Memorandum by the Association of London
Government (UWP 66)
THE PROPOSED URBAN WHITE PAPER
INTRODUCTION
1. The Association of London Government
welcomes the opportunity to offer its views on the provisions
of the forthcoming Urban White Paper to the Environment, Transport
and Regional Affairs Committee. We understand that the framework
of the White Paper is likely to be built on four work-streams:
competitive towns and cities; liveable towns and cities; land,
buildings and planning; and governance. London local authorities
play a key role in tackling the issues facing urban areas in terms
of all of these issues. Indeed, the London boroughs have an excellent
track record in this work, and are experienced in spearheading
regeneration, leading partnerships into action and making a valuable
contribution to regenerating run-down areas.
2. The ALG, in common with the Local Government
Association (LGA), welcomes the Government's commitment to preparing
an Urban White Paper, which should ensure that regeneration and
other policies and programmes fully recognise and address the
urban context.
WHICH RECOMMENDATIONS
OF THE
REPORT OF
THE URBAN
TASK FORCE
SHOULD BE
A PRIORITY
FOR IMPLEMENTATION
3. The ALG is fully supportive of the Urban
Task Force report, and would welcome the incorporation of many
of its recommendations into the forthcoming Urban White Paper.
In general, the Association firmly endorses the view that only
through the creation of sustainable city living can future household
demand be met, and building on greenfield sites minimised. London
local government strongly supports the recommendation that local
authorities must play a central role in leading the urban renaissance
in partnership with local communities, and believes that, to achieve
this, the recommendations strengthening local authorities' powers,
resources and democratic legitimacy are crucial.
4. The ALG response to this element of the
inquiry looks at four key areas: strategic issues; recommendations
proposing new initiatives and powers; recommendations making the
case for raising the level of public and private investment and
introducing financial incentives, there is also a section containing
further comments.
STRATEGIC ISSUES
5. The Urban Task Force sees democratic
and strategic leadership, alongside competent management, as key
to improving the quality of life, and therefore to attracting
people back into the cities, and encouraging them to stay there.
The report identifies local authorities as being best placed to
undertake such a role, and the ALG supports this view.
6. Local authorities are strategically best
positioned to drive forward integrated urban regeneration, to
provide vision and strategic leadership for local communities,
and to ensure the delivery of high quality services to their residents.
They have the capacity to provide an overview of the needs and
opportunities in their areas. Their wide range of responsibilities
requires them to work successfully in partnership with others,
such as central government, communities, the public, private and
voluntary sectors. In moving forward the modernisation of local
government, London boroughs are already promoting integrated,
cross-service approaches.
7. However, to realise the vision of urban
renaissance, there is a need for the strategic, leadership role
of local authorities to be strengthened and legitimised by new
powers to promote the economic, environmental and social well
being of its communities.
8. Central to this will be the modernisation
of local government through both a strengthening of their powers
and new political structures. The ALG welcomes the inclusion in
the 1999 Local Government Bill of a new discretionary power for
local authorities to promote or improve (one or more of) economic,
social and environmental well being in their areas. (The Urban
Task Force recognised the importance of a "new duty"
for local authorities to promote the economic, social and environmental
well-being of their areas which was proposed in the "Modernising
Local Government White Paper", although did not call for
it as a specific recommendation.
9. Such legislation should help clarify
the role of local authorities in taking forward some of the Task
Force's recommendations which are strongly supported by the London
boroughs, such as assigning a strategic role to local authorities
in ensuring management of the whole urban environment, with powers
to require other property owners to maintain their land and premises
to an acceptable standard (Managing the Urban Environment).
10. The new power should also provide local
authorities with an opportunity to renew their role as community
leaders, through developing truly comprehensive strategies or
Community Plans for the well-being of their areas. Through the
community planning process, councils can provide the geographical
and strategic context in which neighbourhood level activity such
as New Deal for Communities can be effective. This responsibility,
alongside the New Commitment to Regeneration, should provide for
an enhanced local authority role in tackling the challenge of
leading our cities. It is also important to recognise the potential
new role for local government councillors in engaging and consulting
with local communities, afforded by the modernisation of political
structures.
