Developing with sustainability in mind

Last month we looked at whether the latest planning guidelines – outlined in the latest white paper ‘Planning for the Future’ – really did enough to encourage a sustainable way of developing new homes and other buildings.

This month, we look at what you can do to make your own development – whether it is a new build or renovation – as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible, within the planning rules. In general, it should be no more difficult to get planning permission for a sustainable project than it is for a more conventional building. As in any other project, the location will be key, and it’s possible that your choice of building materials will be a focus of any planning objections.

For example, if you have a particular material in mind – perhaps to reflect the sun or keep your carbon footprint down – you may find that local expectations will govern what you can use. This is likely to be especially so within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Conservation Area, or National Park, where you may be restricted to a particular material – brick or stone – for your external walls, or a specific roofing material.

Sustainability plan

Many local authorities have a Sustainability Plan. This is something that you should investigate, as it could be your key to getting planning permission for your environmentally-friendly building.

You can also find the Local Plan and search for any design statements, which will give the requirements for new buildings, or the use of local materials, which could be pertinent to your own development. Visit the website of your local authority as a starting point.

Making a property sustainable

Things that a sustainable developer is likely to want to install – such as solar panels and high-efficiency glazing – may come up against objections if you are building within a conservation area for example. Ideally, see if you can find examples of similar buildings within the area (or within similar designated areas elsewhere in the UK) and use these examples to argue your own case with planning officers.

The key to your sustainable development will be looking at how you can save energy, as we said above, through your choice of windows or insulation, as well as possibly looking at how to generate your own energy from your new home, using solar panels, heat pumps, biomass heaters or even hydroelectricity.

The good news is that planning permission is not usually required for solar panels, provided that they don’t project more than 20mm from the wall or roof slope and are not higher than the highest part of the roof (not including the chimney).

Nor is planning permission usually required for ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps and flues that form part of biomass heating systems.

However, as always, there may be local rules that apply to your area, so consulting with the relevant planning officer (or enlisting a planning consultant to do this for you) before investing in your development is always advised.

The Future Homes Standard

It’s not all about things as high-profile as biomass heating and solar panels though. The Future Homes Standard (expected to be introduced in 2025) will require that new build homes will be future-proofed with low carbon heating and ‘world-leading levels of energy efficiency’. Current building regulations also require that new homes and extensions have energy-saving features such as cavity insulation, and that floors and lofts are well insulated. Thermostatic valves on radiators and low-energy lighting also need to be considered.

Sustainable materials

If you are adding an extension, especially to a period property, you could consider using reclaimed/recycled materials, which will be more in keeping with the look of your original building. These might also be looked upon more favourably by planning officials when considering your application – and will keep down your carbon footprint as you are not using any energy to create new bricks or window frames, for instance.

Other sustainable materials to consider include cellulose insulation, which is made from recycled newspaper, fire retardants and recycled fibreglass, and hempcrete, made from hemp shiv fibres and lime. Sheep’s wool is another sustainable insulation material.

When it comes to choosing wood products, Bamboo is fast growing and can be harvested after one to five years, whereas oak can only be used after 40 years of growth. However, it does have a carbon footprint thanks to the fact that it has to be imported into the UK.

Natural stone may be the building material to choose in National Parks and similar areas, and if used to build the walls in timber framed buildings in place of steel or concrete, it can significantly lower your carbon footprint. This is because it uses significantly less energy than the manufacturing process for concrete or steel. It should be noted that this applies to local stone only – if it has to be imported, naturally the carbon footprint increases. Engineered timber is another material that can be used to replace steel and concrete.

If you would like to discuss your own sustainable project with us, or just find out more about what we do, please continue to browse the website or drop us an email to: info@apexplanning.co.uk without obligation.

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Sustainable planning

Sustainability should be a major part of the planning process across the UK – after all, it has been almost 30 years since local authority planning departments first took on the ‘think global, act local’ ideology.

But is this a case of talking the talk rather than walking the walk?

