Provisin for class B uses on page 57
In the provision for class B uses it is clear that priority is given to Class B1a and Class B1c . This is because (according to the local planning policy) the vast majority pf new jobs created by the private sector fall within these use classes. Hence the prioritisation in the local planning policy to favour class use B. This building falls within this use class. In this section it is clear how the study presented shows that the majority of the jobs are generated by the class use B1a and B1c and the other classes that this building use fall on at the moment. Therefore this building from a local planning policy perspective is of a high value to the community due to the emphasismade to this type of building use class in this section of the local planning policy. Due to this complaints it is clear that a strong bias to appropval for this minor development should be clear. This is because this minro building alteration will used regenerate the building as a whole keeiping a use favoured by the local planning policy.
As outlined in the planning policy at page 60 the highest density of job per square metre is provided by class use B1 (this is according to the table presented in the planning policy one job per 12 square metres). Hence the approval of this minor development will be directly inline with this section of current local planning policy.
Page 71 SO1 Population
The approval of this minor development due to the use of theis building will grammatically facilitate the accommodation and creation of the new 8800 job forecasted in the planning policy by 2032. According to the local planning policy (as stated in page 60) this building use class is the type of use that generates and accommodates the highest density of job per square metre. This is exactly what is it needed in the area where job deprivation is raging rampant and a major issue to this deprived area.
Page 71 SO2 Climate change
“…..promoting development that minimises natural resource and energy use;…” …. ” incorporates sustainable construction practices.” as we have seen, this minor building alteration represents the best solution to minimise the impact on natural resources and minimise energy consumption. This is due to the thermal insulation which will be incorporated in the regeneration of the extension. Additionally the impact on natural resources will be minimised also due to the fact that the building alteration will make the generation of renewable energy on the extension’s new roof possible, thorough the viability of the installation of solar panels and /or wind turbines. .
The increase in security inherent in this design will allow a further lower carbon footprint of the building due to the lower ongoing maintenance which will be required, this is due to the lower risks of burglaries repairs to the building. Every time a repair is necessary further energy is expended by contractors to make the necessary repairs caused by the burglaries. the same energy can be used for constructive purposes in the development of the business that occupies the building, hence rendering this a clearly sustainable development.
“Promote ………. the role of green infrastructure in mitigating aspects of flood risk” While the extension is not currently thermally insulated it will be thermally insulated due to the approval of this minor development. As mentioned this minor development will allow the provision for renewable energy sources installation on the flat roof. Due to the decreased carbon emissions because of the lower energy needed to heat up the extension and the energy generation using renewable energy sources of this minor building alteration will significantly contribute to the reduction in increase of sea levels and therefore it will clearly contribute to the mitigation of future flood risk, due to global warming.
“Recognise the increased stress on habitats and species that climate change causes.” This minor development will reduce carbon emissions dramatically therefore reducing “climate change” or “global warming” and their effects.
“Promote ………. the role of green infrastructure in mitigating aspects of flood risk” While the extension is not currently thermally insulated it will be thermally insulated due to the approval of this minor development. As mentioned this minor development will allow the provision for renewable energy sources installation on the flat roof. Due to the decreased carbon emissions due to the lower energy needed to heat up the extension and the energy generation using renewable energy sources this minor development will significalty contribute to the reduction in increase of sea levels and therefore it will clearly contribute to the mitogation of future flood risk, due to global warming.
“Recognise the increased stress on habitats and species that climate change causes.” This minor building alteration will reduce carbon emissions dramatically therefore reducing “climate change” or “global warming” and their effects.
“Critical success factors:
1. reduced the waste generated and increased waste recycling;
2. reduced the overall proportion of dwellings at risk from flooding; The lower carbon emissions due to the SUSTAINABILITY of our minor building alteration will lower the risks of flooding due to climate change or global warming.
3. addressed the issue of poor air quality; The lower carbon emissions due to the SUSTAINABILITY of our minor development will IMPROVE THE AIR QUALITY .
