10 CONTEXT 181 : SEPTEMBER 2024 Law and policy update ‘It is imperative that the description is unambiguous’ Alexandra Fairclough writes: The King’s Speech included 40 bills. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, among other things, endeavours to streamline the delivery of infrastructure projects, improve national policy statements, reform compulsory purchase, modernise the planning committee system to improve planning decision-making and increase the capacity of local planning authorities to improve performance in decision-making. The deputy prime minister and housing secretary, Angela Rayner, launched the consultation on the proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) on 31 July, with a deadline for responses by 24 September. The objectives include the delivery of more houses, specifically affordable housing, and speeding up the planning process. The government is putting growth at the heart of its agenda by investing in planning and its reform (especially for infrastructure such as energy planning). The consultation also seeks views on proposed reforms, including: • The nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIP) regime, which applies to onshore wind, solar, data centres, laboratories, gigafactories and water projects. • The updating/removal of the local plan intervention policy criteria to allow the government to intervene to ensure housing delivery. • The proposed increase to some planning fees, including for householder applications, so that local planning authorities are properly resourced to support a sustained increase in development and improve performance. The two elements of the consultation specifically relevant to heritage and design are, first, removing the additional references to ‘beauty’ and ‘beautiful’ that were added in the 2023 revision of the NPPF (Chapter 6, paragraphs 17–20, Question 59). The second relevant element is the suggestion to introduce fees for listed building consent, consent to undertake relevant demolition in a conservation area and works to protected trees (Chapter 11, paragraph 14, Question 93). New advice note Historic England’s latest publication is Adapting Historic Buildings for Energy and Carbon Efficiency. The objectives of this Historic England advice note (HEAN) are to help decision makers to be consistent in their approach to improve efficiency and reduce carbon emissions in relation to heritage assets, and to ensure that the heritage significance is maintained. It provides detailed advice on permissions and consents and examples of common climate-change adaptations. Case law updates End of the road at Stonehenge: The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has scrapped the proposed tunnel under the Stonehenge world heritage site on the grounds that it is not affordable. Planning appeals Micro-glazing (Ref: 3324165): The replacement of 12 singleglazed timber sliding sash windows in a 19th-century listed building with micro-double-glazed window units was allowed by an inspector. The building is in a conservation area and in a seafront position which takes the brunt of the weather. The inspector allowed their replacement with similar Slimlite double-glazed units on the basis that the condition of the original windows was very poor, that timber windows did not last forever and at some stage would have to be replaced to the point where nothing original would be left. The inspector also stated that modern double-glazed windows would not be mistaken for originals. However, although the inspector acknowledged that there would be harm in the loss of original fabric, the NPPF test (paragraphs 205–208) was not applied. ‘The significance of the listed building is in its confident and distinctive architectural style, which makes a strong contribution to the historic character of the area,’ the inspector said. This character would be maintained and the significance would not be compromised by the minor modifications to the windows. The appeal was allowed. Servicing details are required (Ref 3319203, linked): This appeal relates to a deconsecrated 19th-century listed church in a conservation area, currently used as offices, where there was a refusal for a change in the use of parts of the building from office (Class E) to three, twobed residential homes (Class C3), and remodelling the retained office floorspace. An interesting element relates to new services and the lack of submitted details. The inspector states (paragraph 20): ‘I acknowledge that there are extensive existing
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