Planning Seminars 2014 Maximising the delivery of affordable homes in your area

New planning opportunities

Speakers: Mike Derbyshire

Head of Planning, Bidwells

John Sneddon

Managing Director, Tetlow King Planning

Chair: Gemma Duggan

External Affairs Manager,

National Housing Federation

Opportunities in Planning

Mike Derbyshire, Partner (Head of Planning)

The “hot topics” last 4 years

Localism Act

Office to Resi (PD)

NPPG

Duty to co-operate

New home bonus

Help to Buy

NPPF – five year supply

Localism (the rise and fall)!

Office to Residential (PD) - Background

Changes introduced on 30 May

2013 for 3 year period – Why?

Met with strong opposition from

many Local Planning Authorities

(LPAs) – Why?

165 LPAs applied to opt out –

only 17 were granted an

exemption

The Legislation

Class J of the General Permitted

Development Order

Building must not be listed or in an

exempt area

Abandonment does not apply

provided building’s previous use

was as an office (B1(a))

Only the transport and highways

impact, contamination risks and

flooding risks can be assessed by

the LPA

The Procedure

Developer must apply to LPA for a

determination as to whether prior

approval is required

Outcome - prior approval not

required; required and given;

required and refused or expiration

of 56 days from date LPA received

application

There is a right of appeal

No affordable housing, no minimum

standards ( planning)

Impact and Case Studies

Main impact has been in

London e.g. Archway Towers

By November 2013 London

Borough of Richmond Upon

Thames had received 107

applications

High Court challenge by

several authorities failed

Authorities are now attempting

to introduce ‘Article 4

Directions’ to remove office to

residential PD rights

Archway Towers

Our Advice

Nick Boles is serious about this.

A Certificate of Lawfulness must also

be obtained at the end of the process

Unilateral Undertakings are being

successfully used to mitigate parking

( and other) impact

PD rights do not apply to brand new

offices which haven’t been occupied

in a B1(a) capacity

Use of building for residential (C3)

must begin by 30 May 2016

Some LPA’s are refusing prior

approval for reasons which do not

relate to Highways, Flooding or

Contamination – open to challenge

and appeal – they are being creative

National Planning Practice Guidance

Why?

When?

What does it mean?

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NPPG “Why?”

1. Planning Policy Statement: Delivering

Sustainable Development (31 January 2005)

2. Planning Policy Statement: Planning and Climate

Change – Supplement to Planning Policy

Statement 1 (17 December 2007)

3. Planning Policy Guidance 2: Green Belts (24

January 1995)

4. Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing (9 June

2011)

5. Planning Policy Statement 4: Planning for

Sustainable Economic Growth (29 December 2009)

6. Planning Policy Statement 5: Planning for the

Historic Environment (23 March 2010)

7. Planning Policy Statement 7: Sustainable

Development in Rural Areas (3 August 2004)

8. Planning Policy Guidance 8:

Telecommunications (23 August 2001)

9. Planning Policy Statement 9: Biodiversity and

Geological Conservation (16 August 2005)

10. Planning Policy Statement 12: Local Spatial

Planning (4 June 2008)

11. Planning Policy Guidance 13: Transport (3

January 2011)

12. Planning Policy Guidance 14: Development on

Unstable Land (30 April 1990)

13. Planning Policy Guidance 17: Planning for

Open Space, Sport and Recreation (24 July 2002)

14. Planning Policy Guidance 18: Enforcing

Planning Control (20 December 1991)

15. Planning Policy Guidance 19: Outdoor

Advertisement Control (23 March 1992)

16. Planning Policy Guidance 20: Coastal Planning

(1 October 1992)

17. Planning Policy Statement 22: Renewable

Energy (10 August 2004)

18. Planning Policy Statement 23: Planning and

Pollution Control (3 November 2004)

19. Planning Policy Guidance 24: Planning and

Noise (3 October 1994)

20. Planning Policy Statement 25: Development

and Flood Risk (29 March 2010)

21. Planning Policy Statement 25 Supplement:

Development and Coastal Change (9 March 2010)

22. Minerals Policy Statement 1: Planning and

Minerals (13 November 2006)

23. Minerals Policy Statement 2: Controlling and

Mitigating the Environmental Effects of Minerals

Extraction In England. This includes its Annex 1:

Dust and Annex 2: Noise (23 March 2005 – Annex

1: 23 March 2005 and Annex 2: 23 May 2005)

24. Minerals Planning Guidance 2: Applications,

permissions and conditions (10 July 1998)

25. Minerals Planning Guidance 3: Coal Mining and

Colliery Spoil Disposal (30 March 1999)

26. Minerals Planning Guidance 5: Stability in

surface mineral workings and tips (28 January

2000)

27. Minerals Planning Guidance 7: Reclamation of

minerals workings (29 November 1996)

