Room 106

The secret chamber where all the latest planning announcements and decisions are issued before extracting the key information for planning professionals.    In this edition, we’ll be discussing:   The Labour government's first local plan intervention. Long-awaited new national planning guidance on the flood risk sequential test.  And the first planning pronouncem...

The secret chamber where all the latest planning announcements and decisions are issued before extracting the key information for planning professionals.    In this deep-dive edition, we’ll be taking a look ahead at the government’s planning policy and legislation programme over the next six months – what are the key announcements and measures that we can expect? Among oth...

Room 106, the gloomy underground vault where all the latest planning announcements and decisions are issued, to pull out the key information for you.    In this edition, we’ll be discussing:  The surprise resignation of Angela Rayner as housing secretary last week and the planning track record of her replacement. The planning news from the Reform UK Conference this weekend. And a ju...

Room 106, the gloomy underground vault where all the latest planning announcements and decisions are issued, to pull out the key information for you.    This week, we’re going to take a closer look at the latest twist in the ongoing legal and planning battle between the government and an Essex council over the use of a hotel to house asylum seekers, which on Friday saw the Court of Appea...

Room 106, the gloomy underground vault where all the latest planning announcements and decisions are issued, to pull out the key information for you.    In this Deep Dive edition, we’ll be discussing whether a council’s bold bid to reclassify several villages as towns in order to protect them from green belt development is likely to be effective. We'll also examine the government’s lates...

Room 106, the gloomy underground vault where all the latest planning announcements and decisions are issued, to pull out the key information for you.    This week, we’re going to take a closer look at:  The housing secretary Angela Rayner blocking a council’s bid to allocate a site in a special protection area for up to 1,250 homes in its emerging local plan A Labour Party councillo...

Room 106, the gloomy underground vault where all the latest planning announcements and decisions are issued, to pull out the key information for you.    This week, we’re going to take a closer look at:  • The housing secretary Angela Rayner giving the Chinese embassy two weeks to “comprehensively” explain why new building plans have been redacted  • A planning inspector conclud...

In this Deep Dive edition, we’ll be discussing our exclusive report, which reveals when England’s busiest local authorities say they will hit key local plan preparation milestones, and when peaks and troughs in plan-making activity are predicted to occur. We’ll also examine how the Labour Party has performed against its own planning objectives in its first year in office. In addition, we round up...

In this episode we explore: The planning minister Matthew Pennycook appearing before two Parliamentary select committees - we discuss the planning highlights, including key announcements about developer contributions, affordable homes, viability guidance and new towns;  The news that a promised government consultation on national development management policies will be delayed until...

In this Deep Dive edition, we’ll be discussing our annual Planning Law Survey, which takes an in-depth and exclusive look at the most highly rated planning barristers, law firms and solicitors and the law firms with the biggest and fastest-growing planning teams.  In addition, we round up the key planning news from the past week to make sure you are up to speed on all the goings-on in the sec...

In this episode we explore: The key planning takeaways from the government’s English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which was published last week. A review by a planning advisory body that found that a council’s planning committee is perceived to be "operating with undue influence" amid probity "suspicions". A local authority that has proposed redefining four villages as towns to prote...

This is the fourth edition of our new monthly series examining the key appeal and court decisions from the past four weeks. As before, we speak to technical editor David Dewar, who compiles the long-running Casebook section of Planning.  This week, we will be discussing:  Two notable appeal decisions – one of which show how a future drop in housing land supply can be an important ma...

In this Deep Dive edition, we discuss how rising public concern about sewage pollution in rivers, plus inadequate levels of investment in water treatment capacity, is leading to thousands of new homes across England being blocked or postponed. Planning  editor Richard Garlick and  Planning  special correspondent Joey Gardiner discuss Joey’s  investigation  into the issue,...

This week, we will be discussing: The Planning Inspectorate announcing an expansion of the ‘simplified’ written appeal process to far more cases in an effort to speed up decisions. The government’s ten-year infrastructure strategy and what it means for planners. The government’s withdrawal of funding for neighbourhood planning support services. In addition, we’ll be rounding up the key planning ne...

In this Deep Dive edition, we discuss: Government proposals to boost developers’ build-out rates for consented housing sites The planning consultancies that employ the most female planners In addition, we’ll be rounding up the key planning news from the past week to make sure you’re up to speed on all the goings-on in the sector.  Key planning news, and why it’s important, brought to you by t...

This week, we discuss:  A local authority threatening legal action and blasting a planning inspector after their local plan was found to have failed the legal duty to cooperate.  The housing ministry removing three councils from planning performance special measures.  The key takeaways for planners from the government’s spending review.  Keir Starmer announcing the launch...

In this Deep Dive edition, we will be examining: The growth of logistics developments – how the planning system is treating these kinds of schemes and the issues they present for planning professionals. Why commercial-to-residential permitted development applications have hit a record high. Key planning news, and why it’s important, brought to you by the team behind Planning magazine, the leading...

This week, we will be discussing a spate of big planning announcements from the government. We will be focusing on the proposed measures to: Increase developer’s build-out rates for permitted sites. Streamline planning committee decision-making, and toughen up one of the criteria for planning performance ‘special measures’ designation. Support smaller builders, including via significant revisions...

In this Deep Dive edition, we will be examining: How councils and mayors that are now controlled by the Reform party will use their planning powers. What a recent Court of Appeal ruling means for the timing of when local authorities have to publish planning gain legal agreements. Key planning news, and why it’s important, brought to you by the team behind  Planning magazine, the leading sourc...

This is the third edition of our new monthly series examining the key appeal and court decisions from the past four weeks. As before, we speak to technical editor David Dewar, who compiles the long-running Casebook section of  Planning .  This week, we will be discussing:  Two notable appeal decisions – one of which considers how the new ‘golden rules’ for residential development on...

This week, we will be discussing: The High Court quashing an inspector’s rejection of 120 green belt homes because he failed to consider whether the scheme met the new ‘golden rules’ for green belt housebuilding. A minister allowing plans for a huge green belt data centre after finding that the proposal meets the new ‘grey belt’ and ‘inappropriate development’ tests in national planning policy. Th...

In this Deep Dive edition, we will be examining the six key lessons to be learned from planning inspectors about the dozens of appeal decisions that have been issued so far where the government’s new grey belt national policy is a key factor. We'll also highlight the two secretary of state decisions where the new grey belt policy test has been applied and explain what the policy is and how the tes...

This week, we will be discussing: The government’s amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Estimates of the bill's economic impact and concerns about its proposed changes to environmental rules. In addition, we will examine: Why a planning inspector has found that a council’s local plan has failed the legal duty to cooperate, and why the authority has reacted with anger. A High Court r...

In this Deep Dive edition, we will be previewing the local and mayoral elections taking place later this week.  We will be discussing: Where they are happening. What the results are expected to show at a national level. What this is likely to mean for planning and development at a local level.  We will also highlight the key battlegrounds that are likely to have the greatest impact on pl...

This week, we will be:  Revealing the councils with the most grey belt land in England. Discussing the latest developments around how councils are reacting to the new grey belt national policy.  In addition, we will examine:  How two local authorities have avoided the housing delivery test’s most severe penalty after persuading central government to ‘recalculate’ their score. ...