"Government steps in to fix planning shambles"

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"Government steps in to fix planning shambles"

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Started 10 years ago by chdot
Latest reply from wee folding bike

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chdot
Admin

The whole business of planning and Planning and CEC's actions/decisions and unwillingness to refuse planning permission 'for fear of losing appeals by developers to SG' has been mentioned on CCE several times. 'Protection of the Greenbelt' is often part of the problem/controversy.

This story has appeared on the ENews website this morning - about where CEC has tried and been overruled.

I don't know if it involves 'failings by CEC', demonstrates 'too much centralised power excercised by central (Scottish) government or is a 'just' decision based on 'housing need' and 'presumption for development'.

Or a combination.

What is clear is that green bits on the boundary of Edinburgh are being built on while swathes of 'brownfield' - Waterfont/Granton/Newhaven remain undeveloped.

All this relates to the planning process - which consults 'the public' widely on policies - and the difficulties of making the outcomes fit the policies.

It's also about the fact that 'most' house buyers want a 'nice' house in a 'nice' setting.

Related is the price/book value of land which may be 'too expensive' - until 'the market recovers' or is suitably 'cheap' because developers bought (or got options on it) years ago with hope/expectation that 'eventually' they would get planning permission.

Land with planning permission is usually worth a LOT more than land without. High stakes and inevitable questions about 'public interest' which sometimes gets characterised as Nimbies v 'publicly elected politicians' having to 'balance all the issues within a legal framework'.

"

PARIS GOURTSOYANNIS

paris.gourtsoyannis@edinburghnews.com

08:20 Friday 13 March 2015

The Scottish Government has overruled city planners to approve a major housing development after the council failed to agree on a blueprint for where new homes in Edinburgh should be built.

Communities Secretary Alex Neil personally granted an appeal from developers wanting to build 173 homes on greenbelt land at the Edmonstone Estate, near Little France, despite the plans previously being rejected by councillors.

The decision deepens the crisis around the city’s planning blueprint, with Scottish Government officials confirming Edinburgh no longer has a working Local Development Plan (LDP).

Critics say the city now lies open to “planning by appeal”, with developers able to circumvent local decision-making by appealing to ministers, and called on planning convener Ian Perry to resign.

"

Posted 10 years ago #
kaputnik
Moderator

What is clear is that green bits on the boundary of Edinburgh are being built on while swathes of 'brownfield' - Waterfont/Granton/Newhaven remain undeveloped

Is there an Edinburgh "brownfield" map of land inside the existing city boundaries ready for development?

Related is the price/book value of land which may be 'too expensive' - until 'the market recovers' or is suitably 'cheap' because developers bought (or got options on it) years ago with hope/expectation that 'eventually' they would get planning permission.

Hence the pressure by the likes of the David Murray lot and their accountants to delist low-value greenbelt farmland they bought 20 or 30 years ago with no (then) prospect of development and thereby "unlock the value" in it, i.e. cover it in expensive houses.

Posted 10 years ago #
chrisfl
Member

It is possible to get a list of brownfield sites in openstreetmap - http://overpass-turbo.eu/s/8ac

Posted 10 years ago #
chdot
Admin

Interesting!

I wonder how much 'brownfield' has had the right 'tag' added.

Didn't know there was a brownfield tag!

Useful thing that OSM, more people should use/add to it!...

Posted 10 years ago #
wingpig
Member

I saw a council building-detail-level map of central urban brownfield sites a few years back. I think I found it via one of those urban-exploration thingbies.

Aha: http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20194/development_activity_reports/1036/scottish_vacant_and_derelict_land_survey

Posted 10 years ago #
chdot
Admin

Good find!

Posted 10 years ago #
Morningsider
Member

The Edinburgh City Local Plan was adopted in 2010, meaning it is relatively up-to-date in planning terms. The Council are preparing its replacement, the Local Development Plan (LDP), which is pretty near adoption but has been held up by political wrangling.

The EEN is simply parroting pro-developer propaganda. The call-in of six housing applications by Scottish Ministers was simply unprecedented. It has little to do with the status of Edinburgh's LDP, which is at a more advanced stage than that of many other authorities.

It simply looks like a central government power grab. A central government with a very pro-developer agenda. They didn't call-in these applications to refuse them. They would have left that job to the Council, who would then take the flak.

