At a recent meeting of the Chamber Planning and Development Group, members noted that whilst the planning and development market is still very challenging, improvements could be seen over the third quarter, in comparison to the previous quarters.
Members advised that a larger quantity of planning consultancy work is being undertaken at present but, of the projects that achieve planning, very few are actually progressing to ‘breaking ground’ The most active area of the market appears to be residential, with high quality sites selling well within the City and its suburbs.
Other public sector construction work such as education and health schemes are still ongoing and effectively providing much of the work for the contracting industry in the area. Development finance is still not readily available and there is little appetite for new strategic development sites (1,000+ units) over and above those already identified, but smaller sites (50-100 units) seem to be more viable. Clients are also being more realistic in their expectations of the work required and the fees involved.
“The market is still very challenging, however there does appear to be a glimmer of light, with some small sparks of interest in the commercial sector, clearly we need a focussed effort to ensure that the City makes the most of the limited opportunities to attract inward investment. A large number of the available sites in the City are either distressed or are tied down with financial restrictions. It is important that a real private and public sector partnership is developed to concentrate our efforts in finding ways to unlock these sites” said Jonathan Cage Chair of the Chamber Planning & Development Group and Managing Director of Create Consulting.
Also debated at the meeting was the proposed closure of St Stephens and what would happen to the surrounding area and re-routed traffic. The Group believed it was essential that before any decisions are made with respect to removing cars from St Stephens that a detailed appraisal had been undertaken on how this would impact on other routes. It was generally considered that removing cars on their own would not make that much of a difference and believed that the current level of bus usage of this area was causing a greater impact on pedestrians and businesses.
It was also noted the Inspector’s findings from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Examination, which was held on 16 October will be known within the next few weeks. The Chamber Planning Group made representations to the Inquiry, requesting that any CIL charge be set at a sensible level that would not prevent development coming forward. This will impact on any potential development proposal being undertaken within the County. Once the Inspector’s findings have been made public then we will update the chamber membership.