All the right noises are made – for example the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)  makes it clear that the planning system should be playing a major part in creating sustainable development. It states clearly that the purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development.

Sustainable Development Goals

And yet the planning White Paper ‘Planning for the Future’  which was published in summer 2020 and which looks likely to be made a bill this autumn makes no mention at all of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), despite the government having made a commitment to them. This is a concern that has already been raised by the Environmental Audit Committee of the House of Commons (HoC):

“The government has not yet done enough to drive awareness and embed the SDGs across the UK – including within government itself. We reiterate the recommendation made in our predecessor Committee’s 2017 report that the government should do everything it can to support partners (government agencies, local government, civil society, business and the public) to contribute towards delivering the Goals. The government should show leadership by introducing an SDG impact assessment as part of the cost-benefit analysis undertaken by government, or for politically strategic events such as the Queen’s Speech and Budget.’’ Read the full publication.

There are three aims when it comes to sustainable development, according to the NPPF. They are:

• To help build a strong, responsive and competitive economy, by ensuring that there is sufficient land to support growth and the provision of infrastructure;
• To ensure a sufficient number and range of homes can be provided in a well-designed and safe built environment; and
• To protect and enhance the natural, built and historic environment, including mitigating and adapting to climate change and moving to a low carbon economy.

Conflicting Approach

However, it is clear that building new housing developments with sustainability in mind does not seem to be a priority. Admittedly there are some key reasons for this – the government’s attempts to tackle the housing crisis, an economy trying to claw back from a banking crash, and of course a pandemic.

And the White Paper does not appear to make sustainability its main focus either. The core of the planning paper looks to focus on bringing the whole planning process up to date – making it more streamlined by digitising the system and encouraging community involvement.

Other recent planning, changes, which we have already covered in previous articles, such as the permitted development amendments, are also not conducive to considering sustainability in developments. For instance, the latest amendments are encouraging the transformation of shops and offices into homes. These old buildings are unlikely to have been built or designed with sustainable principles in mind.

The planning White Paper does have some sustainable principles contained within. For example, to enable improvements in energy efficiency, with a view to being net-zero by 2050, and to make it speedier and easier to assess any environmental impact of a development (and indeed to identify any opportunities for enhancing environmental issues).

However, there is much more focus on the creation of ‘beautiful places’ (with the implementation of rules about tree planting and so on) and the institution of design guidance and codes. But it remains to be seen whether these design guides actually commit to sustainability standards throughout.

If you would like to discuss your own project with us, or just find out more about what we do, please continue to browse the website or drop us an email to: info@apexplanning.co.uk without obligation.

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New Planning Bill

There are changes ahead – and sooner than we thought – as it looks likely that the planning bill that is designed to modernise the planning system in England is likely to be brought forward so that it can go to Parliament in the autumn.

We have covered several aspects of the white paper that precedes the bill since it was published last summer. The bill was included in the Queen’s Speech on 11 May 2021 with, Her Majesty said, the purpose of allowing more homes to be built and more people to be able to own their own property, as well as improve the rights of those who rent.

The Planning Bill will consolidate last summer’s white paper – Planning for the Future – and responses from the consultation that followed its publication. It’s been a long time coming – and we had hoped that we might have more details by now, but at least it’s a move in the right direction. Nevertheless, the fact there were circa 44,000 submissions to the white paper consultation that need to be carefully considered may explain the time being taken by the government.  The government did say it would issue its response to the consultation by the spring…

Some of the main points of the white paper included community consultation from the start of any planning process, and a simplification of developer contribution regulations. It also aimed to simplify European environmental regulations.

There should also be a local plan for every area, which will provide more certainty over the type, scale and design of development permitted on different categories of land. The plans should pinpoint three different sorts of land – protected land, renewal areas that can be developed, and growth areas identified as sites suitable for substantial development. 

