News

When I met Sajid Javid last night, he was relaxed in anticipation of his big day today.
The linking theme in the White Paper is Britain’s low rate of housebuilding, with the carrot and the stick both used to increase it. Carrots include a change in planning policy to encourage higher densities on urban sites. The Government is careful that higher densities does not necessarily mean taller buildings and there is a hint of lower space standards.
Councils have always found making planning policy a neverending cycle; under the White Paper they will have to review housing targets every five years. Since the abolition of national and regional housing targets, councils have faced difficult decisions (and local political dispute) over how many homes to propose, knowing that the wrong number may result in their plan being ruled unsustainable and then losing control over development. The White Paper’s solution is a standardised national approach to working out how many homes they need. The process of making plans is set for change with the intention of making it simpler.
For all the media coverage over Green Belt development, there is only two thirds of a page in the White Paper about it, and no significant changes proposed.
Sticks being sharpened to force housing delivery include a new consideration in planning policy of whether a permission is deliverable; there’s a consultation on whether councils can take account of the individual developer’s track record. Also being considered are cutting the time for implementing a permission from three years to two. If developments stall, the government want councils to think about compulsory purchase.
To help promote delivery, the Government wants to diversify the housing market, and the White Paper is now clear that Build to Rent is encouraged for councils and investors. New PRS homes may see longer tenancies of up to three years, accepting that a form of tenure designed for mobile young people in the 1980s is now permanent housing for families.
This is part of a subtle shift away from promoting ownership at all costs, and towards rented housing. Starter homes, which were the big idea introduced only last year, are now downplayed in favour of “a wider range of affordable housing”.
For all the changes in the White Paper, Labour’s response “Is this it?” has a point – changes are evolutionary and shifts in policy are subtle. That may be because changes in the housing market don’t occur overnight and new policies always take years to filter through. Secretaries of State need to be relaxed but determined.

We’ve been shortlisted at The Public Affairs Awards for Planning Campaign of the Year, for our work on the successful campaign to bring the Dons back to Wimbledon.

Thorncliffe was hired by the team behind AFC Wimbledon to support their planning application to Merton Council for over 600 homes and a new football stadium at Plough Lane, Wimbledon, on the site of Wimbledon dog track.

The team faced staunch opposition from the political leadership of neighbouring Wandsworth Council, opposition from people who liked going to the famous greyhound stadium (the last in postcode London), and vociferous and hostile opposition from some in the local community.

Despite this, over the course of the project, we achieved:

• A thorough and engaging consultation which reached over 7,000 people and delivered unanimous planning consent from Merton’s planning committee
• An active campaign with 5,000 supporters to convince two successive Mayors of London not to intervene and overrule the council, despite both previously opposing the plans, and
• Overwhelming support to persuade the Secretary of State not to call in the decision.

The decision by Gavin Barwell and Sajid Javid in October not to call in the application finalised the deal to ensure the Dons came back to Wimbledon and left Merton clear to give the team a final planning consent; precisely the outcome our clients wanted to achieve.

At Thorncliffe, we have a lively approach to community – after all, most of us are or have been, elected representatives and serve our local community every day.

But it’s not just our colleagues who give their time to community. We think we, as a community, should value this input and help them and others in many ways.

That’s why we’re delighted to promote LandAid’s first ever Thank You Day to recognise the generosity and commitment of the brilliant supporters – many of whom are in the property industry. Without us all, LandAid wouldn’t be where it is today.

We know that the efforts of LandAid, and the people who help, are having a real impact on young people across the UK. Last year, they funded 20 outstanding projects, helped 35 charities in need of property advice and supported over 7,000 vulnerable young people.

Land Aid is about ending youth homelessness. We hope that LandAid continues to receive the backing of the property industry, so that no young person has to face homelessness.

LandAid’s most recent impact report can be downloaded here.

