…..“We believe our first target should be to mobilise public opinion to persuade the government to allow sites with planning permission to be included unconditionally in the estimate of the five year housing land supply.

Currently, if at any stage it can be shown that a residential site with planning permission has not been, or could not be, developed within the five year time limit, the site will immediately be removed from the estimate of the five year housing land supply. Local authorities are finding that, as they continue to grant planning permissions which then are stalled, their supply of housing land gets ever smaller. This contributes to their eventually falling victim to the five year housing land supply rule, thereby losing the ability to prevent housing development on sites which under the Local Plan were never intended for housing development.

The real problem is the five year housing land supply rule, but, as a first step, let us get a fairer way of estimating the housing land supply itself, viz. have sites with planning permission qualify for unconditional inclusion in the estimate of the housing land supply. That is politically achievable in the short term – it would require merely a change to Note 11 which qualifies par. 47 of the NPPF in which the rule is specified. So please, everyone start campaigning for that!

http://www.cprelancashire.org.uk/campaigns/housing-and-planning/housing/the-issues/item/2144-five-year-housing-land-supply

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transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

6 Sep 2014

Posted under

EDDC, Environment (local), Honiton/ Gittisham, Local Plan, NPPF

Gittisham – the less bad news, though it’s bad enough

Local MP Neil Parish, bewildered by the Gittisham planning application in its earlier stages, had already arranged for it to be called in for decision by Secretary of State Eric Pickles even before the EDDC latest decision.

This will be a real test of so-called “sustainability in the National Planning Policy Framework: a reserve site if there had ever been a local plan, access by one narrow country road constrained by a bridge, reliance on cars to get to shops and other facilities, real worries that doctors and education establishments cannot cope, on the direct boundary of an AONB. The pill sugared by the “promise” of social housing which, as we know, disappears from successful planning applications like morning mist in high summer in East Devon.

And all totally avoidable if we had in place the Local Plan (and Community Infrastructure Levy) that EDDC has been “working on” since 2007.

Another planning application that is left to the local community (and its concerned MP) to fight thanks to EDDC’s officers and councillors.

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transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

5 Sep 2014

Posted under

Democracy, EDDC, Environment (local), Honiton/ Gittisham, Local Plan, NPPF

Comments

1 Comment

Now you see it, now you don’t …

EDA member Paul comments on the nonsensical and contradictory EDDC double-think…. this is his personal reflection.

“Is it just me or do others find the contradictory messages sent out by EDDC completely nonsensical (or perhaps from cloud-cuckoo-land)?

In this week’s Pullman’s View From Honiton

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?pbid=03a901df-0b77-4e35-90e6-93ca8d117094

we have:

* Two similar articles about the lack of a Local Plan (pages 3 “Council criticised for delays to plan” and page 4 “Council leaders must ‘get a grip’ on local plan”);

* An article about the 300 homes between Honiton and Gittisham (page 6 “Decision on new homes expected”)

From the first of the two articles about the Local Plan, “an EDDC spokesperson said that the council still had the power to prevent development of unsuitable sites. … ‘The lack of a five-year housing land supply in effect means that we cannot refuse housing developments simply because they are outside the built-up area boundaries that define the extent of our settlements. The majority of our settlements are adjacent to Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Green Wedges and other designations that restrict development anyway and these designations still apply anyway with equal strength regardless of whether we have a five-year land supply or not.”

Yet the 300 homes proposed in Honiton are EXACTLY THAT – adjacent to an AONB – and the development was initially approved despite this (and despite access issues and a illogical report from the county council’s Highways officer) and has been called back for review because of the strength and pressure of local opposition.

So the statement from the EDDC spokesperson (should we think this was written or approved by council leader Paul Diviani or Chief Executive Mark Williams?) is not backed up by the facts – and this is not the first time as their annual report is a masterpiece of spin and economies with the truth.

It seems to me that when these sorts of obviously contradictory statement get published in the same newspaper, it just makes EDDC look stupid / incompetent / poorly led / two-faced / full of **** / lying / away with the fairies / one sandwich short of a picnic (but judge for yourself and select the adjectives you like or add your own).”

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transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

3 Sep 2014

Posted under

Cranbrook, EDDC, Environment (local), Flooding, Local Plan, NPPF

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2 Comments

Community Infrastructure Levy – what’s bigger than an omnishambles?

Megashambles? Nuclearshambles? Whatever it is, we have it.

Take a look at this letter from EDDC to the Planning Inspector:

Click to access lettertoinspector290814cil.pdf

The Planning Inspector, when he threw out the draft Local Plan also threw out EDDC’s attempt at setting a Community Infrastructure Levy. Useless figures in the draft Local Plan meant no confidence could be placed in the figures for CIL.

