Prop-arazzi

From the NI Assembly Handard it looks like the waiting game is going to continue…

Policy Planning Statement 5
Mr D McNarry asked the Minister of the Environment if the Court Service has indicated when a decision is expected in the case which is preventing PPS 5 regarding Retailing, Town Centres and Commercial Leisure Developments from being implemented.

(AQO 2868/09)

Minister of the Environment: There is no indication as to when a decision will be made on this case.

Greater weight will be given in the future, where appropriate, to the economic consideration of planning proposals, Environment Minister Sammy Wilson confirmed today.

In a statement to the Assembly, the Minister told MLAs he had decided to clarify the situation to ensure planners could play a full and positive role in assisting economic recovery.

Mr Wilson explained: “I want to give decision makers the confidence and support to make judgements which will give greater weight to economic considerations wherever it is appropriate to do so.

“I want to give clarity and leave nobody in any doubt about how to deal with economic considerations.

“Full account shall be taken of the economic aspects of a planning proposal, including the wider benefits to the regional or local economy, alongside social and environmental aspects.

“Where the economic benefits of a proposal are significant then substantial weight should be afforded to them.”

The Minister said planners often faced competing interests when assessing development proposals and had to balance important social, economic and environmental considerations.

He told MLA’s the weight given to these aspects was a matter of judgement for the decision maker and would vary with each planning application.

Mr Wilson insisted: “The purpose of this statement is to provide certainty and give guidance so that the planning system can play a positive role in encouraging investment and kickstarting regeneration.”

The Minister said in order to do this, it was essential planners had all the relevant information about development proposals at their disposal.

He urged everyone involved in the planning process including developers, agents and public representatives to ensure all information about the economic benefits was supplied at the outset.

Mr Wilson said the Planning Service had already introduced a number of measures to facilitate economic growth.

These included:

•  The creation of two strategic project teams within Planning Service headquarters to handle large scale investment proposals;
•  The rollout of a streamlined consultation scheme to speed up the processing of non-contentious planning applications across all council areas. This had resulted in approvals now taking 24 working days on average to issue.

In addition, the Minister said he was urging developers to engage with local communities before submitting an application.

He said: “Too often it is only after an application is submitted that people hear what is proposed. Often they object to issues that could have been resolved if the proposal had been discussed beforehand.”

The Minister added a number of planning policy statements would also facilitate economic development including the revised and updated PPS4, draft PPS21 which contains policies for economic development in the countryside including farm diversification, draft PPS18 on renewable energy and draft PPS16 which will set out the policy for tourism facilities and accommodation.

Scotland’s planning system is undergoing the most significant modernisation in over 60 years. The Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 is a landmark piece of legislation bringing substantial changes and work is well underway to implement the provisions. With the new system coming into force this August, it is essential that companies intending to submit planning applications after this time start thinking about how the changes may affect the forthcoming consultation process. Weber Shandwick recognises the importance of forward planning in the development process, having gained a wealth of experience through our work on recent high-profile developments such as, Ravenscraig, Fountainbridge and the St James Centre.
This knowledgeshop outlines the key aims of the planning changes, the next stage of the implementation timetable, as well as an indepth look at the most recently implemented section, pre-application community consultation.
 
Aims

The Scottish Government aims to deliver a modern planning system that is:
• Efficient: up to date development plans to be at the heart of an efficient system that provides certainty for users and local people
• Inclusive: local people to be more involved in the decisions that shape the development of their communities
• Fit for purpose: with a clear sense of priorities, and to address different issues in different ways
• Sustainable: development to contribute to economic growth that is sustainable. Planning will deliver sustainable development ensuring development is in the right place, and of, the right quality
 
Next Steps

Work is already underway to implement the provisions of the Act and the implementation timetable will be kept under review to reflect Parliamentary and commencement dates when these are confirmed.

Of most interest currently are the new provisions on the hierarchy of developments, the preparation of schemes of delegation under new section 43A of the Planning Act and the carrying out of pre-application consultation with communities. These provisions came into force on 6 April.

This early commencement is to allow parties to prepare for the main changes which come into force on 3 August and has no effect on applications submitted before 3 August.