Congratulations to AFC Wimbledon for overcoming the last major political hurdle to bringing the Dons back to their spiritual home on Plough Lane.

At Thorncliffe, we’ve witnessed first-hand the passion the fans and others have displayed for this development, with so many getting involved in writing to the council, the (two) Mayors of London, and most recently the Secretary of State.  It’s been an inspiration.

The timetable went as follows:

• Last December, Merton Council’s planning committee unanimously approved the Club’s plans for a 20,000 seater stadium (initially 11,000) and 600 residential homes.  This followed a thorough consultation process with thousands engaging in the process.
• Despite favourable reports from the Mayor’s Office towards the scheme, the then Mayor of London decided to call in the application for review in March this year.  In July, the new Mayor of London handed the decision back to Merton.
• This week, following a request from Wandsworth Council to the Department of Communities and Local Government to intervene, the Secretary of State decided not to call in this application.

AFC Wimbledon has enjoyed an astonishing rise since starting again in the ninth tier of English football in 2002.  This master plan aims to cater for growing support as Wimbledon progress up the Football League.  We wish them well.

Last week saw the debate in Parliament of a new Private Members Bill to extend the Lobbying Act, which has now been in force for 18 months. It seemed like a good time to reiterate how Thorncliffe ensures compliance with the Act, and our thoughts as to whether it should be extended.

The most crucial aspect of our compliance work is record keeping, and we have first class compliance processes in place to ensure we are monitoring all colleagues and keeping these records up to date. As Thorncliffe is registered with ORCL (the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists), we have to submit a quarterly return on whether we’ve undertaken Consultant Lobbying, the act of communicating with a Minister or senior Civil Servant about policy for fees.

We’re also regularly in contact with ORCL and have been proactive in assisting this body since before it started.

When ORCL was proposed, it was thought that up to 700 companies or individuals would register – instead we have a more limited 136. Registrar Alison White is trying to tackle what looks like a potential flaw in enforcing the Act, by ensuring all companies are abiding by the current legislation. For example, just seven of the registered companies are law firms, yet many of these law companies advertise public affairs services in their marketing literature. The question is do these law firms communicate with Ministers or senior Civil Servants? Have they ever sent an email to a Permanent Secretary, but not registered this email? Have they ever had a meeting with a senior person from Government and discussed their client’s brief? Alison has identified the key issue being these company’s compliance processes, and whether they are sufficiently robust to ensure relevant communications are being considered for registration.

Amongst other things, campaigners for the Bill want to extend the legislation to in-house lobbyists, but as Lord Lansley, who guided the original legislation through Parliament has pointed out, information about when in-house companies lobby Ministers is already registered in Ministerial diaries now open to the public, and duplication seems unnecessary. However, there is a case for extending public scrutiny to the diaries of special advisers.

At Thorncliffe, our work focuses mainly on local authorities, which is not covered by the Act. Together with our Triple Lock for colleagues, we are determined to ensure our colleagues abide by the highest ethical standards. Colleagues who are councillors are protected by the law, by their own council’s code, and by our ever expanding company code; and those of our colleagues who are not councillors still have to abide by our code, and recognise that doing things in the proper manner is not only professional, but the right course.

With a packed audience of around 100 developers, we welcomed former Deputy Mayor Sir Edward Lister to the Carlton Club this week to be quizzed by our MD Richard Patient. Sir Edward was light hearted about the recent attacks from the new London Mayor on Boris Johnson’s record on housing and affordable housing, saying it was post-election banter. However, he warned that rigidity on the 50% affordable housing target would be unworkable, that he had used viability models unashamedly and that any affordable was better than none.

He also warned that, if Heathrow was selected after the referendum on June 23, the legal challenges would go on for years.

Sir Edward told the audience that he was proud of his record, and that where he had approved tall towers, it was in locations where it made sense to have them. He urged Sadiq Khan to concentrate on housing, and to become a ‘big tent’ Mayor working hand in hand with the councils across London.