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
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