Category: Neighbourhood Planning Bill

Not In My Neighbourhood

To my mind, the problems with neighbourhood plans that I listed in my 19.2.17 blog post haven’t gone away. 

In fact, two changes to the neighbourhood plan process that were switched on from 19 July 2017 by the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2017 will just bring the issues to the boil at an earlier stage:

– section 1 of the 2017 Act gives decision makers a duty to have regard to neighbourhood plans as a material consideration once they have been examined, prior to their having been approved in a neighbourhood referendum or finally made (ie ‘adopted’ in local plan language). 

– section 3 of the 2017 Act requires decision makers to treat a neighbourhood plan as part of the statutory development plan once they have been approved by a referendum (unless the local authority then decides not to make it). 

In the meantime, the last few weeks have seen various rulings from the High Court and decision letters from the Secretary of State that demonstrate the complexities, uncertainties and tensions that are arising. 

Farnham Neighbourhood Plan
Bewley Homes Limited v Waverley District Council (Lang J, 18 July 2017) 

The claimants, Bewley, Wates and Catesby, were three development companies unhappy that their respective development sites were not allocated for development in the draft Farnham neighbourhood development plan. 
The case illustrates the real difficulties that arise both with grappling with detailed issues during the examination process and seeking to assert, when the report has been published, that the examiner’s reasoning is deficient. 
The claimants’ first line of attack was that the examiner was wrong to conclude that the draft plan complied with the basic condition of being in conformity with the strategic policies of the 2002 local plan. 
Lang J sets the bar very low in terms of the extent of the examiner’s duty to give reasons for the conclusions in his report: “I consider that an Examiner examining a neighbourhood plan is undertaking a function which is narrowly prescribed by statute and he is subject to a limited statutory duty to give reasons. It is distinguishable from the function of an Inspector determining a planning appeal, where the duty to give reasons is expressed in general terms.”
Secondly, she makes clear that the requirement that the neighbourhood plan must be in general conformity with strategic policies in the relevant local plan is pretty loose in practice: “The authorities establish that the phrase “in general conformity” is a flexible test which allows for some differences. The plans do not have to match precisely. It was a matter of planning judgment for the Examiner to decide whether the degree of the differences was such that he could not properly find that “the making of the [plan] was in general conformity with the strategic policies in the development plan”, as required by paragraph 8(2)(e) of Schedule 4B. For that purpose, he was required to consider the plan as a whole.”



The judge found that it was sufficient that the examiner referred to his consideration of Farnham Parish Council’s Basic Conditions Statement, from which it could be taken that he accepted Farnham’s Basic Conditions Statement as the basis for identifying the strategic policies in the Local Plan 2002.
Lang J noted that even if the reasoning had been flawed, in the light of the Court of Appeal’s ruling in DLA Delivery, “the Examiner could lawfully have adopted a different route, holding that the strategic policies restricting housing development had become time-expired in 2006 and were now redundant, and could be disregarded.”
The claimants’ other grounds of challenge arose from detailed evidence and submissions that they had made on issues relating to SANGS land and relating to a landscape study on which a key policy in the draft plan was based. It is clear that the developers had approached both issues in some forensic detail. However, the judge was satisfied with the light-touch way in which the matters had been addressed in the report:

“It was sufficient that the Examiner recorded at paragraphs 2.4, 2.7 and 2.8 that he had considered all the written material submitted to him, together with the discussions at the public hearing, all of which provided him with sufficient information to enable him to reach his conclusions. The main points raised by the Claimants were adequately addressed in the report and the Examiner’s conclusions were made sufficiently clear.”

“The Claimants invited me to infer that the Examiner did not consider the Wates’ material because he did not refer to it. However, given the limited scope of his examination, he was not required to refer specifically to the evidence and representations presented by the Claimants, and the points raised therein. There was a large volume of evidence and these were not principal documents. It was sufficient that the Examiner recorded that he had considered the representations. He also stated at paragraphs 2.4, 2.7 and 2.8 that he had considered all the written material submitted to him, together with the discussions at the public hearing, all of which provided him with sufficient information to enable him to reach his conclusions.”

Faringdon Neighbourhood plan
Hoare v Vale of White Horse District Council (Deputy High Court Judge John Howell QC, 7 July 2017)
Here policy 4.5B in the draft plan sought to safeguard Wicklesham Quarry for employment uses following completion of quarrying and restoration activities on the site and to support such development on it provided that there is a demonstrable need for it, no other suitable site closer to the town centre is available and certain other conditions are met.
The claimant was a local resident objecting to the allocation. 
The court took a similar approach as in Bewley to complaints as to the lack of general conformity with strategic policies in the local plan:


“The phrase “strategic policies” is, like “general conformity”, inherently imprecise, and it is not one in my judgment to which the court should seek to give a spurious degree of precision. Which policies in a development plan warrant that classification will inevitably involve a question of planning judgment that will be framed (but not necessarily exhausted) by the objectives of the particular plan and the policy’s significance in relation to their achievement and to the character, use or development of land in the area to which the plan relates which it seeks to promote or inhibit. The more central or important the policy is in relation to such matters the more likely it will be that it may be a “strategic policy” in that plan. Its identification as “strategic” or as part of the “strategic policies” in that plan may well provide a good indication of its significance. But the fact that it is not so identified does not necessarily mean that it is not a strategic policy and its identification as such does not necessarily mean that it is.”



The claimant also submitted that Policy 4.5B is about a “county matter”, which is a category of “excluded development” that cannot lawfully form part of a neighbourhood plan; and that the District Council erred in treating the quarry as “previously developed land” for the purpose of the NPPF. 
The deputy judge held that the policy was not about a county matter, given that it sought to safeguard the Quarry for employment uses following the completion of quarrying and restoration activities on the site: “The provision which is excluded from a neighbourhood plan is not any provision about any development in respect of land which is the subject of a restoration condition or an aftercare condition. It is any provision about development which “would conflict with or prejudice compliance with” such a condition. There may be operations or uses that can be carried on on such land without doing so. Moreover there is nothing to preclude a neighbourhood development plan making provision about a development that may be carried out on land subject to such conditions but only after they have been complied with. That may in fact be desirable in order to provide guidance about the future use of the land. Thus in my judgment the mere existence of such conditions applicable to an area of land does not mean that no provision about that land may be made in a neighbourhood plan.”



The deputy judge agreed that the council had indeed been wrong to categorise the site as previously developed land, given the restoration condition. However, he did not consider that the error was material to the outcome of the plan and declined to quash the plan on that basis.

 
Not easy to challenge a neighbourhood plan, is it?

Central Milton Keynes Business Neighbourhood Plan

The Secretary of State issued his decision letter on 19 July 2017, granting planning permission to Intu Milton Keynes Limited for extension of the Intu Milton Keynes shopping centre. The application was supported by Milton Keynes Council but had been called in by the previous Secretary of State Greg Clark in November 2015, who indicated that for the purposes of determining the application he wished to be informed as to “the consistency of the application with the development plan for the area including the Central Milton Keynes Business Neighbourhood Plan”.

The Central Milton Keynes Business Neighbourhood Plan was England’s first business neighbourhood plan. Central Milton Keynes Town Council objected to the application. As part of its objections it sought to portray the proposals as contrary to policies of the Neighbourhood Plan seeking to protect semi-public open space in Midsummer Place and seeking to retain Central Milton Keynes’ classic grid pattern.

However, the Secretary of State agreed with his inspector’s conclusion that the application was “in accordance with development plan policies, including those in the Neighbourhood Plan, and is in accordance with the development plan overall”.

The inspector indicated that her finding was “based on a balanced interpretation of Policy CMKAP G3. Had I taken an absolute approach to the policy, the reduction in the quantity of semi-public open space, would have resulted in a breach of the policy. Nevertheless, the proposed development would have been consistent with the development plan as a whole. In the final instance the considerable benefits of the proposal would have been material considerations sufficient to indicate that it should be determined other than in accordance with the development plan”. 



Buckingham Neighbourhood Plan
The Secretary of State declined to follow his inspector’s recommendation and, by his decision letter dated 17 July 2017, refused planning permission to Bellway Homes for a development of 130 dwellings in Buckingham. The inspector concluded that the neighbourhood plan was silent as to the proposed development of the application site. The Secretary of State disagreed:

“the larger housing sites, representing both the acceptable location and level of housing, are specifically identified and allocated in the BNDP. Both larger sites and the smaller windfall sites being confined to within the settlement boundary (HP7). The application site, being both unallocated and outside the settlement boundary, falls within neither category above and, as a consequence, the Secretary of State considers the proposals are not policy compliant. This is a policy conflict to which the Secretary of State attaches very substantial negative weight in view of the Framework policy (paragraphs 183-185) that neighbourhood plans are able to shape and direct sustainable development in their area and that where an application conflicts with a neighbourhood plan, planning permission should not normally be granted (paragraph 198).”

