Welcome to the August planning update from the Bristol and Cardiff Planning teams. It has been a busy period for the industry with the release of several consultation documents for England and Wales. Please click on the links below to obtain further information on the identified topics.

1. Proposed Changes to Planning Policy Statement 6
The Government has published a Consultation Paper on the proposed changes to Planning Policy Statement 6 (PPS6): Planning for Town Centres. The proposed changes follow the Planning White Paper commitment to review the present approach in PPS6 regarding proposals outside town centres.

2. Eco-Towns Living a Greener Future: Progress Report
The Department for Communities and Local Government has published an eco-town progress report marking the end of the first stage of the consultation programme.

3. The Killian Pretty Review: A Call for Solutions
Joanna Killian and David Pretty have completed their initial review of the planning application system in England and have published 'A Call for Solutions' consultation document setting out a series of questions on how the planning system could be improved.

4. Proposals For Resourcing the Planning Service: A Consultation Paper
The Welsh Assembly Government has published for consultation options for the proposed changes to the Welsh planning fees system to be implemented in November 2008.

5. Welsh Assembly Government Consultation on Meeting Housing Needs in Rural Areas
The Welsh Assembly Government consultation paper 'Planning Policy Changes to Support Sustainable Development in Rural Areas' sets out a number of possible ways in which planning policy could be amended to supporting housing needs in rural areas.

The Government has published a Consultation Paper on the proposed changes to Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town Centres. These proposals remove the requisite to demonstrate the 'need' for proposals in out-of-centre or edge-of-centre locations, which do not accord with an up to date development plan. As an alternative a new impact assessment framework is proposed which applicants must prepare and submit for such proposals.

Key features of this new framework test are:

• A broader assessment with emphasis on economic, social and environmental as well as strategic planning impacts that enable positive and negative town centre and wider impacts to be considered;
  
  
• The identification of key impacts which applicants must assess, including: impact on planned in-centre investment; whether the scale of development is appropriate; and, impacts on in-centre trade/turnover which should take account of current and future consumer expenditure capacity; and,
  
  
• A sustainability assessment of proposals against accessibility, sustainable transport considerations, impact on traffic, effects on employment and regeneration, and how the proposal will make efficient and effective use of land.

The consultation period closes on 3 October 2008 and the document can be viewed here

www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/pp6consultation

For further details contact Nick Matthews +44 (0) 117 910 0370



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2. Eco-Towns Living a Greener Future: Progress Report

The Department for Communities and Local Government has published an eco-town progress report marking the end of the first stage of the consultation programme. The report sets out revised green standards for eco-towns along with an updated shortlist of the locations being considered.

Underlining the Government's determination to ensure only the most sustainable schemes qualify for eco-town status, the proposed standards are:

• Achieve zero carbon emissions status for residential, commercial and public buildings;
  
  
• Locate homes within 10 minutes walk of frequent public transport and neighbourhood services;
  
  
• Provide facilities to support job creation and ensure a minimum of one job per new dwelling that can be easily reached by walking, cycling and/or public transport;
  
  
• Provide 40% of land within the town as green space, at least half of which should be open to the public as parks or recreation areas; and
  
  
• Establish a minimum threshold of 30% affordable housing.
  
  

The next stage of consultation is expected to commence in September 2008 on the detailed sustainability assessments of the 13 potential locations.

The update report may be viewed here: www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/ecotownsprogressreport

For further details contact Will Spencer +44 (0) 117 910 0331

3. The Killian Pretty Review 'A Call for Solutions'

Joanna Killian and David Pretty have completed their initial review of the planning application system in England and have published ÔA Call for SolutionsÕ consultation document setting out a series of questions on how the planning system could be improved. The questions are based on the following themes:

• Proportionality — matching resources/skills to planning application demands;
  
  
• Complexity — what measures could be introduced to make the planning application process simpler and more efficient;
  
  
• Culture — the need to change local planning authorities behaviour which tend to focus on processing of planning applications rather than on quality of service; and
  
  
• Engagement — the need to ensure more effective engagement of the community, statutory and non-statutory consultees and elected members.

