What’s in store for 2007?

For anyone in the development industry 2006 was a time of flux and change. 2007 looks like it will be no different and this article will look at the main issues affecting the South West over the coming year.

The Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS), which sets the tone for development in the South West for the next 20 years will be published during 2007 after an independent panel examines the published draft. The panel will hear from a range of diverse voices, such as developers, environmentalists, landowners and government quangos, before the final RSS is published.

Local developers also have an opportunity to exert influence at a local level, where local authorities are currently going through the mammoth task of preparing their Local Development Frameworks (LDF). These suites of planning documents guide development in individual districts. Authorities at the early stages of preparation welcome suggested areas for development from landowners.

Housing

Both the RSS and LDF encompass all forms of development, but the most conspicuous is housing. Demand for housing in most of the South West is nothing short of phenomenal and the area continues to attract the highest number of in migrants in the UK. The result is clearly shown in the rising house prices over the last decade. The South West growth is at least on a par with the booming South East.

These high prices make it even more important to meet the affordable housing needs and the justification for such provision continues to get stronger. This policy aspiration will not recede in the foreseeable future.

Work on the two large new settlements, Cranbrook near Exeter and Sherford near Plymouth will start in 2007. Cranbrook recently received planning permission and the first stages of infrastructure will be put in place during the coming year. Sherford is not far behind and the landscape of East Devon and the South Hams will soon start to change significantly.

Not many people can have missed the climate change agenda. With a Government increasingly looking to address climate change, the issue will become ever more important over the coming year and beyond.

Many of the first wave of wind farms are reaching the end of their consent and will need replacing. This is likely to be in the form of fewer, larger and more efficient turbines. Other forms of alternative energy, such as wave power or biomass, will become increasingly important. Expect to hear more about how nuclear feeds into the energy equation.

Planning Gain Supplement

Looming on the horizon is the imposition of a new tax - the planning gain supplement. This aims to claw back some of the increased land value when planning permission is given and channel it into new infrastructure, such as roads for instance. The Government has stated that this will not be imposed before 2008 at the earliest. Anyone with an interest in managing the eventual impacts of the supplement needs to start providing for this eventuality now.

One thing is certain, planners, the development industry and landowners must quickly get to grips with another set of moving goalposts.