How do you navigate a strategic site through the Council and Councillors?
The first fallacy to dismiss is that if you “only” comply with the technical requirements in a “Call for Land”, your site is going to magically be allocated. The reality is that the 1.5million new homes target and the increased national housing targets have got a lot of landowners wanting to “cash in”… In truth, your site is likely to be one of hundreds, if not thousands that are being put forward to be considered and can quite easily “vanish” in the “noise”. So, think hard about what is going to make your site stand out and align with the priorities of the local authority you're working in.
You also have to understand that with a plethora of sites, Councils AND Councillors will now have the luxury of picking and choosing which sites they want and which ones they don’t. And remember that ALL Local Plans are scrutinised by the Councillors and they DO have influence over the process. How do I know this? Because I did the job and I made it very clear what I wanted and what I didn’t want in the Local Plan and when a “political steer” was given, it was carried out by officers… and still is! I can also tell you horror stories of sites that were in Reg 18 and then removed by the councillors on “Local Plan Working Group” before the Reg 19 publication.
It is always advantageous to understand the process (and I am talking about the internal machinations) and get an insight on what the Council “agenda” is for their Local Plan.
It is a fine balance between the policy frameworks and the politics, and you need to balance it and get it spot-on to secure your allocation.
From a political perspective, we have senior current and former politicians from the five main political Parties (Conservative, Labour, LibDem, Green and Reform UK) who ALL made (and are making) Local Plans and can help you to understand and formulate a vision that resonates with the political agenda in each local Council to ensure success.
Then there is the incredibly important technical side. You read the requirements of the Council and frankly, it is a bit of a guessing game… What is the information behind the information that the Council really wants? And more importantly, how to you get that insight to know… In the absence of a crystal ball, how to you find this out?
We have set up a “Strategic Land Promotion Team” at the CCP that draws together our colleagues with the most experience and insights in this field. The team is headed up by Dr Phélim Mac Cafferty who holds a PhD in the Built Environment and includes politicians who delivered and are delivering Local Plans from all five the main Parties. We are also very pleased to announce that this team has been joined by Mark Stone, the former Chief Executive of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils to bring that insight from the technical and policy angle.
So, if you want your site allocated in the Local Plan, get in touch!
Until next week,
Henry
Contact us on 020 4538 7200 or henry@theccp.net, phelim@theccp.net and marks@theccp.net