Newsletter

It’s been a busy and exciting year for the TRP team and our clients. Some of our biggest planning applications this year have been approved  including co-living in Brighton and green belt residential schemes around London – and we’re working on some really exciting and innovative projects which we’ll share in due course.

We’ve come a long way since I set up Third Revolution in 2017 with a clear purpose to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world by developing creative solutions to society's biggest challenges. Our team has grown to 14, and we were thrilled earlier this year to have been commended for the RTPI Small Planning Consultancy of the Year in London.

We’ve earned a reputation for securing innovative and deliverable projects across the residential, mixed-use, economic and renewable energy sectors. This year, we’ve teamed up with Walters Planning and Consulting so that we and our clients can benefit from their wealth of experience with Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.

We have also updated our website and you can see our great new logo above, so this is the perfect time to share our first newsletter.

We’ll keep you updated periodically and expect to have some more really exciting news to share over the autumn. In the meantime, give our team a call if you’d like to discuss how we can help you with your projects.

Rob Shaw, Managing Director  

Headlines

Much has already been written recently about emerging Government policy in the new NPPF and confirmed in the Written Ministerial Statement. The strong direction of travel in terms of the  step change to housing delivery, economic growth and recognition of the importance of energy infrastructure to securing these, brings extremely exciting opportunities for all of us working in the planning and development industry.  

The proposed changes to the green belt are long overdue – there can’t be many post-war policies that are still fit for purpose! Yet it’s been seen as pretty much sacrosanct in planning terms which is illogical as much of it is (obviously due to its purpose) in sustainable locations and parts of it are either previously developed or of poor environmental quality.   

The proposed ‘grey belt’ represents a huge opportunity to meet the new higher housing targets and economic growth within 5 priority sectors. The government has set out their proposed definition of grey belt in the NPPF consultation. As well as previously developed land, the definition includes parcels or areas that make a limited contribution to the five Green Belt purposes (as defined in para 140 of the emerging Framework).  

There is considerable scope to identify land that has potential as grey belt. At Third Revolution Projects our team includes planners with a range of skills in strategic planning gained in the  housebuilding and energy industry, planning consultancy and local government plan making.  

We’ve been doing some research on how to identify grey belt land using our extensive planning experience and knowledge. There are a number of tools and evidence available and we are well placed to advise you on your next steps in terms of where and how to look. Please get in touch if you’d like to know more.  

Co-living as a housing type in the UK is still in its infancy and this presents real challenges for developers seeking the planning permissions they need to realise their ambitions. 

Developers and operators talk with passion about how co-living can create communities, tackle loneliness and provide a type of accommodation that’s currently missing in the market. Third Revolution shares this passion and has tapped into it to work with our clients to successfully achieve planning consent for several large co-living developments. We’re currently working on further applications across London and the South-East. 

Co-living can take many forms and target many markets but often it serves a neglected age group; those in their twenties and thirties who are either forced through high house prices or choose to rent for longer. These people are often looking for a higher quality place to live in a more communal environment. 

We are finding many local authorities are only starting to understand the concept and the alternative form of accommodation it can offer. Some get it, and some even have supportive co-living policies, but many more do not. This can lead to prolonged pre-application discussions and delays in determining applications. Even where planning officers are convinced, communities and committee members may not be. It is therefore critical that we take them on a journey to better understand the offer and the positive contribution it can make to communities. 

In the case of our first application, several years ago in Brighton with Kosy Living, planning officers became convinced when they realised the benefits it would bring to housing delivery in the city. The second, much larger 269 studio application at Enterprise Point gained a recommendation for approval from officers but was refused by the planning committee. This led to a 10-month delay while we appealed (successfully) the refusal.  

It was clear that the lack of specific planning policy on co-living in Brighton was a major cause of delay. Contrast this with Watford – while they had no prior experience of co-living applications, the planners had anticipated its growth and had adopted a supportive policy. The pre-application process was far speedier therefore as officers understood the principle of the proposal from the outset. 

The flip side though is that some places are seeking to implement unnecessarily restrictive policies and guidance. Shortly before the Enterprise Point planning appeal, Brighton & Hove Council introduced interim planning guidance to restrict co-living developments to 100-200 studios without any evidence to justify why larger, or even smaller, schemes were not appropriate. We were able to successfully argue at the appeal that due to the absence of evidence to substantiate this and the failure of officers to go through the correct  process, this guidance should carry almost no weight in the decision.

However, other LPAs are starting to develop policies which, if ultimately adopted into local plans, certainly will carry weight. An authority in London is proposing a co-living policy that restricts both location and proximity of similar schemes to one another. If adopted, this could seriously hamper our client’s ability to bring their proposals forward. Awareness of co-living amongst planners is growing, with the GLA and the London Plan leading the way, and this is a very good thing, but it is important for developers not to solely on arguing the case for individual applications but to seek to influence emerging policy by making local plan representations prior to their adoption.  

