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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (2999,475,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Perfumers will look to protect the branding of their scents by registering their name or logo as a trade mark. This route will prevent other scent manufacturers from using identical or confusingly similar names, however this will not address the fact that a dupe may be almost identical in smell to the real thing. Perfumers may seek further protection by registering a non-traditional trade mark. The most relevant non-traditional trade marks for perfumers will be smell, bottle shape (as successfully achieved by Coca-Cola with its iconic bottle), and colour use.\r\n\r\nThere are substantial hurdles to overcome if a perfumer is to successfully register a non-traditional trade mark. Trade mark registries will need to be satisfied that the mark in question is clear, precise, self-contained, easily accessible, intelligible, durable, and objective. These criteria pose substantial difficulties when it comes to registering smells – as smell cannot be graphically represented and a sample will not be sufficient. Whilst it is not impossible per se to register a scent as a trade mark, the fact Chanel was unable to register its famous N°5 fragrance suggests this may be unattainable in practice. It is noteworthy that one of the key objections raised by registries is that the mark, for which protection is sought, should not stem from the nature of the product in itself. This poses a particular hurdle to perfumers who, arguably, only sell scent for its olfactory qualities.\r\n\r\nWithout trade mark protection a perfumer could in theory look to the law of passing off to bring a claim against dupes. A perfumer would need to show there was a misrepresentation by the dupe, that the perfumer has goodwill / reputation in the smell and that the misrepresentation has damaged the perfumer. Passing off has not been successfully argued in the courts in respect of a perfume scent, in a 2006 case the High Court rejected L’Oréal’s claim that the smell of a perfume formed part of the ‘goodwill’ in a particular perfume brand.\r\n\r\nMany dupe scents state to be ‘inspired by’ a particular perfume. This may seem like a flagrant abuse for brand owners, but this will not amount to trade mark infringement as the dupes are not representing to consumers that they are producing the actual perfume in question. The producers of dupes do however walk a fine line. If it can be shown that the dupe is portraying to sell the scent in question or uses the brand logo and / or a similar shape bottle, a brand owner should look to enforce their trade mark and / or rely on the law of passing off.\r\n\r\nGiven the level of investment that is required to create and market perfumes, there is merit in the argument that dupes should not be able to ride off the coat tails of perfumers. A re-examination of the trade registration criteria by legislators would be timely and perhaps the only means for perfumers to attain better protection for their brands.\r\n\r\nArticle drafted with collaboration and thanks to Dennis Lee and Tancred Campbell, BDB Pitmans.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3059,480,'insight_modules_0_text_general','As of Monday 2 December 2024, local authorities are able to let out empty high street properties via auctions without their owner’s consent, leaving landlords facing significant costs.\r\n\r\nIn articles for CoStar and Facilities Management Journal, real estate counsel Jennifer Chappell outlines the impact these regulations may have on landlords.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3061,480,'insight_modules_1_quote_text','These local authority-led auctions can be forced on landlords of shops, offices, restaurants, cafes, bars, community halls and manufacturing premises. ‘High streets’ are also widely defined to include property sitting on a designated high street or town centre or whatever a local authority considers to be suitable for high street use.\r\n\r\n');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3084,481,'news_author','William Roberts-Phelps');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3086,481,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Chancellor Rachel Reeves\' Budget changes has raised questions about the safety of family wealth when considering the inheritance of children who marry. Since 2010, there has  been a rise in nuptial agreements and this is expected to continue.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3088,481,'insight_modules_1_quote_text','If those [the bill\'s] changes come into effect, it is likely to mean it is no longer necessarily the safest route to protect your pre-inheritance wealth transfer by simply not marrying. Provided the nuptial agreement meets the stringent pre-conditions and an element of fairness, it can be the best document available for a wealthy family to protect their gifted wealth from the son or daughter in law that may seek to bring a claim. For example, it can specify a particular amount for the meeting of needs as to be assessed at the time of separation and or a percentage increase based on the number of years married. This gives an additional layer of certainty to those families when considering, with their financial advisors and tax planners the risks and benefits of beginning that wealth transfer.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3109,476,'insight_modules_1_text_general','Broadfield has advised Artisan Travel Holding Limited, trading as The Artisan Travel Company, on the acquisition of Travel Editions Group Ltd. Artisan are backed by, and the transaction was funded by, Panoramic Growth Equity.\r\n\r\nThe acquisition, which completed on 15 November 2024, follows the retirement of Travel Editions founders Ed Coventry and John Dryden.\r\n\r\nArtisan Travel offers independent tailor-made travel ‘experiences’ under multiple travel brands, including The Aurora Zone dedicated to Northern Lights trips. Founded in 2002, the company is led by chief executive officer Amy Hope following a private equity-backed management buy-out in September 2023.\r\n\r\nTravel Editions was established in 1994 and has built a strong and loyal customer following for its heritage and cultural tours. The business will continue to be led by its general manager Julie Martin and her experienced team.\r\n\r\nThe transaction further demonstrates Broadfield’s extensive expertise in M&amp;A and private equity activity in the travel sector.\r\n\r\nThe Broadfield team in Southampton was led by Corporate Partners Oliver Kelly and Sean Kelly, Senior Associates Rebecca Motchman and Leah Houghton, Solicitor David Crease, Solicitor Apprentice Fin McKenzie and Trainee Solicitor Rebecca Swift\r\n\r\nSpecialist tax advice was provided by Partner Philip Alfandary and employment law advice by Senior Associate Chris Greep. Stewart Lambert of the Firebird Partnership and IBB Law advised the shareholders of Travel Editions and Weightmans Scotland acted for The Artisan Travel Company’s private equity investors.\r\n\r\nOliver Kelly said:');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3117,476,'insight_modules_3_text_general','Amy Hope, Chief Executive Officer at The Artisan Travel Company said:');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3137,484,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3139,484,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3143,484,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3145,484,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word \'determination\' (not \'granting\') in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send \'a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats\'. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was \'fast-tracking\', but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3149,484,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3151,484,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an appeal</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appeal decision</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3178,486,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3182,486,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3184,486,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3188,486,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3190,486,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, an appeal <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second appeal decision <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3194,486,'insight_modules_3_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3196,486,'insight_modules_3_text_general','It is the season so here’s something fun, or at least more fun than usual. How can internet memes help us understand planning reform. Here are a few I’ve thought of, please take these in good humour and send your suggestions on a postcard.\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><strong>Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this</strong> – These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal</a>, and the latter meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said “not me!” in response to backlash. The first <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\">https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\">https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/</a> a statement (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is “please don’t do this”.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>Cheems Mindset</strong>: Jeremy Driver wrote this highly relatable essay <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\">https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by Jack Wiseman <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\">https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk</a> and the Tony Blair Institute <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\">https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which the Aarhus Compliance Committee is “concerned” <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\">https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect</a> about?