Land-Acquisitions

29/08/2022

RICS on land registration

Effective land administration and real estate registration is a key governance, social justice and economic requisite for any developed or developing country. It forms the basis of any functioning land and property market and when ineffective (or non-existent) is the source of almost insurmountable problems.

05/09/2021

Transparency on land data is an essential part of the equation in keeping things moving and getting much-needed homes built:

Three pilots in Devon, West Midlands and Northern Ireland will test how to identify and improve key data that helps inform decisions on whether land across the UK is used for housing, infrastructure or net zero.

22/05/2020

Waiting with keen interest to see the priority of climate change in the eagerly anticipated new London Plan

25/03/2020

How Gowling WLG envisage Covid19 will effect Town and Country Planning in the UK

https://gowlingwlg.com/en/insights-resources/articles/2020/covid-19-town-and-country-planning-in-england/?utm_source=insight&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=insights

23/01/2020

Technology marches on but the inelasticity of supply will always play it's factor in land economics on a small political island. Lets see how planning policy changes will shape the new decade ahead to get the homes we need built.

04/12/2018

Important Judicial Review at London's Royal Courts of Justice. Inconsistent information between consultants, developers and local planning authorities will negatively affect land values. Transparency and indisputable case law is what is needed.

07/08/2018

Aside from grouping together specific design related NPPF paragraphs into one place, Section 12 of the new NPPF moves the design policy emphasis away from requiring good design to achieving well-designed places. This is a welcome change and return to a placemaking agenda.

17/05/2018

How a court ruling is likely to steer debate on scheme viability
by Bryan Johnston ,

Forthcoming revised guidance on development viability will need to steer a careful course between market values and planning policy demands, experts predict, in the wake of a key court ruling.

Disputed territory: the former Territorial Army centre site in Islington that was the subject of the High Court judgement
In an unusual departure, a High Court judge has urged professional bodies and ministers to rethink existing guidance on development viability in a bid to clear up "misunderstandings" over market valuation concepts and techniques. The aim, said Mr Justice Holgate, should be to avoid protracted land-value disputes, streamline decision-making and keep the judiciary out of arguments over "detailed valuation material".

The plea appeared in a lengthy "postscript" to Holgate’s ruling last month on a controversial appeal decision last June to refuse developer Parkhurst Road Ltd’s plans for 96 homes on a former Territorial Army centre site in north London. The judge backed inspector Michael Boniface’s conclusion (DCS Number 200-006-526) that the developer had not justified an affordable housing component of only ten per cent as the "maximum reasonable level", against a London-wide benchmark of 35 per cent and a borough target of 50 per cent, and that the viability review mechanism in its proposed unilateral undertaking was inadequate.

The appellants had sought to justify ten per cent affordable provision on the purchase price of £13.25 million and comparable transactions on other schemes in the area, arguing that a higher level would make their scheme unviable. Citing the site’s established use value (EUV), plus a premium, to reflect the developer’s profit aspirations, the council argued that the appropriate "benchmark land value" was £6.75 million and this justified 34 per cent affordable provision. The judge found it "clear" that the appeal proposal would not provide the maximum reasonable level of affordable homes sought by the council.

27/03/2018

Where did it go wrong? Death of the SME builder? Land tax? Viability? Council borrowing? Planning policy? Read Michael Sander's article from RICS for his well-rounded two cents.

28/10/2017

Well, do we need to reform the ownership use and management of our most precious resource?

02/10/2017

Minimum space standards, the push for the Build to Rent tenure, modular housing and several new permitted developments. A step in the right direction for our chronic undersupply?

Pocket Living's Sarah Davies talks exclusively to Property Week about the company's recent funding from London Mayor Sadiq Khan and future growth plans after...

29/07/2017