Speechly Bircham

Welcome to this month's Inform: Planning & Environmental

Once again it has been a very busy month. The South East Plan has finally been published, the Mayor on London has revealed his proposed changes to the London Plan and consultations on the draft new Planning Policy Statement 4: Planning for Prosperous Economies has been issued.

Additionally Local Authorities have been advised to exercise their discretion under s91 Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (something which we recommended last month) and finally, a new good practice guide on delivering Travel Plans through the Planning Process was issued.

South East Plan

The publication of the Plan means that the saved policies under the County Structure Plans for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex and Brighton and Hove, Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex are no longer in force. The saved Kent and Medway Structure Plan policies will cease to have a development plan status after 6 July 2009 whilst some of the Oxfordshire policies will for the time being remain saved.

The principle objective of the Plan is to achieve and maintain sustainable development in the Region and all authorities need to demonstrate their commitment through specific and identifiable actions. All new developments and the refurbishment of existing buildings, will be expected to incorporate sustainable construction standards and techniques...read more

Proposals for the London Plan

It is proposed that there will be a thorough review of the existing London Plan with the new shorter London Plan covering the period up to 2031.

As promised in "Planning for a Better London", the Mayor confirms his commitment to remove the 50% affordable housing target and proposes a numeric target instead based on each borough's housing market assessment, capacity, viability and local need. The Mayor's draft London Housing Strategy aimed to deliver 50,000 homes by 2011 however this figure is now due to be reviewed. The new Plan is to promote "high quality urban environments contributing to a high and improving quality of life". The Mayor sees design as a major factor of this and therefore will expect the highest designs and quality standards for new developments. The Mayor will also require planning development frameworks to be prepared for sites proposed to deliver over 500 homes or 5 hectares in size... read more

Planning for Prosperous Economies

The purpose of the new proposed draft PPS is to provide a comprehensive policy and integrated framework for planning for sustainable economic growth in both urban and rural areas including town centres. The proposed policies are to be read alongside existing national planning policies and, as reported previously, will replace PPG4 on industrial and commercial development and small firms PPG 5 on simplified planning zones, PPS6 on planning for town centres and some of the policies from PPS7 and PPG13.

Economic development is defined as being development within the Class B of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, town centre uses and other development which provides employment opportunities, generates wealth or produces or generates economic output or products...read more

DCLG reminds Council of their discretion on life of permissions

DCLG's chief Planner has written to all planning authorities reminding them of their discretion under s91 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to grant planning permission for any period which they consider to be appropriate, having regard to the development plan and other material considerations. They are also advised that in the current economic conditions, it may be advisable in some cases to grant longer permissions.

DCLG are also actively considering whether it may be appropriate to extend the life of existing permissions.

Delivering Travel Plans through the Planning Process

This good practice guide aims to secure effective implementation of sustainable travel measures in the planning process. Travel plans are now an essential tool for delivering sustainable access to new developments and the guidance has been produced to help those in the public and private sectors determine when a travel plan is required, how it should be prepared, what it should contain and how it should be evaluated, implemented and monitored. The guidance also includes some very useful case studies and sets out the means by which a travel plan can be secured and the key aspects to consider when choosing to secure a travel plan by condition or through a s106 planning obligation.

The Good Practice Guidelines can be viewed on the DCLG website