Town Planning Archives - Planning Design Ltd

Holiday Home Blues

28th November 202214th June 2022 by Gary Stringer

With summer holidays at the forefront of many people’s minds and holiday homes frequently in the news, Jonathan Jenkin, Consultant and Chartered Town Planner at Planning & Design Practice sets out how planning policy can create a manifesto for change to eradicate the problems caused by this phenomenal rise in popularity.

I heard a report on second homes on the Isle of Wight having myself recently returned from a holiday in Cornwall where there are more holiday and second homes in most coastal villages and towns than permanent homes. In Derbyshire where I live, many of the Peak District villages are dominated by holiday and second homes and this leads to a lack of housing stock, the collapse of local communities, pressure on public services that struggle to meet demand, with wages that cannot keep up with house prices, rapidly rising house prices, low local wages relative to house price, a lack of affordable homes and very few homes for first time buyers.

The demand for and growth in second homes and holiday homes has been phenomenal in the past five years. Firstly, the tax advantages of holiday and second home ownership are significant and many holiday homes are now run as small companies and are exempt from council tax. Cornwall alone is losing £15m a year in lost council tax.

Secondly, the internet and working from home have made holiday home letting much easier and cheaper, the pandemic has driven a demand for a better quality of life and allowed people to work from their second home for periods of the year.

Thirdly, climate change and the pandemic have reduced the demand to fly, travel widely and holidaying abroad.

Fourthly, Brexit has made property ownership in Europe more difficult, with the costs of running a holiday home or a second home in Europe have increased substantially while demand is only slowly recovering.

It should also be recognised that there is also a long-term shortage of homes in Britain, driven by a lack of public housing. This has driven up the price of housing way above increases in earnings and inflation, so the demand for second homes and holiday homes is also seen as a means to increase wealth without having to work for it.

A Manifesto for Change:

We can solve this problem in the following ways:

1: All holiday homes and second homes should be registered with the council. This is due to start in Cornwall next year.

2: National planning policy should create a distinct holiday and second home use class separate from a property which is in permanent residential use as a home (the ‘principal dwellinghouse’). All those properties registered as holiday and second homes should fall within this new class. This is not a radical idea, houses in multiple occupation are already treated differently in the planning system as are homes restricted to those working in agriculture and forestry.

3: Holiday homes and second homes would be subject to a double council tax charge whether they are owned individually or by a company. Currently a council can only increase council tax on vacant property. This will help to fund local services including health.

4: A second/holiday home can become a principal dwellinghouse and be deleted from the register and by doing so will be subject to the normal level of council tax. Planning permission will not be required. However, if the owners of a permanent home, then want to use it as a holiday home or a second home, planning permission will be required.

A local council may have planning policies to prevent the loss of permanent accommodation in key locations.A council may also require all new build housing to be for permanent occupation only. This already happens in key tourist spots such as St Ives.

If a property is being used as a second/holiday home without being registered, then it will be subject to enforcement action. All holiday and second homes will be identified on local plan maps, available to access on the internet. All holiday letting companies will be required to ensure all property owners register their properties with the Council as a condition of letting and this would include Airbnb and other internet based letting companies.

5: To help ease the current shortfall in affordable rented property, winter lets would be allowed on holiday property for a minimum period of 6 months. The property owner would register the holiday let as being in short term permanent occupation with the council, and this would allow the council tax burden to be shared between the tenant and the owner without a change in use class.

6: Park homes and lodges that can be lived in throughout the year would be treated in the same way. These rules would not apply to caravan parks, and short-term camping and caravan sites.

These measures would provide local communities with more control, they would help to share the burden of providing local services and create more balanced and vibrant communities in the long term.

Jonathan Jenkin, Planning Consultant and Chartered Town Planner, Planning & Design Practice Ltd

New talent, new expertise, New Year

28th November 20226th December 2021 by Gary Stringer

As we look ahead to the new year and the new opportunities it will bring, Planning & Design Practice Ltd is expanding and excited to announce new additions to the team, with new recruits joining our planning, architectural and heritage teams.

Joining our approachable and experienced team of RIBA Chartered Architects and architectural assistants is Project Architect Manik Karunaratne. An Architects Registration Board (ARB) UK registered architect, Manik qualified in 2018 at the University of Nottingham, following an architectural journey comprised of several universities, having studied at the University of Derby, Nottingham Trent University and De Montfort University.