All told there was almost no detail within Queen’s Speech to guide us in what we might expect to happen. Many have already commented that there is no new information or clarity, and the Planning Bill is largely a repeat of the white paper. This has caused disappointment across the industry, meaning planners in the public and private sectors are guessing what will happen in the future, which also means developers are scratching their heads about how to pursue land for development.

One element of the Bill that may be of interest to those who are critical of developers however, is the suggestion of a levy to force developers to implement planning permissions, rather than to, as some opine, sit on the permissions, to constrain the supply of new houses, and to artificially inflate house prices. Developers have long contended that they do not deliberately site on planning permissions and delays are more likely due to delays securing the discharge of planning conditions, obtaining materials, and skills shortages. It will be interesting to see which side of the argument the government favours.

Relevant Modern Approach

The notes accompanying the speech said the bill will “create a simpler, faster and more modern planning system, ensuring homes and infrastructure can be delivered more quickly across England”. There will be “simpler, faster procedures for producing local development plans” as well as for approving major schemes and assessing environmental impacts.

Digitising the planning systems aims to help to improve public engagement in the planning process. Map-based and interactive local plans will offer a more visual way for the public to be kept informed about local plans and planning applications – a move away from the document-system that exists at the moment.

The Environment Bill will also be designed to make developers include biodiversity in their plans – with a bid to “improve planning for nature recovery through Local Nature Recovery Strategies and create Nature Recovery Networks to join up nature sites and create wildlife-rich places”. It will also give communities more say in the protection of trees.

The framework for locally led development corporations is also set to be revised in order to “ensure local areas have access to appropriate delivery vehicles to support growth and regeneration”.

During her speech, the Queen stated that a building regulator is to be established in order to ensure “the tragedies of the past are never repeated’’, in a reference to the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Here at Apex Planning we also hope that some of the experiences of the planning system during the pandemic will be taken on board. Virtual planning committees, for example, have proved incredibly efficient and we hope that these might be allowed to continue under new rules. As it stands the local planning authorities are no longer able to consider application via virtual planning committees and, despite an attempt to challenge this through the Courts, have been instructed to resume in-person planning committee meetings. In our opinion, it’s certainly time that the planning system was brought into the 21st century!

If you would like to discuss your own project with us or just find out more about what we do, please continue to browse the website or drop us a line at info@apexplanning.co.uk without obligation.

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Tree-lined streets are just one of the changes we can expect to see on new developments in the future if the government’s draft proposals pan out.

Following the publication of the Planning White Paper Planning for the Future last summer, the government is now turning its attention to ensuring that developments have a greater focus on their aesthetic qualities. Proposed changes will see the need for ‘beauty’ to be included in planning policies and decisions for the first time. Significant weight will be attached to proposals that meet local design guidance, emphasising the objective of raising the bar where design is concerned.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has recently proposed changes to the NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework) that should ensure that there will be more of an emphasis on beauty and placemaking within proposed developments.

Another change proposed by the draft NPPF is for greater control on the use of Article 4 Directions. This appears to be connected to the recent rollout of wider ranging permitted development rights via Prior Approval, which is an indication of the government’s intention to ensure an increasingly ‘flexible’ and or ‘responsive’ planning system. The new Article 4 limitations however would relate to proposals for conversions to housing, meaning it should only be used ‘where this is essential to avoid wholly unacceptable adverse impacts’.

National Model Design Code

Alongside the NPPF, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has unveiled a draft national design code.

Both moves have come about in response to Living With Beauty, a report from Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, which was published a year ago.

As well as streets lined with trees, the draft national design code also lays down some principles for building types, facades, and character of streets.

Jenrick explained that the government is expecting councils to use the national code as the basis for producing their own design codes and guides. He has promised the creation of an Office for Place that will help local communities to create design standards for any new builds within their area.

In the meantime, an interim Office for Place will work with a pilot group of 10 – eventually 20 – local communities, who will each have a share of £500,000.

Quality of Life

There’s a number of proposed amendments to the NPPF that could make a big difference in quality of life provided by new developments.

