{"id":35009,"date":"2017-09-18T08:59:37","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T07:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=35009"},"modified":"2018-08-20T12:53:23","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T11:53:23","slug":"an-important-green-belt-backwater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/","title":{"rendered":"An important Green Belt backwater"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen Brooker, Director of Walsingham Planning, argues it is time to update our thinking about the Green Belt<\/h2>\n

Our regular correspondent, Mark Thackeray<\/a>, is resting on his laurels somewhere on the Croatian coast but Walsingham Planning lives on (as we will have to on the sad day that Mark retires) so I am picking up one of his regular hobby horses.<\/p>\n

Away back in 2012, the then-government published the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). There was gnashing of teeth from many sides and cautious welcome from some others. The fanfare told us that 1,000 pages of unnecessary central government policy was to be replaced by just 57 concise pages. In the event, the 1,000 pages are slowly creeping back, with the total now standing at over 700 pages of constantly shifting advice, some of which can get changed without any users realising it to be the case (together with a pretty poor online search facility).<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s chief planner, Steve Quartermain, has said that the NPPF itself will be reviewed and that this will be published by the end of the year (we will all be watching the page count!).<\/p>\n

In the unlikely event that Mr Quartermain reads these articles, we direct his attention to what seems like a minor backwater of the NPPF but which is, in practice, crucial to the interpretation and impact of Green Belt policy.<\/p>\n

The NPPF admits that within the Green Belt, the following exception to the normal presumption against the granting of permission: \u201cThe extension or alteration of a building provided that it does not result in disproportionate additions over and above the size of the original building.\u201d<\/p>\n

The glossary tells us that the \u201coriginal building\u201d is \u201ca building as it existed on 1 July 1948 or, if constructed after 1 July 1948, as it was built originally\u201d.<\/p>\n

Way back in 1947, when the Rt. Hon. Duncan Sandays addressed the House of Commons to persuade them of the merits of Green Belts, he contemplated the limited rounding-off of small towns and villages as allowable (if only!) and the objectives were only threefold: Check the further growth of large built-up areas; Prevent the merging of towns or; Preserve the special character of towns.<\/p>\n

Over the years, PPG2 and the NPPF \u2013 and lots of councils reiterating the constraints \u2013 have added to the three objectives so that there are now five and somewhere along the line, the notion has been introduced that 1 July 1948 represents a datum point, a utopian ideal, to which we should forever refer.<\/p>\n

It makes no sense to keep 1 July 1948 as a datum. The concept of the Green Belt and its objectives have changed (some might say advanced) \u2013 but, what is so special about a date now nearly 70 years old?<\/p>\n

Earlier in the year the government spent valuable parliamentary time and effort attempting to give public houses greater protection from loss to other uses of the building or demolition.<\/p>\n

\"green
This is not the property referred to in the article<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But, as I sit here writing this article, I look at the pre-application advice of a nameless local planning authority on a very modest scheme to extend a pub that has the misfortune to be located in the Green Belt. All other aspects of the scheme are more or less agreed but then the hammer blow falls. There were extensions in 1964 and 1995 \u2013 the building has increased in size by over 50% since 1948, which means a fundamental objection \u2013 the wrath of a Green Belt objection comes down upon our heads.<\/p>\n

So, the future of a pub, one of two in a small village that inevitably relies upon trade of nearby towns, i.e. relies upon being attractive to the village and a wider clientele in order to survive, and into which our client is willing to put significant investment, is brought into jeopardy. All because it is already bigger than it was almost 70 years ago! So what? Ok, it would be bigger than it was nearly 70 years ago \u2013 why is that so important that the future of a rural business employing local people providing a community hub is put in to doubt?<\/p>\n

If the government is so worried about the future of pubs to change the General Development Order, is it not illogical to condone (through the NPPF) this sort of resistance to the best possible means to keep a pub open and successful \u2013 allow it to evolve and adapt?<\/p>\n

Of course, it is not just pubs; lots of other businesses, enterprises and houses are equally impacted and disadvantaged. Of course, a succession of extensions could undermine a limit on new builds. But why 1948? It may have seemed quite sensible as a datum back in the 1970s, but surely it should be reviewed now.<\/p>\n

Please Mr Quartermain, look at the NPPF glossary as well as the text when conducting the review and spare us the nonsense of comparisons back to museum piece buildings (and please stop adding to the 700 real pages of advice \u2013 or at least tell everyone when there are changes and make the search facility slightly more user-friendly!).<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, us consultants can earn an honest crust helping our clients to meet these (and other) difficulties put in our paths and earning permissions \u2013 but really, couldn\u2019t we all be doing something more useful? There must be more important planning issues about which to be concerned.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stephen Brooker<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director<\/p>\n

