Capital Quarter

It's being built in march and not today because of the mess of a planning system we have.

The council want it built, the developer wants to develop, the market needs the office space but fuck that, lets fill in the paperwork first.

Yet people cannot see how the uk planning system stifles economic development.

Jeez, it's taking less than four months to go through planning, that's hardly a bureaucratic nightmare. Presumably the developer is well aware of how long it will take and schedules the application accordingly.

And there's plenty of finishing touches to No. 2 still to do - I think JR Smart are pretty impressive although we should've realised this when a handful of workers built No. 1!!

It's being built in march and not today because of the mess of a planning system we have.

The council want it built, the developer wants to develop, the market needs the office space but fuck that, lets fill in the paperwork first.

Yet people cannot see how the uk planning system stifles economic development.

Jeez, it's taking less than four months to go through planning, that's hardly a bureaucratic nightmare. Presumably the developer is well aware of how long it will take and schedules the application accordingly.

A lot can change in four months. Anyway that wasn't the point. My point is what is the purpose of the planning process when everyone wants the development?

Without the process you won't know what everyone wants. There are houses & homes there & whilst they would no doubt welcome wasteland being used positively it is difficult to know. 16 weeks isn't a long time, especially with Xmas in the mix too.

Without the process you won't know what everyone wants. There are houses & homes there & whilst they would no doubt welcome wasteland being used positively it is difficult to know. 16 weeks isn't a long time, especially with Xmas in the mix too.

It's in the cbd - what else are thry going go put there

Its a good point!

People don't seem to appreciate just how difficult it is to build things in this country. Not only are there all the financial and legal obstacles associated with developments, but there are numerous other issues to resolve during the planning process, notable consulting with the various public and private bodies who control the surrounding infrustructure (gas, highways, Welsh Water, electricity, Network Rail, heritage, if it's tall then the aviation authorities have their say, etc.).

Planning is a nightmare and it oftens seems as if there is little accountability throughout the process or understanding just how much money developers have to keep paying out during the process.

But yes, 16 weeks is a long time for a building that has been well publicised and is part of a wider development that pretty much everyone wants. Unless this plot deviates drastically from the masterplan, what is there to object to?

off thread:

Periannydd

To give you an example of how the UK state has silly rules which stifle economic development, we applied to Birmingham City Council for change of use on a 30,000 sqft warehouse from B1,2,8 to D2. The unit had been empty for 5 years and had been seriously marketed but no one was interested in taking it as warehousing is now favoured near the motorway network.

The council told us in no uncertain terms in pre planning that we weren't to waste our money as this was core employment land, even though a warehouse like this would employ maybe 30 FTE under B8 but would employ 100 FTE under D2. The unit was in an area of Birmingham that was blighted by unemployment.

The UK state is awash with stupid ideas, if it was a human it would have a head full of question marks. so the result of this daft rules is we have an empty unit, no jobs, a landlord out of pocket and half business rates being collected. The state takes us to new previously uncharted levels of fuckwittery

yet some defend the state as if it can do no wrong. it really should be up to the state to prove development is not needed and the case should be for non development and not the other way around.

Jantra - I really think you are creating a straw man here. Noone has said the "state can do no wrong". Neither has anyone said the plannign system is perfect, and could not be sped up.

However, the fact that "we all agree it should happen" does not mean that usual planning processes can be abandoned. That kind of discretion is a recipe for corruption and poor decision making. The developer knows or butters up the planning commitee staff, or the planning service staff - and gets waived through as "a development we want to happen" even if its inappropriate, or its on council land that could be put to better use. Of course, they can attempt this kind of thing now. But its harder to get away with when you have a systematic process to go through than when you just make decisions on an informal, ad hoc basis.

Cambo

You're advocating work for the sake of work rather than necessity. The planning framework should be flexible enough to be able to fast track cases such as this. However we know the UK state with its Byzantine approach to each and every aspect of what it does just doesn't have the capability to think clearly and try and achieve a given result in the shortest possible time. There is no justification for this approach in this case, the planning framework is too rigid and once again the state with its endless bureaucracy have failed the people. We are wasting taxpayers money on Hobson's choice. you know it, I know and so does everyone else. stop trying to justify it and get the bloody thing built.

Coffee shop with alcohol licence opening on the ground floor of building 1

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