28. Minerals Planning Guidance 10: Provision of

raw material for the cement industry (20 November

1991)

29. Minerals Planning Guidance 13: Guidance for

peat provision in England (13 July 1995)

30. Minerals Planning Guidance 15: Provision of

silica sand in England (23 September 1996)

31. Circular 05/2005: Planning Obligations (18 July

2005)

32. Government Office London Circular 1/2008:

Strategic Planning in London (4 April 2008)

33. Letter to Chief Planning Officers: Town and

Country Planning (Electronic Communications)

(England) Order 2003 (2 April 2003)

34. Letter to Chief Planning Officers: Planning

Obligations and Planning Registers (3 April 2002)

35. Letter to Chief Planning Officers: Model

Planning Conditions for development on land

affected by contamination (30 May 2008)

36. Letter to Chief Planning Officers: Planning for

Housing and Economic Recovery (12 May 2009)

37. Letter to Chief Planning Officers: Development

and Flood Risk – Update to the Practice Guide to

Planning Policy Statement 25 (14 December 2009)

38. Letter to Chief Planning Officers:

Implementation of Planning Policy Statement 25

(PPS25) – Development and Flood Risk (7 May

2009)

39. Letter to Chief Planning Officers: The Planning

Bill – delivering well designed homes and high

quality places (23 February 2009)

40. Letter to Chief Planning Officers: Planning and

Climate Change – Update (20 January 2009)

41. Letter to Chief Planning Officers: New powers

for local authorities to stop ‘garden- grabbing’ (15

June 2010)

42. Letter to Chief Planning Officer: Area Based

Grant: Climate Change New Burdens (14 January

2010)

43. Letter to Chief Planning Officers: The Localism

Bill (15 December 2010)

44. Letter to Chief Planning Officers: Planning

policy on residential parking standards, parking

charges, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure

(14 January 2011)

“Why?”

“When?”

Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG)

Consultant and Pre-Decision Matters

Flexible Options for Planning Permissions

Before Submitting an Application

Use of Planning Conditions

Determining an Application (including prematurity)

Appeals and award of costs

Enforcement

Lawful Development Certificates

Conserving and enhancing the historic environment

Advertisements

Planning Obligations

Crown Development

Local Plans

Neighbourhood Planning

Duty to Cooperate

Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental

Assessment

Housing: Assessment of housing and economic development

needs

Town centres: Ensuring the vitality of town centres (including

parking)

Assessment of land availability

Rural housing

Design

Environmental Impact Assessment

Viability

Travel Plans, Transport Assessments and Statements

Climate change

Flood risk and coastal change

Natural Environment

Review of minerals planning conditions and minerals planning

orders

Noise

Light pollution

Air quality

Land remediation

Water quality and supply

Tree Preservation Orders

Open Space

Hazardous Substances

When id Permission Required (with development

management material)

Making an application

Recommended additional guidance

Application fees

Community Infrastructure Levy

Culture

Electricity generating sub-stations

Garden Cities and green belt

Land stability

Planning for sustainable waste

management

Duty to co-operate

Duty to cooperate

Three local development plans undergoing examination have come

unstuck in the past six weeks over the Localism Act's duty to

cooperate.

Vale of Aylesbury Plan, Aylesbury Vale District Council

City Plan, Brighton and Hove City Council

Mid Sussex District Plan, Mid Sussex District Council

Help to buy

New homes bonus

£ £ £

Impact of 5 year supply

Summary

Delivery is key

Housing demand ( objectively assessed)

NPPF 5 year supply - pre-eminent

Permitted development significant impact but only in specific areas

NPPG much needed guidance delayed

Duty to cooperate – politically very difficult

New homes bonus – significant income but little traction with

planners

Help to buy – very significant influence on market

New Planning Opportunities National Housing Federation Planning Seminar

John Sneddon 4th March 2014

What will be covered:

• New Homes Bonus

• Neighbourhood Planning

• Duty to Cooperate

• Opportunities House of Commons on 24th October 2013, the Planning

Minister, Nick Bole said in opening:

“I need not start by underlining the scale of the housing crisis faced by this country, the extent of the need for housing or the grief and hardship that the crisis is visiting on millions of our fellow citizens.”

New Homes Bonus

• Introduced in 2011. Paid by Government to Councils for increasing the number of homes.

• It is based on the amount of extra Council Tax revenue raised for

new-build homes, conversions and empty homes brought back into use.

• Benefits for housing – provides authorities/communities with a

financial incentive to increase housing supply, in particular affordable housing.

• Extra payment for providing affordable homes (additional £350 per

annum). • Payments are based on matching the average council tax band of

the unit built/brought back into use.

• The aim is to ensure the economic benefits of housing growth are returned to the Councils and communities where that growth takes place.

• Controversy over use – where is the money spent?