Barnham and Eastergate Neighbourhood Plan & the Walberton Neighbourhood Development Plan
 Yet another application called in so that the Secretary of State could consider whether development proposals (for 400 dwellings as well as commercial development in Fontwell, West Sussex) were consistent with (here two) neighbourhood plans. The Secretary of State granted planning permission, by his decision letter dated 13 July 2017, finding that the proposals were indeed consistent, “subject to careful consideration at the reserved matters stage”. 
In relation to each of these applications, call in by the Secretary of State on neighbourhood plan grounds has been directly responsible for significant delays, of at least 18 months. In each of the applications there has been significant debate, argument and uncertainty as to the meaning of neighbourhood plan policies – perhaps no surprise given the light touch, difficult to challenge, nature of the neighbourhood plans examination process.
Isn’t it time for a proper review of the costs and benefits of the neighbourhood plans system as it is currently operating?
Simon Ricketts, 22 July 2017

Personal views, et cetera

Money For Nothing? CPO Compensation Reform, Land Value Capture

To what extent might the state choose to tax land owners, through reducing their compensation entitlement, in order to facilitate the provision of housing or infrastructure, rather than subsidise that provision through more general tax raising? How can the state capture land value gains created by its own infrastructure provision, or due to its own strategic planning for development?
These questions are central to a number of current areas of public policy thinking, including:
– Using compulsory purchase 
– Land auctions and land value capture charges
– Benchmark land values in viability appraisal
– CIL reform
There are some confluences arising in this area between current Conservative party thinking, other political parties, Transport for London and Shelter to name but a few. I’m not sure that land owner interests have yet joined all the dots. Developers may wish to partner more closely and regularly with local authorities with compulsory purchase powers, but in other situations should also be aware of the risks ahead for their businesses if additional costs are not sufficiently predictable as to come off the land price or if they cause land owners simply to hold rather than sell. 
Using compulsory purchase

Compulsory purchase is already a practical mechanism for securing land where there is a compelling case in the public interest for interfering with private property rights. Of course it isn’t easy, and will never be. The power is draconian. The necessary procedural safeguards to protect against its abuse make for a slow, procedurally technical process and for uncertain outcomes.

Another disincentive for local authorities can be the significant compensation costs payable, given the fundamental principle that the land owner is entitled to what the value of his interest would have been were it not for the compulsory acquisition (the ‘equivalence’ principle). Even where compensation liability is being underwritten by a developer partner, the extent of compensation is:
– likely to affect whether the project is viable after all; and
– not ascertainable until all parties are too far in to back out due to the leisurely pace at which a compensation figure is determined (both pre- and post-reference to the Lands Tribunal, aka Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal). 
The Conservative manifesto, published on 17 May 2017, refers to compulsory purchase in this one paragraph:
“We will enter into new Council Housing Deals with ambitious, pro-development, local authorities to help them build more social housing. We will work with them to improve their capability and capacity to develop more good homes, as well as providing them with significant low-cost capital funding. In doing so, we will build new fix-term social houses, which will be sold privately after ten to fifteen years with an automatic Right to Buy for tenants, the proceeds of which will be recycled into further homes. We will reform Compulsory Purchase Orders to make them easier and less expensive for councils to use and to make it easier to determine the true market value of sites”. 

I am guessing that what is planned goes further than making the current system work better. Changes are being considered which would enable in some circumstances greater use of compulsory purchase and, in some circumstances, acquisition at lower values than the equivalence principle would suggest. 
The February 2017 Housing White Paper says this:
“2.43 Compulsory purchase law gives local authorities extensive powers to assemble land for development. Through the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and the Neighbourhood Planning Bill currently in Parliament we are reforming compulsory purchase to make the process clearer, fairer, and faster, while retaining proper protections for landowners. Local planning authorities should now think about how they can use these powers to promote development, which is particularly important in areas of high housing need. 

2.44 We propose to encourage more active use of compulsory purchase powers to promote development on stalled sites for housing. The Government will prepare new guidance to local planning authorities following separate consultation, encouraging the use of their compulsory purchase powers to support the build out of stalled sites. We will investigate whether auctions, following possession of the land, are sufficient to establish an unambiguous value for the purposes of compensation payable to the claimant, where the local authority has used their compulsory purchase powers to acquire the land.

2.45 [ ]

2.46 We will keep compulsory purchase under review and welcome any representations for how it can be reformed further to support development.”
Note the references to encouraging the use of compulsory purchase where development has stalled, and investigating the use of auctions to establish land value (more on that later in this blog post).
Revealingly, in the week before the publication of the manifesto there was a press release with this passage in its “notes to editors”:
“To further incentivise councils to build, the Conservatives also intend to reform compulsory purchase rules to allow councils to buy brownfield land and pocket sites more cheaply. At the moment, councils must purchase land at “market value”, which includes the price with planning permission, irrespective of whether it has it or not. As a result, there has been a more than 100% increase in the price of land relative to GDP over the last 20 years and the price of land for housing has diverged considerably from agricultural land in the last fifty years. Between 1959 and 2017, agricultural land has doubled in value in real terms from £4,300 per acre to £8,900 per acre, while land for planning permission has increased by 1,200%, from £107,000 to just over £1,450,000. Local authorities therefore very rarely use their CPO powers for social housing, leaving derelict buildings in town centres, unused pocket sites and industrial sites remain undeveloped.”
I’m guessing at the following policy strands for a future Conservative government from these various statements:
1. Further encouragement for use of CPO powers in the right circumstances, including particular encouragement where a “Council Housing Deal” is in place (guaranteeing social housing with a fixed-term right to buy for tenants) and possibly where private sector development is shown to have stalled (link this and the “delivery” elements of the Housing White Paper and this could be quite a stick to wield).
2. Further process reform likely.
3. Reform likely of the process for determining the compensation price to be paid, so that (1) figures are known earlier on, (2) the land auctions model is followed (see later in this blog post) to determine values in appropriate circumstances and (if those ‘notes to editors’ are to believed) (3) in some circumstances authorities will be able to acquire land for less than it is worth (possibly ruling out hope value unless planning permission or a certificate of appropriate alternative development under section 17 of the Land Compensation Act 1961, has actually been obtained). 
The last point (still speculation) has caused consternation and excitement in equal measure. The principle of equivalence is at stake, but equally this opens up the prospect of securing land for development at an undervalue so as to achieve affordable housing at no cost to the state. Money for nothing (unless you are the land owner). Shelter for example have been lobbying for a similar approach. Their May 2017 paper Financing the infrastructure and new homes of the future: the case for enabling acquiring authorities to purchase land for strategic development under a special CPO compensation code May 2017 lobbies for Government to:

“enable acquiring authorities to purchase land for strategic development under a special CPO compensation code. This would involve three changes:

1)  An amendment to the National Planning Policy Framework to allow planning authorities to designate land for strategic development; 

2)  An amendment to Section 14 of the 1961 Land Compensation Act to disregard prospective planning permissions on land designated for strategic development; 


3)  An amendment to Section 17 of the 1961 Land Compensation Act to restrict the use of certificates of alternative development on land designated for strategic development.”

Shelter’s delight at the references in the Conservatives’ recent policy announcements is plain to see from their subsequent 16 May 2017 blog post Compulsory purchase and council homes – a new direction for housing policy?
Do the Conservatives really intend such a radical market intervention, or do they misunderstand how the compensation system currently works? The reference in the press release’s “notes to editors” that “councils must purchase land at “market value”, which includes the price with planning permission, irrespective of whether it has it or not” is of course wrong. The prospect of planning permission for development in the “no scheme world” is taken into account in arriving at a valuation but the existence of a planning permission is never assumed. 

However logically necessary the concept is, the “no scheme world” (or “Pointe Gourde”) rule been much criticised for being difficult to apply in practice. Its complexities were most recently explored by the Supreme Court in Homes & Communities Agency v JS Bloor (Wilmslow) Ltd  (22 February 2017), where Lord Carnwath said this:
“The rule has given rise to substantial controversy and difficulty in practice. In Waters v Welsh Development Agency [2004] 1 WLR 1304; [2004] UKHL 19, para 2 (“Waters”), Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead spoke of the law as “fraught with complexity and obscurity”. In a report in 2003 the Law Commission conducted a detailed review of the history of the rule and the relevant jurisprudence, and made recommendations for the replacement of the existing rules by a comprehensive statutory code…”

Lord Carnwath had himself of course chaired that review. Too late for the litigants in Bloor, now finally, by virtue of section 32 of the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017  (which introduces new sections 6A to E into the Land Compensation Act 1961) we have a codified version of the “no scheme world” rule. (The compulsory purchase provisions within the 2017 Act are well summarised by David Elvin QC in a paper  to the 2017 PEBA conference). 