SO3 Economy
Support environmentally responsive local economic growth by promoting conditions that
sustain an increase in the number of better paid jobs;
This minor building alteration is Environmentally friendly and it clearly directly tangibly contributes to the local economic growth in the short term due to this minor development itself, in the medium and long term due to the sustainability of the development . This minor development will clearly sustain and increase the number of better apid jobs ” because
1 resourses which were previously allocated to maintain security and high ongoing meintenence costs will be reallocated to e business economic growth which will clearly involve the employment of better skilled employees
. Only highly productive and highly skilled employees can provide the best chanses of buiosness growth
Additionally the Scope of use of the building as a B1(b) Research and development will be possible due to the better building overall quality which will be offered by this minor development. Research and development companies require a very cosy building environment for their highly skilled employees and the approval of this minor development will render the building suitable for this scope of use. This use class brings about highly skilled and highly paid employment and this is yet another of the several advantages of allowing this minor building alteration which is maiking this building suitable for the use class B1(b).
removing barriers to investment and access to jobs; and, raising skills.
Currently the double pitched construction of the extension imposes a strong barrier to investment. This is because of the unsustainability of the current configuration/design as amply explained.
The extension with this current roof arrangement is non-investable. This is because restoring the double roof arrangement not only is costly but will present the same unsustainable features of the current arrangement therefore it does not attract private investment, which is desperately required in the area.
This current double roof pitched configuration is also a barrier to highly skilled jobs creation and the possibility of “raising skills” in this particular challenged area due to the un-sustanability of the extension design and construction. This is because due the challenges of this current extension design it is not feasible to restore the building to its full potential using the same design due to its intrisic un-sustainability. This in turn form a barrier to the creation of jobs and “raising skill” within this area.
Therefore granting permission for our minor building alteration, would remove these barrier to investment and access to jobs; and, raising skills will be easier as required by this particular policy.
1. reduced unemployment, through job creation and development of skills to support sector
growth;
The use B1b is the most promising for the reduction of “unemployment and the development of skills to support sector growth”. B1(b) use is one of the permissible uses of this building and allowing the this minor building alteration this will help restore in a sustainable way a building with this use class.
2. reduced the proportion of population subject to social deprivation;
This minor building alteration will render the building sustainable and competitive in the long term. Therefore businesses will occupy the premises sustainably and hence will be able to expand and invest in local employment. This minotr development will be tangibly and directly create new long term employment and investment by the occupying businesses which in turn will significantly “reduce social deprivation” as required by this policy.
3. delivered infrastructure to support economic development; and,
This building is integral part of the Rutland street and Harold street infrastructure and a key asset, therefore this minor development will directly “support economic development” to the area as required by this policy.
SO5 Social and health inequality
Narrow the gap in terms of social and health inequality by addressing issues of housing choice, providing accessible employment and training opportunities, ………… facilities.
Critical success factors:
reduced deprivation, narrowing the gap in terms of social and health inequality; and,
Our minor building alteration will allow both short term nd long term investment into the area. Especially the long term investment that the businesses that will occupy the building after it regeneration will bring about are job opportunities and business investments in the area that will rirectly achieve “reduced deprivation,” and as a consequence will “narrow the gap in terms of social and health inequality”
SO8 Town centres and local facilities
Strength the vitality and viability of town centres, meeting the needs for retail, commercial and leisure uses, focusing appropriated uses on town centre sites, promote regeneration where appropriate and support the retention of local community and service facilities.
Our minor development will strengthen the vitality of this local central hub that had slowly deteriorated over the years. It will satisfy the “retail and commercial needs of the local area. This minor development will significantly promote the regeneration desperately needed in this depressed area.
Critical success factors:
“delivered town centre growth and regeneration, improving vitality and viability widening choice.” It will revitalise this local central hub which is curretnly under a depressed state and in need of major investment.
“and offer; and, sustained a network of local centres providing local day to day service needs”
This minor development will be integral part day to day service needs to this area.
SO9 Design
Raise the quality of developments by applying the principles of good sustainable and inclusive design; promote safe, secure and accessible streets and places; and, recognise the importance of supporting and strengthening local character and distinctiveness.
The sustainability of our design has been well proven. Due to its strong beneficial impart on the regeneration of the local area it will clearly promote safe and secure streets and places, due to the long term investment in the area which will be made by the occupying businesses as required by this planning policy.
Critical success factors:
lifted the quality of development, reducing crime and fear of crime issues.