Having worked on commercial architecture practices previously, Manik has experience on office buildings, high rise apartments buildings, housing developments and barn conversions. Currently he is working on a variety of vernacular and domestic projects liaising closely with clients and further developing his knowledge in heritage and conservation.

Andrew Stock joins us as a Principal Planner, having spent over 7 years in local government. Andrew previously worked in development control as a Planning Officer at Herefordshire Council and, since 2016, as a Senior Planning Officer at Derbyshire Dales District Council.

During his time in local government Andrew gained a wealth of knowledge on a wide range of planning applications including residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural developments of various scales. Andrew will utilise his wealth of experience and local knowledge to assist the company in the preparation, submission and management of all types of planning applications going forward.

Having recently completed a Master’s degree in Public History and Heritage at the University of Derby, Ruth Gray joins our Heritage team as Heritage Assistant. Ruth will assist an IHBC (Institute of Historic Building Conservation) planner and a Specialist Conservation Architect, carrying out research and helping to prepare heritage assessments, listed building applications and planning applications in conservation areas, and within the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage site, where we have worked on a number of successful projects. Prior to joining Planning & Design, Ruth was a heritage assistant at a charity in Nottingham supporting sector entrants to find their first role in museums and cultural institutions.

Continuing a tradition of encouraging and supporting emerging talent, we are also pleased to announce the addition to the team of: Joshua Bunce and Matthew Kempster as Junior Architectural Technicians; and Katy Francis, Emily Anderson, Caitlin Holton and Shaun Hyde as Graduate Planners.

Richard Pigott, Director said “We are excited to be growing the team again following the restructuring earlier in the year and the appointment of the new management team. This is in response to continuing demand for our services and demonstrates our confidence in the future in both our Derby and Sheffield offices, reflecting the positive economic outlook in these two great cities.”

Since being founded in 2002 Planning & Design Practice Ltd has earnt an excellent reputation for winning approvals and for creating attractive and viable proposals. The company has generated over £200m of uplift in land values for clients through its consents and proposals. The architectural side of the business boasts true international expertise having worked on large scale projects in Russia, Germany, Spain and the United States as well as across the UK. The company is able to design award winning proposals for a wide range of clients across the country.

The company’s heritage team can advise on listed buildings and developments in sensitive locations whilst maintaining a strong planning consultancy team. In 2019 our heritage work was recognised and awarded the Highly Commended Certificate for Excellence in Planning for Heritage & Culture at the recent RTPI East Midlands Awards for Planning Excellence 2019. The Highly Commended Certificate was for our work on the redevelopment of the ‘East Site’ at John Smedley Mills, Lea Bridge.

Urban Uplift – a material consideration in the determination of planning applications

28th November 202219th October 2021 by Gary Stringer

Harry Capstick, part of the PDP Planning team takes a look at urban uplift, what it is and what it means for the planning system.

On 6 August 2020, the government published ‘Changes to the current planning system’. The consultation paper set out four policy proposals to improve the effectiveness of the current system.

In changes to the current planning system, the government set out the importance of building the homes our communities need and putting in place measures to support our housing market to deliver 300,000 homes a year by mid-2020s.

It has been decided that the most appropriate approach to meet this figure is to retain the standard method in its current form. However, in order to meet the principles of delivering more homes on brownfield land, the government have applied a 35% uplift to the post-cap number generated by the standard method to Greater London and to the local authorities which contain the largest proportion of the other 19 most populated cities and urban centres in England, and have referred to these places as the ‘Urban Uplift’. This is based on the Office for National Statistics list of Major Towns and Cities, ranked in order of population size using the latest mid-year population estimates provided by the Office for National Statistics.

The “Urban Uplift” has now been a material consideration in the determination of planning decisions since June 2021. Two early appeal decisions, both in Sheffield (Deepcar PINS 267168 and Loxley PINS 3262600), have provided an indication as to the implications of the uplift and how it should be applied.

The City Council ran the argument that the Urban Uplift, introduced by changes to the NPPG in December 2020, should not be applied at the date 6 months after its introduction as stated in the NPPG (i.e. 16 June 2021), but only at a time when the Council decided to publish its next updated Monitoring Report, as this allowed the timescales to be aligned. Neither Inspector found this argument to be persuasive, stating that there are no provisions to opt-out of avoiding the effect of the uplift from this date. The Council also sought to argue that the increased number of dwellings could only be delivered in the main urban area and not in other settlements within the City’s boundary.

