Journal of Planning & Environment
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Journal of Planning & Environment Law Power to the People? Papers from the 42nd Joint Planning Law Conference held at New College, Oxford, in September 2014, organised by The Law Society, The Bar Council, The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and The Royal Town Planning Institute Foreword Mike Hayes CBE BA MCD MRTPI Hon FRIBA AoU Mike Hayes is an independent consultant. As an urban planner, he has worked in senior positions in the public sector. A former President of the RTPI, he is Secretary of the National Planning Forum, an Examining Inspector with the Planning Inspectorate, a Design Council CABE “BEE” and a member of the English Heritage Advisory Committee. OP1 Papers Keynote Address: The English planning system: In glorious expectation of the life to come Dr Hugh Ellis Hugh is Chief Planner at the Town and Country Planning Association (“TCPA”). He is responsible for leading the Association’s efforts to shape and advocate planning policies that put social justice and the environment at the heart of the planning debate. OP4 Heroes and Villains—Challenge and Protest in Planning: What’s a Developer To Do? Simon Ricketts Simon is a Partner at King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin. He has been voted the country’s most highly rated planning solicitor in Planning magazine’s annual surveys 2010–2014 and is co-author of Localism and Planning (Bloomsbury, 2012). OP9 An Environment for Change: Using Law to Protect the Planet Gita Parihar LLM Gita is Head of Legal at Friends of the Earth (“FoE”) England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Before joining FoE she worked for environmental and human rights law firm Public Interest Lawyers and trained at Bates, Wells & Braithwaite. OP31 Fit to Frack? Catherine Howard Catherine is a Senior Associate at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP. She has promoted a number of infrastructure projects, including the New Tyne Crossing and EDF Energy’s Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. She is currently acting for Cuadrilla Resources in relation to their hydraulic fracturing operations in the UK. OP43 Planners as Alchemists: How to Deliver the Homes that we Need Kate Davies Kate joined Notting Hill Housing as Chief Executive in 2004. She was previously Chief Executive of Servite Houses and Director of Housing in Brighton and Hove. She has experience in local government and the private and voluntary sectors. OP78 Making the Past—Delivering the Future Kelvin MacDonald MCIH FRTPI FRSA Kelvin is Senior Visiting Fellow at the Department of Land Economy, Cambridge. He is Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee and a member of the Board of Shelter. He has been an Examining Inspector with the Planning Inspectorate. OP88 Local Heroes: Neighbourhood Planning in Practice Ruth Stanier OBE Ruth is Director of Planning at the Department for Communites and Local Government. She led work to introduce the National Planning Policy Framework and the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013. She has previously worked on housing policy and has also held posts at the Cabinet Office, Department of Health, and Department for Transport. OP105 Neighbourhood Planning on the Ground John Walker BA(Hons) MRTPI John is the Operational Director for Development Planning at Westminster City Council overseeing the busiest planning authority in the UK. The pressure for development is intense with over 12,000 applications handled every year. OP117 Legal Update: What Have Been the Key Issues Emerging From Cases Over the Past Year? Richard Harwood OBE QC MA LLM (Cantab) Richard is a leading planning and environmental Silk at Thirty Nine Essex Street. A case editor of the Journal of Planning and Environment Law, his books include Historic Environment Law and Planning Enforcement. OP139 Annual subscription 2013: £613 postage free · Annual subscription including Bound Volume service £870. Orders to Sweet & Maxwell, PO Box 1000, Andover, SP10 9AF. Tel: 0845 600 9355. Email: [email protected] ISSN: 0307-4870 Journal of Planning & Environment Law is published by Thomson Reuters (Professional) UK Limited trading as Sweet & Maxwell, Friars House, 160 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8EZ.(Registered in England & Wales, Company No.1679046. Registered Office and address for service: 2nd Floor, Aldgate House, 33 Aldgate High Street, London, EC3N 1DL). For further information on our products and services, visit http://www.sweetandmaxwell.co.uk Computerset by Sweet & Maxwell Ltd. Printed and bound in Great Britain by Hobbs the Printers Ltd, Totton, Hampshire. 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Sweet & Maxwell ® is a registered trademark of Thomson Reuters (Professional) UK Limited. © 2014 Thomson Reuters (Professional) UK Limited and Contributors Foreword Mike Hayes CBE It would appear that the 42nd Oxford Joint Planning Law Conference, dedicated to the memory of Professor Sir Peter Hall, has been a great success and lived up to the high standards set in previous years. Why? Well a full house, excellent organisation, catering and entertainment all accommodated in the spectacular environs of New College, Balliol College and the Oxford Union clearly helped. But the conference is about much more than just having a nice time. Year on year the committee strives to produce a programme that is relevant, challenging and thought-provoking and engage participants in a continuing discussion about key issues throughout and beyond the weekend itself. This year the range and quality of the papers and the presentations and discussion through the conference did not disappoint. In 2014 two principal ideas came together. First, a theme reflected in the overarching title Power to the People? that sought to explore the current tensions around planning policy and decision-making exemplified by debates about localism v centralism, the questioning of democratic norms and the challenges to development, whether it is exploiting new sources of energy or building new homes. We live in an age of major economic, environmental and social pressures where both professional and political decisions are frequently challenged and the boundaries of legitimate protest are sometimes stretched; where the lines between policy and procedure, engagement and acceptance, consultation and protest are sometimes blurred; and where some fundamental questions about the legitimacy of decision-making, public engagement, consultation and societal acceptance need to be asked. Second, 2014 is the centenary of the Royal Town Planning Institute, an event the conference wished to mark by exploring planning’s historical development, some of its successes and failures and the direction it might take in the future. Put this heady mix into the context of a conference that began on the day the result of the Scottish independence referendum was announced and it was perhaps inevitable that the role of planning and those engaged in it, the need for both political and professional leadership, the legitimate limits of radicalism and the purpose of the law became hotly debated issues. Dr Hugh Ellis, Head of Policy at the Town and Country Planning Association, set the theme on Friday evening with a clarion call for planning to engage seriously with today’s issues, the need for courageous professional and political leadership and the imperative to engage ordinary people both locally and in the big strategic issues.