Returning to the recently won appeal in Brighton, the delivery of urgently needed homes carried a great deal of weight in the planning Inspector’s support for the scheme, as did the contribution to affordable housing offsite – it was generally agreed that provision within this particular development would not be appropriate. These are important selling points for all developers. 

Some planners and communities are concerned that co-living is just an excuse for studio sizes below the Nationally Described Space Standards. This is a reasonable concern but can be rebutted as we did in Brighton. The Inspector recognised that the units would not be self-contained, and residents would have common kitchens and lounges on each floor, as well as access to co-working and other amenities throughout the development. 

In conclusion, appeals, other decisions like this one, and documents such as the GLA’s London Plan Guidance, contribute to the collective understanding of co-living, which can only be a good thing. The model itself is also evolving and, done well, will make an important contribution to the communities in which they operate, will help to address the housing crisis and will be instrumental in providing high quality homes for underserved groups. 

From our experience, we would offer two lessons to developers: 

• Don’t assume planners, decision-makers and communities will immediately understand your vision and who it will benefit. Take them on a journey. Many have reasonable concerns around space standards and how a scheme might affect the existing community, so help them understand the benefits it will bring and how the development will operate as a whole, rather than as a collection of individual studios. 

• Engage in the plan-making process to better ensure policies support your visions, don’t unnecessarily restrict development opportunities in future and reduce delays in determining applications.  

We’d love to hear about your ambitions and projects so please contact Third Revolution if you’d like to talk about how we can help you. 

There have been storm clouds gathering for some time when it comes to funding of Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) and most of us will be aware of the very pressing situation facing many LPAs and many local authorities as a whole, not least as a result of a combination of factors including the cost of social care, temporary accommodation and the spiralling costs of providing front line services.

In relation to the topic of planning application fees, in December 2023, planning application fees were increased by 35% for major applications and 25% for all other applications. We know here at Third Revolution how considerable this is, for example to Solar operators given land coverage, without the returns of, for example, residential or commercial land uses. Therefore, there is some concern in relation to the recent consultation (Chapter 11 -Changes to planning application fees) which sought views on further increases to planning application fees.

Particularly concerning is the fact that planning application fees are not ringfenced to the planning departments of local authorities.

Whilst "Local planning authorities are expected to spend these fees on delivering their development management services" there is currently no ringfencing of planning application fees to LPA and it's really critical that the new Government addresses this.

It seems that the prevailing wind is to increase the planning application fees again. The new Government also sought comments on localisation of planning application fees.

There are two models being considered:

• Full localisation whereby fees would no longer be set nationally, instead all LPAs would have to set their own fees within the existing fee categories. The consultation refers to being capped at cost recovery.

• Local Variation: whereby fees could vary within prescribed limits.

The consultation document also considered increasing fees to fund wider planning service. Currently fees are only to cover the development management functions (those related to determining applications). Wider services include plan-making, heritage, design and enforcement. It is estimated that fees would need to increase by 157% to meet this cost. It notes that "increasing planning fees to cover the costs of other planning services would provide additional income for local planning authorities but would result in much higher fees which could risk deterring some development. It could also be argued that wider planning services represent a public service that should be paid for by other council budgets, funded by the taxpayer, not by individual applicants."

I personally believe there is a good case for more cost recovery on the likes of householder applications, prior approval applications and such like. However, it's critical to not 'kill the golden goose' with further increases which may become very difficult to accommodate in this world of inflation, building cost rises and viability concerns. Especially for certain types of developments which are perhaps disproportionately affected such as solar schemes which have large site areas and high upfront costs for surveys such as ecology.

The incoming Government are moving at pace on many aspects of planning reform but this needs careful thought so as not to further stifle development and cause potentially suitable projects to be shelved. The biggest factor too is to be calling for ring-fencing of planning resources for planning departments so as to maintain some sort of faith in the system.

If you require Third Revolution input in considering the implications, please get in touch with Gill Eaton or Liz Alexander.

Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system - https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-reforms-to-the-national-planning-policy-framework-and-other-changes-to-the-planning-system

This country is at a genuinely pivotal moment in the transition to a zero carbon economy. If the new Government is serious about making Britain a clean energy superpower then they are certainly starting strongly and the Third Revolution team is incredibly excited by the prospect of working projects alongside our portfolio of storage. A few thoughts from what we’ve seen so far:

• Treasury-led reform demonstrates the importance Government attaches to it; though it may lead to system and policy changes that some consider controversial!

