News round-up 18 September

More staff for Northern Ireland's appeals commission

The Northern Ireland Executive has acted to beef up staffing at the province's hard-pressed Planning and Water Appeal Commission which is currently dealing with a large backlog of cases.  Three new commissioners have been appointed as well as 14 panel commissioners, who are used expressly to deal with a peak workload on a fee per case basis.

Read the Northern Ireland Executive news release.

'Bedroom tax' review

Purbeck District Council has confirmed it is reviewing its controversial £1,000 "bedroom tax" levied on home extensions now the government has announced plans to remove the need for planning permission for a number of categories of householder consent schemes.

Wind farm approved

Camco International has won consent for its eight-turbine wind farm planned at Maerdy in the Rhondda Valley.

Download the Camco International news release.

Essex sub-regional plan under way

Essex County Council has appointed consultancies Roger Tym & Partners and Tribal to undertake an Essex sub-regional study as part of the review of the regional spatial strategy. The consultants will examine growth options.

Eco-town advert mistake

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against Communities and Local Government over a regional press advertisement for an eco-town which wrongly claimed the location was a brownfield site.

The department admitted that the advertisement for the Curborough eco-town scheme in Staffordshire incorrectly claimed the project would be "on the brownfield site of the former Fradley airfield".

It turned out that most of the scheme would be on greenfield land as most of the airfield was already redeveloped as a business park. CLG said it had made an error when an initial consultation document was prepared but maintained there was no deliberate attempt to mislead.

The complaint came from the local planning authority, the residents’ group fighting the eco-town proposal and a member of the public.

Planning brief for Surrey listed building

Reigate and Banstead Borough Council has drawn up a planning brief for the redevelopment of Kingswood Warren, which includes a historic garden and a listed mansion once used by the BBC for research and development activities.

Read the Reigate & Banstead Borough Council news release.

Green light for waste-burning power plant

The government has approved plans for a new 100-megawatt waste-to-energy scheme at Runcorn Cheshire which is planned to burn waste from Manchester, Merseyside, Halton and Warrington.

Read the Department for Business, Energy and Regulatory Reform press release.

Street market study announced

London mayor Boris Johnson has commissioned a study into the future of the capital's street markets.

University plan takes shape

Peterborough City Council has given planning permission for the first phase of ambitious plans for a university in the city located on the campus of the existing Peterborough Regional College.

Read the Peterborough City Council news release.

Interim chair for English Heritage named

Professor Barry Cunliffe has been appointed as interim chair of English Heritage by culture secretary Andy Burnham. The appointment follows the death of EH chair Lord Bruce-Lockhart in August.

Read the English Heritage news release.

Hunt on for developer for key site in Sunderland

A developer is being sought for an important regeneration scheme in Sunderland. Urban regeneration company Sunderland Arc and the city council  are looking for a developer to bring a new business district to the city centre at the site of the former Vaux Brewery with offices, homes and hotels.

Roger Milne

18 September 2008