Lancashire Business View’s Post

Only one day left! Don’t miss out on the chance to have your say on our Revised Draft Local Plan. Deadline: 11.59pm, this Monday 11 December. Take part: https://orlo.uk/vVjNC The Local Plan will set the guidance for: 🏠 the strategy for new homes, jobs and investment across the borough; 🎓 the plan for important infrastructure such as schools, transport and health facilities; 🌳 our approach to providing parks and green spaces, and the way to respond to climate change 🧾 the policies to be considered when decisions are made on planning applications.

Very useful insight to those not in industry, green belt or grey belt ?

Rt Hon Rachel Reeves’ first speech as Chancellor this week has made it clear that planning reform is a key priority of this Government, with key changes being made to the Green Belt early on in the honeymoon period. The Green Belt is the planning designation most known about, but least understood so defining what it actually means to the general public is going to be an important part of the narrative. As Samuel Stafford from the Home Builders Federation stated in his interview on BBC #politicslive, the Green Belt is incredibly dated. It has lost its meaning. It is not naturally beautiful landscape - we have National Landscapes and National Parks for that. Nor is it inherently ecologically rich land - we have Special Protection Areas / Sites of Special Scientific Interest and the like for that. Instead, the Green Belt is a land use designation. Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (now Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government…) most recent stats state that over 1.6 MILLION hectares of land is Green Belt. To put that into context, that is circa 10 TIMES the size of London. Clearly not all Green Belt land is going to be released for housing, and nor are we advocating for that. But we do, and will, support the reintroduction of Green Belt reviews and the development of Grey Belt land to assist in unlocking house building. However, to remove the confusion among the general public, and subjectivity of the terms among planners (which will no doubt lead to more appeals in the short-term), we would go a step further and consider rebranding this land use in its entirety. If you have a site or land within the Green or perhaps new Grey Belt, now is the time to understand what value could potentially be unlocked. Get in touch with our team on 02037138500 / contact@dlbp.uk.

This is a recording of a radio interview I did with Waterford Local Radio 17th July - It is wide ranging but I think it raises serious issues regarding inequity and moral abuse, in respect of the political treatment of Waterford and the south east region by recent successive governments!! The backdrop!.... In a year where national capital disbursements into (1)Acute hospitals reached 650 million, (2) Road and Aviation transport sectors over 1 billion and (3) Higher Education probably a conservative 1 billion +.......Governments response to Waterford was to provide ZERO capital funding to the Regional Model 4 Hospital UHW ( its 8 peer hospitals received avg 80 million euro each) in recent 2023 plan,....... Waterford Airport received ZERO from aviation funding of 140million euro,...... N24/25 outbound of Waterford denied any upgrade in 20 years allocated approx 2 million from 1 billion transport spend,.... and National Higher Education capital investment of over a Billion in 22-23 the Higher Education capital spend to Waterford was (you guessed it) ZERO!!! It seems as if Government has a tacit ZERO tolerance policy where funding structural investment in Waterford and the wider south east region is required! What is truly amazing to me is the silence of our indigenous employers , our small business owners and entrepreneurs as well as our many low paid workers and citizens who contribute equal taxation to Irelands exchequer, but are refused any pro-rata structural funding to propel the regions economy vs national peers. Is it that we are too close to the Dublin capital and/or that we might possibly provide competition to the 'merchant princes' of Cork that we must be continuously excluded from fair dealing at department and cabinet level?? I don't believe Government should continue to treat our dignified silence as a tacit acceptance of their chosen discriminatory public investment policy with respect to Waterford and the south east region. I believe we in Waterford deserve better than that - the question is are Government minded to think and act in like manner? The historical and contemporary record suggests not!