New section 6E has refined the rule so that it is now more difficult for claimants to rely on increases in value of their land created by the transport project for which the land has been acquired, where regeneration or redevelopment was part of the justification for the transport project. 
The big question is whether a more radical manipulation of the “no scheme world” rule might be possible, even if it parted from the principle of equivalence. After all, if land for development could be secured at little more than agricultural value…?
It would be mightily difficult, indeed controversial to the extent of potentially being counter-productive, if land is to be acquired without prolonged legal wrangling. If in the real world your land has hope value for another form of development, why should that be ignored? However, in fact it’s not legally impossible.
Article 1 of the protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights states as follows:
“Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law. 

The preceding provisions shall not, however, in any way impair the right of a State to enforce such laws as it deems necessary to control the use of property in accordance with the general interest or to secure the payment of taxes or other contributions or penalties.”

(Incidentally, the Conservative manifesto confirms: “We will not repeal or replace the Human Rights Act while the process of Brexit is underway but we will consider our human rights legal framework when the process of leaving the EU concludes. We will remain signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights for the duration of the next parliament.“)
The European Court of Human Rights interprets Article 1 of the protocol so as to require compensation to be paid in relation to the confiscation of property. In Lithgow v UK  (European Court of Human Rights, 8 July 1986), a case arising from Labour’s nationalisation of various industries under the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977, the court said:
“The Court further accepts the Commission’s conclusion as to the standard of compensation: the taking of property without payment of an amount reasonably related to its value would normally constitute a disproportionate interference which could not be considered justifiable under Article 1 (P1-1). Article 1 (P1-1) does not, however, guarantee a right to full compensation in all circumstances, since legitimate objectives of “public interest”, such as pursued in measures of economic reform or measures designed to achieve greater social justice, may call for less than reimbursement of the full market value”.


Whilst a distinction was drawn in the case between state nationalisation of industries and the compulsory purchase of property, the same basic principles apply. It is clear from this and other cases that individual states are given a margin of appreciation to determine what is in the public interest. For example:
– Sporrong and Lönnroth v. Sweden  (22 September 1982) (a case about longterm blight caused by ‘zonal expropriation permits’)
 “…the Court must determine whether a fair balance was struck between the demands of the general interests of the community and the requirements of the protection of the individual’s fundamental rights…”
– James v UK  (21 February 1986) (a challenge brought by the trustees of the estate of the Duke of Westminster to leasehold enfranchisement under Leasehold Reform Act 1967):
“Because of their direct knowledge of their society and its needs, the national authorities are in principle better placed than the international judge to appreciate what is “in the public interest”. Under the system of protection established by the Convention, it is thus for the national authorities to make the initial assessment both of the existence of a problem of public concern warranting measures of deprivation of property and of the remedial action to be taken… Here as in other fields to which the safeguards of the Convention extend, the national authorities accordingly enjoy a certain margin of appreciation.” The Court went on to find that the aim of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, namely greater social justice in the sphere of housing, was a legitimate aim in the public interest. 



Similarly, in theory a mechanism might be arrived at which in some way disentitled land owners in some circumstances from achieving a full market value for their land. But the circumstances would need to be carefully circumscribed and the reaction of most land owners would be to fight rather than one of flight. 
It is not as if compulsory purchase compensation is presently particularly generous, even with the additional loss payments (capped, even for owner-occupiers, at the lesser of 10% of the compensation payable and £100,000) that were introduced by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 specifically to sweeten the pill for land owners and make compulsory purchase less contentious! Do we really want more uncertain situations such has arisen at the Aylesbury Estate, with the Secretary of State rejecting  a CPO made by the London Borough of Southwark, on the basis of the prejudice that would be caused to leaseholders by the inadequate level of compensation payable to them, and now reportedly  having consented to judgment following a challenge by the council, such that all concerned now face a re-opened inquiry?
Furthermore, if these amended compensation principles are only to apply to, for example, Council Housing Deals, how will dispossessed owners be able to recover their property, or further compensation, if the land ends up not being used for the restricted purposes for which the land was taken?
Lastly, that manifesto reference to making it “easier to determine the true market value of sites”. Does this suggest a simplification of compensation principles? Or an overhaul of the timescales for determining compensation liability? Transport for London have recently suggested (in the paper referred to in the next section of this blog post) that the Government might make “the process of acquiring land through compulsory acquisition more transparent by:

* Introducing an independent valuation panel to determine the market value of the land based on the ‘no scheme’ principle set out in the Neighbourhood Planning Bill 2016 

* Establishing (early in the land acquisition process) an objective and transparent evidence base on alternative development potential in the absence of the scheme, for such a panel to determine ‘no scheme’ market values, for instance through the use of a modified section 17 certificate”.
Land auctions, land value capture charges

The passage quoted earlier from the Housing White Paper refers to “auctions”. Academic Tim Leunig has been promoting  the idea of “community land auctions” for a long time and indeed the idea was toyed with in the early years of the coalition government, whilst to a number of us it seemed naive in its assumption as to how planning actually works:
“The council first asks all landowners to name the price at which they are willing to sell their land. By naming a price, the landowner gives the council the right to buy the land for 18 months at that price. The council then writes a development plan. As now, they will take into account the suitability of the land offered for development, but will also consider the price of the land, and the likely financial return to the council.”
Transport for London has more recently been promoting a more sophisticated “development rights auction model” as a method of capturing land value increases created by transport infrastructure improvements. Their 20 February 2017 land value capture report , summarises it as follows:
“For zones with high development potential (particularly for housing) with multiple landowners, the Government, TfL and the GLA should consider the development rights auction model (DRAM), a new land value capture mechanism. 

The key features of the development rights auction model are: 

* The integrated planning and consenting of land use and density in a defined zone around a major new transport facility, in parallel with the planning of the transport scheme 
* The introduction of a periodic development rights auction, in which development rights over land put forward (voluntarily) by landowners are auctioned in assembled packages to a competitive field of developers. Gains above a reserve price are shared between the participating landowners and the planning/auctioning authority. No development taxes (such as CILs or s106 payments) are payable under this scheme. All non-operational but developable public sector-owned land within the zone is entered into the auction as part of a standard public sector land pooling arrangement 

* The introduction of a high zonal CIL for those landowners who wish to self- develop rather than participate in the auction 

* The use of reformed compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers (following successful passage of the Neighbourhood Planning Bill 2016) to deal with holdout problems that threaten to stall development, together with further consideration of other options as discussed in the report”.
The Government’s 8 March 2017 budget announcements included a memorandum of understanding  entered into with the GLA, that says this:
“At Budget 2016, the government invited Transport for London (TfL) to bring forward proposals for financing infrastructure projects from land value uplift. 

The government has agreed to establish a joint taskforce bringing together the GLA, TfL, London Councils, HM Treasury, Department for Transport (DfT) and Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to explore the options for piloting a Development Rights Auction Model (DRAM) on a major infrastructure project in London.

Should a pilot of DRAM be agreed, it will be jointly evaluated by London and the government to review its effectiveness and determine whether a similar model could be applied to other infrastructure projects.”


I can’t presently relate the DRAM initiative to the reference in the Housing White Paper (quoted above) to establishing land value via auctions in CPO situations, following possession. What on earth is that a reference to?
TfL’s February 2017 paper has various other more radical policy suggestions to capture infrastructure-related land value increases, including changes to SDLT, to retention of business rates and a new “land value capture charge” This would “capture a proportion of the premium paid to landowners by new purchasers or tenants of residential property for access to new transport facilities“. (Shall we call a tax a tax though, folks?). 
There is also a current RTPI research project The Use of Alternative Land Value Capture Mechanisms to Deliver Housing in England and Wales.
Benchmark land values in viability appraisal

One of the most contentious issues in relation to developers’ project viability appraisals (carried out for the purposes of seeking to agree reductions in the scale of section 106 affordable housing and other obligations) is the benchmark land value that should be applied as a cost input. Clearly it should not be the actual market value (which would lead to circularity) but equally it should not be just the existing use value (EUV), which would not reflect reality and would result in schemes being assumed to be viable when in reality they would not be because the land would not be made available at the assumed benchmark value. 
The 2012 RICS guidance, Financial Viability In Planning  , advises that it is appropriate to take into account alternative use value (AUV):
“Site Value should equate to the market value subject to the following assumption: that the value has regard to development plan polices and all other material planning considerations and disregards that which is contrary to the development plan.”
As summarised in my 1.12.16 blog post  , the London Mayor is seeking to move away from accepting AUV, preferring an “EUV+” approach, ie existing use value “plus premium”, with the methodology for calculating the premium left undefined, and therefore a recipe for continuing debate. 
In practice, surely any attempt to pitch EUV+ at less than AUV is equivalent to restricting the application of the “no scheme world” rule – a policy intervention to apply that shortfall for public purposes. Except that with viability negotiations, it could of course lead to development simply not proceeding. Is there then a stalled scheme and grounds for compulsory purchase? The extent to which this sort of economic intervention is acceptable needs to be carefully limited and defined. 
CIL reform

There have been rumours that the reason why the Government parked in February any response to the CIL review team’s report was that the new ministerial team had started to think about whether in fact any replacement for CIL should encapsulate land value concepts (memories of the planning gain supplement anyone?). There is certainly no mention of CIL in the Conservative manifesto. Certainly the policy priorities as between CIL and affordable housing need to be reconsidered. 

