News Round-Up - 12 July 2007
Brown signals casino rethink
Plans for a Las Vegas-style super-casino in Manchester and eight other major casino projects in England, Scotland and Wales are back in the melting pot following comments by Gordon Brown during prime minister's question time in the Commons.
He told Labour backbench MP Andy Freed that the Government was due to publish a report which looks at gambling in the UK.
He said the issue of super-casinos would be "subject to reflection over the next few months".
He added: "I hope that during these summer months we can look at whether regeneration in the areas for the super-casinos may be a better way of meeting their economic and social needs that the creation of super-casinos".
See Commons Hansard (11 July, Column 1438)
Regeneration agency beats targets
English Partnerships attracted more than £1bn of private sector money for its regeneration schemes and self-funded nearly two-thirds of its own investment via £376m of receipts during 2006/07, according to its annual results.
The report showed it exceeded its regeneration targets in terms of new homes built and derelict land reclaimed. Some 4,248 new homes were completed (32 per cent more than target) while 328 hectares of brownfield land was reclaimed (22 per cent above target).
Read English Partnerships press release
Cornish councillor cleared of misconduct
A Cornish councillor has been cleared by the Standards Board for England over allegations of misconduct and abuse of position while buying and selling two plots of land. The Board found no evidence that Joan Vincent, a former mayor, had breached Restormel Council's code of conduct and had not misled its planning committee.
MPs call for greater clarity over post-Olympics planning
Parliament has urged the Government and the Olympics Delivery Authority to clarify how venues will be used after the 2012 Olympic Games and sort out the issues around future ownership and responsibility for conversions – and the cost. Legacy plans for the five venues to remain are urgently needed, a report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee said.
House-builder fails in call-in legal challenge
Persimmon Homes, the UK's biggest house-builder, has failed in a legal challenge to the Government's decision not to call in a controversial "urban extension" at Banbury proposed by rival developer J J Gallagher.
Cherwell District Council has given planning permission for the scheme, called Bankside and proposed for land at Bodicote, despite significant local opposition from parish councils, Banbury Town Council and neighbouring South Northants District Council. Opponents of the Gallagher proposals petitioned Parliament against the plans.
Yesterday Mr Justice Sullivan ruled in favour of the Secretary of State.
Sunderland boost
Detailed proposals to rejuvenate one of the major gateways into Sunderland city centre have been submitted to the city council.
The scheme is the first element of a three-phase £130m development for Farringdon Row led by regeneration company Sunderland arc and its partners involving a three-star hotel, 124 flats, 6,500 square metres of office space and 333 square metres of retail floorspace.
Drive to bring empty properties back into use
Government plans to revitalise villages, towns and cities by bringing empty shops, offices and factories back into use have been underlined by publication of a consultation document reviewing business rates for empty properties.
Read Communities and Local Government news release
English Partnerships tries again with key Liverpool CPO
National regeneration agency English Partnerships has made a new compulsory purchase order (CPO) in a bid to acquire all the land and properties needed to allow its Edge Lane project to go ahead. This is its ambitious plan to transform the corridor from the M62 into Liverpool city centre.
The first CPO was confirmed in 2006 but quashed following a high-profile legal challenge in the High Court over procedural errors.
Read English Partnerships press release
Call for suburban renaissance
A report advocating good-quality, medium-density suburban living has been published by the Town and Country Planning Association. The report, by Ben Kochan, was commissioned for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Read the Town and Country Planning Association press release
Construction begins on Welsh offshore wind farm
RWE npower has announced the beginning of construction of its second major wind farm off the Welsh coastline. The project – known as the Rhyl Flats wind farm – will comprise some 25, 3.6 megawatt wind turbines. The scheme should be fully operational in 2009.
Toppling towers change Belfast skyline
The Belfast skyline has been changed forever following the demolition of three of the city's tallest towers. They belonged to the now closed Belfast West coal-fired power station which is being demolished. The site will be land banked for future power generation use.
Builders pitch affordable homes policies
Low-cost market housing should be included within the Government's definition of 'affordable housing', housing developers are arguing. That's the recommendation of a report from the Home Builders Federation (HBF) which highlights ways the Government could help the private sector tackle the lack of affordable housing. Another key recommendation is more land with planning permission.
Read the Home Builders Federation press release
Roger Milne
Health and Safety Executive notice: Giving weight to HSE's planning advice
Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) are bound by law to consult the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) about certain proposed developments in the vicinity of major hazard sites before making a decision to grant planning permission or not.
To speed up this process LPAs now have direct access to HSE's on-line planning advice through the internet-based tool PADHI+ (Planning Advice for Developments near Hazardous Installations).
All LPAs should now be accessing HSE's planning advice via this route (extranet.hse.gov.uk) and the response issued by PADHI+ will be HSE's official response to the consultation. Help and support to use the system is available from HSE.
In some circumstances PADHI+ will generate an 'advise against' response. When an LPA comes to make its decision on the application it must ensure that it gives due weight to HSE's advice and carefully considers its decision. We recognise that the majority of LPAs do this. If an LPA is minded to grant planning permission against HSE's advice they must provide HSE with 21 days notice of their intention.
When HSE receives such notice it will consider asking the Secretary of State (SoS) for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to call in the application for their own determination. Call-in action will be recommended in cases of exceptional concern or where important policy or safety issues are at stake.
HSE has only instigated call-in on three occasions in the last 30 years, the most recent of which was earlier this year in one of the London boroughs. In this case the SoS agreed to HSE's request to call in the application. A planning inquiry was due to be held in the summer. However, the call-in was cancelled when the developer withdrew the planning application.
Planning circular 04/2000 advises LPAs that where HSE has advised that planning permission should be refused this advice "should not be overridden without the most careful consideration".
Further information on HSE's role in the Land Use Planning process is available on the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/landuseplanning/index.htm
For any queries about this article please contact the HSE Infoline via www.hse.gov.uk/contact/index.htm
12 July 2007
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