SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
(a) We commend the Urban Task Force Report.
The evidence we have received shows its publication has generated
a sense of excitement and an eagerness to see its recommendations
implemented. It should form the basis of those parts of the Urban
White Paper which deal with urban design, management and regeneration
(paragraph 11).
(b) The Deputy Prime Minister stated in his
preface to the Task Force report: "There is no single solution
and we need co-ordinated action based on the joint principles
of design excellence, economic strength, environmental responsibility,
good governance and social well-being." The White Paper should
cover all these areas (paragraph 14).
(c) The essential task of the Urban White
Paper should be to set out the Government's vision for cities
and towns. It should describe what it would like our towns and
cities to be like in 20 years' time and state what principles
must be followed and what mechanisms, resources and policies are
a priority for achieving that vision. We expect the vision to
be bold and long-term. It should not just reflect what can be
achieved with the resources immediately available from the Comprehensive
Spending Review or the Treasury's review of the Rogers' recommendations
(paragraph 15).
(d) The Urban and Rural White Papers should
stress that the patterns of development characteristic of most
of the last century cannot continue. They have been: socially
unstable, concentrating the poor in inner city areas; environmentally
damaging, destroying the countryside and creating a car-dependent
society; economically harmful, since they have undermined our
core urban areas which remain the essential centres of the English
economy; and wasteful because schools, shops, even houses, lie
waste in urban areas while new infrastructure is provided at great
expense outside. An Urban Renaissance should provide the best
way of reversing these trends, creating more sustainable, mixed
neighbourhoods, economically powerful and competitive cities and
towns, and preserving the countryside and protecting the environment
(paragraph 17).
(e) Cities and towns should be compact and
built to high densities. If this is to be done successfully, high
quality urban design is essential with particular attention paid
to
public spaces and lay out. Buildings, in particular
supermarkets, should be in keeping with the scale and character
of the surrounding areas. We must avoid the mistakes of the past
when large sums of public money were spent on buildings, but too
little attention was paid to appropriate design, management and
running costs. Developments should contain a mix of uses, homes,
shops and work places. Better public transport and making walking
and cycling easier must be a priority. Historic buildings and
parks have a most important role to play, not least in fostering
a sense of place (paragraph 28).
(f) The White Paper should acknowledge the
economic importance of cities and towns, and Government economic
policy must take account of its effects on them. It should be
the aim of economic policy to concentrate economic development
in cities and towns while having regard for rural needs. Urban
economic policy should be about creating prosperous and competitive
towns and cities, and not just a matter of providing palliatives
for run down areas. Towns, cities and conurbations have very varied
economies and there can be no one solution for all. However, if
the evidence we received that the economy will be increasingly
knowledge-based is right, successful conurbations will have good
universities and research institutes and will be places which
attract skilled mobile workers. Not all cities will be able to
benefit from these changes, and many suffer from the weaknesses
of their regional economy. To meet their needs Government will
have to tackle these weaknesses (paragraph 34).
(g) The majority of the poorest people in
England live in cities, often concentrated in deprived areas.
Many on higher incomes have left. The White Paper should promote
the establishment of socially mixed communities in urban areas.
Policy should promote economic, cultural and ethnic diversity
and should seek to attract middle income earners back to the inner
cities. Services in urban areas require major improvement. The
levels of crime, the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour together
with poor schools, and the perception of poor schools, are the
main causes of concern. To bring about improvements mainstream
funds need to be better targeted and managed (paragraph 40).
(h) The urban environment strewn with litter
and graffiti creates an appalling impression in many urban areas.
In comparison to the large funds spent on mainstream services,
management of the urban environment is significantly underfunded.
The powers and mechanisms to deal with anti-social behaviour are
inadequate (paragraph 45).
(i) In many urban areas the urban renaissance
will not happen without measures such as fiscal incentives or
regeneration initiatives to promote it. In run down inner city
areas, especially where crime is high, sometimes the only profitable
uses are retail sheds or warehousing, and in some places only
car parking. More desirable uses require Government assistance.
The State also has to fund improvements in skills and other people-based
initiatives (paragraph 50).
Currently intervention is confused and badly co-ordinated.
The White Paper should set out a framework indicating the role
of each part of government. It should clearly lay out the roles
of:
- national government;
- regional organisations, including regional
development agencies, government offices in the regions, regional
planning conferences and regional assemblies\chambers;
- sub-regions;
- local authorities;
- neighbourhoods and local communities.