11. The ALG welcomes the Task Force's support
for Strengthening the New Commitment to Regeneration between central
and local government, and its call for Government to strengthen
the approach by combining Government departments spending powers
to deliver longer-term funding commitments for local authorities
and their partners. The New Commitment approach offers a model
for authorities to work with partners, and create borough wide
strategies so that mainstream and regeneration resources can be
pooled around agreed long-term plans. Four London pathfinder boroughs
are already taking forward the New Commitment approach, with others
also starting to follow this model. The ALG would like to see
continued support for the initiative in the White Paper.
12. Boroughs also support the requirement
for local authorities to prepare a single strategy for their public
realm and open space, dealing with provision, design, management,
maintenance (Designing the Urban Environment) and funding, tying
in with the integrated management of the whole urban environment.
The development of strategies for the public realm is of key significance
for the enhancement of the quality of urban life. Improving the
quality of the urban environment and direct experience of urban
life is, along with key services such as health and education,
vital in attracting people back into urban areas and encouraging
them to stay. There is also strong support for the devolving of
detailed planning policies for neighbourhood regeneration into
more flexible and targeted area plans, based upon the production
of a spatial masterplan and the full participation of local people,
as a way of making urban planning more inclusive and more relevant
to the regeneration process.
NEW INITIATIVES
AND POWERS
13. London boroughs endorse the following
initiatives and statutory powers which will enable them to undertake
their strategic role, particularly in terms of improving the quality
of the environment and in facilitating regeneration.
14. (i) Recommendations that will help local
authorities to make real improvements to the urban environment
by tackling key issues affecting quality of life such as transport,
pollution, cleanliness and safety on the streets are supported
such as Placing Town Improvement Zones on a statutory footing,
enabling local authorities to work with local businesses to establish
jointly-funded management arrangements for town centres and other
commercial districts; and Strengthening of enforcement powers
and sanctions against individuals or organisations that breach
regulations relating to planning conditions, noise pollution,
littering, fly-tipping and other forms of anti-social behaviour,
(Managing the Urban Environment).
15. However, with regard to transport, whilst
recommendations such as Placing Local Transport Plans on a statutory
footing, with targets for reducing car journeys, and increasing
year on year the proportion of trips made on foot, bicycle and
pubic transport (Making the Connections) and Introduction of Home
Zones (Making the Connections) are supported, a number of boroughs
believe the section on transport to be relatively weak.
16. The need for an integrated public transport
system is a key strategic issue for London.
Transport plays a major role in improving the
quality of life for Londoners through, for example, reducing pollution,
and tackling social exclusion by providing access to jobs for
those facing unemployment. The Association is disappointed that
the report does not focus on problems encountered by local authorities
seeking co-operation from public transport providers when undertaking
regeneration programmes or planning new infrastructure. The report
does not include consideration of more radical proposals for the
reduction of congestion, such as congestion charging, which the
ALG believes will be essential in tackling London's transport
problems.
17. (ii) Facilitating urban regeneration—There
is strong support for recommendations focusing on the needs of
neighbourhoods where regeneration can only be achieved through
a comprehensive package of measures to tackle not just the physical
environment, but also the economic and social needs of local people.
Creation of designated Urban Priority Areas (Delivering Urban
Regeneration) is supported on the basis of the special measures
which would accompany designation. However, care will need to
be taken to ensure that UPAs dovetail with priorities identified
at a local level via the community planning process and link in
with New Commitment strategies.
18. If local authorities are to be pivotal
in promoting and delivering area-based regeneration, there is
a specific need to make changes to the local authorities companies
regime to provide more investment in urban regeneration and help
them access communities more effectively. Arms-length regeneration
companies overseeing work, raising private finance and undertaking
direct development where necessary are one way forward. In this
context, the following recommendation is supported: Enable Urban
Regeneration Companies and Housing Regeneration Companies to co-ordinate
or deliver area regeneration projects (Delivering Urban Regeneration).
