Never out of the limelight for long, Boris Johnson has returned to the fore.
This morning he issued supplementary Planning guidance for London's View Management Framework, promising greater clarity and a closer resemblance to the Londonplan policies, protecting views of key landmarks and world heritage sites.
Let's hope the plans will avoid another St. Paul's episode in the months ahead!
Click on the GLA website link below to view the document:
http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/mayor/publications/planning/revised-london-view-management-framework-spg
Thursday 29 July 2010
Chris Huhne's Climate statement to the Commons
Interesting reading over the DECC climate statement delivered by Huhne to the Commons on Tuesday.
Good to see some of the Climate Secretary's comments in the Sunday Telegraph on the importance of rolling-out wind farm development fleshed out to include a few more specifics.
(Although, in essence, the document is another coalition policy programme broad in scope but very thin on specifics).
Nonetheless, some useful clues of what we can expect from the reports '32 actions'.
Click on the links below to view the DECC's accompanying press release and the annual climate statement document itself
Annual climate statement:
Wednesday 28 July 2010
Picklewatch: turning of the tide?
South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire Council led the pack in withdrawing its core strategy in June, and could prove a trend-setter agan over the next few months as it re-commences forumlation of its core strategy this week. The authority clearly has one eye on the end of its current Local Plan in 2011. How pragmatic/politically prudent other Councils choose to me in the timing of teir corer strategy negotiations remains to be seen, and should make for interesting reading.
Commenting on the news on the South Oxfordshire authority's website, Planning Cabinet Member Cllr Angie Paterson said:
"We now have a strong steer from government that we are responsible for establishing the right pattern of development for our area, including the right level of local housing provision. The withdrawal of the South East Plan means that housing targets will no longer be imposed upon us.
"The responsibility is now ours to address how best to meet the various challenges facing us, including how best to foster a healthy local economy and how to meet the present and on-going need for more housing.
"To respond fully to these new freedoms and responsibilities will mean a fresh approach to producing local planning policy documents and we know this will take some time to do, probably several years. But in the meantime we are also very conscious that our current Local Plan only takes us to 2011. We need a clear vision to carry us through the next few years until we can deliver the next generation of local plan. We need a vision that will help us to continue to attract funding and investment for those areas where we are confident there is support for further development and that will also ensure we are in control of what development happens elsewhere - development led by our vision and not by speculative planning applications."
Read the full article here: http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/ccm/content/cmt/press-releases/july-2010/council-moves-ahead-with-core-strategy.en;jsessionid=aEMrMdpT8jW4
South Oxfordshire Council led the pack in withdrawing its core strategy in June, and could prove a trend-setter agan over the next few months as it re-commences forumlation of its core strategy this week. The authority clearly has one eye on the end of its current Local Plan in 2011. How pragmatic/politically prudent other Councils choose to me in the timing of teir corer strategy negotiations remains to be seen, and should make for interesting reading.
Commenting on the news on the South Oxfordshire authority's website, Planning Cabinet Member Cllr Angie Paterson said:
"We now have a strong steer from government that we are responsible for establishing the right pattern of development for our area, including the right level of local housing provision. The withdrawal of the South East Plan means that housing targets will no longer be imposed upon us.
"The responsibility is now ours to address how best to meet the various challenges facing us, including how best to foster a healthy local economy and how to meet the present and on-going need for more housing.
"To respond fully to these new freedoms and responsibilities will mean a fresh approach to producing local planning policy documents and we know this will take some time to do, probably several years. But in the meantime we are also very conscious that our current Local Plan only takes us to 2011. We need a clear vision to carry us through the next few years until we can deliver the next generation of local plan. We need a vision that will help us to continue to attract funding and investment for those areas where we are confident there is support for further development and that will also ensure we are in control of what development happens elsewhere - development led by our vision and not by speculative planning applications."
Read the full article here: http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/ccm/content/cmt/press-releases/july-2010/council-moves-ahead-with-core-strategy.en;jsessionid=aEMrMdpT8jW4
Tuesday 27 July 2010
London autonomy bid
Interesting news on London's autonomy as Boris and the London politicos send a unified letter to Eric Pickles outlining a proposed devolutionary package for the capital.
