As the building industry is looking at ways it can continue to operate through the coming months, our Chelgate Local division has assembled an engagement package that takes direct contact out of the process but still enables effective consultations to take place. With most people confined to their homes, an effective campaign will be able to maximise outreach into the community and to engage hard-to-reach groups. We have created a combination of measures to promote the consultation as widely as possible within the local communities. These include direct mail to their homes, providing multiple channels for responses, increased social […]

  The impact of the Coronavirus on planning process, housing pledges in spring 2020 budget, Sevenoaks local plan is dead, should beauty be at the centre of our planning system and how the Environment Bill is likely to impact the planning system.   Housing Pledges in 2020 Spring Budget (The impact of the Coronavirus on planning process) By Kasia Banas, Account Director With the budget focused on the response to the Coronavirus crisis, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak did not have much space left for housing announcements, something the industry has got used to over the years. The key pledges consist […]

This month: Do we see a shift?, What could the conservative victory mean for housing?, Are Councillors at risk of losing their decision-making powers from planning? The importance of community engagement in planning and Government Cabinet Reshuffle 2020.   Do we see a shift? By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property Three local plans have failed, and there are rumours that the Ministry is becoming more proactive. Sevenoaks, Uttlesford and now St Albans local plans have all hit the buffers and MHCLG has been pushing various councils to make more progress. The Sevenoaks local plan foundered late last year […]

  This month: Party conferences (Part 1), Politics of planning in Essex, Planning gains transparency and Great new hires for Chelgate Local!   Brexit steals the show in Brighton By Angus Reilly, Intern Although it’s fair to say events elsewhere in the Supreme Court were to end up overshadowing everything else at Labour Conference, events in Brighton may have implications for the party and country in years to come. As well as plenty of infighting, Labour set the groundwork for an election campaign with a series of radical proposals that would have attracted media attention had it not been for […]

The new Prime Minister has had a radical clear out of ministers following his appointment yesterday. Of interest to the development industry will be the new MHCLG Secretary of State and another new Housing and Planning Minister. Robert Jenrick – Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick is the youngest member in Mr Johnson’s new cabinet, and the most recent arrival in Westminster. The appointment as the MHCLG Secretary of State is a big promotion for the former lawyer who was first elected in 2014 in the Newark byelection, following the resignation of Patrick Mercer MP due to the […]

This month: All change at Basildon Council … again, Stansted growth and Uttlesford’s local plan, London sales and lettings, and Unlocking Growth in Oxford and Oxfordshire   All change at Basildon Council … again By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property The politics of Basildon Council never provides a dull moment: for the fourth time, in as many years, the administration has changed hands again. The May local elections saw the council move into ‘no overall control’ with the Conservatives losing two seats and its slim majority. The opposition groups have joined in an alliance to form an administration, […]

This month: May Local Elections, New councillors, Hertfordshire Growth Plans and Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor May Local Elections By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property The dust is settling following the dramatic May local elections in which the two main parties saw very significant losses. Ordinarily, the party in power would be expected to lose members mid-term and for the opposition to pick them up, but that did not happen. Both parties lost seats to the benefit of the LibDems, independent and resident groups. Although many are seeing this as a protest vote rather than a trend, caused by the […]

This month: Spring Statement, MHCLG musings, Housing Delivery Test and London development slumps Housing blooms in Spring Statement By Kasia Banas, Consultant While mostly overshadowed by the Brexit debates and votes, this year’s Spring Statement included a number of important housing announcements. The new package is part of government’s wider strategy to deliver 300,000 a year by the mid-2020s and includes new infrastructure funding, reforms of parts of the planning system and increasing energy efficiency of new builds. Housing Guarantees The Chancellor confirmed that £3 billion will be available in loans to housing associations, to facilitate delivery of 30,000 new […]

Marching into Spring: Rosewell Review, focus on micro-homes, Housing Delivery Test, and importance of infrastructure   Rosewell ‘appeals’ for quicker decisions By Kasia Banas, Consultant The time taken to determine planning appeals could be cut by almost half, a Government-commissioned review has found. In the report published on 12 February 2019, Bridget Rosewell CBE concluded that the average duration of the process could be “slashed” from 47 weeks to around 26 weeks. She found that “outdated administrative processes and poor IT infrastructure were unnecessarily holding up cases”, and “a lack of suitably qualified inspectors was also hampering efforts to set […]

  2019 picks up speed: Land values languish, key infrastructure projects, jobs boom but young suffer, and breakfast briefing recap Three key infrastructure projects to watch in 2019 By Daniel Fryd, Account Director Ahead of Chelgate’s Breakfast Briefing on ‘Infrastructure-led Growth’ on 6th March, we take a look at three of the key infrastructure projects set to drive growth and change the shape of the country. No earth will be moved, nor any bricks will be laid for any of these projects this year but make no mistake: 2019 will be a critical year for each of these schemes. With […]