Tag Archives: Planning

Reaching 100%: The R100 programme

TEP is pleased to have worked alongside Intertek and Global Marine to secure planning permission on behalf of BT for three fibre optic telecommunications cables in the Scottish Isles as part of the North contract for the Scottish Government’s R100 programme.

TEP secured consent for three cable landings at Fair Isle, Sanday and Colonsay.

In August 2019, the Scottish Government published ‘Reaching 100% – Superfast Broadband for All: Our Vision’. The Digital Strategy sets out the vision for Scotland as a digital nation that needs high quality digital connectivity across Scotland, particularly in rural communities. Reaching 100% (R100) aims to provide every home and business in Scotland with access to superfast broadband of 30 Megabits per second.

The fibre optic cables will contribute towards the R100 programme and the Digital Strategy by improving broadband connectivity to some of Scotland’s most rural communities to support future economic growth.

The R100 North contract included 16 cables with 31 landfall connections. TEP’s Town Planners undertook an analysis of all the landfall points to determine which would require planning permission and which could be installed using permitted development rights.

It was identified that three cable landings would need planning permission due to the ecologically sensitive nature of the sites. All of the sites requiring planning permission are designated as a Special Protection Area, Special Area of Conservation or a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Our Landscape Planners prepared a Landscape and Visual Technical Note for the Fair Isle landing, which lies in a National Scenic Area.

TEP managed and prepared the planning application process and brought it to a successful conclusion. All three cable landings were granted approval and cable installation is complete, ready for superfast broadband rollout within the Scottish communities.

Landscapes from a Heritage Perspective

Every person experiences landscapes in their daily lives, be it consciously or unconsciously.  Consciously, when we deliberately seek out a notable area of historic or natural interest; or unconsciously when we move through distinctive areas which make up our towns or cities.  Landscapes and townscapes are constantly changing, through natural processes or human changes, intentional or otherwise, and the way these changes occur impacts our lives.  When development is proposed within a landscape of significant historic interest, we must consider the degree of change to the defining characteristics of that landscape and the resulting and lasting effects.

Due to our rich heritage, the UK contains many areas of significant historic interest; these include the prehistoric landscape surrounding Stonehenge as well as land connected to notable persons such as Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, who designed country estates including Blenheim Palace and Alnwick Castle.  It is important that any changes to a historic landscape are sensitive to its character and therefore a thorough understanding of the landscape and its historical make up is necessary to accommodate and manage change.

Heritage Landscapes

At first glance, a modern development or structure such as a telecommunications mast, might seem too much of an imposition on an area of historic significance; it may be considered too high, too obtrusive or too modern.  However, through careful appraisal it is often possible to demonstrate that sensitive landscapes and townscapes are able to accommodate a good degree of change, without detriment or harm to valued characteristics.

There are limits for every landscape, and in some cases that limit will have been reached, such as when further development would remove too much of what makes the landscape special.  Furthermore, it is important to consider cumulative effects arising from other proposed or consented developments nearby.

At TEP, our Heritage and Landscape colleagues work closely to ensure that all risk of harm have been considered.  The results of a Landscape Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) can enhance a heritage impact assessment by providing additional information about the extent of visibility and the degree of change to landscape character, within or from a historically sensitive area.  We support our clients with a wide variety of development proposals on challenging and sensitive sites, with recommendations for appropriate and proportionate mitigation, ensuring satisfactory conclusions and agreements are reached.

By Stephenie Dalby, Historic Environment Consultant, TEP

Heritage Landscapes

Planning for Solar Farms Across the UK

With the current global agenda focussing on reducing carbon dioxide, solar farms are quickly becoming one of the preferred investment options for governments, businesses and independent investors.

Solar farms are large scale installations of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels that absorb energy from the sun and convert it into electricity which is then is fed into the electricity grid. They provide a green and locally produced source of renewable energy for 25+ years1 after their initial construction and generate virtually no noise. Once construction is completed, physical disturbance of the land is minimal, and the surrounding areas remain hospitable for plants, wildlife and grazing animals.