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>“Boardroom suggestion” / m</strong><strong>odel-based thinking: </strong>this meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>“Everythingism”</strong> – Joe Hill tweeted <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\">https://x.com/jo3hill</a> about “everythingism” recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.</li>\r\n</ul>');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3216,487,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3218,487,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3222,487,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3224,487,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3228,487,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3230,487,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, an appeal <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second appeal decision <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3234,487,'insight_modules_3_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3236,487,'insight_modules_3_text_general','It is the season so here’s something fun, or at least more fun than usual. How can internet memes help us understand planning reform. Here are a few I’ve thought of, please take these in good humour and send your suggestions on a postcard.\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><strong>Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this</strong> – These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal</a>, and the latter meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said “not me!” in response to backlash. The first <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\">https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\">https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/</a> a statement (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)There are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is “please don’t do this”.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>Cheems Mindset</strong>: Jeremy Driver wrote this highly relatable essay <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\">https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.Jeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by Jack Wiseman <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\">https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk</a> and the Tony Blair Institute <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\">https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).Or take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which the Aarhus Compliance Committee is “concerned” <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\">https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect</a> about?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>“Boardroom suggestion” / m</strong><strong>odel-based thinking: </strong>this meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.I guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>“Everythingism”</strong> – Joe Hill tweeted <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\">https://x.com/jo3hill</a> about “everythingism” recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.What does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.</li>\r\n</ul>');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3244,487,'insight_modules_4_heading_title','Christmas Competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3246,487,'insight_modules_4_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\' <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\">https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/</a> that was launched at the beginning of May.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the names of nationally significant infrastructure projects. <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\">https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search</a>\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li>a type of sugar</li>\r\n 	<li>what pancakes are made from</li>\r\n 	<li>a fastening for a shirt etc.</li>\r\n 	<li>a device for applying fat to a roast</li>\r\n 	<li>someone with equal billing</li>\r\n 	<li>a mediaeval peasant or farm labourer</li>\r\n 	<li>a wood strip for securing hatches on a ship</li>\r\n 	<li>Alain de, philosopher</li>\r\n 	<li>a seller of fruit</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3252,484,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3254,484,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> and the latter meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said \'not me!\' in response to backlash. The <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement</a> (‘it is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is \'please don’t do this\'.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3270,488,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3272,488,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3276,488,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3278,488,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3282,488,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3284,488,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, an appeal <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second appeal decision <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3292,488,'insight_modules_4_heading_title','Christmas Competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3294,488,'insight_modules_4_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal</a>, and the latter meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said “not me!” in response to backlash. The first <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\">https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\">https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/</a> a statement (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is “please don’t do this”.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3300,488,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3302,488,'insight_modules_5_text_general','It is the season so here’s something fun, or at least more fun than usual. How can internet memes help us understand planning reform. Here are a few I’ve thought of, please take these in good humour and send your suggestions on a postcard.\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><strong>Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this</strong> – These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal</a>, and the latter meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said “not me!” in response to backlash. The first <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\">https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\">https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/</a> a statement (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)There are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is “please don’t do this”.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>Cheems Mindset</strong>: Jeremy Driver wrote this highly relatable essay <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\">https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.Jeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by Jack Wiseman <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\">https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk</a> and the Tony Blair Institute <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\">https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).Or take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which the Aarhus Compliance Committee is “concerned” <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\">https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect</a> about?The lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>“Boardroom suggestion” / m</strong><strong>odel-based thinking: </strong>this meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.I guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>“Everythingism”</strong> – Joe Hill tweeted <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\">https://x.com/jo3hill</a> about “everythingism” recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.What does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.</li>\r\n</ul>');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3306,488,'insight_modules_6_heading_title','Christmas Competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3308,488,'insight_modules_6_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\' <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\">https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/</a> that was launched at the beginning of May.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the names of nationally significant infrastructure projects. <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\">https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search</a>\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li>a type of sugar</li>\r\n 	<li>what pancakes are made from</li>\r\n 	<li>a fastening for a shirt etc.</li>\r\n 	<li>a device for applying fat to a roast</li>\r\n 	<li>someone with equal billing</li>\r\n 	<li>a mediaeval peasant or farm labourer</li>\r\n 	<li>a wood strip for securing hatches on a ship</li>\r\n 	<li>Alain de, philosopher</li>\r\n 	<li>a seller of fruit</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3312,484,'insight_modules_3_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3314,484,'insight_modules_3_text_general','It is the season so here’s something fun, or at least more fun than usual. How can internet memes help us understand planning reform. Here are a few I’ve thought of, please take these in good humour and send your suggestions on a postcard.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3316,484,'insight_modules_4_text_para','Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3322,484,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this highly relatable essay</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with \'it’s too complicated\' being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack Wiseman</a> and <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Tony Blair Institute</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Aarhus Compliance Committee is \'concerned\' about</a>?