Big Tree Planning has moved its Newcastle office to a historic Listed building within the heart of the City Centre. Here at Big Tree we feel that our new NE1 address will help us to continue to grow our name and presence within the North East and nationwide. This is our second major office move within 6 months, with our Leicester office having relocated in January of this year. Our focus remains on our clients and providing the right advice at the right cost, and with two shiny new offices in prime locations, things are only going to get better! Our new office details for both offices can be found on our ‘Contact Us’ page, with our new Newcastle office details also listed below:   Churchill House [...]

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George Osborne’s Budget speech included mention of the Government’s intentions to consult on a change in the Use Class Order to allow changes of use from business, general industrial and storage sites and buildings to residential developments. The apparent thinking behind this move is to support the urgent need to increase housing supply.  Whilst some empty office premises in town and city centres may be suitable for such a change and may even result in desirable living space, other uses and their associated operations could have serious impact upon residential amenity, particularly in terms of smells and noise generated; not many people would wish to live next-door to a heavy industrial use or chemical plant. To prevent conflicts between businesses and residents most industrial and [...]

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In his Budget speech George Osborne affirmed the Government’s objective of significant reform to simplify and streamline the planning system alongside new financial incentives and mechanisms to support private enterprise. The Chancellor stated that the planning system is a ‘chronic obstacle to growth’ and used a raft of pro-development language not heard from his office since the mid-80′s. Whilst the announcements made in the Budget can only be seen as positive for businesses and developers, it seems a rather unashamed swing away from the principles of the Localism Agenda, which seek to hand more power to local communities. Under the provisions of the Budget and its accompanying growth strategy document, firms will be able to develop neighbourhood plans, theoretically meaning that businesses should be able to develop and implement [...]

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What are the Government’s intentions regarding the Localism Agenda and greater community involvement? Is the aim to increase involvement by local government planners, which may result in quicker decisions; or is it to give more power to local communities and individuals, which could lead to increased ’nimbyism’? The answer you get to these questions will very much depend on who you ask, as at present it is very unclear as to what the Government’s ‘Localism Agenda’ actually entails.  Regional Government Offices have already been abolished and their Regional Spatial Strategies with them, but proposals for Local Enterprise Partnerships to replace Regional Development Agencies are unclear and there appears to be no guidance or advice as to how these LEP’s should be formed and to a lesser extent what their role [...]

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