Prop-arazzi

DCLG has announced that all new homes will be rated on their green credientials from May 1st and will be able to achieve up to six stars. 

Categories will include energy, water and waste managment. 

Caroline Flint has commented that the standards are an important step in preparation for 2016.

On Friday The London Assembly’s planning and spatial development committee published a report on the use of Section 106 Agreements …. so we thought we would take a look at it for you.

Key points:

- The planning system is designed to balance development with the economic, social and environmental effects on the wider community. Section 106 (S106) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 ensures local authorities can acquire contributions from developers to both secure the infrastructure needed to support their new development(s) and also to mitigate the impact of the development. These contributions can be both financial contributions and also benefits in kind.

- Direct financial payments to London boroughs could exceed £1 billion in the next ten years with hundreds of millions more in terms of ‘in kind’ benefits such as new affordable homes, improvements to the public transport network and new open spaces provided directly by developers themselves.
 
- The LA review has found that developers generally support having to contribute to ‘mitigate’ the effects of their proposals. But, they also need to be clear what is likely to be expected of them at an early stage of the process – and even before they apply for planning permission – to calculate whether their development can be viable.

- The skills and resources of the local authorities and their staff involved in negotiating S106 are hugely important, yet one third of boroughs do not think they have enough staff devoted to S106. This problem is compounded by high staff turnover, which is increasing, and means that experience is lost to the organisation: Boroughs need to have not only staff with adequate skills to negotiate S106 – they need to have enough of them devoted to this particular aspect of the planning process.
 
- The LA recommend that boroughs and universities set up some form of formal post qualification and training specifically aimed at improving S106 skills.
 
- The LA also recommend the boroughs and Mayor think about pulling together those local authority planners, valuers and lawyers who already have the widest range of experience of the most complex planning agreements and making their skills available to the rest of London when they are needed.
 
- The LA feels there would be merit in ring fencing some of the S106 monies to direct towards training for planning officers in negotiation skills: Ultimately this could be self-financing if better skilled staff were able to lever in more S106 funds as a result of better training and skills.
 
- Outside the professionals there is an important role for the local councillor and the communities that they represent. They are the ones who should be aware of potential applications that may have negative impacts for their local area. They should also be involved in developing priorities for any money that S106 may generate and making sure that agreements are upheld and the money is spent.

- Government guidance quite clearly states that councillors and communities should be more involved in devising policies for managing planning obligations through Statements of Community Involvement.

- Boroughs must do more to ensure that councillors and the community have sufficient knowledge of the S106 process and the available information about what is going on. There must be a policy that is in place and clearly communicated to the community that makes the process transparent and accessible for those who want to be involved.

- Boroughs should prioritise the monitoring of S106 agreements. They should also make available, in a simple and accessible format, all details of signed S106 agreements along with the regular monitoring reports of how those agreements are being implemented.

- From now on it is not just the boroughs in London that will decide planning applications and negotiate S106 agreements. The GLA Act 2007 gives the Mayor new planning powers that will allow him to take over and determine small numbers of applications that have potential strategic importance for London. Details of these planning powers are still being finalised but it is expected that they will come into effect in April 2008.

- While there has been no formal statement from the Mayor about exactly how he will exercise his new planning powers, including his policy and priorities for S106 negotiations, the Committee expects the Mayor to act in a way that reflects our calls for boroughs to increase transparency and accountability throughout the process.

The University Of Ulster House Price Index has been published this morning showing that in the last quarter of 2007 house prices in Northern Ireland have dropped from an average of £250,000 to £230,000.

Economist Alan Bridle, Head of Research at the Bank of Ireland has stated that the local housing market has ‘hit a brick wall’.

World-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind last week brought a message of hope and optimism to Belfast when he visited the city to deliver a keynote address at the launch of the University of Ulster’s Real Estate Initiative. The event was attended by 4 Weber Shandwick, Northern Ireland staff.

The award-winning New York based-architect said: ‘I was here some years ago, and I want to tell you I’m so impressed by the amazing change and transformation in this part of Ireland, and what peace has brought - the spirit of development, the spirit of optimism’.

Over 1700 people packed Belfast’s Waterfront Hall last night to hear Mr Libeskind, the architect of the Jewish Museum in Berlin, and master planner for the Ground Zero site in Manhattan give a compelling and inspirational presentation of his landmark international buildings.

The University of Ulster Real Estate Initiative brings together key players in the real estate sector – industry leaders, major property developers, contractors and financial service providers from all over Ireland - to support a £2.5m research programme targeted at enhancing the quality and practice of urban development, construction and urban design.
The University of Ulster Real Estate Initiative is the first of its kind in Ireland, and is based on a successful model developed by Harvard University. Its objectives are to:

• promote leading-edge areas of research in real estate investment, urban development and design with direct benefits for professional practice, policy formulation and educational programmes;

• encourage engagement by academic, business and public policy decision-makers, in order to foster academic-private-public partnership;

• provide a discussion forum for developers, planners and other stakeholders in order to inform policy formulation;

• facilitate learning through workshops and executive education programmes for the real estate investment and urban development sector;

• establish a multi-disciplinary research programme in the University of Ulster on issues relevant to the sector.

For further information please contact Chris Brown at chbrown@webershandwick.com

The first Cereal Networking event of 2008 proved to be a real success yesterday morning.  Liz Peace, Chief Executive of the British Property Federation, delivered her views on the challenges facing the property market in 2008 to an audience which included senior representatives of Land Securities, DP9, RICS, Teacher Stern Selby, Turley Associates and many others.

Following her assesment of the challenges, Liz expanded on:

• the challenges and opportunities for the property industry and new Minister for Housing and Planning, Caroline Flint
• the perception that in the past the property industry has made too much money (!)
• Changes to leasecode and valuation systems
• The property industry under the Conservatives
• What might be in the budget - which will be held during MIPIM week
• The role and scope of Brussells and the European Property Federation
• Stamp Duty evasion and VAT codes
• The London Mayor’s new powers and the implications for London Boroughs.

Watch this space for details of the next Cereal Networking event.

Brouchures and questionnaires have gone out in advance of the opening of the Lakeside Basin / West Thurrock Master Plan consultation opening on Moday 11th Feb in Lakeside Shopping Centre.

The exhibition and materials have been managed and put together by Weber Shandwick in record time for client Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation.  Weber Shandwick were brought on board by Master Plan architect Benoy, who also work with Weber Shandwick in Peterborough (Hammerson Queensgate) and Telford (Hark Group and Apollo Real Estate).

In a widely trailed speech to the Fabian society this week, new Housing Minister, Caroline Flint, has shown that she will not be scared to think radically or provoke controversy. 

In her speech the Minister told her audience that “housing in Britain does not need moderate reform. It needs urgent attention and swift action”.  Mrs Flint wants to return to a situation where a council house was “something to prize” and not just a safety net in sink areas - an objective we can all support.

More controversially, Mrs Flint has linked housing and employment with the threat that those who fail to seek employment will not be given access to council housing. At the same time she called for better and more broad ranging support for tenants to ensure that they get broad ranging help and social care to break the link between council housing and unemployment.

With two important Bills to push through Parliament, we may see the order shaken up more than we think.