This month we have four articles looking at this week’s local elections, levelling up, planning gain reform and the current shape of the local plan system. We also have our local plan updates and an invitation to a seminar on …

By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property It is that time of year again: tomorrow sees a plethora of district, borough, city and parish elections, together with all the London Boroughs and some other mayoral elections. The national polls are important …

Ashford – The Ashford Local Plan 2030 was adopted in February 2019. Aylesbury Vale – The Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan 2013-2033 was adopted by Buckinghamshire Council as a Development Plan Document on the 15th September 2021. Basildon – Following the decision of …

By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property The Levelling Up white paper was published in February. It was not quite what everyone was expecting, and only partially explained what levelling up was and will be. The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill …

By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property There have been a spate of local plans failing, being withdrawn or delayed in recent months. Most recent have been Basildon and Castle Point; the former withdrawing before the examination in public and the …

By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property Next week’s Queen’s speech is expected to include legislation to reform S106 payments and ‘affordable’ homes provision, replacing it with a flat-rate tariff, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph on 16 April …

The article was published in Placemaking Resource. Local plans and housing policies are failing to provide homes for older people and the most vulnerable, writes Michael Hardware. No one would argue with the fact that there is a housing crisis …

This is our first newsletter of 2022 and we have four thought-provoking articles looking at current government policies. Although the NHS reforms are in the process of being implemented, local government reforms are still being formulated or yet to be …