Town centres & retail planning news, September 2018

In its new report, ‘Civil Society Strategy: building a future that works for everyone’ that was published on 9 August, HM Government defines the term ‘civil society’ as referring to ‘all individuals and organisations, when undertaking activities with the primary purpose of delivering social value, independent of state control’.

While the Localism Act 2011 has already ‘created new rights for communities, giving them an opportunity to take into local ownership community assets, shape planning and development in their area’, the Strategy states that with the intention of improving the use of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, the Government will explore whether ‘social value' principles should be applied to specified areas of public decision-making that include planning.

The Strategy also states that the Government aims to strengthen the right for communities to bid for the ownership of local assets and will be issuing revised guidance on the issue.

Elsewhere, the document confirms that resident involvement has been lacking in many regeneration projects to date and promises to give communities a greater say in the future.

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Greg Clark said:

‘Growing the economy and strong communities are mutually reinforcing and I very much welcome the steps which this new Civil Society Strategy takes to build on the lndustrial Strategy approach, particularly to involve communities more strongly in local planning for economic growth, prosperity and employment.’

From 10 September, the Planning Portal will charge £20 for every application submission, regardless of its type.

In addition, application fees will be paid to the Planning Portal and not to the local planning authority (LPA). As soon as the fee payment is received for an application submitted via the Portal, both will be transferred to the LPA so that the validation process can begin. If an application fee is paid by cheque, this has to also be sent to the Planning Portal where it will take 7 working days to clear. 

• the uptake of SuDS across a range of commercial and housing developments in England.

The National Heritage list for England reached 400,000 listings on 22 August, with the Grade II listing of four new buildings (the Howitt Building, Lenton Boulevard, Nottingham; the Elmdon terminal building, Birmingham Airport; Theatre Royal, Royal Parade, Plymouth; and the Birches ‘Squatter’s cottage’, Cleeton St Mary, Shropshire).