Urban Regeneration
As the emphasis on developing brownfield land has increased there has also been a focus on regenerating urban areas. Such sites are invariably more complex to develop than a greenfield site, given the need to accommodate restrictions on site size and shape, existing uses of neighbouring land, site assembly and the use of compulsory powers where appropriate.
These are some recent examples of our experience in this area:
We have experience in advising a local planning authority on the use of its compulsory purchase powers to promote a mixed use town centre regeneration scheme. As this was the first compulsory purchase that the local authority had undertaken we gave them strategic advice on the CPO process and the steps that had to be taken to secure a successful compulsory purchase order together with a legal opinion on whether the use of compulsory purchase powers was necessary and appropriate for this project.
We acted for an urban development corporation in the south east of England in respect of three separate compulsory purchase schemes to regenerate their area. The first was a mixed use housing led regeneration scheme centred around the railway station. The second was a mixed use leisure and employment use scheme and the third was a town centre regeneration project to include offices, education facilities, a marina, retail and housing together with new public amenity land.
We acted for a London Borough Council on the grant of planning permission for a mixed use residential led scheme of 10,800 new homes. The scheme was intended to regenerate the area, bringing not only new housing but new schools, shops, offices, medical facilities, leisure facilities and parks available to all. We negotiated and drafted the planning conditions and planning agreement to enable the planning permission to be granted.
