Planning in the South West - to scrap or not to scrap?

Interesting to see a number of Council's in the South West have scrapped their housing targets this week, lopping almost 60,000 off the regional requirement in total.

In the same week, the Gloucester, Tewkesbury & Cheltenham Joint Core Strategy team have used the former RSS figures to publish their urban extension outline document, for use as a guideline in determining suitable development sites in the area.

Mixed messages, as always, appearr the dominant form of communication with regard to Planning matters under the coalition, and until we get some more clarification on the incentives on offer for ambitious Councils from Shapps et al., this sort of uncertainty looks set to continue. We could see similar steps taken up and down the UK as Councils struggle to adapt to the interim period ofuncertainty. Watch this space.........

A View from the Bridge

Never out of the limelight for long, Boris Johnson has returned to the fore.

This morning he issued supplementary Planning guidance for London's View Management Framework, promising greater clarity and a closer resemblance to the Londonplan policies, protecting views of key landmarks and world heritage sites.

Let's hope the plans will avoid another St. Paul's episode in the months ahead!

Click on the GLA website link below to view the document:

http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/mayor/publications/planning/revised-london-view-management-framework-spg

Chris Huhne's Climate statement to the Commons

Interesting reading over the DECC climate statement delivered by Huhne to the Commons on Tuesday.

Good to see some of the Climate Secretary's comments in the Sunday Telegraph on the importance of rolling-out wind farm development fleshed out to include a few more specifics.

(Although, in essence, the document is another coalition policy programme broad in scope but very thin on specifics).

Nonetheless, some useful clues of what we can expect from the reports '32 actions'.

Click on the links below to view the DECC's accompanying press release and the annual climate statement document itself

Media launch: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn10_85/pn10_85.aspx

Annual climate statement:

http://www.decc.gov.uk/media/viewfile.ashx?filetype=4&filepath=what%20we%20do/uk%20energy%20supply/237-annual-energy-statement-2010.pdf

Picklewatch: turning of the tide?

South Oxfordshire

South Oxfordshire Council led the pack in withdrawing its core strategy in June, and could prove a trend-setter agan over the next few months as it re-commences forumlation of its core strategy this week. The authority clearly has one eye on the end of its current Local Plan in 2011. How pragmatic/politically prudent other Councils choose to me in the timing of teir corer strategy negotiations remains to be seen, and should make for interesting reading.

Commenting on the news on the South Oxfordshire authority's website, Planning Cabinet Member Cllr Angie Paterson said:

"We now have a strong steer from government that we are responsible for establishing the right pattern of development for our area, including the right level of local housing provision. The withdrawal of the South East Plan means that housing targets will no longer be imposed upon us.

"The responsibility is now ours to address how best to meet the various challenges facing us, including how best to foster a healthy local economy and how to meet the present and on-going need for more housing.

"To respond fully to these new freedoms and responsibilities will mean a fresh approach to producing local planning policy documents and we know this will take some time to do, probably several years. But in the meantime we are also very conscious that our current Local Plan only takes us to 2011. We need a clear vision to carry us through the next few years until we can deliver the next generation of local plan. We need a vision that will help us to continue to attract funding and investment for those areas where we are confident there is support for further development and that will also ensure we are in control of what development happens elsewhere - development led by our vision and not by speculative planning applications."

Read the full article here: http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/ccm/content/cmt/press-releases/july-2010/council-moves-ahead-with-core-strategy.en;jsessionid=aEMrMdpT8jW4

London autonomy bid

Interesting news on London's autonomy as Boris and the London politicos send a unified letter to Eric Pickles outlining a proposed devolutionary package for the capital.

View the full letter here:

http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/London%20Councils/DevolutiontoLondonjointlettertoSecretaryofState.pdf

RTPI questions 'Right to Build' credentials

Interesting to see the RTPI has warned that the government's Right to Build proposals could "disempower" communities by bypassing the current structure of representative Council decision-making.

The RTPI's spokesperson Jamie Hodge's comments are particularly revealing:

"Proper planning scrutiny has served us well whereas this proposal appears to disempower local authorities by removing their right to determine development proposals and may mean that new housing built as a result may conflict with existing wider community priorities, and will only have to meet nationally proscribed minimum standards, even if the local authority wishes to see higher design standards in its own area."

Huhne eyes wind farm development surge

Some good news for Wind Farm developers yesterday with the Energy Seretary Chris Huhne's statement on the importance of wind technology in averting a possible power crisis.

To read the full Yorkshire Post article, click on the link below:

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Energy-Secretary-supports-increase-in.6439035.jp

Shapps announces 'Right to Build' proposals

The coalition Government has launched its Right to Build policy, allowing rural area communities to build homes, shops and other local amenities without planning permission.

Early indications suggest the detail will be published in the Localism Bill (set for Autumn 2011).

We may well see an unrealistically high threshold for voting through planning proposals, or another caveat that effectively prevents the populist thrust of the announcemens translating into effective action.

Picklewatch - Pickles outlines plans to abolish regional government

Eric Pickles, Communities and Local Government Secretary, has announced the Government's intention in principle to abolish the remaining eight Government Offices for the Regions across England, subject to using the Spending Review to resolve consequential issues. The final decisions will be made at the end of the Spending Review in the autumn.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1646834

Clarification of LEPs

Adrian Bailey, Labour MP for West Bromwich West, has the unenviable task of determining how LEP partnerships will work in practice.

How local indpendence can be reconciled with cross-boundary cooperation could prove an intractable problem for the BIS committee tasked with the policy's thorough formulation.

As always, details look set to remain unclear until the Localism Bill's publication.