Make no mistake, a shift in focus from home ownership to affordable renting is a hugely significant shift in Conservative party policy. Even the title of the Housing White Paper, ‘Fixing Our Broken Housing Market’ is an admission from the government that more needs to be done to tackle the …

Challenge to Planning Minister A group of housebuilders have lodged an application for a Judicial Review to challenge the Planning Minister over his attempt to reinforce neighbourhood planning. Gavin Barwell announced changes to planning policy on December 12 via a Written Ministerial Statement (WMS). He explained that currently, if a …

St. Albans, Hertfordshire The Council’s Strategic Local Plan process is in limbo. Following the letter from the Inspector saying that he did not feel St. Albans had fulfilled its duty to cooperate, the council has gone on the attack and lodged an application with the High Court for a judicial …

  Developers invited to take action St. Albans has been advised that it has not fulfilled its duty to cooperate. David Hogger, the Planning Inspector reviewing the Strategic Local Plan (SLP), wrote to the council giving it two options: to receive a report from the inspector recommending non-adoption; or to …

  Waverley, Surrey The Waverley Draft Local Plan was approved by full council at the end of November and is now being submitted for inspection. In the meantime, the Farnham Neighbourhood Plan went to a hearing, before the independent examiner, Mr Derek Stebbing, at the end of November. A decision …

Hertfordshire Minerals Local Plan For those with interests in quarrying, the news is that the review of the existing Mineral Local Plan (2002-2016) has been delayed for around a year. The original timetable envisaged the draft review being published this autumn, following a call for sites earlier this year. In …

Councils pay out £12 million in lost planning appeals Planning appeals have led to some local authorities losing a significant amount of their budget. This is impacting upon wider service delivery, and ultimately has become a barrier to housing delivery. Property consultancy, Daniel Watney LLP, sent out FOI requests to …

Chelgate has appointed sector specialist and senior counsel Julian Seymour to lead its property communications and stakeholder engagement division, Chelgate Local. With a team of specialists in community, political and stakeholder engagement, Chelgate Local is one of the foremost agencies working in the property communications sector. As one of the …