We are part of the Local Government Association and run fourteen projects funded by the Department of Levelling Up and Housing, Defra and Natural England. You can see below our latest bulletin - you can sign up using the "keep in touch" item in the "about us" menu above.
PAS Bulletin - Latest news
Our August bulletin last month focused on the current NPPF consultation, providing details on a number of events we are holding over the summer to help local planners understand and respond. We have a quick update on NPPF matters this month as well, but this new PAS bulletin shows that work does not stop in other areas of planning too - with a range of information, resources and events for you to take advantage of. This includes fundamentals issue for local planners like decision making performance, securing BNG, design codes and protected sites. Work does feel very busy at the moment and I want to make sure that we at PAS continue to support you and your team as you respond to the needs of local members and communities. So please keep in touch and email [email protected] if you feel that we can help.
Anna Rose
Head of PAS
Join our consultation workshop with MHCLG colleagues to discuss the NPPF proposals relating to the introduction of new “golden rules” for development on Green Belt land. We will also be discussing opportunities to address the government’s manifesto commitment to strengthen planning obligations to ensure new developments provide more affordable homes. The workshop will be held on the 18th September at 10:00am. Register now with your .gov email
There are also some places left at the other workshops we are organising with MHCLG to explore aspects of the current NPPF consultation. See the full details of all events
To keep track on your speed of decision-making against the national performance standards you may be using PAS's 'crystal ball' to monitor progress. We have updated the crystal ball on our managing performance web page so that it allows you to monitor speed of decision-making with extensions of time as proposed in An Accelerated Planning System consultation Please email Peter Ford if you would like help using our new crystal ball.
Natural England has published a letter outlining a series of improvements to their planning service for Local Planning Authorities (LPA) to maximise environmental outcomes and respond to the government’s ambition for growth. Their advice will be focused on strategic development plans and high risk and high opportunity planning consultations, particularly at an early stage. To enable this shift, and help speed up decision making, more standard responses for lower risk planning consultations will be used and LPAs are encouraged to use the latest Impact Risk Zones tool to decide when to consult Natural England to receive automated planning advice.
In July PAS published a suite of sample templates that cover the various ways of securing biodiversity gains via legal agreement and condition. PAS held a launch event on 25 July to explain how each template works, the key features and how and when they are used in the decision making process. View the launch event recording and slidedeck
New practical design coding resources have been published by the Design Council on their website, drawing on further lessons from the MHCLG Design Code Pathfinder authorities. These materials include insights relating to the value of internal council collaboration, effective implementation, and the role of monitoring.
The Design Council and Pathfinder LPAs are also hosting a series of seminars to explore some of the findings in more detail. These seminars will be held in October, and you will be able to sign up for the sessions on the Design Council website
Free to attend and open to all, Places at Pace will look at how urban design and placemaking can contribute to the government committed to the building of 1.5m new homes that are well-designed, high-quality and sustainable ensuring that they are fit for the future and are places where people want to live. Sessions at the event will look at the value of good placemaking, the benefits of design codes, creating sustainable neighbourhoods, the opportunities of digital and data, and the role of the Office for Place and local government. Book a place on the Places at pace event which will be held online 10.00 - 12.00 on 18 September.
There are still a small number of free places available at UDL's Design Code School on 13, 19, 20, 26 and 27 September 2024, kindly supported by the Office for Place. If you represent a local authority in England that hasn't attended a previous Code School and would like to know about what design codes are, how they work in practice and how they can help your council deliver better places, get in touch to register your interest to [email protected]
From the draft National Planning Policy Framework published in July, we know that design codes continue to be a key tool that the government is promoting and September’s school will focus on the use of codes described by the new government.
Do you want to be part of shaping future guidance for Protected Site Strategies? We need the group brain of all you amazing practitioners working with protected sites within your planning authority. You'll help guide the way for those who wish to use this tool to help bring their sites back into favourable condition as well as support the work of the LPA.
Our first meeting on Teams is: 12 September, 3.00pm - 4.30pm
They will then be held monthly until March 2025, when we plan to have the first version of the PSS guidance published. We are keen to get a good spread of people from different geographical areas and in different roles. Please register your details if you'd like to join in.
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