If we weren’t in such dire straits, we could of course go back to a position where the state invested in social housing and funded public services without weighing the costs so heavily on land owners and developers. In the meantime, over the next five years we’ll definitely see answers emerge to those questions I posed back at the beginning of this overlong post. 
Simon Ricketts 20.5.17

Personal views, et cetera

Parliament, Purdah, Planning

The pre- general election “purdah” period starts at midnight tonight (21 April). What this means is set in Cabinet Office guidance published yesterday, 20 April.
The guidance says:

“During the election period, the Government retains its responsibility to govern, and Ministers remain in charge of their departments. Essential business must be carried on. However, it is customary for Ministers to observe discretion in initiating any new action of a continuing or long term character. Decisions on matters of policy on which a new government might be expected to want the opportunity to take a different view from the present government should be postponed until after the election, provided that such postponement would not be detrimental to the national interest or wasteful of public money”

So don’t hold your breath for any decision letters to be issued. 
In relation to current consultation processes, the guidance says:

“If a consultation is on-going at the time this guidance comes into effect, it should continue as normal. However, departments should not take any steps during an election period that will compete with parliamentary candidates for the public’s attention. This effectively means a ban on publicity for those consultations that are still in process. 


As these restrictions may be detrimental to a consultation, departments are advised to decide on steps to make up for that deficiency while strictly observing the guidance. That can be done, for example, by: 


– prolonging the consultation period; and


– putting out extra publicity for the consultation after the election in order to revive interest (following consultation with any new Minister).

Some consultations, for instance those aimed solely at professional groups, and that carry no publicity will not have the impact of those where a very public and wide-ranging consultation is required. Departments need, therefore, to take into account the circumstances of each consultation.”

There are currently six DCLG consultation processes which are still open:

* Review of park homes legislation: call for evidence

* Running free: consultation on preserving the free use of public parks

* Banning letting agent fees paid by tenants

* 100% business rates retention: further consultation on the design of the reformed system

* Fixing our broken housing market: consultation

* Planning and affordable housing for Build to Rent

the last two of course being particularly important for us in the housing and planning sector. 

The Department for Transport is currently consulting on its draft Airports National Policy Statement in relation to the expansion of Heathrow and on reforming policy on the design and use of UK airspace.

Surely these consultation processes will all now be extended. Can any of them be said to be “aimed solely at professional groups”?
The Government faces an interesting dilemma in relation to its awaited consultation draft air quality plan. Garnham J had ordered on 21 November 2016 that the draft be published by 24 April 2017 following previous deadline breaches summarised in my 4.11.16 blog post. The announcement of the election and consequent purdah period does not automatically extend that deadline. Will we see a draft by the deadline or will ClientEarth be back before the court?
Notwithstanding purdah, Parliament will continue to sit until 2 May 2017. The outstanding Bills are:
• Bus Services Bill

• Children and Social Work Bill 

• Digital Economy Bill 

• Health Services Supplies Bill

• Higher Education and Research Bill 

• National Citizen Service Bill

• Pension Schemes Bill

• Technical and Further Education Bill

and of course the Neighbourhood Planning Bill, which is at its final stages, with final consideration by the House of Lords on 25 April 2017 of amendments made by the Commons. Whilst technically there is therefore the time available before Parliament dissolves, the BBC website  has an interesting analysis of the practical constraints that there will be on Parliamentary time during this final period. My understanding is that public Bills cannot be held over and so the Bill would fall. 
Finally, as we wait for the parties’ manifestos and various pressure groups compose their letters to Santa, this is a collection of some of the commitments which some Town Legal colleagues would personally like to see (tongue in cheek – what votes in many of these one wonders?). We will be jotting up the scores once the manifestos are published but a more than a 10% convergence would be doing pretty well I suspect…
1. Revised NPPF as previously signalled, but with consultation on final wording.

2. Real sanctions for local planning authorities which continue to delay in preparing plans or which do not plan adequately to meet housing requirements. Statutory duty to make local plans every 10 years. 

3. Review of green belt boundaries in the south east should be obligatory at least every 20 years. Where there are no green belt boundaries fixed because there are no local plans in place , the Secretary of State should appoint PINS to lead a plan making exercise at the expense of the defaulting council with step in rights if the Council wants to come back into the fold.

4. Review of effectiveness of Localism Act 2011 procedures, including neighbourhood plan making.

5. No weakening of environmental protections via Great Repeal Bill.

6. Urgent conclusion to CIL review, with short-term remedial measures, including greater flexibility for local planning authorities and developers in relation to strategic sites.

7. Enabling urban extensions and new settlements of true scale (eg 10,000 to 15,000 homes plus associated infrastructure and development) to proceed by way of NSIP.

8. Introduction of duty to cooperate to apply as between the London Mayor and local planning authorities.

9. Reform of rights to light law to reflect modern realities.

10. Greater flexibility for local authorities to dispose of land for less than best consideration.

11. Require better coordinated forward planning with statutory undertakers and infrastructure providers.

12. General commitment to consultation and piloting prior to legislative changes in relation to planning.

13. Increased resourcing in relation to the planning system so as to achieve better quality, more consistent, more timely and more efficient outcomes.

14. High speed Broadband and electric car charging should be a standard requirement.

15. Clarity on approach to viability and review mechanisms.

16. A more stable system with no more changes for the next two years at least (save for these ones!)

Back to the day job…

Simon Ricketts 21 April 2017

Personal views, et cetera

Planners & Pubs

“…That is the best of Britain and it is part of our distinctive and unique contribution to Europe. Distinctive and unique as Britain will remain in Europe. Fifty years from now Britain will still be the country of long shadows on county grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers and pools fillers and – as George Orwell said – “old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the morning mist” and if we get our way – Shakespeare still read even in school. Britain will survive unamendable in all essentials.” (John Major, speech to Conservative Group for Europe, 2003)

The Government is determined that he is proved right about the warm beer at least: drinking establishments will have more protection against changes of use than almost any other use, once recent additions to the Neighbourhood Planning Bill come into effect. 

When the Bill returned to the Commons from the Lords on 28 March 2017, a Lords amendment that sought to remove permitted development rights from A4 uses (“public houses, wine bars or other drinking establishments (but not night clubs)”) was replaced by Commons amendment 22A  :

“(1)    As soon as reasonably practicable after the coming into force of this section, the Secretary of State must make a development order under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 which:

 (a)    removes any planning permission which is granted by a development order for development consisting of a change in the use of any building or land in England from a use within Class A4 to a use of a kind specified in the order (subject to paragraph (c)),

(b)    removes any planning permission which is granted by a development order for a building operation consisting of the demolition of a building in England which is used, or was last used, for a purpose within Class A4 or for a purpose including use within that class, and

 (c)    grants planning permission for development consisting of a change in the use of a building in England and any land within its curtilage from a use within Class A4 to a mixed use consisting of a use within that Class and a use within Class A3.”

The Bill is likely to receive Royal Assent in late April/early May 2017 and, if the clause survives (there is a “ping pong” procedure on 26 April where the Lords decide whether to accept it), we will need to see how quickly (1) it comes into force and (2) the amended development order is made. The provisions will not affect development which is carried out pursuant to the current General Permitted Development Order before the amended development order comes into force. 

