South West planning news, March 2018
01 Mar 2018
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Print this planning news
Headline news |
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£141 million from Housing Infrastructure Fund secured for the South West
The projects receiving support as part of the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) have been announced, with £141 million secured for the South West; this represents 16% of the total funding. The funding is intended to support the delivery of new housing, by unlocking new infrastructure projects and improving the viability of potential schemes.
Projects receiving funding in the South West include: £12.5 million for Bath’s Riverside area, to release the potential for 3,500 new homes; £8.5 million to help deliver Ilfracombe’s Southern Extension and Barnstaple’s Westacott Urban Extension in North Devon, helping to unlock 1,700 new homes; and £9.6 million for housing delivery in the Southmead and Lockleaze areas of Bristol.
The Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area received over £62 million in funding, the third highest allocation to any LEP area. This will support 11 projects across Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay.
HM Government, £866 million investment to help unlock potential 200,000 new homesBath and North East Somerset, Council welcomes £12.5million Housing Infrastructure Fund awardNorth Devon Council, Massive £8.5 million funding boost for housing projects in North DevonBristol City Council, Bristol receives £9.6 million infrastructure investment boost to support housing delivery
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Quote of the month |
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| Chancellor Philip Hammond, announcing the first round of Housing Infrastructure Fund investment on 1 February 2018 | ||
Bristol Local Plan Review consultation opens
Consultation on the Local Plan Review for Bristol opened on 19 February and will run until 13 April 2018.
The new Local Plan, when adopted, will cover the period until 2036; it will provide detailed policies in line with the West of England Joint Spatial Plan (JSP) and its requirement of 33,500 new and affordable homes to be delivered in Bristol by 2036.
The City Council intends to conduct an additional informal consultation in October to December 2018, before submitting a publication document for formal Regulation 19 consultation in March 2019. It is currently intended that the Plan will then be submitted for examination in September next year.
Bristol City Council, Local Plan review
South Gloucestershire Local Plan consultation opens
A consultation on the South Gloucestershire Local Plan opened on 5 February and will run until 30 April 2018.
As for Bristol, this Plan will focus on local housing and employment allocations, providing detailed policies in line with the West of England JSP.
The publication Plan is intended to undergo consultation in October of this year, with submission for examination in December.
South Gloucestershire Council, Local Plan Consultation Document
Gloucestershire councils consider 'super-city' connecting Cheltenham and Gloucester
The Gloucestershire 2050 project proposes the connection of the county’s two main urban centres with a new ‘super-city’, aiming to increase the population of the centres to that of a top-10 UK city.
The 'ideas' project is being run by Leadership Gloucestershire and the University of Gloucestershire, to devise innovative solutions to improve the long-term future of the county. The proposal is one of six ‘big ideas’ put forward and open to ongoing consultation.
The project has also suggested the creation of new regional parks connecting the three urban areas, a new cyber-employment park, and a new airport supporting tourism in the Cotswolds.
The project is being supported by the county’s councils and the LEP.
In other Gloucestershire news, the LEP has also publicised that it has awarded almost £10 million of Growth Deal funding to four Gloucestershire projects.
Gloucester 2050, Super Citygfirst LEP, Breaking News: Growth Deal funding
New CIL charging schedule in place for North Somerset
North Somerset Council’s Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Charging Schedule came into effect at the end of January, having been approved last summer.
The CIL charge applies primarily to retail and residential developments and the rates vary according to the size, location and type of development. There is a £0 CIL rate for commercial (Class B) uses, and on many other non-residential uses or retail uses.
North Somerset Council, CIL Charging Schedule
West of England LEP confirms project investments of £3 million
The West of England LEP Joint Committee has confirmed the investment of £3.175 million into three projects: an improvement to pedestrian links and the public realm in Weston-Super-Mare; £1.6 million for six sections of new bus lane and traffic signal junctions between Bristol city centre and Cribbs Causeway; and £50,000 to support a business plan for the Somer Valley Enterprise Zone.
West of England LEP, Over £3m investment discussed at Joint Committee
The South West: ONS house prices and private housing rental indices
The latest data from the ONS shows that real house prices are now above their pre-crash peak in the South West (and in London, the South East, the East and the East Midlands). The data also shows that private rent levels are increasing faster in England outside London (+1.7% since last year) than in London (+0.2%).