There should be fewer initiatives and they should
be better co-ordinated locally (paragraph 51).
In England we have had a long experience of regeneration
initiatives. The evidence is that to be successful they should:
- co-ordinate economic, social, environmental
and design concerns;
- be on a large scale and be long term;
- involve all the concerned parties - local
authorities, other public and private sector bodies and local
communities;
- integrate the work of different providers
of services, in particular reducing the number of and getting
better co-ordination of the local programmes of government departments;
and
- make better use of mainstream funds (paragraph
52).
(j) If we are to get an Urban Renaissance,
the Government will have to introduce a "new set of financial
instruments to attract large-scale private investment into towns
and cities". In addition, fiscal measures should be introduced
to discourage landowners from holding onto derelict land held
for speculative purposes and preventing development (paragraph
55).
(k) Greenfield sites should be the location
of last resort for development. We see no compelling reason for
changing policy on the green belt (paragraph 61).
(l) Big improvements can be brought about
by better targeting of mainstream funds. However, the urban renaissance
will not take place without additional spending on urban management,
the urban environment, urban regeneration and public transport
(paragraph 62).
(m) The rules which prevent good design and
inhibit development, including overlooking distances, road lay
outs and visibility splays are often inappropriate We recommend
that the deregulation unit of the Cabinet Office review the various
rules used by planners and highway engineers which have now become
an obstacle to good quality urban design (paragraph 68).
(n) We strongly endorse this approach of sensitive
interpretation of central guidance rather than slavish adherence
to it (paragraph 70).
(o) We are disappointed that the DfEE is
not taking steps to improve and better coordinate training and
education for professionals in the various urban design disciplines.
We recommend that the DfEE together with DETR undertake a major
review of this matter (paragraph 73).
(p) To encourage more compact and sustainable
towns and cities, the White Paper should emphasise the Government's
priorities to:
- ensure that the principles put forward in
PPG 3 are implemented by providing adequate funding for planning
departments to administer the new arrangements and by rejecting
unacceptable low density or badly designed schemes;
- bring about a more creative and less reactive
planning system, encouraging innovation and streamlining the slow
and rigid system of local plan production and revision;
- place more emphasis on good design by improving
training for professionals working in urban design and adopting
the recommendations of the Task Force including establishing Regional
Resource Centres and making greater use of master plans;
- make improvements to public transport and
pedestrian access a priority for public expenditure and local
transport plans; and
- make better use of historic buildings, parks
and public spaces to achieve urban regeneration (paragraph 83).
Better use of historic buildings could be achieved
by ensuring that:
- development takes account of the historic
nature of areas by undertaking what has been inelegantly called
a characterisation-based master plan;
- English Heritage is adequately funded to
undertake regeneration;
- more lottery funds are available for spending
on historic buildings in view of the small funds currently available
for this important task; and
- English Heritage and local authority conservation
officers do not impose rigid conservation philosophies on developers,
but work sympathetically with them to facilitate re-use; a training
programme should be introduced.
However, PPG 15 on conservation areas does not
need to be changed (paragraph 84).
(q) The Government should seek to ensure that
economic development is concentrated in urban areas, including
market towns, while having regard to rural needs:
- The DTI should re-examine its policies to
ensure that they take account of spatial policies and priorities.
It is not just sufficient to get economic development. It matters
where it is. Out-of-town development should be an exception. This
principle has been accepted in PPG 6 and should be included in
other government policies, including guidance on business clusters.
- DTI and DETR should seek to ensure that
urban and regional policy are complementary through getting better
co-operation between regional institutions.
- Government should encourage knowledge and
innovation-based industries to locate in northern and midland
cities and towns by stimulating in these areas: the expansion
of universities, the location of research and development institutions,
and spin-offs from these institutions.
- The Government should review the location
of many of its own agencies, with a view to moving them, in the
longer term, to towns or cities in need of significant regeneration
(paragraph 97).
(r) The Government should implement the recommendations
made by the Urban Task Force to create mixed income neighbourhoods
and diversify tenure. It should ensure new social housing is not
built in areas where there are already large numbers of such houses
or where there is low demand for social housing. Good design can
turn cities round; cheap, shoddy social housing is unacceptable.