For example, there would be a requirement for new development to include ‘a network of high-quality open spaces and opportunities for sport and physical activity’, and to encourage walking and cycling. There would also be transport tests to ensure that new developments have access to ‘a genuine choice of transport modes’.

In a bid to combat short-sighted planning decisions, new settlements or major urban extensions should be planned with consideration for a much longer time frame – looking at least 30 years into the future (double the current 15 years). And major housing developments should include at least 10 per cent of affordable homes.

Developments should also be sensitive to areas such as National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and flood risks should be managed using natural flood management options where possible.

If you would like to discuss your own development or just find out more about what we do, please continue to browse the website or drop us a line at info@apexplanning.co.uk without obligation.

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Quarter One 2020

Take yourself back to almost a year ago. Back in February 2020, we were hearing tales of a terrible virus in China, but most of us had no idea what we had in store. Indeed, in our February blog, we were focused on Brexit and what that would mean for the planning industry.

We were celebrating the fact that Housing Minister Robert Jenrick had secured £1bn in funding for SME builders and looking forward to the Government White Paper on Planning.

By March, the Budget (Rishi Sunak’s first – though it feels like he has been around for much longer as we see him so often on our TV screens!) was outlining support for businesses and individuals affected by the coronavirus outbreak. He promised that the government would be taking a stricter approach with councils in order to speed up housing developments where councils were not meeting housing needs.

There was also the promise of a cash boost, with a £12bn multi-year boost for the new Affordable Homes Programme and the Housing Infrastructure Fund making £11bn of new allocations, opening up 70,000 homes in areas of high demand. It also mentioned the long-term planning reforms we would see in the long-awaited White Paper.

Quarter Two 2020

Ten days after lockdown began in March, and the Coronavirus Act 2020 brought in some planning adaptations that would start to see the planning process make a move into the 21st century. The new law allowed for planning committees to be held virtually in a bid to stop the whole planning process coming to a standstill during lockdown. Here at Apex Planning Consultants, we have since made a number of virtual presentations for clients – and even arranged virtual site meetings and visits with planning officers – we discussed this in our April blog.

With building sites closed, the Act also allowed for extensions on planning timelines, and gave more power to planning officers to make decisions that did not need to go to the Planning Committee.

By May, concerns as delays continued to hit the building sector saw The Royal Town Planning Institute call for the government to bring forward legislation extending planning permissions in England that were about to expire thanks to the crisis. This is something that was subsequently used by Apex Planning Consultants to benefit different clients.

We also saw the first digital hearing by the Planning Inspectorate and virtual site visits by planning inspectors.

Quarter Three 2020

During July, the Prime Minister had made his ‘Build, Build, Build’ announcement, with claims that this would see the “most radical reforms to our planning system since the Second World War”.

New permitted development rights saw an allowance for demolition and rebuilding – particularly pertinent as so many companies had realised during lockdown, that they could keep staff working at home and would not need the large office spaces they had inhabited before the pandemic. The new permitted development rights allowed the owners of large office blocks to consider demolishing or rebuilding to create new dwellings – a boon when the call for more housing is so high, but it also received backlash due to impacts it would cause to the supply of affordable housing.

In August we finally saw the much-anticipated White Paper, entitled Planning for the Future. Its highlights included a First Homes Scheme to help first-time buyers get on the property ladder, a Green Home Grant to encourage energy-efficient home improvements, and an assurance that Green Belt land and green spaces would be protected.

One of the standout parts of the White Paper concentrates on the emphasis on ‘beautiful’ house building, with carefully designed communities with tree-lined streets and homes that are ‘zero carbon-ready’.

The paper also looks at the planning system itself, suggesting ways to streamline the whole process, raising revenue from developers’ levies and ensuring that developers can’t ‘pay their way’ out of providing the required amount of affordable housing within developments.

Bringing the whole system into the 21st century, the White Paper takes the changes first made back in March and builds on them in a bid to help the system become more accessible and streamlined, with data-based processes automated, and local plans standardised. It is unclear yet how this is all going to be funded.

