Earlier this month, Labour MP Huw Irranca-Davies accused the government of “dragging its feet” on reforms to dangerous dogs legislation. A consultation was launched in March 2010 by the former Labour administration. But more than 18 months after the consultation closed the coalition government has yet to state whether it intends to push ahead with the proposals. Writing in the Guardian on 14 February, Irranca-Davies said: “What do we want to see? Simple, 18 months after the consultation we need to see the government’s firm proposals. They’ve had more than enough time to consider the options.” Read more »

The latest CIL Watch update includes infrastructure levy news from Mid Sussex, Lewisham, Wandsworth, Nottinghamshire and Redbridge. Read more »

One million planning applications have now been processed by the online Planning Portal service, with the millionth application submitted by a householder in Leicestershire, the government said yesterday. Read more »

I blogged yesterday about the row over the government’s planning reforms and how the furore increased in intensity between July and October 2011. A key feature of the campaign against the National Planning Policy Framework was that celebrities lined up to criticise the reforms, helping to keep the issue in the headlines. Big names to come out against the government’s planning reforms include US travel writer Bill Bryson, television presenters Lloyd Grossman and Kirstie Allsopp and composer Lord Lloyd-Webber. Read more »

Planning permission has been granted this week for a property described by its architect as the UK’s first ‘amphibious’ house. According to Baca Architects, the firm behind the plans, an amphibious house is a building that “rests on the ground on fixed foundations but, whenever a flood occurs, the entire building rises up in its dock and floats there, buoyed by the floodwater”. Read more »

In September and October 2011, when the furore over the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was at its peak, planning found itself in the unusual position of featuring regularly and prominently in national headlines. The Telegraph’s “Hands off our Land” campaign, in particular, ensured that an unprecedented number of front page column inches were devoted to planning. At the time, I blogged about how the newspaper appeared to be going to extraordinary lengths to keep the NPPF on its front page. Read more »

CIL Watch is 10 today! Today’s update includes the latest on the London mayoral levy and details of the next councils to have their levy plans examined. Read more »

The mayor London’s planning approval for a 55-storey tower in Croydon with no on-site affordable housing provision has won the 2011 ‘Dodgy Planning Award’. The awards are handed out each year by London Assembly Green Party member Darren Johnson.

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