By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property  The starting pistol on planning reform has been fired: the Government has today published a White Paper “Planning for the Future” for consultation. This coupled with the reform of local government potentially heralds …

By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property Town and county halls across the country are in a state of near panic as plans are brought forward by the Government for a major restructuring of local government. This would see …

Inspectors have written to at least two authorities in Essex with unadopted local plans asking them to review their housing need numbers. This follows publication of the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) 2018 household projections. The figures, published on …

By Kasia Banaś, Account Director  In the latest developments of the St Albans’s Local Plan saga, the Council is proposing to resolve the outstanding issues through major modifications rather than withdrawing the Plan and starting anew. A draft letter to …

This month we bring you news on the St Albans Local Plan, new government-appointed chief planner, projections on the housing and rental markets, COVID-19 and long-term strategic planning and much more… Housing and rental market demand surges in UK Following …

By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property Everyone complains about the planning system: developers and planners complain because it is too long, complicated and has uncertainty; residents complain because their voices are never heard or taken into account; councillors …

By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property  The future of the car has been debated ad infinitum in recent years but the pandemic has perhaps added a new dimension. As new homes and communities being designed now will have to serve its …

By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property Is the Brentwood Borough Council (BBC) local plan going to go down the same path as others where there is a reliance on garden communities for a large proportion of housing numbers? …