|
Book now:
The Government has made it clear that it expects local authorities (LAs) to publish information on viability statements and the developer contributions (CIL and Section 106) they receive in order to increase the transparency of the planning process.
The Government is now proposing to make publishing this data a statutory requirement through amendments to regulations. To help authorities with this, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has been developing online tools that will help LAs to collect this information.
If you have responsibility for collecting and monitoring this type of data, come along and join one of the data workshops where we will be learning more about the tools as well as testing and piloting them. Managing developer contributions is a complex process so let’s make sure together that these tools will work for authorities across England.
Sign up now; the events are soon.
February sees the launch of our strategic planning programme. We’re kicking off with the following three events:
You will get to hear from MHCLG, PAS, Catriona Riddell and the LA planning professionals who have started or have worked on strategic plans. We would like to get a dialogue started about the opportunities that strategic planning has to offer, how you get started and how you can overcome obstacles. These events are not just for those currently involved in a joint plan. We welcome all interested LA planners to join the conversation. Sign up now
Following the success of our July chief planners event, we are now opening the booking for a follow-up event to take place on 14 and 15 March 2019 in Birmingham.
Back in July we introduced the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) 2.0 alongside an impressive list of expert speakers. The feedback was great. So this time, we're going to keep to the same formula but focus on implementation. This will look at the NPPF and National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG) and how the changes are working in practice. We will look at how we can champion the profession and motivate our teams. The key benefit of this event, however, is to give chief planners the space to share ideas and to build lasting networks. We all learn from this. If you're the chief planner in your council then please sign up and join us.
We are looking to work directly with a small number of LAs on developing best practice on implementing the NPPF policy and NPPG guidance requirements when dealing with viability through the planning system. If this is something that you would like some support with, and you are happy to be included as a case study, then please let us know at pas@local.gov.uk
It would also be great to hear from LAs that are already implementing good practice and would be happy to share their good work with others.
We don't know when the Housing Delivery Test (HDT) is going to be announced, nor when the changes to the standard methodology and the revisions to the land supply guidance will happen. But good monitoring officers should already know their result and therefore the consequences for their councils. To help those people who will need to prepare an HDT Action Plan we have updated and republished our guide.
Once the results are announced councils will have six months to respond. Why not get ahead of the timetable and start sizing up the task today?
We are really pleased to welcome Nicola Sworowski to the PAS team. Nicola has worked in planning for nearly 12 years across two local planning authorities, most recently managing the planning policy team at South Derbyshire District Council and achieving the successful adoption of a two-part Local Plan. Nicola also has central government experience. Last year she completed a14-month secondment in the development plans section at MHCLG. Nicola is looking forward to getting started: “I am delighted to have been offered the opportunity of the strategic planning role at PAS and look forward to developing this role and supporting authorities across the country”.
We've been working with over 50 authorities to produce an advice note and template to help LAs with the new requirement to produce a Statement of Common Ground.
We are just waiting for agreement to release the template and it will be out before the end of the month so please keep an eye on the PAS website.
We are pleased to be working on a resources survey for MHCLG and the LGA. We will be doing some fact finding on resource pressures in planning departments and how the recent 20 per cent fee increase has been used. We will be launching this in the next few weeks; and we need as many councils as possible to take part. Expect more on this shortly.
Demolition or change of use of drinking establishments (Class A4 of the Use Classes Order) has required planning permission since 23 May 2017. There has been a growing trend for owners and agents to only contact building control rather than planning services when seeking consent to demolish. This means that buildings could be demolished without the necessary planning permissions.
It may be worth checking that there is a process in place to ensure that the receipt of demolition notices (served under the Building Act 1984) is shared with the planning team in your authority.
Useful links:
|
