Landmark's Development Management Conference 2016

Baptist Church, Leicester

Front Cover - Latham Architects

A packed Charles Street Baptist Church this October saw 150 planning and related professionals hear presentations upon the latest issues in development management.

It even proved exciting as the twitter feed received, half way through the morning regarding the High Court's ruling on Brexit, sent a frisson through the proceedings. This was the announcement that Brexit was to be made even more complicated by requiring consideration by Parliament. And needless to say that provoked a legal speculation on the immediate issues for planning. It certainly gave the day a relevance that as an organiser I could not have expected.

What these annual events prove more than anything else is that with so many changes that occur in a year any practitioner just has to keep up to date to perform effectively. Landmark's Annual Midlands event (now in its 18th year) really does that by focusing on the legal changes (statute, Court interpretation, policy guidance and practice) before reviewing the year's hot technical subjects. With apologies for sounding so gushing, but I really believe it.

Planning balance and its proper consideration in two limbs tests instigated by the NPPF, particularly in issues related to heritage assets, are matters that need to be properly understood. This and the weight to be given to each issue was a key focus of the day. It helps give Planners our 'unique' perspective: namely what are the material planning issues to any decision and then how to properly judge the balance. Planners are generalists not specialists, but this gives us a critical place in the development process. Rather than the sectional interests that we have to suffer constantly in the daily grind.

In the afternoon the role play emphasised this balancing judgement with a review of two cases heard within a week of each other in the same village that led to opposite results on the same facts. You might think you could not make it up, but it was true! But it was also highly educational on the art of town planning. It is an art not a science.

Later Iain Reid provided an excellent review of both the genus and appropriate analysis of 'valued' landscapes: a concept largely brought to the fore in the NPPF.   And then to finish off Nick Sanderson described emerging changes in ecology evaluation and how dealing with the tricky issues of habitat and protected species can be improved. And is being done in places.

All in all a great day, which for me is always a highlight in the year. 

Peter Wilkinson

Design Quality and Market Value

My thoughts on our latest professional seminar held on 25th April.

And the big winner on the night was………… Buildings for Life 12. The use of this now qualitative assessment tool, in its latest iterations for judging the quality of housing developments, was independently focused on by two of the speakers and supported by the whole panel. To work it needs to be backed by specific Statutory Plan authority and supported by knowledgable people both in Development Management and the industry as a whole. As Paul Collins said in his opening slide: "collaboration between all the parties is critical to improve design quality." James Wilson's view was that post recession blander housing has been encouraged /allowed due to high need and demand, so standards need to continue to be improved.

The seminar, backed by the RTPI, RIBA, RICS, Landscape Institute, ProCon and Academy for Urbanism, attracted 115 people to an evening again at the Parcel Yard bar in central Leicester. In a departure from the usual we had three speakers: Paul Collins (Nottingham Trent), Grant Butterworth (Leicester City) and James Wilson (Davidsons Developments), all speaking to a pecha kucha style* on the topic of the night. The intention was to look at Design Quality and Market Value from three different professional perspectives: chartered surveyor, planner and developer.

A recent scheme in Scraptoft by Davidsons

This led on to a substantial discussion regarding the propensity in most Local Plans for large allocations, typically described as Sustainable Urban Extensions (SUEs). The massive upfront costs, including those relating to trying to generate a distinctive place, put them largely in the hands of a few major housebuilders who have a semi monopoly position driven by finance, not drive for quality per se. One can understand the political and administrative advantage of this approach. However, perhaps we need to build more on the multitude of attractive and successful locations we already have with more smaller schemes; enhancing them with extra or improved facilities (doctors surgery / leisure centre / new store etc) rather than starting from scratch?

I don’t think we drilled down into the value side enough (like we did not achieve any resolution of a simple question on how much individual elevational enhancements, such as chimneys, justified their cost in market value terms).  It is difficult to prove beyond doubt that extra costs will be recovered (RICS research). However, the evidence presented on the night was more than interesting, and showed that strong place making in general can improve house price premiums.  There were seeming failures even here, for example with early results for Upton in Northamptonshire appearing to show a negative return. 

Thanks to all the speakers. If anyone has particular topics in the future that they would like to see aired please say so, because the overall approach certainly attracts a good audience.

* Pecha kucha is a Japanese originating presentational format where each speaker is restricted to a specific number of styles and each slide moves on at a prearranged regular time, say 20 seconds."

Creating successful places in the East Midlands: Challenges Catalysts and Opportunities

Last night I attended an extremely stimulating evening event organized by the RTPI Urban Design Network in Leicester’s fast becoming iconic City Hall and specifically its wonderfully restored lecture theatre.

Five speakers (from the different professional disciplines of Valuer, Architecture, Landscape and Transport), chaired by Leicester’s Head of Planning each gave first rate presentations from their perspective.

Friars Mill. Another emerging successful place in Leicester.