View the full letter here:
http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/London%20Councils/DevolutiontoLondonjointlettertoSecretaryofState.pdf
View the full letter here:
http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/London%20Councils/DevolutiontoLondonjointlettertoSecretaryofState.pdf
Monday 26 July 2010
RTPI questions 'Right to Build' credentials
Interesting to see the RTPI has warned that the government's Right to Build proposals could "disempower" communities by bypassing the current structure of representative Council decision-making.
The RTPI's spokesperson Jamie Hodge's comments are particularly revealing:
"Proper planning scrutiny has served us well whereas this proposal appears to disempower local authorities by removing their right to determine development proposals and may mean that new housing built as a result may conflict with existing wider community priorities, and will only have to meet nationally proscribed minimum standards, even if the local authority wishes to see higher design standards in its own area."
The RTPI's spokesperson Jamie Hodge's comments are particularly revealing:
"Proper planning scrutiny has served us well whereas this proposal appears to disempower local authorities by removing their right to determine development proposals and may mean that new housing built as a result may conflict with existing wider community priorities, and will only have to meet nationally proscribed minimum standards, even if the local authority wishes to see higher design standards in its own area."
Huhne eyes wind farm development surge
Some good news for Wind Farm developers yesterday with the Energy Seretary Chris Huhne's statement on the importance of wind technology in averting a possible power crisis.
To read the full Yorkshire Post article, click on the link below:
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Energy-Secretary-supports-increase-in.6439035.jp
To read the full Yorkshire Post article, click on the link below:
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Energy-Secretary-supports-increase-in.6439035.jp
Shapps announces 'Right to Build' proposals
The coalition Government has launched its Right to Build policy, allowing rural area communities to build homes, shops and other local amenities without planning permission.
Early indications suggest the detail will be published in the Localism Bill (set for Autumn 2011).
We may well see an unrealistically high threshold for voting through planning proposals, or another caveat that effectively prevents the populist thrust of the announcemens translating into effective action.
Friday 23 July 2010
Picklewatch - Pickles outlines plans to abolish regional government
Eric Pickles, Communities and Local Government Secretary, has announced the Government's intention in principle to abolish the remaining eight Government Offices for the Regions across England, subject to using the Spending Review to resolve consequential issues. The final decisions will be made at the end of the Spending Review in the autumn.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1646834
http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1646834
Wednesday 21 July 2010
Clarification of LEPs
Adrian Bailey, Labour MP for West Bromwich West, has the unenviable task of determining how LEP partnerships will work in practice.
How local indpendence can be reconciled with cross-boundary cooperation could prove an intractable problem for the BIS committee tasked with the policy's thorough formulation.
As always, details look set to remain unclear until the Localism Bill's publication.
How local indpendence can be reconciled with cross-boundary cooperation could prove an intractable problem for the BIS committee tasked with the policy's thorough formulation.
As always, details look set to remain unclear until the Localism Bill's publication.
Tuesday 20 July 2010
Planning Officers Society offer Pickles Advice on Cutting Red Tape
The Planning Officers Society today responded to Eric Pickles call for planning professionals to advise him on how to simplify the planning system and do away with time consuming and unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape.
Links to the letter and list of suggestions are below
Letter from Planning Officers Society re deregulation suggestions
Planning Officers Society easing the Burden of regulation draft paper
Links to the letter and list of suggestions are below
Letter from Planning Officers Society re deregulation suggestions
Planning Officers Society easing the Burden of regulation draft paper
Friday 16 July 2010
Shapps vows to relinquish Treasury's grip on local authority funding
Local government minister Grant Shapps yesterday promised to push the Treasury to relax its grip on local bodies' financial activities.
In a question and answer session at the National Regeneration Summit in London, Shapps said that he would "ask the Treasury for more flexibility" in areas such as prudential borrowing.
He said: "I think local authorities have the ability to put together sensible schemes and do extraordinary things."
He also told the audience that he already had anecdotal evidence that the government’s financial incentives for councils to allow new housebuilding were taking effect.
