Sam Stafford's Blog

The HCA has published it's latest reports on regional reports. http://goo.gl/ZGWrZ6 Some interesting headlines as far as the North West is concerned: The average median valuation of a dwelling in the North West OA is £114,000 in October 2013 (Calnea). This valuation is unchanged from the previous year. Housing transactions totalled 74,828 in the North West over the twelve months to September 2013. This was a 5% increase from the previous year. Average median private rents were £495 per month in the North West SSR. This is the same rental amount as the previous year. The number of households facing mortgage possession action in court is 2,428 in Q1 2013. This is a decreased of 11.9% compared to this quarter in the previous year. House building starts were 3,620 starts in Q3 2013 in the North West OA, which is a 19.5% increase compared to this quarter in the previous year. The HCA official statistics for 1 April – 30 September 2013 show 1,385 housing completions and...

In the tried and tested way of beginning a speech this post begins with a definition. Two definitions in fact. The dictionary definition of examination is a detailed inspection or study. In relation to local development documents, the legal definition of examination could be that it determines whether a plan both satisfies the requirements of plan preparation and is sound.   Armed with that knowledge, and imagining that we are local campaigners objecting to a proposed urban extension, let us consider this statement from Mr Pickles to the Communities & Local Government Select Committee: "We’ve had informal discussions with the Inspectorate, we’re going about it in a proper way, but I do not anticipate many rejections from those that are already submitted." It was apparent early in the LDF regime that the Examination In Public (EIP) was not as forensic a process as the former local plan inquiries. Since the publication of the NPPF though there have b...

" This government is committed to localism and greater local decision-making in planning", said Eric Pickles in March 2013. Recent figures from Planning Magazine though show that he subsequently went on to approve almost as many major housing proposals between April and December 2013 (21) as he did in the entire three year period between April 2010 and March 2013 (26). In the North West alone Mr Pickles approved 1,760 homes of the 1,963 that he considered (90%) in that nine month period last year. How can this be so? Why is the great champion of localism, the man who saw off the ‘top down, regional strategies’ and the ‘centrally imposed building targets’ now commanding so much from his Whitehall bunker? Well as the Conservatives soon discovered, and their current Labour shadows are illustrating, localism is the policy of opposition. It is the policy both of opposition Governments, and, more often than not, localism manifests itself as opposition to development fr...

There is a particularly interesting line from Housing Minister and Keighley MP Kris Hopkins in this piece from the Bradford Telegraph & Argus that neatly sums up the conflict faced by politicians involved in housing and planning. http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/10933682._We_don_t_need_to_build_on_green_land__says_housing_minister_Hopkins/ I do not know enough about the Bradford's Local Plan to have a view on the assertion that the Borough's housing requirement can be wholly accommodated on previously developed sites, which is interesting enough, but it was this line that caught my eye:  Taking my ministerial hat off and putting my MP’s hat on, some of the figures they’ve talked about across Keighley and Shipley are outrageous. The "of course we need new homes, but they need to be in the right place and this is not the right place" line is a familiar one from opponents to new homes, but we should surely expect more from the Government...

A Planning Inspector appointed to examine Bury’s Core Strategy has again raised doubts about it's robustness. The Core Strategy was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on 6 December 2013, but in a letter dated 14 January 2014 the appointed Inspector raises concerns about three key areas. The news will be a blow to Bury Borough Council, which was forced to withdraw a previous version of the Core Strategy in 2011. In the letter to interested parties the Inspector raises concerns about the assessment of the Borough’s housing need and the reliance on neighbouring authorities to meet some of that need, as well as the intended approach to employment development in the Green Belt at Gin Hall. It is emphasised that the Inspector is yet to reach a conclusion as to whether or not the Core Strategy is “sound”, but “wishes to explore his concerns by asking questions of representatives of Bury Council and the relevant neighbouring authorities at this initial stage, rather t...

In typically florid language the Daily Telegraph has reported (http://goo.gl/gWVGDg) that the Coalition is preparing to mount a “fresh assault” on planning laws by giving developers the power to “push though applications without the need for council approval or environmental assessments". To make sure that the attention of readers is well and truly grabbed the Head of Policy at the RTPI is quoted as describing the move as a "nuclear option". I wouldn’t be so forward as to describe myself as a planning expert (I’ll leave that to others…), but as a practicing planner I take a more measured view. Firstly, it is proposed that applicants will be allowed to “ignore” local authorities if they delay the approval of details that have been submitted to satisfy the conditions that have been attached to the grant of planning permission. The use of conditions has grown exponentially over the thirteen years or so of my career as, for one reason or another, mostly though the intro...