News

30 June 2014
Skateboard Ramps allowed in the Green Belt
In a landmark decision, we have succeeded in quashing an enforcement notice served by the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead Council alleging the erection of two interconnected half-pipe skateboard ramps each measuring 12m long, 6-7m wide and a maximum 3m high within the curtilage of a residential dwelling in the Green Belt. The Inspector accepted that as a matter of planning law the ramps constituted development (and not a change of use of the land as the Council had maintained) and despite being on private property, their wider local community use meant that they could be considered an ‘appropriate’ facility for outdoor sport and recreation in Green Belt policy terms. In allowing the appeal, the Inspector ruled that the ramps were not inappropriate development by virtue of Green Belt openness being preserved and there being no conflict with the purposes of including land in the Green Belt. He also attached significant weight to a novel and innovative management agreement aimed at regulating the ongoing use of the facility.
29 April 2014
Planning application submitted for Barking Riverside all-through school
RENEW Planning has been instructed in conjunction with Portakabin Group and Surface to Air Architects to submit a planning application for an all-through school (Riverside School) at Barking Riverside in East London. The school will take the form of a single, integrated learning campus comprising a 10 form entry secondary school (with sixth form), 3 form entry primary school, special education needs (SEN) school and nursery with associated informal areas of play, including Multi-Use Games Areas (MUGAS) and an all-weather pitch. The overall child and staff population of the school will be in the region of 3,000. The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham has one of the fastest growing school age populations in the country and the school will meet an identified need for new education infrastructure in the area. The planning application is expected to be determined in the summer.
14 February 2014
Walsall Pyrolysis Plant Approved
We have obtained a Certificate of Lawful Proposed Use or Development (CLOPUD) from Walsall Council in respect of the proposed use of redundant industrial buildings in Bloxwich (Walsall) as a pyrolysis plant to convert biofuels and other suitable feedstocks into clean gas that would be directly imported into the grid. This follows our advice to the applicant that the considerable cost of submitting a planning application could be avoided by adopting such an approach.
1 February 2014
New instructions in Barnet
We have just been instructed on three sites within the London Borough of Barnet where planning permission is to be sought for up to 50 residential units. The Council is in the early stages of being engaged for pre-planning application advice on the proposed developments with applications expected to follow in the coming months.