Cath Bright’s Post

Phase 3 of the Marleigh development in the east of Cambridge has been granted planning approval by Cambridge City Council. TEP has worked collaboratively with JTP LLP and WSP in the UK to develop proposals for the parks and green spaces for this final phase of the Marleigh development. TEP’s proposals include the neighbourhood’s primary park, Beta Park, a new naturalistic urban park and green haven. Beta park offers naturalistic planting, play areas, outdoor café seating, playful topography and a diverse wetland area. The wetland area also provides flood protection for 1 in 100 year flood events. Further greens spaces include a new community garden for Marleigh and the neighbouring Fison Estate and the landscape setting for new homes. #greenspace #landscapedesign #urbanpark #community

🏡 Exciting News for Saundersfoot! Persimmon West Wales has purchased land at Sandy Hill in #Saundersfoot, paving the way for 72 new high-quality homes in this beautiful #Pembrokeshire town. With planning permission secured in July, we're preparing to break ground and bring these much-needed homes to market by summer. This development offers a mix of one to four-bedroom homes, including detached, semi-detached, terraced houses, and apartments. Designed to meet local housing needs, 35% of the homes (25 in total) will be transferred to a local housing provider for rent and shared ownership, helping address Pembrokeshire’s housing list. Our vision goes beyond homes. The scheme includes: ✅ A community play area at its heart. ✅ Upgrades to highways and active travel routes. ✅ A dedicated active travel link to Sandy Hill Road. ✅ Sustainable drainage, rain gardens, and bio-retention areas. ✅ Green technologies like solar panels and EV charging points. ✅ Measures to preserve wildlife habitats, trees, and hedgerows. This project embodies our commitment to building quality homes while enhancing the local community and environment. #PersimmonHomes 

🎉 APPEAL ALLOWED FOR UP TO 30 HOUSES IN BRAUNSTON-IN-RUTLAND! 🎉 We are delighted to announce that our appeal was allowed this morning granting permission for the development of up to 30 dwellings at Brooke Road, Braunston-in-Rutland. The Inspector concurred with our arguments that the locational development plan policies did not recognise the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside and were based on outdated housing requirements. He also agreed that, as there had been a reliance on unallocated countryside sites to meet the housing requirement, were housing only approved in line with the constraints set out by policies CS4, CS9 and SP6, the Council would have been (and will continue to be) unable to deliver its required housing numbers. Polices CS4, CS9 and SP6 therefore run contrary to the Framework’s objective at paragraph 60 of significantly boosting the supply of homes and are out of date. In finding no harm to the conservation area or landscape setting he allowed the appeal which also delivers: 40% Affordable Housing; 2 Self-Build/Custom Dwellings; a 10% Biodiversity Net Gain; and support for the local economy and infrastructure. #PlanningSuccess #CommunityDevelopment #AffordableHousing #Biodiversity #SustainableDevelopment #UKHousing #HousingPolicy

Perth has the lowest tree canopy coverage of any Australian capital cities, and we continue to lose mature trees as infill development increases. In the greater metropolitan area, more trees are being removed than are being planted. Aside from development, the impact of the polyphagous shot-hole borer infestation is also contributing to the loss of urban canopy across local government areas. We advocate for greater protection of significant trees and canopy on private and public land. This does not mean trees cannot be removed, but where trees need to be removed, there should be requirements for suitable offsets to ensure the protection of our tree canopy. A decisive response is needed now to ensure protection of significant tree canopy across the State. #protectourtrees Read our full statement here: https://lnkd.in/gSD5cYMq David McMullen Alison Xamon Basil Zempilas Greg Milner Karen Vernon WA Local Government Association (WALGA)

We’re delighted to have submitted an outline planning application for up to 270 new homes in Ashtead, Surrey, with our Vistry Group partners. Our plans for the site will bring forward vital, high-quality homes – 108 of which will be affordable – and include a new community building and public green spaces on land south of Ermyn Way. This will be a critical development for Mole Valley District Council (MVDC), where 833 new homes a year are required to meet Government targets. Only 163 new homes were added in the year to March 2024, so our development in Ashtead will be significant, in delivering a third of MVDC’s annual target. Our proposals are in full accordance with the adopted Mole Valley Local Plan (MVLP), which allocated the site for development – making effective and efficient use of the land with new homes, gypsy and traveller pitches, community space including nursery provision and public open space. We have shaped our proposals carefully to ensure there is no significant impact on Green Belt land, and are committed to providing a high-quality, Net Zero development that reduces carbon emissions and enhances the resilience of the development to a changing climate. #NewHomes #Housebuilding #AffordableHomes #WatesDevelopments #Planning 

