PLANNING: An Introduction to Yorkshire
Planning and related areas: the year ahead for practitioners in Yorkshire
Prepared by Carolyn Lord and Kate Butterfield of LB & Co Limited
We caught up with some of our former colleagues who earned their spurs by starting their private planning law practice with us up to twenty five years ago at the UK’s first planning specialist firm, Wilbraham & Co, and who remain prominent players in the region. Together, we provide our thoughts on what the year ahead may hold.
David Walton, of Walton & Co (another niche planning law practice), mused: “My prediction for next year will be the increased use of virtual plan examinations. There are a few DPDs across the Yorkshire region expected to go to examination next year, including plans in Leeds, Sheffield, Wakefield, and Harrogate. Due to the impacts of COVID-19 and the increased pressures on authorities to have up-to-date plans in place, it is foreseeable that examinations in public will proceed through Microsoft Teams or similar, rather than the in-person process with which we have previously been familiar.”
David continued: “We acted for the promoter of a large-scale strategic site in the South Oxfordshire Local Plan examination earlier this summer, which was the first examination in the country to be conducted virtually. Generally, we found the process to be very effective, and the technology held up well. Members of the public were able to register to speak at the session or view matters through a live-stream on YouTube, meaning that public participation was properly preserved throughout the process.”
This is a positive prognosis about the long term prospects for remote inquiries, hearings and examinations; in the short term we can envisage that a flurry of litigation is likely to follow the emergency COVID-19 remote decision-making procedures, with lack of due process being potential grounds to challenge decisions made during lock-down. Lessons about improved ways to engage remotely are already being learned.
Chris Bowes, partner at CMS (a global law firm), based in Sheffield, said: “COVID-19 dominated 2020 and its consequences will have far reaching repercussions for planning and development long after the pandemic has run its course. Although it is likely that the demise of the office has been exaggerated, there is no doubt that working patterns in town and city centres will change for good and planners will need to envisage new uses for buildings that are now redundant as shops and restaurants.
High density residential developments may need to be re-configured to take account of the need to accommodate home working, and suburbs may see a renaissance as commuting is replaced by hub working. It is likely that long-held views about investment priorities in infrastructure will need to change, particularly in energy where new nuclear is likely to be displaced by an increasing share of renewable generation. Transport planners will need to re-think road, rail and aviation proposals to take account of how people will move about in the future. Amidst all of this there will be radical planning reforms to contend with as government seeks to reduce ‘red tape’ whilst simultaneously committing to protecting the green belt and requiring new developments to be beautiful. Planning will undoubtedly continue to be a rewarding legal discipline.”
We agree that the need for prime city centre office will not disappear just because the alternative of working from home has been found to work in some circumstances. Re-purposing or replacing secondary – and worse – commercial buildings, whether through the expanded permitted development regime or planning applications, will be a feature for centres and particularly for Leeds, because a step change in Grade A office supply is needed now and for the next decade. The pandemic has sounded the death knell for poor commercial space but new, well-connected, collaboration-orientated and well-spaced office schemes with great public realm will be needed for innovation and economic drive, regardless of some of the short-term gloom.
David Hardy is a partner in Leeds at another global legal practice, Squire Patton Boggs, and said: “Renewable energy is back on the agenda in England and the much-delayed release of the Energy White Paper is anticipated.”
He added: "Larger schemes, coupled with solar, battery storage and innovative community facilities, will come forward. Infrastructure will dominate throughout the inevitable recession. COVID-19 related regeneration schemes are self-evidently new but we are seeing interesting uses of Local Development Orders and increased use of permitted development rights. Housing work is fairly buoyant but there are storm clouds gathering about what the new Standard Methodology will mean for Yorkshire and the North. Planning-related litigation is also on the rise, including an increased rate of judicial review and statutory challenge.”
There will be no option but for infrastructure development to feature in planning lawyers’ workloads – government intervention has already set out the stall for pump-priming new housing and innovation schemes by funding infrastructure where the cost is holding back private investment. The levelling up agenda must mean new rail links for the north, as well as highway schemes which promote bus access; we await to see how far the promises stretch. The need to keep our lights switched on will never go away and the drive for carbon reduction will continue to see increased renewables development and district heating schemes promoted. Air quality improvement and road congestion remain challenging – can capacity be found to give more priority to moving goods by rail, what ‘carrots and sticks’ work to influence modal shift in a pandemic world and how to re-plan roads and public space without risk of economic harm?
A partner at international law firm Pinsent Masons in Yorkshire, Jon Riley, commented: “Across our own national practice, we’re seeing growing activity at scale in the energy, transport and housing sectors. Across the north, we’re seeing a surge of infrastructure investment to unlock growth – like the massive junction upgrades to the A19 on the border of Sunderland and South Tyneside to open up the International Advanced Manufacturing Park; and entire new roads to allow delivery thousands of new homes in the East Leeds Extension and Carlisle’s St Cuthbert’s Garden Village. Net gain and net zero continue to accelerate up the agenda.
"And with the first shock of COVID-19 behind us, there’s an understandable pressure now for a faster pace from the planning system – from the process and the people within it. We can see that from the Planning White Paper, the Government’s Project Speed – and simply from clients working hard to deliver projects in a pandemic. Planning professionals have adapted quickly to virtual consultation exercises, committees, hearings and inquiries to maintain momentum. But a key challenge ahead is to keep stakeholders and the public informed and engaged in the evolution of projects, maintaining the opportunities for them to have their say in decision-making against a fluid landscape of local lockdowns and national restrictions. Getting that right will be a constant, and constantly changing, feature of the next 12 months.”
In a recurrent pattern there are government calls to reform and simplify the planning system as if (contrary to evidence) it is the largest contributor to holding back new homes and other development. The nuanced nature of the planning system in balancing competing interests means that statutory and policy changes inevitably perpetuate the workload for lawyers, despite the rallying cry of cutting back bureaucracy and complexity. The next year will see this government seemingly attempting to restrict parameters for judicial review of public decision-making. Whatever the consultation exercise yields will not affect the volume of planning lawyers’ work in the next year; it is more likely that there will be increased numbers of challenges to planning decisions both nationally, as policy and regulation is altered, and at local level. The imperative to deliver homes and infrastructure often does not sit well with local communities or specialist interest groups – who dislike red tape being severed when the realisation dawns that the red tape is often what allows them some feeling of control.
Provided that there is delivery of an improved mobility and transport network, a sustained supply of place-shaping orientated new commercial and collaboration space and investment in people, prospects for Leeds and the wider region remain strong despite the challenges of Brexit and the pandemic, according to the most recent studies. Planning practitioners must be centre-stage.
It is well-known that the diversity of the local economy creates resilience; the strong professional services offer based in Leeds has consolidated over decades. Value for money and adding value will continue to be the themes for planning legal services in the region. The full-service law firms have become part of global offers, with specialisms being shared across the country whilst experts may be based in the north. Boutique planning law practices retain the advantage of lower charge-out rates combined with dedicated expertise; the cherry-picking approach does not suit all clients who like the comfort of the fully joined-up law firm. With remote working practices now having been upgraded and uprated, national and international clients have even more reason to select lawyers who are based in the north rather than in the City, given the quality of planning law practitioners that has been cultivated here.
As was the case twenty five years ago, planning and related areas of legal work are in demand to support sustainable development and infrastructure (albeit the proportions may adjust cyclically) and the next year will be no different.
With thanks to our former colleagues for sharing their views