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Bournemouth town hall. Image: Graffity CC BY-SA 3.0

Court orders magistrate to pay £93K for renting out property without planning permission

By Toby Porter, 28 November 2023

A court has told a magistrate that he must pay a £77,000 confiscation order plus £16,000 in fines and costs after he pleaded guilty to unlawfully extending two properties, one of which he rented out.

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London's Royal Courts of Justice (cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Robert Lamb - geograph.org.uk/p/5117531)

Judge backs council’s injunction request and orders householder to pay £24K over unlawful works

A High Court judge has granted an Essex council's application for an injunction linked to a long-running planning dispute with a resident over unlawful works to his home, and has ordered the man to pay the authority's costs of almost £24,000 within 12 months.

The Royal Courts of Justice (cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Robert Lamb - geograph.org.uk/p/5117531)

Court of Appeal upholds landowner's 12-month prison sentence for illegal site use

The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court decision to impose a 12-month custodial sentence on a landowner over his "woeful history of compliance with court orders" in relation to unlawful operations at a former airfield in the Midlands going back almost a decade.

Exemptions to ‘planning prohibition’ building safety rules set out in new guidance

Schemes granted planning permission before early July "may be" exempted from the new "planning prohibition" power that can prevent developers building out planning consents if they have failed to sign up to new building safety rules, according to fresh government guidance.

The developer's image of the block in Job's Yard, Kettering. Image: Marcus Fielding

High Court orders developer to demolish six-storey block of flats built without planning permission

The High Court has ordered a developer to completely demolish an unfinished six-storey block of flats that is now at “risk of collapse” for breaching its planning permission, after the local authority granted consent for just four storeys to be built.

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‘Tory MP accuses Lib Dem council of refusing to work on its local plan’

28 November 2023

Reports that a backbench Tory MP has accused his Lib Dem council of “refusing” to work on its new local plan and of a developer submitting plans for an 1,800-home garden village on former green belt land feature in our round-up of news in other media.

Offshore wind (pic: cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Dixon - geograph.org.uk/p/4443751)

Government broadens new ‘critical national priority’ planning presumption to all renewables projects

By Michael Donnelly, 27 November 2023

The government is to include all renewable energy infrastructure projects under a new "critical national priority" national planning policy presumption, and has committed to bringing in a "strong starting presumption" for the use of overhead power lines outside of protected landscapes.

Government ‘external review’ to mull further on legal duty for five-yearly reviews of major infrastructure policy documents

By Alex King, 27 November 2023

The government has stopped short of following a recommendation of its independent infrastructure advisor to introduce a legal requirement for five-yearly reviews of national policy statements (NPSs) for certain kinds of major infrastructure projects, instead committing to an “external review of the NPS review and designation process”.

Artist's impression of one of the seven developments by Leverhulme in the Wirral. Image: Leverhulme.

Council’s appeal victory upholding its refusal of 788 green belt homes cost it £362,303

By Toby Porter, 24 November 2023

A council’s success in resisting a developer’s appeal over plans for 788 homes on green belt has cost it a total of £362,303 that it cannot recover, it has confirmed.

Government proposes ministerial ‘star chamber’ to drive major infrastructure delivery and confirms one-year route for certain projects

By Samantha Eckford, 24 November 2023

The government has proposed a series of measures designed to bring down the consenting time for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs), including a new “ministerially led forum” to “drive” delivery, publishing spatial data on such schemes and confirming a one-year “fast-track” route for certain developments.

‘Quarter of Labour MPs have opposed new affordable homes in their areas’

27 November 2023

A report claiming that a quarter of Labour MPs have opposed the building of affordable homes in their constituencies despite the party’s promise to boost housebuilding leads our round-up of news in other media.

New government task force to consider a more ‘spatial’ approach to infrastructure planning

By Samantha Eckford, 24 November 2023

Ministers plan to create a new government task force to evaluate the merits of adopting a more “spatial" approach to infrastructure planning and will consider “how judicial review is working in the planning system” as part of its long-term efforts to speed up delivery.

South Ribble Borough Council (Pic: Ian Greig CC BY-SA 2.0)

Council leader threatens legal action against ‘awful’ ministerial decision to allow 1,100 greenfield homes

By Samantha Eckford, John Geoghegan and Alex King, 24 November 2023

A council leader has threatened legal action against a ministerial decision to overturn its refusal and allow 1,100 homes on an allocated greenfield site, describing the move as “awful” and one that will “cause utter chaos for generations”.