With these facts in mind, TEP is delighted to be working on a number of Solar Farms across the UK. The sites range in size from 10 to 59 hectares and with a maximum capacity of 49 megawatts. 49MW could have the potential to generate enough electricity to power over 15,000 homes per year. A recent study by the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)2 on the attitudes towards renewable energy showed that solar power was most popular with the public.

TEP’s in-house specialists are particularly well-placed to assess the impacts these developments might have on landscape and views, which is where concerns are generally focussed. We produce robust planning applications ensuring energy policies are addressed effectively. An integral part of the planning application is consideration of landscape and visual impacts. The supporting assessments consider the value of the landscape which will be affected, and ensure that proposals work within the setting, respecting positive attributes already present and identifying opportunities to enhance the landscape.

If you would like planning advice on the suitability of a site for large scale solar farms, please get in touch with our Environmental Planning team at planning@tep.uk.com.


References

  1. https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/2015/01/the-lifespan-of-solar-panels
  2. BEIS PAT Spring 2022 Energy Infrastucture and Energy Sources (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Port Sunlight Plans For A Green Future

TEP has helped Port Sunlight Village Trust (PSVT) launch its first environmental sustainability strategy, which is now starting to be implemented.  The 10-year strategy covers several topics including energy, water, waste, transport, business and ‘greening the village’.  Its focus is to reduce the organisation’s impact on the environment and encourage the community to do the same.

PSVT is an independent charitable trust responsible for preserving and promoting the historic village.  Set up by Unilever in 1999, the Trust works with Port Sunlight’s residents to create a self-sustaining village for all who live, visit and work there.  As much of Port Sunlight is designated as a Conservation Area, with over 900 listed buildings, it is important to ensure that any proposed sustainable solutions respect the historic fabric of the village and protect it for future generations.

PSVT commissioned TEP to create the Environmental Sustainability Strategy for all areas of the business, including the operation of the charity and village with its Conservation Area and many listed buildings.  Its existing environmental policy states that:

  • The charity is committed to reducing its environmental impact year on year by improving the environmental performance of its activities;
  • Reducing the impacts to the environment from all areas of operation; and
  • Championing biodiversity and sustainability as part of its public programmes and management of the natural and designed heritage in its care.

The first step in the production of the Sustainability Strategy was a baseline report.  TEP’s planning team established a baseline impact for all areas of PSVT’s operations including building maintenance and refurbishment, waste disposal, commuting, supply chain and staff development.  TEP partnered with Element Sustainability, who undertook baseline thermal performance surveys from fourteen PSVT properties.  In addition, three community surveys were undertaken and issued to the Trust’s workforce, contractors, and residents to gather their thoughts on sustainability.

Guided by the existing policies, baseline reports and public response, TEP produced a strategy that sets out a series of goals together with a strategic approach towards delivering the Trust’s ten-year Conservation Management Plan. 

The six goals include:

  • To reduce the overall consumption of energy used in PSVT premises, improve energy performance in all PSVT owned residential properties and encourage village businesses, visitors and the community to use energy efficiently to reduce carbon emissions without adversely affecting the heritage character of the village.
  • To reduce the overall amount of waste produced by PSVT and increase the amount reused and recycled. PSVT will embed the principles of the waste hierarchy and encourage village businesses, visitors and the community to do the same.
  • To reduce the overall consumption of water used in PSVT premises and tenanted properties and encourage village businesses, visitors and the community to use water efficiently to reduce demand.
  • To encourage the PSVT workforce and the community to use sustainable and efficient modes of transport that decrease the reliance on the private car in order to reduce emissions and air pollution.
  • To reduce the impact of PSVT landscape maintenance on the environment, diversify the type of open space and planting to improve biodiversity and enhance the sense of community within the village.
  • To become a sustainable and inclusive business in all areas of operation and improve the knowledge and well-being of members of staff. Ensure sustainability is integrated into PSVT’s normal way of thinking.

For more news from TEP’s Planners click here.