New Homes Bonus

What should you be doing? • This is an underused opportunity - very few application Committee

reports make reference to the figure. • You can and should calculate the New Homes Bonus a Council will

receive if your scheme is approved. • You should ensure that this is included in the Committee report and

the figure can assist in community consultation. OPPORTUNITY • A New Homes Bonus figure gives support to Councillors and

members of the community who support your scheme.

Neighbourhood Planning

• Part of localism under the Localism Act 2011.

• They are development plans no different from any other part of local planning policy.

• Referendum following independent examination.

• Sceptics will say it is a method of stopping housing – but our

experience is that it is generally good for affordable housing particularly 100% affordable sites.

• Parishes with a neighbourhood plan will receive 25% of any CIL arising from developments compared to parishes without a plan who will receive 15%.

• Benefits for housing – allows communities to introduce planning policy which encourages more housing in their neighbourhood area

• Neighbourhood Development Orders - Opportunities

Neighbourhood Planning

What should you be doing? • Be Informed – What Plans are being prepared in your area?

• Have a system of monitoring your land interest areas • Get involved. How? • SHOW YOUR INTEREST – Make representations; Suggest sites; Offer to enable affordable housing; Become a partner/sponsor the Plan.

Duty to Cooperate

• Created in the Localism Act 2011, and amends the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.

• It places a legal duty on local

planning authorities to work collaboratively across boundaries.

• Collaborative working must be proven at examination.

• Replaces Regional Spatial

Strategies.

• Creates an opportunity to further discuss affordable housing need and provision

“Cooperation between local planning authorities, county councils and other public bodies should produce effective policies on strategic cross boundary matters. Inspectors testing compliance with the duty at examination will assess the outcomes of cooperation and not just whether local planning authorities have approached others”. National Planning Policy Guidance

Mid Sussex • Brighton's is closely linked to Mid Sussex. • Inspector opened an inquiry for the single

issue of Duty to Cooperate. • Inspector concluded Mid Sussex had not

met Duty to Cooperate and recommends withdrawing their Core Strategy.

Duty to Cooperate

Duty to Cooperate

Key considerat

ions

Must be from the start of the plan making process

Must be an on going process

Must be monitored using a robust framework

Must be positive

Must be within strategic context

Duty to Cooperate

What should you be doing? • Tell Councils, through any method you can, what your aspirations are; • Tell them what you could deliver;

• Get on the record through formal representations;

• Tell them the issues you have had in delivering affordable units.

Opportunities – Case Study Planning Appeal - Wychavon District Council- APP/H1840/A/13/2203924 –

Approved 7 February 2014 50 dwellings with 40% affordable. Outside development limits but adjoining a settlement. Local Plan from 2006.

Delayed emergence of new local planning policy. Argument over 5 year land supply.

• Man Issues:

(a) Whether the Council can demonstrate a 5-year supply of deliverable

housing, and the implications of that in relation to national policy and the development plan.

(b) Whether the proposed development can be considered sustainable, with

particular regard to its connectivity to services and facilities, and open space provision within the site.

• Inspector said “... there is a development plan policy vacuum in relation to

housing development in Wychavon based on the revocation of the RS, the antiquity of the adopted Local Plan, and the early stage of the emerging (plan)...”

Opportunities – Case Study • “...the Council’s track record shows that it has failed consistently to meet the

RS required average requirement of 475 dpa, despite an upturn in completions since 2009/10. This is compounded by the relatively low percentages of affordable housing provision during this period, which ranged from 0% to 27% averaging 20% for the period 2006/07 to 2011/1222”.

• “... The Council’s Housing Development Officer, commenting on the appeal

proposal, refers to the “high needs in the District, with 268 new homes needed each year”. This, together with the Council’s completion rate of 277 new affordable homes over the period 2006/07-2011/12 (i.e. an average of 46 dpa), confirms the appellant’s conclusion that the market signals point to the need to provide more affordable housing as a matter of some urgency”.

• “..the proposal would accord with the aims of the Framework to boost the

supply of housing, whilst the provision of 40% of this total as affordable housing is another material consideration in support of

the appeal..”.

Concluding thoughts:

• The NPPF provided high levels of support to enable affordable housing

• Affordable housing is a key component of a planning application

• Duty to Cooperate provides opportunity for discourse over the strategic provision of affordable housing

• Neighbourhood Planning offers opportunities

• BE ACTIVE

Bristol

Unit 2 Eclipse Office Park

High Street, Staple Hill,

Bristol BS165EL

Tel: 01179 561916

Fax: 01179701293

Email: all@tetlow-king.co.uk

West Malling

32 High Street

West Malling,

Kent, ME196QR

Tel: 01732 870988

Fax: 01732870882

Email: info@tetlow-king.co.uk www.tetlow-king.co.uk/