The Planning Life Insights of Bryan

In episode 7 of the podcast Planning Life Insights of Bryan, BCLP explore with London First guest Sarah Bevan and Chris Whall from Air Quality Consultants Ltd the challenges and opportunities for developers bringing forward major schemes in London following the adoption of the new London Plan

In episode 6 of the podcast Planning Life Insights of Bryan, BCLP explore with Quod guest Matthew Sharpe top tips on amending planning permissions for major regeneration proposals to enabling them to move with the market (including the implications of the recent Hillside Parks case).

The BCLP planning team explores progressing developments through each stage of the planning process during the Covid-19 pandemic, including changes to the law, best practice, innovation and common sense from across the development sector on creative public consultation through technology and maintaining relationships with local planning authorities remotely to progress planning applications from submission to committee, including resolving planning obligations. We also offer thoughts to developers and businesses on the practicalities of what Covid-19 restrictions really means for planning enforcement.

This episode was recorded at the start of the pandemic in the UK and pre-dates the Business and Planning Act 2020 which allows certain planning permissions to be extended.

In this episode the BCLP Planning team is joined by Alex Vaughan Jones, Partner at Gerald Eve and viability specialist, to explore options for developers looking to implement planning permissions in a volatile Covid-19 market, and what can be done about deferring or reducing financial liabilities under planning obligations (s106) and the community infrastructure levy (CIL) to prevent schemes stalling. Planning gain has always required a balance between funding related social infrastructure and preserving the viability of new schemes and we discuss where the balance now falls in the world of pandemic economics. In particular we discuss automatic extensions to planning permissions and revisiting viability during and after a planning application and CIL.

We discuss the transactional life of mixed-use schemes and how planning conditions and s106 obligations should be structured to secure desired planning outcomes for investors, operators, forward funders, buyers and lenders too. Rachele Pacifici of Cast Consultancy, Verity Waington of BCLP Real Estate and Sheridan Treger, Mike Dempsey and Jemma Green of BCLP Planning explore why this doesn’t always happen and the problems this can lead to, particularly for scheme marketability and financing. The episode provides guidance and tips for developers and explains why it pays to address potential planning issues from the start.

We discuss the Government’s White Paper on Planning - “Planning for the future”, a consultation that moots a radical overhaul of the planning regime, including US-style zoning and a total revamp of developer contributions (CIL and S106). With insights from Karl Cradick, Head of Energy & Infrastructure at Savills and Tim Smith, Giles Pink and Robert Gowing of BCLP and hosted by Sheridan Treger, Clare Eccles and Jemma Green of BCLP Planning, we examine whether proposals could help developers unlock major schemes in the 21st Century and explore the chances of any of the radical proposals actually happening - and what it could mean for developers if it does.

The discussion is focused around the three broad themes in the White Paper: revamping and digitising local plans to introduce zoning and automatic outline consents in growth areas, with development consent orders for substantial housing; embedding beautiful design into UK planning, with a fast track for schemes that embrace exquisite design; scrapping CIL and S106 in favour of land value capture through a consolidated “infrastructure levy”.

The podcast works through the opportunities in the dizzying alphabet soup of the reforms to the Use Classes Order, with Sheridan Treger, Giles Pink, Clare Eccles, Rebecca Chambers, Jessica Lowe and Joseph Tyler of BCLP joined by John Sayer of CBRE and Sarah Bevan of London First. As the UK planning system tries to manage the evolution of Britain’s high streets whilst allowing the business models of the 21st Century to revitalise sectors worst hit by Covid, who will be the winners and losers in this all important game of Use Classes Bingo?

What does it all mean for landlords with high street portfolios, tenant unit operators and developers trying to deliver new mixed use schemes? There’s a quick refresh on how the use classes system works and why it matters commercially. We set out the headline changes to the Use Classes Order, focusing on the new composite use class E for commercial, business and services. We interrogate what this means for Local Plan retail frontage policies restricting Town Centre uses and using the changes to remove existing restrictive planning conditions/obligations on use. There are top tips on applying for a Class E permission and a look at hidden consents needed to benefit from the flexibility of Class E.