Rather than set out what each speaker said I prefer to observe the particular thoughts and messages I got out of an excellent evening’s entertainment, followed up by discussions in the pub (It was so good I was glad I gave up my weekly indoor tennis slot to attend).

The modernist mantra of ‘Form follows Function’ was ditched for ‘Form follows Fiction’ (attributed to Bernard Tschumi apparently). In other words to have or create special places you need to form a story that resonates. There has to be a purpose or a shared experience from the users that transcends their individual experience and this creates people’s critical associations and memories.

We all know there is a multiplicity of ingredients that go into creating successful spaces. I well remember the noughties, when DETR’s seven objectives of character; continuity and enclosure; quality of the public realm; ease of movement; legibility; adaptability; and diversity became for a while a sort of mantra. What the Leicester event so strongly demonstrated was that however hard one tries to define and classify, there is such a broad range of possible responses and solutions that it is impossible to be prescriptive.

Going forward on how we either create those special places or repair existing ones what did I get out of it?

We have to find better ways of introducing greater individuality and distinctiveness. Places should not be dominated by one land ownership or one developer or one funder with one solution that, with the best will in the world, stifles individual creativity. (And I accept that there are always exceptions for geniuses like Nash and his Regent Street London, but even here only one of the buildings is now an original).

Connectivity with a purpose and ease (at a human scale) to move through places and spaces is another fundamental. The sequence of movement and spaces on New Walk Leicester is a particularly special place for me. Surprisingly none of the speakers mentioned that as one of their special East Midlands places on their ‘bucket’ list. Generally they bemoaned the paucity in our region, although I think they were being too critical.

I was really impressed by the quality of the landscaping and drainage, seemingly combined with excellent management, of the former docks area of Stockholm, described by David Singleton.

And finally (on something I know well, but still learnt from) Barry Pritchard’s review of the wide variety of highway and pedestrianisation solutions adopted by the Leicester Council over the years in the City Centre. And how the jury is still out on some of the current solutions like ‘shared spaces.’

Thanks to everyone involved (in alphabetical order and in addition to the above): Grant Butterworth, Nils Feldmann, Tim Garratt, Neil Stacey and Justin Webber.

Peter Wilkinson

Change is on the Way

The new Government has not taken long to get into its stride by introducing changes to the Planning system. Most changes these days require alterations either to primary or secondary legislation, or at least prior public consultation. So it is 2016 that will see the implementation of many of these alterations.

What do we know so far? Well often the devil can be in the detail, so while the full implications may be unknown the direction of travel is clear.

The Housing and Planning Bill should be enacted in the spring.  Key aspects that will change the context for planning professionals include:

·    Planning permission in principle for brownfield sites securable through direct applications or qualifying documents such as development plans and the proposed statutory registers. Secondary legislation will be required to provide the necessary detail.

·      The Bill is set to create a statutory duty upon Councils to promote “Starter Homes” to buy at a discounted (at least 20%) price. This category will be added to the current definition of Affordable Housing (social rented, affordable rented and intermediate (i.e. with an element of equity belonging to the occupiers) housing.

The Government is also currently out to public consultation (to 22nd February) on the first proposed changes to the NPPF since its publication in 2012. Suggested revisions include:

·      Revised definition of affordable housing to follow the Bill above.

·      Higher density housing would be expected around commuter hubs “where feasible”.

·      A greater support for housing development on brownfield sites (including in the green belt).

·      A new “housing delivery” test to allow for action where Councils are failing to meet targets for new homes provision.

·      Being more supportive to new settlements.

·      Greater encouragement for small site housing development.

Other changes in the pipeline or recently enacted include:

·      Temporary rights to convert offices to residential, which would have expired in May, have been made permanent.

·      New rights to convert light industrial buildings and launderettes to residential use are likely.

·      Equally, the redevelopment of office sites for housing in principle may be introduced.

·      Councils will have to have produced their local plans by “early 2017” or face Government intervention.

It seems that yet again the only certainty is uncertainty. But here at Landmark Planning we will endeavour to keep ourselves and everyone else up-to-date.


Peter Wilkinson

More Questions that Answers: Devolution is the moment's hot topic.

The airing of the issues proved a major success at a recent RTPI East Midlands conference that I helped organize on Devolution in Leicester.

Pleasingly we managed to attract some big hitters: from this year’s national President of the RTPI to Alberto Costa M.P. for South Leicestershire.

The morning was split into two sessions to consider two separate aspects of devolution: from Central Government to sub regions; and, district planning to neighbourhood planning.

In both cases the general consensus was that it could or should be a good thing.

Ian Morgan a D2N2 Board Member, but also from a medium size group of bus companies very forcibly put over the positive benefits from his own experience. Decisions should always be devolved down to the lowest level of subsidiarity. That is the principle in his company.

While this was very well received by the audience, I just have a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I would not always agree. The public also needs consistency to be confident of, for example, service quality or the amount of service. You trust and use say Costa Cafés throughout the land, because you know what to expect. The format is micromanaged, so people know what they are getting and feel comfortable, as they are risk adverse in choosing say a café visit.

