Planning (UK) articles from January 2002

Planning (UK) archives from January 2002

Falconer sees case for more district staff.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... More forward planners are likely to be needed at district level to implement the changes proposed in the planning green paper, Lord Falconer has said. Speaking exclusively to Planning, the planning minister said that the new system of...

Wembley clinches a national accolade.(Wembley, Brent, England)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Wembley has been named as the Football Association (FA) and the government's preferred home for England's national sports stadium, but its future will not be secure until April. Following the publication of Patrick Carter's independent...

Councils set to fix development fee.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Planning obligations should be replaced by standardised tariffs for different types of development, the government has said. Under the radical proposals, unveiled in a consultation document last month, local authorities would be able to set...

Honours go to agency chief.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Mike Shields, chief executive of the Northwest Development Agency, has been awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours list for his services to regeneration. RTPI member Shields was chief executive of Trafford Park Development Corporation for...

No need for speed, warns committee. (News).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Members of the Commons transport committee have questioned whether business needs a faster planning system. At a committee meeting on the planning green paper last month, planning minister Lord Falconer was challenged to show hard evidence...

Pace boost for projects. (News).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Schemes of national importance are to be fast-tracked through the planning system and decided in principle by parliament, the government has confirmed. The long-awaited reform of the system to speed up decisions on major infrastructure...

Two councils fight it out over targets. (News).
January 4, 2002... Eastleigh Borough Council and Hampshire County Council are set to go head-to-head over a bitter row concerning house building targets in the borough. Unless Eastleigh changes its proposals by the time they are officially published, the two...

Divisions rise in `dreary new town' debate. (News).(urban planning and development)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Cambridgeshire County Council has thrown its weight behind plans to build a new town of more than 6,000 homes in the region. The settlement will swallow up the villages of Oakington and Longstanton to the north of Cambridge. Alan Joyner,...

Guidelines set standard for play provision. (News).(National Playing Fields Association)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The National Playing Fields Association (NPFA) has produced revised guidelines for minimum provision of outdoor playing space. The guidelines aim to identify how much sport and children's playing space is provided for every 1,000 people. It...

Consortium lands Millennium Dome. (News).
January 4, 2002... The debt-ridden Millennium Dome is to be handed to a consortium of property developers for free under controversial plans drawn up by the government. Dome minister Lord Falconer has brokered a deal which will see the Dome and 76ha of land...

Lambeth calls plan a green paper first. (News).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The London Borough of Lambeth has agreed its unitary development plan (UDP), calling it the first "green paper-friendly" development plan in the country. The borough says the deposit draft is the first to follow the green paper's...

Updated use for Scottish farms sought. (News).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Traditional Scottish farm steadings dating from the 18th and 19th century are redundant and in decline, according to a series of research studies into rural housing. The Scottish House research series has discovered that affordable rural...

The Planning Officers Society.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The Planning Officers Society has a new senior vice-president. John Silvester, director of community services and planning at Surrey Heath Borough Council, has taken over from David Pinney, director of planning at Torridge District Council....

The London Borough of Wandsworth.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The London Borough of Wandsworth has taken steps to secure the delivery of 14 "missing" affordable homes. The council granted permission for 35 affordable homes at the Falcon Wharf development in Battersea, but London mayor Ken Livingstone...

Kent County Council.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Kent County Council has approved proposed principles for a first draft of the joint structure plan for Kent and Medway. The plan will focus on protecting the environment and steering development over the next 20 years. It will include proposals...

The University of London.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The University of London has awarded a higher doctorate to planner and academic Nathaniel Lichfield. The award of doctor of science (economics) is the highest academic award possible and was given to Lichfield in recognition of his lifelong...

Plymouth City Council.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Plymouth City Council has drawn up a new local plan, setting out development proposals in the city over the next ten years. The plan includes more than 120 possible development sites, mostly on brownfield land. Five strategic opportunity areas...

The Commission for the Built Environment.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The Commission for the Built Environment (CABE) has named its Festive Five design champions. Each week last month, CABE picked out the five local authorities, public sector organisations, developers and architects which it feels are the most...

Wycombe District Council.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Wycombe District Council, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and Warwickshire County Council have all won Charter Mark awards for their development control or planning. The Charter Mark is awarded by the Cabinet Office in recognition of...

The Town and Country Planning Association.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) has called for some out-of-town retail centres to be developed as district neighbourhood centres. TCPA director Gideon Amos said that while new out-of-town centres should be opposed, some...

