Musical Chairs, anyone?

When we were small children, Musical Chairs was a favourite party game. It seems that it is still popular with Tory prime ministers. This week’s Secretary of State for Levelling Up, etc. is Michael Gove again. He previously held the post from 15 September 2021 to 6 July 2022 in Bojo the Clown’s government. Unlike other ministers who resigned in the dying days of Bojo’s government, Gove was sacked, apparently in belated revenge for having stymied Bojo’s original ambition to be PM in 2016.

In reality, not a lot has changed as a result of Rishi Sunak’s having taken over the reins of government. Sunak cannot claim, any more than Truss before him, that his is a ‘new’ government. These are the same tired crew who served under both Johnson and Truss. Sunak himself served continuously under both May and Johnson, having first been appointed as a junior minister in the newly re-named Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in January 2018, during Theresa May’s premiership, then as a senior member of the Treasury team in Bojo’s government from July 2019 until his resignation as Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the Chief Clown’s government fell apart in July of this year.

I have deliberately refrained from commenting on emerging planning policy in recent months, because the situation was so fluid that was impossible to tell which parts (if any) of various planning changes that had been canvassed would be implemented in practice. At the moment, there is continuing uncertainty. Sunak is keen on promoting ‘free ports’ - a wizard way to facilitate money laundering and tax avoidance in those areas, as well as diverting existing jobs and investment from other areas. Truss was all set to promote ‘investment zones’ (effectively free ports on steroids), although it was being hinted that Jeremy Hunt, as Chancellor, was concerned at the cost of these, when he is desperate to find savings in government spending. So enterprise zones may prove to be still-born, although Sunak may still want to press ahead with his free ports project.

Other aspects of planning and development policy are still up in the air, and will depend on efforts to resolve the fundamental differences within the Tory party as to how much new development would be acceptable, particularly in the South of England. This is what prevented the implementation of the previous White Paper and led to the demise of the promised Planning Bill during Bojo’s time at No.10. So watch this space over the coming months to see what (if anything) actually comes forward, and whether significant resistance on the Tory backbenches might still defeat such proposals.

© MARTIN H GOODALL

The Environment Act: A Guide for Planners & Developers

Readers of this blog may recall that Bath Publishing held a seminar on this subject in London (and online) last November. This had been intended to launch Tom Graham’s new book on the subject. The government, however, completely messed up the plans for publication of the book by considerably delaying the final stages of the Bill, with numerous last-minute changes to the legislation, so that Tom Graham had to do an extensive re-write (every legal author’s nightmare). Now at last this vital legal guide to the important new rules on environmental protection and bio-diversity can be published, and I am confident that it will serve as an essential guide for developers and for all planning professionals.

The Environment Act 2021 eventually gained Royal Assent on 9 November last year, and created a new governance framework regulating how the nation manages biodiversity, water resources and air pollution, and introducing conservation covenant agreements as an option for developers.

This new regime leans heavily on the planning system, with environmental considerations becoming a key factor in planning and development decision making. Everyone involved in considering or advising on new developments needs to know how the new regime could impact on those plans. In particular, the provisions around biodiversity net gain are set to kick in this November so it is essential that planners, developers and their professional advisers take these new requirements into account now.

So join us to get up to speed in this seminar where Tom Graham, author of The Environment Act: A Guide for Planners & Developers, will be joined by a team of experts in planning law and environmental management to examine some of the key issues surrounding how the environmental considerations will impact on the planning process including:

• a look at the wider policy considerations,
• an update on the biodiversity metric,
• the impact of climate change on planning decisions
• an overview of the practical considerations for planning applications in the light of the new law.

All delegates will receive the print and digital editions of The Environment Act: A Guide for Planners & Developers free (worth £60) which makes for a comprehensive package of resources to get you up to speed with the new regime.

Who should attend?

• Planning consultants
• Planning and environmental lawyers
• Property developers
• Environmental consultants
• Local authority planning officers

Programme

09.30 - 10.00: Registration and refreshments
10.00 - 10.10: Introduction from the Chair (Martin Goodall)
10.10 - 10.40: The Environment Act and National Planning Policy - Alistair Mills
10.40 - 11.10: Biodiversity Metric 4.0 - an update on what's coming - Dr Nick White
11.10 - 11.30: Refreshments
11.30 - 12.00: Climate change & Planning (speaker to be confirmed)
12.00 - 12.30: The Environment Act 2021 - Practical Considerations for Planning and Development - Tom Graham
12.30 - 13.00: Q & A / Round up from Chair

Speakers include:

• Chair: Martin Goodall, author of A Practical Guide to Permitted Changes of Use and The Essential Guide to the Use of Land and Buildings
• Alistair Mills, barrister, author of Interpreting the NPPF and co-author of the Fourth Edition of A Practical Guide to Permitted Changes of Use
• Dr Nick White, Natural England
• Tom Graham, barrister, author of The Environment Act: A Guide for Planners & Developers and A Practical Guide to Planning, Highways and Development

Date & Venue

Date: Thursday 3 November 2022 (from 10.00 - 13.00),
In-person
One Great George Street
London
SW1P 3AA
Online
Via Zoom

Price: £150+ VAT - includes print and digital editions of The Environment Act: A Guide for Planners & Developers worth £60

If you attended last year’s seminar, don’t assume that this is just a re-run of that event. Things have moved on considerably since then, and there is yet more material with which everyone is going to have to get to grips. This book and the seminar will ensure that you can “hit the ground running” (but a lot more successfully than someone else who used that phrase in the recent past!).

I look forward to seeing you there on 3 November, if not in person then online.

P.S. TO MAKE IT EASY FOR YOU TO BOOK FOR THE SEMINAR AND ORDER TOM GRAHAM'S BOOK, I HAVE NOW ADDED A LINK IN THE LEFT-HAND MARGIN ON THIS PAGE SO THAT YOU CAN MAKE YOUR BOOKING DIRECT FROM HERE WITH JUST ONE CLICK.

MARTIN H GOODALL