Planning
High Court challenge against Government energy standards
A legal challenge against Government restrictions on energy efficiency standards is to proceed to the High Court.
Asylum seekers moved from RAF Wethersfield due to incomplete safety checks
The Home Office has moved 70 people away from an asylum accommodation site after it failed to complete necessary safety checks on time.
Making strategic spatial planning successful
In Localis’s new essay collection, Catriona Riddell looks at developing agreement on housing supply: aligning community engagement and strategic spatial planning.
Agency will need to work with councils
Homes England chief executive Peter Denton has vowed to refocus efforts on delivering new housing in a market that desperately needs it, says Heather Jameson.
Building consent
As Localis publishes an essay collection looking at how homes and developments may be built in harmony with existing communities, Jonathan Werran considers the history of housing and planning.
Modern measures
The law of the tabloid lexicon dictates that units of area, width and height must be measured using everyday reference points.
Wakefield’s in-between spaces
Wakefield’s Urban Greening Strategy sets out an ambition to transform the city centre by reconsidering the approach to using space between buildings. Mark Lynam explains.
Asylum centre site could host prison
Braintree DC has warned it faces intervention from a second Government department when the Home Office ends its controversial use of a former airfield as an asylum centre.
Call for reintroduction of housing targets
A cross-party coalition representing 27 mid-sized regional British cities has called for the next Government to reintroduce local housebuilding targets.
Future Forum: Call for 'wholesale' return to council housing
The only thing that will solve Britain’s housing crisis will be a ‘wholesale return to council housing,’ according to the chair of UK Innovation Corridor, Jackie Sadek.
Hopes for regen scheme revived after Home Office scales back asylum plan
A £300m council-led regeneration scheme threatened when Whitehall commandeered the site for asylum accommodation could now go ahead after the plan was scaled down.
The dead hand of centralism holds back productivity
If councils had the tools, most if not all of them could by now have set fees to recover the full cost of a fast-track planning system, argues Ian Miller.
Former Cabinet minister laments lack of planning reform
A former housing secretary has said the Conservatives’ lack of action on planning to speed up housebuilding may cost the party in the General Election.
Jenrick leads new charge to axe nutrient neutrality laws
Former housing secretary Robert Jenrick is leading Tory calls for the Government to renew efforts to axe nutrient neutrality laws and boost house building.
Setting out the foundation of a long-term housing plan
Over the coming weeks, CCN will outline a host of different reforms, from improving delivery of all housing tenures to resourcing planning departments better, writes Simon Edwards.
There was a Crooked House
Part of a building inspector’s job is presumably to ensure new structures aren’t wonky.
Getting Britain building again
The Purposeful Finance Commission’s recommendation that businesses raise a target of £22.5m to help unblock urban infrastructure projects is an investment rather than a cost, says Tracy Blackwell.
Commission proposes plan for private sector to unblock planning system
A report has called for the private sector to invest in a ‘pipeline fund’ aimed at clearing the planning backlog and boosting regeneration.
The first cuts are the deepest
Sector experts talk to Martin Ford about the effects of job cuts on councils’ resilience, the impact of austerity on the number of leadership positions and the downsides of super-directorates.
Regulator calls for 'substantial' planning intervention
The planning system requires ‘substantial intervention’ by the Government to ensure consistent delivery of new homes, a major study has concluded.