No reduction in number of planning applications submitted since referendum

Fears that Brexit would trigger the wholescale mothballing of building projects has failed to materialise so far, according to figures published by the Planning Portal.

The number of applications submitted online since June 23 was around 2,000 a day – exactly the same as the number submitted in the months before the referendum.

The total number of applications submitted in July 2016 was 45,748, a slight increase on the year before. This covers everything from house extensions and change of uses to major commercial developments.

“It’s been nearly 2 months now since the shock result of the EU referendum.  There was a lot of talk at the time about a slow down in the housing market and concerns about the impact on the economy,” wrote Planning Portal commercial director Sarah Chilcott in a blog post.

“It’s still too early to say what the long-term impact will be, but… there doesn’t seem to have been much of an impact on planning application numbers so far, at least those submitted online.

“In the first half of this year we were consistently running at around 2,000 applications submitted via the Portal each working day, and since the 23 June we’ve been running at around 2,000 applications a day.”

Chilcott said the mix of application types was also unchanged.

Her observations echo what many architects have noted, that the profession has not yet felt the seismic shocks predicted by analysts at the time of the vote.

But just because planning applications are being submitted does not automatically mean developers will start work on projects.

Mixed fortunes for major urban extensions as new minister settles in

New communities secretary Sajid Javid has rejected a plan (pictured) by Hallam Land Management for 1,560 homes, a primary school and an 8,000sq m mixed-use local centre on the edge of Aylesbury.

He backed his planning inspector who ruled the scheme would have an adverse impact on the character and appearance of the landscape and the loss of Bierton’s distinct village identity.

Meanwhile, Javid approved an urban extension on land between the south of Northampton and the M1 which was turned down by the local authority.

Designed by David Lock Associates for Bovis Homes, it will contain 1,000 homes, a school and local centre. Javid said some aspects of the illustrative masterplan were “unacceptable” but concluded that it met a “pressing need” and felt the defects could be addressed through planning conditions.

 

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