News and Resources

Tower Hamlets Council’s revised CIL charging schedule came into effect on 17 January 2020, imposing borough CIL for the first time on its large allocated sites, so you will appreciate its double disappointment at the Secretary of State allowing the Westferry Printworks site appeal, against the inquiry inspector’s recommendations, in a decision letter dated 14 …

“It feels like I only go backwards, baby Every part of me says, “Go ahead” I got my hopes up again, oh no, not again Feels like we only go backwards, darling The seed of all this indecision isn’t me, oh no ‘Cause I decided long ago But that’s the way it seems to go …

I thought I would start 2020 by trying to establish some common ground, before then mentioning what happened shortly before Christmas in relation to the Elephant & Castle and Old Oak projects, both controversial in different ways. The questions are long but I hope that the answers are short. Do we all agree that… 1. …

Duncan Field, Victoria McKeegan and I were speculating in our 16 December 2019 planorama vlog as to what the new Government’s legislative programme and policy priorities are likely to be in relation to planning, infrastructure and the environment We now have the blueprint, in the form of the Queen’s Speech on 19 December 2019 and …

You will remember the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling that our Prime Minister had acted unlawfully in advising the Queen in August 2019 that Parliament should be prorogued? Last week, in R (Lancashire County Council) v Secretary of State R (NHS Property Services Ltd) v Surrey County Council and another (Supreme Court, 11.12.19), five Supreme Court …

Two recent salutary lessons from Surrey for campaigners tempted to resort to the courts, having failed to persuade the relevant local plan inspector. Guildford local plan In Compton Parish Council v Guildford Borough Council (Sir Duncan Ouseley, 4 December 2019), three separate claimants, Compton Parish Council, a Mr Julian Cranwell and Ockham Parish Council, “opposed …

We’re hosting a workshop for London First this week, as part of its London’s Transforming High Streets programme. Usual mistake of agreeing to say a few words and then reading what it’s about: “The aim of the workshop is to bring together London First members and stakeholders to investigate the barriers to town centre transformation …

Examination question: Was the Supreme Court’s ruling in Wright v Resilient right or resilient? The problem is a practical one, and frequently arising. If an applicant promises that it will provide specific benefits for a community if it secures planning permission, and the decision maker takes into account those promises in approving the application, is …

Here is the skeleton of a presentation I am giving at the RTPI London Annual Summit 2019 on 20 November 2019. You’ll have to come along for the flesh, as it were. I just wanted to do a basic trawl of what has been happening over the past year in terms of: • Mayoral directions …

This is about Robert Jenrick’s 23 October 2019 announcement of the ‘most ambitious heritage preservation campaign for 40 years‘. Whilst we are in political lock-down, there is time to look at it in more detail and in particular at the concept of locally listed buildings, central to the campaign that Jenrick laid out as Communities …