Hitting the nail on the head over poor planning applications

From: David Blackburn, Executive Committee member, Ilkley Civic Society.

SHARON Dale, your Property Editor, ‘hit the nail on the head’, not once, but twice (The Yorkshire Post, July 25).

Ilkley Civic Society has been commenting for some years on planning applications where developments fail to refer specifically to the standards of insulation, heating and ventilation to be included in their projects.

Government introduced in 2007, and included in the 2011 and 2013 Budgets, specific plans to arrive at a position whereby all new properties would be built to zero carbonstandards by 2016. A target that would not only benefit property owners but also the environment, but quietly dropped.

The ‘Future Homes Standard’ now proposes reductions of 7580 per cent by 2025 as part of the target of a zero carbon nation by 2050.

Owners of many relatively new houses, and many not yet built, will face a retrofit option to bring their homes to the lowest energy use standard or more expensive fuel bills.

The Green Homes Grant for existing homes also referred to in your article sounds wonderful but has Government learnt anything from the rushed and then quietly dropped ‘Green Deal’? That was an expensive loan arrangement with low take-up and actually left many ‘traditional’ properties in a worse state than before insulation.

It has to be remembered that ‘traditional’, mainly pre-1919 properties, have solid external walls that require good general ventilation to prevent the build up of moisture and its many consequences including damage to health. If not implemented with care, insulation can have negative results.

On the relaxation of planning rules, delay in obtaining planning permission, in our experience at Ilkley Civic Society, is frequently due to the poor standard of many applications – large, medium and small – that planning officers then have to deal with.

Previous relaxations of permitted development rules have resulted in developments that clearly do not improve neighbourhoods visually or improve community spirit and relations with neighbours.

Amazingly, it is not yet even compulsory that applicants for planning approval have themselves to consult with neighbours i.e. those who will have to look at the boxy extensions, the additional storeys, new homes built with little architectural interest or sympathy with their environment, or inappropriate changes of use.