Our minor development will lift the quality of development, reducing crime and fear of crime issues. The quality of the extension design is not only aesthetically more pleasing than the current arrangement but undoubtedly sustainable, and due to the sustainability of our design it will be significantly be reducing crime and fear of crime issues in the area because it will have a strong long term effect in increasing the jobs opportunity and bringing about long term prosperity to the area.
The table at page 74
This table shows how the “Presumption in favour of sustainable development” is a prerequisite ALL throughout the local planning policies and this is in line with the central government planning framework main policy requirement. The sustainability of our minor development has been amply demonstrated.
Page 80
10.1 The Plan as a whole sets out the spatial development strategy for the Borough, providing the basis for future planning decisions. It promotes sustainable development which seeks to improve the quality of life, bring forward quality development to meet identified needs and which delivers economic, social and environmental benefits.
Our minor building alteration, as amply demonstrated, is classed as Sustainable development as per definition of the central government planning policy. Our minor development will bring about disproportionate improvement in the local quality of life. It brings forward a high quality restored building which meets the clearly identified needs of the local area (which is in need of regeneration). Our minor development will bring tangible economic, social and environmental benefits as stated by this planning policy. The economic benefits are both in the short term but especially long term. Short term as the regeneration project will bring about employment demand for the minor development. The highest benefit will arise from the regeneration of a key sustainable building in the area where businesses can safely invest and expand therefore bringing about long term economic development and create new job opportunities in the area. The environmental benefits are delivered by the thermal insulation incorporated in the development and also by the viability of the installation of renewable energy sources on the roof top not currently feasible in the present situation.
Page 82 shows how e this area is classed and urban area where over 60% of housing growth is accounted for.
Therefore this minor sustainable development will be serving an ever increased housing stock in the area in the medium/ long term.
Page 83 shows how the area where the building is located is marked with the star sign is classed regional and regional town centre.
Therefore not only major commercial developments are favoured by the local planning policy but of course this is minor development is seen very favourably by the planning policy. The fact that the area is in a depressed state exacerbates the already strong bias for approval of this minor development which will bring about far disproportionate benefits to the local area as proven extensively.
At page 92
F. The Council will in addition support:
i. proposals that deliver health infrastructure including doctor’s surgeries and pharmacies, which offers improved services for their users; and….
The use class of the building can accommodate doctor’s surgeries pharmacies under the current use class of the building. Therefore this stated policy in yet another reinforcing element which strengthen enven further the bias towards approval.
At Page 96 it is stated
The land and premises – The industrial accommodation within North East Lincolnshire includes a significant proportion of second hand, poor quality stock. Much of which is nearing the end of its useful economic life and is in some cases fails to meet the requirements of modern day businesses.
It is also stated that there is a lack of suitable commercial buildings suitable for the current needs of businesses. It is emphasised that there is a mismatch between available sizes and the businesses requirements. Additionally it is stated how, like in our case, some building are simply obsolete. The challenge is to render these obsolete buildings commercially viable for the private sector. This minor development will allow us to bring to life a building, which its currently uncompetitive within the market place, and make it viable and “sustainable” (sustainable is to be interpreted as within the meaning of the Sustainability definition of the central government national planning policy). Aa it is clear thi simple building alteration will reneder the entire building competitive within the market place. As we demonstrated extensively this is only a minor development but it will bring about disproportionate benefits to this challenged area. Hence this is yet another further point which is clearly in favour of the approval of our minor development.
12.2 To overcome this issue, the Council has, developed a South Humber Industrial Investment Programme (SHIIP), which seeks to provide public sector support specifically to deliver land and premises.
With the a approval of a minor building alteration (which does not impact negativelly on any neighbouring proerties as amply demonstyrated) the council will secure private sector investment without the need to spend public funds. The private sector always seeks to invest in secure and financially viable investments and this is what this minor development project will be securing.
Page 97 it is stated
The low wage and low skill economy – The skill base has traditionally been around relatively low skill process operations. As a result, wages remain significantly lower than the regional or national averages. The North East Lincolnshire Sector Study (2014) specifically identifies skills shortages as an issue for various sectors, particularly ports and logistics, renewables and energy and chemical and process industries.
One of the allowed useds of this building is B1(b) research and development therefore once revitalised, thank to the approval of this minor development, the building will have the capabilities to attract businesses which invest in research and development. R and D businesses do require and need to attract highly skilled employees, therefore this is only yet another added benefit which this minor building alteration will bring about. Therefore this minor development is very likely to improve the wage levels in the entire area, especially where it is needed the most given the challenges of the area.