Walsingham Planning<\/p>\n

Tel: 01628 532244<\/p>\n

Stephen.Brooker@walsingplan.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

www.walsinghamplanning.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter: @town_planners<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Please note this article is a commercial profile<\/em><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Brooker, Director of Walsingham Planning, argues it is time to update our thinking about the Green Belt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[304],"tags":[676,672,732,779,649,567,385],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[172548],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-35009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-planning-construction-news","7":"tag-construction","8":"tag-green-belt","9":"tag-nppf","10":"tag-pbc-today-october-2017","11":"tag-planning-applications","12":"tag-planning-system","13":"tag-sh-walsingham-planning","14":"stakeholder_rel_tag-walsingham-planning"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAn important Green Belt backwater | Planning, Building & Construction Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stephen Brooker, Director of Walsingham Planning, argues it is time to update our thinking about the Green Belt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An important Green Belt backwater\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stephen Brooker, Director of Walsingham Planning, argues it is time to update our thinking about the Green Belt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-18T07:59:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-08-20T11:53:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Washington-planning-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steph Blundell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@PBC_Today\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steph Blundell\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb\"},\"headline\":\"An important Green Belt backwater\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-18T07:59:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-20T11:53:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/\"},\"wordCount\":921,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Washington-planning-2-300x202.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Construction Processes\",\"Green Belt\",\"NPPF\",\"PBC Today October 2017\",\"Planning Applications\",\"Planning System\",\"SH Walsingham Planning\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Planning & Construction News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2017\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/\",\"name\":\"An important Green Belt backwater | Planning, Building & Construction Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Washington-planning-2-300x202.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-18T07:59:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-20T11:53:23+00:00\",\"description\":\"Stephen Brooker, Director of Walsingham Planning, argues it is time to update our thinking about the Green Belt\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Washington-planning-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Washington-planning-2.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":808,\"caption\":\"This is not the property referred to in the article\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"An important Green Belt backwater\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\",\"description\":\"The Latest Planning, Building & Construction News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\",\"alternateName\":\"PBC Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/PBC_Today\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb\",\"name\":\"Steph Blundell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steph Blundell\"},\"description\":\"Steph is the Senior Digital Editor here at PBC. When she\u2019s not working hard on cranking out first-class content for our online viewers to enjoy, she\u2019s keeping our social media lively and up to date\u2026 you could call her a social media guru? We\u2019re sure she\u2019d like that. With a BA in English and Journalism, Steph isn\u2019t fazed by attention to detail; on the contrary, she enjoys getting her teeth into a good article. In her downtime Steph loves nothing more than getting together with friends to enjoy a few (several) gin and tonics. Think you\u2019ve got some content Steph would be interested in? You can contact her either by phone on (01270) 502876 or by email at sblundell@pbctoday.co.uk\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/steph-blundell\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/author\/stephblundell\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"An important Green Belt backwater | Planning, Building & Construction Today","description":"Stephen Brooker, Director of Walsingham Planning, argues it is time to update our thinking about the Green Belt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"An important Green Belt backwater","og_description":"Stephen Brooker, Director of Walsingham Planning, argues it is time to update our thinking about the Green Belt","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/","og_site_name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/","article_published_time":"2017-09-18T07:59:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-08-20T11:53:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Washington-planning-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steph Blundell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday","twitter_site":"@PBC_Today","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/"},"author":{"name":"Steph Blundell","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb"},"headline":"An important Green Belt backwater","datePublished":"2017-09-18T07:59:37+00:00","dateModified":"2018-08-20T11:53:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/"},"wordCount":921,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Washington-planning-2-300x202.jpg","keywords":["Construction Processes","Green Belt","NPPF","PBC Today October 2017","Planning Applications","Planning System","SH Walsingham Planning"],"articleSection":["Planning & Construction News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2017","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/","name":"An important Green Belt backwater | Planning, Building & Construction Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Washington-planning-2-300x202.jpg","datePublished":"2017-09-18T07:59:37+00:00","dateModified":"2018-08-20T11:53:23+00:00","description":"Stephen Brooker, Director of Walsingham Planning, argues it is time to update our thinking about the Green Belt","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Washington-planning-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Washington-planning-2.jpg","width":1200,"height":808,"caption":"This is not the property referred to in the article"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/an-important-green-belt-backwater\/35009\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"An important Green Belt backwater"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/","name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","description":"The Latest Planning, Building & Construction News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization","name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","alternateName":"PBC Today","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Planning, Building & Construction Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/","https:\/\/x.com\/PBC_Today"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb","name":"Steph Blundell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Steph Blundell"},"description":"Steph is the Senior Digital Editor here at PBC. When she\u2019s not working hard on cranking out first-class content for our online viewers to enjoy, she\u2019s keeping our social media lively and up to date\u2026 you could call her a social media guru? We\u2019re sure she\u2019d like that. With a BA in English and Journalism, Steph isn\u2019t fazed by attention to detail; on the contrary, she enjoys getting her teeth into a good article. In her downtime Steph loves nothing more than getting together with friends to enjoy a few (several) gin and tonics. Think you\u2019ve got some content Steph would be interested in? You can contact her either by phone on (01270) 502876 or by email at sblundell@pbctoday.co.uk","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/steph-blundell\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday"],"url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/author\/stephblundell\/"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-10 13:46:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35009"},{"taxonomy":"stakeholder_rel_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stakeholder_rel_tag?post=35009"},{"taxonomy":"contributor_rel_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor_rel_tag?post=35009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}