The White Paper should indicate how the Government will improve
the quality of services in urban areas by emphasising the need
for mainstream services to concentrate on producing better outcomes.
The Government should also implement many of the measures proposed
by the Social Exclusion Unit on neighbourhood renewal, in particular
on neighbourhood management, and should introduce new measures
to deal with anti-social behaviour (paragraph 111).
Some estates, albeit a minority, are beyond any
incremental revival, suffering from low demand and without a realistic
likelihood that they will recover in the long term. Here the best
option may be large scale demolition and re-construction as mixed
communities, following the design principles laid down by the
Task Force, especially in areas where there is a strong demand
for housing in the wider conurbation. This might be called the
Hulme solution, after the area of Manchester where this approach
has been successfully implemented. The Government should encourage
local authorities and Regional Development Agencies to consider
whether areas should be re-developed in this way. It should ensure
that RDA strategies take account of the Task Force's proposals.
Before its final report the Social Exclusion Unit should be asked
to consider how the Task Force's recommendations should be integrated
into its strategy (paragraph 112).
(s) The Government should stress the importance
of improving the state of the urban environment, including simple
measures such as more effective litter collection. The Government
should provide additional funds for managing the urban environment
and should implement the proposals of the Task Force to give local
authorities greater powers to tackle those who damage it (paragraph
115).
(t) The White Paper should indicate the role
of each aspect of Government in urban regeneration. In particular,
it should stress that:
- local authorities should "lead the
urban renaissance" by devolving powers and resources to them,
in particular by providing long term funding and giving local
authorities more freedom to raise and spend money;
- local authorities should be permitted to
have a stake of over 19.9% in companies without any financial
penalties to enable them to play a significant role in regeneration;
- there should be clarification of the relationship
between local authorities, national Government, regional and sub-regional
institutions; and of the role of regional development agencies,
regional planning conferences , regional assemblies and government
offices in the regions;
- local authorities need to work closely with
local communities, voluntary groups and private sector organisations;
- local strategic partnerships have an important
role to play, but care must be taken in constructing them to ensure
they have the right powers, duties and resources;
- neighbourhoods are important as the key
building blocks identified by the Urban Task Force; measures to
turn round 'neighbourhoods in decline' should be a priority, while
recognising that local authorities will also need to take decisions
on a city-wide basis; and
- there is a need to reduce the number of
area-based initiatives of central Government Departments and get
better co-ordination of them (paragraph 129).
The White Paper should set out that it intends
to ensure that urban regeneration is well-co-ordinated, carried
out on a large scale and over a long period by:
- strengthening the New Commitment to Regeneration;
and
- establishing Urban Priority Areas and Urban
Regeneration Companies as recommended by the Task Force, with
the appropriate powers to ensure they do not increase duplication;
Urban Regeneration Companies should employ masterplans to ensure
developments are well-designed.
Government should introduce an improved CPO procedure
to facilitate land assembly. The current review should be completed
as a matter of urgency (paragraph 130).
(u) The White Paper should set out how the
Government proposes to ensure that there is proper involvement
of, and consultation with, local communities in taking forward
its vision for Britain's cities (paragraph 135).
(v) The "new set of financial instruments
to attract large-scale private investment into towns and cities"
should include:
- national and regional public-private investment
funds and a revolving fund for land assembly and the recycling
of derelict buildings. The English Cities Fund should be set up
as a matter of urgency. In the mean time regional development
agencies should have sufficient funds to tackle dereliction and
land assembly.
- further fiscal
incentives for developers, house owners and house buyers in areas
of low demand, in particular:
- a reduction of VAT on the refurbishment
of housing to 5%;
- a reduction of stamp duty on developments
on brownfield sites;
A vacant land tax to encourage development on
derelict land and the re-introduction of a Development Land Tax
should be considered. We are concerned that the valuation system
overestimates the value of inner city properties for both the
Business Rate and the Council Tax. This should be reviewed (paragraph
147).
- We are appalled by the slow progress made
by the Treasury in evaluating such important matters. The Task
Force reported in June 1999, but the Treasury will not have completed
an evaluation of any recommendation until November 2000 ie almost
18 months later (paragraph 148).
- The European Commission's ruling against
gap funding, the main instrument to promote urban regeneration,
makes the introduction of these measures all the more urgent.