Between 6 April and 3 August:

- planning authorities can prepare their schemes of delegation;
- prospective applicants who intend to apply for planning permission for major or national development under the new system on or after 3 August can carry out the necessary pre-application consultation;
- prospective applicants can also identify development requiring design and access statements where an application is to be made on or after 3 August.

On the 3 August, the new planning procedures on applications for planning permissions and appeals comes into force, including:

• the hierarchy of developments
• new planning application requirements (including pre-application community consultation),
• section 43A schemes of delegation
• local review bodies
• new appeals procedures and
• new enforcement provisions
 
Pre-Application Community Consultation

The revised legislation splits development proposals into 3 categories: national, major and local. Applicants for all national and major developments must undertake public consultation prior to the submission of a planning application. This is to ensure that communities are made aware of, and have an opportunity to comment on, such proposals before an application is made.

If pre-application consultation is required applicants must submit a Proposal of Application Notice at least 12 weeks prior to the submission of the planning application. The prospective applicant is required to indicate in the Notice what consultation will be undertaken.

The statutory minimum requirements are:

• The applicant must consult every community council whose area is within or adjoins the application site.
• The consultation must include at least one public event where members of the public may make comments to the prospective applicant on the development - details of the proposal and consultation must be published in a local newspaper at least 7 days prior to the event being held.
 
So What is Good Community Consultation?

A great deal of guidance on how to achieve effective community engagement already exists and PAN 81 provides useful guidance. The Royal Town Planning Institute’s publications Guidelines on Effective Community Involvement and Consultation and the National Standards for Community Engagement developed on behalf of Communities Scotland, are particularly useful and when followed can help plan, monitor and evaluate community engagement.

The National Standards have been applied to the planning system below and are ideally suited for use by planning authorities for development plan preparation, by applicants in pre-application consultations with communities and by people and communities in engaging on planning issues.

Standard 1: Involvement: Identify and involve the people and organisations who have an interest in the focus of the engagement.

Standard 2: Support: Identify and overcome any barriers to involvement.

Standard 3: Planning: Gather evidence of need and resources to agree purpose, scope and actions.

Standard 4: Methods: Agree and use methods of engagement that are fit for purpose.

Standard 5: Working Together: Agree and use clear procedures that enable participants to work together effectively and efficiently.

Standard 6: Sharing Information: Ensure necessary information is communicated between the participants.

Standard 7: Working with Others: Work effectively with others with an interest.

Standard 8: Improvement: Develop the skills, knowledge and confidence of the participants.

Standard 9: Feedback: Feed results back to the wider community and agencies affected.

Standard 10: Monitoring and Evaluation: Monitor and evaluate whether engagement achieves its purpose and meets the national standards for community engagement.

Pre-application consultation is a very effective way of ensuring consistent and appropriate community consultation which can improve the scheme, reassure the community and enable you to deal with concerns in a timely fashion.

Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) today published the latest edition of the Northern Ireland Construction Bulletin.

The primary measure of the value of construction output in Northern Ireland (the Index of Construction) is obtained from the Northern Ireland Quarterly Construction Enquiry (QCE). This is a statutory survey of construction firms operating in Northern Ireland. Each quarter a sample of construction firms is asked to provide details of the value of construction activity they have undertaken within NI in a specified period. The Index uses 2000 as the base year i.e. (2000=100).

This Bulletin provides a measure of the value of construction output in Northern Ireland for the period 1 October to 31December 2008.

Key Findings:

The provisional seasonally adjusted Index of Construction for the period 1 October to 31 December 2008 is 94.9. This is broadly similar to the level of construction output for the previous quarter (94.0). An overall downward trend in construction output has been evident since the second quarter of 2007.

Readers are reminded:

The figures reported above are based on returns from construction firms for the period 1 October to 31 December 2008;
Results, particularly for the latest quarter are provisional and subject to revision, as fuller information becomes available from subsequent returns in future quarters.

