National Planning Policy Overhaul Announced

A major overhaul of planning guidance issued by Central Government will be issued for consultation shortly, according to a Communities and Local Government (CLG) press release today, 25th March.

The press release, aimed at publicising the Government's response to MP Matthew Taylor's recent assessment of how land use planning can meet the needs for affordable housing and viable businesses in rural areas, focuses on the problems associated with high rural house prices. Hidden away in the 'Notes to Editors' CLG announces an immediate intention to draw together several existing policy guidance documents into a single planning policy statement (PPS), entitled 'Planning For Prosperity':

"In its final form, this PPS will replace Planning Policy Guidance Note 4: Industrial, commercial development and small firms (PPG4, 1992), Planning Policy Guidance Note 5: Simplified Planning Zones (PPG5, 1992), Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for town centres (PPS6, 2005), Planning Policy Statement 7: Sustainable development in rural areas (PPS7) (as far as it relates to economic development) and paragraphs 53, 54 and Annex D of Planning Policy Guidance Note 13: Transport. This will be published for consultation shortly"

MAZE Planning Solutions Partner, Andrew Watt, comments on this significant change to the planning policy regime:

“The Government has for some time expressed a commitment to producing shorter, punchier statements of national planning guidance. There’s a lot of material to squeeze into the proposed Prosperity PPS when you look at the range of topics covered. Inevitably that will mean there’s a need for supporting documents and practice statements. Without them the scope for interpretation of the new PPS will be too great. The Government had proposed practice guidance to accompany emerging revisions to PPS6 (Town Centres) the publication of which was imminent until this latest announcement from CLG. My fear, which I expect will be echoed elsewhere in the industry, is that the Government’s track record of delivering on promises of supporting guidance for PPG’s and PPS’s is patchy at best. The wholesale change now proposed to policy guidance really must mark the point where Government recognises the importance of issuing any proposed accompanying guidance for consultation at the same time as the text of the principal PPS.”

Tesco 'Competion Test' Victory enables New Retail Planning Guidance to Move Forward

Tesco has successfully challenged the lawfulness of the proposed introduction of a ‘competition test’ which it the retailer said threatened to complicate the consideration of planning applications for large foodstores.

The aim of the competition test was to ensure that local planning authorities withheld planning permission for the construction or expansion of a large grocery store if there was already a high level of local concentration of large grocery stores, and the retailer applying for permission had (or would have had) a substantial part of the market. The Office of Fair Trading would be expected to provide advice to local planning authorities on whether a particular retailer has passed or failed the competition test. Applications would pass the test if within an area defined by reference to a 10-minute drive-time of the development site:
- the grocery retailer that would operate the new store was a new entrant to that area; or
- the total number of “fascias” in that area was four or more; or
- the total number of fascias in that area was three or fewer but the relevant grocery retailer would operate less than 60% of groceries sales area (including the proposed new development).

Tesco submitted that the Commission’s April 2008 recommendation failed to take proper account of all relevant considerations which ought to have formed part of its assessment. The Tribunal unanimously concluded that the Commission failed properly to consider certain matters which were relevant to its recommendation that the competition test be imposed as part of a package of remedies to address the adverse effect on competition that its investigations had identified. The Commission’s failures were sufficient to cast doubt on the robustness of its recommendations.

The decision will come as blow to Asda, Waitrose and M&S who, together with The Association of Convenience Stores, directly supported the Competition Commission in its efforts to defend the Tesco legal challenge.

The effects of the challenge had spilled over into the Government’s proposed revision of retail planning policy contained in Planning Policy Statement 6, Planning For Town Centres (March 2005). Somewhat controversially, the Government published proposed revisions to PPS6 in July 2008 without any reference to the proposed competition test because of the ongoing Tesco appeal case. Responses to the consultation exercise were summarised by Government in February this year. The consultation exercise teased out 368 responses in all, 190 of which provided a detailed critique. 17 retailers were moved to respond and there was an organised lobby which produced 178 identical submissions collectively calling for greater regulation of the grocery sector orchestrated by anti Tesco campaign group 'Tescopoly'.

A strong theme of the responses to PPS6's revision was criticism of the lack of detail relating to proposed Practice Guidance which is to accompany the policy statement.