12.6 The Policies of the Plan specifically seek to ensure that investment opportunities are capitalised, and that the constraints to development, are addressed and where possible overcome.
This particular investment opportunity is capitalised by the approval of a minor builidng alteration proposal which will enable the employment of private capital in this depressed area. In our case we have amply demonstrated how there are no impediments to the approval of this minor development because all possible legal challenges to the approval have already amply been examined in detail and proven extensively that this minor building alteration does not impact negatively on any neighbouring property. This minor building alteration only has an overwhelming disproportionality positive impact on this currently depressed area. This building regeneration will be accomplished by only using private investment.
12.7 Section 8’Future development requirements’ establishes a requirement to identify a minimum of 123ha of employment land (Use Classes B1, B2 and B8). In meeting this requirement, site specific allocations need to reflect the needs of modern day businesses.
This minor development meets this requirement. This is done by revitalising an existing building for a B1 use and other uses which provide a high density employment level as recognised by the local plamnning policy itself.
At page 112 Office development
Office development is a stated priority of the local planning policy this is due to the general lack of supply (according to the data referred in the planning policy). One of the allowableuses uof this building is office use therefore this planning policy is in favour of the approval of this minor building alteration which will bring about the regeneration of a keyu building which have the potential of office use.
12.59 The Economic Futures Report (2014) indicates that there is likely to be growing demand for office accommodation (Use Class B1) in North East Lincolnshire, particularly for business-to-business services. However, the range and choice of office accommodation is currently somewhat limited, and is concentrated mostly in Grimsby town centre, at LacebyBusiness Park and at Europarc III. A positiveapproach to providing new office development is
required.
The use class of this building incorporates t office use . As it is stated in the local planning policy this is a use class which is not well developed yet in the Grimsby .Therefore this minor develpment will be in line with this requirement of he local planning policy especially because this this building is located in the heart of a residential town centre area which is in need of regeneration. The office use element feasible within the current use class will allow an increased local demand in housing which will in turn encourage other private invetment in the regeneration of dilapidated abandoned boarded up houses.
12.60 Offices make an important contribution to the vitality and viability of town centres. The people who work in offices in or near a town
centre often shop there and use its other services, facilities and amenities too. Retaining and developing office accommodation in and around town centres can, therefore assist significantly in maintaining their economic and social ‘health’ and their physical fabric, and supporting regeneration where necessary. By contributing to the spatial concentration of a range of complementary uses, the presence of offices can encourage linked trips to the town centre, helping to minimise the number of journeys being made overall and supporting the efficient provision of public transport services (which, put simply, work best when trips are focused, rather than dispersed). Businesses operating within the professional and financial services sectors may find town centre locations particularly beneficial, but a good town centre can also provide a supportive environment for most types of office and the people who work in them.
As recognised by the local planning policy map this area is considered residential/town centre. The office location in in line with the current planning policy and as it is stated in the planning policy. This mionor building alteration is likely to bring about an increased prosperity in the area. in particular “assist significantly in maintaining their economic and social ‘health’ and their physical fabric, and supporting regeneration where necessary” as it is evident this area is in great need of regeneration and the possible office use will be significant to the regeneration of the area. Additionally since most office space are confined to certain business parks, this is currently discouraging the the use of town centre infrastructure. In this central location this use class will increase the local demand in the area and it will discourage car trips to distant office locations since there is empty dilapidated unused housing available in the area this will revitilise the area while increasing the use of sustainable public transport “(which, put simply, work best when trips are focused, rather than dispersed)“. .
Page 113
Policy 10
Office development
1. Provision of office accommodation will be encouraged within the defined town centres, as identified on the Policies Map.
The area is located between Grimsby and clotheshorses and identified by the figure 10.2 in page 84 as marked by stars representing regional and subregional town centres. This are in between Grimsby town centre and Cleethorpes town centre. Therefore the exsisting permitted use of the premises and offices is also perfectly in line with this policy.
Skills and training
12.65 If local people are to benefit fully from future employment growth it is vital that they have the skills to match the opportunities. This is a key element of the North East Lincolnshire Economic Strategy (2015).