The Conservatives have pledged to match the council tax for each new property in a local authority area with an equivalent contribution to the council for the six years after the house is built.
Shapps said: "Major developers have told me that local authorities are starting to work with them because they realise that their finances depend on it".
In a question and answer session at the National Regeneration Summit in London, Shapps said that he would "ask the Treasury for more flexibility" in areas such as prudential borrowing.
He said: "I think local authorities have the ability to put together sensible schemes and do extraordinary things."
He also told the audience that he already had anecdotal evidence that the government’s financial incentives for councils to allow new housebuilding were taking effect.
The Conservatives have pledged to match the council tax for each new property in a local authority area with an equivalent contribution to the council for the six years after the house is built.
Shapps said: "Major developers have told me that local authorities are starting to work with them because they realise that their finances depend on it".
National tenants body funding slashed
The Government is to stop funding the quango set up by Labour to give tenants a voice in national policymaking.
National Tenant Voice was told this week by housing minister Grant Shapps that its funding will be withdrawn.
Set up by the Labour government in April this year with a budget of more than £1m, NTV was made up of 50 unpaid tenant representatives and a 15-member board, nine of which were tenants.
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said the organisation was "too distant" and represented poor value for money.
He added that Shapps had asked NTV chair Michael Gelling to consult members of the organisation on how some elements of its operations could continue.
"The best way to ensure tenants have a more influential role over the services they receive is by putting more power and voice directly into their hands", the spokesman said.
National Tenant Voice was told this week by housing minister Grant Shapps that its funding will be withdrawn.
Set up by the Labour government in April this year with a budget of more than £1m, NTV was made up of 50 unpaid tenant representatives and a 15-member board, nine of which were tenants.
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said the organisation was "too distant" and represented poor value for money.
He added that Shapps had asked NTV chair Michael Gelling to consult members of the organisation on how some elements of its operations could continue.
"The best way to ensure tenants have a more influential role over the services they receive is by putting more power and voice directly into their hands", the spokesman said.
Northants & Leicestershire lead the way in LEP formations
Cllr Harker of Northamptonshire County Council was the first leader to meet with Communities Secretary Eric Pickles about the bodies, and announced today that the council is proposing a new Local Enterprise Partnership looking to join forces with Leicestershire and other potentially interested partners to drive the wider area forward.
Cllr Harker said: "What is clear is that the growth agenda with its thousands of new homes in the county is now a thing of the past. What is also clear is that we will be expected to set up more local partnerships with our neighbouring counties to plan the future.
"This is a golden opportunity for us to now drive forward new arrangements working at a more local level to reduce bureaucracy and creating new ways to boost the local economy and enterprise of the area.
"I am delighted that Northamptonshire with Leicestershire were the first authorities to have discussions with Eric Pickles about Local Enterprise Partnerships, and I am equally delighted that already we have made real progress in this area. We are working with Leicestershire and hopefully with others on proposals which would see a partnership set up of leading business figures and the public sector to drive investment, planning, infrastructure, skills and employment in our counties.
"We are also already talking to other potentially interested partners to join this Local Enterprise Partnership and look forward to submitting our proposals to government in the coming weeks."
Cllr Harker said: "What is clear is that the growth agenda with its thousands of new homes in the county is now a thing of the past. What is also clear is that we will be expected to set up more local partnerships with our neighbouring counties to plan the future.
"This is a golden opportunity for us to now drive forward new arrangements working at a more local level to reduce bureaucracy and creating new ways to boost the local economy and enterprise of the area.
"I am delighted that Northamptonshire with Leicestershire were the first authorities to have discussions with Eric Pickles about Local Enterprise Partnerships, and I am equally delighted that already we have made real progress in this area. We are working with Leicestershire and hopefully with others on proposals which would see a partnership set up of leading business figures and the public sector to drive investment, planning, infrastructure, skills and employment in our counties.
"We are also already talking to other potentially interested partners to join this Local Enterprise Partnership and look forward to submitting our proposals to government in the coming weeks."
Wednesday 14 July 2010
RDAs forced to drop ERDF grants
The government has ordered regional development agencies to halt further grants to projects seeking to access £2.7bn of European funding, the body representing England's regional development agencies said today.
