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The First Metro Mayor for the West of England
Conservative Tim Bowles, has now been sworn in as the first Metro Mayor for the West of England Combined Authority (encompassing Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire) and is tasked with leading the delivery of a Devolution Deal worth £900m. Addressing the housing shortage was one of the Metro Mayor’s key priorities during the election campaign. With barely two weeks having passed since he took office, and with purdah prior to the General Election, it could be some time before we have clarity on how this is likely to be achieved. This blog considers some of the key challenges that lie ahead in planning for more homes across the region.
It is generally agreed that we need more houses across the region to address a worsening supply and affordability crisis. The emerging Joint Spatial Plan (JSP), which also includes North Somerset, goes some way to tackle the issue by providing the framework to deliver up to 105,000 new homes over the next 20 years. The consultation report on the JSP shows that the development industry considers this level of growth to be insufficient – particularly to address the desperate shortfall of affordable housing. Against this backdrop, it is encouraging that the Metro Mayor has pledged to develop a strategy to deliver more new homes. The biggest question of course is ‘where will these new homes will be built?’
The Metro Mayor has stated that he will work to ease the pressure for greenfield development and development within Green Belt and take a ‘brownfield first’ approach. However, for a region where Green Belt accounts for nearly 50% of the land and tightly constrains existing urban areas, it will not be possible to say ‘no’ to Green Belt release if the supply of new housing is to be significantly increased - particularly when capacity on brownfield sites is limited; viability more challenging; and the lead-in times for delivery longer. 
To tackle the housing crisis the Metro Mayor should be ambitious in adopting a pro-growth and permissive approach which supports the delivery of open market and affordable housing in a range of suitable locations and across a portfolio of sites including brownfield and greenfield. This will involve difficult decisions because any robust plan for housing growth must include a full and proper assessment of the Green Belt. If not, there is a real risk that housing needs across the region will not be met.
After May 2018, the Metro Mayor will have powers of strategic planning, including the ability to adopt a statutory spatial development strategy for the Combined Authority Area, which could act as the framework for managing planning across the region. To provide certainty for the development industry, there is need for clarity about how a spatial development strategy will sit with the emerging JSP. A principal issue will be to ensure that there is no delay in the delivery of strategic housing sites that are currently being planned for through the JSP.
One of the key challenges in managing sustainable housing growth across the region will be the delivery of significant infrastructure improvements to address years of under-investment. The Metro Mayor recognises that an efficient and integrated transport system will help to unlock further growth across the region and has promised to work with a range of stakeholders to improve infrastructure through projects such as the revival of suburban rail links, enhanced park and ride provision, better cycle routes and bus improvement measures.
The Joint Transport Plan outlines a raft of ambitious transport improvements including new rapid bus and light rail links, improvements to the road networks and the extension of the MetroWest project. The cost of delivering these projects runs in to billions of pounds - far beyond what is available through the Devolution Deal. But what we do now have is an immediate source of funding and a Metro Mayor with strategic transport planning powers to invest in some of the transport priorities that have been identified.
What the Metro Mayor needs to deliver is a clear, long-term strategy for a better functioning and integrated transport system which not only improves residents’ access to jobs and opportunities but also demonstrates how development sites for new homes can be opened up. Strategic planning for transport alongside housing growth will lead to more sustainable patterns of development and ease congestion.
The Metro Mayor will be one of four decision makers - chairing a Cabinet made up of the leaders of the three Councils (two Conservative and one Labour) including Bristol’s elected Mayor. This is positive because it will ensure that the benefits from the Devolution Deal will be shared across the region. But political diversity will mean that the Metro Mayor can only address strategic growth by cutting through party politics.  Another political consideration will be how best to work with North Somerset, which last year voted against the creation of a Metro Mayor and is not directly included in the new administration. North Somerset forms a part of the functional Wider Bristol Housing Market Area (not least because 22% of its residents in work commute in to Bristol) and will have a key role to play in solving the regions’ housing crisis including Bristol’s unmet need. Taking an inclusive approach to engagement and involvement in decisions that impact upon and help North Somerset will, therefore, be crucial.  
Despite these issues, what remains beyond doubt is that the Devolution Deal provides a great opportunity for the West of England to maintain its strengths and unlock the full potential for well planned sustainable housing growth.

Image credit: Paul Raftery

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General Election 2017: summary of the key policies for planning and development
The UK will have a general election on 8 June. With housing and infrastructure investment always high on the agenda and the looming Brexit negotiations, the implications for the UK planning and development industry are wide-ranging.
 
