Author Archives: luke

The Localism Bill has received Royal Assent to become the Localism Act.

The Act affords greater powers to communities and individuals, where central government had previously acted.

This gives way to a new ‘community focused’ planning regime, where local authorities, local people and organisations have a much larger say in what is developed in their area.

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Leading Architect Richard Rogers has warned against changes to Britain’s planning policy, fearing that it could create areas of Los Angeles style ‘sprawl’. Continue Reading

The Localism Bill passed its final parliamentary stage with acceptance of all Commons amendments by the Lords.

Signing of the bills will take place 15^th November.

In the final debate, Greg Clark offered comments on the highly contentious ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’ passage. Continue Reading

£500 million will be allocated to help with housing and infrastructure development, The Government has announced.

The Growing Places Fund is designed to help developers complete “stalled projects “and kick-start others to get off the ground.

Unveiled at the Liberal Democrat party conference in September, it offers loans up front which can be paid back after developments are eventually sold off. It is essentially, a ‘build now, pay later’ scheme. Continue Reading

Diane Haigh, director of Design Council Cabe (DCC) has announced her resignation from the role.

She was former director of design review at Cabe until its merger with the Design Council in April 2011. Continue Reading

The Government has launched a £7 million action plan to combat diseases affecting trees and plants.

The Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman warns millions of trees could be lost to disease, such as the devastating Dutch Elm, unless the Government took action to stop the smuggling of potentially-infected plants and cuttings in to the UK. Continue Reading

A new report calls for a new “ecosystem of design support” in England.

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) has been examined in a report to the Design Council, with which it merged in April 2011. Decentralisation is a key theme, with recommendations to provide local authorities, communities and developers with a new design review service. Continue Reading

The National Draft Planning Policy’s ten-week consultation period closed on Monday night, with Ministers set to debate on Thursday.   Continue Reading