Excellent speakers which will provide good insight in terms of Govt and client expectations Competency and skills proficiency is vital to deliver for Wales

Veteran Housing Corp applauds all efforts to build affordable housing but would challenge the US Congress and every local, state, and federal housing agency or affordable housing developer to do better in 2024 and beyond. Veteran Housing Corp demands permanent affordability for all projects receiving government funding, subsidies, tax credits, or other incentives! Veteran Housing Corp demands transparency and every local, state, and federal government agency and other stakeholders MUST provide answers to questions about the housing projects that are built with government funding, subsidies, tax credits, or incentives, including the following: 1. How much funding, federal tax credits, or government benefits or incentives from all government sources did the projects receive? 2. What is the affordability period for each project? 3. What guarantees exist that tenants will not be displaced after the "affordability period expires? Every local, state, and federal housing authority and affordable or workforce housing stakeholder should adopt the State of Vermont's "permanent affordability" policy as a model for all future government funded or subsidized housing projects or developments, no exceptions!  https://lnkd.in/eFEUC8c8 Additionally, local, state and federal housing agencies should look to the Helsinki, FINLAND MODEL of ending homelessness by providing affordable housing for all 'It’s a miracle': Helsinki's radical solution to homelessness https://lnkd.in/er9HZSQU U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development AGREES THAT adopting FINLAND'S MODEL OF ERADICATING HOMELESSNESS may be of great value to resolving the affordable housing and homelessness crises in America https://lnkd.in/gkSZWYRU

This is excellent, and can help make the conversation more objective and less subjective about the assessment of the Green Belt & development in the Green Belt. If Councils are bring tasked with reviewing their Green Belts, I suggest we need the Government to set out a standard approach / method to review the land to help simplify the process, add more certainty and speed it up! To slot into the new Local Plan-making process too!

New launch! 🚀 We were delighted to attend the launch of ‘Land for Good – the 2023 Southwark Land Commission’ last night in Peckham. Across the last 8 months, We Made That have been working with PRD and Southwark Council to deliver London’s first Land Commission; a process which challenges the way the borough, London and UK as a whole thinks about public property. Considering land as a source of power and wealth underpins the report – including the ways in which its uneven distribution can perpetuate inequalities and injustices. The report makes seven recommendations to overcome these challenges and unleash the public good that can be derived from fairer, greener use of land: 1. Put social purpose at the heart of land use 2. Map what’s there and what isn’t 3. Take control of our land and assets 4. Defend and extend affordable accommodation for all 5. Cherish our natural capital and decarbonise our land 6. Give the community real power and voice 7. Disrupt the status quo to unlock bigger changes It was important that we worked with brilliant and diverse group of colleagues on the commission, including PRD, PMVPlanning, Miatta Fahnbulleh James McAsh and many, many more.   The recommendations in Land for Good include bold ambitions that need a commitment to delivery to see them through. Many of them are relevant to other places. In many ways, it feels like these conversations are overdue – we look forward to seeing the impacts of this much-needed thinking in our home-borough of Southwark and further afield. You can read more in the full report here: https://lnkd.in/e2Er6RAv

Time and time again I hear about the need for a Plan for Perth. We don’t have one. But it’s essential to outline where, how and when future infrastructure and projects would be located and connected to evolve the city area into a cohesive whole. A plan maps out where we are heading and provides confidence to the market and strategic vision to drive business investment. It may take a variety of forms but one thing is certain: the plan must be a collaborative document, made hand in hand with the State Government. After all, the City’s budget of approximately $300 million is a fraction of the State’s budget. We rely on the State Government to deliver major infrastructure projects. - Elizabeth Quay - WA Museum Boola Bardip - Aboriginal Cultural Centre - New School in East Perth - ECU City Campus These are all projects delivered by, or with, the State Government. The City needs a Lord Mayor who will at all times act in the best interests of the City and work collaboratively with the State - no matter who is in power. The role of Lord Mayor requires full commitment to the City. Read more in my latest newsletter - link here: https://lnkd.in/g8RScxXj #perthcity #planforthefuture

Good summary of Mayors' pledges for development and planning. Just one very important clarification: the new East Midland's Combined County Authority is not currently able to negotiate any spatial planning powers. I have written about this recently in a recent Planning Magazine column. The devolution framework for CCAs does not include planning as an option because it would be seen as pulling powers from the districts who are not part of the CCA decision making structure (only counties and UAs are full members of CCAs). This misses the point. Strategic spatial planning powers at this level would be filling a very important gap in the system - it would not be drawing powers away from the local level. The Devo framework for CCAs therefore needs to change to allow the new East Midlands CCA - and future CCAs - to take on these powers and it could be done as it is not written into legislation. https://lnkd.in/eiNkZeJu