Property Planning Alert - 6 July 2011

Government plans release of public land to build 100,000 homes... Judicial Review granted for early FIT review... Bristol selects site for enterprise zone... Shapps extends community right to build to urban areas... Councils move to levy review... Planning conditions attached to an expired permission are not enforceable... Shapps defines "zero carbon homes"... Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing (PPS3) reissued... DECC consultation into FIT levels concluded... A Plain English Guide to the Localism Bill: Update

Government plans release of public land to build 100,000 homes

Grant Shapps has announced government plans to release enough public land to build as many as 100,000 new homes and support as many as 25,000 jobs by 2015.  By the autumn, every government department with significant landbanks will publish plans to release thousands of acres of previously-developed land to housebuilders.

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Judicial Review granted for early FIT review

It has been reported in the press that the High Court has granted permission to a group of solar companies to bring a judicial review challenge against the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, in respect of the early review of FITs.

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Bristol selects site for enterprise zone

The West of England local enterprise partnership (LEP) has selected Bristol's Temple Quarter as the site of the city's enterprise zone.  The LEP has also identified five other sites in Bristol that will be given 'enterprise area' status: Avonmouth and Severnside, Bath City Riverside, Emersons Green Science Park, a site close to the A38 at Filton, and the Weston Regeneration site.

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Shapps extends community right to build to urban areas

Urban communities are being encouraged to start planning development in their areas after being included in the government's proposed community right to build scheme.  The right to build powers, contained in the Localism Bill, will allow local groups to approve developments without the need to go through the normal planning process, as long as they meet certain criteria and there is sufficient community backing.

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Councils move to levy review

Newark and Sherwood District Council and Shropshire Council have published documents setting out how they plan to charge the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).  They will become the first councils to have their plans independently examined.

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Planning conditions attached to an expired permission are not enforceable

In Avon Estates Ltd v Welsh Ministers a landowner obtained four temporary planning permissions for a number of holiday bungalows and chalets which required the removal of buildings.  The buildings were not removed when the temporary planning permissions expired but continued to be occupied in accordance with seasonal use conditions.  In 2008, the landowner applied for a certificate of lawfulness of existing use and development (CLEUD) for the use of the buildings as dwelling houses.

The Court held that conditions attached to planning permission granted for a limited period could not be enforced against the landowner when the permissions had become spent and the planning authority had failed to enforce the removal of the building or the cessation of the permitted use so that the buildings became immune from enforcement action.

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Shapps defines "zero carbon homes"

Grant Shapps has announced a definition of "zero carbon homes" aimed at allowing the government to update the Building Regulations for the purpose of insuring that all new homes built after 2016 will be "zero" carbon.

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Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing (PPS3) reissued

As a result of the reissue, the definition of affordable housing in Annex B of PPS3 has been amended to include the concept of "affordable rented housing". This change will mean that affordable rent can be regarded by LPAs as affordable housing for planning purposes.

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DECC consultation into FIT levels concluded
 
Subject to approval by Parliament, from 1 August new entrants into the FIT scheme will receive amended tariffs as set out below:

Solar PV: >50 kW - ≤ 150 kW Total Installed Capacity (TIC) - 19.0p/ kWh, >150 kW - ≤ 250 kW TIC - 15.0p/ kWh, 250 kW - 5 MW TIC and stand-alone installations - 8.5p/ kWhs
  
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A Plain English Guide to the Localism Bill: Update

The guide describes the main measures of the Localism Bill under four headings: new freedoms and flexibilities for local government, new rights and powers for communities, individual reform to make the planning system more democratic, and more effective reform to ensure that decisions about housing are taken locally.

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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 us.

Mark Howard
Associate, Environmental Law
Tel: 01392 687621
Email: mark.howard@michelmores.com