Again this was rejected by the Inspectors. These appeals also confirm that Councils are required to demonstrate that student accommodation will have a positive impact on the supply of market housing, and that such accommodation cannot just be taken into account, with no adequate analysis. In relation to what this means for the other 20 areas, which are subject to the Urban uplift, this is set out in the Table below.

The application of the urban uplift to the most recently published land supply figures results in the following authorities no longer having a five year supply:
Birmingham (3.71), Bristol (3.15), Manchester (4.63), Sheffield (4.02), Bradford (3.07), Newcastle-upon-Tyne (4.31) Stoke-onTrent (4.61), Southampton (3.25), Plymouth (Joint Planning Area) (2.07), Derby (3.91), Wolverhampton (4.40), and Brighton and Hove (1.55).

With the exception of Bristol, which has a 20% buffer, all of the other areas have a 5% buffer. For 7 authorities, this change would mean that the “tilted balance” is engaged as it was before. For a smaller number of authorities, that change away from a local plan target, would actually result in demonstrating a more than five year land supply. Of course, this analysis just utilises the Council’s most up to-date published information, and as the recent appeals in Sheffield demonstrate, these can in themselves be subject to substantial discounting, depending upon the approach adopted in the collection of evidence by the Council.

Harry Capstick, Planner, Planning & Design Practice Ltd

Planning & Design – Sent to Coventry

19th June 202310th August 2021 by Gary Stringer

For the first time, in what seemed a long, long time, the Planning & Design team were all together and being “sent to Coventry”, as we resumed our annual Study Day tradition with a trip to the UK City of Culture 2021.

Making the most of the “Freedom Day” relaxation of the Covid-19 restrictions that had necessitated home and flexible working for our team of architects and town planners, and unable to organise a trip in 2020, this was the first time our full team had all been together in over 18 months.

Coventry was the fastest growing city in Britain between the First and Second World Wars. With its medieval streets becoming congested and overcrowded, in 1938 the City Council appointed Donald Gibson to become the first city architect. The newly created City Architect’s Department had ambitious plans, and the devastation of the Coventry Blitz, especially the air raid of 14th -15th November 1940 afforded it the opportunity to design and implement an entirely new city centre. This as we were to discover, offered a wealth of architectural styles for us to explore- Brutalist, modernist and medieval all sitting side by side.

The re-planning of Coventry City Centre had started before the Blitz; it was the extensive war time damage, that both directed and enabled Gibson and the City Architect’s Department to turn the ambitious plans into reality. His legacy was apparent throughout the city with buildings such as Broadgate House, the Upper and Lower precincts and the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, where we began our tour, all bearing testament to his ethos to reimagine a city centre, what it could and should be. Gibson’s then novel town planning concept to separate traffic and pedestrians resulted in Europe’s first car free shopping precinct and the various zones earmarked for retail, religion, administration, and recreation, are still in evidence today.

From the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, we moved on to explore the modernist Cathedral Church of St Michael. This is one of three cathedrals in Coventry, the first was St Mary’s, a monastic building, of which only a few ruins remain and the second St Michael’s, a 14th-century Gothic church later designated as a cathedral. A ruined shell after its bombing during the Second World War, this now serves as a garden of remembrance and sits alongside the new cathedral of St Michael. Designed by Basil Spence and Arup, built by John Laing and a Grade I listed building, the new cathedral was consecrated on 25 May 1962, with Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, composed for the occasion, premiered in the new cathedral to mark the occasion.

Gibson’s legacy continues to be felt in Broadgate, which has been at the heart of the city for almost 1,000 years. Civic offices Broadgate House was the first new building to be completed and was opened in May 1953. It was later followed by the Owen Owen department store, now Primark and the Hotel Leofric in 1955, which is now Mercia Lodge, a development of student flats since 2008 and with the old hotel ballroom now home to a climbing wall. The remaining side of the Broadgate square was temporary shops until being replaced by Cathedral Lanes in 1990, a £20 million- plus development that has helped transform the city’s leisure economy. Obviously a great spot to stop for lunchtime refreshments!