Well-Connected

Just before Christmas, the Government issued its decision on future guidance and support for electricity interconnectors: high-voltage cables that connect the electricity systems of neighbouring countries.  

The government regulator for electricity and gas markets in the United Kingdom, known as Ofgem, stated in this guidance that the government would be inviting bids to bring forward billions of pounds of investment in new electricity interconnectors to help boost energy security, hit the country’s climate goals and save money for energy consumers.

Electrical interconnectors allow countries to share electricity and can switch quickly between importing and exporting power.  Currently, Britain has seven operational electricity interconnectors, connecting it to Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway.  These provided almost 7% of the UK’s electricity last year.  However, the UK Government wants to more than double existing interconnector capacity by 2030 to support its target of quadrupling offshore wind capacity by the same year.

The UK’s oldest interconnector is with France and the Interconnexion France-Angleterre (IFA1) was commissioned by the Central Electricity Generating Board in 1986.

Fast forward to the end of 2021 and the UK has IFA2 in operation along with connections to the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and the Irish Republic with links to Denmark and other countries under construction, consented or in preparation.

A great benefit of interconnectors is how they support renewable energy.  Renewables are often called ‘intermittent generation’ due to fluctuations in weather conditions: lots of wind farm power when it gusts and plenty of hydropower after heavy rainfall.  Energy demand in different countries and time zones varies.  There can be periods where more renewable energy is generated than the domestic demand requires.  Therefore, having a way to allow surplus wind, hydro or solar power in one system to be offloaded to other markets, supports investment and ensures that there are opportunities for returns.

Consider a storm coming across the Atlantic to Ireland, sweeping east across the UK and into continental Europe, with its rainfall leading to over-topping of the Nordic dams and spillways.  If the turbines spin in Ireland but demand is low, a great deal of energy is captured and lost. Although storage technology is developing, meeting demand is the most efficient way to exploit the resource.  Interconnectors allow this to happen very efficiently, maximising the use of the natural resource by exporting to Northern Ireland and Wales.

As the wind moves across the UK and toward the North Sea, we can export surplus power back to Ireland as it experiences the calm after the storm, as well as east to our neighbours across the Channel.  As our wind drops, the direction of power flow may change so we import electrical power as others’ turbines spin, allowing us to use that in preference to fossil fuel generation.

The benefits to the diversity of supply, security of connections and the support of renewable energy are reasons why interconnectors receive such favour from governments.

As an island state, the mainland UK’s connections are by subsea cables and use direct current (DC) whereas our onshore network uses alternating current (AC).  Large buildings are needed to house the converter stations where AC is changed to DC and vice-versa.  Finding appropriate converter station sites, cables routes and connections to the existing power grid and then gaining consent for these infrastructure components are time-consuming and challenging activities.

National Grid's Interconnectors

TEP has provided environmental planning expertise in relation to many of the operational interconnectors and those under development in the UK; we have a track record in helping deliver these projects stretching over almost a quarter of a century.  We are proud of our involvement in these projects and the contribution they make in enabling the nation’s businesses and homes to edge nearer to net-zero.

TEP’s Green Infrastructure Assessment is Paving the Way for a Greener Wales

TEP’s Conwy Green Infrastructure Assessment was selected as one of the eight finalists at the RTPI Cymru Awards for Planning Excellence. The awards highlight exceptional examples of how planning and planners have a positive impact on our quality of life by creating exceptional places and protecting our environment. In recognising and rewarding excellence, the awards aim to inspire others to achieve the same high standards. TEP is very pleased to announce that their project received Highly Commended with Roisin Willmott Director of RTPI Cymru saying: “[The project] shows the significance of GIA setting a framework for development, and not an afterthought.” We are proud of the project and hope that this study paves the way for a greener Wales!