Whilst apparently supported by all parties and (of course) by CAMRA,  it is noteworthy that the provision (1) has been shoehorned into a Bill which covers unrelated matters and (2) has not been the subject of consultation – seldom a recipe for good legislation. 
This is yet another area where successive Governments have been constantly fiddling. 
Amendments to the Use Classes Order in 2005 split the old use class A3 into:
 — A3 Restaurants and cafés – For the sale of food and drink for consumption on the premises – restaurants, snack bars and cafes

— A4 Drinking establishments – Public houses, wine bars or other drinking establishments (but not night clubs)

This was primarily to prevent restaurants turning into drinking places rather than to provide any protection for pubs. Amendments to the General Permitted Development Order included a permitted development right to change from A4 to A3. 
The assets of community value regime introduced by the Localism Act 2011 has been used energetically in relation to pubs in particular, with over 850 pubs registered by 2015 (and much encouragement and cheerleading by Government) but, despite being time consuming for communities and authorities alike, was largely toothless until the changes introduced by the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015  pursuant to which, in relation to any drinking establishment, the permitted development rights to change use to A1 or A2, or to demolish, do not apply if it is registered as an asset of community value. Even if it not registered, there is a prior approval requirement to serve as a check as to whether any nomination for registration has been received. 
The Carlton Terrace saga was a salutory lesson for owners and developers. Prior approval for demolition wasn’t obtained and by a 6 July 2016 decision letter  an inspector upheld Westminster City Council’s enforcement notice requiring the pub to be rebuilt. Isn’t it just genuinely “community” pubs, often with heritage value, such as the Carlton, that deserve particular protection?
More recently we have also seen increasingly widespread use by local planning authorities of Article 4 Directions to remove permitted development rights in relation to pubs (most recently for example Southwark Council, which resolved on 7 March 2017 to make a direction).
So what is the justification for further changes?
Gavin Barwell in a debate in the House of Commons on 28 March 2017 explained the Government’s proposed amendments to the Bill as follows:

“I wish to turn to permitted development rights for the change of use or demolition of pubs, and to update the House on the steps we are taking in respect of the permitted development rights for the change of use from office to residential. First, I will speak to the Government amendment in respect of permitted development rights for the change of use or demolition of pubs. Let me start by assuring hon. Members that we have listened to both Houses and to the support that Members have expressed for valued community pubs. They will see that we have accepted the principle of the amendment introduced into the Bill in the other place. Our amendments in lieu therefore set out the detail of how we will take that principle forward.



The amendment commits us to update the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 to remove the permitted development rights for the change of use or demolition of drinking establishments, including pubs. In tabling the amendments in lieu, I reassure hon. Members that we have continued to engage through the passage of the Bill with interested Members and bodies, such as the Campaign for Real Ale and the British Beer and Pub Association. I can confirm that we will remove the permitted development rights to change to a restaurant or cafe, financial or professional service, or a shop. We will also remove the permitted development rights to change to an office for up to two years and to a school for a single academic year.



In making these changes, the Government are keen to avoid any potential unintended consequences. As such, we are clear that the best way to support pubs is to retain the A4 “drinking establishments” use class for pubs, wine bars and other types of bars. Doing so will allow pubs to innovate and intensify their use, for example by opening a pub garden or starting to provide live music, without facing a risk that this will be a change of use that requires a full planning application. Our intention in retaining the A4 use class is to allow pubs to develop within this use class without having to seek planning permission, thus avoiding unintended consequences, and unnecessary cost and bureaucracy. “




“The changes in respect of permitted development rights for the change of use or demolition of pubs mean that in future a planning application will be required in all cases. This will also be the case for premises in mixed use, for example as a pub and a restaurant. This addresses the long-standing call that there should be local consideration and an opportunity for the community to comment on the future of their local pub. It is important that local planning authorities have relevant planning policies in place to support this decision taking. Once we have made the changes, the current provisions, which remove permitted development rights for the change of use or demolition of pubs that are listed as assets of community value, are no longer necessary and will fall away.”



 “Importantly, we have listened to the points made about the need for pubs to be able to expand their food offer in order to meet changing market need and support their continued viability—the issue that my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham is concerned about. Therefore, at the same time as getting rid of the permitted development rights that allow for demolition or change of use, we will introduce a new permitted development right to allow drinking establishments to extend their food offering so as to become a mixed A4 pub and A3 restaurant. The Government believe that this will ensure that pubs have nothing to fear when it comes to requiring planning permission or enforcement against the change of use where a pub is extending its food offer. This will give them vital additional flexibility.”
Of course the measure won’t just apply to “valued community pubs” but to all drinking establishments that fall within use class A4. Is that proportionate?

The proposal that there should be deemed permission to change from A4 to a mixed A3/A4 use has attracted some criticism. Whilst there does need to be flexibility to allow dining pub type operations, is there the risk of opening the door to uses which are actually A3, as a stepping stone to A1 or A2? The concern is overstated in my view but these use distinctions are increasingly difficult in practice. 
Indeed, for the bigger picture in relation to changing trends in drinking and eating, the House of Lords Select Committee report on the Licensing Act 2003 dated 4 April 2017 makes fascinating reading. Who knows when Parliament will have the time to set matters right but the report is a sustained attack on the 2003 licensing reforms and the abject failure of that legislation to achieve its objectives:
“During the passage of the Licensing Bill one of the much over-used expressions was that it was going to change the UK to a “café culture”, by which was meant the imagined Continental habit of modest and leisurely consumption of alcohol at any civilised hour, preferably in clement weather. The fact that this has not materialised seems to have come as no surprise to any of our witnesses, nor to us; it takes more than an Act of Parliament to change the habits of generations, and this country’s climate was never going to favour such a change. The café culture which has grown up takes a rather different form and is confined to town centres, where between 2011 and 2016 a fall of 2,000 in the number of bars, pubs and night clubs has been accompanied by an increase of 6,000 in the number of cafés, fast food outlets and restaurants.”
To what extent is the loss of drinking establishments down to our planning regime and how much is it down to consumer trends? Who is going to operate – and drink in – all of these protected pubs?
At the moment of course licensing is a separate world from planning (and from planners and planning lawyers). Woe betide the objector who raises an issue in the wrong forum. 
For those of us who may wonder from time to time whether the planning system is perhaps a little unpredictable, there are some real horror stories in the report as to the operation of local authority licensing committees. Indeed the Select Committee advocates that the present procedures be replaced by something much more aligned with our current planning system, with licensing committees merged with planning committees and appeals to planning inspectors:
“Previous committees of this House conducting scrutiny of statutes have found that the Act in question is basically satisfactory, but that its implementation is not. In the case of the Licensing Act our conclusion is that, while the implementation of the Act leaves a great deal to be desired, to a large extent this is caused by an inadequate statutory framework whose basic flaws have, if anything, been compounded by subsequent piecemeal amendments. A radical comprehensive overhaul is needed, and this is what our recommendations seek to achieve.”

“For five hundred years the licensing of persons and premises was the task of justices of the peace. Those who devised the new policy in 2000 thought, rightly, that this was not a task for the judiciary but for local administration. If they had looked to see how local authorities regulate the responsible use of land in other situations, they would have seen that the planning system, already well established and usually working efficiently, was well placed to take on this additional task. 

Instead the legislation established new licensing committees for each of 350 local authorities. The councillors sitting on these new committees, and the staff assisting them, had no experience of the complex new law they were administering. Our evidence shows that, while most members of licensing committees no doubt attempt to apply the law justly and fairly, too often standards fall short. Many councillors have insufficient training; all should undertake compulsory training. We were told of cases of clear inadequacies in fulfilling their functions, resulting in a haphazard decision-making process. 

The planning system has its detractors, but planning committees are well established, with better support from experienced staff. Our main recommendation is that there should be a trial merger of licensing committees with planning committees. To be clear, we are not recommending a merger of licensing law and planning law; we are suggesting that the councillors who sit on planning committees, using the same procedure and practice and with the same support as they already have, should deal with proceedings under the Licensing Act in the same way that they already deal with planning legislation. 

Appeals from decisions of licensing committees now go to the same magistrates who, until 2005, dealt with the applications. This not only defies logic; it leads to unsatisfactory results, as many of our witnesses have testified. Planning appeals go to inspectors who have the training for this, and for whom this is a full time job. We recommend that they should hear licensing appeals as well. ”

Trebles all round!

