by Hardwick Legal | Mar 18, 2019 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<div><p><b>On 13 March 2019, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, delivered the Spring Statement 2019. As part of this, he announced that further planning reforms would be taken forward to help put the government on track to reaching its target of 300,000 new houses a year.</b></p><p>Alongside the statement, two written ministerial statements were made:</p><ul><li><a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-statement-2019-written-ministerial-statement">a written ministerial statement by Philip Hammond</a> providing more detail on some of the announcements in the Spring Statement 2019, and</li><li><a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-03-13/HCWS1408/">a written ministerial statement by the </a><b>Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (SHCLG) </b>providing further detail on forthcoming planning reforms<br></li></ul><p><b>Our overall verdict</b></p><p>Commitments to tackle the under-delivery of new housing featured heavily, with the government confirming that it will take forward various minor technical planning reforms consulted on in 2018. This includes the extension of permitted development rights to permit upward extensions and making permanent the existing permitted development rights for larger single storey rear extensions to dwellings. While these changes will be welcomed by homeowners and developers, it is questionable what impact these changes will have in terms of meeting the government’s ambitious house-building targets.</p><p>Proposals to consult on how local areas can innovatively use planning tools to support their high streets are questionable: local authorities already have the powers mentioned, but due to resourcing and funding issues rarely use them to proactively improve their areas. The same point applies to the commitment to introduce additional planning guidance to support housing diversification on large sites, which will involve yet further change which over-stretched planning departments and planning inspectors will have to grapple with. It remains to be seen whether the green paper on greater capacity and capability in the planning process will commit the government to spend significantly on resourcing issues in planning departments and at the Planning Inspectorate.</p><p><b>What are the Spring Statement 2019’s headlines for planning and infrastructure?</b></p><p>The key planning announcements in the Spring Statement 2019 and related written ministerial statements contain commitments to:</p><ul><li>publish a consultation exploring potential changes to help local areas make better use of planning tools to support their local high streets, including through compulsory purchase orders, local development orders, and other ‘innov</li></ul></div>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
Government announces further planning reform alongside Spring Statement 2019
by Hardwick Legal | Mar 15, 2019 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<article data-sf-ec-immutable=""><section><p><b>The HM Treasury has announced that the government is introducing a series of initiatives to tackle climate change and deliver clean growth, preserving the planet for future generations. Mel Evans, senior campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said that the reality of the statement was ‘a very mixed bag’ and shows the Treasury is ‘failing to truly get to grips with the greatest challenges of our time’. Tim Pugh, solicitor and consultant specialising in infrastructure planning and environment, and Jayne Harrold, PwC’s UK environmental tax leader, also comment on the issue.</b></p></section></article><section><p>The initiatives include:</p><ul><li>a new global review, to be completed in 2020, led by Prof Sir Partha Dasgupta, to assess the economic value of biodiversity and to identify actions that will simultaneously enhance biodiversity and deliver economic prosperity</li><li>a future homes standard, to be introduced by 2025, future-proofing new build homes with low carbon heating and world-leading levels of energy efficiency</li><li>accelerating the decarbonisation of the UK’s gas supplies by increasing the proportion of green gas in the grid</li></ul><p>To this end, in 2019, the government will publish:</p><ul><li>biodiversity and conservation in overseas territories—a call for evidence inviting creative ideas from stakeholders on how the government can safeguard the biodiversity found in the overseas territories</li><li>red diesel—response to call </li></ul></section>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
Spring Statement 2019: Government introduces climate change initiatives
by Hardwick Legal | Mar 15, 2019 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<p><img src="[images%7COpenAccessDataProvider]9060b7f1-0eb7-4851-9469-a785e405ee0d" sf-size="8542694"></p><p>The third Contracts for Difference allocation round (AR3) will commence on 29 May 2019.</p><p>AR3 will only be open to less established technologies, which for the first time will now include onshore wind located on remote UK islands (in practice expected to be primarily Scottish islands). </p><p>BEIS announced in November 2018 that participants in AR3 would be competing for an annual budget of £60mn, with successful bidders expected to commission in delivery years 2023-24 and 2024-25. In January 2019, BEIS published its Draft Allocation Framework for AR3, which sets out the rules applicable to AR3 and the eligibility requirements applicants must satisfy. It is this framework that will now be in the forefront of ap</p>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
Contract For Difference: Allocation Round Three – are you ready?