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3328,484,'insight_modules_9_text_general','<a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This meme</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments \'what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime\', when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just \'this is good, and this is bad\' without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3334,484,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill posted about \'everythingism\' <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on X</a> recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3338,484,'insight_modules_12_heading_title','Christmas competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3340,484,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\'</a> that was launched at the beginning of May 2024.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">names of nationally significant infrastructure projects</a>.\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n\r\n1. A type of sugar\r\n2. What pancakes are made from\r\n3. A fastening for a shirt etc.\r\n4. A device for applying fat to a roast\r\n5. Someone with equal billing\r\n6. A medieval peasant or farm labourer\r\n7. A wood strip for securing hatches on a ship\r\n8. Alain de, philosopher\r\n9. A seller of fruit\r\n\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3350,489,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3352,489,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3356,489,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3358,489,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3362,489,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3364,489,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, an appeal <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second appeal decision <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3372,489,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3374,489,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal</a>, and the latter meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said “not me!” in response to backlash. The first <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\">https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\">https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/</a> a statement (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is “please don’t do this”.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3378,489,'insight_modules_3_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3382,489,'insight_modules_4_text_para','Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this –');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3384,489,'insight_modules_6_text_para','Cheems Mindset');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3388,489,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote this highly relatable essay <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\">https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by Jack Wiseman <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\">https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk</a> and the Tony Blair Institute <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\">https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which the Aarhus Compliance Committee is “concerned” <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\">https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect</a> about?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3390,489,'insight_modules_8_text_para','\'Boardroom suggestion\' / model-based thinking: ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3394,489,'insight_modules_9_text_general','This meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3396,489,'insight_modules_10_text_para','\'Everythingism\'');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3400,489,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill tweeted <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\">https://x.com/jo3hill</a> about “everythingism” recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3404,489,'insight_modules_12_heading_title','Christmas Competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3406,489,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\' <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\">https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/</a> that was launched at the beginning of May.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the names of nationally significant infrastructure projects. <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\">https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search</a>\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li>a type of sugar</li>\r\n 	<li>what pancakes are made from</li>\r\n 	<li>a fastening for a shirt etc.</li>\r\n 	<li>a device for applying fat to a roast</li>\r\n 	<li>someone with equal billing</li>\r\n 	<li>a mediaeval peasant or farm labourer</li>\r\n 	<li>a wood strip for securing hatches on a ship</li>\r\n 	<li>Alain de, philosopher</li>\r\n 	<li>a seller of fruit</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3416,490,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3418,490,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3422,490,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3424,490,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3428,490,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3430,490,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, an appeal <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second appeal decision <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3438,490,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3440,490,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal</a>, and the latter meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said “not me!” in response to backlash. The first <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\">https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\">https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/</a> a statement (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is “please don’t do this”.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3454,490,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote this highly relatable essay <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\">https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by Jack Wiseman <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\">https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk</a> and the Tony Blair Institute <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\">https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which the Aarhus Compliance Committee is “concerned” <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\">https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect</a> about?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3456,490,'insight_modules_8_text_para','\'Boardroom suggestion\' / model-based thinking: ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3460,490,'insight_modules_9_text_general','This meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3462,490,'insight_modules_10_text_para','\'Everythingism\'');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3466,490,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill tweeted <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\">https://x.com/jo3hill</a> about “everythingism” recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3470,490,'insight_modules_12_heading_title','Christmas Competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3472,490,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\' <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\">https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/</a> that was launched at the beginning of May.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the names of nationally significant infrastructure projects. <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\">https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search</a>\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n\r\n1. a type of sugar\r\n2. what pancakes are made from\r\n3. a fastening for a shirt etc.\r\n4. a device for applying fat to a roast\r\n5. someone with equal billing\r\n6. a mediaeval peasant or farm labourer\r\n7. a wood strip for securing hatches on a ship\r\n8. Alain de, philosopher\r\n9. a seller of fruit\r\n\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3482,491,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3484,491,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3488,491,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3490,491,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3494,491,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3496,491,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, an appeal <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second appeal decision <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3504,491,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3506,491,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal</a>, and the latter meme here <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said “not me!” in response to backlash. The first <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\">https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\">https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/</a> a statement (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is “please don’t do this”.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3520,491,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote this highly relatable essay <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\">https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by Jack Wiseman <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\">https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk</a> and the Tony Blair Institute <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\">https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which the Aarhus Compliance Committee is “concerned” <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\">https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect</a> about?