Despite a temporary Government stall on the roll out of the requirement for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) with new development, it’s almost inevitably coming at us in one form or another. In a bid to get our heads around what it means for our clients and projects, we recently caught up with Sarah Curnow of Planning, Environment … Read More
Policy
Effective Engagement – Keep Talking, Keep Listening, Keep Evolving
It’s become increasingly clear in recent years that local communities are becoming more engaged in the planning process, particularly where they feel passionate about individual sites or the impact of development in their areas. This doesn’t just mean old-school NIMBYism, but more a growing desire to have some influence or control over how ‘their’ areas … Read More
The Revised NPPF – The New Planning Rulebook?
Welcome back after that fabulous long hot summer. Whilst here at Planning Ventures we celebrate the launch of the new school year, we’re also braced for a fresh start in the Planning calendar, just as you were all escaping for your fortnight of downtime, July 24th saw the release of the long-awaited revised National Planning … Read More
2017 at a Glance
Happy New Year from Planning Ventures. We hope your festive break was as restful, manic, joyous or rejuvenating as you might have anticipated! To kick off 2018, we thought we’d take a quick look back over some of the key changes that took effect in the planning system over the past year, before musing on … Read More
Dream or disaster? The new Housing and Planning Bill
Recently we attended a very useful seminar at Clarke Willmott Solicitors LLP in Bristol on the proposed Housing and Planning Bill 2015-16. It has major implications for housing, estate agents, rent charges, compulsory purchase and, of course, planning. As the Bill enters its second reading in the House of Commons, here’s a quick summary of … Read More
The reality of new PD rights for agricultural buildings
So having ranted about the latest PD rights for retail to residential conversions I promised that I would look at the latest changes to permitted development (PD) rights for the changes of use of agricultural buildings, which came into force in April 2014. The Government has essentially created two new sets of PD rights: Class … Read More
Thoughts on planning for health care provision
I’ve been working with the Avril Baker Consultancy to facilitate and manage a range of stakeholder consultations for Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group. As part of the team it’s been great talking about WCCGs 5 Year Plan, to a range of people across Wiltshire including Service personnel’s wives and partners, mums and their toddlers, the elderly, … Read More
DCLG consultation response confirms your local shops are under threat
The Government has published its response to the consultation exercise undertaken last year, which further extends permitted development rights to change the use of shops and banks/building societies (use class A1 and A2) to residential units, the change of use of shops to banks/building societies, extended the ability to change existing retail and commercial premises … Read More
Your local shops could be under threat again
The Government has recently completed consultation to change the use of a shop and a bank/building society or other financial or professional service into a residential use without the need for planning permission. So you probably think ‘ok and what of it’, as you have seen plenty of local shops remain empty for an eternity … Read More