Summing up their cases for opposing the proposed Heron Tower skyscraper last month.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Summing up their cases for opposing the proposed Heron Tower skyscraper last month, English Heritage and Westminster City Council both cited the resignation of Richard Coleman from the Heron design team as a significant factor. Coleman, an...

Surrey town and parish councils.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Surrey town and parish councils are encouraging the community to contribute to a design guide for roads in the Surrey Hills Area of outstanding natural beauty. Locals will be invited to photograph country lanes to help inform the guide for...

Architects' listing input to be widened. (News).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The government is proposing a bigger role in heritage policy for the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), including involving it in the listing of buildings. CABE will be invited to offer views on all listing...

Sevenoaks hits back at DTLR attack on figures. (News).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The head of a planning authority named by the government for failing to meet targets for dealing with applications has claimed it is being unfairly singled out. Kelvin Hinton, head of development services at Sevenoaks District Council,...

Irish clear appeals with overseas help. (News).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Fifty planners, most of them from the UK, have been recruited on a fee-per-case basis by An Bord Pleanala, the Irish appeals body, to help clear a backlog of appeals built up as a result of the country's economic growth. Seven outside...

Scotland plan to construct big wind farm. (News).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Plans for Europe's biggest wind farm have been unveiled for a site off the west coast of Scotland. The proposals for 250 turbines on the Hebridean island of Lewis aim to produce as much energy as a nuclear power station by harnessing the...

National park in New Forest moves ahead. (News).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Proposals to designate the New Forest as a national park took an important step forward last month. The Countryside Agency's board decided the boundary for the park and agreed the need for special government guidance for a New Forest...

Belfast plan urges local input. (Regeneration News).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Communities in Belfast have been urged to take advantage of recent political developments by offering views on the future of the city. The Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan (BMAP) issues paper, published last month, emphasises the need for...

Bradford's bid for project is `biased'. (Regeneration News).(Bradford, England)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Bradford's bid to pilot an economic regeneration project is receiving preferential treatment because of last summer's riots, the leader of a rival bid has claimed. Vince Taylor, director of Sheffield First Partnership, which is bidding for...

Centre is British design first. (Regeneration News).(Skelmersdale sports center)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... A sports centre designed and built according to a system which is said to enhance the well-being of its occupants opened in the Lancashire town of Skelmersdale last month. The first of its kind in Britain, the 297[m.sup.2] Maharishi School...

The government has announced that 250 million [pounds sterling] is to be made available to assist private investment in neglected areas.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The government has announced that 250 million [pounds sterling] is to be made available to assist private investment in neglected areas. The English Cities Fund, developed by English Partnerships with AMEC and Legal & General, will focus on...

The Leicester Regeneration Company.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The Leicester Regeneration Company has appointed consultants Roger Tym and Partners to masterplan the regeneration of its area. The masterplan, which will cover the city centre and the river and canal corridor, will assess the area's likely...

The House of Commons.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The House of Commons urban affairs sub-committee is to carry out an inquiry into the need for a new European regeneration framework. It will examine the effectiveness of five new land and property regeneration schemes approved by the European...

The London Borough of Enfield.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The London Borough of Enfield has granted planning permission for the 20 million [pounds sterling] redevelopment of Enfield town centre. The 23,000[m.sup.2] mixed-use scheme will include 18,000[m.sup.2] of leisure and retail, a 4,180[m.sup.2]...

The former Flowers Brewery.(Cheltenham England)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The former Flowers Brewery in Cheltenham town centre is to be redeveloped to provide 17,372[m.sup.2] of retail and leisure space. Developer Salmon Harvester Properties will buy the site from the brewing giant Interbrew, with both companies...

A manual has been launched to promote the role of faith groups in the regeneration process.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... A manual has been launched to promote the role of faith groups in the regeneration process. Faiths, Hope and Participation challenges the government to understand the diverse roles that faith groups can play in their communities. The manual has...

The government has reached the final stages of discussions over the forthcoming review of funding for the English regions.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The government has reached the final stages of discussions over the forthcoming review of funding for the English regions, which will go out to tender early this year. Ministers are to invite consultants to bid for a contract to carry out a...

Plans for an urban village.(Bilston in Wolverhampton )(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Plans for an urban village at Bilston in Wolverhampton have moved forward with the demolition of the former industrial buildings that occupied the 2.8 ha site. Advantage West Midlands submitted an outline planning application for the urban...

A heritage economic regeneration scheme.(Ilkeston, Derbyshire)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... A heritage economic regeneration scheme is to be set up in an historic area of Ilkeston, Derbyshire, after Erewash Borough Council won a bid to carry out the project. The three-year 360,000 [pounds sterling] scheme will aid the repair and...