The Conwy Green Infrastructure Assessment (GIA) is one of the first of such studies undertaken in Wales and it aligns with Natural Resources Wales North West Wales Area Statement. From 2021 the undertaking of a GIA will be mandatory for all Welsh local authorities and the Conwy GIA will provide a good model for other local authorities to work to. The Green Infrastructure Assessment, commissioned by Conwy County Borough Council, will guide the delivery of a greener, healthier, more biodiverse, and prosperous Conwy. It will set the baseline for green infrastructure and go on to inform the Council’s Replacement Local Development Plan 2018-2033, creating the basis for development briefs and requirements.

Multi-functionality Map of Conwy

The brief required the mapping of Conwy’s green infrastructure (GI) resource, including an analysis of multi-functionality. It also required a vision and themes for GI in the county borough to be informed by policy and stakeholder consultation. The integrated project team of town planners, landscape architects, urban designers, ecologists and GIS analysts reviewed key policy documents, engaged in stakeholder consultation and mapped and analysed data. Our GIS analysis team produced innovative ‘heat’ maps highlighting areas of greatest functionality across the study, with more detailed insets for the urban areas. Our comprehensive chapter on policy context informed the vision and themes for GI and these have defined the approach to establishing where GI needs to be protected, enhanced or created. These analysis plans were presented for each of the five themes:

  1. Resilient Wildlife and Biodiversity Network
  2. Thriving Blue Environment
  3. Sustainable Growth and Economic Development
  4. Healthy Lifestyles and
  5. Improve Connectivity

The recommendations of the GIA, which include enabling suitable GI in key locations, are being taken forward by Conwy Council’s delivery teams and partners. These include tree planting operations on lower-grade agricultural land, which will limit soil erosion and surface water run-off in the upper catchment of the Rivers Dulas, Elwy, Conwy and Dee. The Council is also actioning the recommendations of the GIA in terms of nature recovery networks. This includes linking up statutorily protected sites (eg. Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Conwy Wildlife site), with sites of biodiversity priority, watercourse corridors and floodplains. Nature recovery networks have increasing importance, as wildlife species will come under increasing pressure from more extreme climate events and patterns and will need to commute for foraging, feeding and breeding. The recommendations have increased rigour as they include the mapping of key bird assemblages and important bat foraging areas, according to data received from the local records centre (Cofnod). Together, these areas will aid in the delivery of bigger, better and more joined-up benefits for biodiversity in Conwy.

If you would like to learn more about the project or how our Environmental Planning Team can help you and your project, please get in touch by emailing planning@tep.uk.com. You can also read other articles from the team here.

TEP’s Market Harborough Office Celebrates Seven Years

On this day in 2014 TEP’s Market Harborough Office, based at the Harborough Innovation Centre, opened its doors for the very first time. It had just three members of staff: a Landscape Manager; a Senior GIS Analyst; and a Principal Heritage Consultant. However, we were quickly joined by an Arboricultural Consultant, and the four of us worked on predominantly large scale projects alongside colleagues in the Warrington head office.

By 2017, the office had tripled in size with nine employees, including a team of three Ecologists and increased numbers in both the Heritage and Landscape Management Teams. The expansion meant that we had outgrown the Harborough Innovation Centre and the office relocated just a mile away to Bowden Business Village. The number of projects being won from the Market Harborough office was increasing, and so were the number of local projects we were contributing to.

TEP attend nature day and build bug hotels at North Kilworth Millennium Green

After another successful three years, which included a change in leadership, the Market Harborough office had once again outgrown the office we resided. We had thirteen staff and were fortunate to relocate to a considerably larger office but within the same complex at Bowden Business Village in February 2020.

TEP's Market Harborough Office Sign

Despite an unprecedented year of lockdowns, furlough and home-working, the Market Harborough office has continued to thrive. In this time, we have added another discipline to the office in a Senior Environmental Planner, as well as three other permanent members of staff, a seasonal ecologist and a long term sub-consultant to support the Landscape Management team.

Market Harborough Office - Team Photo

As the office celebrates its seventh birthday, we now have seventeen employees across five teams, closely reflecting TEP’s multi-disciplinary roots. We have an abundance of clients both locally and further afield across the Midlands, South of England and Wales – something I never would’ve dreamed of when I walked into the Market Harborough office on that first morning.