The directive, issued by the Treasury on Monday, covers the £2.3bn European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Regional Competitiveness and Employment programme, which are in place across the whole of England outside Cornwall.
It also covers Cornwall’s access to the ERDF Convergence Fund, a £384m funding stream reserved for areas with a GDP of less than 75% of the EU average, a spokesman for South West Regional Development Agency (Swerda) said.
The delivery of both ERDF funding streams is managed by the RDAs.
The funding covers the period 2007-2013, meaning up to 50% of grants have already been accessed.
The directive, issued by the Treasury on Monday, covers the £2.3bn European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Regional Competitiveness and Employment programme, which are in place across the whole of England outside Cornwall.
It also covers Cornwall’s access to the ERDF Convergence Fund, a £384m funding stream reserved for areas with a GDP of less than 75% of the EU average, a spokesman for South West Regional Development Agency (Swerda) said.
The delivery of both ERDF funding streams is managed by the RDAs.
The funding covers the period 2007-2013, meaning up to 50% of grants have already been accessed.
'London will keep its housebuilding targets' - Deputy Mayor
London will retain its housebuilding targets despite the fact that they are being dropped in the rest of the country, the capital's deputy mayor said today.
Regionally-set housebuilding goals have been dropped as part of the coalition government’s revocation of regional spatial strategies. But, speaking at Regeneration & Renewal’s National Regeneration Summit, Greater London Authority deputy mayor Sir Simon Milton said that they would remain in the capital. "The affordability of housing is a big issue," he said. "It would be bizarre for [the mayor] not to be concerned about the production of housing".
However, he said the mayor’s team disagreed with the methodology that had been used to produce housing targets for some boroughs under the last government, and that revisions to those borough’s figures would be presented to the ongoing public inquiry into the draft London plan.
Regionally-set housebuilding goals have been dropped as part of the coalition government’s revocation of regional spatial strategies. But, speaking at Regeneration & Renewal’s National Regeneration Summit, Greater London Authority deputy mayor Sir Simon Milton said that they would remain in the capital. "The affordability of housing is a big issue," he said. "It would be bizarre for [the mayor] not to be concerned about the production of housing".
However, he said the mayor’s team disagreed with the methodology that had been used to produce housing targets for some boroughs under the last government, and that revisions to those borough’s figures would be presented to the ongoing public inquiry into the draft London plan.
Monday 12 July 2010
Urban regeneration company funding up for review
Sir Bob Kerslake says the agency is assessing its involvement in various delivery vehicles.
The boss of England's housing and regeneration quango has said that its future funding for urban regeneration companies is "an area up for review".
Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) chief executive Sir Bob Kerslake said the organisation was reviewing its involvement in "a range of different local delivery vehicles", including urban regeneration companies (URCs), on a "case-by-case basis".
Last month, housing and regeneration minister Grant Shapps revealed that the HCA would not be abolished under the new coalition Government, although it faced a future as a smaller body.
The boss of England's housing and regeneration quango has said that its future funding for urban regeneration companies is "an area up for review".
Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) chief executive Sir Bob Kerslake said the organisation was reviewing its involvement in "a range of different local delivery vehicles", including urban regeneration companies (URCs), on a "case-by-case basis".
Last month, housing and regeneration minister Grant Shapps revealed that the HCA would not be abolished under the new coalition Government, although it faced a future as a smaller body.
The planning power vacuum
Eric Pickles announcement that housing targets are scrapped and with them the Regional Spatial Strategies is all well and good, but what do Council’s do now?
The Conservatives and Liberals current view is that all things to do with central government are bad. They have an ideological aversion to the role of government in society; therefore planning matters should be devolved away from government.
By removing the only mechanism that existed to provide a framework and context for development beyond the individual local authority and placing the responsibility on local Council’s for determining numbers, the coalition have simultaneously created a planning vacuum and removed themselves from responsibility for its consequences.
How many houses do you know you can build if the money for a new motorway junction, or hospital or school isn’t confirmed?
Is there a role for the old County Structure Plans?
Now Council’s are waiting on every announcement as they have no idea which way to jump, and the uncertainty that this creates in the development industry is not healthy in a time of fragile recovery.