Simon Ricketts 13.4.17

Personal views, et cetera

Five Problems With Neighbourhood Plans

The real effects of neighbourhood plan making on housing delivery and on the efficient, democratic operation of the planning system are hard to pin down and yet the Government continues to champion its role. Are we really heading in the right direction? After all, despite the positivity of government sponsored initiatives such as mycommunity.org.uk  it isn’t all sweetness and light. Here is my personal worry list:
1. Neighbourhood Plans are usurping the role of local plans, whilst being subject to a lighter-touch examination process. 
The Court of Appeal, in R (DLA Delivery Ltd) v Lewes District Council  (10 February 2017), has now confirmed that a neighbourhood plan may be made without there being an up to date local plan. Until such time as the local plan comes forward, as the only up to date development plan, the neighbourhood plan’s policies will benefit from the statutory presumption in section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and from paragraph 198 of the NPPF: “[where] a planning application conflicts with a neighbourhood plan that has been brought into force, planning permission should not normally be granted”.
This gives neighbourhood plans a role which was surely not foreseen by Parliament. Neighbourhood plans are intended to be in general conformity with the local plan’s strategic policies. But instead any policy vacuum can be filled by the neighbourhood plan’s own strategic policies. Whilst the Planning Practice Guidance urges collaborative working between neighbourhoods and local planning authorities, this does not prevent problems from arising which are exacerbated by two further factors:
–  in order to survive the ‘relatively limited‘ (Court of Appeal in DLA Delivery, para 5) examination process, neighbourhood plans only have to satisfy the ‘basic conditions’ set out in the paragraph 8(2) of Schedule 4B to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as applied to neighbourhood plans by section 38A of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, rather than the wider and more rigorous soundness test applicable to local plans. 
–  the Neighbourhood Planning Bill proposes to accelerate the process, by deeming post-examination pre-referendum neighbourhood plans to be a material consideration in the determination of planning applications (clause 1) and by deeming post-referendum neighbourhood plans to be treated as part of the statutory development plan ahead of formally being made by the district or borough council (clause 2). It will be easier for the Secretary of State to dismiss appeals on the basis of inconsistency with emerging neighbourhood plans (a sensitive subject for DCLG given for example Holgate J’s quashing in Woodcock Holdings Limited v Secretary of State, 1 May 2015 and a series of examples of the Secretary of State having consented to judgment in similar circumstances). 
2. The Neighbourhood Plan process is “complex and burdensome”
Not my words but a description given by participants, according to recent research by the University of Reading: Neighbourhood Planning Users Research Revisited.  
Any community embarking on a neighbourhood plan has to be ready for the long haul. Because policies within the plan can have real consequences for communities and developers alike, it is no surprise that the process can be litigious. 
R (Crownhall Estates Limited) v Chichester District Council  (Holgate J, 21 January 2016) was the third (third!) judicial review in relation to the Loxwood Neighbourhood Plan, with the claimant developer seeking unsuccessfully to challenge the plan’s provision for only 60 homes against a background of a failure of the district council to meet its obejectively assessed housing needs. 

I do not believe that there is a transcript of Dove J’s rejection in Swan Quay LLP v Swale Borough Council on 31 January 2017 of a challenge to the Faversham Creek Neighbourhood Plan which contained a policy preventing redevelopment of the claimant’s property on the basis that it would lead to ‘gentrification’. The ruling is summarised by the Faversham Creek Trust in a press release.  
Challenges commonly focus on whether there has been compliance with the requirements of the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive, another unsuccessful ground of challenge in DLA Delivery. R (Stonegate Homes Limited) v Horsham District Council (the late, missed, Patterson J, 13 October 2016) was an example of a successful challenge on this basis. The Haddenham Neighbourhood Plan is another, where Aylesbury Vale District Council consented to judgment.
3. Neighbourhood Plans dissipate the local planning authority’s resources

Parish councils such as Haddenham are unlikely to have the resources to resist a legal challenge, leaving the responsibility to the local planning authority which, under the legislation, formally “makes” the plan. How much say will they have over the way in which the defence case is brought and, as importantly, why should the local planning authority’s resources be stretched in this way?

We also have of course dissipation of CIL proceeds, with 15% of CIL proceeds available to be spent by parish councils, increased to 25% where a neighbourhood plan is in place – proceeds that would otherwise have applied towards infrastructure projects required to deliver development. 
4. Neighbourhood Plans are unnecessary and marginalise the role of the local planning authority

District and borough councils are designed to operate down to ward level. We elect ward councillors to represent our local interests – that is to say, the things we care about in relation to our home environment, our neighbourhood. Local plans can and do include policies at neighbourhood level. Additionally, there is scope for area action plans to provide more detailed site-specific policies where justified. 

We should all engage more with local plan making. Does the distraction of neighbourhood planning fuel the inaccurate sense that what happens at district or borough level is remote and not to do with us? What if the energy that one sometimes sees expended on neighbourhood planning were to be properly harnessed at local planning authority level, with proper access to officers and with consistency of plan making over a strategically sensible area?
5. Neighbourhood Plans are not fit for the further roles that Government continues to give them
Neighbourhood planning is of course voluntary. It is more prevalent in affluent areas and its heartland is in the south east (Turley research, 2014). In unparished areas it is the preserve of unelected groups. And yet the Government intends it to play a grown up role alongside local plans. Indeed, given that they have statutory force, unlike the NPPF, have neighbourhood plans in fact become more important than the Government’s own planning policies?
Gavin Barwell’s 12 December 2016 written ministerial statement (see my blog post That Ministerial Statement) set out that relevant policies for the supply of housing in a neighbourhood plan that is part of the development plan should not be deemed to be ‘out-of-date’ under paragraph 49 of the National Planning Policy Framework where the following circumstances arise at the time a planning decision is made: 
* the written ministerial statement making the policy change on 12 December 2016 is less than 2 years old, or the neighbourhood plan has been part of the development plan for 2 years or less;

* the neighbourhood plan allocates sites for housing; and

* the local planning authority can demonstrate a three-year supply of deliverable housing sites. 

The statement is of course the subject of a judicial review. In the meantime, the Government’s Housing White Paper has added the further qualification that neighbourhoods should be able to demonstrate that their site allocations and housing supply policies will meet their share of local housing need and that the local planning authority should be able to demonstrate through the White Paper’s housing delivery test that, from 2020, delivery has been over 65% (25% in 2018; 45% in 2019) for the wider authority area (to ensure that delivery rates across the area as a whole are at a satisfactory level). 
 The White Paper also proposes changes to the NPPF to “highlight the opportunities that neighbourhood plans present for identifying and allocating small sites that are suitable for housing, drawing on the knowledge of local communities”.

Finally, local planning authorities will now be “expected to provide neighbourhood planning groups with a housing requirement figure, where this is needed to allow progress with neighbourhood planning. As part of the consultation on a new standard methodology for assessing housing requirements, we will seek views on whether a standard methodology could be developed for calculating housing need in a neighbourhood plan area“.
Let us remember that these are voluntary plans, prepared by parish councils and community groups. Are we not seeing, yet again, a relentless move towards process and complexity, in an effort to make running repairs to a mechanism that was not designed for this function? 
Simon Ricketts 19.2.17
Personal views, et cetera

Devo West Mids

Connecting the dots as to the Government’s policy announcements is never easy for all of us on the outside, trying to work out what they may turn out to mean in practice. 
An evidence session today with the West Midlands Land Commission was a good excuse for me to get to grips, belatedly, with what changes devolution may bring to planning and compulsory purchase in the West Midlands. 


Background

The West Midlands Combined Authority  was formally established on 16 June 2016 by virtue of the West Midlands Combined Authority Order 2016 . It comprises 17 local authorities and three LEPs and follows a devolution agreement dated 17 November 2015  .

The WMCA is to be chaired by a directly elected Mayor. The election is due to take place on 4 May 2017. Andy Street is to step down from his job as John Lewis chief executive to stand, as the Conservative candidate. Sion Simon is the Labour candidate. 
The devolution agreement includes the following statements in relation to planning:
“Planning powers will be conferred on the Mayor, to drive housing delivery and improvements in housing stock, and give the same competencies as the HCA. ”

“The Combined Authority and its constituent authorities will support an ambitious target for the increase in new homes, and will report annually on progress against this target. To ensure delivery of this commitment, the Shadow Board of the Combined Authority and the government agree that: 


    * Existing Local Authority functions, which include compulsory purchase powers, will be conferred concurrently on the Combined Authority to be exercised by the Mayor. These powers, which provide the same competencies as the Home and Community Agency, will enable the Combined Authority to deliver its housing and economic growth strategies. The government will bring forward further proposals for consultation in the New Year and will, as part of that consultation, discuss how they can be applied to support housing, regeneration and growth. 


    * The Homes and Communities Agency and the Combined Authority will work together to develop a joint approach to strategic plans for housing and growth proposals for the area. 


