Forthcoming events:
10 December - RTPI | The Millennium Building & C103 Site Visit
Recent events:
11 October 2024 - Planning in Coastal Areas, Bideford
The Devon, Cornwall and Somerset Young Planners organised a study day on Planning in Coastal Areas in Bideford kindly supported by Torridge District Council. The morning session was introduced by Dominie Dunbrook, Place Manager, Economic Development and Regeneration at North Devon District Council who set the scene regarding the economic strategy, cultural strategy and local plan in the area to maximise the growth potential in the area focusing on the Clean Maritime Growth Vision to move the coastal and rural area to the forefront of delivering critical priorities in Net Zero, energy, health and food security.
Laura Davis, Development Management Team Leader, Torridge District Council then focused on the planning process and challenges in the granting of permission for the Appledore Clean Maritime Innovation Centre, Appledore which is to provide a physical focus for regional activity across the clean maritime and green energy sector funded by £15.6m Levelling Up fund in 2023.
Ryan Steppel, Principal Planning Officer, Torridge District Council outlined the XLinks Morocco-UK Power Project that is proposed to facilitate the importation of up to 3.6 GW of low carbon energy from Morrocco to UK to meet approximately 8% of the UK annual electricity needs. The project has been confirmed to be a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) and Ryan detailed the Development Consent Order process that the council are a consultee in and the stages this is likely to take over the next 2 years to determine its approval.
Andrew Sierakowski, North Devon District Council gave a local authority perspective to the development of the offshore floating wind project at Whitecross and the difficulties of twin applications for the offshore component to the Marine Management Organisation and the onshore project which requires a separate Town and Country Planning Act 1990 application. The onshore elements are being determined by North Devon District Council with a range of challenges from landfall at the popular beach of Saunton Sands, a substation in Flood Zone 2, multiple designations including National Landscape, Special Area of Conservation, SSSI and North Devon Biosphere as well as MOD land and a crossing of the Taw Estuary with 1000 objections to date.
Rob Lacey, Planning Policy Manager, Cornwall County Council outlined the issues of second homes and short terms lets on housing in coastal areas of Cornwall and evaluated the use of planning policies such as neighbourhood plans and use classes in tackling this.
Ian Rowland, Planning Policy Team Leader, Torridge District Council gave an insight into the challenges of the ever changing coastline, with erosion and inundation being exacerbated by climate change and the research completed by the Coastal Processes Research Group at Plymouth University to establish Coastal Change Management Areas. These will be rolled out to other local planning authorities to help with the development of planning policies and the determining of future planning applications in coastal areas.
Chris Wilson, Coastal Engineer, Torridge District Council highlighted the link between coastal engineering and planning and the importance of consultation with coastal engineers to ensure sustainable decisions are made regarding planning in coastal areas. This was followed by a study visit to see coastal change processes in action at Northam Burrows and how the Shoreline Management Plans are produced to identify areas of the coastline that are to be protected with ‘hold the line’ and others where nature will be allowed to take its course through ‘no active intervention’.
The day ended with a social visit to continue discussions at a pub in Westward Ho!. The day was well attended being sold out with 40 delegates and a number of people commented that it was nice to have an RTPI event in North Devon.
19 September 2024 - SuDS
Devon, Cornwall and Somerset Young Planners recently visited Central Park in Plymouth to attend a walk and talk hosted by Plymouth City Council’s Liz Oxford, Natural Infrastructure Officer and Kate Saunders, Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Area Planning Manager. The walk and talk focused on Plymouth City Council’s Central Park Ponds Project, comprising sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), and discussed the process of obtaining planning permission and the complexities along the way.
The Central Park Ponds Project involved the re-landscaping of a portion of the park to provide a nature-based solution to flooding using SuDS to manage surface water whilst providing a space for wildlife and people. The scheme includes: improved drainage with French drains along Coronation Avenue and Jubile Row; a swale located to the south of Coronation Avenue; and two ponds located in the Barn Park corner of the park.
The event gave a fantastic opportunity to learn about how the ongoing SuDS project looks to provide a nature-based solution to flooding, along with addressing wider planning considerations, such as: improved access, conservation of heritage features, conservation of trees, placemaking and design, and Biodiversity Net Gain.
In addition to discussing the planning application process, attendees discussed the delays to the project, maintenance of the SuDS and the potential implications of the operational day-to-day park use and how this had been managed.
Following the talk, attendees enjoyed the opportunity to network and socialise with pizza and drinks at Roam Brewery Taproom.
24 July 2024, Exeter Science Park
We had a very successful event at Exeter Science Park learning about its development and the role of these types of projects in economic development, as well as the processes and applications of Local Development Orders. Excited to see how the future LDO for Exeter Science Park takes shape to supports its growth. Lots going on in the region and the use of the tool is becoming increasingly widespread - see Gravity, Skypark, Power Park. Thank you for sharing your expertise Mary Crew and Frances Wadsley and thank you for the insight into the Science Park project Dr Sally Basker and Jason Buck MCIM.
Our next event is a SuDS walk and talk visiting Central Park in Plymouth to learn about the innovative nature-based solutions being built there and their interface with public open space. Followed of course by pizza (included in ticket price) at Roam brewery! Limited spaces are available.
9 November 2023 - Exeter’s Underground Passages
To celebrate World Town Planning Day, the Devon, Cornwall and Somerset Young Planners went on a guided tour of Exeter’s Underground Passages followed by food and networking in Exeter.
The Underground Passages were used to transport clean water into the city via lead pipes with Exeter being the only city in the UK to have this type of underground passages open to the public. The passages are between four and five metres below Princesshay and the High Street with ‘The Low Passage’ being a particular highlight as it is only 1m in height in places requiring you to crawl through it!
Thank you for all those attended, especially Exeter Underground Passages for hosting us and look out for more events in due course.
Sept 2023 - Active Travel Away Day
"In September 2023 we organised an Active Travel Away Day on the Exe Estuary Trail in Devon for over 20 local Young Planners. The event Starting off right with a group bike hire from Saddles & Paddles Exeter Ltd, they then cycled along the Exe Estuary Trail to Lympstone, taking the opportunity to network and get to know each other on the way.
Active Travel England's Laurence Fallon then spoke on their role as a statutory consultee and their purpose in catalysing a culture shift in the way we view movement and assess transport impacts in planning.
After a pit stop for lunch at the Puffing Billy in Exton, we cycled on to the Double Locks, where Josh Manning and Chelsea Randall from Devon County Council led an insightful interactive workshop introducing attendees to the process of producing an LCWIP and the common challenges and difficulties of it.
By the time we'd got back to Saddles and Paddles, I think it would be safe to say we were all better connected, more knowledgeable on active travel, and much, much sweatier!
The event was gratefully sponsored by Stantec. At Stantec we are driven to achieve better places in the communities we design and affect - promoting Active Travel and identifying viable opportunities for it to add value to our projects and their communities is something we take pride in, so it was great to spend a day experiencing the benefits of it".~
Elliot Dommett, Stantec and member of Devon, Cornwall and Somerset Young Planners Steering Group.
In September 2022 Devon, Cornwall and Somerset Young Planners held a CPD event in Exeter to discuss the delivery of housing and explore some of the biggest barriers to delivery and what we can do as Planners to better plan for delivery, and bring these figures closer together.
Speakers included:
- Andy West, Verto Homes
- Ian Collinson, Director of City Development at Exeter City Council
- Alan Swan, Stantec
- Paul Osborne – Urban Design Director at LHC Architects