The planned publication dates of the next four quarterly Bulletins are as follows:

Construction Bulletin Date of release

2009 – Quarter 1 6 August 2009
2009 – Quarter 2 5 November 2009
2009 – Quarter 3 4 February 2010
2009 – Quarter 4 6 May 2010

The proposed hike is essential to save jobs within the cash-strapped Planning Service, Stormont’s Environment committee heard on Thursday.

A top civil servant told members that annual revenue from planning applications had dropped by £4.5m. Last year it had been been around £21m.

The committee heard that Environment Minister Sammy Wilson had already agreed to an increase in tariffs.

These currently range from £130 for certificates for minor home building work to thousands of pounds for major commercial and business developments.

The plan brought criticism from committee members who questioned the impact on an already struggling construction industry.

Stephen Peover, permanent secretary at the Department of Environment, said: “The intention is to come forward with a proposal for a 20% increase in planning application fees.

‘Laying off’

“If we were a business, if the department were a commercial business, I would be laying off considerable numbers of Planning Service staff because we cannot afford to pay for them.”

Chair of the Environment committee Patsy McGlone said additional costs would put an extra burden on those working in construction.

“I’m sure those of us who do represent constituencies with a lot of self-employed builders and contractors and the likes and people servicing them don’t rate a 20% increase in planning fees as any particular incentive to stimulate the industry,” said the SDLP Mid Ulster representative.

But Mr Peover said damage could be sustained to the Planning Service if the fees were not increased.

“We face the prospect of two real risks,” he said.

‘Staff on tap’

“One that there will be an upturn in planning applications, the economy will begin to improve, and we’ll begin to see planning applications turn up again and we will not have the experienced staff on tap to deal with them if we can’t afford to employ them.

“The second risk is we are proposing to transfer the whole function to local government in May 2011, less than two years away now.

“If we were to allow it to run down in the intervening two years we would be handing over to local government, possibly just at the time when an economic upturn is happening, an under-funded, under-resourced and under-staffed Planning service.”

Here at Weber Shandwick we have some clients who are increasingly delving into the world of CSR as a means of building profile as responsible businesses. One of our clients has decided after much thought of building a schoon in the Kibaale District of Uganda. In seven weeks time yours truly will be heading out with some of the other staff here to put the finishing touches to a primary school that will have a massive positive impact on the local community there. We will keep you updated on the project and how we get on.

In the meantime check out our project blog at www.oneweekinuganda.com

The advent of the mini budget today in the south has also rung the death knell for up to 5 junior ministerial posts. 20 ministers will be reduced to 15 later this month. The southern press report that the exchequer will save up to €3 million euros. Seriously, €3million,  thats all.  As they say here, it wouldn’t fill a gap in your tooth never mind polyfil another fissure in the celtic leopard, or whatever the hell it is called nowadays.

The Irish Times reports this morning that the Irish Budget later today will see the setting up of a new asset management agency which will ‘purchase’ billions of euros of properties and land suitable for development from local banks at a cut price. The new agency will be run by the National Treasury Management Agency and is rumoured to be backed by a fund worth €60 - €80 billion - holy smokes!

SDLP South Belfast Councillor Pat McCarthy has called on the Planning Service and elected members not to defer planning applications unnecessarily.

Speaking after last night’s Belfast City Town Planning meeting, Councillor McCarthy said:

“It was revealed at last night’s meeting that there has been a 40% decrease in the number of planning applications being sent to the Planning Service over the past three months.

“This means there will be a 40% less work for tradesmen, architects, building suppliers and a whole host of people throughout the construction industry.

“I would urge the Planning Service not to just rule out planning applications for the sake of it and to be more flexible and interpretive when assessing them.

“More people must be given the go-ahead to build if we are to survive these murky economic times.”

“That this House is deeply concerned by the very poor quality of housing in parts of the privately-rented sector, as evidenced by the recent Rugg review, where damp and poorly insulated properties are a major contributor to health inequality and child poverty in this country; notes that this can be a particular problem in homes of multiple occupancy such as in seaside towns as well as in cities where prices are high but incomes are low; commends the Government for committing to raising all social housing to the decent homes standard; and urges the Government to do the same for privately-rented housing by refusing to pay housing benefit and local housing allowance for substandard properties”.