In September, changes to the Use Classes Order saw the creation of Class E, which was the result of several different Classes being merged together, opening up the possibilities for change of use on high street shops without the need for planning permission.

With the UK in lockdown again, it remains to be seen which retailers come out at the other end of the pandemic intact and with their shops still on the high street, as we have already seen casualties such as Arcadia (owners of TopShop), Bonmarche, Peacocks, Debenhams and Cath Kidston.

If you would like to discuss your own development or just find out more about what we do, please visit the website at www.apexplanning.co.uk or drop us a line at info@apexplanning.co.uk without obligation.

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Technology and digital communication has certainly shown its worth since March 2020, as more meetings and processes have gone online in a bid to keep things running as smoothly as possible while the UK has been in and out of lockdown. Planning appeals and development consent procedures have successfully been carried out virtually, which shows that it’s the perfect time to keep this impetus going and bring the planning system into the 21st century.

And no one can deny that it is certainly time that some technological advancements were made within the planning system, which seems outdated compared with other sectors of local government and government processes.

In the Government white paper ‘Planning for the Future’, which we have been examining here since it was published in August, this point is driven home: ‘The planning system is based on 20th century technology: planning systems are reliant on legacy software that burden the sector with repetitive tasks.’

So the plan appears to be to automate as many tasks as are feasible and to standardise data, which should make the whole system both more accessible and more streamlined. The white paper says that instead of having a process based on documents, as we do now, with applications requiring PDFs and documents to be submitted, It is proposed instead to be ‘a process driven by data’.

Local plans would be standardised, based on a new standard template and the latest digital technology. Likewise, local planning authorities would be encouraged and assisted with using creative digital tools that would encourage better engagement with the community when consulting and making decisions on local plans.

One very useful advancement mentioned in the white paper is the creation of machine-readable plans. Both local and national development management policies and design codes would be produced in a standard way, which would make them machine readable. This would allow for applications to be automatically screened – any that did not adhere to the policies would be automatically rejected, rather than creating bottlenecks further along the planning process.

Simple applications would be automatically accepted, allowing planning staff to focus their time and efforts on those more complicated proposals.

Nothing we have mentioned so far is particularly forward thinking when it comes to technology, which really demonstrates how far behind its peers the planning system is. However, the government says it plans to engage tech companies and local planning authorities in order to make the most of technological advancements, such as 3D visualisation technology.

There are benefits to the proposed system for developers, as it should result in a more streamlined process, allowing for proposals that do not have any stumbling blocks to be processed more quickly and allowing building work to begin. Plus, the standardisation of data should make it easier to analyse the planning industry identifying trends in planning proposals, timescales and locations, allowing developers to make considered decisions about what to build and where.

And the funding for this? The white paper says that a proposal will be outlined in the next government Spending Review. It does acknowledge however that local government will require specialist help and advice, which does not exist at this time in-house. We’ll bring you more when we know more!

If you would like to discuss your own project with us, or just find out more about what we do, please continue to browse the website or drop us an email to: info@apexplanning.co.uk without obligation.

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This month we focus on Pillar Three of the government’s planning White Paper, which looks at planning for infrastructure and connected places.

If you’ve been reading our monthly blog, you’ll remember that in September we looked at Pillar Two, which sets out plans for creating not only ‘beautiful’ developments but also sustainable ones that protect and enhance the existing environment.

Under the microscope in Pillar Three are developer contributions and suggested reforms around them. At the moment, it is down to individual local authorities to calculate charging schedules, however in the White Paper the government proposes that this will be replaced by a national value-based charge.

Revenue

The intention is that this system would raise more revenue than the current Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106 agreements, which in turn could help to provide more affordable housing and be a more efficient way to fund infrastructure.

Of course, the levy would have to be affordable or the changes will result in developments being slowed down or even halted altogether. However, it certainly appears that developers will be paying out more than they do under the current system.

