🏆 The Planoraks 2021 🏆
It’s beginning to look a lot like mid-December. And we all know what that means. We’re just days away from turkey (or your main course of choice), lounging around in colourful jumpers, a present or two, the Queen’s speech and (most important) catching up with our loved ones over the winners of this year’s 🏆 Planorak awards 🏆. I expect you’ve barely recovered from the drama of last year’s awards, but… tough. The world keeps turning. The show must go on. And what a show it will be…
Before we get to the big gongs, some news for you:
Remember Hillside? Quick-hit refresher is here. Well, the Supreme Court has granted permission to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s judgment on the so-called Pilkington principle - i.e. what happens when you have multiple planning permissions for development on the same site. A really important area, this. An area, some of us dare to dream, where a new Planning Bill really could achieve some big wins without riling up too many back-benchers. In any event, the Supreme Court hearing will be next year, so watch this space.
If you work in the world of London tall buildings, you really need to read this. The High Court has put an end (for now, at any rate) to a long-running debate about the meaning of policy D9 in the London Plan. In a nutshell, a well-designed tall building can accord with the development plan even if it isn’t in an area designated for tall buildings in the local plan.
We’ve talked about Catriona Riddell’s work on strategic planning lots before on this blog - see here. Well, she’s been at it again. Can I recommend casting your eyes over this - another really useful and important paper on the future of strategic planning. And if you’re time-poor - there’s even a 2 minute video version.
Now. The nominations are in. The champagne is on ice. The red carpet is looking… very red. Let’s get on with it.
🏆 Worst planning article of the year 🏆
Always the most crowded field. So many wonderful nominees (many of which were penned by last year’s winner, like this one, or even better this one which had to be amened from its original version because of a litany of basic errors). But in the end, for sheer force of deliberate misreporting which had actual real-world consequences for the planning system… it’s the Daily Telegraph, folks. And their 7th October 2021 splash front-page:
Where to start? First of all, did the PM actually “pledge” that? Nope. What he gave us was pretty dull political cliche:
“You can see how much room there is to built the homes that young families need in this country, not on green fields, not just jammed in the South East, but beautiful homes on brownfield sites in places where homes make sense”.
But the Telegraph knows he didn’t pledge it. They know it would’ve been a nonsensical thing to pledge. And it wouldn’t work: see Matthew Spry’s work on this topic here.
Nonetheless, these comments were leapt on with considerable enthusiasm by Councillors in places like Welwyn Hatfield and Ashfield as a pretext for pausing work on plan-making. All for nothing, in the end, because the Government ultimately had to confirm that the speech did not in fact herald any change in planning policy.
And we wonder why public understanding of the planning system isn’t always up to much? Sigh. Many congratulations to the winners.
🏆 Worst planning reform of the year 🏆
A tricky category because, of course, the main story this year is the lack of any meaningful reform. Class E - to - residential permitted development rights kicked in this year, but they won an award last year so that’s a non-starter. Yes, the headline is what hasn’t happened. After almost 1.5 years since the Planning White Paper, the Government still hasn’t issued its response to the consultation. Albeit through various leaks and media reports, we get the sense that most of its big ideas are dead - as I explained here.
So in a limited field, the award goes to the 2021 revision of the NPPF, and its crowbarring of the concept of “beauty” into the heart of national planning policy. For reasons I explained here, that was a bad idea. And for reasons I explained here, it isn’t working.
🏆 Worst planning law of the year 🏆
In a shock decision, the judges have awarded this gong to a planning law which wasn’t made.
You all remember the snappily titled “Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020”, right? Those were the desperately needed regulations which, among other things, allowed local authority meetings to continue virtually during the pandemic.
Well, happy days. The pandemic came to a complete end in May 2021. Or at least I think it did. Because why else would the Government have required local authorities to conduct all of their meetings in person since then?
You’re concerned? Don’t be. Sure, it might be worrying if requiring councillors and officers to meet in person was somehow putting their health at risk just to fulfil basic public functions which could easily be done online. Yes, it might be concerning if those functions were mission-critical to deal with our national crises for housing and infrastructure, or the existential crises facing our high streets. And yes, you might be troubled if we depended on local authorities being able to meet safely in order to take decisions which affect all of us, our lives, our futures, or the future of our built environment.
Not to worry, though. The Government published a consultation on this topic in March 2021. You may even have responded to it. So I’m sure they’ll get round to addressing it eventually. You have to understand: it’s busy in Government. Particularly during Christmas party season.
🏆 Most important planning blog of the year 🏆
Something we can agree on: when it comes to planning reform… follow the money. Which is short-hand for “don’t forget the horrific failures to resource local planning authorities properly in order to let them do their job”. Words are cheap (see the award for “beauty” above). Planners cost money. And all the White Papers in the world won’t solve our various crises without a proper resource package to save our system.
So can I give you one last festive recommendation. Sam Stafford’s blog on “Life on the Front Line". It’s depressing. Sobering. Slightly frightening. What comes through in the testimony of the authority officers is the dedication to (and, often, a love of) good planning. But the lack of resources is breaking people. Many are leaving the system altogether. This is a crisis. It’s totally unsustainable. Well done Sam for highlighting it in such a powerful way. His blog should be a call to arms. It isn’t all about money, but properly resourcing a system which has been decimated by cuts would be a decent start.
Well done to all the winners! Who knows what delights next year will bring. But in the meantime, I very much hope you and yours stay well this festive season. Eat too much. Sleep in. And - just for a fleeting moment - forget about the ups and downs, the ins and outs, the highways and byways of the English planning system. The show that never ends.
See you in 2022!🎄
