The Planners: Twitter reacts
Earlier today, Planning broke the news that a new fly-on-the-wall documentary that promises to ‘lift the lid’ on the work of council planning officers will be shown on BBC2 next week. The story has...
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How Google Earth was used to build case against Doncaster man who flouted...
Last week a judge fined a Doncaster man £250,000 for a “flagrant” breach of planning law after he set up a makeshift business park on his farm without planning permission. 57-year-old Nigel Smith’s...
View ArticleThe Planners: reaction to episode 1
Twitter reacts to the first episode of BBC2 fly-on-the-wall documentary The Planners. [View the story "The Planners: reaction to episode 1" on Storify] The Planners: reaction to episode 1 Last night...
View ArticleThe Planners: episode 2 preview clip now available
The first episode of BBC2 fly-on-the-wall documentary The Planners started its run last week, providing planners up and down the country with a hot topic of discussion in the office on Friday morning....
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Office-to-homes rebellion: our survey findings in full
Local planning authorities now have only two weeks to make their case to government to be exempted from controversial new rules that would allow offices to be converted into homes without planning...
View ArticleStreet-Porter launches tirade against planning officers
Chancellor George Osborne can normally be relied upon to make some sort of attack on the planning system in his Budget report. In 2011, Osborne said that the planning system is a “chronic obstacle to...
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Is today really a ‘black Wednesday’ for the countryside?
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is one year old today. The document’s 12-month transition period is finally over, and the framework is now in full force. So, now that the transition...
View ArticleNPPF: the framework’s impact on local plan progress
The Department for Communities and Local Government says that it is not the case that communities will be at greater risk of speculative development following the end of the National Planning Policy...
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UKIP’s planning pledges
The results of yesterday’s local elections in England and Wales are still being counted in many areas. But it is becoming clear that the UK Independence Party (UKIP) has delivered a strong...
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Future High Street X-Fund branding quietly dropped
If there had been an award on offer for “most publicity hungry minister”, Grant Shapps – now the Conservative Party chairman – would have been a strong contender when housing minister at the Department...
View ArticleWeekly poll: fast-track for quality developers?
Planning minister Nick Boles told an event at the end of last month that housebuilders that meet the Building for Life design standard could benefit from accelerated planning procedures. With this in...
View ArticleData blog: Breakdown of inspectors’ decisions published by PINS
A recently published statistical report from the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) contains an interesting table showing how many appeals each inspector determined in 2012/13, and for each inspector, the...
View ArticleWho would live in a house like this? Revealed: the office-to-resi conversions...
New rules allowing the conversion of offices to homes without the need for planning consent came into force at the end of May. Since then, details have started to emerge of the first prior approval...
View ArticleMapped: Prior approval applications in office-to-resi hotspot
Ahead of the introduction of controversial new rules allowing offices to be converted to homes without the need for planning permission, the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames said that it was...
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Reshuffle primer: the new faces at Eland House
Following yesterday’s reshuffle, the Department for Communities and Local Government has helpfully published details of its new-look ministerial team. So who has been appointed to Eric Pickles’ new...
View ArticleData blog: local development plan progress in Wales
The Welsh government this week published a useful document showing the progress of Wales’ local planning authorities in preparing local development plans. According to the document, of Wales’ 24 local...
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Data blog: London borough has received nearly 100 office-to-resi applications
York House, Twickenham: serves as Richmond Council’s town hall Controversial rules allowing offices to be converted to homes without the need for planning permission have now been in place for nearly...
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TaxPayers’ Alliance austerity blueprint lists planning savings
The TaxPayers’ Alliance’s latest missive has grabbed the headlines today for suggesting that local authorities can save money by using cattle and sheep to graze on council land rather than spending...
View ArticleHitler finds out about five-year housing land supply shortfall
Subtitled parodies of the acclaimed Second World War film Downfall, which portrays Hitler’s final days in the Berlin bunker, have spread across the internet like wildfire, with hundreds of spoof clips...
View ArticleData blog: 64% of Welsh authorities lack five-year housing land supply
A report published this week by the Welsh government reveals that, as at 1 April 2012, 16 out Wales’ 25 local planning authorities – 64 per cent – had less than five years housing land supply....
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