Coventry’s most (in)famous resident, Lady Godiva also makes her presence felt in Broadgate with her “Self Sacrifice” sculpture taking pride of place in the square, whilst the Lady Godiva Clock, installed in 1953 recalls, every hour on the hour, the legend of her legendary ride naked through Coventry. Peeping Tom, the tailor who disobeyed her wishes not to peek is seen to look out of an upper window, being struck blind he certainly paid a heavy price for his curiosity!

Sir Donald Gibson CBE left Coventry in 1955, becoming County Architect in Nottinghamshire. He was subsequently knighted and became the government’s senior architect, responsible for raising architectural standards, across the UK.

We left Coventry, having soaked up the atmosphere, and the sunshine (a rarity on a PDP Study Day when we normally plan for rain!) and having been impressed at how the city is continuing to re-invent itself, repurposing its buildings and its sense of identity as it looks to build upon the opportunities afforded by its City of Culture status.

Planning permission converts Public House to private residences

29th November 202228th July 2021 by Gary Stringer

We recently secured permission for the residential redevelopment of a former public house in Derbyshire. We were able to reach an agreement with the local authority for the development of five dwellings. The scheme included the retention and conversion of the original historic element of the public house, which was converted into a pair of charming semi-detached houses. Then, we traded the floor space of the rest of the pub, which had been extended several times in an ad-hoc fashion, to be demolished with the new dwellings erected in its place.

Two key issues that we had to address were the impact the development would have on the neighbouring properties and ensuring the dwellings had safe access to the highway. Tina Humphreys, our Part II Assistant, led the design work and was able to carefully balance the design of the new properties to prevent overlooking, loss of privacy or the new properties being overbearing. The site was spatially compact, and we had to account for the minimum garden depths required by the Authority, which meant careful placement of windows and amenity space. The scheme replicated the density of the surrounding area, and the high-quality design of the new dwellings will make a positive contribution to the street scene.

The issue with the proposed access was that although we could achieve a safe visibility splay in theory, based on a speed survey that was conducted for this application, the road conditions were such that cars regularly parked adjacent to the access, and therefore blocking visibility. We were able to reach an agreement with the local Highways Authority to extend some existing double yellow lines to prevent the blockage, in doing so satisfying the Planning Officer that the development could take place safely.

Planning & Design Practice Ltd is a multi-disciplinary team of Town Planners, Architects, Architectural Assistants and Design Professionals. We can take a project through from inception to completion but we also offer the flexibility to engage a client’s own architects and provide a planning service, whilst our design team can also work with clients who have engaged other town planning professionals.

With extensive knowledge about the policies and procedures of individual councils and the approach taken by planning officers and Councillors, we can tailor our services to the site location and the individual needs of our clients. Contact us for a no obligation consultation to discuss your project or property.

End of year review – Looking back at 2020

29th November 202223rd December 2020 by Gary Stringer

As 2020 draws to a close, Jonathan Jenkin, Managing Director of Planning & Design Practice Ltd looks back to review a turbulent and uncertain year, whilst looking ahead to the opportunities of the new year.

In my review last year I envisaged 2020 as a year for growth for the businesses, we had recruited well in 2019 and new staff members were finding their feet. The New Year began in that vein and tackling climate change through our architecture and through planning was top on the agenda, with the aim of moving our clients towards a greener future using less energy, releasing less Co2 and designing in resilience. We set our selves new targets and sought to define our broader aims and values as a company.

We upgraded our internet service in the autumn of 2019 and it proved to be fortuitous because by the end of March everyone was working from home. The planning system carried on working, local government was quick to adapt and our deadlines and the issuing of planning decisions continued. Some applications were held up because it took time to create virtual planning meetings but by June and July these were up and running in most parts of the country. The building industry stopped for only a short period before it too was up and running and construction re-started in early May.

By June, staff started to drift back to the office and we agreed to a blended model of home and office working to maintain social distancing but to keep some of the gains of office life. The loosening of Covid restrictions, a wonderful dry and sunny spring led to an upturn in business activity during the summer. The government extended permitted development in September and issued a new planning white paper. Climate change has not gone away and a semblance of normality began to creep into our working lives.

In September, the Covid 19 cases began to rise and activity was suppressed and generally as autumn gave way to winter, the level of suppression has increased. We continue to operate a blended model of home and office based work, we continue to meet with clients (while meeting social distancing requirements) and we continue with site visits and our engagement with Local Planning Authorities.