Streamlining

Streamlining planning has been on the government agenda for some time, and these reforms are an additional weapon to use in the war against a slow, and clunky planning system. At the moment the CIL system is quite convoluted, and waiting for developers and local authorities to come to an agreement on Section 106 can delay the process further. Instead, the government proposes that an Infrastructure Levy will be put in place.

This levy will be set at a flat rate across the country – and although the fee will be set nationally, it will be paid to the local authority, with a proportion going to the local community. However, there could still be an option to set varying rates in different areas. The calculation of the levy will be based on a development’s final value.

Challenges

A minimum threshold will also be set, so if the development’s value is below this level then no levy will be due. However, this does raise a question about the disparity between property values in different parts of the country. In the areas where property values are low, based on a national flat rate, communities might miss out on funding, potentially affecting education and health infrastructure. This could have a negative effect on regeneration in the areas that need it the most.

The other point to note is that the levy will be due ‘on occupation’. At present it is unclear how that will be managed when, for instance, a development is finished in different phases. However, the government is clear that deliberate delays will not be tolerated.

It’s unlikely that this new system will be without its challenges – especially when developers and local planning authorities disagree on the actual valuation of a development, so it’s likely that those discussions may still cause delays.

Affordable Housing

Pillar Three also aims to ensure that affordable housing continues to be provided, and that developers can’t just pay their way out of the requirement. Instead the local planning authorities will be able to require that affordable housing is provided on the development site in order to offer what the paper calls ‘mixed and balanced communities’. The proposals also aim to ensure that the affordable housing is completed to a suitable standard.

It must also be noted that the government suggests an option where smaller sites avoid on-site provision and instead compensate with a cash payment made in lieu.

To read our first blog in the series, take a look at our article ‘Planning for the Future’.

If you would like to discuss your own project with us, or just find out more about what we do, please continue to browse the website or drop us an email to: info@apexplanning.co.uk without obligation.

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If you’re keeping up with our monthly blog, you’ll know that in August we explored the bones of the government’s lengthy White Paper entitled Planning for the Future.

However, there’s a lot more to cover, so this month we look at how the White Paper sets out plans for creating not only ‘beautiful’ developments but also sustainable ones that protect and enhance the existing environment.

The aim is for communities to be involved in the planning process, creating developments that don’t just focus on making buildings beautiful, but also consider incorporating gardens, parks and green spaces and facilities that will create real communities, not just housing estates – making a positive contribution rather than one that just does not cause any harm to the existing area.

Research by the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission has highlighted where planning has been going wrong in this respect, and the organisation has laid out a broad range of ways in which the issue can be addressed. A full government response to the Commission’s report should be produced this autumn. We’ll keep you posted.

Keeping it local

The White Paper says that the expectations of the planning process must be for proposed developments to ‘reflect local character and community preferences, and the types of buildings and places that have stood the test of time’, while also taking into account modern lifestyles, using modern methods of construction to produce places that will last and prove sustainable.

The starting point for this is the National Design Guide, which was published in October 2019, and which details 10 characteristics found in places that are deemed ‘successful’ and the factors needed to deliver these. More specific detail will be included in the National Model Design Code (also set to be published this autumn) which will look at factors such as the arrangement and proportions of streets and urban blocks, the placing of public spaces, parking arrangements, street trees, and provision for cyclists and pedestrians.

The White Paper also states that it is vital that there are local guides and codes, as well as the national ones, devised to adhere to the most appealing characteristics that make up the local area. These will be drawn up by local planning authorities, neighbourhood planning groups or applicants bringing proposals for major developments. Again, the government makes it clear that the local community should have input in this. A body will be instigated to support the delivery of local design codes, along with one that will help authorities make best use of design guidance and codes.

Planning process improvements

Plans to improve resources for planning departments and streamline the plan-making process will be brought forward to help facilitate these proposals.

The White Paper also states that Homes England’s strategic objectives will need to focus more on delivering beautiful places, lending more weight to design and design quality.

