Prop-arazzi

The long anticipated Planning Bill is due for its Third Reading in the House of Lords this evening. The Bill is highly controversial as it is seen by NGOs and environmentalists as a mechanism for central Government to force through locally unpopular schemes such as new roads, airports and coal and nuclear power stations, thereby reducing local democratic input into the planning process. The Government’s objective is to ensure that schemes of major national strategic importance are not delayed for many years by local planning processes and inquiries, or obstructed by hostile local authorities.

Key points include:

ØThe establishment of an Infrastructure Planning Commission that has the power to determine major applications relating to;

-       Energy – including generating stations, electric lines, underground gas storage facilities, LNG facilities,  gas transporter pipe-lines and other pipe lines.

-       Transport – including highways, airports, harbour facilities, railways and rail freight interchanges.

-       Water – including dams and reservoirs and the transfer of water resources.

-       Waste water – including treatment plants.

-       Waste – including hazardous waste facilities.

Ø  Under the act development consent will be required for development which are or form part of a nationally significant infrastructure project.

Ø  If development consent is required from the Commission then other forms of consent such as regular planning permission, and consent under section 8 (1), (2) or (3) and section 74 (1) of the Listed Buildings Act are no longer required.

Ø  The Secretary of State can refer an application made to a local authority to the Commission if they deem it necessary and can direct the local authority to take no further action towards consent for the development themselves.

Ø  The applicant must prepare a statement that sets out the consultation programme that they are going to undertake throughout the pre-application process. Each local authority in the development area must be consulted on what should be in the statement. In short – the applicant and local authorities must agree who should be consulted, when and how before the consultation takes place.

Ø  The Bill states that must ‘have regard’ to any relevant responses from the consultation process that are received within the consultation period - which can be no less than 28 days from the day after the consultee was notified of the development proposals. Relevant responses are from any person responding to consultation or publicity of the development.

Ø  The Chair of the Commission can decide whether an application is to be handled by a panel or by a single commissioner. In the event of a panel the Chair of the Commission must appoint three or more members of the commission to form the panel.

Ø  The decision of the Commission can be challenged in court if judicial review proceedings are brought by a claim made up to six weeks after the decision has been made.

According to Nationwide this morning at 7am, house prices in NI have dropped 29.8% in the past year. Check out the NI figures below from the housepricecrash website on the reduction of the average house price:  Q2 2007 - £225,447 + £21,632 + 10.6% / Q3 2007 - £227,970 + £2,523 + 1.1% / Q4 2007 - £224,816 - £3,154 - 1.4% / Q1 2008 - £196,892 - £27,924 - 12.4% / Q2 2008 - £183,476 - £13,416 - 6.8% / Q3 2008 - £159970 - £23,506 - 12.8%

Reshuffle chatter suggests that Jon Cruddas MP is to replace Caroline Flint MP as Minister of State for Housing?….

 Some members of the Construction and Property Group Steering Committee

Members of the Construction and Property Group at the Cookstown Meeting

MLAs Patsy McGlone, Jim Wells and Alistair McDonnell

Group spokesperson Brendan Cunnane addresses the meeting

The Communities and Local Government Committee will publish its Eleventh Report of Session 2007-08, Planning Matters—labour shortages and skills gaps, on Thursday 24 July 2008. Stay tuned until we get a look at it ourselves and we will pull out the most relevant bits.

I know it will be built in Dubai but this building is WAY too cool not to mention. Check it out here on the BBC website.

Having attended the fascinating Colliers CRE Retail breakfast this morning, I found myself trying not to cry into my pastry.  Colliers report that the market is going to bomb for the rest of the year and the majority of next.

However, there are some good deals out there, particularly in central london, the great north east and the best out of town retail.  Roll on next year…

Caroline Flint is due to join WS and guests for breakfast tomorrow morning. She will speak about eco-towns, the credit crunch and Gordon Brown’s target of 3million new homes by 2020.

After teasing us with a glimpse of her notes to Cabinet, we are anticipating an interesting debate!

Hazel Blears has announced a doubling of the Planning Aid fund today.  The money is provided to community groups to give them more of a voice in the planning process.

Funding will increase from £1.7m to £3.2m this year.