This month’s ET planning blog post focuses on Care and Education.
There is growing demand for care and education led development. Looking at care firstly, this is a key focus within ET planning.
In this respect it is important to focus on the recent updates to the NPPF in December 2024 and specifically NPPF paragraph 63 which outlines the need for councils to deliver a supply of homes for different groups in the community. Prior to the 2024 revision this was something that could be used support the development for children’s homes but there was no explicit reference within it. Following the update, there is not direct recognition for councils to provide homes for looked after children in national policy this is a key consideration when looking at the sufficiency crisis that exists in relation to children’s care homes across England. The timing of this is positive with national government setting up two regional care commissions across the UK focusing on Manchester and the southeast of which ET planning have been actively involved in.
Growing demand for school spaces including nurseries and special educational needs schools is also a key focus of this month’s blog. Again prior to the 2024 update to the NPPF great weight was only attributed to the provision of new schools. However following the update in the 2024, this has now being expanded to cover early years, schools and post 16 establishments. This is especially important when considering there’s going to be an increased focus on these types of spaces with the government’s push to grow the economy get more people into work and ensure that the young people get the education they deserve. A key consideration within this is that a lot of councils are struggling to provide sufficient spaces within mainstream schools for children with additional difficulties. So how can ET planning help and what does this look like on the ground?
Firstly in relation to care related development, ET planning has done a lot of work with the children’s homes actor in recent years when looking to open a children’s home two types of permission can be sought in which to open them 1 is a significant of lawfulness and the other is a full planning permission if it’s difficult of lawfulness application can be sought it is typically the easier option a large part of the case for achieving a successful certificate of lawfulness is based on the North Devon case law which sets out how there is a 2 tier assessment process when looking at opening the children’s home the first Test is whether it is development EG does it fall within C3 use class A council can grant a certificate on this basis however if a council considers it to fall within C2 use class the North Devon case sets out that the relevant test in that instance is whether it is a material change of use a certificate can be granted on either basis as a result.
There can be instances where planning permission is required and now with the increased support in national policy there is greater weight attributed to the need to provide homes for looked after children which can be further evidenced by material considerations in a council sufficiently strategy author a Freedom of Information request data. For example in a recent application at ET Panama successful within Staffordshire we were able to use the council sufficiently strategy and Freedom of Information request data the highlight there was a need for children’s homes within the local authority area
With regard to schools and nursery applications the key considerations are typically highways and noise ET planning can work with our established consultant partners to put forward technical cases which overcome potential obstacles. For example in a recent case in Wokingham, ET planning were able to successfully demonstrate to the council that the change of use to a nursery would not have a detrimental impact on neighbouring amenity in terms of noise and the highway disruption could be managed successfully. This established a new nursery in a match needed and busy settlement area.
Our team of planning consultants can guide you and help ensure your project has the best chance of success.
Get in touch with us today on 01344 508048 or email office@etplanning.co.uk to discuss your planning strategy.