We’re delighted to have submitted an outline planning application for up to 270 new homes in Ashtead, Surrey, with our Vistry Group partners. Our plans for the site will bring forward vital, high-quality homes – 108 of which will be affordable – and include a new community building and public green spaces on land south of Ermyn Way. This will be a critical development for Mole Valley District Council (MVDC), where 833 new homes a year are required to meet Government targets. Only 163 new homes were added in the year to March 2024, so our development in Ashtead will be significant, in delivering a third of MVDC’s annual target. Our proposals are in full accordance with the adopted Mole Valley Local Plan (MVLP), which allocated the site for development – making effective and efficient use of the land with new homes, gypsy and traveller pitches, community space including nursery provision and public open space. We have shaped our proposals carefully to ensure there is no significant impact on Green Belt land, and are committed to providing a high-quality, Net Zero development that reduces carbon emissions and enhances the resilience of the development to a changing climate. Discover more: https://lnkd.in/dbU-9KVq #NewHomes #Housebuilding #AffordableHomes #WatesDevelopments #Planning #NetZero #ThrivingPlaces

"We can’t have a situation where a newt is more protected than people who desperately need housing." Wow. Just when I think there's some progress being made, a prominent politician trots out this sort of nonsense. Contrary to what our Deputy PM has been told, newts are not prioritised over building affordable homes. There are plenty of examples of projects being poorly planned and councils are too poorly resourced to make solid decisions about development that affects nature and people. But it's never, in my experience, been a case that newts, bats or any other protected species actually held up essential development. Basic program management will get your housing development application in on on time, with your ecology surveys in hand. Decent training and funding of councils will mean more effective decision making for communities. This sort of "nature Vs people" approach has got to go out of our thinking now. The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. The Green Finance Institute links a 12% loss of GDP to biodiversity decline. Nature supports flood alleviation, carbon storage, soil health and helps improve air quality - all ways we can secure better health outcomes and less burden on the NHS. Not to mention better soils for producing our food, and fewer devastating floods in our homes. Quite frankly, anyone who can't see that restoring nature will create a better environment for people to live in has no business talking about the subject. The DPM apparently thinks the balance between protecting nature and people is wrong. She's right - neither are well served by this. Nature's needs ARE people's needs! But nope, let's not join those dots and invest in nature. Let's blame the need to protect it for the housing shortages we see... let's ignore the lack of support for councils, the lack of will from government or the housing industry to actually provide genuinely affordable homes where everyone has access to nature, and blame some newts.

If anyone cares to read the #StateofNature reports published over the period during which #NewLabour devolved into #NewtBlamers or even check reality of helpless developers struggling in the grip of #GCNs they might gain some inkling into just how much damage has been done to the economy, our ability to adapt to climate change and people's well-being by the UK's woeful approach to its #NaturalCapital. All political parties have had the opportunity to develop an effective #landuseframework, and a workable #Plan4Nature and the environment, into which which #properplanning that takes account of real world constraints. Such is yet to materialise, however, and we appear to be stuck with ill-conceived, knee-jerk policies. And still no sign of the strategic plan that was due to have been produced before #COP15 either. At least no-one seems to have suggested that newts be relocated to Rwanda. At least not yet. If the Government could move forwards on a credible plan for nature and agriculture, that would help with many other issues. That should be at the heart of any planning reform.

Elk Grove has settled a lawsuit with the state over a 67-unit supportive housing project the city denied, despite the fact that the city had recently approved a similar market-rate project. 🔗Read more about this story and our other notable updates mentioned below in this week's Sustainable Development & Land Use Update: https://hubs.li/Q02PqH1N0 ✔️ Lawmakers close loopholes in SB 9 to encourage new housing in single-family neighborhoods ✔️ Bill separating warehouses from homes, schools passes California Legislature ✔️California cities, counties may need to consider wildlife connectivity in development plans #SustainableDevelopment #Sustainability

I appreciate your perspective on this Alex Boston! "Alex Boston, a climate consultant, says cities have an underutilized opportunity to create more green space: municipal land, which accounts for about 25 per cent of a city. Roads, back alleys and parking lots offer ample space for more trees. “That’s the area where municipalities have the greatest degree of control. And that’s where they should start,” Boston said. “This isn’t a zero-sum game where density necessarily drives the loss of urban tree canopy.”" Develop or naturalize the abundance of underutilized "greyfields" in Canadian cities as a top priority to protect the urban forest, promote public health, deliver services cost effectively and build resilience to #climatechange impacts. #municipalities #localgovernments #resilience #greenspace #trees #urbanforests #assetmanagement #landuse