Prof Wulf Daseking, who has directed the development of Academy award-winning Freiburg, in South West Germany presented a paper to a conference in Oxford (The way we live) on 10 September. He made three simple points about development in Freiburg that should put us (in the UK) to shame.
1. Building to Passivhaus standard costs about 12% more but the payback in the cost of energy saved is about 7 years - after which the benefit continues of efficient, warm and comfortable homes.
2. Developments include a mix of privately owned, privately rented, social rented and co-operative housing. We should asking why, if co-housing is so popular in Germany (and Scandinavia and the US), is it vanishingly rare in the UK? Could this be something to do with the planning system?
3. Infrastructure is put in place before the new housing is occupied. Car ownership and use will not be reduced unless car clubs are in place to be available to the new occupiers.
If this is how it is done in Freiburg why would the lessens in energy efficiency, variety of housing and car dependency not apply to the UK?
There was an interesting point made by Peter Stoddart that builders only prepared to build to Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 should be persuaded to provide a show home to Level 4 and prospective purchasers could have the upgrade as an option. Apparently most if not all elected for the higher standard. Why then is the Government winding down the Code and raising the Building Regulations to an equivalent of only CSH 3.5 in April 2014?
DanthePlan
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
The 'presumption' and the Taporley Appeal
Taporley
Last week the decision was made by the Secretary of State to allow development of 100 houses in the village of Taporley despite the appeal inspector having recommended that permission be refused due to the harm that could be done to the neighbourhood planning process. Taporley is a “front runner" in the neighbourhood planning process although no draft plan had been produced at the time of the appeal.
The Secretary of State had 'recovered' the decision on grounds of legal complexity. This appears to have been the concern about the weight to be given to an emerging neighbourhood plan. In the event the inspector gave substantially more weight to the issue of “ prematurity" than the Secretary of State. However, and importantly, the inspector also gave weight to the impact that such a decision would have on other parishes and neighbourhood forums were such a locally important development to be permitted that would prejudice (in his words “crush") and demotivate. This impact beyond the position that Taporley was not tackled in an intelligible and adequate way by the Secretary of State despite this apparently being the reason for the 'call-in'.
The other matter that was dealt with in an inadequate and legally doubtful way by the Secretary of State was the question of sustainability. Given that it is Government advice set out in the Framework that there is a 'presumption in favour of sustainable development' it is extraordinary that not only inspectors but the Secretary of State himself do not reach a finding as to whether a development benefits from this presumption. The most that this inspector was prepared to say is that the presumption is “engaged", but that was in the context of paragraph 14 and the absence of a five-year land supply. What the inspector had actually found was that the development was only on the positive end of the sustainability spectrum if, and only if, the strategic spatial planning aspects were left to one side. There were many indications that were strategic spatial planning factors to be brought into the equation, the location and scale of development would be regarded as “unsustainable". The Secretary of State could be accused of dissembling in relying on a conclusion that was reached by the inspector on his consideration of only a few of the 'material considerations'. It could not reasonably have been the inspector's intention in “leaving to one side" the very material consideration of the sustainability of the development in terms of location and scale, to leave this out of the equation when the decision was actually reached through section 38 (6). The difficulty for the Inspector was that the planning framework (local plan and neighbourhood plan) was not at a stage where the sustainability of the development had recently been addressed. It was relying on an earlier assessment that Taporley was not one of the most sustainable locations (classified as Tier 2 even before sustainability rose in prominence through the Framework). In fact the inspector was critical of the public transport services (and the use of best and most versatile land) as matters to be taken into account when the presumption was fully engaged.
Since we had the Inspector (Ref 2169598) finding that to benefit from the presumption a development should be seen to “consume its own smoke", we have a number of inspectors who fudge the issue and now the Secretary of State apparently confirming that the presumption is in favour of development with sustainability being an option. The impact of this decision on neighbourhood planners will be profound. Those faced with planning applications within the 2 years before even a draft plan is likely to be produced might not consider it worth starting. All those who are in the process should put their foot down on the accelerator and hope that the decision at Taporley is successfully challenged (the statutory review under section 288).
Last week the decision was made by the Secretary of State to allow development of 100 houses in the village of Taporley despite the appeal inspector having recommended that permission be refused due to the harm that could be done to the neighbourhood planning process. Taporley is a “front runner" in the neighbourhood planning process although no draft plan had been produced at the time of the appeal.
The Secretary of State had 'recovered' the decision on grounds of legal complexity. This appears to have been the concern about the weight to be given to an emerging neighbourhood plan. In the event the inspector gave substantially more weight to the issue of “ prematurity" than the Secretary of State. However, and importantly, the inspector also gave weight to the impact that such a decision would have on other parishes and neighbourhood forums were such a locally important development to be permitted that would prejudice (in his words “crush") and demotivate. This impact beyond the position that Taporley was not tackled in an intelligible and adequate way by the Secretary of State despite this apparently being the reason for the 'call-in'.
The other matter that was dealt with in an inadequate and legally doubtful way by the Secretary of State was the question of sustainability. Given that it is Government advice set out in the Framework that there is a 'presumption in favour of sustainable development' it is extraordinary that not only inspectors but the Secretary of State himself do not reach a finding as to whether a development benefits from this presumption. The most that this inspector was prepared to say is that the presumption is “engaged", but that was in the context of paragraph 14 and the absence of a five-year land supply. What the inspector had actually found was that the development was only on the positive end of the sustainability spectrum if, and only if, the strategic spatial planning aspects were left to one side. There were many indications that were strategic spatial planning factors to be brought into the equation, the location and scale of development would be regarded as “unsustainable". The Secretary of State could be accused of dissembling in relying on a conclusion that was reached by the inspector on his consideration of only a few of the 'material considerations'. It could not reasonably have been the inspector's intention in “leaving to one side" the very material consideration of the sustainability of the development in terms of location and scale, to leave this out of the equation when the decision was actually reached through section 38 (6). The difficulty for the Inspector was that the planning framework (local plan and neighbourhood plan) was not at a stage where the sustainability of the development had recently been addressed. It was relying on an earlier assessment that Taporley was not one of the most sustainable locations (classified as Tier 2 even before sustainability rose in prominence through the Framework). In fact the inspector was critical of the public transport services (and the use of best and most versatile land) as matters to be taken into account when the presumption was fully engaged.
Since we had the Inspector (Ref 2169598) finding that to benefit from the presumption a development should be seen to “consume its own smoke", we have a number of inspectors who fudge the issue and now the Secretary of State apparently confirming that the presumption is in favour of development with sustainability being an option. The impact of this decision on neighbourhood planners will be profound. Those faced with planning applications within the 2 years before even a draft plan is likely to be produced might not consider it worth starting. All those who are in the process should put their foot down on the accelerator and hope that the decision at Taporley is successfully challenged (the statutory review under section 288).
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