The government has today published its draft Localism Bill that will bring forward huge changes to the UK planning system.
Communities secretary Eric Pickles said the new bill – which will be laid before Parliament later this afternoon – would return powers to local councils and communities. It includes measures to …

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has said sharing staff, including planners, and merging services between councils is the future of local government.
In a speech to the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham yesterday, Pickles said that local authorities teaming up over education and planning would mean “no duplication and more productivity”.
Despite slamming …

What it is: An alliance of 29 property and planning bodies have written to communities secretary Eric Pickles to express concerns over his “localist” approach to reforming the planning system.
When it came out: The letter was sent on 29 July, but was published on 5 August.
Why it is important: Developers …

Nearly 30 organisations including property associations, engineering bodies and green charities have written to communities secretary Eric Pickles criticising the government’s planning policies, as tipped by Property Week four weeks ago.
Bodies including the British Property Federation, the British Urban Regeneration Association, the UK Green Building Council and Shelter have allied …

Has anyone looked at the Department of Communities and Local Government’s website lately? I suspect not many – and to be fair, it wasn’t always the most invigorating read anyway.
But it did contain a significant amount of invaluable information for professionals in government, local government and the private sector dealing …

A consortium led by 10 Greater Manchester councils has been chosen to manage a £350m regeneration fund to lend to developers in the north-west.
The Evergreen Consortium, which includes the Greater Manchester Pension Fund and CB Richard Ellis, aims to create a fund of up to £350m to invest in the …

The uncertainty surrounding the planning system is causing delays and risking increased legal challenges to development consents, as councils struggle to keep pace with the speed of the government’s localism agenda.
Leading lawyers and consultants wrote to Communities and Local Government (CLG) last week to raise their concerns. The heads of …

If I’ve been quiet for a few weeks, it isn’t because there isn’t a lot to say about what the coalition government has been doing to planning – frankly, I’ve been rendered close to speechless by some of the changes and they’ve been coming thick and fast.
While the speed of …

Prime minister David Cameron has named four regions that will test drive the government’s proposed reforms to the planning system.
Today, during a speech in Liverpool to explain his ‘big society’ initiative, Cameron said the four regions that would pilot the proposed “open source planning” changes would be Liverpool, Windsor and …

Communities secretary Eric Pickles will slam the previous government’s “Soviet-style” housing targets today, as he officially revokes Regional Spatial Strategies.
Pickles has made a statement to parliament to end the imposition of the strategies with immediate effect, and will announce it at the Local Government Association’s conference in Bournemouth later today.
The …