While there is cross-party agreement around some of the issues that the next government will need to tackle (e.g. housing supply or reform business rates), many proposed policies and projects don’t enjoy unanimous support.
 
To help navigating the plethora of recent development-related announcements, we have produced a summary of what we consider the most relevant manifesto commitments by the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats.
 
Figure 1: Key Manifesto policies for planning and development

Click to enlarge

Source: Lichfields analysis of the Conservative Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrats’ manifestoes.

The document above provides an impartial summary of the three parties’ manifestoes, for more details please visit:

 

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7 key findings from Lichfields’ latest research into rural tourism
Lichfields has published its most recent insight Rural estates: economic benefits of rural tourism. This time we have turned our attention to rural areas and the potential for country estates to diversify their existing operations, to include provision of tourist accommodation. With the political and economic backdrop in flux, we consider that this is a market in which landowners and estate managers could make gains, while at the same time providing jobs and stimulating investment in the rural economy.
Some of our key findings are set out below.
  1. The tourism industry throughout the UK is flourishing

    It grew at a rate almost double that of the rest of the UK economy between 2000 and 2016. This trend looks set to continue.

  2. This equates to significant economic gains

    It is anticipated that some 630,000 additional jobs in tourism will be generated between 2013 and 2025, at a value to the tune of £130.5 billion. That’s more than double its present value.

  3. The countryside looks set to benefit

    Visits to rural areas have consistently accounted for 20% of all domestic tourist trips. If this proportion is maintained, as it is expected to be, then the growth forecasted in the sector as a whole presents significant opportunities for rural landowners.

  4. There are many business models open to those seeking to tap into this market

    From relatively ‘intensive’ operations such as hotels and guesthouses through to ‘lower commitment’ options such as camping, there is a range of different products which could be matched to any given country estate. Which one is right for will depend on locational and site specific attributes.

  5. Hotels are the most popular model for visitors

    Hotels, along with guesthouses, B&Bs and self-catering properties, attract 86% of stays in Scotland. Hotels also attract the highest spend per person per night and present the best opportunity for year-round bookings. However, these models also entail the greatest ‘commitment’, property-wise.

  6. Other niche accommodation types may be better suited to some country estates

    While hotels and other traditional types of accommodation may be the most popular in the round, camping, glamping and AirBnB can also present profitable diversification models, with lower start-up and maintenance costs. While these models may result in fewer direct employment opportunities, they still make contributions to the local economies that they operate within.

  7. Planning is key to unlock the value in rural estates

    Economic impact is a material consideration in the determination of planning applications. Due to the remote nature of the majority of rural areas, making a compelling planning case for development that clearly articulates the positive economic impact of any proposal and balances this against any locational disadvantages is paramount to success.

 

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Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017: essential guide to future changes to development management

19 July 2017 update: the first Regulations commencing a series of provisions in the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 were laid on 18 July and are already in force.

Of the Act’s development management changes, the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2017 mean that the Secretary of State (SoS) can now go ahead and make another set of regulations that will be about what kind of conditions may or may not be imposed on a grant of planning permission (s14 of the Act). Regulations can be made now too, governing the circumstances when the agreement of an applicant has to be obtained in advance and when it does not, to the terms of a pre-commencement condition.

Also, s1 is now in force so that a local planning authority has to have regard to a ‘post-examination’, unmade neighbourhood development plan (‘neighbourhood plan’) as a material consideration in the determination of planning applications. With s3 now in force too, it is the case that just prior to a draft neighbourhood plan being made after succeeding at referendum, the Plan forms part of the development plan (but it would not continue to do so if the LPA were to decide it should not be made).

S16 of the Act has now amended the New Towns Act 1981, so that the SoS can transfer the overseeing of new town development corporations established under that Act to one or more local authorities covering the New Town area. The SoS can also now make further Regulations for how a local authority should then go about overseeing the New Town’s development.