Our minor building alteration clearly due to the use of the building will be integral part of the development of skills development due to future high skilled employment opportunities it will create. This is because the B1 use require a high skill levels. When especially because one of the permissable use of the building is Research and Development. If the businesses occupying the building cannot easily recruit the skills required they prefer to develop skills in house by employing trainees that will be required to develop their skills to fit the business requirements. Therefore the approval of this minor building alteration fits very well with the “key element of the North East Lincolnshire Economic Strategy (2015).”
12. 66 Whilst academic institutions are yielding improving results, at a general level, the low level of skills within the workforce is identified as a key issue. The North East Lincolnshire Sector Study (2014) identified that a number of the key employment sectors highlighted a lack of skills within the workforce as a key barrier to future growth. This related to both trade skills and higher levels of senior/professional skills.
Therefore since it appears to be a lack in skils locally, the buisneeses occupiying the premises especially withi uses B1A and B1b will be required in the absence of local skilled employees to develop the skills they require in-house. Therefore the building has a strong potential to become a hub in highly skilled employment development. This is exactly what is needed in NE Lincolnshire and especially in this particularly depressed area. Once again the approval of this minor building alteration is in line with planning policy as well as in line with the needs of this area at the same time.
12.67 The Sector Study identified the following specific challenges…..
The use class of this building attracts far higher skilled employment than the average for the area suggested by the study mentioned. Especially the use class B1a and B1b. This will increase the average salary levels not only in the Grimsby area but more importantly within this depressed area. Therefore tbhe approval of this minor building alteration is perfectly in line with this local planning policy.
Policy 11
“Skills and training
1. The Council will support development proposals that relate directly to the development of local skills, and training opportunities, focusing on existing facilities and town centre locations.”
This minor development will revitalise an important “existing” commercial asset in the area which has among its permitted uses B1a and B1b. Especially B1b (research and development) do require a high level of skill. In most cases not only high level skills but indeed cutting edge. This will provide within this depresses local area the opportunity of boosting “the development of local skills, and training opportunities“. The policy states “focusing on existing facilities” this builging is an existing facility and which existing use is a match with not only the stated planning policy but also needed by this depressed local area. This additionally is a central area (“city centre locations“) located between the centre of Grimsby and Cleethorpes city centre as described by the policy map.
12.70 Adult skills are key to supporting and developing the local economy and building a strong and resilient community in which residents want to stay and develop, people aspire to live and businesses are encouraged to invest. It is important that the local plan supports approaches that develop learning and skills levels ensuring local people are equipped to access future jobs and investors have confidence that a suitable workforce is available to meet their needs.
In particular “building a strong and resilient community in which residents want to stay”. The main current issue with the local area is a widespread deprivation and depression. This is caused by a systemic lack of investment in the local area over the years. Residents choose this area as a long term residence as last resort. The main challenge in this area is the lack of overall investment. Due to the current under investment in the area, residents prefer to use this area as a transitional location, to then move to a more desirable area at the first opportunity. The approval of our minor development will significantly help build a stronger and more” resilient community in which residents want to stay“. This is done through the revitalisation of a key commercial building of the best use class suitable to revitalise the area. Hence this minor building alteration approval will be in line with this local planning policy.
“…building a strong and resilient community in which…….businesses are encouraged to invest.” The approval of this minor building alteration will allow private capital investment into the revitalisation of this vital commercial building and the area. In turn as the building will become sustainable and competitive the future businesses occupying the building will have the appropriate resources to invest in the expansion of their businesses locally and therefore this clearly will encourage businesses to invest as explicitly outlined in this policy.
It is important that the local plan supports approaches that develop learning and skills levels ensuring local people are equipped to access future jobs
This minor development will allow private capital to be used sustainably to revitalise this commercial building. This commercial building in turn has allowed use class which facilitate the development of “skills levels ensuring local people are equipped to access future jobs”
“….. and investors have confidence that a suitable workforce is available to meet their needs.”
This minor development, which allows the revitalisation of this Use Class E building, will attract highly skilled labour locally and will heavily contribute to the skill development locally. In case n the businesses occupying the building would not be able to recruit the required skills at a viable price will be required to recruit young talent and invest in their development , hence raising the skill levels locally.
In these situations businesses which operate in research and development and other buisneses that occupy a Class B1a use building. In this way the talent pool will increase locally and the local workforce will have overall higher skills level and wage rise.
