News and Resources

One of the many frustrating aspects of the Community Infrastructure Levy regime is the confusing and limited nature of any right to appeal, which is particularly concerning given the varying interpretations given to the Regulations by different collecting authorities. The first difficulty is working out what the appeal route in any particular situation is. Appeals …

Time now to look at some of the proposals to extend permitted development rights and to amend the Use Classes Order that are set out in the Planning Reform: Supporting the high street and increasing the delivery of new homes consultation paper published alongside the Autumn budget on 29 October 2018, and strongly criticised in …

Or, before you sell your garden ornaments best to check that they aren’t listed buildings. I missed the 50th anniversary, on 25 October 2018, of the enactment of the Town and Country Planning Act 1968. Part V of the Act introduced our modern system of listed buildings, and the prohibition on the demolition of any …

I was pleased to read Finney v Welsh Ministers (Sir Wyn Williams, 15 November 2018), or the Rhydcwmerau wind turbines case, as I hope we’ll call it for ease. Sir Wyn Williams provides the answer to a question I raised in my 3 March 2018 blog post, A Change Is Gonna Come (But Should It …

Town announcement One of the joys of starting up Town Legal with colleagues has been the opportunity to play with technology so as to see how up to date information relevant to planners and planning lawyers can be made more readily available, with a little bit of focus on where the gaps are. We have …

The European Court of Justice is certainly turning the screws this year via various cases in relation to the Republic of Ireland, with now three rulings against its Planning Board, An Bord Pleanála. Following People Over Wind (see my 20 April 2018 blog post EU Court Ruling: Ignore Mitigation Measures In Habitats Screening) and Grace, Sweetman …

Well done for getting past the heading. Someone recently asked me whether the Government ever changes its proposals as a result of a consultation process. For an example of just such a thing, I was able to point to the Government response to supporting housing delivery through developer contributions: a summary of consultation responses and …

Sajid Javid had given Sir Oliver Letwin the following terms of reference for his review into the “build out of planning permissions into homes” that was announced in the Autumn 2017 budget. “The Review should seek to explain the significant gap between housing completions and the amount of land allocated or permissioned in areas of …

I’m not sure anyone was expecting MHCLG to act quite so quickly to try to mend a number of problems that have been arising from the July 2018 NPPF (although perhaps problems of its own making). Its technical consultation on updates to national planning policy and guidance (26 October 2018) invites comments by 7 December …

If you give evidence as an expert at planning inquiries, I recommend that you read the judgment of Holgate J in Gardiner and Theobald LLP v Jackson (VO) (Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber), 3 August 2018). In the superficially different context of a rating dispute, he sets down unambiguously the perils that await any expert witness …