Planning advice

Rights of common

The Battle of the Plans, Parts 1 & 2

The big news for the beginning of this year in regional planning is that, on 6 January, Wealden District Council in East Sussex withdrew its submitted plan from examination on the recommendation of the Inspector, following a rather regrettable report being published accusing Wealden of failing to comply with the duty to cooperate and identifying some “significant failings in respect of the soundness of the submitted Plan”. 

Court of Appeal gives clear direction to local authorities in a landmark decision for s73 cases

In November last year, the High Court examined in Finney v Welsh Ministers & Ors the test for how far a condition on a planning permission could be varied.

Cinema site set to come to life again

The town of Tunbridge Wells in Kent will, at last, see some activity on the Former ABC Cinema site, come the end of the year.

Tunbridge Wells Cabinet to kick start public consultation of new Local Plan

At a meeting of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s Planning and Transport Cabinet Advisory Board last night (Monday 5 August), it was resolved that the new draft Local Plan (Found here: Draft local plan: regulation 18 consultation draft) be put to Cabinet members on 15 August for a decision as to whether the plan should go out to its first round of consultation in September. This is the first step in the long process to adoption (expected December 2021). A purely procedural step, by all accounts, and a decision by the Cabinet cannot involve either the introduction or removal of any specific sites allocated for development.  The Head of Planning’s report to Cabinet will broadly follow the contents of that put before the Advisory Board on Monday: Consultation on Draft Local Plan 2016 - 2036 (Regulation 18 and Sustainability Appraisal.

New Permitted Development rights set to change the face of the High Street come into force this weekend (25.5.19)

Draft regulations have now been laid before parliament introducing a handful of new permitted development rights set to change the face of the high street. 

Cost of ignoring the court - £50,750

Local authorities and the courts are quite well-known for being a bit bossy! But when you blatantly ignore orders of the court, there can be a hefty price to pay, as one pub landlord found out. 

Consultation on draft Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2019

The Government has recently published its consultation on the proposed further reform to the CIL Regulations 2010.

Local Plans – what’s the fuss all about?

You would think that the topic of Local Plans wouldn’t be a conversation-starter but just mention property prices locally and the number of building sites, and you’ll get a reaction. All of these things are led by one thing… the Local Plan. 

Injunctions issued by Local Authorities – how to respond

One of the most common reasons that a local authority serves an injunction on what appears to be vacant land, is in order to prevent the unauthorised development of the land that it believes may occur, particularly on land in a sensitive location or which has a special designation

The bargaining power of a CVA

A number of retailers have issued Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) announcements this year. If a limited company is insolvent, it can use a CVA to pay creditors over a fixed period. If creditors agree, the limited company can continue trading during this time.

Brexit: what are the implications?

When the news broke about Brexit on 24th June 2016, our expert lawyers each wrote a round up of the implications that could potentially you and your business.

Brexit - what are the implications?

Following the much awaited UK referendum outcome, we have been thinking about what a Leave vote could mean and, set out below, are articles with our first thoughts.

Brexit and environmental law implications

The UK’s current environmental laws are heavily influenced by EU law. Essentially they fall into two categories – those that have come into place as a result of directives (which then have to be implemented by UK legislation before they come into effect in the UK) and those which are contained in EU regulations (which have direct applicability and do not require UK legislation before they take effect). Examples of regulations are those applying to chemicals and fertilisers. Examples of directives are those applying to packaging waste and landfill.

The Click and Collect Revolution

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is consulting on plans to allow retailers to alter properties to cater for “click and collect” services without the need for new planning consent.

Agricultural Permitted Development Rights

Electronic signatures