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3526,491,'insight_modules_9_text_general','This meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3528,491,'insight_modules_10_text_para','\'Everythingism\'');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3532,491,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill tweeted <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\">https://x.com/jo3hill</a> about “everythingism” recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3536,491,'insight_modules_12_heading_title','Christmas Competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3538,491,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\' <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\">https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/</a> that was launched at the beginning of May.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the names of nationally significant infrastructure projects. <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\">https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search</a>\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n\r\n1. A type of sugar\r\n2. What pancakes are made from\r\n3. A fastening for a shirt etc.\r\n4. A device for applying fat to a roast\r\n5. Someone with equal billing\r\n6. A medieval peasant or farm labourer\r\n7. A wood strip for securing hatches on a ship\r\n8. Alain de, philosopher\r\n9. A seller of fruit\r\n\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3548,492,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3550,492,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3554,492,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3556,492,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3560,492,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3562,492,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an appeal</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>  for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appeal decision</a>  that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3570,492,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3572,492,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>, and the latter meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said \'not me!\' in response to backlash. The <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement</a> (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is “please don’t do this”.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3576,492,'insight_modules_3_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3580,492,'insight_modules_4_text_para','Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this –');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3582,492,'insight_modules_6_text_para','Cheems Mindset');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3586,492,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this highly relatable essay</a>  in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by Jack Wiseman <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\">https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk</a> and the Tony Blair Institute <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\">https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained here <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/\">https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which the Aarhus Compliance Committee is “concerned” <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\">https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect</a> about?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3588,492,'insight_modules_8_text_para','\'Boardroom suggestion\' / model-based thinking: ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3592,492,'insight_modules_9_text_general','This meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3594,492,'insight_modules_10_text_para','\'Everythingism\'');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3598,492,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill tweeted <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\">https://x.com/jo3hill</a> about “everythingism” recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3602,492,'insight_modules_12_heading_title','Christmas Competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3604,492,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\' <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\">https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/</a> that was launched at the beginning of May.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the names of nationally significant infrastructure projects. <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\">https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search</a>\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n\r\n1. A type of sugar\r\n2. What pancakes are made from\r\n3. A fastening for a shirt etc.\r\n4. A device for applying fat to a roast\r\n5. Someone with equal billing\r\n6. A medieval peasant or farm labourer\r\n7. A wood strip for securing hatches on a ship\r\n8. Alain de, philosopher\r\n9. A seller of fruit\r\n\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3618,494,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3622,494,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3624,494,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3628,494,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3630,494,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an appeal</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appeal decision</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3638,494,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3640,494,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> and the latter meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said \'not me!\' in response to backlash. The <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement</a> (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is \'please don’t do this\'.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3644,494,'insight_modules_3_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3648,494,'insight_modules_4_text_para','Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this –');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3650,494,'insight_modules_6_text_para','Cheems Mindset');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3654,494,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this highly relatable essay</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack Wiseman</a> and <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Tony Blair Institute</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Aarhus Compliance Committee is \'concerned\' about</a>?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3656,494,'insight_modules_8_text_para','\'Boardroom suggestion\' / model-based thinking: ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3660,494,'insight_modules_9_text_general','This meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\">https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3662,494,'insight_modules_10_text_para','\'Everythingism\'');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3666,494,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill tweeted <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\">https://x.com/jo3hill</a> about “everythingism” recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3670,494,'insight_modules_12_heading_title','Christmas Competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3672,494,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\' <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\">https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/</a> that was launched at the beginning of May.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the names of nationally significant infrastructure projects. <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\">https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search</a>\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n\r\n1. A type of sugar\r\n2. What pancakes are made from\r\n3. A fastening for a shirt etc.\r\n4. A device for applying fat to a roast\r\n5. Someone with equal billing\r\n6. A medieval peasant or farm labourer\r\n7. A wood strip for securing hatches on a ship\r\n8. Alain de, philosopher\r\n9. A seller of fruit\r\n\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3684,495,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3688,495,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3690,495,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3694,495,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3696,495,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an appeal</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appeal decision</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3704,495,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3706,495,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> and the latter meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said \'not me!\' in response to backlash. The <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement</a> (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is \'please don’t do this\'.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3710,495,'insight_modules_3_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3714,495,'insight_modules_4_text_para','Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3716,495,'insight_modules_6_text_para','Cheems mindset');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3720,495,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this highly relatable essay</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack Wiseman</a> and <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Tony Blair Institute</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Aarhus Compliance Committee is \'concerned\' about</a>?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3722,495,'insight_modules_8_text_para','\'Boardroom suggestion\' / model-based thinking: ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3726,495,'insight_modules_9_text_general','<a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This meme</a>  features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3728,495,'insight_modules_10_text_para','\'Everythingism\'');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3732,495,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill posted about “everythingism” <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on X</a> recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3736,495,'insight_modules_12_heading_title','Christmas competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3738,495,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\'</a>  that was launched at the beginning of May 2024.