Commencement order for parts of the Localism Act
Key measures from the Government’s Localism Act have come into force following a Parliamentary commencement order.
These include planning changes to the enforcement rules: a first step in the process to give councils the ability to take action against people who deliberately conceal unauthorised development in preparation for commencement of the substantive provisions in April 2012.
Also clarified are the rules on predetermination: these free councillors to express their opinions on issues of local importance without the fear of legal challenge. This had been a source of much concern for members sitting on planning committees.
Read the Department for Communities and Local Government news release.
Shapps: Regeneration should meet the needs and circumstances of local people
Local Government Minister Grant Shapps has rejected a call from MPs for a national strategy for regeneration, saying that decisions on regeneration activities and schemes should rest with local people.
He has also published a refreshed regeneration toolkit, highlighting the range of powers and tools devolved from Whitehall to Town Halls, businesses and residents themselves to drive the regeneration they want and need in their areas.
He was responding to a report on regeneration produced by the Commons Communities and Local Government Committee.
He said: "We can't go back to the top-down, centralised system of the past which attempted to impose a one-size-fits-all approach to regeneration with little regard for the needs, circumstances and wishes of local people.”
Councils disagree on planning proposals
Three North East England councils are at odds over a housing strategy which could result in residential development of Green Belt land.
Sunderland City Council has submitted a holding objection to the inclusion of land near the Leam Lane estate which has been proposed for new housing by Newcastle and Gateshead Councils as part of their emerging One Core Strategy.
Sunderland says the proposal represented a “significant intrusion on to land that has been protected as green belt land for over 25 years”.
Meanwhile, Basildon Council has written to Leicestershire County Council insisting there was no chance the Essex local authority would allow a 1,300-house development at farmland in Green Belt near Pitsea bought by the upper tier authority’s Pension Fund.
Wave farm venture
Energy companies Alstom and SSE Renewables have created a joint venture to co-develop what they claim will be the world's largest wave farm off the coast of Orkney, Scotland.
The agreement covers proposals to develop the Costa Head Wave Project, an up to 200 Megawatts (MW) wave energy site located north of mainland Orkney, in The Crown Estate’s Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Strategic Area.
The Costa Head site is located in water depths of 60 – 75m approximately 5km to the north of Orkney Mainland. SSE Renewables and Alstom propose to carry out detailed site surveys and an environmental impact assessment (EIA), to develop the site with an initial phase of around 10MW, before moving on to install the full site capacity.
Greenwich Peninsula progress
London Mayor Boris Johnson has agreed a deal that will kick-start housing development on the Greenwich Peninsula, creating over 4,000 jobs in the construction of 1,350 new homes by the end of 2015 - a milestone in the delivery of this landmark South East London scheme.
As part of the deal brokered by the Mayor with Secretary of State Eric Pickles, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is working with its development partner, Greenwich Peninsula Regeneration Ltd (GPRL), to facilitate the start of the next phase of house building on the 190-acre plot.
Around 10,000 new homes, 600 student beds, and 3.5m sq ft of commercial floorspace are ultimately planned for the site, transforming what was an old gas works into a major new residential, business and leisure district.
Johnson also today announced progress on a number of other key sites in London, including at two former hospital sites in Cane Hill, Croydon, and the Queen Elizabeth site in Tower Hamlets, where more than 800 homes will be built, subject to planning approval,
Read the Mayor of London media release
Port project for IPC
The Infrastructure Planning Commission has accepted an application from Able Humber Ports Ltd for proposed port facilities located at Killingholme, Humberside. It comprises the construction of a new quay approximately 1,320m long, together with associated onshore facilities accommodating wind turbine manufacture, assembly and commissioning.
Read the Infrastructure Planning Commission news story.
Green light for holiday park
Carmarthenshire County Council has granted full planning permission for the redevelopment of a holiday park on a site in Laugharne, associated with Dylan Thomas’s famous poetic play Under Milk Wood.
The Seasons Holidays scheme includes 212 holiday lodges, 48 serviced apartments, as well as leisure facilities and landscaped grounds.
Two for one
Two north Devon councils have agreed proposals to appoint a joint head of planning as part of a move to share planning services across the two local authorities. North Devon District Council and neighbouring Torridge District Council intend to start the process by appointing a joint head of planning.
In a statement the councils said that once this is accomplished "it is expected the councils can start working towards a fully integrated shared service for the future".
Airport developments
Speculation was mounting this week that the Government would hold a formal consultation on plans for a new airport in the Thames Estuary as part of the development of a sustainable aviation policy due to be carried out later this year.
Meanwhile, Luton Airport has unveiled plans to increase its capacity by more than 50 per cent to 18 million passengers per year – a move which could help ease the lack of air capacity in the south-east and create up to 6,000 jobs.
The Bedfordshire airport currently has a maximum capacity of 11.5 million per year but says it can increase this by 6.5 million annually using its existing runway and airport boundaries.
Stadium town green judicial review granted
Campaigners who want to stop the development of Bristol City FC's planned new stadium at Ashton Vale have been given permission for a judicial review hearing to challenge the City Council’s decision that part of site was town green and part could be developed as a 30,000-seater stadium.
Forest of Dean Core Strategy and AAP found sound
The Forest of Dean District Council’s Core Strategy and the local authority’s Cinderford Northern Quarter Area Action Plan (AAP) have been found sound by a planning inspector.
Both documents will now go to Cabinet and full council in February to be formally adopted.
New RTPI president named
Planning consultant Colin Haylock has become the latest president of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). He succeeds Richard Summers.
Mr Haylock currently runs Haylock Planning and Design consultancy. He has over 35 years professional experience specialising in urban regeneration and development in sensitive environments such as conservation areas. He has worked extensively in both the public and private sectors. He currently also lectures at Newcastle University and University College London.
Granary store makeover wins award
A 19th century granary store that has been transformed into a university for the arts has scooped the Mayor’s Award for Planning Excellence at the London Planning Awards.
The Granary Building, which dates from 1851 and once managed the distribution of grain at the height of the Victorian industrial boom, has been converted into a 39,000 sq m campus for the University of the Arts London.
The Mayor awarded the prize jointly to the London Borough of Camden, English Heritage, architects firm Stanton Williams and developers Argent, in recognition of the careful renovation of the Grade II listed building to provide teaching, library and workshop space in the heart of the Kings Cross regeneration scheme.
Read the Mayor of London press release.
Roger Milne
19 January 2011
