and fi nally...
feature
57
changes, more changes, and then some more changes with some changes on the side...
New RIBA-approved CPD unpacks new design rules for school sports fl oors 2 2
KG261
For when busy spaces need to be quiet make it IVC Commercial
KG262
Henry Lamprecht, Managing Director at The Community Communications Partnership, takes a light yet insightful look at all things planning...
If you work in planning and development, you would be forgiven if you had all the eff ects of being drunk without having touched a drop. The number of changes we have had, and are still coming, are enough to make anyone’s head spin. These changes raise a plethora of questions such as: what exactly has changed? How do these changes fi t together? What changes are still coming? How will these changes make the planning world better? (Given that there are still hordes of planning permissions being refused by planning committees and offi cers). Cast your mind back to October 2022, and the disastrous Truss/
Kwarteng budget that tanked the economy. Then, in December 2023, Govey issued a NPPF that basically stopped all development by removing housing targets. We all watched helplessly as a multi billion-pound industry ground to a halt for six months until the new Government came in. And let us not forget that over the previous 14 years we had 16 housing ministers (one of them twice) and the longest serving one only lasted a smidge over two years. Labour ran on a manifesto commitment of building (an
unrealistically optimistic) 1.5 million new homes and a series of promises of making it easier to get permission. And we voted for them (and for many in the industry, it was probably the fi rst time ever voting Labour). Then the changes started and we had to fi re up the industry.
The very fi rst thing (three weeks after the election in July 2024) was Angela Rayner using her powers as Secretary of State to reintroduce mandatory housing targets for every Council. This certainly sparked the creaky old industry back into life but then we needed the “fuel” to get it going properly. New Towns Taskforce (July 2024 but eventually September 25) First of all, we were promised a New Towns Taskforce that would identify a load of new towns which would go hand-in-hand with a new NPPF. The Taskforce didn’t report back until 25 September 2025, and then it was rather watered-down and largely extensions to major settlements. The new NPPF MK1 (December 2024) The new NPPF eventually came out on 12 December and was very helpful. It introduced the Grey Belt (those bits of Green Belt that one would never believe was Green Belt in the fi rst place), lifted the ban on on-shore windfarms, got rid of the BIDEN principles Govey had put in, vastly increased the housing targets, and said that Councils have 30 months to make Local Plans that comply with said targets or else.
Continued overleaf...
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
