Planning Alert 21st February

Welcome to the Michelmores Planning Alert, where we bring you a round-up of the latest news and legal developments affecting the industry.  We hope that you find this useful and welcome your feedback.  Please contact us with any comments or queries.  Items in this issue include:

New contaminated land guidance and associated regulations laid in Parliament ... Plans remain on course to release surplus public land for new homes ... Bristol City Council receives HCA outline planning application for redevelopment ... Cornwall Council charges fees for pre-application advice ... Statistics reveal decrease in number of district level planning applications ... Waterways charity secures investment of over £1 billion

New contaminated land guidance and associated regulations laid in Parliament

Subject to Parliamentary approval, the new guidance will be available around the same time as the regulations come into force - this will not be until 6 April.

The new guidance is intended to be more usable than existing guidance which currently remains in force.

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Plans remain on course to release surplus public land for new homes

In June 2011, plans of the Government were announced to accelerate the release of public land to deliver up to 100,000 homes.

Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, has announced that the Government has already found surplus public land to build up to 80,000 homes. Efforts to identify further disused land continue. The land is expected to be released by 2015. 

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Bristol City Council receives HCA outline planning application for redevelopment

The Homes and Communities Agency has submitted proposals to the Council to redevelop part of the area of Knowle West.

The proposals include plans to build up to 150 homes, as well as business and office space. In addition, a new public park is proposed.

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Cornwall Council charges fees for pre-application advice

The fees which the Council now charges are to cover the cost of pre-application advice which is not covered by planning application fees.

Fees vary depending on the type of development. The highest fixed charge is £350 plus VAT for advice relating to a major development such as a development of 10 or more dwellings.

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Statistics reveal decrease in number of district level planning applications

According to recent national statistics, for the year ending September 2011, planning applications received by district level authorities fell by 2% on the previous year.

Comparing the same periods, district level planning authorities were slower to determine applications but more applications were granted.

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Waterways charity secures investment of over £1 billion

Environment Minister, Richard Benyon, has announced that the Government will invest over £1 billion in a new charity with the purpose of maintaining canals and rivers in England and Wales.

The new Canal & River Trust is expected to be launched later this year and is described as a new "national trust for the waterways".

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We hope that you have found this Planning Alert useful. We welcome your feedback: please let us know what you thought of this newsletter and if there are any areas that you would like us to include in future issues.

For further information on any of these areas, please contact mark.howard@michelmores.com