A partnership between Development Securities and Berkeley Homes.(formed to redevelop Slough, UK)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... A partnership between Development Securities and Berkeley Homes has been chosen as Slough Borough Council's preferred development partner for the next stage of Slough's town centre regeneration scheme. The initiative, Heart of Slough, will...

Ten-year plan set to fail, warns survey. (Transport News).(transportation projects, UK)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 4, 2002... The government's ten-year plan for transport is destined to collapse due to a lack of investment and misguided policies, according to a survey of transport planners due to be published this week. Carried out by the Institute of Logistics...

Local transport projects get government money. (Transport News).(UK)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 4, 2002... The government has given the go-ahead for 23 major transport projects as part of its 1.5 billion [pounds sterling] cash boost for local transport schemes. In the local transport settlement for 2002-03 revealed last month, transport...

Wider trunk road and bypass on cards. (Transport News).(Cambridgeshire, England)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... A stretch of the A14 trunk road is to be widened and a bypass created around Huntingdon as part of a package of transport improvements for Cambridgeshire. The East of England Regional Planning Panel decided last month to adopt all the...

Halifax railway station wins heritage prize. (Transport News).(National Railway Heritage Awards)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The renovation of Halifax's original railway station received an award at the National Railway Heritage Awards last month. Building Design Partnership (BDP) received praise for its part in helping to maintain Britain's railway heritage with...

Cheshire fails to back office development. (Transport News).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 4, 2002... Cheshire County Council has refused to support an application for an office development at Chester Business Park over fears that the area will not be able to cope with the extra traffic generated by the scheme. The MBNA proposal, which will...

Strathclyde axes `essential' course. (Scottish News).(University of Strathclyde)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Strathclyde University is pressing ahead with the closure of its planning school despite complaints from the RTPI that it was not adequately consulted. Strathclyde University blames poor student numbers for the demise of its environmental...

Transport battles to woo car owners. (Scottish News).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... New research reveals that the Scottish Executive faces an uphill task in making public transport a viable alternative to the car in many areas. The report shows that 45 per cent of Scots aged 17 or over drive every day, although the figure...

MSP promises action to help all five cities. (Scottish News).(Social Justice Minister lain Gray)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Social justice minister lain Gray, whose responsibilities include planning, has promised policy changes to help Scotland's five cities. Having taken over the Scottish Executive's review of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness and...

The East of England Development Agency and the East of England Regional Assembly.(Bones Wells Associates selected for study on achieving growth in England)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The East of England Development Agency and the East of England Regional Assembly have appointed consultants Bone Wells Associates (BWA) to lead a study into achieving growth in the region. Consultancies Business Strategies and Colin Buchanan...

Arup Transport has been commissioned to study the movement of freight on the proposed Freight Primary system along the East Coast Main Line.(UK)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Arup Transport has been commissioned to study the movement of freight on the proposed Freight Primary system along the East Coast Main Line. The concept is to reroute freight trains off the main railway line to allow extra capacity for faster...

JMP Consultants is preparing a parking strategy and travel plan for the Gateshead Health Trust in a bid to reduce unnecessary car travel by employees at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... JMP Consultants is preparing a parking strategy and travel plan for the Gateshead Health Trust in a bid to reduce unnecessary car travel by employees at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The plan will identify a series of measures that will target...

Consultants WS Atkins.(contract with Lothian Primary Care NHS Trust)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Consultants WS Atkins have been appointed by Lothian Primary Care NHS Trust to provide advice on site planning and infrastructure at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in the Morningside area of the city. The commission will include a series of...

The East Lancashire Partnership.(Strzala Associates Architects hired for project)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The East Lancashire Partnership has appointed Strzala Associates Architects to carry out a design study of Burnley Central railway station which will result in either the refurbishment or rebuilding of the station. The work, which is being...

Architecture and urban design.(Shillam and Smith hired in Newham)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Architecture and urban design consultants Shillam and Smith have been appointed by the London Borough of Newham to lead the development of a regeneration masterplan for the Canning Town area. The appointment lasts for 12 months and will...

Parkman, the multi-disciplinary consultancy.(acquires Newbury King and Co.)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Parkman, the multi-disciplinary consultancy, has acquired the social housing and regeneration management consultancy Newbury King and Co. This acquisition will strengthen Parkman's activity in the social housing sector, following on from its...