If you are a councillor, how can you hold your head up in public and admit that this has been allowed to happen on your watch – bearing in mind that the Act that brought in the need to set a Levy came into being in 2008:

“The Planning Act 2008 provides a wide definition of the infrastructure which can be funded by the levy, including transport, flood defences, schools, hospitals, and other health and social care facilities. This definition allows the levy to be used to fund a very broad range of facilities such as play areas, parks and green spaces, cultural and sports facilities, district heating schemes and police stations and other community safety facilities. This gives local communities flexibility to choose what infrastructure they need to deliver their development plan.”

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6313/1897278.pdf

So, now S106 payments have been tightened up to exclude those payments that should be covered by CIL, our developers get a double bonus: build anywhere and don’t pay for the infrastructure that the development should have – such as flood defences, for example. No levy, no obligation.

And what does ” further assessment in respect of Cranbrook and its future development” mean?

Do local people really grasp what a terrible mess we are in?

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transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

2 Sep 2014

Posted under

Austerity cuts, EDDC, Environment (local), Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Comments

5 Comments

Pickles changing national policies on parking

But will it be enough for Sidmouth residents now facing a 330% increase in their parking charges?

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19805:residents-and-businesses-to-be-able-to-force-councils-to-review-parking-restrictions&catid=64&Itemid=32

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transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

2 Sep 2014

Posted under

EDDC, Environment (local), Honiton/ Gittisham

Comments

1 Comment

Houses in Gittisham: any chance of EDDC getting it right?

Don’ hold your breath – they’ve made a dog’s dinner of it the last couple of times. How have they managed to get it so wrong? A question for the Chairman of the Development Management Committee …..

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/300-homes-fields-Honiton-Gittisham-backed/story-22864075-detail/story.html

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transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

2 Sep 2014

Posted under

Environment (local)

Betjeman revived

Written by Mike Temple after viewing the Betjeman tv programme where places Betjeman loved were revisited:

John Betjeman, we need you now;
The country soon will be like Slough;
There’ll be no grass to graze a cow –
All built upon.

The Planning Law and Councils feed
The hungry mouths of builders’ greed –
And they don’t build for social need –
It’s all a “con”.

But let us all join hand in hand
From Axe to Tweed and make a stand
To save our green and pleasant land –
With your help, John.

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transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

31 Aug 2014

Posted under

DCC, Environment (local)

Spending on SW roads woeful compared to other regions

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/South-West-slow-lane-roads-spending/story-22848986-detail/story.html

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transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

29 Aug 2014

Posted under

Environment (local), Newton Poppleford

Plans for building close to a Site of Special Scientific Interest head for Supreme Court

The East Devon Pebblebed Heath, owned by Clinton Devon Estates, near Newton Poppleford is an SSSI:

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19788:row-over-planning-permission-for-lorry-park-near-sssi-heads-to-supreme-court&catid=63&Itemid=31

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transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

27 Aug 2014

Posted under

DCC, EDDC, Environment (local)

“Right to Contest” use of Government property

It’s a bit odd, but below is a toolkit which lists various types of public property where, if you think that is is redundant or could be put to better use and the government agrees, it will go up for sale.

The scale and type of property in our area is astonishing from, for example, a single-office room in Honiton to its (redundant surely) Magistrates Court, to a house in Exmouth and everything inbetween!

https://www.gov.uk/find-government-property

“The ‘Right to Contest’ guidance says that anyone – including businesses, local authorities or members of the public – can issue a challenge.
This is as long as they believe that all the following apply:

Where the land is owned by a central government department or one of their arms’ length bodies, the site: is potentially surplus or redundant; could be put to better economic use, “eg for housing or to help businesses develop or expand”.

The right can be used to challenge central government sites which are in use, as long as the challenger thinks that operations could be moved to a different location.

Where land is owned by a local authority or certain other public bodies: the site is empty or under-used; there are no plans to bring it back into use.”

Hmmmm …..!

Source: http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19745:government-property-finder-tool-launched-in-bid-to-increase-use-of-right-to-contest&catid=58&Itemid=26

Posted by

transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

26 Aug 2014

Posted under

Affordable and Social Housing, Democracy, EDBF, EDDC, Environment (local), Feniton/ Talaton, NPPF, Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Comments

5 Comments

EDA Chairman 1 – Leader of East Devon District Council own goal – and a STUNNING revelation!!!!

