Archive

Essex gears up for conservation centre

30 March 2007

An application for a £5 million education and nature conservation complex in south Essex will be submitted next month. Plans include a £2.7 million renewably powered heritage centre and a regional base for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The 50ha park in Pitsea, owned by Basildon District Council, could attract around 350,000 visitors a year. The Heritage Lottery Fund and the East of England Development Agency are helping to fund the project.

UK Supreme Court

30 March 2007

Middlesex Guildhall is set to become the UK's Supreme Court after Save Britain's Heritage lost its fight against the change of the building's use. The watchdog asked the High Court to block Westminster City Council's decision of last November, which granted planning permission and listed building consent for a change of use, arguing that it could lead to the loss of Guildhall's gothic interior. But the High Court ruled that planning rules had not been infringed.

The Things I Know - Mike Holmes

30 March 2007

Bournemouth Council head of planning and transport and Planning Summer School president.

Gummer on... the price of uncertainty

By John Gummer

30 March 2007

So what did the budget do for planning and planners? There was, of course, a good deal of buzz beforehand. Commentators ventured a range of expectations, but all of them were destined to be dashed and no-one is any the wiser about chancellor Gordon Brown's long-term intentions on property taxation. This is the real problem. There is nothing worse in development and regeneration than uncertainty.

Zones secure city heritage

30 March 2007

Edinburgh's conservation areas have been further extended in what planning convener Trevor Davies described as "a key move".

Landscape architects selected to design Elgin flood defences

30 March 2007

Designs for one of the largest flood defence schemes in Scotland are to be produced by landscape architects Insite Environments.

Village plans care housing

30 March 2007

Plans for a retirement village in Birmingham that will provide around 180 homes were announced last week.

Stoke homes move ahead

30 March 2007

Proposals to redevelop the site of Stoke City Football Club's former stadium progressed with the submission of an outline planning application last week.

Polytunnels set to require permission

30 March 2007

Herefordshire County Council has become the first in the UK to require planning permission for polytunnels.

Newhaven waste incinerator

30 March 2007

Plans for a waste incinerator at Newhaven in East Sussex will not be called in by communities secretary Ruth Kelly. She said that intervention "would not be justified" despite street protests and 15,000 written objections. Campaign group DOVE2000 has vowed to fight a compulsory purchase order needed for operator Onyx/Veolia to take possession of the land.