Friday 2 July 2010

The Character of Croy

Just thought you might enjoy pretty pictures

Mains of Croy

The Old Manse on Wapedia

Croy village hall

Croy Primary won a competition and had an extract from their
enterprise project "A History of Croy" published in a book called A Sense of Place. The first primary was I understand built in 1872?

Does anyone have any pictures or views of the old village they can send me?

APT blog mentions

Links to the APT blog can be found on the following web pages:

Planning Advisory Service

Planning blog

Monday 28 June 2010

Focus on the 'Material'

I have not long posted on the Latest information sheets from Planning Aid Scotland (PAS) but I thought it worth highlighting what is not considered relevant to the consideration of planning applications:

From the PAS info sheet:

Items which are NOT material considerations and are therefore not relevant to planning include:

Personal circumstances of the applicant, e.g. devaluation of property, private property
rights including boundary and access disputes

Private interests, e.g. loss of a view, competition between businesses

Moral considerations (e.g. to betting shops), or religious objections (e.g. religious objection
to working on Sunday)

Political considerations or ideological dislikes, e.g. private hospitals

Cost of the development

Title restrictions

Applicant’s lack of ownership of the site

Issues covered by other legislation, e.g. health and safety regulations, licensing, building
control

Any factor indicating that there is a lack of any reasonable prospect of the development
proceeding

How can I obtain further information on Material Considerations?

Contact your planning authority

See Scottish Government Circular 4 2009 Development Management Procedures – for useful information on material considerations refer to Annex A: “Defining a Material
Consideration”.

Government guidance encourages us to focus on what is considered Material.

Getting to grips with housing

We have the latest from 'Planning Daily':

"Housing Supply Outstrips Demand"

'Supply of housing has outgrown three times faster than demand, according to latest research by property analyst Hometrack today.
' (Click here Guardian press Item here)

Growth in demand has been slowing for the past four months, said Hometrack, with the run up to the general election, pre-budget talk of austerity measures and a continuing lack of mortgage finance all contributing to market uncertainty.

While prices have risen in June, the extent of price rises has declined. Price increases are now limited to just 11 per cent of the market while price falls were identified across 2.6 per cent of the market.

An earlier article from the Guardian here

"...a Guardian investigation found that almost half a million homes are lying empty in the UK – enough to put a roof over the heads of a quarter of the families on council house waiting lists.

The same article records:

"Housing charity Shelter Scotland has secured Scottish government support for the appointment of an empty homes champion who will promote the use empty homes as a way of increasing housing supply and improving neighbourhoods. The position recognises that the financial climate is conducive to maximising the use of existing housing stock"

Even if a mechanism is found to use as many 'empty homes' as possible, there will still be a need for housing. Satisfying the level of housing need across the country surely cannot be achieved through open market housing sales now.

Keeping up with the latest info

Planning Aid Scotland PAS describes itself as:

"...a unique and independent charity. We help people understand, engage with and benefit from the planning system
.

They go on to explain:

"Planning Aid for Scotland (PAS) has a series of information leaflets about different aspects of planning. These reflect the changes to the planning system introduced in 2009 and explain how you can get involved. Please note that we may update this information to reflect relevant changes. The date of the last update is in the bottom left hand corner of each sheet."

Given the challenges that are now facing us in Highland I would recommend a reading of these leaflets which can be accessed from the link here on the PAS web site

Sunday 27 June 2010

Expo's Aussie Visitors

This Friday's Courier includes the item:

"A LEADING Australian property specialist is hoping to learn a thing or two from Scotland's Housing Expo in Inverness." Click here

It seems that the gentleman has already shown a fair bit of initiative if the report and video here on ACA is anything to go by. It seems that they are building 3 bed, 2 bath (300sqm) 'smart homes' for around 159k for the starter home market. Wonder how their design elements would go down in the local markets here