The Con Dem idea is to devolve the responsibility, but at the moment this responsibility is handed down to Councils without the means to deliver. The government are able to blame the Council’s if they get it wrong because it’s their role now to determine how many houses get built, where and with what infrastructure.
There is an idea that Council’s could keep a sum of money from each unit built, a Council Tax rebate to the authority for infrastructure. This could be millions for localities based on building thousands of units, but it will be a trickle down fund that will not meet major infrastructure costs of motorways, hospitals or schools. Also, Council’s do have a tendency to divert monies into pet projects rather than focusing investment on the bigger picture.
The aim of this localism is sound, to empower local communities to directly influence what housing gets built where.
In reality the localism the current Coalition are delivering is devolved responsibility to Council’s who, as a reaction to over a decade of disempowerment, will horde their new powers and decide for communities without necessarily listening to them. The Councils that use the new framework in the manner it is intended by truly enabling a bottom up planning system will be few.
It’s all well and good unpicking the previous government’s policies and structures, but you need a coherent idea of what you are replacing it with. Interestingly, as we slowly move towards the publishing of the Localism Bill, the drip of reality is taking hold. SHLAA’s are now valuable pieces of evidence, Council’s can now work together in cross-boundary economic partnerships, and entities such as Thames Gateway which make sense and are good examples of regionalism working are now to be kept in some form. Opposition rhetoric is becoming government reality
Watch this space; localism won’t go that far because it isn’t in the politician’s interests that it does.
The Conservatives and Liberals current view is that all things to do with central government are bad. They have an ideological aversion to the role of government in society; therefore planning matters should be devolved away from government.
By removing the only mechanism that existed to provide a framework and context for development beyond the individual local authority and placing the responsibility on local Council’s for determining numbers, the coalition have simultaneously created a planning vacuum and removed themselves from responsibility for its consequences.
How many houses do you know you can build if the money for a new motorway junction, or hospital or school isn’t confirmed?
Is there a role for the old County Structure Plans?
Now Council’s are waiting on every announcement as they have no idea which way to jump, and the uncertainty that this creates in the development industry is not healthy in a time of fragile recovery.
The Con Dem idea is to devolve the responsibility, but at the moment this responsibility is handed down to Councils without the means to deliver. The government are able to blame the Council’s if they get it wrong because it’s their role now to determine how many houses get built, where and with what infrastructure.
There is an idea that Council’s could keep a sum of money from each unit built, a Council Tax rebate to the authority for infrastructure. This could be millions for localities based on building thousands of units, but it will be a trickle down fund that will not meet major infrastructure costs of motorways, hospitals or schools. Also, Council’s do have a tendency to divert monies into pet projects rather than focusing investment on the bigger picture.
The aim of this localism is sound, to empower local communities to directly influence what housing gets built where.
In reality the localism the current Coalition are delivering is devolved responsibility to Council’s who, as a reaction to over a decade of disempowerment, will horde their new powers and decide for communities without necessarily listening to them. The Councils that use the new framework in the manner it is intended by truly enabling a bottom up planning system will be few.
It’s all well and good unpicking the previous government’s policies and structures, but you need a coherent idea of what you are replacing it with. Interestingly, as we slowly move towards the publishing of the Localism Bill, the drip of reality is taking hold. SHLAA’s are now valuable pieces of evidence, Council’s can now work together in cross-boundary economic partnerships, and entities such as Thames Gateway which make sense and are good examples of regionalism working are now to be kept in some form. Opposition rhetoric is becoming government reality
Watch this space; localism won’t go that far because it isn’t in the politician’s interests that it does.
Dr Paul Harvey, Curtin&Co
More political commentary from Curtin&Co
Stay tuned for our Labour consultant's analysis of the coalition's planning power vacuum.................
Friday 9 July 2010
Coalition halves eco-town funding
The coalition government has halved funding for eco-town projects, the Department for Communities and Local Government has confirmed.
In a letter sent last week to local authorities working on plans for eco-town developments, housing minister Grant Shapps told council leaders he was reducing funding for 2010/11 from a total of £70 million to £35 million.