The housing market has proved to be robust because of a huge injection of money into the economy by the Bank of England combined with the reduction in Stamp duty. The price of housing in rural and coastal communities has risen sharply as internet based working from home has led to some people seeing a future for themselves where they do not have to commute and can live where they want, no longer tied to the shackles of the office. But for young people in particular and those on smaller incomes, home working is not always a viable option. They do not have the space; they do not have the internet connections and home working can be socially isolating. The office has an important social and community function which should not be overlooked. The office for us has proved to be a more creative space and this is exemplified by our weekly architectural team meeting which brings team members together to review work and to discuss problems. The office also helps to build mutual support and understanding as people spend time with each other.

Virtual planning meetings and on line planning appeals have required new ways of working. While councils are able to make planning decisions, the level of public participation has been reduced. Several councils do not allow speakers to address the planning committee direct and some planning officers and conservation officers have proved difficult to contact. Virtual planning appeals can be difficult to manage and we are reliant on all the participants have good internet access.

As the suppression of social activity and social contact continues, these virtual systems will become embedded and will only change back slowly as greater social contact is allowed.

Covid 19 exposed the poor quality of much of our housing stock, its lack of space and often the lack of private outside space particularly in our cities. In lockdown, you need to get outside and if you are working from home, you need space to work. The government have finally acknowledged that the Class ‘O’ permitted development office to residential conversion rights have created sub-standard housing and all new development will have to provide all habitable rooms with natural light and from April 2021 meet minimum space standards. But this is not enough. All new housing should have private open space with minimum outside space standards. Flats need balconies and terraces and these need to be large enough to provide real benefits to residents. All new residential units and residential conversions will need to include working from home space and this will require additional floor space and higher minimum space standards.

The new planning white paper drew very few plaudits and much criticism. This came from within the Conservative party and from the architectural and planning professions. The paper is due to be translated into legislation in the spring, but I expect delays and a rough passage through parliament. One of the key problems for the government is its ideology of individual freedom when confronted with a public community based planning system where local people can decide on what can be built and where, affecting the rights of those who own land and buildings.

Planning is about society and community, where the interests of the community are greater in law than individual rights. The problem for the government is that many conservative voters benefit from and support the planning system. They want and like to be able to make decisions about their own communities and be able to protect their own quality of life against development and developers. Green belts, AONBs, conservation areas and limitations on development outside towns and cities benefit the better off more than the poor. The planning system by regulating development by the community tends towards the status quo.

To get round some of these restrictions the government has expanded permitted development rights which have begun to hollow out the planning system, but this approach is reaching the end of what can be achieved as new permitted development rights are so complex (to protect legitimate concerns) that they amount to a planning application in all but name.

Permitted development is fertile ground for consultants like us; they do provide back stop positions and can help to deliver development. But they also make the system very complex and difficult to navigate and require an ever deeper understanding of the system to maximise development opportunities.

Looking towards 2021 it will be a quiet start, but I remain optimistic about the future. We have a great team here at Planning and Design who are committed and enthusiastic. There is much work to do to improve people’s lives and we will be there to make our contribution.

Jonathan Jenkin, Managing Director, Planning & Design Practice Ltd

Planning Design – ‘A new normal’

29th November 202213th November 2020 by Gary Stringer

Writing for Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, a year on from the opening of our Sheffield office, Michael Bamford, Director at Planning Design reflects on adapting and prospering under “A New Normal” following the unprecedented upheaval caused by Covid-19.

In October 2019 we moved into our new office in the Workstation and were excited for what was a new chapter for Planning Design. Back then we thought the issues facing the South Yorkshire region were meeting the challenges of Climate Change and Brexit. We, like many businesses were apprehensive about the impact Brexit might have on business as usual but didn’t spot the more acute issue on the horizon. Covid-19 only really floated onto the radar in January and it wasn’t clear how significant a challenge it would be until March. At the time we were quietly optimistic about the signs of growth in Sheffield and excited at the opportunity to continue to be involved in realising potential for the city.

It was late March when true impact of Covid-19 hit home as the national lock down was rolled out. Working from home became the new norm, the majority of the planning system ground to a halt whilst Council’s and the Government grappled with operating a system that was reliant on a central office suddenly being required to work entirely remotely. Planning applications, appeals, committee meetings, pre-apps all stalled and for a short time it was difficult to see how things would move forwards.