This guide provides a summary of the measures in the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 that relate to development management procedures in England, other than those for planning conditions – covered in Lichfields’ ‘essential guide to future changes - the use of conditions

Also affecting development management are the Act’s provisions that will alter: the status and materiality of draft neighbourhood plans at given stages; requirements for notification for neighbourhood planning bodies; and local authority planning registers. 
The new legal requirement to further amend the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development)(England) Order 2015 (as amended), to alter permitted development rights (PDRs) for pubs and other drinking establishments, has already been fulfilled by amendments in force from 23 May.
Lichfields’ ‘essential guide to changes to plan-making’ covers the changes relating to local plans and neighbourhood plans that will arise from the Act.
Changes to the materiality and status of advanced draft neighbourhood plans
Once section 3 is brought into force, a draft neighbourhood development plan (‘neighbourhood plan’) will become part of the development plan just before being made, once it has succeeded at referendum (but it would not continue to do so, if the local planning authorities (LPA) decides it should not be made).
And prior to that, a ‘post-examination’, unmade neighbourhood plan will have to be taken into account in the determination of planning applications when section 1 is brought into force. The Act defines a post-examination neighbourhood plan and stipulates when a draft neighbourhood plan would cease to be considered to be a post-examination neighbourhood plan. 
These sections should be read in the context of past appeal decisions not always being in line with advanced draft neighbourhood plans (see the Housing and Planning Minister’s jovial reference to a ‘Malthouse clause’), and a perception that some authorities are not doing enough to support neighbourhood planning (hence the other neighbourhood planning provisions in the Act).
The inclusion of an unmade plan in the statutory development plan is a significant conceptual and legal change, but not an enormous leap in practice, as it is likely that very significant weight would be attached to such an advanced draft neighbourhood plan as a material consideration in any event.
Indeed, at the fourth sitting of the Commons Committee stage  the Housing and Planning Minister quoted para 216 of the NPPF, regarding the weight to be given to emerging plans, in order to “help” the Committee to understand the provision.
And regarding the weight to give a draft plan, Baroness Parminter noted at Committee Stage in the Lords:
“Clause 1 says that local authorities “must have regard” to neighbourhood development plans, but there are no sanctions. Furthermore, this applies only to post-examined plans, whereas case law says that draft plans should be taken into account.”
The Housing and Planning Minister had previously explained that (the then) Clause 1 was about giving communities the confidence, through legislation rather than guidance, that their neighbourhood plans “will get proper consideration in planning decisions, where the plan is material to the application” because the hours communities put in to preparing them should be “recognised in the system at the earliest possible opportunity”. 
Therefore the provision in section 3 in particular is more about motivating communities and ‘sending a message’, than about making a significant change to the weight to be given to neighbourhood plans.
As Mr Barwell said towards the end of the Bill’s passage:
“We want to ensure that this process helps people who give up their spare time and put effort into producing neighbourhood plans to get the result they want in terms of how their local community develops.”
Notification arrangements for sites where there is a neighbourhood plan, or a post-examination draft neighbourhood plan
Once all of section 2 is in force, LPAs must notify parish councils and neighbourhood forums of applications for planning permission, permission in principle (PIP) or reserved matters approval (and any alterations to those applications), on land where there is a draft neighbourhood plan, or a post-examination draft neighbourhood plan, unless the parish council has advised the LPA that it wishes to be notified of certain applications, or does not wish to be notified at all.  The requirement does not extend to technical details consent applications that follow PIP, which is an interesting omission given the Government’s intention that mandatory engagement at the technical details stage will be “proportionate” and its desire to promote engagement with neighbourhood planning to LPAs.
This provision, which amends/will amend Schedule 1 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, will operate alongside the pre-existing requirement in Schedule 1 to notify parish councils and neighbourhood forums of planning applications and reserved matters approval applications (and any alterations to those applications) where they have requested to be notified.
The amendment to Schedule 1 in force thus far, only has the effect of allowing changes to the automatic notification procedure to be set out in the amendments to the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (Articles 25 and 25A).  We are seeking clarification as to which sub-sections of section 2 have been brought into force, and understand that it is section 2(1-5).
Planning register
Section 17 permits regulations requiring LPAs to include prior approval applications, decisions and notifications on their planning registers –whether the authority has responded or not to an application.  Regulations may also stipulate the information to be included in the register, and the circumstances when an application or notification may be removed from it.  The inclusion of this information on the planning register is intended to lead to the accurate recording of the number of homes permitted via PDRs.
The section requiring LPAs to include prior approval applications and prior notifications on the planning register has commenced (new section 69A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990), but a development order prescribing the information to be recorded is outstanding.
A draft Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) (Amendment) Order - 2017?