19. There is strong support for those recommendations
which tackle the release and assembly of land for regeneration.
Compulsory purchase is one of the most significant positive powers
local authorities have to intervene and enable regeneration, and
such measures are crucial in securing major redevelopment initiatives.
In this context, the ALG supports the Introduction of a statutory
duty for public bodies and utilities with significant urban land
holdings to release redundant land and buildings for regeneration
(Managing the Land Supply) and Assist the land assembly process
in UPAs by removing the obligation for authorities to prove a
specific and economically viable scheme when making CPOs (Managing
the Land Supply).
20. However, the ALG would also point out
that there are important issues in relation to the use of recycled
land, including the higher costs of developing contaminated land
and who pays for this, and the long development timescale. The
recommendations do not recognise that the lack of funds is one
of the major obstacles standing in the way of the development
of much contaminated land.
21. The ALG believes there is a need to
recognise that not all recycled land is appropriate for residential
development in terms of location and access to services. Equally,
sites transferred to housing associations for development will
need to have been satisfactorily decontaminated with infrastructure
in place or guaranteed, so that clearance and infrastructure costs
do not fall either on the social housing grant requirement or
on rents. In terms of the development timescale problem, it is
essential both for public funding to be committed over a longer
timescale than at present, alongside more effective land assembly
powers.
RECOMMENDATIONS MAKING
THE CASE
FOR RAISING
THE LEVEL
OF PUBLIC
AND PRIVATE
INVESTMENT AND
INTRODUCING FINANCIAL
INCENTIVES;
22. The Urban Task Force recommendations
inevitably imply additional local authority capital and revenue
expenditure, such as repairing and maintaining infrastructure
as well as investment in services such as education, which will
underpin regeneration. The idea that urban regeneration is included
in the Comprehensive Spending Review is therefore welcomed—Include
the objective of an urban renaissance in the terms of reference
for the 2001 Comprehensive Spending review, (Making the Investment).
23. London local government supports the
pooling of public and private money in long-term investment funds:
Establish national public-private investment funds (Making the
Investment) to overcome existing difficulties in relation to the
markets failure to provide the kind of medium and long-term risk
capital that complex area regeneration projects require.
24. The ALG strongly supports those recommendations
which recognise the need for increasing the level of funding in
view of the complexities of managing the urban environment, and
need to offer a high quality environment: Review the spending
formula used to allocate central resources to local government
so that it adequately reflects the financial needs of urban authorities
in managing and maintaining their areas (Making the Investment)
and Provide an above-inflation increase in central resources allocated
to local authorities for managing and maintaining the urban environment
in each of the next seven years (Managing the Urban Environment).
25. Local people must have more choice about
the level of spending by their local authorities. The ALG view
the recommendation to Introduce a package of tax measure, providing
incentives for developers, investors, small landlords, owner-occupiers
and tenants to contribute to the regeneration of urban sites and
buildings that would not otherwise be developed (Making the Investment)
as a step in the right direction.
26. Boroughs welcome the establishment of
long-term funding for community groups to tackle eyesores—Establish
a 10 year programme—The Renaissance Fund to help repair
our towns (Recycling the Buildings). Local authorities, in view
of their role as strategic and community leaders, and their overview
of local needs and opportunities, would be well placed to take
a lead role in the management of the fund, and to integrate projects
into other relevant initiatives.
27. There is also support for the introduction
of fiscal incentives such as Harmonise VAT rates at a zero-rate
in respect of new buildings and conversions and refurbishments
(Recycling the Buildings). At the moment, the current VAT system
is a strong incentive for developers to prioritise new build housing
on greenfield sites.
