Click to access 229.pdf

From their website

1 Apr 2014

We would like RICS members to help us compile a submission to the inquiry into the operation of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), launched by the Communities and Local Government Committee earlier this month.  The inquiry follows research, published 4 April, 2014, that found some local planning authorities may be meeting the government’s planning performance targets despite being ineffective and displaying poor practice.

[The Research referred to above can be found HERE]
While the research suggests that the NPPF has been broadly welcomed, there needs to be a focus on good practice in local planning authorities if its potential is to be realised.  The research suggests that government planning performance targets may be driving perverse behaviour. This is especially worrying as the research also finds that a focus on good practice in local planning authorities is required if the NPPF is to be fully effective.

Clive Betts MP, Chair of the Committee Betts added that a number of local authorities are exemplary according to the performance data but described as ‘horrendous’ by those with first-hand experience of working with them. The committee particularly wants to hear about the impact of the framework on planning for housing, town centres and energy infrastructure.

The NPPF has had a seminal influence on the work of RICS members all three of those areas and more. With members working on both sides of the planning fence and across all sectors, RICS is uniquely placed to offer real insight. Through a submission to the inquiry, this is our opportunity to comment significantly on one of the most influential changes to planning policy in decades.
Jeremy Blackburn, Head of Policy & Parliamentary Affairs at RICS Full details can be found on the on the Committee’s website. This includes a link to the terms of reference, guidelines and to the full research document and a summary document.

RICS members, can of course, reply to the inquiry as individuals. If you do, we would ask that you send a copy of your submission to the RICS Policy team to help inform our response.

Story here:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenpolitics/planning/10763789/Local-authorities-hustled-into-passing-greenfield-planning-permissions.html

See initial report here: http://sidmouthindependentnews.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/more-errors-of-judgement-by-eddc-this-time-at-newton-poppleford/

Information here

Click to access regulators-code-letter.pdf

The Full Council at Knowle tomorrow evening, from 6.30pm, will generate much interest. A proposal has been made, to require public questions to be submitted in advance, and to have restricted numbers of speakers on either side of a debate. Some councillors have been asked to request a recorded vote on this particular agenda item. Full agenda here: http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/09042014_council_agenda.pdf

Here’s a copy of an EDA  press release sent out today:
East Devon Alliance (EDA), active supporters of the successful Fight for Feniton’s Future, are delighted by the sound of champagne corks popping, as the village celebrates its reprieve from mass development, after a full scale public inquiry held at the beginning of the year, and masses of hard work. Inspector Jessica Graham has ruled that Feniton needs only one development, of 32 new homes, and not the more than 200 houses proposed. So campaigners for only appropriate development, CAN successfully engage in democratic dialogue, which is what the non-party-political network, East Devon Alliance, is all about.
But EDA warns that Super Inquiries like that held at Feniton, are not the norm. It predicts that glasses will be chinking more ominously elsewhere in East Devon, as developers celebrate their biggest boost in years, thanks to East Devon District Council’s incompetence. As Planning Inspector Anthony Thickett has found the East Devon District Council’s Local Plan is fatally flawed (even at the second attempt). And without a Local Plan in place, according to National Planning guidelines, there must be a presumption in favour of development.
Consequently, as EDA Vice Chair, Dr John Withrington says, “We should not be surprised if the Local Plan has to recommend many more houses than it does at present, to recommend substantially more growth in villages in East Devon, and for developers to be even more aggressive in their proposals as a result. And all this could have been avoided had EDDC got its act together.”
Given the seriousness of the situation, the starkly complacent comment by Council Leader Paul Diviani that he is “very relaxed” about starting work again on the Local Plan, is incomprehensible. The question is, on its past record, can EDDC be trusted to produce a Local Plan that meets the Inspector’s required standard? The signs are unlikely, unless the proposal to make restrictions on public speaking is rejected by this week’s Full Council (Weds 9th April, 6.30pm, Knowle) . As the events at Feniton have shown, sound plans come from more democratic dialogue, not less.

The potential problems with the 5 year land supply were all highlighted in July 2009 in the report of a Task and Finish Forum on 5 year land supply (here are extracts):

1. Our assessment of our District wide figures shows that we have only just over five years availability. An Inspector at a planning application appeal could take the view that this is close enough to the five year threshold to side with an applicant/dismiss our arguments.
2. The District wide five year figure is based on our assessment and assumptions we have made. A developer might challenge these and come to a different conclusion (i.e. that land supply falls under five years) and persuade an Inspector that his/her evaluation is the more accurate.
3. Circumstances change and assessment/s done at the present time (and initially in 2008) can and will be out of date in the future.

Unfortunately, the document has since been removed from the EDDC website.