Four new policies in East Devon District Council’s Local Plan (currently out for consultation) are promoting the building of industrial units or workshops in, or next to, villages and smaller towns in the district. There are currently around 400 empty commercial units in the district. And two sets of consultants (Atkins and Roger Tym) hired by East Devon District Council have advised that [...]
British supermarkets are planning to open enough new stores in the years ahead, to cover 500 football pitches. If all the plans are approved, the UK’s supermarket trading space will increase by up to 50 per cent, or to about 3,000 acres. The draft NPPF has weakened the ‘town centre first’ policy for supermarkets and has rather than putting the onus on supermarkets to make a case [...]
Leaving aside the financial incentives provided by developers to weaken the planning laws, I will stick to the quite astonishing comments uttered by ministers, supposedly intelligent ones, once the opposition started against the NPPF. As soon as the National Trust and CPRE started to object to the plan when it was launched for consultation during the first week of the summer holidays, Greg Clark [...]
This is the most hopeful news we have received yet that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) must be changed to reflect the importance of the environment. It puts enormous pressure on Greg Clark and George Osborne - the driving forces behind the plans - to conform with what the majority of respondents to the NPPF consultation have said, instead of reflecting the wishes of the [...]
According to planning blogger, Andrew Lainton, several sources are pointing to the 21 December as the day the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) will be released. It is unclear how much weight the document will be given in planning decisions once it has been published. Sources have also indicated that little will change from the first version, which was widely condemned by environmental [...]
‘Taking on the Plan’ was a carefully chosen title, reflecting the fact that our planning campaign has been based on policy, not politics. We don’t make a habit of criticising Government, but we couldn’t avoid making our position clear on the changes that were taking place in England as a result of the Localism Bill (now an Act) and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). And the [...]
The Planning Inspectorate decided appeals for more than 6,900 homes between July to September this year and allowed 55 per cent of them, representing a 16 per cent rise in approvals for residential schemes. The rate was just 39 per cent from April to June. The success rate of appeals across all sectors decided by hearing also shot up from 38 per cent in the first quarter of this year, to 47 [...]
The proposals are based on a survey in Aylesbeare’s Parish Plan, which was published around 4-5 years ago. It found that there was some support for more development in Aylesbeare. Aylesbeare Parish Council has lodged proposals for 50 houses with East Devon District Council for the East Devon Local Plan process, which sets development levels in the district for the next 15 years. [...]
Many views were expressed over whether West Hill needed affordable housing, with the 50 residents present divided over whether the village would benefit if more low cost housing was built. Myself and Dick Beardsall gave presentations - me on the strategic overview of the Local Plan and what has changed since the discredited Local Development Framework bit the dust. Dick’s presentation [...]
I was unable to attend the meeting as I was unwell, but the written response from the leader, Cllr Paul Diviani, indicated that EDDC is placing a high value on East Devon’s environment and would look into the issue. The East Devon Business Forum, which has had a significant impact on EDDC’s Local Development Framework, and in turn, the Local Plan, is a key consultee on any matter [...]
In the statement George Osborne sent a clear signal that the Treasury viewed the environment as a “ridiculous” barrier to economic growth and would be reviewing the UK’s implementation of the EU Habitats Directive which he claimed was “gold plated”. The Habitats Directive [Note 1] was established in 1994 under the previous Tory administration. In the West Country it provide [...]
The field in question, the subject of an appeal by Devonshire Homes, is between Mallocks Close and Otter Close on the edge of the village near Coombe Cross junction. The two opposing legal teams sat facing each other, with the planning inspector, David Prentis (the same inspector who oversaw the Eastfield appeal) at the head of the room. To the inspector’s left was a table and chair [...]
The applicants, Strategic Land Partnerships, made a last ditch attempt to save their application at Ottery Road, which had been recommended for refusal last week by planning officers. In a letter received by EDDC planning department on Monday afternoon (5 December), the developers offered financial sweetners of almost £10,000 for provision of open space, as well as a further £10,000 for a study [...]
Planning officers had initially recommended the scheme for approval last month. And then at the last minute the application was withdrawn from the agenda following receipt of a planning inspector’s appeal report for an adjacent piece of land (Eastfield). The outcome of the inspector’s report, which dismissed an appeal by Blue Cedar Homes for 50 houses at Eastfield, on landscape [...]