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">names of nationally significant infrastructure projects</a>.\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n\r\n1. A type of sugar\r\n2. What pancakes are made from\r\n3. A fastening for a shirt etc.\r\n4. A device for applying fat to a roast\r\n5. Someone with equal billing\r\n6. A medieval peasant or farm labourer\r\n7. A wood strip for securing hatches on a ship\r\n8. Alain de, philosopher\r\n9. A seller of fruit\r\n\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3748,496,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3750,496,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3754,496,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3756,496,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3760,496,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3762,496,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an appeal</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appeal decision</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3770,496,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3772,496,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> and the latter meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said \'not me!\' in response to backlash. The <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement</a> (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is \'please don’t do this\'.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3780,496,'insight_modules_4_text_para','Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3782,496,'insight_modules_6_text_para','Cheems mindset');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3786,496,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this highly relatable essay</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack Wiseman</a> and <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Tony Blair Institute</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Aarhus Compliance Committee is \'concerned\' about</a>?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3788,496,'insight_modules_8_text_para','\'Boardroom suggestion\' / model-based thinking');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3792,496,'insight_modules_9_text_general','<a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This meme</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3794,496,'insight_modules_10_text_para','\'Everythingism\'');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3798,496,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill posted about “everythingism” <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on X</a> recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3802,496,'insight_modules_12_heading_title','Christmas competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3804,496,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\'</a> that was launched at the beginning of May 2024.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">names of nationally significant infrastructure projects</a>.\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n\r\n1. A type of sugar\r\n2. What pancakes are made from\r\n3. A fastening for a shirt etc.\r\n4. A device for applying fat to a roast\r\n5. Someone with equal billing\r\n6. A medieval peasant or farm labourer\r\n7. A wood strip for securing hatches on a ship\r\n8. Alain de, philosopher\r\n9. A seller of fruit\r\n\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3827,500,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3829,500,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3833,500,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3835,500,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3839,500,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3841,500,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an appeal</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appeal decision</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3849,500,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3851,500,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> and the latter meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said \'not me!\' in response to backlash. The <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement</a> (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is \'please don’t do this\'.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3859,500,'insight_modules_4_text_para','Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3861,500,'insight_modules_6_text_para','Cheems mindset');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3865,500,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this highly relatable essay</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack Wiseman</a> and <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Tony Blair Institute</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Aarhus Compliance Committee is \'concerned\' about</a>?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3867,500,'insight_modules_8_text_para','\'Boardroom suggestion\' / model-based thinking');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3871,500,'insight_modules_9_text_general','<a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This meme</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3873,500,'insight_modules_10_text_para','\'Everythingism\'');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3877,500,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill posted about “everythingism” <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on X</a> recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3881,500,'insight_modules_12_heading_title','Christmas competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3883,500,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\'</a> that was launched at the beginning of May 2024.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">names of nationally significant infrastructure projects</a>.\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n\r\n1. A type of sugar\r\n2. What pancakes are made from\r\n3. A fastening for a shirt etc.\r\n4. A device for applying fat to a roast\r\n5. Someone with equal billing\r\n6. A medieval peasant or farm labourer\r\n7. A wood strip for securing hatches on a ship\r\n8. Alain de, philosopher\r\n9. A seller of fruit\r\n\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3897,503,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3899,503,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3903,503,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3905,503,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3909,503,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3911,503,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an appeal</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appeal decision</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3919,503,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3921,503,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> and the latter meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said \'not me!\' in response to backlash. The <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement</a> (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is \'please don’t do this\'.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3925,503,'insight_modules_3_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3929,503,'insight_modules_4_text_para','Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3931,503,'insight_modules_6_text_para','Cheems mindset');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3935,503,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this highly relatable essay</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack Wiseman</a> and <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Tony Blair Institute</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Aarhus Compliance Committee is \'concerned\' about</a>?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3937,503,'insight_modules_8_text_para','\'Boardroom suggestion\' / model-based thinking');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3941,503,'insight_modules_9_text_general','<a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This meme</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3943,503,'insight_modules_10_text_para','\'Everythingism\'');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3947,503,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill posted about “everythingism” <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on X</a> recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3951,503,'insight_modules_12_heading_title','Christmas competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3953,503,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\'</a> that was launched at the beginning of May 2024.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">names of nationally significant infrastructure projects</a>.\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n\r\n1. A type of sugar\r\n2. What pancakes are made from\r\n3. A fastening for a shirt etc.\r\n4. A device for applying fat to a roast\r\n5. Someone with equal billing\r\n6. A medieval peasant or farm labourer\r\n7. A wood strip for securing hatches on a ship\r\n8. Alain de, philosopher\r\n9. A seller of fruit\r\n\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3963,504,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3965,504,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3969,504,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3971,504,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word “determination” (not “granting”) in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send “a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats”. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was “fast-tracking”, but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3975,504,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3977,504,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an appeal</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appeal decision</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3985,504,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3987,504,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> and the latter meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said \'not me!\' in response to backlash. The <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement</a> (‘It is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is \'please don’t do this\'.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3991,504,'insight_modules_3_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3993,504,'insight_modules_3_text_general','It is the season so here’s something fun, or at least more fun than usual. How can internet memes help us understand planning reform. Here are a few I’ve thought of, please take these in good humour and send your suggestions on a postcard.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3995,504,'insight_modules_4_text_para','Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (3997,504,'insight_modules_6_text_para','Cheems mindset');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4001,504,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this highly relatable essay</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack Wiseman</a> and <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Tony Blair Institute</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Aarhus Compliance Committee is \'concerned\' about</a>?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4003,504,'insight_modules_8_text_para','\'Boardroom suggestion\' / model-based thinking');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4007,504,'insight_modules_9_text_general','<a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This meme</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments “what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime?!”, when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just “this is good, and this is bad” without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4009,504,'insight_modules_10_text_para','\'Everythingism\'');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4013,504,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill posted about “everythingism” <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on X</a> recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning!) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4017,504,'insight_modules_12_heading_title','Christmas competition');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4019,504,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\'</a> that was launched at the beginning of May 2024.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">names of nationally significant infrastructure projects</a>.\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n\r\n1. A type of sugar\r\n2. What pancakes are made from\r\n3. A fastening for a shirt etc.\r\n4. A device for applying fat to a roast\r\n5. Someone with equal billing\r\n6. A medieval peasant or farm labourer\r\n7. A wood strip for securing hatches on a ship\r\n8. Alain de, philosopher\r\n9. A seller of fruit\r\n\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4029,505,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4031,505,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4035,505,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4037,505,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word \'determination\' (not \'granting\') in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send \'a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats\'. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was \'fast-tracking\', but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4041,505,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4043,505,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an appeal</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appeal decision</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4051,505,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4053,505,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> and the latter meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said \'not me!\' in response to backlash. The <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement</a> (‘it is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is \'please don’t do this\'.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4059,505,'insight_modules_3_text_general','It is the season so here’s something fun, or at least more fun than usual. How can internet memes help us understand planning reform. Here are a few I’ve thought of, please take these in good humour and send your suggestions on a postcard.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4061,505,'insight_modules_4_text_para','Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4067,505,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this highly relatable essay</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with “it’s too complicated” being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack Wiseman</a> and <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Tony Blair Institute</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Aarhus Compliance Committee is \'concerned\' about</a>?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4069,505,'insight_modules_8_text_para','\'Boardroom suggestion\' / model-based thinking');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4071,505,'insight_modules_9_add_heading','0');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4073,505,'insight_modules_9_text_general','<a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This meme</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments \'what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime\', when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just \'this is good, and this is bad\' without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4075,505,'insight_modules_10_text_para','\'Everythingism\'');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4079,505,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill posted about \'everythingism\' <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on X</a> recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4081,505,'insight_modules_12_add_heading','1');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4082,505,'_insight_modules_12_add_heading','field_67448fefc373b');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4083,505,'insight_modules_12_heading_title','Christmas competition');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4084,505,'_insight_modules_12_heading_title','field_67449020c373c');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4085,505,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\'</a> that was launched at the beginning of May 2024.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">names of nationally significant infrastructure projects</a>.\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n\r\n1. A type of sugar\r\n2. What pancakes are made from\r\n3. A fastening for a shirt etc.\r\n4. A device for applying fat to a roast\r\n5. Someone with equal billing\r\n6. A medieval peasant or farm labourer\r\n7. A wood strip for securing hatches on a ship\r\n8. Alain de, philosopher\r\n9. A seller of fruit\r\n\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4091,506,'author','a:1:{i:0;s:3:\"497\";}');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4092,506,'_author','field_67447fe4fedd6');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4093,506,'insight_modules_0_add_heading','0');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4095,506,'insight_modules_0_heading_title','Christmas competition, data centres, prisons and planning reform memes ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4097,506,'insight_modules_0_text_general','Today’s entry contains our Christmas competition, but also looks at the Government’s ambition to grant consent for 150 DCO projects, appeals relating to a data centre and a prison and sets out some memes that might help us think through planning reform.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4099,506,'insight_modules_1_add_heading','1');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4101,506,'insight_modules_1_heading_title','Racing to 150');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4103,506,'insight_modules_1_text_general','The Government has announced that it has a target of fast-tracking the determination of 150 DCOs over the course of this parliament. You might want to underline the word \'determination\' (not \'granting\') in that sentence, but the drive is clear: the Prime Minister wants to send \'a very clear message to the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats\'. The total number of DCOs granted since the regime came into force (15 years ago or so) is approximately 140, 10 below the target over the course of the coming five years.\r\n\r\nThe other interesting phrase the Prime Minister used was \'fast-tracking\', but it does not appear that many developers are taking up the (formally defined, new) fast-track route. How could this target be met? There are currently 36 applications in the post-acceptance stage. As far as the official record is concerned, there are 46 applications at the pre-application stage (though that includes some zombie projects). Together, those would constitute just half of the target, but getting the other half to come forward – noting the requirements for pre-application consultation, EIA production and development, means that it is an ambitious target indeed.