The consultation period closes on 5 September 2008 and the document may be viewed here: www.planningportal.gov.uk

For further details contact David Cliff +44 (0) 117 910 0303

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4. Proposals For Resourcing the Planning Service: A Consultation Paper

The Welsh Assembly Government has published for consultation, options for the proposed changes to the fees that Welsh local planning authorities charge for handling pre-application discussions, applications for planning permission and for altering or removing conditions imposed on planning permissions. Three options have been put forward, as follows:

1. Option One: No change in planning fees.
   
   
2. Option Two: Increase fees in line with inflation annually linked to the Retail Price Index (RPI);
• Removal of the maximum fee cap which is currently £50,000;
• Fee for discharge of planning conditions (£85.00);



3. Option Three: To bring all fees in line with those currently operating in England.

In addition, the consultation paper seeks views on the approaches to charging for pre-application discussions:

• Advance charge - this would establish a new up-front charge that would need to be paid before any pre-application discussion commenced;



• Advanced charge with a discount on application fees - to set application fees at a level to cover pre-application discussions and require part of the fee to be paid prior to the discussions being held; and
  
  
• Within application fees - set application fees at a level to cover pre-application discussions within their scope based on current cost estimate, but would not collect any part of the fee until the application was submitted.

The Welsh Assembly Government expects that any increase in these fees will promote efficiency and bring additional resources into planning in order to improve the quality of service provided by planning authorities. The consultation period will close on 19 September 2008 and the preferred options are expected to be implemented in November 2008.

The full consultation document and consultation questions can be viewed here: new.wales.gov.uk/consultations

For further details contact Abi Roberts +44 (0) 29 2036 8911

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5. Welsh Assembly Government Consultation on Meeting Housing Needs in Rural Areas

On 7 July 2008, the Welsh Assembly Government published 'Planning Policy Changes to Support Sustainable Development in Rural Areas' for public consultation. The document seeks comments on proposed amendments to planning policy in relation to:

Essential dwellings to meet the legitimate needs of rural businesses:

• The need to amend existing policy to reflect the current and future needs of rural businesses and the diversified nature of farm and rural enterprises;



• Allowing essential dwellings for succession planning — i.e. for retiring farmers; and



• To allow additional essential dwellings on existing farm holdings.

Affordable housing in rural areas:

• Where there is a demonstrated need for affordable housing, all market housing (including single dwellings and conversions) should contribute to meeting the need through either on-site provision or via commuted sums;
  
  
• To restrict new housing developments to affordable housing in locations within or adjacent to existing rural housing to meet local need; and
  
  
• To extend the rural affordable housing exception sites policy to urban areas.

Low Impact Development (LID):

• To introduce the LID concept and an enabling policy into national policy; and
  
  
• Where relevant, to allow local authorities to include criteria based policies in their LDP's to which LID developments could be assessed;

The changes discussed in the consultation paper hope to facilitate an increase in the supply of affordable homes and therefore give further support to the housing needs of rural areas

The consultation period closes on 10 October 2008 and can be viewed here: new.wales.gov.uk/consultations

On a separate issue, the Assembly Government is also consulting on the proposed changes to the 'Planning for Climate Change' Ministerial Interim Planning Policy Statement (MIPPS) (12/06).

The proposed amendments to the MIPPS 12/06 take into account the progress that has been made on the Climate Change agenda in Wales, including the 2011 Zero Carbon aspiration, the One Wales commitment to the devolution of Building Regulations and the adoption of the Code for Sustainable Homes in Wales. The consultation deadline is 3 October 2008.

The document can be viewed here: new.wales.gov.uk/consultations

For further details contact Paul Williams +44 (0) 2920 368 906

Please do not hesitate to contact any of the individuals identified or us for further information.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Geraint John - Director         
+44 (0) 2920 368 914
gjohn@savills.com

Nick Matthews - Associate Director         
+44 (0) 117 910 0370
nmatthews@savills.com

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