News
Housing and Planning Bill – what does it mean for development?
After years of battling conflicting policies to meet demand for housing, planners can only welcome the government priority to deliver housing in England. There is no doubt that the planning system should be straightforward but planning for housing is not simply a question of numbers set centrally.
Climate Change News Review
UK Energy Policy to increase CO2 and consumer costs Energy Secretary Amber Rudd’s admission in November that the UK does not have the right climate adaptation policies to meet its renewable energy targets was no surprise to the energy and environmental...
Triodos Windfarm Virtual Tour – Education for the Future
In July 2015, Landmark was pleased to be invited to take part in an educational school visit to the Triodos Renewables turbines at Avonmouth, Bristol. We are proud to have worked with Wessex Water in gaining planning consent for the four wind turbines at the...
Bats and Hibernation
There are approximately 17 species of bat in Britain; two belonging to the Rhinolophid family (the horseshoe bats) and the other 15 (or so) belonging to the Vespertilionidae family (or vesper bats meaning ‘evening’). Some other species may be resident here at...
BIM: Demystifying Building Information Modelling
By 2016 all parties involved with new Government construction projects or public sector projects over £50 mill require level of Building Information Modelling (BIM). The Landmark Practice realises that this may leave clients in the dark as to the implications of these...
Protected species and development: Roman Snails
Recently our ecology team attended a training session at Bristol Zoo Gardens to learn how to handle and assess the health of snails. An unusual choice for a training course? … well yes, but necessary for us as the ecology team are involved with a site in the...
Planning success for HAB housing in Hampshire
The project The Landmark Practice has been working with developer, HAB, on a residential scheme in Hampshire and are pleased to say that this has now received a resolution to grant planning permission, subject to the completion of a section 106 agreement. The...
Imbalance in the EIA Process, The Planning Authority Perspective
Many EIA related decisions have been overturned by the courts due to failure by the Local Planning Authority (LPA) to comply with the procedural requirements of the EIA Regulations[1] . The Regulations are still, however, acknowledged by many planning officers as...
Planning (Wales) Bill – Welsh policy update
On 6 July 2015 the Planning (Wales) Bill received Royal Assent. The Planning (Wales) Bill The key purposes of the Act are to: Strengthen the plan-led approach to planning. The Bill introduces the National Development Framework for Wales which will set out...
Ash Dieback at Landmark
An outbreak of Ash Dieback Disease (Chalara fraxinea) has been confirmed in our area. Worse still, it’s in the Landmark MD’s garden in the Chew Valley south of Bristol. Nick noticed some possible early signs in late May and these became more marked in June. He...
‘Greening’ the European Green Capital? Lessons from Portland, Oregon
Prior to joining Landmark this summer, our newest recruit to the Landscape Planning team, Morag MacGregor, won the 2014 Landscape Institute Student Travel Award which allowed her to investigate good practice in Green Infrastructure in American cities. Here she shares...
2015 Planning reforms – Fixing the Foundations or Forgetting the Fundamentals?
It is widely understood that the planning system is in place to ensure that development is carried out to a high standard which will benefit communities and the economy without causing negative impact on the environment. At Landmark, we have the benefit of working...
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