Design practice Derek Lovejoy Partnership.(acquires Turnbull Jeffrey Partnership)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Design practice Derek Lovejoy Partnership (DLP) has acquired consultants Turnbull Jeffrey Partnership (TJP) as part of a plan to increase market share in land planning and design services in Scotland. The merger increases DLP's Scottish...

The DTLR is this month expected to publish a report reviewing the 1992 Transport and Works Act.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The DTLR is this month expected to publish a report reviewing the 1992 Transport and Works Act. The review has been carried out by consultancies MVA, Adams Hendry, CVRL and Rees and Freres. The review forms part of the government's Modernising...

Market values take the lead: will relaxing planning laws for companies be good for business and bad for the environment? Rosie Niven examines the implications of the green paper's business planning zones. (Analysis).
January 4, 2002... Modern business demands finally caught up with the English planning system last week when the government's green paper dragged it kicking and screaming into the 21st century. For so long the system has remained close to the ideals that led...

Mixed blessings in new plan: will government proposals for an overhaul of development plans improve on a bureaucratic and cumbersome system or are they a nimbies' charter? David Dewar reports on a mixed reaction. (Analysis).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The government is proposing the most radical shake-up of the development planning system for more than 50 years. Scrapping structure plans, creating new local planning frameworks and forging a new role for communities in planning are among the...

Cumbersome weapon set for timely service: proposals to reform unwieldy compulsory purchase orders are very welcome. (Analysis).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) are rare beasts. Various acts of parliament, barrowloads of case law and a view that they should only be used as a last resort have all contributed to a reluctance to exercise what is seen as one of the...

Tanner on ... retaining the best of the past and the present. (Analysis).(Roger Tanner discusses buildings in Wales as part of city planning success)(Brief Article)(Column)
January 4, 2002... Why is it that almost everyone except architects thinks that the buildings of the past are preferable to what has been built over the past two generations? The answer is of course that today's older buildings are generally the best of the...

Fyson on ... high hopes and progress for the profession. (Opinion).(Anthony Fyson comments on city planning changes)(Brief Article)(Column)
January 4, 2002... Whatever the planning green paper shortcomings, the new blueprint revamps a beleaguered service and will do much more good than harm. A two-tier system operating at regional and local levels is logical, and allows proper recognition at last for...

Update RTPI profile or face extinction. (Letters).
January 4, 2002... Recent letters in this magazine reveal that it is not only the planning system that is at a potentially momentous stage in its evolution but also the planning profession -- to be precise the RTPI (Planning, 14 December, p10, 7 December, p11 and...

Don't betray town with a poor plan. (Letters).
January 4, 2002... Anthony Fyson (Planning, 7 December, p10) makes a welcome and timely contribution to the debate on the future of the Cambridge sub-region. His piece quite rightly highlights the scale of the development requirements as well as the tight...

High house targets reveal bad system. (Letters).
January 4, 2002... Lee Bray (Planning, 9 November, p 10) boasts that South Hams District Council has the highest target (66 per cent) for affordable housing and asks for advice as to how to deliver it. It might have helped if South Hams had got on with the...

Retractable stands are not the solution. (Letters).
January 4, 2002... The trouble with retractable stands to accommodate sports requiring different sizes of arena is that they waste space and cannot provide optimum sightlines for both functions (Planning, 23 November, p11). It was presumably for this reason...

Planning matters by Cowan.
January 4, 2002... PLANNERS ASK ME IF OUR PROPOSAL TO CREATE PLANNING-FREE BUSINESS ZONES DOESN'T SHOW... ... AN APPALLING LACK OF FAITH IN THE PROFESSIONS'S ABILITIES. ON THE CONTRARY, I TELL THEM, PLANNERS' SKILLS WILL BE INVALUABLE IN ADVISING US......

Lack of praise must not dent your pride. (Letters).
January 4, 2002... I have to take issue with Jonathan "the planning martyr" Lee's recent comments (Planning, 7 December, p11). Why don't we test his assertions and put it to the vote? I'm sure, if polled, most readers would dearly settle for a few more quid in...

Tackle low morale to boost output. (Letters).
January 4, 2002... I fear the correspondence on consultants' fees and salaries is turning into a them-and-us debate. Simon James (Planning, 7 December, p10) berates Phil Dodshon (Planning, 9 November, p10) for failing to understand how consultants earn their...

Devil in the detail of fundamental change. (Editorial).(city planning changes)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Fundamental change is what the government has been promising for the planning system, and it has taken the first steps towards delivering it in its pre-Christmas reform package. The ambitious reach of the planning green paper and associated...

