After months of anticipation, the new NPPF is finally here, heralding what the Deputy Prime Minister has called a “landmark overhaul” to “shake-up a broken planning system”. 
In this episode, Daniel Henderson is joined by Peter Goatley KC, Christian Hawley, and Sioned Davies to pick over some of the most important reforms, and assess their potential impact for developers and local authorities alike.

Felling trees is frequently an essential element of promoting a site, but the law around felling is complex, and changing fast. Proceeding with felling without understanding these complexities, whether in the early stages of preparing a site or in order to make way for the development itself, can result in serious enforcement consequences that have the potential to scupper a proposal altogether. In this episode, Scott Stemp, Daniel Henderson, and Jessica Allen discuss the law around felling licences, the complex network of exceptions, and some important recent caselaw on the interaction with planning permission, including a highly significant High Court judgment from earlier this year.

Effective enforcement is key to ensuring a functional planning system, but the legal provisions can be complex. Recent statutory changes have modified long-standing rules around enforcement time limits and other key enforcement functions while, in May 2024, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in the case of Caldwell, providing guidance on the application of the Murfitt principle. Anna Stein and Daniel Henderson discuss the various changes, and consider the impact that they will have on the field of planning enforcement.

Finch is a Supreme Court judgment which has been long awaited. It deals with the effects of development which are ’downstream’. Many practitioners want to know how their schemes might, or might not, be affected by the need to assess green house gas emissions which arise within ’Scope 3’. With Odette Chalaby and Sioned Davies, The Planning Podcast scopes out some of impacts of the judgment.

In the third of a trio of ‘how did we get here?’ podcasts, Daniel Henderson, planning and environmental barrister at No 5 Chambers, maps out the costs regime for High Court challenges to planning and environmental decisions. It has a history, and if you don’t get where is came from you will not fully understand your position in a case where costs protection is in place. There is a note here.

In the second of a trio of ‘how did we get here?’ podcasts, the Planning Podcast assists listeners with habitats issues. If you were not ‘in planning’ when Dilly Lane was a hot topic or you want to know why the Ashdown Forest seems to be in so many cases, then Jess Allen, planning and environmental barrister at No5 Chambers will explain. There is a note here.

In the first of a trio of ‘how did we get here?’ podcasts, Daniel Henderson, planning and environmental barrister at No 5 Chambers, maps out the key stages in policy change, case law and legislative action which changed the way that we plan development, starting with the advent of localism. 

"But it's in the wrong place" is a six-word summary from the Inspector’s lengthy consideration of the evidence in an inquiry into a 350 unit, mixed use scheme in South Oxfordshire. James Corbet Burcher joins Richard Kimblin KC to explain the context and the learning from this Secretary of State decision, upholding confidence in neighbourhood planning despite weighty scheme benefits.

Whether you are an infrastructure developer, an infrastructure provider, a promoter or decision-maker for EIA built development, how do you decide what needs to be assessed, and how?
Three recent cases illustrate the problems and provide strong guidance on what needs to be done to arrive at a lawful conclusion.  Odette Chalaby explains.