• Removing the policy restricting onshore wind in England is so important and we would like to see the new NPPF emphasising the critical importance of wind, solar and storage in the planning balance.

• Government commitments to build many more houses will not happen without upgrades to the grid and this should be a factor in the location of new housing (and visa versa). We see a huge opportunity to bring housing and energy together on a large scale by using new housing to justify new grid capacity and in doing so, unlock renewable energy projects, and this means bringing energy infrastructure planning into the spatial planning process.

We’d love to hear from you so please get in touch.

On behalf of Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE), Third Revolution Projects successfully obtained planning approval on 17th June 2024 for Tophams Solar & BESS Farm in North Hertfordshire.  

The scheme, which is located in North Hertfordshire Council, 13 miles northeast of Stevenage, will export 40MW of power directly into the local distribution network, supplying clean renewable energy to the local area and beyond. The project will also include battery energy storage of up to 8MW. The solar farm covers approximately 60,000 hectares and will generate enough energy to power over 17,000 homes. The battery energy storage provided with the project can provide additional services to the grid and improve the flexibility and control of the energy it creates.

This project highlighted that positive community engagement plays an important role in the planning process and ultimately resulted in a better proposal being delivered. We encouraged stakeholders to view the proposals at an early date at a public consultation event. By identifying key stakeholders at an early stage, we were able to engage with community groups to involve them in the design process.

The application was initially deferred at North Hertfordshire planning committee in September 2023 with a community group originally opposed to the proposals. The deferral allowed for amendments and additional enhancements to be incorporated to the scheme as a direct result of the comments raised by the committee. We undertook further work, including protected species survey work and additional habitat enhancements prior to reconsulting residents and statutory consultees on the application. Additional meetings with the local community group identified that the provision of an additional permissive footpath running parallel with the ground mount solar and connecting with existing public rights of ways, would be positively viewed by locals. Engagement allowed for the community group to identify the appropriate access point and alignment of the path to best suit local desires.

The additional time spent on community engagement and survey work post deferral led to an increased awareness and understanding amongst the local public of the benefits that the development would bring. Ultimately, community engagement is a two way process which created additional enhancements and mitigations to address any concerns regarding residual adverse effects.

Rob Denman, Managing Director of Pathfinder Clean Energy said “Bringing viable clean energy projects through the permitting system in the UK and in the other markets where we are active is not a quick process and we have been working with Third Revolution Projects to lead on liaison with planning officers, specialist consultees and the community to create the best possible scheme for over two years. We have worked hard to sensitively balance local requirements, benefits and the national need”.

This approved project, alongside Paces other projects, brings their pipeline of UK solar projects to over 300MW in late stage development or ready to construct, with most entering operation in the next 1-2 years. Where possible, many of these projects are co-located with energy storage to provide flexibility that the energy system requires. Third Revolution Projects have acted as the lead planning consultants for Pace with responsibility for all planning matters of these projects from inception through to determination.

Example images showing existing v proposed enhancements.  

Welcome Ben Murphy to the team

We are delighted to welcome Ben Murphy who has joined us this month as a senior planner.

Prior to joining TRP, Ben worked in London-based town planning consultancies for five years. 

Projects that Ben has worked on include:  

• The regeneration of a former industrial site, delivering over 800 new homes as well as industrial, commercial and retail floorspace in central London; The project included navigating the London Plan’s complex policies relating to industrial reprovision and co-location, as well an extensive engagement programme with the local community and key stakeholders such as the Environment Agency, the East London Waste Authority and  Greater London Authority; 

• An affordable housing development which delivered 145 new homes, retail and employment floorspace over 17-storeys, as well as a new public riverside walk and public realm improvements; The project involved the redevelopment of a landmark plot to act as a catalyst for the wider regeneration of one of London’s key Opportunity Areas; 

• The development of a new school for a public sector client; The project included co-ordination with a multi-disciplinary team and long-term engagement with pupils, teachers and parents to develop an inclusive internal design to accommodate the special education needs of pupils, as well as a quality external design to integrate effectively into the built environment of the neighbourhood.   

• An 80-bed specialist care home with dementia provision, co-located alongside 10 family homes on a greenfield edge-of-town site; The project involved extensive engagement with the Council’s ecology and placemaking teams to develop a proposal which enhanced the town’s pedestrian network, and delivered an ecological corridor to protect the habitats of protected species identified on the site.   

TRP were thrilled to receive a commendation at the 2024 Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Awards for Planning Excellence in the small planning consultancy category (London).  

The awards recognise the positive contribution that town planning makes to society. Being commended is a great achievement for the company and has helped us reflect on our achievements to date as well as plan for the future.  

The winners were announced at an Awards Ceremony in June. Members of the team attended the event which was held at City Hall.