by Hardwick Legal | Mar 15, 2019 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<article><section><img src="[images%7COpenAccessDataProvider]67660f24-587a-4aae-91e2-a022d6b0e751" sf-size="100"><p>Environment analysis: As part of a series exploring the ‘blockchain boom’, David Brennan, partner and co-chair of global tech at Gowling WLG, considers how blockchain technology can address environmental issues</p></section></article><section><section><h2><mark id="CITEID_672010"></mark>How can blockchain technology tackle various environmental issues, for example climate change, recycling and supply chain management?</h2><p>Blockchain technology is already being used to tackle a range of environmental issues, such as recycling schemes which offer bitcoin-based reward tokens in exchange for those making the effort. However, the wider environmental benefits of using blockchain are, while possible, more challenging and complex in terms of their application.</p><p>For example, the current use of ‘smart grids’—which are designed to optimise energy consumption by detecting and reacting to changes in usage—is an ideal pairing with blockchain technology. Smart grid technology allows peer-to-peer energy exchanges between users on the same grid network. The use of blockchain technology will ensure that accurate user preferences are immutably logged and efficiencies are exploited, resulting in more energy being available across a network capable of delivering a customised and preferred level of energy to each user.</p><p>From a supply chain perspective, using blockchain to track the typically fragmented and complicated stages of the process has the potential to tackle discrepancies and revolutionise supply chain management. While all participants in a supply chain have the same goal in getting a product from the original source to the final customer, there is very often a lack of visibility and communication among supply chain participants. The traditional supply chain</p></section></section>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
The blockchain boom—tackling environmental issues
by Hardwick Legal | Mar 15, 2019 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<article data-sf-ec-immutable=""><section><img src="[images%7COpenAccessDataProvider]d5906733-fc95-4578-be90-88e6d92599d0" sf-size="100"><p></p><p>Energy analysis: As part of a series exploring the ‘blockchain boom’, Adam Brown, managing practice development lawyer in the energy, transport and infrastructure practice at Dentons, considers the potential for blockchain technology in the energy sector.</p></section></article><section><section><h2><mark id="CITEID_671925"></mark>What opportunities can blockchain technology promise the energy sector? What are some issues in the market right now that will benefit from such technology?</h2><p>At a high level, blockchain offers the energy sector what it offers many other sectors:<br></p><ul><li>a means of improving the efficiency of existing systems and processes</li><li>a tool for developing new markets</li></ul><p>In the financial sector, there is a great deal of interest around the potential for blockchain to be used to reduce processing costs in securities transactions. Similarly, in the energy sector, a number of banks, oil and gas companies and trading houses are working on platforms that could be used to trade cargoes of oil products or liquefied natural gas (LNG) and carry out the post-transaction processing of trades in a rapid, secure and paperless way.</p><p>This is because blockchain can maintain an immutable record of transactions and other information that is visible to all relevant parties, and so solve some of the problems inherent in current commodity trading, which is often based on bills of lading. These paper instruments exist in multiple copies that can easily be lost or falsified, and the need for them to be transmitted physically from one party to another creates a drag on commercial activity.</p><p>At the other end of the scale, in terms of individual transaction values, blockchain and the associated technology of smart contracts are perceived as key enablers of ‘peer-to-peer’ electricity trading networks. In theory, households with renewable energy generation or electricity storage facilities could become ‘prosumers’, taking advantage of movements in electricity prices to sell surplus power to chosen buyers (rather than just spilling it onto the grid or automatically selling it all to one utility). In practice, most people will not want to </p></section></section>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
The blockchain boom—driving efficiency in the energy sector
by Hardwick Legal | Mar 14, 2019 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
In our March 2019 podcast, Chris Badger and Mark Davies of 6 Pump Court take us through:
– Continued scrutiny of the Environmental (Principles and Governance) Bill;
– Court of Appeal cases on abuse of process; and
– Whether invasion of privacy can be an actionable nuisance
To listen to the podcast, click here.
Continued scrutiny of the Environmental (Principles and Governance) Bill – listen from 0.40mins
Chris and Mark cover the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Environmental (Principles and Governance) Bill by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, discussing evidence given by Michael Gove, Thérèse Coffey and Davide Minotti on March 6, 2019.
A key theme around this discussion centres on the independence on the proposed Office for Environmental Protection, given its proposed funding.
Court of Appeal cases on abuse of process – 6.54 mins
Second, Chris and Mark take a look at some cases which look at a possible revival of the abuse of process, concerning planning cases considered by the Court of Appeal, but where the principles can also be understood as applying to all environmental regulators. The cases in question are:
– R v The Knightland Foundation [2018] EWCA Crim 1860;
– Ceredigion County Council v Robinson [2018] EWHC 2121; and
– Wokingham BC v Scott & Ors [2019] EWCA Crim 205
Whether invasion of privacy can be an actionable nuisance – 10.06 mins
In the final part of the podcast, Chris and Mark discuss a case which looks at whether invasion of privacy can amount to an action in nuisance – in particular, involving the new Tate Modern viewing gallery and visitors looking into the neighbouring properties in the NEO Bankside development.
For more information, see:
– Brexit- environmental law implications
– Court dismisses privacy claims by owners of overlooked flats (Fearn and others v Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery)
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
LexisPSL Environment News Podcast – March 2019