December 2016’s ‘The Neighbourhood Planning Bill: Further information on how the Government intends to exercise the Bill’s delegated powers’(the ‘further information document’) includes a draft amendment to the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015, which relates solely to housing prior approval applications that will create additional dwellings.  If it were brought into force as drafted, LPAs would have to keep all information submitted with, or in respect of a housing prior approval applications in its planning register, including any statement specifying the net increase in dwellinghouses proposed by the development, and any legal agreements.
Given that the amendment to the Order has been drafted, and the May Government’s (and probably the new Government's) desire to monitor the number of new homes being built or converted, one can expect this provision to be fully in force by the end of the year.
Changes to permitted development rights for drinking establishments
During the passage of the Act, there was much debate regarding PDRs and pubs, and some MPs and Lords expressed strong concerns regarding pub closures.  The outcome of these debates is that the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (GPDO) was legally required to be amended as set out by section 15.
The main change is that the previously available PDRs for the change of use or demolition of drinking establishment have been removed.  The Lords had sought to delete Use Class A4*, drinking establishments, but the Government thought that this would risk unintended consequences, and would limit opportunities for pubs to expand without seeking planning permission.
The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (No. 2) (Amendment) Order 2017
As required by the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017, and within the timescale promised in the Lords, amendments to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 removing certain PDRs for pubs will come into force on 23 May 2017.   The Lichfields’ ‘Guide to the Use Classes Order’ has been updated to reflect this change.
The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (No. 2) (Amendment) Order 2017 (‘GDPO amendment’) removes PDRs to change drinking establishments (use class A4) to use class A1 (shops), A2 (financial and professional services), or A3 (restaurants).  Temporary rights to change from a drinking establishment, or ‘a drinking establishment with expanded food provision’ to a school, and to use classes A1, A2 or A3, will also be removed at the same time (Article 3 of the Amendment Order). ‘Drinking establishments with expanded food provision’, where a pub or other drinking establishment use operates concurrently with a use falling within Class A3, is a new typology that has been introduced by the GPDO amendment.  ‘Drinking establishments with expanded food provision’ are not defined further.
New Class AA PDRs added to Part 3, Schedule 2 will permit change of use from drinking establishments to drinking establishments with expanded food provision, with no limitations or conditions.  Drinking establishments with expanded food provision may not change to a restaurant without applying for planning permission.
Planning permission will also be required to demolish a drinking establishment, or a drinking establishment with expanded food provision.
As a consequence of the removal of these rights, the current requirement to establish with the LPA whether the drinking establishment has been nominated as an asset of community value will be removed, as it is no longer relevant.
There are transitional arrangements: where a request for confirmation from the LPA as to whether the building has been nominated or listed as an asset of community value was made more than 56 days before 23 May, the development can begin.  For demolition, prior approval must have been granted, determined to not be required or deemed granted before 23 May.
New permitted development right Class AA is postponed for 18 months, for buildings which fall within the scope of an Article 4 direction that withdraws permission to change use from Class A4 to Class A3.  This will give LPAs sufficient time to draft and then advertise any amendments to an Article 4 Direction, or prepare any new Article 4 Directions that are considered necessary.
Compensation rules relating to Article 4 directions are being amended to reflect the new Class AA right.
Local accountability for New Town Development Corporations
Section 16 will allow the transfer of functions under the New Town Act 1981 from central government to one or more local authorities within the area proposed for a New Town. Regulations can then be made for how the local authority should oversee the New Town's development.
It was added to the Bill at Third Reading in the Lords, in an amendment tabled by Lord Taylor, Lord Best and Lord Lucas, and followed an earlier debate during the passage of the Bill, which led to subsequent discussions between Lord Taylor and DCLG officials, and to referencing the (then future) amendment (being referred to) in the Housing White Paper (para 1.36). Consequently the amendment was accepted by the Government.
At Third Reading Lord Taylor argued:
“In the modern world, it is not right that in seeking to deliver a new settlement through a new town corporation to ensure that it is delivered at quality and pace to meet local needs a local council would surrender all the powers to the Secretary of State... This is a localising measure. It hands really strong power to communities to ensure that new towns are delivered at quality.​”
The draft regulations will need to be approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.
New government - new DCLG ministers and a new approach?
In my view, a new Conservative government would be unlikely to change tack on the development management changes outlined here (despite the pub PDR changes being rushed through).  Furthermore, Gavin Barwell has dropped a number of heavy hints about his desire to return to the Department of Communities and Local Government, and should this happen, an altered approach is even less likely.
Expect full steam ahead from 19 June.
Sources

Improving the use of planning conditions, public consultation

Government response to the consultation on improving the use of planning conditions

The Neighbourhood Planning Bill: Further information on how the Government intends to exercise the Bill’s delegated powers

The Neighbourhood Planning Bill 2016/2017 Delegated Powers Memoranda

*Use Class A4 ‘drinking establishments’ includes public houses, pubs, and bars

 

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