An interesting proposition, designed to ensure that developers take into consideration the idea of beautiful places, is that a ‘fast-track for beauty’ will be implemented, allowing proposals that conform to the principles of good design (both nationally and locally) to take a faster track through the planning process. It is hoped this will be an appealing incentive for developers to adhere to the principles. This will also see the revival of ‘pattern books’ showing standard building types, options and associated rules, which will allow the pre-approval of popular and replicable designs through permitted development.

Sustainable homes

Within the beautiful places’ guidelines will be proposals for environmental recovery and long-term sustainability. For example, the Environment Bill will legislate for mandatory net gains for biodiversity as a condition of most new development. And its Local Nature Recovery Strategies will see enhancements made by development schemes and contributions. You can also expect to see the return of tree-lined streets, and plans maximising the opportunities for cycling, walking and public transport.

It’s not all about new buildings though. The white paper also lays out plans to protect historical and significant buildings as the planning process already does, but with the newly introduced opportunity to allow for them to be sympathetically altered to become energy efficient. New homes built from 2025 onwards, meanwhile, will be expected to emit 75-80% less CO₂ than existing homes and have the ability to become zero carbon homes in the future, without the need for expensive retrofitting.

If you would like to discuss your own project with us, or just find out more about what we do, please continue to browse the website or drop us an email to: info@apexplanning.co.uk without obligation.

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This month (August) sees the government consulting on its ‘Planning for the Future’ White Paper, which as we reported last month, aims to overhaul what is an outdated planning system. It sets out 24 proposals relating to many aspects of the planning system – plan-making, the application process, building design, enforcement etc – and asks a series of questions as part of the consultation process, which runs for 12 weeks from 6^th August.

Previously we focused on the changes to permitted development. Here, we turn to the plans for new homes. And as Chancellor Rishi Sunak has already made a landmark move to keep the housing market moving, with the stamp duty cut for all house purchases under 500,000 completed by the end of March 2021, it looks like this is going to be a vital move for the housing industry.

Green Belt

For those who fear for their green spaces when new housing reforms are mentioned, the White Paper assures that Green Belt and other green spaces are to be protected, instead placing the focus on more building on brownfield land. Agreement by local communities on new plans will also be required. You’ll know from previous articles, that brownfield sites relate to previously developed land that has the potential for redevelopment.

New System

While everyone acknowledges that new houses need to be built – especially now, to keep the economy moving as we head into recession – the White Paper places an emphasis on ‘beautiful’ housebuilding, which takes into account the character of the surrounding area and its heritage, hopefully ensuring that we don’t end up with a series of ‘identikit’ new homes. All new streets will be tree lined and there will be local design guidance to enable developers to build and preserve ‘beautiful’ communities. To keep the home building industry green, the aim is that homes will be ‘zero carbon ready’.

It is proposed that a new Infrastructure Levy Scheme could replace the current system of developer contributions and the existing Community Infrastructure Levy, which are used to provide infrastructure such as roads, schools, GPs, ensuring that new home developments become communities and neighbourhoods, rather than characterless estates.

Housing Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said: “We will cut red tape, but not standards, placing a higher regard on quality, design and the environment than ever before. Planning decisions will be simple and transparent, with local democracy at the heart of the process.’’

He also claimed that the new system would help smaller developers to get buildings and create thousands of jobs in the process.

So how will these new developments look different to the current new housing? For a start, the White Paper suggests that local communities could be consulted at the beginning, not the end of the planning process, with online maps and data helping to make the whole system more accessible for all. In our experience very few from the public actively engage in the plan-making process, instead responding to planning applications, often objecting when the principle of a development has already been established by a land allocation contained in the Local Plan. If it works and the public can be encouraged to participate more widely at the plan-making stage, this could remove barriers and delays in the planning application process.

It is hoped that new homes will be developed far more quickly – instead of taking around seven years to prepare a Local Plan, they will be developed and agreed in just 30 months – circa two and a half years. In addition, where ‘beautiful’ buildings are proposed it is suggested such proposals would be fast-tracked, to automatically permit high-quality developments.