Falconer's plan for a brave new system: first it was the Millennium Dome, now it's the planning system. Lord Falconer is not afraid to shake things up a little. David Dewar met him and found a minister set on reforming the system and its rule-driven culture. (Interview).(Lord Charles Leslie Falconer)
January 4, 2002... Most people know Lord Charles Leslie Falconer of Thoroton as the unfortunate minister in charge of the ongoing Millennium Dome saga. But the current proposals to reform the planning system give Falconer, a QC and close personal friend of the...

Second phase of housing allowed at greenfield site. (Development Control Casebook: the weekly legal and appeals bulletin).(Sunley Estates Ltd has received planning permission)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Sunley Estates Ltd has secured planning permission for 68 dwellings and open space on a greenfield site in West Sussex after an inspector rejected local authority concerns about prematurity. The site, which was located on the edge of a village...

Mixed waste disposal in Cornish quarry rejected. (Development Control Casebook: the weekly legal and appeals bulletin).(Aram Resources PLC refused permission to infill granite quarry)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Aram Resources PLC has been refused permission to infill 8ha of a granite quarry in Cornwall with 2.1 million cubic metres of commercial, industrial and domestic waste over an 11-year period and to set up a civic amenity site. The appellant...

Allegations of racism in inspector's consideration of case rejected. (Court cases).(real estate)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The High Court has rejected a challenge to an inspector's decision relating to appeals for listed building consent and planning permission for a balcony and roof on a grade II listed building in Penzance. The owner of the property claimed...

Banner displays over multi-storey car park judged to harm architectural composition. (Advertisements).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Blowup Media UK Ltd has failed to secure advertisement consent for the display of externally illuminated PVC mesh banners measuring 42m by 8m on the side of a multi-storey car park in Birmingham on the grounds that they would be overly...

Commercial stabling enforced but compliance period extended to allow new application. (Agricultural Development).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... An inspector has upheld an enforcement notice requiring the cessation of use of land and buildings for the commercial stabling of horses in the North Somerset green belt, but he agreed to give the appellant more time to work up an acceptable...

Sequential approach ruled not to apply in full to distribution warehouse. (Commercial And Industrial).(the impact of existing commercial buildings)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... An inspector has granted permission for an [8,000m.sup. 2] distribution warehouse on a brownfield site in the countryside near Huntingdon after concluding that the sequential tests set out in national and regional planning policy guidance...

Pedestrian access gate ruled unacceptable for people with disabilities. (Commercial And Industrial).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The Post Office has been refused permission to install a secure pedestrian access gate at one of its properties in Chesterfield. It argued that the card-operated turnstile would shorten the journey between buildings from around 400m to 50m,...

Retention of marquee accepted in interests of long-term viability of pub. (Food And Drink Uses).(Gloucestershire England)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Planning permission and listed building consent have been granted for the retention of a marquee at the rear of a grade II listed pub in Gloucestershire, despite an inspector's acceptance that it would harm the setting of the building and the...

Length of road frontage judged to undermine housing infill development claim. (Housing: New Build).(Chichester Harbour, England)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... A detached house and garage has been rejected in the Chichester Harbour area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) on the basis that it would exacerbate a sporadic pattern of development in the locality and could not be regarded as infill...

Earth-sheltered house held to be unsustainable and harmful to countryside. (Housing: New Build).(Monmouthshire County, England)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... An earth-sheltered "eco-house" in Monmouthshire has been rejected on the grounds that it would fail to reduce car-dependent journeys and would harm the pastoral nature of the locality. An inspector reached this view despite the appellant's...

Installation of white plastic windows judged to involve unacceptable development. (Householder Development).(Leamington Spa conservation area, England)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... An enforcement notice alleging the unauthorised installation of six white plastic windows at a property in a Leamington Spa conservation area has been upheld after an inspector ruled that they involved development requiring permission. The...

Permission for log cabins in ancient woodland held to be no longer extant. (Leisure Development).(High Weald area, England)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The secretary of state has accepted a call-in inquiry inspector's recommendation that an outline planning permission for 250 log cabins in the High Weald area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) had lapsed and that there was no scope to seek a...

Umbrella at golf club treated as development inappropriate to green belt. (Leisure Development).(Little Chalfont Golf Club, Buckinghamshire, England)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... An inspector has upheld an enforcement notice requiring the removal of an umbrella 6m high and 12m wide over a patio adjacent to a golf clubhouse in Buckinghamshire after concluding that the structure was inappropriate development and harmful...