FURTHER COMMENTS
WITH REGARD
TO THE
URBAN TASK
FORCE REPORT
28. However, in common with the LGA, the
London boroughs would argue that some of the Urban Task Force
reports very detailed recommendations are over-prescriptive and
do not allow enough local discretion. Different problems are experienced
in different areas of the country and they require different local
solutions.
29. The report does not consider the economic
role of cities, and the impact this has on the movement of people
in search of jobs. This has contributed to increasingly pressing
issues in London around housing demand and affordability. Boroughs
would like to see further discussion around the potential for
local authorities to provide good quality homes, with a range
of tenures and affordability options.
30. Furthermore, while the ALG and borough's
strongly support many of the recommendations and recognise the
particular remit of the report, it is felt that the report has
not gone far enough in addressing the central importance of social
and economic issues in underpinning sustainable urban regeneration.
HOW POLICIES
FOR EMPLOYMENT,
COMPETITIVENESS, HOUSING,
TRANSPORT AND
PUBLIC SERVICES
SHOULD BE
INTEGRATED TO
FOSTER URBAN
REGENERATION; AND
THE ROLE
OF OTHER
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS
AND GOVERNMENT
AGENCIES AND
THE RDAS
31. It is the view of the ALG, together
with the LGA, that the development of infrastructure will be wasted
if social and economic issues are not tackled through the integration
of policies for employment, competitiveness, housing, transport
and public services.
32. Central to the White Paper must be the
need to combat social exclusion by giving the excluded access
to opportunities, as well as providing the high quality environment
and services which will encourage people to live in urban areas.
This can only be done by the integration of the above key policy
areas. Local authorities have a central role to play in promoting
integrated approaches. They are already doing so through the New
Commitment and community planning. However, to be really successful
the New Commitment also needs the joining up and firm commitment
of Government departments and agencies to jointly agreed strategies,
including access to mainstream funding programmes.
33. RDAs should add value to the regeneration
work already being carried out by boroughs, by joining up at regional
level the three key objectives of competitiveness, social inclusion
and sustainability. They should set regional priorities, encouraging
partnership working and ensuring an avoidance of duplication.
34. In terms of employment and competitiveness,
central government needs to guide the overall climate for economic
activity and address regional disparities. However, RDAs and local
authorities have an important role in, for example, promoting
those conditions that allow businesses to flourish and promoting
employment strategies to encourage employment of local people
and support for local enterprise.
35. Other key ways of opening up opportunities
and addressing social exclusion are provided by high quality education
and training, as well as provision of affordable childcare. Raising
the educational standards for all is a key element in tackling
social exclusion by allowing local people to access jobs, and
improving competitiveness. Local authorities are proving to be
key partners in providing access to lifelong learning which meet
local needs and can help people obtain the skills to match local
jobs. In addition the drift outwards of middle-class families
as parents seek better schools for their children is one of the
principal causes of blight in our inner cities.
36. Again as already discussed, there is
in London a pressing need for good quality, affordable housing.
There is also a need for the provision of quality health services,
and measures to ensure community safety—building on better
housing, education, job opportunities, transport and environmental
improvements, to encourage people to stay in urban areas.
THE FUTURE
OF URBAN
AREAS SUFFERING
FROM LOW
DEMAND FOR
HOUSING AND
SOCIAL DECLINE
37. With regard to the above, schemes to
address demand will need to focus on social and spatial segregation.
Local authorities should be given the opportunity to support new
developments by providing services necessary to reverse segregation
and to achieve broader social objectives.
HOW PLANNING
AUTHORITIES SHOULD
BE ENCOURAGED
TO BRING
ABOUT THE
SPEEDY RELEASE
OF BROWNFIELDSITES
AND FOSTER
CREATIVE URBAN
DESIGNS
38. There is a need for stronger planning
powers to resist greenfield housing. The redraft of PPG3 represents
the Government's best opportunity of fundamentally making the
change from greenfield to brownfield development. Local authorities
need to be able to refuse permissions for greenfield development
where brownfield sites are available through mechanisms such as
a tough sequential test and phasing of development sites.