This morning the Chairman of East Devon Alliance, Paul Arnott, once again went head-to-head with a top EDDC councillor – this time EDDC Council Leader Paul Diviani on the lack of a Local Plan. The EDA Chairman said that he was not surprised but still disappointed that, having been dealing with this project since 2007, EDDC still is not in a position to put a (third) draft Local Plan forward to the Planning Inspectorate and leaving the district vulnerable to speculative development. And he comes up with a STUNNING REVELATION why he thinks current research for the Local Plan is wrong and the reason why it is being held up. Read on …

Councillor Diviani trod the well-worn track of saying that there really is nothing to worry about – EDDC has so far won more than 70% of its appeals and (occasionally) says no to developers. The EDA Chairman noted that it is NOT EDDC alone that champions these appeals – particularly in the case of Feniton and Seaton, where it was local people who raised funds and made their case to inspectors, so implying that EDDC alone does this is somewhat disingenuous.

However, then came the total shock. You may recall that two sets of consultants employed by EDDC before the last iteration of the Local Plan said that they thought that around 12,000 homes should be built in the district. EDDC (and, it has to be said members of the East Devon Business Forum and developers, sometimes the same thing) said, no, no – this could not be right and at least 15,000 homes were needed – which is what got put in the draft put before the Inspector.

The Inspector threw out the plan, specifically saying that he could see no back-up research that confirmed the 15,000 number that EDDC came up with.

And what does Leader Diviani say to this – if we take his interview at face value believing that he is being topical we could read it as THREE sets of consultants coming to around the same figure but we must assume he is talking about the two reports? He says, no no – they CANNOT be right. The government wants us to build more houses, we NEED more houses so we are going to “look at the figures again” because they must be “realistic”.

HOW MORE REALISTIC CAN YOU GET THAT TWO DIFFERENT SETS OF CONSULTANTS COMING TO THE SAME CONCLUSION THAT WE NEED 11,000 – 12,000 NEW HOMES AND NOT 15,000?

So, here we have it – Councillor Diviani thinks he is more expert than consultants and will not give up until – presumably – another set of consultants comes up with the figure that he and the government want. A figure not based on evidence. As usual – fire the arrow, then draw the bulls-eye around it.

So, we ask ourselves: where did the figure of 15,000 that Councillor Diviani so desperately wants come from? Developers? Out of thin air? from the Government which has told us (via the NPPF) to come up with LOCAL figures backed up with LOCAL evidence?

Some very, very, trenchant questions need to be asked. Not least by our councillors and, particularly, by Councillor Diviani

Source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p024pn5v

(THE INTERVIEW IS 2 HOURS 6 MIN AT 8.38 AM)

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transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

24 Aug 2014

Posted under

Environment (local), Misc, NPPF

Nick Boles has a “new” job

his new job is “Minister for Construction”. But surely, that’s what he has beeb all along?

Still, at least now he won’t have to pretend that he’s also interested in proper – community-based – planning!

http://www.infrastructure-intelligence.com/article/aug-2014/government-confirms-nick-boles-new-minister-construction

Posted by

transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

21 Aug 2014

Posted under

Affordable and Social Housing, DCC, Duty to co-operate, EDDC, Environment (local), Local Plan, Neighbourhood Plans, NPPF

Comments

5 Comments

The delayed Local Plan – the missing document tracked down and a commentary on it (“What the Dickins”)

An EDA correspondent has tracked down the elusive “attachment” to the agenda of the Development Management Committee regarding the delay to the Local Plan (see post below)

DM260814-Emerging Housing Numbers

and a critique of this document is given below by the same correspondent:

What the Dickins?

A paper by Matt Dickins, EDDC’s Planning Policy Manager, to be presented to Development Mgmt Committee on 26 August (see link above) makes for depressing reading. Residents of East Devon hoping that EDDC will finally be getting its act together on housing land provision will be deeply disappointed.

As many will know, EDDC is obliged to prove that it has an objective evaluation of housing land provision. The absence of such an evaluation, and EDDC’s failure to prove both a five-year land supply and have a Local Plan in place, means that it remains open season for developers. An objective evaluation of housing land need is achieved through the production of a Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA). In his scathing review of EDDC’s draft Local Plan earlier this year Planning Inspector Anthony Thickett called the absence of an up to date SHMA a “serious failing” on the part of the Council. (He also found that EDDC’s argument for 4,000 ‘overspill’ migration numbers, mostly from Exeter, had “no empirical basis”.)

Does Mr Dickins come bearing good news for EDDC and the people of East Devon that the day of the SHMA is at hand? Not at all. His paper comprises six pages of complacent waffle. Notwithstanding that some research should have already been done, “unfortunately there have been delays”. There may need to be discussions with adjacent authorities. (We know that, Mr Dickins. Exeter CC is looking to appropriate East Devon countryside.) While Mr Dickins’ paper points out that demographically East Devon is likely to see a major increase in population from the over 65s – surely implying a need for more sheltered accommodation in towns with services than new build on greenfield sites – his paper concludes lamely that “at this stage it is not possible to provide a timetable for completion of the full SHMA work”! The consequence? “We can only conclude that we do not have a 5 year housing land supply and continue to consider application [sic] accordingly”.