The same might apply in, for example, neighbourhood planning. Formats, names processes can perhaps best follow standard guidelines.  This gives the public confidence that a rogue plan is not being produced that unfairly benefits one group or individual over another.

The same might be said of a major firm investing in a region wanting to be confident that what it says on the tin in say the West Midlands is the same as in Scotland?

I also found an observation by Alberto Costa MP, with his strong Scottish accent, very illuminating. People see a lot of the drive for regional / sub regional devolution as a result of Scotland’s success in achieving much greater autonomy. What is good for the Scots is good for the rest of UK Plc. However, in some ways at least one can argue that Scotland is the most centralized country in the UK. For example, there is one police force: Police Scotland. And that centralization has led to much less local influence on operational matters by the public and overall effectiveness of the constabulary in his opinion.

I can guess that the cynical among us may feel that this devolution is just a power grab by ambitious and power hungry politicians?

But the overall message is that we are entering a new era. It has a long way to go. It is going to happen anyway, so lets take out time and try and get it right.

Leicester's Business Summit

Leicester(shire) has been running a business festival for the last two weeks (to Nov 6th).

There were a whole host of events put together in six months by a collection of County organisations from Leicester University, our Economic Partnership (LLEP) and our local newspaper , the Mercury.

I attended the flagship first day "Summit" and have to say I was very impressed. Three key speakers all gave really insightful views on topics that were either directly or tangentially linked to business. The calibre was high, such that even the M.C. for the day (David Byron) was the former managing director of BMI Baby the low cost carrier bought by the British Airways group.

First was David Smith the Economics Editor of the Sunday Times. I had gone to the event really to specifically hear him talk, as I had read his column most Sundays for many years. He gave a generally benign prognosis for the U.K. Economy in the next few years, but I was most interested to hear what he had to say on the forthcoming referendum. 

My view is (was?) veering towards the exit, arguing that excessive regulation and cost was detrimental to the U.K.,  while surely we could go alone. Smith opined that regulation was largely here to stay and being in or out would not make much difference. An accommodation on free trade would be struck, if there was a Brexit, as it would be in the best interests of both sides to smooth an exit. However, there were two factors that, on balance, convinced him to stay. 

First the uncertainty and disruption would blight our economy for a few years; and, secondly, what makes us believe that we would do well outside. That was the consideration before entering in 1974, which we had rejected,  as our traditional world wide markets (particularly the Commonwealth) were already losing interest in our goods and services. 40 years on, it would not likely to be any better, especially with those partners, such as the commonwealth, who we had turned our back on then. In a totally non polemic way he had me seriously questioning my previous inclinations.

Second and third up were Bonita Harris and Gareth Davies. Equally interesting and persuasive. One spoke about her motivation  to become the youngest British woman at 22 to climb (from a start 2 years before when climbing out of bed was her biggest altitude rush of the day) Mount Everest. Gareth Davies, Chairman of Footsie 100 companies William Hill and Wolseley, gave a much more prosaic review of how to succeed in business  - but nevertheless interesting and illuminating from over 40 years in business.

This Business Festival definitely looks as though it is something whose time has come for the City and County.

Green Building: Sustainability in Design

The latest in our bi-annual series of inter-professional events attracted 74 people to this free CPD. Held as usual at the Parcel Yard pub next to Leicester train station for an hour after work, it could be followed by a quick drink and socialize. This is a winning formula for the mixing of the disciplines on a key topic that has relevance for everyone.

As usual two speakers spoke for 15 mins (slightly stretched!) on their personal experience. This time on the trials and tribulations of building homes to high environmental standards.

Peter Conboy of Blueprint described his company’s work over the last nine years providing modern innovative homes in a deprived part of Nottingham, through three iterations of schemes.

Blueprint in The Meadows, Nottingham

Gusto Group, The Edge, Lincoln

Peter Wilkinson

Steff Wright of the Gusto Group equally talked in a time series way of his work for over 15 years on the same journey, culminating at present, in a development near Lincoln Showground called “ The Edge”.

What both speakers showed was that (in not necessary propitious locations for values) a significant premium had been achieved. And this could justify the extra costs associated with setting higher standards.

Collectively they agreed that the key lessons were to concentrate on ‘fabric first’; do not focus on eco bling; keep it simple (both in build and subsequent operation); and, attempt to achieve a high thermal mass in the building to minimize the impact of very high or low temperatures outside. Achieving this may mean not satisfying current sometimes simplistic standards (e.g. strict adherence to Passivhaus may limit your ability to provide attractive well lit spaces to take advantage of a northern summer).

What both speakers also agreed was that up scaling these small projects to the mass market (and it is only the mass market that could satisfy Britain’s chronic housing shortage) was a gigantic leap. Their lessons, however, had relevance at the leading edge of research. It also pointed to a much greater need for off site manufacture to simplify, reduce costs and achieve greater quality control.