Earlier this year the previous Labour government pledged £60 million to fund homes and infrastructure projects on the first four confirmed eco-town sites in Hampshire, Cornwall, Norfolk and Oxfordshire. A further £10 million was pledged for 11 projects in the second wave of the eco-towns programme. Those amounts have now been reduced to £30 million and £5 million respectively.
A spokesman for the DCLG said: "While there has been a 50 per cent cut in eco-town funding awards for 2010/2011, this still provides a good level of start-up funding for these projects in the current circumstances."
In a letter sent last week to local authorities working on plans for eco-town developments, housing minister Grant Shapps told council leaders he was reducing funding for 2010/11 from a total of £70 million to £35 million.
Earlier this year the previous Labour government pledged £60 million to fund homes and infrastructure projects on the first four confirmed eco-town sites in Hampshire, Cornwall, Norfolk and Oxfordshire. A further £10 million was pledged for 11 projects in the second wave of the eco-towns programme. Those amounts have now been reduced to £30 million and £5 million respectively.
A spokesman for the DCLG said: "While there has been a 50 per cent cut in eco-town funding awards for 2010/2011, this still provides a good level of start-up funding for these projects in the current circumstances."
Thursday 8 July 2010
Pickles blasts ERDF mismanagement
The Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles MP, today pledged to end the mismanagement of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The Communities and Local Government accounts for last year, laid today, show the extent of the financial irregularities in the administration of the ERDF by the previous Government. The failure to ensure compliance with EC rules has left a bill for more than £150 million to be picked up by taxpayers.
EC Auditors found instances where projects allegedly failed to keep proper records or used the funding inappropriately. The Department is challenging these issues robustly. But where there is no convincing case, the EC will impose financial penalties on the Government for these failures of monitoring and, where the misspent funds can't be recovered from projects, the taxpayer has to bear the loss.
"The 'financial irregularities' which have been reported mean that we are likely to need to find up to £155 million to pay back to Europe.
"This mismanagement ends now.
"I am urgently reviewing how we manage and distribute these funds to make sure taxpayers have confidence that their money is not being wasted. And I will be pressing the EC Commissioner about the needless bureaucracy which holds up the money from being spent to kick start the recovery in Britain."
The Communities and Local Government accounts for last year, laid today, show the extent of the financial irregularities in the administration of the ERDF by the previous Government. The failure to ensure compliance with EC rules has left a bill for more than £150 million to be picked up by taxpayers.
EC Auditors found instances where projects allegedly failed to keep proper records or used the funding inappropriately. The Department is challenging these issues robustly. But where there is no convincing case, the EC will impose financial penalties on the Government for these failures of monitoring and, where the misspent funds can't be recovered from projects, the taxpayer has to bear the loss.
"The 'financial irregularities' which have been reported mean that we are likely to need to find up to £155 million to pay back to Europe.
"This mismanagement ends now.
"I am urgently reviewing how we manage and distribute these funds to make sure taxpayers have confidence that their money is not being wasted. And I will be pressing the EC Commissioner about the needless bureaucracy which holds up the money from being spent to kick start the recovery in Britain."
Wednesday 7 July 2010
Pickles calls for planners input
Secretary of state for communities Eric Pickles has invited "council staff and sector experts" to suggest regulations which could be scrapped to improve their ability to do their jobs.
Unveiling the initiative today Pickles published a list of what he described as "unnecessary regulations, ridiculous micromanagement or outdated laws".
Unveiling the initiative today Pickles published a list of what he described as "unnecessary regulations, ridiculous micromanagement or outdated laws".
The list includes a proposal to combine the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995/419 and 16 amendment orders into one. Pickles said this would "greatly clarify the planning application system for local authorities, applicants, and other interested parties. The greater clarity provided will free-up valuable local planning authority officer time, which can be redirected towards more fruitful actives than wading through pages of amendments to secondary legislation."