"The absence of practice guidance setting out how the policy should be interpreted makes it difficult to comment on policy proposals. Guidance is crucial to the effective and consistent implementation of the proposed changes"

The consultation responses document lacks any indication of how and when the proposed revisions to PPS6 will be advanced or if the call for practice guidance to be published for consultation alongside draft PPPS will be heeded. Enquiries made of the Department for Communities and Local Government today however indicate that the final version of PPS6 will be published later in the spring of this year and will be accompanied, at the same time, by the promised practice guidance. There will be no further public consultation of either document.

Sainsbury's Acquires Morecambe Stadium

Christie Park, the current home of Morecambe Football Club (MFC), has been sold to supermarket company Sainsbury's in a deal that will enable work to begin on the club's new 6,800-capacity stadium at Westgate

MAZE Planning Solutions is a key adviser to the project, working with MFC to advance the new stadium development.

MFC chair, Peter McGuigan, said:

"The new stadium will provide an opportunity for the club to raise fresh revenue streams which would be impossible to achieve at Christie Park and should therefore ensure the financial viability of Morecambe Football Club."

"The sale of Christie Park to Sainsbury's is great news for us and the local community since it allows us to not only build a fantastic future for the club, but also to provide much needed community sport facilities."

Work will start on the new stadium in April 2009, and it is expected to be completed in time for the start of the 2010-11 football season. Christie Park will be handed over to Sainsbury's in July 2010.

Big Yes for Big Sheds in Bradford

Proposals for a major employment development in the City of Bradford were crystallised by the grant of planning permission on 19 February. The City Council signed off the 26,000sqm mixed employment scheme with a unanimous 'yes' vote following a 10-month application period.

The scheme makes provision for large-scale warehousing and industrial premises, together with smaller general industrial starter units and office accommodation west of the City at Thornton.

The development includes the provision of a new footway, street lighting, bus stops, public seating and a diverted public footpath.

MAZE Plannning has advised the scheme's promotor since November 2007 and will continue to provide support to enable an early start on site to be made, together with fellow consultants Pickles Architects, Bryan G Hall (transportation) and Morgan Associates (legals).

Liverpool Live

Proposals for a contemporary apartment development in the Anfield area of Liverpool are up and running following the submission of a detailed application in late September. MAZE is working on behalf of local developer, Hunter Dean Developments Ltd, to take the scheme forward.

The site has a chequered planning history. It has benefited from an outline permission for housing, now expired, but Liverpool City Council has refused two subsequent applications for apartment developments of differing scale and design.

The current scheme, designed by PWL Architects, proposes 24 two-bed units which will benefit from secure, concealed undercroft parking and a private urban garden. (www.pwlarchitects.net)

The design is the result of almost 12 months of pre-application negotiation with officers of Liverpool City Council.

Applying Ourselves in Bradford

The prospects of a major employment development in Thornton, Bradford, have moved a step closer to realisation with the submission of a planning application by MAZE on behalf of a private client.

The scheme will bring forward almost 26,000sqm of office, industrial and warehousing space on a long-standing development plan allocation in Thornton, on the western edge of Bradford District. Almost half the proposed space is accounted for by a single large warehouse and distribution unit.

The development solution has had to resolve the presence of major overhead power lines, the need to divert an established public footpath, and challenging site topography.

MAZE is working with Pickles Architects (Huddersfield) to guide the development through the ongoing planning application process.

Maze in Middlewich and Morecambe....

August and September have seen key MAZE-led projects maturing. Major development schemes in Middlewich and Morecambe, both subject to planning applications since the start of the year, are now on the verge of securing formal planning permission.

Proposals by John Radcliffe & Sons for a 4490sqm retail park development in Middlewich, Cheshire, secured Congleton Borough Council's approval in mid-August. The need to agree a development of appropriate quality and the potential affect of the scheme on a number of protected trees on and near the site took time to resolve. A planning agreement to secure funding for local bus accessibility improvements and the detailed wording of planning conditions is all that remains to be settled before the formal consent is issued.

Morecambe Football Club's proposals for a new stadium, and associated hotel and restaurants at Westgate are in similarly good shape. Planning Committee approval was secured on 1st September and the Secretary of State promptly confirmed there would be no need for the application to be called-in for inquiry. Discussions to settle a legal agreement and planning conditions are continuing, covering a broad range of issues including the need to bind the development Travel Plan and Spectator Management Strategy into the permission.