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4105,506,'insight_modules_2_add_heading','1');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4106,506,'_insight_modules_2_add_heading','field_67448fefc373b');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4107,506,'insight_modules_2_heading_title','A tale of two appeals');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4108,506,'_insight_modules_2_heading_title','field_67449020c373c');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4109,506,'insight_modules_2_text_general','Whilst we’re waiting for some DCO decisions to be made, two appeal decisions caught my eye. First, <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6752d28020bcf083762a6c99/Recovered_appeal_decision_-_Court_Lane_Industrial_Estate_Court_Lane_Iver_SL0_9HL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an appeal</a> where the Inspector and Secretary of State agreed that the proposal for a data centre in Slough would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This meant that there was a conflict with the local plan meaning some other material consideration would have to override that conflict, and for the purposes of the NPPF, ‘very special circumstances’ would need to be found. And, bam, they were indeed found:  importantly the need for data centres to come forward was a substantial part of that finding (see paragraphs 271 and 272).\r\n\r\nThat is a welcome and stark departure from some of the more recent refusals from last year (see <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/1019-new-environmental-duty-and-no-new-data-centres/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> for a proposal in which very special circumstances were not made out by the need for data centres). Interestingly in the more recent decision, there is also an affirmation that legal costs borne by the council in connection with the development (see paragraphs 252-5 of the Inspector’s Report) should not be paid by the developer. This is an interesting contrast to much of the recent discourse on ensuring cost recovery, and is also to be encouraged.\r\n\r\nThe second <a href=\"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f0bed7cbc7f3d295da963/Land_adjacent_to_HMP_Garth_and_Wymott__Layland__Lancashire__refs_3295556___3_December_2024_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appeal decision</a> that caught my eye was the Secretary of State overruling an Inspector’s recommendation that a new prison in Lancashire should not be granted planning permission. The key issues in this appeal related to highway traffic and safety impacts. In all the cases, the Secretary of State finds limited harm reinforcing the point that highway impacts have to be really, really bad on an overall scale before they are a basis for refusing planning permission. In this case too, the need for the development (i.e., prisons which are nearing 98% capacity nationally) carried the day.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4113,506,'related_posts','');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4115,506,'insight_modules_5_add_heading','0');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4116,506,'_insight_modules_5_add_heading','field_67448fefc373b');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4117,506,'insight_modules_5_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4119,506,'insight_modules_5_text_general','These memes feature someone causing some form of catastrophe and then asking who is responsible. You can find more of an explanation and examples of the former meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a> and the latter meme <a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-all-trying-to-find-the-guy-who-did-this\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. I’ve been amused that there have been two recent instances where a regulator has said \'not me!\' in response to backlash. The <a href=\"https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/other-reports/onr-s-regulatory-influence-on-the-epr-design-in-the-uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first</a> relates to almost 7,000 design changes at Hinkley Point C, with the regulator stating that they were not responsible for considering cost, and the second relating to the now infamous £100m bat tunnel with the regulator being forced to publish <a href=\"https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/08/natural-england-role-in-high-speed-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement</a> (‘it is for HS2 Ltd to make choices, consider risks and factor in costs when deciding how to comply with environmental law)\r\n\r\nThere are two potential lessons here. First, if cost and proportionality are not part a public body’s remit, shouldn’t they be? Second, whilst we’re all wondering who is responsible for disproportionality, it’s worth bearing in mind that our system naturally incentivises risk-aversion because of legal challenges and, importantly, picking and choosing your battles. That means even when, as in those two examples above, the regulator says ‘we simply assessed what was put in front of us, we didn’t require it’, it’s failing to decouple the explicit actions of a regulator from the implicit requirements, culture, and choosing the path of least resistance (e.g., it’s sometimes easier to simply agree, then have it out). Both of those recommendations require resources so that regulators feel comfortable challenging proposals, but – given culture is amorphous - it also requires re-asserting proportionality into processes for example through Written Ministerial Statements or other Government policy so that the mood music is \'please don’t do this\'.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4123,506,'insight_modules_3_heading_title','How memes can help us understand planning reform ');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4125,506,'insight_modules_3_text_general','It is the season so here’s something fun, or at least more fun than usual. How can internet memes help us understand planning reform. Here are a few I’ve thought of, please take these in good humour and send your suggestions on a postcard.');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4126,506,'_insight_modules_3_text_general','field_67447fc704d53');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4127,506,'insight_modules_4_text_para','Why would X do this / We’re all trying to find the guy who did this');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4128,506,'_insight_modules_4_text_para','field_67447fc6f1ab5');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4129,506,'insight_modules_6_text_para','Cheems mindset');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4130,506,'_insight_modules_6_text_para','field_67447fc6f1ab5');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4131,506,'insight_modules_7_add_heading','0');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4132,506,'_insight_modules_7_add_heading','field_67448fefc373b');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4133,506,'insight_modules_7_text_general','Jeremy Driver wrote <a href=\"https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this highly relatable essay</a> in which cheems (pronounced ‘keems’), a small Shiba inu dog signifies someone who scrambles around for reasons why something cannot be done. There are instances where raising reasons why something cannot be done is important but the mindset does this almost reflexively and, as Jeremy says, is ‘a deadly cause of sclerosis if it is the reflexive reaction to any new idea or policy proposal’; the mindset takes raising challenges not just as necessary (which it is), but as the defining characteristic to a policy response, with \'it’s too complicated\' being the knee-jerk reaction.\r\n\r\nJeremy gives many examples in a non-planning context, but I’m struck by how often some commentators adopt the same mindset. For example, the Spanish and Germans are streamlining EIA in exchange for slightly more onerous environmental protections along the lines of the Special Compute Zones recently suggested by <a href=\"https://inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai-datacentres-in-the-uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack Wiseman</a> and <a href=\"https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/revitalising-nuclear-the-uk-can-power-ai-and-lead-the-clean-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Tony Blair Institute</a>. Those ideas are loosely based on infrastructure planning zones, explained <a href=\"https://www.bdbpitmans.com/news-and-insights/967-could-infrastructure-investment-zones-help-keep-the-lights-on/.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here</a>. The natural reaction of someone with Cheems mindset is to simply to say that there are international agreements that would prevent this (without specifying what, or considering that the overall system of environmental protection would be the same, if not better; without considering what the specific enforcement mechanisms are and whether that is likely, or if withdrawal is a feasible or necessary option).\r\n\r\nOr take judicial review, some explicitly said that the idea of reducing the number of bites of the cherry was not possible, that changing standing rules was not possible or that, even if it was as Lord Banner KC’s review contradicts, it wouldn’t be that significant. We’ve long been advocates of reforming JR, and we welcome and endorse the recommendations from his Lordship. Gradualism (i.e., slow change) is a form of trial and error that shouldn’t be shunned, and cheems mindset hampers or derides even those small movements, but we shouldn’t stop pushing for more. I’ve made the point before: but if you are seriously using the idea that international agreements are a block to any further thought, do you want us to remove the long-established Wednesbury unreasonable test which <a href=\"https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cases/15-the-status-of-decisions-of-the-aarhus-compliance-committee-in-english-law-respect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Aarhus Compliance Committee is \'concerned\' about</a>?\r\n\r\nThe lesson here is be creatively ambitious, even as you seek to overcome the hurdles: it’s going to be hard, for example, to do a robust SEA for the zones mentioned, and an actual assessment of what European countries charge in the JR costs is necessary before we can make grand claims about violating international agreements, but the mindset dismisses even considering what an assessment would look like or what EU countries are actually doing in their court systems nor the enforcement mechanisms, or what taking that view consistently would mean for the wider system.