Pickles LGA speech
Click on the link below to view Eric Pickles' speech to the Local Government Association this week:
http://www.24dash.com/news/local_government/2010-07-07-Eric-Pickles-speech-to-the-Local-Government-Association-annual-conference-in-full
http://www.24dash.com/news/local_government/2010-07-07-Eric-Pickles-speech-to-the-Local-Government-Association-annual-conference-in-full
Pickles scraps Labours 3 million homes target
Labour's plans to build three million new homes by 2020 have been scrapped.
Gordon Brown announced plans shortly after becoming Prime Minister in July 2007 to build three million new homes by 2020 in a bid to stimulate new house building.
However the Government said yesterday that "the reality is that construction has slowed down so much the country is facing the lowest peacetime housebuilding rates since 1924".
Mr Pickles said he was "hammering another nail in the coffin of unwanted and an unaccountable regional bureaucracy".
"Communities will no longer have to endure the previous Government's failed Soviet tractor-style top-down planning targets. They were terrible, expensive, time-consuming ways to impose house building and worst of all threatened the destruction of the Green Belt.
"They were a national disaster that robbed local people of their democratic voice, alienating them and entrenching opposition against new development."
Gordon Brown announced plans shortly after becoming Prime Minister in July 2007 to build three million new homes by 2020 in a bid to stimulate new house building.
However the Government said yesterday that "the reality is that construction has slowed down so much the country is facing the lowest peacetime housebuilding rates since 1924".
Mr Pickles said he was "hammering another nail in the coffin of unwanted and an unaccountable regional bureaucracy".
"Communities will no longer have to endure the previous Government's failed Soviet tractor-style top-down planning targets. They were terrible, expensive, time-consuming ways to impose house building and worst of all threatened the destruction of the Green Belt.
"They were a national disaster that robbed local people of their democratic voice, alienating them and entrenching opposition against new development."
Tuesday 6 July 2010
Pickles confirms RSS scrap
Secretary of state for communities Eric Pickles has announced the revocation of Regional Strategies (RSSs) with immediate effect.
Pickles made the announcement in a letter sent today to chief planning officers in Local Planning Authorities across England.
The letter includes guidance which reads: "In the longer term the legal basis for Regional Strategies will be abolished through the 'Localism Bill' that we are introducing in the current Parliamentary session.
Click on the link below to read the letter in full, which includes a Q&A appendix:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/1631904.pdf
Pickles made the announcement in a letter sent today to chief planning officers in Local Planning Authorities across England.
The letter includes guidance which reads: "In the longer term the legal basis for Regional Strategies will be abolished through the 'Localism Bill' that we are introducing in the current Parliamentary session.
Click on the link below to read the letter in full, which includes a Q&A appendix:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/1631904.pdf
Monday 5 July 2010
U-turn on LEP funding
The coalition Government has withdrawn its stipulation that the public-private partnerships with which it intends to replace the regional development agencies will have to fund their own day-to-day running costs.
Earlier this week, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Communities and Local Government jointly wrote to councils inviting them to bid to become new local enterprise partnerships.
A version of the letter uploaded on the DCLG website on Tuesday morning said that LEPs would have no dedicated funding for running costs. The news cast doubt on coalition government assurances that, in areas of the country where councils and businesses backed RDAs, they would be able to retain them more or less as they were, albeit in a rebadged form.
Earlier this week, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Communities and Local Government jointly wrote to councils inviting them to bid to become new local enterprise partnerships.
A version of the letter uploaded on the DCLG website on Tuesday morning said that LEPs would have no dedicated funding for running costs. The news cast doubt on coalition government assurances that, in areas of the country where councils and businesses backed RDAs, they would be able to retain them more or less as they were, albeit in a rebadged form.
Friday 2 July 2010
Localism Bill Analysis
The cut and thrust of the Localism Bill looks set to focus on three main elements: transparency, accountability and, most prominently, devolved decision-making powers.
Devolved decision-making - Regional Spatial Strategies and Comprehensive Area Assessments will be consigned to the scrap-heap in a planning system shakeup that promises to be ruthlessly comprehensive in tackling ‘waste’ and centralised bureaucracy.
However, in spite of some over-zealous rhetoric and enthusiastic cuts of RDAs amongst other cross-Council organisations, do not expect ‘umbrella’ authorities to disappear entirely. The Conservatives Green Paper in early 2010 is clear in its assertion that it is uniformity in the application of planning procedures that is the enemy, not the administrative network itself.
