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NEWS
Managing Editor James Parker
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I
s Rachel Reeves bats to be getting out her wellies to stomp on the idea of preserving species in developments as being seemingly irritating blocks to ‘growth,’ when she could be trying to bring the green worlds of eco- conservation and sensible profi t-making together in her goal of 1.5 million homes?
Fair enough, saying that she has been “genuinely shocked” at the slowness of the planning system was an important realisation for this still nascent Chancellor. But deciding the right response was to pander to both developers and middle England to stop worrying about “the bats and the newts.” The irony, of course, is that many in the country would be up in arms to have such natural habitats removed, particularly if they are on their doorsteps, so Reeves might not be charming as many people as she thinks with her recent speech.
There is a big difference between a glaring £100m for a tunnel for bats for HS2 – of course itself a story of spending that dwarfs most eco initiatives – and the small compromises that are required for housing schemes’ profi t margins to enable biodiversity to happen.
However, taken in aggregate, there are a lot of issues, particularly for the smaller housebuilder and their architects, that can make biodiversity a nightmare. As ever, there are mixed messages from the Government, with the Chancellor on one hand saying ‘forget the bats,’ and on the other announcing that housebuilders will be asked to pay into ‘a nature fund’ if an impact on wildlife is identifi ed at a potential new build site.
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Reeves told The Observer the Government will launch a new ‘zoning’ plan which will place new build homes around train stations, to help commuters get to work in the post-pandemic world. “If it’s around a commuter train station, we want that development to happen,” she said. The big question is, will the upcoming Planning & Infrastructure Bill include concrete details on the planning allocations, or at least some formulas to make this a reality, and help to avoid more green belt battles?
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The recent abandoning by Stockport Council of the Greater Manchester regional ‘spatial framework’ being developed to plan housing against need on a more holistic basis, brings the problems into sharp relief. You suspect that politics is partly at the root, with Stockport’s Lib Dem-run council railing against the Government’s revised framework’s potential to double the amount of homes in the Borough. But Stockport (who also feature in this month’s news pages with some major new schemes) said they were removing themselves to protect their green belt, with attendant biodiversity benefi ts. These are the major pushes and pulls resulting from reallocating development nationally which are what Reeves should really be worrying about, if she wants to drive growth.
James Parker, Editor
FROM THE EDITOR
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CRUSADER WORKS, MANCHESTER Stephen Cousins profi les shedkm’s housing project which transforms a group of listed cotton mills
ADF02_2025
Covers.indd 1 06/02/2025 11:19
02.25
ON THE COVER... Crusader Works is a 10,200 m2 development made up of 123 owner- occupied fl ats anchored around a communal courtyard
Cover image © Daniel Hopkinson
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