News round-up - 16 October 2008

Trump inquiry report delivered

The report of the public local inquiry into the controversial £1bn Trump golf resort scheme at Menie Estate, Aberdeenshire, has been received by Scottish finance secretary John Swinney.

John Swinney has committed to make a final decision within 28 days of receiving the report. A decision is expected on or before 12 November.

Higher profile urged for planners

The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has welcomed comments from Communities Secretary Hazel Blears calling for more chief planners to be members of local authority cabinets and management teams.

Blears had told a conference of politicians in planning that she wanted to see "people with planning expertise in local authority cabinets and on management teams prepared to champion planning…because no one wins when you have planning off on its own, seen as a separate thing".

Council faces legal bill

Crawley Borough Council has been left facing a bill for legal costs of at least £50,000 after developers hoping to build a new sustainable neighbourhood of houses, schools and shops on Crawley's North East Sector site won a second High Court victory.

Earlier this year Taylor Wimpey UK Ltd and Beazer Homes (Reigate) Ltd won a key ruling quashing an appeal decision by a planning inspector which upheld refusal of planning permission for the scheme.

Now the developers have successfully persuaded a High Court judge to quash part of the core strategy for the West Sussex planning authority which restricts the land that can be used for development based on noise from nearby Gatwick airport.

Canary Wharf neighbour gets go-ahead

Tower Hamlets Council has given outline approval for an ambitious mixed-use scheme next to Canary Wharf in East London.

The 7.98 hectare Wood Wharf project will feature a cluster of high-rise towers providing commercial floor space, 1,668 homes (300 of which will be affordable), a high street, cafes, restaurants, health centres, and a record £153m Section 106 contribution to the local community. Most of this will go towards a new Crossrail station.

The Wood Wharf Partnership - a consortium which brings together the Canary Wharf Group, Ballymore and British Waterways - predict the scheme will provide 25,000 jobs for the area.

Read The Wood Wharf Partnership press release.

Battle over Dartmoor firing

National Park pressure groups have reiterated their concern that the Ministry of Defence wants to renew its licence for live firing in the Dartmoor National Park.

The issue has become a cause celebre. Amenity groups have long argued that the practice is contrary to protecting Dartmoor's wildness and quiet recreation.

Read the Campaign for National Parks news release.

Green light for Portsmouth passenger terminal

Portsmouth city council has approved a £15m scheme for a new passenger terminal at the Hampshire ferry port.

Housing estate wins top award

A contemporary housing estate in Cambridge has won the 2008 Stirling Prize for architecture. Accordia, which was built on a brownfield site near the city centre, is a high-density residential scheme with internal courtyards and large semi-public community gardens. The project is a mix of council housing, homes for private sale and some property available under shared-equity schemes.

Read the Royal Institute of British Architects press release.

Turbine legal challenge fails

Three judges have rejected an appeal by a Buckinghamshire landowner over a legal bid to quash planning permission for a seven-turbine wind farm at Olney near Milton Keynes.

Andrew Finn-Kelcey had earlier made an unsuccessful challenge in the High Court. Now he has lost again in the Appeal court.

TCPA wants curbs on high density London development

The Town and Country Planning Association has called on the Mayor of London to secure more human scale homes and to effectively restrict 'super-density' developments (over 400 dwellings per hectare) to a handful of strategic locations.

The independent campaign body also wants Mayor Boris Johnson to introduce new planning policies setting minimum internal space standards for homes.

Read the Town and Country Planning Association press release.

Listed building work leads to fine

Sandbay Associates, a Northern Ireland company, has been fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £87 costs after pleading guilty at Newtownards Magistrates' Court to unauthorised part demolition and subsequent alterations to a listed building. The case was brought by the Province's Planning Service.

Read the Northern Ireland Executive news release.

Blow for boatyard scheme

A property company which has been involved in a lengthy planning battle over the redevelopment of a historic Oxford canal boatyard has lost its appeal against the city council's refusal of permission for a scheme of 54 luxury flats.

The plans for the boatyard in the Jericho area of the university city were described as "sterile" and "uninspiring" by the planning inspector. The boatyard was the inspiration for author Philip Pullman's boat-dwelling Gyptians in his best-selling trilogy His Dark Materials.

Roger Milne

16 October 2008