News round-up 4 December 2009

Tesco proposal blocked for second time

Plans to build the largest Tesco store in Ireland close to Banbridge have been rejected for a second time. 

NI Environment Minister Edwin Poots has accepted a recommendation by the Planning Appeals Commission to block plans for what would be the biggest Tesco store in Ireland. 

The scheme for a 130,000 sq ft store at the Bridgewater Park complex in County Down, an out-of-town site on the main A1 road between Belfast and Dublin, has been turned down once before. Objectors said the development would have damaged Banbridge town centre.

Village green move

Opposition to plans for the expansion of Pinewood Studios has taken a new twist now an Iver Heath resident who lives near the complex has applied to Buckinghamshire County Council to register part if the site as a village green.

Buckinghamshire County Council, which received her application, said that it was accompanied by more than 40 “evidence forms” from supporters, who claim to have used the Pinewood land – known as Pinewood Fields and the Clumps - as a village green.

The studio wants to spend £200m building 1,400 houses on Green Belt land that it owns, hoping to construct a permanent set in the style of the world’s greatest cities.

Earlier this year members of South Buckinghamshire District Council unanimously voted to reject the proposals. The studio owners will appeal and have insisted that construction of the scheme will begin 2010.

Coastal support

Support for coastal communities in adapting to coastal change has been announced by the Government which has awarded £11m in grants to 15 local authorities who had come up with the best and most innovative ideas for dealing with and adapting to coastal change.

The winning local authorities come from all around the English coast, from Sexton in the North West, to East Sussex in the South East. Each has come up with their own “pathfinder” scheme to work with communities and find ways of dealing with a changing coastline.  

Projects include creating new sand dunes and building boardwalks. Also involved are the development of ‘buy to let’ schemes where properties are at risk and the purchase of land to rebuild properties at risk.

Read the Defra press release

Amos to quit TCPA and join IPC

Town and Country Planning Association chief executive Gideon Amos is to leave the housing and planning charity to become a full-time commissioner with the Infrastructure Planning Commission. Amos will be joining the IPC at the beginning of March 2010. He had been chief executive of the TCPA for ten years.

Read the TCPA press release

Strategic employment sites study

The East of England Development Agency has published a report on strategic employment sites for the region commissioned from Arup. The study has identified a range of existing and planned strategic sites and provides an assessment of potential new locations. 

Read the East of England Development Agency press release

Capital crunch hits affordable housing target

The Mayor of London’s affordable homes target of 50,000 units has been delayed a year because of the economic downturn, it has emerged.

Conservation developments

Natural England has launched formal consultation on a dozen proposed new marine conservation sites. The 12 sites in question consist of 10 possible Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and two potential Special Protection Areas (SPAs). The sites include sandbanks of the Outer Wash and southern North Sea and areas of the Irish Sea important for birds and cold water coral reefs off north-west Scotland.

In separate developments the Scottish Government has asked Scottish Natural Heritage to assess over 350,000 hectares of northern and western Scotland as Special Protection Areas for the golden eagle.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government has announced local consultation on the Sound of Mull spatial plan.

Read the Natural England press release

Joint working

Minsters from Communities and Local Government and the Culture department have published an action plan on how the Government will work with the Homes and Communities Agency, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and English Heritage to deliver more sustainable neighbourhoods.

Read the Department for Culture, Media and Sport press release

Belfast development agreement

Margaret Ritchie, Northern Ireland’s minister for social development, has signed a development agreement with the developer consortium planning Belfast’s Royal Exchange regeneration project, scheduled to create 1,000 permanent jobs. As part of the agreement the developers must submit a planning application by the end of October 2010.

Read the Northern Ireland Executive press release

Affordable record

The Scottish Government has announced that this year nearly 2,000 affordable homes were built, the highest level since records began.

Access the Scottish Government Housing statistics

Marina plan floated

Commercial developer Eatonfield Group has secured an option to acquire 265 acres of land next to the Corus rail site in Workington, Cumbria, in preparation for a proposed marina and housing scheme at the historic town quay.

Read the Eatonfield Group press release