12.83 The visitor economy is not just limited to activities within Cleethorpes. The STEAM Report 2012 identified that a significant part of the visitor
spend (£116m in 2012) was generated through shopping, recreation and food and drink expenditure within Grimsby. This spending underpins Grimsby’s role as a sub-regional centre. However, in order for it to continue to maintain that role and attract visitors to it, further facilities will be required to be developed to overcome the challenges identified above. Opportunity site which will assist with the development of the visitor economy in Grimsby are proposed in ‘Vibrant townand local centres’, as will the hosting of major events, such as the recently held World Sea Food Congress which attracted visitors from 17 different countries
This area is just between Grimsby town centre and Cleethorpes , currently in a depressed state. This level of local palpable deprivation is very detrimental to the tourism in Cleethorpes, tourist are very likely to be travelling through this area and other areas in Grimsby. The overall outlook is grim and shows a very large gap in development between this area and Cleethorpes, the direct line distance between this area and th the north promenade is only 0.5 miles on a direct line of sight. However the disparity in development is very wide. The approval of this minor development will be helping bridging this gap by encouraging private capital investment into the area which is likely to further incentivise later investment from the future occupying businesses and improve the outlook of the area making it more attractive to tourists coming to visit Cleethorpes.
In policy 12
K raises the profile of the area at a regional and national scale, contributing to place marketing promoted through DiscoverNEL.
The area where our minor development is located is approximately 0.5 miles from the cleethorpes other promenade , therefore very close to a tourist area. It is very likley diue to the vicinity that visoitors will be in cotact with this area. The difference in development is very wide. The deprivation of this area has a very strong effect on the outlook of the whole area. Therefore any sustainable development that will improve the state of this area will have a very positive impact on the overall economy including tourism in Cleethorpes as the outlook and feel of the whole area will be uplifted. Therefore yet another point in favour of the approval of this minor building alteration.
PAGE 124
The Council recognises that everyone should be given the opportunity to access a decent home, one which they can afford and is in a community where they want to live. The Plan is designed to contribute to achieving these objectives by planning for a sufficient quantity, quality and type of housing in the right locations, taking account of need and demand and seeking to improve choice.
The challenge in this area is the lack of housing demand due to the deprivation of the area. This area is NOT A PLACE PEOPLE WANT TO LINE IN. People would prefer to live elsewhere, in a safer and cleaner community where deprivation and crime is not as evident and rampant. Therefore up until now the council has not managed to attract investment which accomplish the objective of making this area a “a community where they want to live“. The approval of our minor building alteration will provide a great opportunity to bring about a disproportionate positive impact on the revitilisation of the area. As mentioned earlier this impact is not merely short term due to the local employment that the development will create in the short term, but it is mostly due to the very long term benefits of having a sustainable commercial building of the correct use class for the area. Additionally this building will be regenerated up to the modern standards in terms of energy efficiency, low maintenance costs, sustainability and low cost security.
This section of the Plan identifies the most appropriate sites to accommodate the new homes needed in the Borough and to ensure that, where available and viable, land is used efficiently by utilising previously developed land.
This is an already a developed area where empty housing is available but not brought to the market due the high level of deprivation of the area. This is caused by the long term lack of investment in the area. The main cause of deprivation of this area is the long term lack of investment. This have led the area to degrade over time and lose progressively its desirability to prospective residents. Also the deprivation of the area makes the residents leave this area whenever they have the first good opportunity to move into a more desirable area. Therefore the investment in this minor building alteration building will help tackle the root cause of the deprivation in the area, dramatically contributing in the improvement of the outlook of this area. Therefore this minor development will significantly contribute to make proper use of “previously developed land” as clearly specified by this planning policy.
To be more specific and clear this planning policy states: “where available and viable, land is used efficiently by utilising previously developed land.” This minor building alteration ensures the the previously developmped land is ustilised efficiently and effectively using private capital.
13.36 The Council has worked hard to bring empty homes back into use; since 2007 over 613 properties have been recovered. A range of initiatives have been brought forward, which the Council has outlined in the Empty Homes Action Plan 2017-2022 (2017) to sustain this momentum.
At present (April 2015) 4.3% of the total residential dwellings in the Borough are classed as empty
homes. These are not distributed evenly but clustered in urban areas displaying high levels of
deprivation. The Council has set a target of bringing a further 350 long term vacant properties
back into use over the next five years.
