By Michael Hardware Director of Planning & Property Despite the claims of environmental groups that developers are ‘raping and pillaging’ the land, concreting over our green fields and desecrating our landscape, the amount of land designated as green belt in …

The number of planning applications in England has fallen by 12 per cent, when compared with the same period in 2021. A total of 87,800 applications were granted between April and June 2022. Figures from DLUHC show that 8,700 residential …

The new ministerial team at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and communities (DLUHC) is led by new Secretary of State, The Rt Hon Simon Clarke MP. The Minister for Local Government and Building Safety is Paul Scully MP, the …

Basildon Council agreed last month the new LDS for its local plan, having withdrawn its previous one back in April. It has the new local plan adoption in 2027! This is the latest in a long line of councils dragging …

As always, the annual party conference was a hectic affair, but this year had the added spice of yet another new Government and Prime Minister, but all did not go to plan! The ‘fiscal event’ the week before set the …

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 …

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 …