Gradually the country (and the world) adjusted to lockdown and a new normality prevailed. Never has access to the internet been so vital in connecting communities and allowing work to continue. Video calls have become an engrained part of our society and paved the way for a new way of working. Slow at first to respond to the challenges of COVID-19, work towards the Sheffield Local Plan is now well and truly up and running and areas such as Doncaster have excelled in adapting to the challenges and motoring on with the adoption of the Local Plan.

The construction and property market was temporarily put on hold causing a backlog of demand which only served to accelerate the growth when it was released. Something that has been felt across the world. Many countries including the U.K. have seen significant growth in the price of property. The importance of space standards, natural light and access to public open space has been felt much more acutely, fast forwarding the adoption of policies and legislation to provide better homes. Significant changes to existing permitted development rights and the creation of new ones all striving to provide more homes of a much higher quality. As has been common to a lot of crises, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated change across the board, and both planning and architecture are no different. In some areas the changes have been very difficult, and time will tell what long-term impact the pandemic will have on our lives.

One aspect the pandemic has highlighted is the importance of communities and how, when faced with challenges, people come together to adapt and remodel how normal society functions.

It is refreshing to see the how Sheffield as a Council are adapting and how Heart of the City is pushing ahead despite the adversity of the past 9 months. The view from the office window has changed over the past 12 months with ‘The Gate’ a new student accommodation tower nearing completion as well as the new HSBC building and the sheer number of cranes on the Sheffield skyline. It is all a clear sign of the optimism and investment people place in the city.
We have continued to work closely with both the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and the University of Sheffield to provide opportunity for employment and work experience within the city and welcome the support of both institutions in helping to deliver positive change across the region. As a company we have seen positive growth over the year and look forward to embarking on chapter two of “A new normal”.

Michael Bamford, Director, Planning & Design Practice Ltd

Town planning and allotments

5th December 202214th April 2020 by Gary Stringer

Planning & Design Practice were involved in an unusual case regarding allotments. The site is on the edge of a village in Derbyshire. The landowner wants to re-locate the existing allotments and negotiations were underway with the allotment holders.

The village has been a focus for new development and the Parish council were very against the loss of the allotments fearing future development. Firstly the Parish Council tried to have the allotments registered as an Asset of Community Value (an ACV). This failed. They then tried to get the District Council to compulsory purchase the allotments under the 1908 Allotment Act.

My initial thoughts were that this was unlikely, given that a council rarely buys land. However when I read the committee report, where the council was recommended NOT to purchase the land for allotments, it was clear that had there been a shortfall of allotments in the District, the council may have been required to buy this site.

At the District council meeting neither the Parish Council nor the Allotment Holders turned up and the committee voted with officer recommendation. I came away from the meeting feeling that we had got off lightly.

Old pieces of legislation can come back and bite, it was the first time that I had ever seen the 1908 Allotment Act, and I will treat it with respect in the future. For a willing parish council with money, the provisions of the 1908 Allotment Act could potentially be used to block development.

Planning & Design Practice is a multi-disciplinary team of Town Planners, Architects, Architectural Assistants and Design Professionals. We can take a project through from inception to completion but we also offer the flexibility to engage a client’s own architects and provide a planning service, whilst our design team can also work with clients who have engaged other town planning professionals. If you have a site and would like to consider your options for converting it why not give us a call on 01332 347 371 or 0114 221 0168 for an initial no obligation consultation.

Jonathan Jenkin, Managing Director, Planning & Design Practice Ltd

Call on government for stronger direction on climate action

18th November 2019 by Gary Stringer

A recent survey by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), has revealed that an overwhelming majority of UK planners want the next government to give stronger direction and more resources to enable local planners to deliver net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

With 79% of respondents agreeing that climate action should be a top priority for the profession, only 17% felt their nation’s planning system or policy framework was well equipped enough to deal with the current climate crisis.

Nearly 90% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that there needed to be stronger direction from central government and greater resourcing, training and capacity for local authority planning departments to enable more effective local planning for net zero carbon.

Victoria Hills, Chief executive, of the RTPI said: “The government’s own advisory body, the Committee on Climate Change, has acknowledged the role of planners in taking decisive and effective climate action, but without strong direction from central government and an increase in resources and capacity at a local level, it will be impossible for planners to meet the challenges of climate change and achieve the target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“These challenges are so significant and long-term that widespread and fundamental changes in the way our societies are organised and managed will be required. Planning can’t resolve this issue on its own.”