As a company, TEP is always keen to get involved in local projects, and the Market Harborough office is no different. We have already worked on many local projects including: Harborough District Open Space Strategy, North Kilworth Millenium Green Management Plan, Market Harborough Town Centre Masterplan, Daventry District Landscape and Visual Assessment, Kibworth Golf Club Ecological Surveys, Debdale Lane, Kibworth Eco and Arb Surveys, Desborough Road, Rothwell Archaeological Written Scheme of Investigation and the BALI award winning Upton Country Park Landscape Design.

TEP project - Upton Country Park in Northampton

We look forward to future opportunities, and the new partnerships that come along with them. With further recruitment on the horizon, and multiple new local clients contacting us each month, it is very exciting to plan for the future growth and development of the office and its staff; it is only when you look back, you realise and appreciate how far you have come. We are very grateful to all our clients and to everyone we have worked with over the past seven years. So, as we celebrate our seventh birthday we want to take the opportunity to say “thank you”.

Stuart Burke
Associate Director, Market Harborough Office

Supporting London’s Leisure Sector

Success for TEP as our Planning and Landscape Design Team secures planning permission for a new leisure facility in the Borough of Havering.

TEP worked alongside clients Total Swimming and Havering Council to provide a range of environmental services for the new Leisure Centre and Community Park in Rainham, East London. The chosen site, following community consultation, is in a central location and within an existing recreation ground. It is also adjacent to a Conservation Area.

TEP oversaw the preparation and submission of the planning application, coordinating consultant inputs and assessing the proposals against the London Plan and local policy.  TEP’s Planning Team also prepared other key elements of the planning application, including the Statement of Community Involvement, a Health Impact Assessment and Construction Management Plan, as well as preparing the calculations and liaising with the Council on the Community Infrastructure Levy and Section 106 contributions.   

In partnership with Box Architects, TEP also provided landscape design services on the project, which became a key part of the proposals to address the loss of greenspace as a result of the proposed scheme.  Whilst the proposals would result in a loss of 15% of the greenspace to built-form, TEP’s landscape design improves the quality of the remaining 85%.  This was achieved through a range of landscape proposals, themed around health and well-being, which works with the existing features of the site and complements neighbouring land uses, such as the adjacent primary school.  Landscape elements included a re-designed play area, sensory planting, wildflower meadows, community orchard, raised beds for vegetable growing, grassed events space, outdoor seating areas, as well as circular path routes to support health and fitness.  A key feature of the landscape design is the creation of a striking green frontage to the new Leisure Centre and park when viewed from Viking Way which facilitates walking and cycling connections to other parts of the town.  This work was supported by an Urban Greening Factor calculation carried out by TEP, which showed that even with the loss of green space the existing Urban Greening Factor of the site would be retained through the landscape improvements put forward and would exceed the London Mayor’s target for commercial developments.  

TEP also carried out arboriculture and ecology surveys and reporting (including a BREEAM assessment) to support the planning application and inform the landscape design proposals for the site. The project was successful and granted planning consent in March 2021.

To learn more about our projects in the Leisure and Parks sector click here.

CGI by Attic Agency Ltd

Planning in the UK

A Brief Rundown on Primary Legislation.

The TEP Planning team has seen a very busy start to 2021, with jobs currently spreading to all parts of the UK.  In this first thought piece for 2021, TEP’s Associate Planning & EIA Consultant Juan Murray explains differences between the planning system in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In England, the primary legislation is the Town and Country Planning Act (TCPA) 1990.  This is perhaps the most well-known of all planning legislation and it formed the backbone of planning in the UK before devolution.  The next key legislation was the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, which introduced Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Frameworks, which replaced local plans. Section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires that planning permissions are determined in accordance with the development plan. The Regional Strategies were then revoked, under s79(6) of the Local Democracy Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 and no longer formed part of the development plan for the purposes of s38(6). In 2011, the Localism Act introduced the duty to cooperate whereby Local Authorities were required to consider each other’s needs in the context of good spatial planning. It also introduced, as the name implies: Localism – Neighbourhood Planning. In 2012, The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was introduced, which had a strong emphasis on sustainable development and the presumption of sustainable development ensured. The Localism Act and NPPF then consolidated the plan-making process, replacing the term Local Development Framework with the term Local Plan. The planning process was simplified by replacing all Planning Policy Statements (PPS) and introduced the Planning Practice Guidance in an online guidance format.