Lichfields on house prices on TwitterLichfields on housing rental prices on Twitter
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PPG updates - local plans and more
Several paragraphs of the national Planning Practice Guidance have been revised and other new ones have been added.
The updates and new paragraphs primarily reflect changes to legislation and provide points of clarification regarding: permitted development; local and neighbourhood plan-making and modification procedures; CIL reliefs; and planning application fees. They also cover: short term lets outside London; pre-application advice services, fee structures and outputs; application fee categories; when planning permission is required for listed buildings; and enforcement (with reference to procedures and deliberate concealment).
There is also updated guidance on building works associated with change of use from agricultural to residential, and whether or not planning permission is required for certain farm works.
The new CIL guidance is for the most part about self-build and residential extension exemptions.
Local plans’ guidance has been revised to reflect Regulation 22(2) of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 being revoked by the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 on 15 January 2018. The changes relate to local planning authorities no longer as a matter of law having to submit local plans and accompanying documents both electronically and in paper form but the guidance does acknowledge:
‘On an individual basis it may be necessary for local planning authorities to provide the Planning Inspectorate or Inspector both electronic and paper copies of some key documents on request.’
PM chairs inaugural meeting of Housing Implementation Taskforce
On 5 February, Prime Minister Theresa May chaired the inaugural meeting of the Housing Implementation Taskforce.
The Taskforce were reported as having discussed:
‘… the steps Government has already taken, including further investment at the Budget, planning reform, releasing land faster, the Housing White Paper and building more affordable housing. They emphasised the key role of Homes England in driving forward change, and also focused on the supply of new housing, public sector land sales, land banking, house-building skills and building the infrastructure needed for new housing developments.’
Prime Minister’s Office, No. 10 PM chairs inaugural meeting of the Housing Implementation Taskforce
MPs debate housing, planning and the Green Belt
On 6 February, during a debate in the House of Commons on housing, planning and the Green Belt, Housing and Planning Minister Dominic Raab implied that the Government is to look at clarifying national planning policy on Green Belt and housing. He commented when concluding the debate:
‘The determination to build ever more houses has led to some councils being persuaded that they need to build on the Green Belt in order to meet what is assumed to be their assessed housing need. That points to a confusion and contradiction in Green Belt policy. The Government’s planning guidance states that the Green Belt should not be developed other than in ‘exceptional circumstances’, yet it fails to describe what constitutes ‘exceptional circumstances’. The housing White Paper goes on to say:
‘Green Belt boundaries should be amended only in exceptional circumstances when local authorities can demonstrate that they have fully examined all other reasonable options for meeting their identified housing requirements.’
However, crucially for the point I am making, planning guidance also says:
‘Unmet housing need…is unlikely to outweigh the harm to the Green Belt and other harm to constitute the ‘very special circumstances’ justifying inappropriate development on a site within the Green Belt.’
Planning guidance is going around in circles, because in effect it says that the Green Belt should not be built on unless nowhere else can be found to build the houses, but that unmet housing need is unlikely to outweigh harm to the Green Belt in importance.’
Also in concluding the debate, Minister for Housing Dominic Raab responded to various points about regional variations in demand and affordability made earlier by MPs. He stated:
‘There is a broader point here about home building and the overriding need to carry local communities with us, whether rural, suburban or urban communities. That is why last week the Government announced the first wave of money being allocated from the homes infrastructure fund. Last week alone, we targeted £866 million of investment, or 133 local housing projects, from London to Manchester, Cornwall to County Durham, to unlock building capacity for up to 200,000 new homes. We recognise we need more homes, but we also know that communities worry about new developments […]: what will it mean for congestion on the roads, and what will it mean for pressures on schools and local NHS services? There is certainly a link with pressures from immigration. Once we have left the EU, we will have greater scope and control over that to get the balance right.’
House of Commons, Housing, Planning and the Green Belt debate, 6 February 2018
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The Lichfields perspective |
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| Jenny Mitter, Associate Director | ||
Disclaimer: This publication has been written in general terms and cannot be relied on to cover specific situations. We recommend that you obtain professional advice before acting or refraining from acting on any of the contents of this publication. Lichfields accepts no duty of care or liability for any loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of any material in this publication. Lichfields is the trading name of Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners Limited. Registered in England, no.2778116
Image credit: © Robert Pittman / Flickr