This morning, colleagues from Chapman Lily were up with the birds, attending the Domvs developer seminar in Blandford, hearing from speakers including their very own Brett Spiller, but also on topics including architecture, accountancy, law and estate agency.
Simon Hoare MP, fresh from a BBC Radio interview (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63325779), was quite candid that government policy, on all matters including planning, is currently unclear; yesterday’s events in parliament related to a fracking vote were cited as an example of the hiatus and disarray at the top. We were told that the momentary ‘tea party’ approach of Trussonomics had failed. He posited that the Planning Bill was not happening. Mr. Hoare proposed that government will have to focus on a few policy areas and be seen to do them well. If there was a plan for a further bonfire of the regulations, it will have to wait. We were reassured that the new chancellor is starting to settle the dust and if there’s a motto for the new government is sustainable growth, sustainable growth, sustainable growth.
Steven Bainbridge, Associate Director at Chapman Lily, is quite circumspect about it all, taking the view that, “as ever with planning; it’s all change and no change. As planners we are used to the political football that planning can be, however it is the pace of change and changes in direction that are the challenge nowadays, so, if you find yourself bemused by the planning system, feel free to get in contact”.
