DOWNTOWN QUARTERLY
THE POLITICS OF PLANNING WORDS BY SIMON DANCZUK CHAIRMAN, DOWNTOWN LONDON IN BUSINESS “Radical reform… a whole new planning system for England” is how Boris Johnson framed the Government’s White Paper, ‘Planning for the Future’, in August last year. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then, as they say. And interestingly, it’s not just the Conservatives who come in for some flak when it comes to reforming the planning system, Labour are also being accused of opportunism and nimbyism. The proposals, which have been out for consultation – 40,000 responses are now being analysed – talk about creating three categories of land type: protected areas (like greenbelt), renewal areas (suitable for development), and growth areas (which presume consent for development). It’s also suggested that local housing plans would be written
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and agreed in 30 months – down from the current seven years which it often takes. Every area would also have a local plan in place – currently only 50% of local areas has an up-to-date plan to build more homes. The Government also talk about the planning system being made more accessible, by harnessing technology through online maps and data. They state that the planning process will be overhauled and replaced with a clearer, rulesbased system to stop the current third of planning cases going to appeal but which are then overturned. Their nod to the environment includes green spaces being protected by allowing for more building on brownfield land and all new streets to be tree lined. All new homes would be ‘zero carbon ready’, with no new homes delivered under the new system needed to be retrofitted, to
help achieve the commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. A new simpler national levy is also proposed to replace the current system of developer contributions (Section 106). And there is talk about the creation of a fast-track system for beautiful buildings and establishing local design guidance for developers to build and preserve beautiful communities. All sounds very positive you might think. And it will help meet the need to build an extra 300,000 homes each year for the foreseeable future – a figure as often quoted by Labour politicians, as it is now by the Conservative Government. Leaving aside the validity, or not, of the 300,000 figure (which is certainly disputed by some) nobody can argue
