Government policy
Daily Telegraph scary planning story doesn’t add up
House prices ‘will be cut by planning rules’ leads the front page article in today’s Daily Telegraph. Apparently the Planning Officers Society has declared that the potential for land being released for development under the draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) will blight the values of existing properties. Why would this effect be any greater [...]
Telegraph ‘flood risk to homes’ story is all washed up
This morning’s Daily Telegraph front page, under the banner of its campaign ‘Hands off our Land’, reports that the Draft National Planning Policy will promote the unchecked development of housing on floodplains. For heaven’s sake. Even in its most vague and woolly form, the presumption in favour of sustainable development would hardly promote the development [...]
National Planning Policy Framework: it won’t work
We should welcome the reduction in the number of National Planning Policy Framework documents. However, the wider inclusion of people and communities will become a barrier to progress unless accompanied by strictly enforced guidelines. The planning system cannot deliver homes, business and industrial units etc. The private sector will do that – if the planning [...]
25% decline in planning consents for housing
The number of residential planning permissions granted in England in the three months to June fell by a quarter to just over 25,000, says property consultant UKPA. The debate rumbles on concerning the role of the planning system in the failure to deliver consents. Without defending a chaotic and overcomplicated system in transition, the UKPA [...]
Neighbourhood planning and property developers
Decentralisation Minister Greg Clark said: “Planning has increasingly become one of the most contentious issues in Britain, with communities becoming pitted against development. By giving local people a greater say, together with new incentives to share in the benefits of growth, our reforms will help to create the conditions where communities begin to welcome development [...]
Comments on ‘Legoland’ housing design
From the Government’s Planning Portal blog: ‘Housing minister Grant Shapps has urged architects and house builders to make sure new developments reflect the identity of the local area.’ Further: ‘The minister has written to the Design Council, recently merged with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, to encourage the organisation to help developers [...]
Government intervention in the self build sector
Grant Shapps, the Housing Minister, has announced that the Government wants to improve access to finance for self build projects and remove some of the bureaucratic hurdles that prevent three out of four self build projects progressing. While on the face of it this looks encouraging, and the news has been welcomed by organisations such [...]