39. Boroughs strongly support those Urban
Task Force recommendations which tackle issues around the release
and assembly of land for regeneration. There are also barriers
around land contamination, poor access, infrastructure problems
and bad neighbourhood land uses which need to be addressed.
40. The ALG welcomes the emphasis placed
on good design as a component of urban regeneration. Creative
urban design to high standards will be key to improving the quality
of urban life. Guidelines and criteria for urban design, as proposed
by the Urban Task Force, can provide local authorities with greater
ability to improve the urban environment. However, the key must
be to respond to individual sites, and so guides must not be overly
prescriptive. Public participation in urban design can lead to
improved sense of ownership and pride in a neighbourhood, particularly
perhaps on housing estates and developments. And design projects
can of course help create employment for local artists and architects.
The London Borough of Southwark, for example, has employed a number
of cutting edge architectural practices to work on their Bankside
Street Improvement Programme, resulting in an innovative signage
system for local attractions.
POLICIES RELEVANT
TO TOWNS
AND SUBURBS
AS WELL
AS CITIES,
INCLUDING THEIR
BOUNDARIES
41. Given the significance in terms of the
size and population of the suburbs and their popularity, Outer
London boroughs were surprised to find the lack of references
by the Urban Task Force to the suburbs or any attempt to come
to terms with the dynamics of suburbia as an integral part of
the wider urban agenda. Many London suburbs such as those in Harrow
and Bromley have not suffered the problems associated with inner
city decline. Boroughs point out that some analysis of the successes
and popularity of suburban areas would have been helpful if only
in terms of recognising that as an urban form, they possess qualities
that many appreciate and aspire to.
42. However, suburbs face the same issues
as inner areas in becoming more sustainable. There is, for example,
a need to develop to higher densities, invest in public transport
and seek local job creation. Urban policies must address the role
for the suburbs in the urban renaissance.
THE ROLE
OF HISTORIC
PARKS AND
BUILDINGS IN
URBAN REGENERATION
43. Historic parks and buildings have an
important role in urban regeneration. As pointed out by the Urban
Task Force, there is a need for clearer planning guidance on how
the options for regenerating historic districts and landmark buildings
can best be assessed. The ALG supports the Renaissance Fund proposed
by the Urban Task Force which would enable local communities to
take action to re-use historic parks and buildings through conservation.
Community led conservation may provide a source of empowerment
and employment for local people. Once restored, historic parks
and buildings have the potential to enhance the quality of the
urban environment for all parts of the community, and may lead
to tourism and further local employment opportunities.
WHAT THE
ADDED VALUE
A GOVERNMENT
WHITE PAPER
SHOULD PROVIDE
IN ADDITION
TO OTHER
GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
ON URBAN
POLICY
44. With regard to the above, the ALG believes
that if the White Paper is to be effective in taking things forward,
it needs to be built upon a strong and clear vision for the future
of our towns and cities. The paper should also set out where it
fits in relation to other policies and actions on urban issues.
This should include EU work on cities B such as the European Commission's
Urban Framework, the objectives of URBAN Community Initiative,
and the EU-funded studies of sustainable development in London,
Berlin, Marseilles and Leipzig.
45. Key to the delivery of the vision must
be a holistic, integrated approach to urban sustainability as
developed in the ALG's London Study. This holistic approach must
also encompass ways in which the current mish-mash of funding
regimes can be streamlined into coherent policies.
46. There needs to be a clear set of targets
at national, regional and local level with clear timescales and
responsibilities. Indicators must be identified, drawing on the
substantial work already taking place in the EU and UK on indicators
which genuinely measure or depict relevant issues, and which are
genuinely related to urban change.
47. The White Paper should seek to encourage
innovation, correctly identify best practice and disseminate its
lessons—making concrete recommendations about how this will
be achieved. There is a need for a cross-government mechanism
for monitoring progress and for pushing forward an urban agenda,
which will benefit both town and country..
January 2000
| 
