• Perspective

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  • Category: Opinions April 02, 2024

    Where does Marks & Spencer High Court decision leave...


    The secretary of state was heavily criticised in the recent High Court judgement to quash his decision to block the redevelopment of Marks & Spencer’s store on Oxford Street. Mrs Justice Lieven held that Michael Gove’s decision was...

  • Category: Opinions March 13, 2024

    Marks and Spencer plc v Secretary of State for...


    Planning analysis: In Marks and Spencer plc v SSLUHC, the High Court quashed the Secretary of State’s decision to block the redevelopment of Marks & Spencer’s (M&S’s) store on Oxford Street, finding that there was no presumption in favour of repurposing and re-using buildings in the...

  • Category: Opinions January 15, 2024

    An alderwoman and a barrister


    Martha Grekos on the pull of civic responsibility, City of London regeneration, and getting more women into politics and governance 

    I have always believed and participated in meaningful civic engagement – where we, as...

  • Category: Opinions November 15, 2023

    How the main parties are handling the housing and...


    The news that Rachel Maclean has been ousted as housing minister the day before she was due to introduce the government’s Renters Reform Bill to committee sums up the problem with government housing and planning policy at the moment....

  • Category: Opinions November 06, 2023

    Book Review: Dock Life Renewed


    Sometimes you are given something so beautiful that words will not do justice to the work. And this is what I feel about Niki Gorick’s photographic book, which illustrates the rich mix of personalities and activities in St Katherine Docks, the Surrey...

  • Category: Opinions October 18, 2023

    Government must take local planning challenges more...


    Is the government taking the challenges that local planning authorities face seriously? The simple answer is “no”.

    I had high hopes this February when the government...

  • Category: Opinions October 05, 2023

    Can local planning authorities be a catalyst for...


    In its October 2021 Net Zero Strategy, the Government said that “devolved and local government play an essential role in meeting national net zero ambitions” because it “is best placed to integrate activity on the ground” and to inspire “action by, local businesses,...

  • Category: Opinions October 04, 2023

    The future of tall buildings in London: sky’s the...


    There are many challenges being faced by tall building planning applications in London. One  major challenge is the issues surrounding heritage harm, as evidenced by the recent refusal on 22 September 2023 by the Secretary of State for...

  • Category: Opinions May 11, 2023

    Placemaking: Is the City facing an identity crisis?


    Post pandemic, the City is facing a unique set of challenges. The dual challenge of the impact of  online shopping on our high streets alongside what hybrid working means for office space means that  the City is grappling with a sense of...

  • Category: Opinions April 25, 2023

    Book Review: The Fleet Street Girls


    The Fleet Street Girls, by Julie Welch, is a marvellous read of the inspiring and evocative story of the female journalists who broke down barriers in the 1970s and 1980s as women moved up the ranks in Fleet Street for the first time.

    Julie Welch, the only “girl in the press box”...

  • Category: Opinions April 13, 2023

    Court of Appeal and the Bridge to Nowhere


    Why infrastructure applications will now have to be assessed according to the impact of the housing schemes they would support

    A Court of Appeal judgment has reminded planning officers considering...

  • Category: Opinions March 13, 2023

    A new flagship court but what about the rest?


    The City of London Law Courts development provides an opportunity to reflect on the sorry state of the rest of the court estate, says Martha Grekos

    The construction of a state-of-the-art combined court is under way in the heart of London’s...

  • Category: Opinions March 02, 2023

    To escape an identity crisis the City of London must...


    The City of London faces a unique set of challenges, with the dual impact of online  shopping on our high streets and hybrid working on our offices. In a way, it is facing an identity crisis.

    The identities of places change over...

  • Category: Opinions January 18, 2023

    Street Vote Proposals


    The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill was created with the aim to drive local growth, empower leaders to regenerate areas and ensure people across the UK can share in the success.

    The Bill intends to improve the planning system...

  • Category: Opinions December 20, 2021

    15-minute City: restoring connectivity


    Cities should work for everyone. Everyone living in a city should have access to essential urban services within a 15 minutes walk or bicycle ride from their home. A good place to live, work and spend time where the essentials of daily life are within a gentle...

  • Category: Opinions October 15, 2021

    Time to revisit the 15 minute city


    Cities should work for everyone. A good place to live, work and spend time where the essentials of daily life are within a 15-minute walk or cycle ride rather than a drive away: that’s the fundamental principle of the 15-minute...