We have presented only a few examples of dilapidated, burned down, boarded up and uninhabitable houses in this area. These examples alone are homes that have been empty in most cases for well over 10 years. There are several more examples of empty homes and boarded up homes in this area. The ones we chose in this report are just examples to demonstrate how serious the problem is in the area. The area has several more empty properties, that we can feasibly show in this report, most of which are not visible from the outside, but several have been reported as empty for over a decade. The main cause for these properties to remain empty for such long periods is that they require full refurbishments, however the cost of those heavy refurbishments in some cases are not a viable financial proposition due to the severe lack of housing demand. The lack of demand it caused by the mere fact that this area is NOT a place people decide to live in the long term due to the deprivation discussed at length.
Those who do live in the area are mainly doing so transitorily and live in the area due to the lack of housing demand that cause the low rental price. The residents of the area report that they are looking to relocate in a “decent “ area. The root cause of the issues of this area is the long term lack of investment. The lack of investment is not only from the public sector by mainly from the private sector. The main issue is finding a viable project to invest in this area, this is the main reason for the prolonged lack of private investment. The lack of private investment in the area is a systematic issue, especially due to the challenges posed by planning permission, Several investors consider the risks of embarking in private investment in the area a risky proposition due to red take posed by planning plus the risk reward ratio.
Generally, the returns once factoring in the risks of planning permission are not as attractive since better and safer more secure return are offered elsewhere. Therefore a proactive approach and can do attitude for the planning department can allow a flow of private investment to help the area as resolve the profound deprivation issues.
Once a significant level of investment is deployed in this area the demand will raise naturally, the area outlook will improve, because of the better outlook people will start to make this area a permanent place to live, Hence several issues faced by this area will be resolved naturally without further intervention. However for this to happen, an investment tipping point has to be reached. Once the tipping investment point has been reached the investment flow will continue sustainably and it will not require encouragement as needed today to resolve this inherent systematic deprivation due to a prolonged local lack of investment.
Therefore the approval of this minor building alteration will ensure the beginning of private investment in the area to revitalise it and because of this it should be encouraged. Therefore also due to the currently deprived state of this area, it is recommended a can do attitude and solution based approach from the council in order to incentivise the investment in a financially viable project that will bring private investment.
Once the outlook of this area will have improved, the empty homes issue would resolve by default due to the new incentives the area offers to increased local housing demand.
13.37 Improving the quality of existing homes, and bringing empty properties back into use will promote and support wider regeneration initiatives, improve local health and well-being, and stimulate further investment.
“Improving the quality of existing homes”, this objective can be accomplished by facilitating private investment. This can be easily done by simply having a can do attitude and resolving planning issues in order to accommodate private investment in the area.
bringing empty properties back into use will promote and support wider regeneration initiatives
Once enough investment is secured the area will improve by default and it will become a place where people want to live in. This will attract new families and increase housing demand “sustainably”, starting a virtous circle which will in turn attract more private investment which will regenerate the area and bring dilapidated uninhabitable housing stock back to the market.
Policy 15
Housing Mix
1……..
2. Support will be given to developers seeking to improve or redevelop empty or derelict properties to provide new housing opportunities.
Although it is stated in the planning policy that “ Support will be given to developers seeking to improve or redevelop empty or derelict properties to provide new housing opportunities”, no planning permission is required either improve or redevelop emply or derelict properties. Therefore this policy may be better interpreted as the tated planning policy to support those planning application which will have amongst their direct or indirect consequence to create an environment where developers seeking to improve and redevelop empty or derelict houses will be encouraged and incentivised.
This minor development seeks to redevelop a derelict commercial building to a sustainable modern state so that it can become competitive in the market place. The indirect long term consequence of this regeneration project will in turn lead to an increased demand in housing locally incentivising other investors to bring back to use other derelict houses and buildings in the area. This in turn will provide more modern housing proportionalities by restoring the disused derelict housing stock as stated in policy 15.
13.41 It is important that the Plan provides enough homes to meet the needs and aspirations of local people and to attract new people to live in the area in order to support economic objectives. The quality and range of properties on offer is also a key element of capturing the benefits of economic growth as the choice of
suitable homes can influence investment decisions.