    * The government will work with the Combined Authority to support the West Midlands Land Commission. The West Midlands Land Commission will ensure there is a sufficient, balanced supply of readily available sites for commercial and residential development to meet the demands of a growing West Midlands economy. It will create a comprehensive database of available public and private sector land, identify barriers to its disposal/development, and develop solutions to address those barriers to help the West Midlands meet its goal to deliver a significant number of additional new homes over the next 10 years, and to unlock more land for employment use. The Combined Authority will also be able to use their proposed Land Remediation Fund to support bringing brownfield sites back into use for employment and housing provision”. 

WMCA’s ambitious objectives are set out in its Strategic Economic Plan  and include a “higher level of housebuilding than is currently provided for in development plans”. 
A Scheme for the Mayoral West Midlands Combined Authority was published on 4 July 2016 for a consultation period which closed on 21 August 2016. It seeks equivalent powers to establish mayoral development corporations, with the agreement of the relevant LPAs, as the London Mayor currently has. It also seeks, for its area, the same planning and compulsory purchase powers as the Homes and Communities Agency. 
The West Midlands Land Commission has also been set up, with terms of reference  to consider “what measures could be initiated and undertaken to ensure an improved supply of developable land from both a strategic and regional perspective”. 
WMCA has begun to work on specific strategic sites. It published on 19 October 2016 its Greater Ickneild and Smethwick housing growth prospectus. An application for housing zone status is to be made. (Although – is it just me? – the Government’s housing zones announcement 5 January 2016  is very vague as to the implications of HZ status other than the potential for an element of Government funding). 
Implications
What sort of planning powers WMCA will have to encourage, cajole and coordinate the work of its member authorities? Increased housing numbers will not come without real interventions and a new approach by all involved – in which I very much include the Government. After all:
– the Birmingham City Plan is still on hold following the previous Secretary of State’s 26 May 2016 holding direction as a result of concerns expressed by Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell as to the proposed release from the green belt of land for the development of 6,000 homes

– we are still waiting for numerous measures to be fleshed out pursuant to the Housing and Planning Act 2016, including permission in principle and also the enticing mystery that is the concept in section 154 of “planning freedoms schemes”

– there is still no sign of the amended NPPF with its stronger policy support for development on brownfield sites. 

Will the WMCA be given CPO powers equivalent to the very wide powers that the HCA has by virtue of section 9 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, or will it at least have a working arrangement with the HCA whereby the HCA will use its powers at the authority’s request? The section 9 power is much wider than LPAs’ normal “planning purposes” CPO power in section 226 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as it can be used to achieve the HCA’s broader objectives as set out in section 2 of the 2008 Act:
“(a) to improve the supply and quality of housing in England, 

(b) to secure the regeneration or development of land or infrastructure in England, 


(c)  to support in other ways the creation, regeneration or development of communities in England or their continued well-being, and 


(d)  to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development and good design in England”. 

The use, or threat of use, of section 9 as against suitable sites which are not brought forward for development by their owners, might well be effective – particularly when taken with acquiring authorities’ possibly improved position against owners’ “no scheme world” compensation arguments by virtue of clause 22 of the Neighbourhood Planning Bill. 
Interesting also to see the London-style “Mayoral development corporations” proposal in the July Scheme document. But what about possibly developing other London-style structures, including the referral to and potential call-in by the Mayor of applications for strategic schemes?
So many unfinished legislative changes and policy announcements. As E. M. Forster (who died in Coventry – sole tenuous thematic link to blog) might have said: 
only connect. 
Simon Ricketts 24.10.16
Personal views, et cetera

Building Homes By CPO

This blog post supplements a 27 October 2016 Planning Futures event  hosted by City University on the role of compulsory purchase in solving the planning crisis.
Any discussion like this needs to be in the context of wider legislative and policy initiatives in relation to the operation of the planning system, of seeking to ensure that development is viable and of the role of the public sector in delivery. There is a risk that it is treated by professionals in a silo as a specialist discipline, rather than as an inherent part of the planning system.
Compulsory purchase is not to be considered lightly. But it shouldn’t be written off as a potential tool in the right circumstances. 
LPAs commonly have various concerns over use of theIr CPO powers – that the process
– is time intensive

– is costly

– can be politically sensitive

– needs specialist experience

– gives rise to compensation liabilities

– should be a last resort. 

Much of this true. However the power in section 226 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is there to be used and there is detailed, relatively up to date (2015), guidance. Whilst the procedure is still not simple (it never will be), substantial improvements are being made to the legislative basis. 
Without the threat of CPO, will some, otherwise suitable, sites come forward? Allocation is not always enough to secure development. Indeed, radical thought: should permission in principle under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 in some circumstances come with the threat of CPO if development doesn’t proceed without good reason? The threat could be made clear by the LPA when placing land on its brownfield land register or in any other allocation intended to lead to permission in principle. 
Compulsory purchase is a tried and tested process with city and town centre retail-led schemes, where there is familiarity with the steps and approach to be taken by LPA hand in hand with its developer partner, with the developer partner meeting costs and compensation liabilities by way of an indemnity agreement. Properly drafted, such agreements can avoid difficulties in relation to the duty to secure best consideration in section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972 (Standard Commercial Property Securities Limited v Glasgow City Council  House of Lords, 16 November 2006) or in relation to public procurement (see my previous Section 123…Go!  blog post for more). 
Nationally Significant Infrastructure projects of course have the benefit of the bespoke DCO process under the Planning Act 2008, under which compulsory powers are routinely secured. 
In contrast, CPOs are not so common for housing-led schemes but there is no fundamental reason why this is so. 
Recent and forthcoming improvements to the compulsory purchase system include:
– Those in the Housing and Planning Act 2016  (eg wider powers to enter and survey land and tightening timescales, including timescales for securing advance payments of compensation)

– The imminent freedom under section 160 of the 2016 Act for NSIPs to include related housing on the same infrastructure development site or close to it, with a 500 homes cap having been consulted upon in October 2015.

– Those in the Neighbourhood Planning Bill  (eg facilitating temporary possession of land, codifying and limiting the no scheme world principle and enabling GLA/TfL acquisition of land for joint purposes – no doubt to be relied upon so as to maximise the potential for housing development unlocked by Crossrail 2 when the Hybrid Bill for that scheme comes forward). 

The Act and Bill were both preceded by detailed consultation papers, in March 2015  and March 2016  respectively. 
The changes are for a reason – because the Government wishes to see the powers used!
I assume that there is also appetite from private sector developers willing to partner with LPAs through the process, where significant sites can be unlocked as a result. 
Other bodies of course have CPO powers that can be used to bring about more homes, for instance the Homes and Communities Agency’s wide powers in section 9 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, as well as the Mayor of London and his Mayoral Development Corporations. There is also the intriguing power in clause 48(1) of the HS2 Bill  :
“If the Secretary of State considers, having regard to the relevant development
plan, that the construction or operation of Phase One of High Speed 2 gives rise
 to the opportunity for regeneration or development of any land, the Secretary 5 of State may acquire the land compulsorily”. 
Obviously there are still pitfalls in the CPO process. I referred to some of them in a recent blog post, Regeneration X: Failed CPOs  since when we have had the Seaton Carew decision letter  dated 13 October 2016 , where the Secretary of State rejected a CPO on the ground that a planning permission (for a community and leisure based project) not rooted in planning policy was not a sufficient basis for use of section 226. Whilst there will always need to be a compelling case in the public interest to justify compulsory purchase, are the Aylesbury Estate and Seaton Carew instances of where the tests are being applied too strictly, or perhaps even an indication that the legislation and guidance should be reviewed again to assess whether the bar is in fact set too high?
More generally, shouldn’t more encouragement (and funding) be given by Government for the use of compulsory purchase to deliver housing sites, whether this is either by way of 
– LPAs either acting for themselves where they have access to funding, or backed by private sector developer partners, to deliver specific schemes or 

– the HCA and other bodies with regeneration CPO powers looking to assemble sites and bring them to market?

Although it seems not to be a popular idea with Government so far, let’s also not forget the potential for expanding by legislation the scope of the DCO process to encompass the very largest urban extension and new settlement proposals. 

