Test Valley Borough Council have published their draft ‘Local Plan 2040’ for consultation. The plan covers various matters and also identifies new housing and employment sites in the district. The consultation runs between 6th February 2024 and 2nd April 2024, click here for full details.Read More

The planning fee regulations amendments proposed by government earlier this year came into force on the 6th of December 2023. The amendments to the regulations include; Increase planning application fees by 35% for applications for major development and 25% for all other applications. This means that, for example, the application fee for a single replacement...Read More

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has published new guidance and planning application requirements in respect of applications for new homes in Christchurch. Christchurch falls within the River Avon Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and previous advice from Natural England allowed BCP to approve new housing development that fell within the catchment of the Christchurch Waste...Read More

Following the government’s consultation on the proposed increase to planning application fees earlier this year, the government response has now been published. The consultation sought views on proposals to; increase planning fees, build capacity and capability in local planning authorities and introduce a more robust performance regime. As a result of supportive feedback the government...Read More

The government has published a response to its technical consultation on the use of the new biodiversity net gain metric. The Environment Act contains a new minimum 10% biodiversity net gain condition for planning permissions, and is expected to become mandatory in November 2023. In anticipation a ‘Biodiversity Metric’ calculator has been designed by Natural...Read More