  • Category: Opinions July 30, 2021

    15-minute City: our local cities can be our...


    Cities should work for everyone. Everyone living in a city should have access to essential urban services within a 15 minutes walk or bicycle ride from their home. A good place to live, work and spend time where the essentials of daily life are within a gentle...

  • Category: Opinions June 21, 2021

    Fleet Street Quarter: A Winning Bid?


    A business improvement district is a business-led and business-funded body formed to support economic growth in a geographical area and to create a vibrant destination for those who work, visit or live there.

    Government legislation...

  • Category: Opinions May 06, 2021

    The end of virtual planning committee meetings


    The Local Government Act 1972 requires councillors to be present to decide applications.

    Since 4 April 2020, under emergency legislation, the Coronavirus Act 2020 (section 78), planning committee meetings have been authorised to be...

  • Category: Opinions April 16, 2021

    Consequences of delays in issuing a CIL liability...


    In Trent, R (On the Application Of) v Hertsmere Borough Council [2021] EWHC 907 Mrs Justice Lang handed down her decision setting out the consequences of non-compliance of the CIL Regulations by a charging authority.

    The...

  • Category: Opinions February 23, 2021

    Planning power in London?


    Introduction

    Londoners will head to the polls on 6 May 2021 to elect a mayor and 25 London Assembly members. So what planning powers does the Mayor actually have and can he (or maybe a ‘she’ in the future) shape the physical...

  • Category: Opinions January 27, 2021

    Planning A Solution To Loneliness


    A few months into the Covid-19 pandemic, many people started to talk about another pandemic - the 'loneliness pandemic'. The NHS and Red Cross were advising on how to cope with the isolation thrust upon us by the global health crisis and its accompanying lockdown....

  • Category: Opinions January 14, 2021

    Book Review: London's Mayor At 20


    It is 20 years since London has had a directly elected Mayor and this book reflects on the setting up, running and workings in the mayor’s office, or as Tony Travers describes his chapters the ‘design’, ‘evolution’ and ‘operation’ - naturally ending with an...

  • Category: Opinions December 17, 2020

    12 Days of (Planning) Christmas


    Many of us are currently in the midst of the celebration of Advent, and the 12 days of Christmas which begin on Christmas Day (25th December) and end on Epiphany (6th January) are soon upon us. So what should those involved in planning law and policy need to note and...

  • Category: Opinions November 17, 2020

    How Is London Addressing The Climate Emergency?


    Introduction

    Covid-19 has been seen by many as an opportunity to transform our way of life and act in a more environmentally conscious way. America now has a President-Elect who is very pro clean energy, wants to deliver net zero by 2050 and has pledged...

  • Category: Opinions November 10, 2020

    Issues With Multi-Phased Permissions And Antique...


    On 3rd November 2020, the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal against the decision of the High Court in Hillside Parks Limited v Snowdonia National Park Authority [2020] EWCA Civ 1440 which considered the question of whether a planning permission for 401 houses...

  • Category: Opinions November 09, 2020

    Intensification and Contamination in Granting Planning...


    Intensification and contamination in granting planning permission (Smith v Castle Point Borough)

    The issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the local planning authority had failed to consider issues of intensification of use,...

  • Category: Opinions October 21, 2020

    Interpreting Planning Conditions


    How to interpret planning conditions (DB Symmetry Ltd v Swindon Borough Council)


    The question before the court was whether the access roads within the development could only be used by members of the public with...

  • Category: Opinions September 01, 2020

    Section 73 Planning Permissions And Section 106...


    The High Court case of Norfolk Homes Ltd v North Norfolk District Council [2020] is a useful reminder of the importance of ensuring that when granting a section 73 application, previous section 106 agreements are not to be forgotten. The case suggests that it...

  • Category: Opinions August 13, 2020

    Planning for the Future - The Good The Bad and The Ugly


    Introduction

    The Government has published its long awaited White Paper ‘Planning for the Future’. The political rhetoric of ripping up England’s post-war planning rulebook and replacing it with a...

  • Category: Opinions August 06, 2020

    Zoning the Planning System


    The prime minister, in his “build build build” speech of 30 June, has indicated a radical overhaul of the planning system, with the objective of ensuring speed, national infrastructure delivery and further deregulation to stimulate economic growth. The perception is...