Simon Ricketts 28.10.16
Personal views, et cetera

The Neighbourhood Planning Bill v Conditions

The Neighbourhood Planning Bill proposes some important changes to the planning conditions regime. DCLG published its Improving the Use of Conditions consultation paper  on 7 September 2016 alongside the Bill  (with a consultation deadline of 2 November 2016). 
There are two main elements to the proposals.
Restriction on pre-commencement conditions
I blogged  back in June when the proposal to clamp down further on pre-commencement conditions was first announced. 
As it happens, in my view what is proposed in clause 7 of the Bill, that pre-commencement conditions should not be imposed without the applicant’s written agreement, is pretty sensible as a cross-check that restrictions are not introduced without discussion. Of course, it is not a panacea and in some cases the applicant may be faced with a gun to the head – accept the condition or the application is will be refused – but in many more cases there will be the opportunity for consensus to be reached and the rigmarole avoided of subsequent 73 or 96A applications to morph conditions into a regime that does not unreasonably impede development. 
Indeed, why shouldn’t all conditions be agreed in draft with the applicant wherever possible?
Power for the Secretary of State to ban conditions of a prescribed description
This is more problematic. Clause 7(2) provides that such a ban must first be consulted upon and must only be for the purposes of ensuring that any condition meets the traditional tests of being
– necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms;

– relevant to the development and to planning considerations generally;

– sufficiently precise to make it capable of being complied with and enforced; and

– reasonable in all other respects. 

Table 1 in the consultation paper lists various very general categories of conditions that should not be used (as per current planning practice guidance) and seeks views on whether any of them should be expressly prohibited by legislation. One wonders what the point of this is. The list in table 1 is very general eg 
– “conditions which unreasonably impact on the deliverability of a development – eg disproportionate financial burden”

– “conditions which duplicate a requirement for compliance with other regulatory requirements – eg Building Regulations”

What will it add to have these general principles in legislation in addition to policy? Who is going to challenge the imposition of conditions by way of the courts, rather than apply to remove the offending condition by way of section 73, with the ability to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate?

Generally, as with section 106 agreements, the exercise of drafting and negotiating conditions is getting increasingly fraught. Some examples:
The Darnhall appeal
The Secretary of State dismissed an appeal for residential development at Darnhall School Lane, Winsford, Cheshire on 7 July 2016, against his inspector’s recommendations. The decision letter  contains some interesting conclusions on a series of draft conditions offered by the appellant:
– training and employment – “not sufficiently precise and would be difficult to enforce, partly because it would be difficult to detect a breach”

– self-build housing – “not necessary to make the scheme acceptable in planning terms. Moreover…there are still concerns raised by the Council as to the effect on affordability which leads the Secretary of State to find that this condition is not reasonable in all other respects”

– local builders – “not necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms and would not be strictly relevant to planning policy. Dependent on the builders or companies available through the build-out of the development the condition would be difficult to enforce, neither would it be precise, pr reasonable in all other respects”. 

– local procurement – “would not be necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms. Neither is it strictly related to planning. The condition would be difficult to enforce, in part because it could prove difficult to detect a breach. The Secretary of State also considers that it is unclear what the position is in relation to the availability of business within the specified area to meet the criteria and therefore whether this condition would be reasonable in all other respects”. 

How does this ultra-rigid, purist, approach, fit with the approach taken by many LPAs? It doesn’t at all, obviously. The decision is under challenge, with Chris Young of No 5 Chambers acting for the appellant/claimant. 
“Tailpiece” conditions

“Tailpiece” conditions, along the lines of “unless otherwise approved by the Council” are pretty irresistible to those drafting conditions, seemingly offering a way to sidestep the need for subsequent formal applications under section 73 or 96A where changes are required, as they often are. However their use has been successfully challenged in a series of cases, for instance R (Butler) v East Dorset District Council  (Deputy Judge Rhodri Price-Lewis QC, 28 June 2016), Hubert v Carmarthenshire County Council  (Cranston J, 5 August 2015) and R (Warley) v Wealden District Council  (Deputy Judge Rabinder Singh QC, 8 July 2011). They should only be used where their scope is is closely defined in terms of the criteria to be applied by the decision maker or in terms of only extending to minor changes. 

Sustainability
Eric Pickles’ ministerial statement  25 March 2015 announced the withdrawal of the Code for Sustainable Homes and that until amendments to the Planning and Energy Act 2008 are introduced (which are still awaited) the Secretary of State would “expect Local Planning Authorities to take this statement of the government’s intention into account in applying existing policies and not set conditions above a Code Level 4 equivalent”. 
The same announcement advised LPAs that they should only set additional standards to those contained in the Building Regulations if they are able to justify why this is required and provide evidence to that effect. 
The planning system’s flexibility can be a great asset in negotiating planning permissions that both protect the public interest and meet the applicant’s requirements. We need to be careful that by ad hoc measures this flexibility is not lost – or that the process of issuing a planning permission becomes more routinely a negotiation between respective legal teams and tiptoe around the elephant traps, as it often already is on large schemes. 
Simon Ricketts 9.9.16

Personal views, et cetera

Emerging Neighbourhood Plans (nudge, nudge)

Call me old-fashioned but in my view legislation should change, consolidate or codify law, not simply serve as a political nudge. I referred in my last blog post  to section 1 of the Localism Act. Clause 1 of the new Neighbourhood Planning Bill  is out of the same stable. 
Clause 1 of the Bill amends section 70 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 so that, in determining planning applications (in England), a decision maker must have regard to a “post-examination draft neighbourhood plan, so far as material to the application”. The Bill’s explanatory notes  explain that this is “intended to strengthen neighbourhood planning by ensuring that planning decision-makers take account of well-advanced neighbourhood development plans” and to give such plans “full legal effect at an earlier stage”. 

However, plainly, a draft development plan, particularly one that has gone through independent examination is a material consideration for the purposes of section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (determination to be in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise) and, as Richard Harwood QC points out in his excellent summary  of the current Bill, not only is it material but it is likely to have considerable weight, due to the stages that it has been through, given the advice in paragraph 216 of the NPPF:

“From the day of publication, decision-takers may also give weight to relevant policies in emerging plans according to:

● the stage of preparation of the emerging plan (the more advanced the preparation, the greater the weight that may be given);

● the extent to which there are unresolved objections to relevant policies (the less significant the unresolved objections, the greater the weight that may be given); and

● the degree of consistency of the relevant policies in the emerging plan to the policies in this Framework (the closer the policies in the emerging plan to the policies in the Framework, the greater the weight that may be given). “

Specific advice in relation to emerging neighbourhood plans is in the PPG:

“Planning applications are decided in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. An emerging neighbourhood plan may be a material consideration. Paragraph 216 of the National Planning Policy Framework sets out the weight that may be given to relevant policies in emerging plans in decision taking. Factors to consider include the stage of preparation of the plan and the extent to which there are unresolved objections to relevant policies. Whilst a referendum ensures that the community has the final say on whether the neighbourhood plan comes into force, decision makers should respect evidence of local support prior to the referendum when seeking to apply weight to an emerging neighbourhood plan. The consultation statement submitted with the draft neighbourhood plan should reveal the quality and effectiveness of the consultation that has informed the plan proposals. And all representations on the proposals should have been submitted to the local planning authority by the close of the local planning authority’s publicity period. It is for the decision maker in each case to determine what is a material consideration and what weight to give to it.”
The provision in the Bill appears to be rather an after-thought, and perhaps simply a nudge to decision-makers, given that it wasn’t trailed in the Government’s February 2016 technical consultation on implementation of planning changes  , 2 September 2016 response to consultation  or indeed the 7 September 2016 technical consultation on the neighbourhood planning provisions of the Bill  published on the same day as the Bill!

What will make more of a difference in practice to the interplay between emerging neighbourhood plans and decision-making on planning applications will be the increased speed with which neighbourhood plans are likely to be reaching the post-examination stage, due to a timetable within which LPAs must undertake neighbourhood planning functions, prescribed by Regulations under section 140 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 coming into force on 1 October 2016, meaning that a developer preparing a planning application needs to be increasingly aware that a draft neighbourhood plan may be on its way to being a material consideration before the application is determined. 

The previous planning minister on 7 July 2016 extended  for a further six months his policy to consider recovering for his own determination planning appeals made where a neighbourhood plan proposal has been submitted to an LPA (although increasing the threshold from ten to 25 units). 
The weight to be attached to emerging neighbourhood plans (not addressed by clause 1 as it is a matter for the decision maker as long as properly reasoned), including circumstances where the neighbourhood plan is ahead of the relevant local plan (again not addressed in the Bill), has of course frequently arisen in legal challenges (eg Woodcock Holdings Limited v Secretary of State  (Holgate J, 1 May 2015) and R(DLA Delivery Limited) v Lewes District Council  (Foskett J, 31 July 2015 – Court of Appeal hearing fixed for 15 and 16 November 2016) and in appeal decisions (eg Sunley Estates/Chichester decision letter  25 April 2016).
Equivalent conflicts will continue to arise, notwithstanding clause 1. Indeed it may be easier for third parties to challenge a decision where the LPA can be shown not to have expressly taken into account a post-examination draft neighbourhood plan. 
Simon Ricketts, 8.9.16
Personal views, et cetera