Planners play an important role in regulating and managing development. This module explores the legal, regulatory and policy tools available to planners for managing development. In addition, it explores the various objectives that guide the use of these tools, as expressed through plans and policies at different scales. The module is a particularly valuable one for anyone intending to work in planning practice.

The module is designed to:

1. Provide students with an understanding of the law and the legal principles governing planning practice and the regulation of development in England and Wales;
2. Introduce students to the key planning policy instruments used by governments at central, regional and local levels of the planning system;
3. Familiarise students with the range of instruments and controls available to planners to regulate development.

The module is delivered in the Spring semester. The module comprises a series of lectures that address matters of planning law and planning policy, complemented by some interactive, workshop-style sessions. The material in the module is focused on understanding the planning policy framework and the practical operation of the development management system. At the end of the module students will have a good understanding of the British statutory planning system covering both planning policy and development management.

1. Define the legal principles that form the basis for the regulation and control of development by citing relevant statutes and case law in support of reasoned advice given to a client;
2. Correctly identify and interpret different planning policy documents by defining the relevance of different planning policies to a particular planning decision and balancing the significance of those policies against other material considerations;
3. Explain the relationship between planning policy and development control by explaining the role and importance of development plans in development control decision-making.

Learning and teaching comprises of:

• 15 hours of lecture-based sessions addressing planning law.
• 15 hours of lectures and workshops focusing on interpreting the planning policy framework and the operation of the development management system.

Lectures will include opportunity for interaction and discussion, as well as scope for addressing current issues arising in professional media or live consultations. Visiting speakers from practice also contribute to the module and provide illustrations of the practical application of the instruments covered in the module.

The skills that will be practised in this module include:

1. Writing clearly and concisely and producing written material to a professional standard;
2. Expressing arguments orally through contribution to informal group discussion in lectures.
3. Correctly identifying and interpreting case law and applying this to a specific case or situation.
4. Application of legal reasoning and argument, including distinguishing between facts and values.
5. Correctly interpreting sources of planning policy and their relevance to particular circumstances, including judgments on the weight to be applied to different policies.

The module is assessed through two items of coursework. Assessment 1 on planning law assesses the first learning outcome. Assessment 2 on planning policy assesses the second and third learning outcomes. .

The planning law assessment requires students to prepare advice for a client or other person engaged in the planning system. This will comprise a brief in two parts – students are issued with an initial brief and will later in the module be issued with further information in the form of a planning scenario. Students will then be given a short period for completion and submission (approximately 4-5 days). The module also provides the opportunity to complete a formative, in-class exercise designed to support students’ learning and their preparation for the first piece of coursework.

The second item of coursework assesses students’ ability to interpret the various planning policies and other factors that are taken into account in an individual planning decision. Students review a planning decision to evaluate the weight or significance given to competing considerations. The second assessment is undertaken towards the end of the module.

Coursework.

Type of assessment

%

Contribution

Title

Duration
(if applicable)

Approx. date of Assessment

Coursework – letter or report

50%

Advising a client on a planning scenario

2000 words

Spring

Coursework - essay

50%

Review of a planning decision

2000 words

Spring

Students are permitted to be reassessed in a module which they have failed, in line with the course regulations. The reassessment will usually take place during the summer.

Making sense of the law: an introduction to planning law for planners

Defining ‘development’ – operations and material change of use

Planning applications and permissions

Regulating development in the historic built environment

Environmental considerations in the regulation of development

The enforcement of planning decisions; challenging planning decisions

Case studies of planning policy topics and sectors (e.g. retail, housing etc)

Planning policies at different scales

Nationally –significant infrastructure

Neighbourhood planning

Community Infrastructure Levy

Professional codes of conduct

Performance management of the planning system

The key textbook for this module is Purdue, M. and Moore, V. 2014. A Practical Approach to Planning Law. Thirteenth edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. This is a detailed planning law text that provides a comprehensive account of statute and case law related to planning.

An additional resource is Sheppard, A., Peel, D. Ritchie, H and Berry, S. 2017. The Essential Guide to Planning Law. Decision-Making and Practice in the UK. Bristol: Policy Press.

Additional academic reading relevant to individual lectures or workshops will be issued in or prior to each session.

We will also expect students to engage with statute, case law and government policy documents as a key part of this module.

Policy and practice materials will also be used to supplement academic materials. This material is easily accessible via government and related websites and accessed via selected links through Learning Central. References to this material will be issued in individual sessions.

Key additional resources include the Journal of Planning and Environment Law and the Encyclopaedia of Planning Law and Practice. Additional online resources for accessing case law materials will be introduced to students early in the module.