To translate: EDDC has no idea when the SHMA will be finished, it won’t even venture a guess, and in the meantime the lack of a five-year housing land supply [and Local Plan] means that developers will consider to maintain the upper hand in a district where two-thirds of the land is AONB. This is a woeful paper: DMC should send Mr Dickins to the Naughty Step and require him to try again. Time someone got a grip while there is any countryside left in East Devon.

Posted by

transparencyforeastdevon

Posted on

21 Aug 2014

Posted under

Affordable and Social Housing, DCC, Duty to co-operate, EDDC, Environment (local), Local Plan, Misc, Neighbourhood Plans, NPPF

Comments

2 Comments

Local Plan delayed again – unlikely to be approved for many months

Recap: our draft Local Plan was thrown out by the Planning Inspector, Mr Thickett, because – oh, so many reasons – mainly because pretty much all of the figures in it were either too old or too unreliable. We were told to go back to the drawing board.

A crucial aspect of a local plan is that there must be a “5 year land supply” – i.e. enough available land to meet the district’s agreed needs for the next 5 years to enable building to start quickly and to keep up with demand. Those local authorities which had persistently underperformed in this area over the previous period were told that they would have to have a 6 year land supply – EDDC was one of those authorities.

Whichever way EDDC seemed to cut it, we never reached that magic 5 or 6 year level. As a result, developers are pretty much given free rein to build anywhere in East Devon unless EDDC can provide very strong reasons that they cannot – this as a result of the Coalition government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which ripped up all previous rules and gave the green light to building just about anywhere.

EDDC thereafter took this to heart and passed pretty much anything and everything that came its way (and is still coming its way) from developers. It was left to local communities (Feniton, Seaton, Newton Poppleford) to argue their own corners and find their own money to fight developers. In Feniton and Seaton the communities rallied and defeated them (only to find that, in both places, it seems the developers are coming back to fight again). In Newton Poppleford there was a perverse decision from the DMC – yes to a Clinton Devon Estates development but no to another developer at Badger Close using the same reasoning, but turned on its head for the latter.

EDDC promised the Planning Inspector that there would be a fast review (which had to include dealing with other local authorities in the area where they said that they had run out of space for their developments and needed us to build to take up their shortfall). The Inspector told EDDC that he would be ready to re-examine the draft local plan in October or November 2014.

Bear in mind that the new draft local plan once again had to go out for public consultation – a project that lasts at least 6 weeks and then demands officer time to collate the results. It became pretty obvious that EDDC was not going to meet this target.

Now we have confirmation that this is the case. At the next

Development Management Committee on Tuesday 26 August 2014 at 2 pm

a report is tabled on the agenda entitled “Objectively Assessed Housing Numbers for East Devon – Emerging Work.

On that agenda, currently (21/8/2014 10.40 am) there is supposed to be a link to that report but the link is missing so anyone attempting to read the report will not be able to find it. However, an eagle-eyed correspondent on Councillor Claire Wright’s blog has traced it (unfortunately the link given does not work) and no amount of searching on the EDDC website brings it up. However, this is what the document says:

“At this stage it is not possible to provide a timetable for completion of the full SHMA (strategic housing market assessment) work. There are complexities to the task that will need working through. However, officers of all the authorities involved in the commission are working together to come to a final set of recommendations on the objectively assessed housing numbers for the SHMA as a whole and for the individual authorities”.

It adds “In the meantime based on the available information we can only conclude that we do not have a 5 year housing land supply and continue to consider applications accordingly”.

It then suggests that the growth point area near Skypark will cause many businesses to set up and as a result housing should be factored in to address the extra jobs (see below for a post on those extra jobs which are mostly self-employment and particularly self-employment in the construction industry – ephemeral jobs).

So, the status quo continues. No land supply, happy developers, very, very unhappy residents.

East Devon Watch

Category Archives: Environment (local)

Government gets “red card” on flooding and environment from its own MPs

Surrey group starts new political party in response to planning issues

Cash-strapped Devon developer gets £4 million Government help …

Gittisham – the less bad news, though it’s bad enough

Now you see it, now you don’t …

Community Infrastructure Levy – what’s bigger than an omnishambles?

Pickles changing national policies on parking

Houses in Gittisham: any chance of EDDC getting it right?

Betjeman revived

Spending on SW roads woeful compared to other regions

Plans for building close to a Site of Special Scientific Interest head for Supreme Court

“Right to Contest” use of Government property

Nick Boles has a “new” job

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HOW MORE REALISTIC CAN YOU GET THAT TWO DIFFERENT SETS OF CONSULTANTS COMING TO THE SAME CONCLUSION THAT WE NEED 11,000 – 12,000 NEW HOMES AND NOT 15,000?

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