Is it time we took politics out of city centre planning?
Russell Rigby, managing director of commercial property agent Rigby & Co on a Landmark decision
SO, high-rise city living is finally on its way to Derby city centre! A green-ish light of planning approval was granted at last Thursday’s council development control meeting in favour of 202 apartments in Phoenix Street.
After an agonising wait it was clear the decision had been taken to approve the application subject to agreement on conditions and a subsequent Section 106 agreement. Whew!
Now I need to be clear and explain that I am not involved in any shape or form with The Landmark development. No, my choice of early Thursday evening entertainment involves occasionally seeing local government democracy at its absolute rawest.
My company is, however, heavily embedded in most of the other significant regeneration projects planned for the city centre. It’s inevitable some of these will involve elements of height, massing, and the continued introduction of residential living spaces to help meet the growing needs of the private rental sector. So, given the public interest in Landmark, I needed to hear and taste the political appetite for such a development first hand.
My experience has reinforced my view that major planning applications that may have a transformational effect on the city should probably not become bait for political posturing, particularly when their determination can take months.
The socio-economic regeneration output from the Landmark presents a huge level of investment. Remember, this is a city centre going through a period of open-ended decline with major challenges. It is only by rapidly introducing new living and office space that we will keep it alive. So, a proposal to introduce 202 residential units must be seized.
The problem, however, is that some of the comments offered by members of the committee bred little confidence that the enormity of the decision about to taken had fully registered.
Surprisingly, the perceived impact of the development on heritage was given extensive air time. On this point, I have huge admiration for the council officers charged with processing applications like this; they have to interpret local and national policy and have a careful eye on legal ramifications and get little credit for it.
It was crystal clear to those viewing the debate that the owners of heritage assets close to the Landmark were in support of the application, which begs the question: why do we have a process that still allows well-informed collaborative discussions and agreements to be effectively thrown up in the air and interpreted differently by a committee whose political colour and composition changes three times in four years?
An alternative would be to take these major applications and decisions away from a knife-edge “show of hands”, and with it, reduce the political tensions and anecdotal commentary that tend to the surface at these meetings.
This public debate doesn’t reassure those developers and investors watching that Derby has its doors open for new investment.
Whether we like it or not, we are in a shop window, with many of these funders continuing to run the rule over regional cities such as Derby.
Perhaps we could put in place an strategy and process that sees earlier senior stakeholder support for large applications before they even hit the pre-application stage.
This could ensure all essential issues are ironed out well before a planning officer makes that final recommendation which effectively then becomes rubber stamped at committee.
Sadly, the cultural differences that continue to be played out through those wishing to retain the city centre and preserve it, at the risk of slowing down new investment, do need to think carefully about some of the projects they are looking to stall and some of the assets they are looking to protect. Our city centre is understandably constrained in size, so going up and introducing new features in the skyline is something we should look to embrace and not contest.
As we were reminded at the meeting, Derby is built on innovation, industry and technology.
Its feel, vibrancy and skyline need to reflect a progressive and positive place to do business. With the next wave of planning applications let’s try and inject enthusiasm into these proposals and provide a sense of ambition to the younger population, who will be its custodians, that they have a city centre of which to be proud.