Ms Hills also confirmed that the RTPI has recently joined the UN’s Planners for Climate Action Campaign, which aims to catalyse and accelerate climate action through responsible and transformative urban and territorial planning practice, education and research.

At its annual conference earlier this year, The RTPI launched its Resource Planning for Climate Action campaign, which calls on government to take radical climate actions around buildings and transport, and to develop a tool to help local authorities gauge the carbon impact of existing and emerging local plans.

The campaign calls on the next government to:

ensure that all new build homes are zero carbon and that measures and resources are put in place for existing homes to be zero carbon and to begin a major national retrofitting programme for existing homes;
roll-out SCATTER, a tool for assessing the carbon impact of existing and future local plans, on wider scale;
ensure that climate change mitigation is a vital component of wider planning and infrastructure policy and that government listens to the planning profession in formulating that policy;
give more resources to local planning authorities;
empower devolved national governments and local authorities to lead on climate change mitigation in the devolved nations at local level and give them the resources to do so;
invest in UK infrastructure for smart energy heat and sustainable mobility, including greater collaboration between the ministries of BEIS, DfT and HCLG, as well as devolved governments.

A total of 994 out of the RTPI’s 25,000 members responded to the RTPI’s climate change survey. Respondents came from across the public, private and third sectors.

“Town planning is increasingly important across the world as climate change bites,” said Jonathan Jenkin, Managing Director of Planning & Design.

“With climate change the provision off public transport must increase, the use of the private car should be reduced and our homes should be built to zero carbon. This means building at greater densities and making the best use of land in our urban areas. It means co-ordinating development with public transport and building in locations of greatest accessibility so that people have a choice of transport options, to do this will give young people and the elderly autonomy in their lives, reduce inequality through better access to work and public services and in doing so create greater well-being for all.“

Respondents of the survey also called for zero carbon targets to be set in Building Regulations, more collaboration with other industries in the built environment sector, greater subsidies for retrofitting and more focus on transport planning.

Update on the ‘Sheffield Plan’

29th October 201929th October 2019 by Gary Stringer

Sheffield City Council are in the process of preparing a new local plan (and have been for some time). The ‘Sheffield Plan’ will guide the future of the city by setting out how and where development will take place up to 2034.

Preparation of the ‘Sheffield Plan’ has seen significant setbacks over the years and has meant that development across the city is guided by saved policies from the now very out of date Sheffield Unitary Development Plan which was adopted in 1998 and the Core Strategy which was adopted in 2009.

The first stage in producing the new plan was the Citywide Options for Growth to 2034 document. Consultation on that document took place between 11 November 2015 and 15 January 2016 and there has been very little tangible progress since.

The last formal update on the local plan was published in July 2016 and since then there has been a significant level of uncertainty on the proposed content of the plan and the timeline for adoption.

Things have been moving on behind the scenes and, upon speaking to the Council’s Planning Department, they anticipate providing a formal update on progress with the local plan as well as a timetable for consultation, examination and hopeful adoption within the next week.

This should provide a much clearer position on when a draft local plan will be released, and we will keep you informed as things progress.

To keep up to date, sign up to receive our monthly newsletter on all things planning and architecture related including national news and projects we have worked on. You can do so HERE

Planning & Design have recently made a significant investment to their presence in Sheffield with a move to new premises and several key appointments.

Housed in a former 1930s’ car showroom, Planning & Design now reside in The Workstation, Sheffield’s leading business centre for creative talent and innovation in the heart of the city’s thriving Cultural Industries Quarter.

Leading the Sheffield office will be Michael Bamford. A chartered town planning consultant, Michael started with Planning Design in 2015 and carved out his early career with the group. Having left the company in early 2018 to work with a National Consultancy based in Sheffield, he returned to Planning Design this summer and takes the lead on the operation of our Sheffield Office.

To contact Michael please call 0114 221 0618 or email Michael.Bamford@planningdesign.co.uk

Holiday Home Blues

New talent, new expertise, New Year

Urban Uplift – a material consideration in the determination of planning applications

Planning & Design – Sent to Coventry

Planning permission converts Public House to private residences

End of year review – Looking back at 2020

Planning Design – ‘A new normal’

Town planning and allotments

Call on government for stronger direction on climate action

Update on the ‘Sheffield Plan’

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