In Wales, elements of the above legislation still apply, such as the TCPA 1990 and the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. The key legislation in Wales is The Planning (Wales) Act 2015 and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.  The Planning (Wales) Act 2015 aims to ‘make the planning system fit for the 21st Century’. The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, seeks to improve the ‘economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales by taking action, in accordance with the sustainable development principle, aimed at achieving the well-being goals’. In Wales, the planning system has two main levels of plans. The Welsh Spatial Plan: Planning Policy Wales (currently at edition 11) acts much like the regional spatial strategies that were in England but covers all of Wales.  Then there are the Local Development Plans (LDPs): like England’s Local Plans, each local authority must adopt one. Welsh guidance is further derived from TAN’s – Technical Advice Notes

Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (as amended by the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019) is the primary legislation in Scotland. Scottish planning is plan-led and local authorities when dealing with applications, should have regard to the provisions of the development plan, so far as material to the application, and to any other material considerations (Section 37(2) TCPA Scotland 1997).

Each local authority in Scotland has a Local Development Plan.  There are also four Strategic Development Plans, which set out the future development and land use aspirations across each city region which include: Glasgow and Clyde Valley; Aberdeen City and Shire; Edinburgh and South East Scotland; and Dundee, Perth, Angus and North Fife (TAYPlan).

The primary legislation in Northern Ireland is the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011.  It underpins the reformed two-tier planning system, which commenced with the transfer of responsibility for the majority of planning functions from central government to district councils on 1 April 2015.  The Planning (Local Development Plan) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 (as amended) set out what is required in the local development plan document and the procedure to be followed, to bring them into effect. The Regional Development Strategy (RDS) 2035, provides an overarching ‘strategic planning framework to facilitate and guide the public and private sectors. It does not redefine other Departments’ strategies but complements them with a spatial perspective’. This document functions in a similar way to Planning Policy Wales. The planning system in Northern Ireland is plan-led with planning decisions based on national and local development plans and policies (like in the rest of the UK).

Hopefully, this summary of the planning system in the UK provides some useful guidance. We have purposefully not delved into Permitted Development Rights, Development Management, Conservation Area, Listed Building or Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project Legislation and Regulation to keep it brief.

TEP is currently working on planning projects across the UK (including England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Island and the Isle of Man). If you would like any further guidance on this topic or to discuss a project, please feel free to contact us by emailing planning@tep.uk.com.

To discover more from the planning team click here.

Leighton Plans Approved

Two plans totalling 1,250 homes in the Leighton area of the town have been approved by Cheshire East Council and stand to benefit from a £36.5m highways expansion project nearby.

Congratulations to Bloor Homes, Vistry Partnerships, and Cheshire East Council’s Economic Development Team (formerly Engine of the North) on the recent announcement that both the Leighton West (North) and Leighton West (South) planning applications in Crewe have been approved.

This project is the culmination of years of hard work by the project team, led by planning advisors Avison Young. TEP has a long history of involvement with this site; we were first brought on board in 2013 to carry out habitat, bat, and amphibian surveys for the scheme. Since then, we have worked closely with Avison Young and undertaken a range of assessments to support the project, including surveying the trees, invertebrates, badgers, and hedgerows. TEP also carried out landscape and visual assessments for both developments and designed a biodiverse landscape framework for Leighton West (North). By working closely with TEP’s ecologists, the project achieved an onsite Biodiversity Net Gain of well over 10% – an incredible result for this type of constrained site.

To discover more from our teams click here.

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