‘Council wrongly kept hundreds of thousands of pounds of planning fees for up to ten years’

24 November 2023

A report that a local authority has for up to ten years been keeping fees for planning applications that were not processed with a 26-week deadline and therefore should have been refunded leads our round-up of planning news in other media.

Autumn statement reaction blog: ‘Councils may refuse more commercial applications to meet proposed deadlines’ [updated]

By Samantha Eckford, 22 November 2023

The government’s autumn statement contains some welcome promises for those in the sector, but commentators warn that the proposals for a “premium planning service” raise a number of questions and could cause unintended consequences.

What the appointment of a previous incumbent as housing minister means for planning

By David Blackman, 23 November 2023

The reappointment of a former Westminster City Council planning committee member as housing minister should herald broad continuity with the approach of his predecessor, say observers. But Lee Rowley will have his work cut out overseeing secondary legislation to implement the measures in the recently passed Levelling Up and Regeneration Act.

The southern boundary of the site as it is now. Pic: Boughton Butler.

Housing Land Supply Watch: Inspector awards partial costs against ‘unreasonable’ council for belatedly accepting housing land supply shortfall

By Alex King, 23 November 2023

An inspector has ordered a council to pay a developer partial costs for expenses incurred as a result of it belatedly accepting a housing land supply shortfall, making “vague” arguments about the scheme’s impact on urban density and failing to rebut the developer’s evidence of a need for affordable housing.

Neighbourhood Watch: Town submits plan that allocates housing and bans second homes after 12 years of preparation

By Mark Wilding, 23 November 2023

A town council in Gloucestershire has finally submitted its draft neighbourhood plan, which allocates land for 170 homes and bans the use of new second homes, for examination, more than a decade after it began work on the strategy.

Room 106, ep71: Rowley's return to the ministerial hotseat, and when the Levelling Up Act will take effect

22 November 2023

The Planning magazine team extracts the key planning news from the blizzard of new information in Room 106, the vault where all new planning information is gathered.

The Planning Awards 2024 open for entries

By Toby Porter, 19 October 2023

The 2024 Planning Awards, rewarding excellence in professional planning work as well as related placemaking and economic development activity, are open for entries.

Lee Rowley, the new housing and planning minister. Image: DLUHC

Ten key things you need to know from the past week

By Toby Porter, 16 November 2023

The ten most important news stories of the past week, including the sacking of housing minister Rachel Maclean, her replacement by Lee Rowley and the date that planning fees will rise.

How I’d change planning if I was Prime Minister, by Catriona Riddell

By Catriona Riddell, 23 November 2023

The next government must speed up local plan-making, draw up a national plan and reintroduce formal sub-regional plans, says our columnist

Chancellor says new ‘premium’ planning service will increase planning officer numbers

By Samantha Eckford, 23 November 2023

The chancellor has pledged that his announcement yesterday to allow authorities to recover the full costs of certain major applications if they meet new “accelerated” deadlines will allow more planning officers to be trained up in response to an MP’s concerns that authorities do not have the capacity to deliver it.

Government to consult on new PD right allowing houses to be split into two flats

By Alex King, 22 November 2023

The chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced that the government will consult on a new permitted development (PD) right to enable one house to be converted into two flats in a bid to “streamline” the planning system.

‘Permitted development proposal to allow houses to turn into flats is toxic for Tory suburbia’

23 November 2023

A column claiming the chancellor's announcement of permitted development rights to turn houses into two flats will lose votes for the Tories leads our round-up of today’s planning news in other media.

Councils will be able to recover full costs of certain major applications if new ‘faster’ timelines met

By Samantha Eckford, 22 November 2023

The chancellor has announced a new “premium” planning service, to be introduced next year, which would allow local authorities to recover the full costs of major business applications - but the fees will need to be refunded if they fail to meet new “accelerated” deadlines.

Housing development in Leeds Pic: Getty.

Chancellor announces £32 million to ‘bust the planning backlog’

By Alex King, 22 November 2023

The chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced that the government will allocate £32 million to help councils clear “planning backlogs” and facilitate the delivery of more new homes across the country.

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