Nottingham – Planning for the future

Last week I was invited to attend a breakfast presentation to see what the City Council had learned from the review undertaken of its Planning Service by Addison Associates.

I was consulted earlier in the year – partly as a result of my involvement in the Castle College planning application for the rebuilding of the maid Marian Way campus. I won’t dwell on that process, but it was the 9th scheme that went before the Committee – with an Officer Recommendation, only to be adjourned. We did get the consent, but in reality had missed the window of opportunity. Subsequently the LSC funding debacle cost more than the scheme – it had a human cost too.

Jennifer Dearing is the interim Director of Planning – for a six month period. Her primary role as she explained was to push through the changes and improvements highlighted in the review. In fairness Jennifer started the presentation by listing some of the good things about the Planning Team – it wasn’t all bad! Nottingham lead the way on Transportation and produce some excellent written reports. But she did acknowledge that there was a lot to be done – partly as a result of a theme which came from the consultation:

Nottingham is less easy to do development in than other UK cities

Sadly I think this is true. It is difficult to highlight exactly why – but we do seem to get hung up on all manner of minutiae. To some extent Nottingham Castle causes as many issues for development as it benefits the City in tourism (if it does?). We shy away from tall buildings, but I am not sure why. We have critical views lines – from bizarre points (Musters Road West Bridgford?). We have to respect heritage – but I am not convinced we have a consistent approach – viz. The Nottingham Contemporary.

The positive news is that Jennifer is setting about trying to change all of this – and this must be welcomed. Jennifer has said, “Are we going to be a city famed for its modern, high quality architecture or a city well known for keeping the scale of development in keeping and in character with a much more human scale.”

Although not drawn on the answer this question is critical. I know what i think!

But we might also see the introduction of Planning Performance Agreements for large scale developments – which should be welcomed. These can give the Applicants an amount of certainty in the process.

I look forward to the new look Planning Service – Nottingham needs it to compete on the world stage. And we need to tell everyone too that there is a new broom sweeping clean – so that the people with bad past experiences might come back and give Nottingham a second chance!

Nottingham is a brilliant place – but could be better. The Planners have a critical part to play in our future… But so do the members of the Planning Committee!

My suggestion about making Nottingham the Friendliest Place in the World runs deep into the corridors of the Planning Department!