Anyone who values local decision making and control should be worried about this.

Posted 10 years ago #
chdot
Admin

"Anyone who values local decision making and control should be worried about this."

Indeed.

Realistically nothing can be changed until after the Hollyrood election.

BUT

A lot needs to be done before then, if there is to be any chance of a change. It is very possible that the SNP will still be in power. It seems unlikely that those currently in the Scottish Government will want to change things significantly, however the significantly increased membership of the party may have other priorities.

So anyone who has joined the party recently may wish to get involved at a local level. The SNP is keen on land reform so maybe there is a chance for some realignment of policies

Clearly there will still be some form of the Labour Party to fight the next election, it seems unlikely that they will be majoring on land reform and planning issues.

According to recent polls, the Greens can expect to have a reasonable number of seats at Holyrood next year. They are likely to be in favour of refining the planning system to take account of local wishes and general public interests.

If 'the public' wants change on things like this, they will have to engage and lobby and campaign etc, just like some people do for cycling!

Fortunately Holyrood doesn't suffer from vested-interest lobbying as much as Westminster, but clearly the developers are well-financed and organised.

Posted 10 years ago #
chdot
Admin

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07/03/2015 16:09
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"

"

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"

Posted 10 years ago #
chdot
Admin

"

A VITAL planning blueprint mired in a bitter political row is thousands of homes short of the city’s housebuilding target – raising fears that the “fatally flawed” four-year process might have to be restarted.

"

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/troubled-housing-plan-is-thousands-of-homes-short-1-3718877

"city’s housebuilding target"

Perhaps having targets by LA area isn't the best way to do things(?)

Posted 10 years ago #
Morningsider
Member

Hmm, who was it that required the Strategic Development Planning Authority (SDPA) to greatly increase the number of houses they had calculated as required in Edinburgh over the next 20 years ("the housebuilding target"). Would that be the Scottish Ministers? Why, yes!

The same Scottish Ministers who told Edinburgh Council not to submit their Local Development Plan to them until regional supplementary guidance on housing was completed. This was only done on 28 October 2014 - so the Council has really only had a few months to decide where it can squeeze all these extra houses into the city. The planners achieved this, but the results aren't pretty and political wrangling has ensued as politicians try to save their seats (I know) by trying to prevent the over-development of their areas.

Details: Ministerial letter: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0042/00426410.pdf

Posted 10 years ago #
chdot
Admin

From link -

"

Green Belt: Review, Release and Boundaries
1. Modify Policy 12 to reads as follows:
“Local Development Plans will define and maintain Green Belts around Edinburgh and to the south west of Dunfermline for the following purpose to:
a. Maintain the identity and character of Edinburgh and Dunfermline and their neighbouring towns, and prevent coalescence, unless otherwise justified by the Local Development Plan settlement strategy;
b. Direct planned growth to the most appropriate locations and support regeneration;
c. Maintain the landscape setting of these settlements; and
d. Provide opportunities for access to open space and the countryside.
Local Development Plans will define Green Belt boundaries to conform to these purposes, ensuring that the strategic growth requirements of the Strategic Development Plan can be accommodated. Local development plans should define the types of development appropriate within Green Belts. Opportunities for contributing to the Central Scotland Green Network proposals should also be identified in these areas.”

"

Posted 10 years ago #
chdot
Admin

"

Housebuilders have also been confirmed for sites on Niddrie Mains Road and Wauchope Terrace as well as a 7.7-acre site in the Greendykes area.

"

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/lidl-and-home-bargains-to-boost-craigmillar-1-3722372

Posted 10 years ago #
wee folding bike
Member

Our house is on a former ICI plant so it's very brown. Outwith the odd bit of wire or spoon we find in the garden it's not been a problem.

In Cambuslang there is a Morrisons with chimneys in the car park to let ground contamination out.

North Lanarkshire managed to change the designation of two bits of park so they could build schools on them. The plans had been under weigh for a while and I'd gone to meetings protesting about it but they went ahead anyway.

Strangely in each case the demolished school left land near the railway station. There was expected to be a housing boom when the Airdrie - Bathgate line was restored but it doesn't seem to have happened. It might be that councillors felt that clearing land near the railway could have facilitated house building… but who knows?

Posted 10 years ago #

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