homes Standard. Views are being sought on how changes to building regulations can drive down the carbon footprint of homes built after 2025 including changes to the ventilation and efficiency requirements as well as the role of councils in getting the best energy standards from developers. The consultation will run until January 2020 and can be found at:
If you would like to discuss any of the announcements highlighted above, please contact our team.
08 Oct 2019
Following its introduction at the party conference, the government published the National Design Guide on 1st October alongside a raft of changes on design in the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) to drive up the quality of new homes and reinforce the aim of the NPPF to create high quality places and buildings. This is the first national update to design guidance in nearly a decade. The National Design Guide sets out the characteristics of well-designed places intended to foster local character, community and be sensitive to climate change. These are: context, identity, built form, movement, nature, public spaces, uses, homes and buildings, resources and lifespan. The design section of the PPG has been replaced with a revised section called Design: Process And Tools and provides guidance on the practices of good design. As part of this update, the Neighbourhood Planning Toolkit, which provides some basic design guidance to those involved in the preparation of neighbourhood plans, has also been updated.
The National Design Guide can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-design-guide
08 Oct 2019
In allowing an appeal against Milton Keynes Council’s refusal for 50 homes at Castlethorpe Road in the village of Hanslope, a planning inspector has concluded that the local authority did not provide the clear evidence necessary to support its housing land supply position in excess of five years just six months after it adopted its new local plan. The Council has since confirmed that as there is significant contradiction between this decision and other received recently, it will be seeking legal advice on the matter. The appeal decision can be found here: file:///C:/Users/emily.warner/Downloads/ED32_Appeal_A__APPY0435W183214365_Land_off_Castlethorpe_Road__Hanslope_MK19_7HQ.pdf