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4135,506,'insight_modules_8_text_para','\'Boardroom suggestion\' / model-based thinking');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4136,506,'_insight_modules_8_text_para','field_67447fc6f1ab5');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4137,506,'insight_modules_9_add_heading','0');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4138,506,'_insight_modules_9_add_heading','field_67448fefc373b');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4139,506,'insight_modules_9_text_general','<a href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boardroom-suggestion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This meme</a> features a guy being thrown out of a window of a boardroom meeting when he suggests a simple solution following suggestions that miss the point. This meme is the natural counter-weight to the anti-Cheems mindset. There is a tendency to suggest in unfavourable environments \'what if we just came up with an entirely new planning regime\', when more gradual but politically feasible changes are likely to have more chance of making an actual positive impact. A good example is the ongoing debate about consultation. On the one hand, someone would say wouldn’t be wonderful if we just removed it? On the other hand, the political resistance and the alleged benefit of identifying problems sooner gets raised.\r\n\r\nI guess the point here is that a model for planning reform which is just \'this is good, and this is bad\' without considering secondary effects and political viability ends up eating a lot of time without doing much. For example, if I had a large majority in a new government, I might be more ambitious on reforming consultation. If I didn’t, and was worried about long-term backlash, I might suggest ‘why don’t you get rid of Category 3 persons’, make changes to statutory guidance to stop excessive consultation, and – at a stretch – remove the requirement for a PEIR. Not thinking through political constraints, different actors and power-brokers (e.g., PINS, the civil service) means you run the risk that your ideas will be lost like a fart in the wind.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4141,506,'insight_modules_10_text_para','\'Everythingism\'');
INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4142,506,'_insight_modules_10_text_para','field_67447fc6f1ab5');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4145,506,'insight_modules_11_text_general','Joe Hill posted about \'everythingism\' <a href=\"https://x.com/jo3hill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on X</a> recently: the basic idea is that we make decisions about a particular thing, into decisions about all the things we are interested in. For example, if you wanted to make a decision about whether X was the best energy generation, and then you started taking into account the extent to which that technology contributed to wider social value. The remedy to this is not to make each individual policy (or planning) decision reflect all the outcomes we want, but to have as many policies as desired outcomes. Joe’s idea is a re-telling of the Tinbergen Rule: governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.\r\n\r\nWhat does this have to do with planning? I think one of the greatest complexities in planning is that it forces us to treat a planning decision not as an overall trade off, but a series of clashes between competing principles. Let’s say you wanted energy generation infrastructure quickly, but you wanted to ensure environmental protection too. There is a conflict, and inevitably a trade off between the two. Rather than preventing permission for the former because of the latter, you could seek to use things outside of the planning decision to enhance the environment. Taking the Tinbergen Rule seriously you might even simply say that the role of the planning system in environmental protection could be even more reduced by, for example, requiring environmental contributions (which are then directed by a government body) based on the scale of the development but the development itself will proceed. A system like this would align with the Tinbergen Rule, and may end up being better at protecting the environment.');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4151,506,'insight_modules_12_text_general','It\'s time for the Planning Act blog\'s annual Christmas champagne competition - enter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne!\r\n\r\nThis year\'s competition is based on <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/games/crossclimb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the LinkedIn game \'Crossclimb\'</a> that was launched at the beginning of May 2024.\r\n\r\nEach clue is to a six-letter word.  The words can then be reordered into a word ladder such that each word differs by one letter from the previous word.  Finally, one word can be added at the beginning and one at the end of the ladder, which in this case are both places mentioned in the <a href=\"https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/project-search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">names of nationally significant infrastructure projects</a>.\r\n\r\nHere are the clues:\r\n\r\n1. A type of sugar\r\n2. What pancakes are made from\r\n3. A fastening for a shirt etc.\r\n4. A device for applying fat to a roast\r\n5. Someone with equal billing\r\n6. A medieval peasant or farm labourer\r\n7. A wood strip for securing hatches on a ship\r\n8. Alain de, philosopher\r\n9. A seller of fruit\r\n\r\nPlease submit the answers to the clues and the two additional infrastructure project locations in ladder order to <a href=\"mailto:anguswalker@broadfield-law.com\">anguswalker@broadfield-law.com</a> by the deadline of Wednesday 8 January 2025 (they can start with either location and end with the other one).  The first correct solution drawn out of the virtual hat after the deadline will win a bottle of champagne - good luck!');
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INSERT INTO `Z1EZp7_postmeta` VALUES (4165,507,'insight_modules_0_text_general','In Thandi and others v Next Retail Ltd, the Employment Tribunal has ruled that retail staff based in Next stores must be paid the same basic pay as its warehouse staff. It has been reported that the value of these claims may exceed £30 million. This is one of several ongoing multiple equal pay claims against national retailers, including Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Tesco.\r\n\r\nUnder the Equality Act 2010, employees are entitled to receive the same pay and contractual terms as comparators of the opposite sex who perform the same work, work of equal value, or work that has been formally rated as equivalent. Employers may have a defence to an equal pay claim if they can show that the difference in pay is due to a material factor that is not discriminatory (known as the \'material factor defence\'). However, a material factor that is indirectly discriminatory may still be justified if the employer can show that it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.\r\n\r\nA group of 3,540 female shop-floor employees brought an equal pay claim arguing that Next was in breach of the Equality Act by paying them less than warehouse staff, who were predominantly male. Their claims related not only to basic pay but also to other regular and one-off payments including Sunday premiums, attendance and retention bonuses, and long-service awards.\r\n\r\nIn the first stage of the case, the Employment Tribunal held in June 2023 that the claimants were performing work of equal value to the warehouse staff. A further Tribunal hearing took place in May 2024 to establish whether Next could show that a material factor defence applied.\r\n\r\nNext argued that the pay differentials could be explained by a range of material factors including market forces, recruitment and retention difficulties, and the overall performance and productivity of the Next Group.\r\n\r\nThe Tribunal held that these material factors involved indirect discrimination. Sales staff were 77.5% female, and warehouse staff were 52.78% male. Paying sales staff a lower basic pay therefore had a disproportionate effect on women, particularly given that Next benchmarked warehouse pay against the predominantly male market for warehouse staff.\r\n\r\nThe next step for the Tribunal was to consider whether Next’s pay practices could be justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. The Tribunal found that Next could have afforded to pay sales staff more, but chose instead to cut costs in order to maximise profitability. Since case law has established that differences in pay cannot be justified by costs alone, the Tribunal held that the lower basic pay could not be objectively justified. The Tribunal also rejected Next’s argument that it had to set pay according to market forces. As the Tribunal noted, market forces may themselves be based on historic discriminatory views on the value of \'male\' and \'female\' work. Allowing market forces to be used as a defence to an equal pay claim could therefore defeat the purpose of the legislation and perpetuate indirectly discriminatory practices. Similar reasoning applied to six other payments which were set at a lower rate for retail staff, including Sunday and night premiums, paid rest breaks, and long service awards.\r\n\r\nHowever, Next’s defence succeeded in relation to other higher payments and premiums paid solely to warehouse staff. The Tribunal held that these payments could be objectively justified because they related to specific difficulties in recruitment and retention that did not apply to sales staff. For example, an attendance bonus paid at one warehouse was justified because its purpose was to stop workers leaving to join a nearby competitor. Similarly, Next could justifiably pay some warehouse staff triple pay on public holidays (rather than the time and a half paid to sales staff) because it was difficult to find warehouse staff to cover public holidays.\r\n\r\nThis is an Employment Tribunal decision and so does not set a binding precedent, but Next has already confirmed that it is lodging an appeal in the EAT. Employers should note that differences in pay cannot be justified solely by cost or profitability, and that Tribunals will scrutinise carefully any argument that relies on paying market rates. However, it may be easier to show objective justification for targeted and one-off payments in response to market pressures such as temporary recruitment or retention difficulties.');
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