Greg Clarke’s announcement this week regarding obligatory cooperation between Council’s on cross-boundary policy further acknowledges the limitations of localism as a panacea for the ills of Labour’s planning system. Elements of its ties to central government will quite necessarily and sensibly remain, and it would be a mistake to assume that some of the slash and burn rhetoric flying around parliamentary press conferences will translate into concrete legislative proposals.
Accountability - Unelected regional bodies will almost certainly go in their entirety, with Local Authority Leader Boards the first to feel the sharp end of the Localism agenda. The proposal of a democratically elected Infrastructure Unit will be of particular interest to developers involved with Transport projects, who may find political motivation begins to play a greater role in securing project approval and funding. The power for residents to instigate local referendums on ‘any local issue’ will prove a thorny topic, and is likely to be dropped at least in part if the coalition is to avoid stalling development further following the standoff that has emerged since Eric Pickles letter to Councils on 27th May.
Transparency - There is a real appetite for Council boss salaries in particular to be exposed, a desire that has verged on blood-lust in the local press since the Coalition’s formation brought with it a sense of opportunity for radical reform. Councils will publish the names and wages of salaried staff members, as (in all likelihood) will the vast majority of all other publicly funded bodies.
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Speculation over the Localism Bill’s contents will doubtless continue until it is first tabled in Westminster in September (a date that will be subject to the successful passage of George Osborne’s emergency budget). The potential disparity between the ‘localism’ of Conservative rhetoric and the Bill’s legislative program is certainly there, although one suspects that by and large the Localism Bill will deliver, at least in part, on the Conservative’s program of greater flexibility and civil engagement in local government. Whether the Coalition’s legislative program will have its desired effects, on the other hand, remains to be seen.......
Devolved decision-making - Regional Spatial Strategies and Comprehensive Area Assessments will be consigned to the scrap-heap in a planning system shakeup that promises to be ruthlessly comprehensive in tackling ‘waste’ and centralised bureaucracy.
However, in spite of some over-zealous rhetoric and enthusiastic cuts of RDAs amongst other cross-Council organisations, do not expect ‘umbrella’ authorities to disappear entirely. The Conservatives Green Paper in early 2010 is clear in its assertion that it is uniformity in the application of planning procedures that is the enemy, not the administrative network itself.
Greg Clarke’s announcement this week regarding obligatory cooperation between Council’s on cross-boundary policy further acknowledges the limitations of localism as a panacea for the ills of Labour’s planning system. Elements of its ties to central government will quite necessarily and sensibly remain, and it would be a mistake to assume that some of the slash and burn rhetoric flying around parliamentary press conferences will translate into concrete legislative proposals.
Accountability - Unelected regional bodies will almost certainly go in their entirety, with Local Authority Leader Boards the first to feel the sharp end of the Localism agenda. The proposal of a democratically elected Infrastructure Unit will be of particular interest to developers involved with Transport projects, who may find political motivation begins to play a greater role in securing project approval and funding. The power for residents to instigate local referendums on ‘any local issue’ will prove a thorny topic, and is likely to be dropped at least in part if the coalition is to avoid stalling development further following the standoff that has emerged since Eric Pickles letter to Councils on 27th May.
Transparency - There is a real appetite for Council boss salaries in particular to be exposed, a desire that has verged on blood-lust in the local press since the Coalition’s formation brought with it a sense of opportunity for radical reform. Councils will publish the names and wages of salaried staff members, as (in all likelihood) will the vast majority of all other publicly funded bodies.
-----------------------------------
Speculation over the Localism Bill’s contents will doubtless continue until it is first tabled in Westminster in September (a date that will be subject to the successful passage of George Osborne’s emergency budget). The potential disparity between the ‘localism’ of Conservative rhetoric and the Bill’s legislative program is certainly there, although one suspects that by and large the Localism Bill will deliver, at least in part, on the Conservative’s program of greater flexibility and civil engagement in local government. Whether the Coalition’s legislative program will have its desired effects, on the other hand, remains to be seen.......
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