  • Category: Opinions July 10, 2020

    Plan, Plan, Plan to Build, Build, Build


    This week Boris Johnson promised us the biggest planning system shake-up since the Second World War to help kick-start the economy. The announcement is still thin on detail, and a planning policy paper on this is expected later on this month. However, the radical...

  • Category: Opinions June 25, 2020

    Further Reforms: The Business and Planning Bill


    Reforms have been proposed in The Business and Planning Bill which was introduced to the House of Commons on 25 June 2020. The planning reforms proposed in this Bill are in Part III.

    The Bill provides that the permission extension...

  • Category: Opinions June 12, 2020

    Bias in Planning?


    Bias in planning has again been highlighted, but this time in a spectacular fashion that has caused a bit of a stir not just in the world of planning, but now on a national political platform too.

    The Secretary of State for Housing had granted planning...

  • Category: Opinions June 06, 2020

    Good Planning For Good Health


    The link between good planning and good health is unequivocal. The quality of the built and natural environment has a significant impact on health and wellbeing.

    Considering the health implications of a particular development is not new to the planning world....

  • Category: Opinions May 20, 2020

    Is housing need becoming the political force to shift...


    The retention of the Green Belt continues to be a huge issue for councils and communities across the country, as it is an issue that councillors face regularly on the doorsteps of their electorate. Combine that with the UK crisis of housing supply and a call to...

  • Category: Opinions May 20, 2020

    Book Review: Faith in The City of London


    This is a very beautiful photographic book. Niki artistically captures the vibrancy and diversity of faiths in the City of London through a collection of photographs of over 200 visits to most of the City’s places of worship.

    The mention of “Faith in the City...

  • Category: Opinions April 23, 2020

    How are local authorities holding their meetings...


    In early April, regulations were drawn up to change the time, frequency and location of all local authorities planning meetings so as to allow for local governance to become virtual. Across London, there have been differing responses. Some councils, such as the Royal...

  • Category: Opinions April 12, 2020

    Planning and Coronavirus – all change?


    Introduction

    The Covid-19 pandemic has meant that the planning system has had to adapt quickly to meet the demands of the ‘new normal”. So what have been the immediate implications for the planning system and what are...

  • Category: Opinions March 31, 2020

    Talking ‘bout Regeneration


    Gentrification is a divisive and tainted term. It was coined by UCL academic Ruth Glass in 1964 while studying the movement of people in Islington. In her work London: Aspects of Change she described how the social character of many urban areas of London has changed,...

  • Category: Opinions March 26, 2020

    Thoughts on Policy Exchange’s Report on ‘Rethinking...


    An interview by Marie-Gabrielle Williams. Stephen Morgan, barrister at Landmark Chambers, and Martha Grekos, barrister at Martha Grekos Legal Consultancy, discuss Policy Exchange’s report on ‘Rethinking the Planning System for the 21st Century’ (the Report). They...

  • Category: Opinions March 23, 2020

    The Draft London Plan – where are we at?


    It was Friday 13th and it was indeed unlucky for the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. The Mayor received a letter from the Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, ordering him not to publish the London Plan in its current state, directing that a series of modifications need to...

  • Category: Opinions March 12, 2020

    What is the scope of section 73 applications to vary...


    Can you use a section 73 application to vary a planning consent when the changes to conditions you are seeking also entail a change to the description of development on the previous permission?

    The answer, according to the Court of Appeal...

  • Category: Opinions February 27, 2020

    Is this the end of the Airports National Policy...


    Introduction

    Background

    The Court of Appeal was required to consider whether the Divisional Court was wrong to conclude that the Government’s policy in favour of the development of a third runway at Heathrow was produced...

  • Category: Opinions January 30, 2020

    What an Appeal Court judgment means for site...


    A recent Court of Appeal ruling on housing land supply highlights the fact that local authorities enjoy some latitude in exercising their planning judgment on whether a site can be considered to be 'deliverable', say legal experts.

    Last month, the Court of...

  • Category: Opinions January 02, 2020

    Legal landscape: London must review its green belt...


    The draft London Plan’s examination in public raised awkward questions about its blanket ban on green belt development.

    Following the public examination of the draft London Plan in 2019, the inspectors reached an “inescapable conclusion”: if London’s...

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