First Homes Scheme

To help out first-time buyers, a 30% discount on new homes will be available through the First Homes scheme. The emphasis for this scheme will be on key workers and local people. The scheme will be the gift that keeps on giving, as the discount will be ‘attached’ to the property in perpetuity. So, it will apply to anyone eligible who buys the same home in the future

All these changes are backed up by the government’s renewed commitment to building 300,000 new homes a year.

The White Paper dated August 2020 can be viewed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/907647/MHCLG-Planning-Consultation.pdf.

Green Homes Grant

Also announced by the Chancellor in July, September will see the launch of the Green Homes Grant initiative – the government has committed to paying two-thirds of energy-efficient home improvements, up to the value of £5,000.

The scheme will run until 2021 and insulation and double glazing are just two of the eligible improvements. To obtain more detail, visit the Gov.uk website at: www.gov.uk/green-deal-energy-saving-measures.

If you would like to discuss your own project with us, or just find out more about what we do, please continue to browse the website or drop us an email to: info@apexplanning.co.uk without obligation.

The post Planning for the future appeared first on Apex Planning.

It certainly looks like the end of at least some uncertainty – even though the UK is in a transition period as far as Brexit is concerned – and has led to some good news and a positive outlook for the planning world.

According to economists and property experts, the conclusion of these two major events in the country’s history has meant that the uncertainty that was clouding the housing market has cleared, and in the Capital at least, talk is of a housing boom, even if it is at the luxury end of the market. Indeed, there is also a suggestion that there is a ‘bounce’ in London house prices, after a long period of flatlining house prices. How pertinent the London situation is to house sales across the country is still under question.

However, this general feeling of upward movement is certainly likely to raise confidence among house developers and is likely to see them seek to increase output on existing housing sites.

As far as infrastructure development goes, we could consider that the fact that the Conservative Party won with such a convincing majority will mean that government can start to make decisive and quick decisions. We can already see evidence of this – just take a look at the very recent announcements of the preferred route for the central section of East West Rail (Route E), connecting Bedford to Cambridge; £1bn funding to be made available to SME builders; and, teasing statements relating to other national infrastructure projects, which were put on hold prior to the election, and the publication of the Planning White Paper.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has also spoken about fast-tracking ‘beautiful’ development schemes. (We will cover this in more detail next month.)

Mr Jenrick has been a busy chap, having announced £1bn funding for SME builders. He said: “A lack of development finance has been identified as a barrier preventing smaller builders from delivering more. Through this scheme the Government will support SME housebuilders to grow and get Britain building the homes we need.’’ The money will be available to builders through secure bank loans – good news for smaller developers who can find it a struggle to gain access to affordable finance.

We also expect the Government White Paper on Planning to be published in the first half of this year. According to the Housing Secretary, the White Paper will look at ways of speeding up the planning system, making it more simple, cheaper and highlighting better-quality design, while also unlocking more land where new homes can be built. It is also set to consider ways of making planning for homeowners less costly and simpler, while helping self builders and small builders, too.

It looks like everyone will be a winner, with measures to help smaller builders and self-builders, and an attempt to make the system work better for larger developers.

You can take a look at a preview of the Planning White Paper here.

The announcement of the preferred route for the Bedford-Cambridge rail link should help to deliver new homes in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.

The East-West Rail line, running between Cambridge and Bedford would link up to the existing western end of the route, towards Oxford.

The preferred  ‘route E’ would run from Bedford, south of St Neots and Tempsford via Cambourne to Cambridge. As he announced the decision, the Housing Secretary said: “I want to make sure that any of these new homes are built to a high standard and all future development in the area is well designed, beautiful, environmentally friendly and embraces the latest technologies. These communities will be world class and a blueprint for forward-looking design across the country.”

It looks like 2020 is gearing up to be a really positive year for the planning industry…

If you would like to discuss your own project with us, or just find out more about what we do, please continue to browse the website or drop us an email to: info@apexplanning.co.uk without obligation.

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