England round-up: Public spaces papers wins top RTPI research award; Lewis pledges to remove rental market red tape

Navitus Bay Wind Park refused Energy minister

Lord Bourne announces development consent refusal for the proposed Navitus Bay offshore wind park.

The Planner

Public spaces paper wins top RTPI research award

A London academic’s study challenging perceptions about the privatisation of public space in the capital has picked up a top prize at the RTPI Awards for Research Excellence.

The Planner

Permitted development affects housing quality, London Councils group warns

The conversion of offices to homes is harming London’s town centres, resulting in “sub-standard” housing, says cross-party organisation London Councils.

The Planner

HS2 to submit plans for Euston next week

HS2 has revealed its plans to extend Euston Station to accommodate High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) for services to Birmingham, the north of England and Scotland.

The Planner

Lewis pledges to remove rental market red tape

Housing minister Brandon Lewis has pledged to professionalise and remove red tape from the rental market.

The Planner

Outline approval for 13,000 homes at Greenwich Peninsula

The planning board at the Royal Borough of Greenwich has granted outline planning permission for 13,000 homes and a new transport hub.

The Planner

Port of London Authority questions validity of wharves report

The Port of London Authority has criticised research claiming that reduced wharf trade in London should open up the area to house building.

The Planner

HS2 faces years of delays, say experts

In its summer industry forecast, industry body The Construction Products Association cited ‘concerns regarding planning and financing’ as reasons why it does not think main civil engineering works will start for five years.

Express and Star

Bid to demolish former Shrewsbury sixth form building for student housing gets nod from planning officers

The proposal to demolish the former Shrewsbury Sixth Form College at the Tannery, Barker Street, will go before Shropshire Council’s Central Planning Committee next week.

Shropshire Star

New £50m plans for Oldbury Junction

Revived multi-million pound plans for a new shopping and leisure complex in Oldbury have been hailed as ‘the final piece in the town’s jigsaw’.

Express and Star

Swanley regeneration plans get green light

Plans to regenerate Swanley’s southern gateway have moved a step closer following a council meeting.

Insider Media 

Opinion: Return of the prefabs: inside Richard Rogers’s Y:Cube homes for homeless people

"With riotously bright colours, Rogers’s ‘move-on’ housing scheme is dressed in the childlike garb of a My First House. But design niggles mean nothing to the tenants getting their own homes for the first time."

The Guardian 

Plans for 470 homes near canal unveiled

Plans for an ambitious new development of about 470 homes on land beside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal have been revealed.

Wigan Today

Financial close on £66m Frodsham Wind Farm

Renewables developer Belltown Power has taken a stake in Peel Energy's Frodsham Wind Farm in Cheshire, with financial close on the £66 million project now being achieved.

Insider Media 

‘New housing will swallow our village’ say Bodicote residents

Plans to build almost 2,500 new homes in a north Oxfordshire village have caused controversy. People in Bodicote say the houses will wreck the village’s identity.

Bicester Advertiser

Plans for 91 homes in Woodville thrown out owing to opposition from residents

Plans to build 91 homes near Woodville have been rejected by the council. Developer Tom Dickens lost his bid to build the housing development on land north of Butt Lane and east of Hepworth Road, bordering both Woodville and Blackfordby.

Burton Mail