Bursar’s Review ISBA Annual Conference 2019

Unblocking the planning system 47 @the_isba Annual Conference 2019 ADVERTORIAL You may recognise the circumstances: your new project has been agreed by the governors and you’re ready to get cracking. Parents, staff and pupils are excited about the forthcoming addition to the school, be it classrooms, a state-of the art all-weather pitch or new dining room. Then planning kicks in and the excitement dissipates as things seem to grind to a halt. It is an all too familiar story, but there are some effective measures which you can put in place to minimise delay. Pre-application advice Planning authorities offer formal pre-application advice and most charge for the privilege. The days when it was possible to pick up the phone and chat through a proposal with an officer are long gone. In return for a fee, advice on the likely acceptability of your development can be obtained at a very early stage, helping to avoid potentially abortive work. It is also advisable to agree the suite of supporting studies and documents, helping to ensure your application will be valid when submitted. Increasingly however, this service does not guarantee smooth progress with your planning application. Many council planning departments are severely under-resourced and do not prioritise pre-application advice. You should therefore give serious consideration to using a Planning Performance Agreement (PPA). Planning Performance Agreement A PPA is a project management tool which can be used to agree timescales, actions and resources for handling particular applications. It should cover the pre-application and determination stages but may also extend beyond the grant of permission when conditions need to be discharged. Each PPA is different, so they can be used to agree a wide range of things, including the planning committee date. This helps to prevent drift and the attendant delay and potential cost increases. Some councils operate fixed fees for a particular type of PPA, others charge variable fees according to the level of service required, including the number of meetings and the council officers to be involved. It is typical of independent schools that issues related to heritage assets (listed buildings and conservation areas), trees, protected species (especially bats), traffic and transport (including travel plans) and energy performance of buildings come to the fore when planning permission is sought. You should ensure that time is allocated in the PPA to all officers who can advise on these matters. CONTACT DETAILS Jon.Grantham@landuse.co.uk 020 7383 5784 www.landuse.co.uk Jon Grantham , director of planning at LUC, explains how to take planning risk out of your project. Jon Grantham’s expertise spans the entire development management process from strategy to implementation, encompassing site selection and acquisition, PPAs, pre-application advice, applications, negotiating and discharging conditions, Section 106 agreements, CIL calculations, and implementation. He has worked with many independent schools on their development strategies, including Wycombe Abbey, Benenden, Marlborough College, Dulwich College, Chigwell, the Schools of King Edward VIth in Birmingham, St Paul’s Girls’ School, Felsted, Durston House, Ewell Castle, Royal Russell and Godolphin and Latymer, leading to the implementation of numerous successful schemes. Invariably, councils will take the opportunity of a planning application to secure an up-to- date travel plan. There is growing evidence, however, that travel plans are attracting greater scrutiny because they are viewed as ineffective. With this in mind, some councils now insist on financial penalties if travel planning targets are not met. A PPA can make explicit reference to agreeing the content of a travel plan, including the nature and scope of any penalties. Wycombe Abbey School (image courtesy of Helen James,David Morley Architects)