News

•20th February 2024•

Amendments to Permitted Development Rights on commercial to residential changes of use

To further support housing supply, the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, the ‘GPDO’, has been amended to make changes to the permitted development rights that permits the change of use of commercial, business and service uses within use class E to dwellinghouses. The changes remove the limit on the cumulative...
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•12th February 2024•

Test Valley Local Plan Consultation

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.
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•18th December 2023•

Planning Application Fees – Increases as of 6th December 2023

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...
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•7th November 2023•

New houses and River Avon to require phosphate mitigation – BCP latest position

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...
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•17th August 2023•

Planning Application Fee Increases – Government Response to Consultation

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...
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•4th April 2023•

Biodiversity Metric – Government Response to Technical Consultation

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...
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•30th March 2023•

February 2023 consultation on Planning Fee increases

The government has launched a consultation on a proposed increase to planning application fees. The consultation proposes to increase planning application fees for major applications by 35% and for all other applications by 25%. In addition there would be future, annual adjustments in line with inflation. This change would mean an initial fee increase for...
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•17th October 2022•

Part Time Town Planner Vacancy

Spruce Town Planning continues to have a busy workload and we are looking for a part time Town Planner to join the company. The ideal candidate will have a background in town planning. Chartered membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute is preferred, or someone working towards membership. Candidates should ideally have a degree in...
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•6th May 2022•

Eastleigh Borough Council adopts their new Local Plan

Eastleigh Borough Council formally adopted its new Local Plan (2016 – 2036) on 26th April 2022. The new Local Plan sets a number of new policies for the area and replaces parts of the previous Local Plan. The new document and accompanying proposals maps can be viewed at https://www.eastleigh.gov.uk/planning-and-building/planning-policy-and-implementation/local-plan/local-plan-adoption If you have any queries with...
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