News and Resources

Even when it’s your day job in our planning world of imprecisely worded policies and the uncertainties of local and national politics, it can be hard enough to answer the question as to whether a proposed development project has a reasonable prospect of planning permission. But what if you are a county court judge? And …

“We class schools, you see, into four grades: Leading School, First-rate School, Good School, and School. Frankly,” said Mr Levy, “School is pretty bad…” (Evelyn Waugh, Decline and Fall) The government has been fine-tuning its guidance as to the extent to which developers in England should be required to fund education provision. Serendipitously for this …

How can the planning system seek to achieve “beautiful” buildings and places? What is beauty? How do you arrive at objectivity in matters largely of subjective judgment? Is the customer always right (and who is the customer)? These thoughts were prompted this week by a few things: ⁃ The resolution of the Corporation of London’s …

Whoops I did it again: agreed to give a talk on a subject before researching it. These are no more than my notes but I hope the links at least are useful. The Chancellor announced in his Spring Statement that “following consultation, the government will use the forthcoming Environment Bill to mandate biodiversity net gain …

Will we soon see minimum space standards for PD residential conversions? There was a hint in that James Brokenshire written statement on 13 March 2019. I set out below in full the parts of his statement relating to PD resi and I have emboldened the relevant sentence: “The consultation, Planning Reform: Supporting the high street …

James Brokenshire’s 13 March 2019 written statement, made alongside the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, includes some important, if sometimes vague, pointers as to how the Government intends to speed up development management processes and housing delivery, although already we have a good sense of what lies ahead in relation to planning appeals that proceed by way …

Hanging over me all week was a deadline for preparing a legal update about the NPPF. Then, thank you judges, just like London buses but with more barristers on board, along came three interesting cases. Is the NPPF subject to the requirements of SEA? The question as to whether the latest version of the NPPF …

Photo-sharing social media apps, weaponised by the smartphone camera, are changing our experience and expectations of place. Is the planning system, and the law of private nuisance, keeping up? The London Evening Standard had a story for our times last night: Please stop ‘influencing’ on our doorsteps, Notting Hill residents tell ‘unapologetic’ Instagrammers. At a …

MHCLG’s announcements this week have clarified three separate issues which go to whether the “tilted balance” in paragraph 11(d) of the NPPF applies in relation to applications for planning permission for housing development. Where the tilted balance applies, Government policy is of course that planning permission should be granted unless: “(i) the application of policies …

I need to declare an interest as I’ve recently been acting for an electronic communications code operator but… Ouseley J’s ruling in Westminster City Council v Secretary of State & New World Payphones Limited (5 February 2019) raises more questions than some of the media headlines would suggest. Background New World Payphones is the operator …