Regional Development Agencies should have access to sufficient
funds to undertake direct development to compensate for this decision
(paragraph 149).
(w) Once urban capacity studies have been
completed in the light of PPG 3's insistence on higher densities,
the Government should review the 60% target for building housing
on brownfield sites. Its aim should be to concentrate development
on brownfield sites in appropriate urban locations. Accordingly,
as we have frequently recommended, it should set a target for
the use of brownfield sites in urban areas. It must reject unacceptably
low figures set for brownfield use by regional planning conferences.
We are particularly disappointed by the proposals for the east
midlands and the north east. The Government should report at the
earliest opportunity on its review of allocations of greenfield
land for housing and should continue to press councils to de-allocate
where the locations are inappropriate. New greenfield development
should cover the full cost of necessary associated services such
as schools. The Government must remain steadfast in its determination
not to relax PPG 6. The forthcoming guidance note on clusters
must similarly discourage out-of-town development (paragraph 159).
(x) As the Task Force told us, bringing about
an urban renaissance will require better use of public funds,
and significant increases in some areas. Priorities are:
- most importantly, better use of mainstream
funds;
- increased funding for urban regeneration
programmes;
- major increases for the relatively small
budgets for investment in the urban environment and infrastructure,
including investment in people and institutions; and
- substantial increases for public transport
(paragraph 164).
(y) Some of the money could be raised to pay
for this by a number of additional fiscal measures, which we have
already discussed, and which would be beneficial. Careful consideration
should be given both to finding a means of taxing the large windfalls
gains made by landowners when they sell land which receives planning
permission for development and to a vacant land tax. Funds can
also be found from the significant sums raised from urban development
activity by increases in Stamp Duty (paragraph 165).
(z) The Government prides itself on its 'cross-cutting'
approach to government. Unfortunately there is too little evidence
of this in preparing the Urban White Paper. Some policies are
in place which will assist the urban renaissance.
- The DETR has made an excellent start with
the publication of PPG 3.
- The DTI's work on business clusters has
recognised the vital importance of cities.
- Its aim of a sustainable economic policy
is a reason for optimism.
Elsewhere, the picture is more depressing.
- As the report of the Performance and Innovation
Unit in the Cabinet Office showed, there is a lack of co-ordination
between local, regional and national government. The new Regional
Co-ordination Unit has been set up to address this problem, but
we are concerned that it will not be able to.
- The quality of services provided to urban
neighbourhoods is very poor despite the large amount of mainstream
funds spent. The Social Exclusion Unit and the Performance and
Innovation Unit pointed out that there were too many local initiatives.
The available funds for urban regeneration should be more clearly
co-ordinated and focussed.
- Most parts of Government appear to see urban
policy, not like the Urban Task Force as a means of transforming
our cities and of bringing about an urban renaissance, but as
a way of tackling the problems of deprived urban neighbourhoods.
This is important, but this approach must not dominate the Urban
White Paper. We are disappointed that the Government has given
the Social Exclusion Unit a remit which means that it has all
but ignored the work of the Urban Task Force, and so has little
to say about the key Rogers recommendations on the need to create
mixed communities. We need an urban policy, not a neighbourhood
policy.
- DTI and DETR do not appear to have the same
views about the role of cities in the regional economy. The economic
prosperity of cities and regions are tied together. The Government
must decide what its policy on the north/south divide is.
- The quality of people and institutions involved
in urban design are of critical importance, but the funding provided
by the Department of Culture Media and Sport to support them is
inadequate.
- Worst of all the Treasury appears to have
kicked the Report into the long grass. It is disgraceful that
over a year after the report was published, the Treasury has come
to no conclusions about the proposed fiscal measures put forward
by the Task Force, and will not come to any until November at
the earliest. The Financial Secretary may be a fan of the Urban
Task Force Report, but there is as yet no evidence of this in
the actions taken by the Treasury (paragraph 167).
(aa) The poor co-ordination of Government
policy strengthens the Task Force's recommendations for ensuring
that its proposals are taken into account by all parts of Government.
In particular, to ensure progress is to be made the Government
should:
- establish public service agreements with
performance indicators for the urban renaissance as part of the
Comprehensive Spending Review;
- establish an Urban Policy Board;
- publish an annual State of the Cities and
Towns Report. (paragraph 168).
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