Written evidence from the Department for
Communities and Local Government
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Regional Strategies were established by the previous
administration to coordinate some regional planning issues, including
targets for housing growth. Opposition to Regional Strategies
has been significant creating uncertainty, delay and unnecessary
expense.
- The Coalition Government revoked Regional Strategies
on 6 July. This is a major step in shifting power on planning
and housing back to local authorities and communities.
- Housing targets were all stick no carrot. They
were an ineffective incentive for housing delivery. By contrast
the New Homes Bonus scheme will directly reward councils and communities
for new homes built. Operating alongside other incentives and
funding it will really support locally driven sustainable growth
and development.
- Our proposed duty to cooperate will ensure that
authorities and other bodies work together effectively on cross
boundary issues, particularly on infrastructure planning and delivery.
We are also looking at ways to offer authorities who want to work
together more formally the option of developing strategic plans
with statutory status.
- Where they are established, local enterprise
partnerships will provide strategic leadership in setting local
economic priorities and creating the right environment for business
and growth. They will have a close relationship with strategic
planning, particularly in terms of local economic development
and regeneration.
- There are solid arrangements in place for storing
and managing data held by the former Leaders' Boards. Updating
this information will now be a matter for local authorities individually
or working in partnership with others.
- Our proposals will decentralise decision making
and incentivise development. This will be with the support of
local communities as proponents of sustainable growth. This is
what the planning system was designed to do and what it can deliver
again.
INTRODUCTION
1. The Planning system has enormous potential to
provide a positive, effective framework for delivering sustainable
development that reflects the aspirations of local communities.
But the system that we inherited from the previous administration
needs to be radically transformed if it is to achieve that potential.
The regional planning system was over-centralised and bureaucratic.
Top-down targets, such as housing numbers, were imposed on local
planning authorities and communities and they increased opposition
to development. What is significant is that they have failed to
incentivise the delivery of new homes and this has led to worsening
affordability. The Regional Strategy system, however well-intentioned,
simply has not worked.
2. With the abolition of Regional Strategies
decision making on housing and planning will return to local authorities
and communities. This marks the first step towards a new, decentralised
approach to planning, giving communities the greatest possible
opportunity to have their say and manage development so that it
delivers their vision for neighbourhoods. Our proposed incentives
will provide a genuinely effective response to housing demand
where local people can become proponents, rather than opponents,
of sustainable economic and housing growth.
BACKGROUND TO
REGIONAL STRATEGIES
3. Regional Strategies were established by the
previous administration. They combined two formerly separate strategies:
the Regional Spatial Strategy and the Regional Economic Strategy.
Since 1 April 2010 any revised strategies had to be prepared jointly
by Leaders' Boards (leaders of representative local authorities
in each region) and Regional Development Agencies.
4. The rationale for a regional planning tier
was the need to coordinate some planning issues, such as infrastructure
and strategic growth, above district and county level and to set
targets for growth including housing delivery. Regional Strategy
housing targets were seen as the means of delivering the previous
administration's national target of 240,000 net additional dwellings
per year by 2016 leading to two million new homes by 2016 and
a further one million by 2020.
5. But public opposition to regional planning
has been significant and the process has been beset by legal challenges.
The number of representations to Regional Strategy "Examinations
in Public" ran into thousands. Key issues were opposition
to growth plans and additional housing development. Other issues
included retail hierarchies, transport, flooding, and climate
change. It is clear from this level of opposition that Regional
Strategies did not reflect local community aspirations. But the
opposition generated has also meant that Regional Strategies were
badly delayed and expensive to produce. The delay and uncertainty
meant that they failed to provide a clear basis for planning and
investment decisions.
6. To give one example, in the East of England
the Government Office received 21,500 representations on the draft
Regional Spatial Strategy, of which most (78%) were objections.
These focused on four policies around which there had been public
campaigns: green belt, housing provision, the Harlow Key Centre
for Development and Change, and the London Arc. While the draft
plan was submitted to the Secretary of State in December 2004
the final Regional Spatial Strategy was not published until 2008,
only for the High Court to rule that it failed to meet Strategic
Environmental Assessment Directive requirements with respect to
three towns.
THE COALITION
GOVERNMENT'S
RESPONSE
7. The failure of regional planning led both
the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties to commit in their
manifestos to abolishing regional planning and/or regional housing
targets. This led to the Coalition Agreement commitment:
We will rapidly abolish Regional Spatial Strategies
and return decision-making powers on housing and planning to local
councils… In the longer term, we will radically reform the
planning system to give neighbourhoods far more ability to determine
the shape of the places in which their inhabitants live, based
on the principles set out in the Conservative Party publication
Open Source Planning.
(The Coalition: Our Programme for Government 2010,
p11)
8. Since the election we have revoked Regional
Strategies and announced our intention to return decision-making
powers on housing and planning to local councils. The Localism
Bill will include this and other measures to shift power back
to individuals, communities and councils and give local communities
a real voice in shaping their neighbourhoods.
THE IMPLICATIONS
OF THE
ABOLITION OF
REGIONAL HOUSE
BUILDING TARGETS
FOR LEVELS
OF HOUSING
DEVELOPMENT
9. The previous administration's housing target-setting
regime was not effective. A key weakness of its approach was the
assumption that imposed housing targets would be incorporated
into plans by local authorities and communities, and that the
market would deliver them. It is clear that this has not happened.
10. Under Regional Strategies local plans did
not flow thick and fast. Only 18% of local planning authorities—that
is 60 out of 336—have adopted core strategies setting up-to-date
targets for housing delivery.
11. On average 26,000 fewer homes were built
each year from 1997 to 2009 than in the period from 1979 to 1996.
The country now has the lowest level of house-building in
peacetime since 1924.
12. There are, of course, a number of factors
that influence the supply of housing. For example, in earlier
decades, large levels of social housing completions contributed
to overall supply. Housing delivery will also be affected by wider
economic cycles. Mechanisms to incentivise housing delivery may
not be able to reverse external factors such as these in their
entirety. But it is reasonable to expect them to act as robust
tools capable of effectively responding to cyclical external pressures.
13. Our proposals will stimulate housing development.
By abolishing Regional Strategies local planning authorities will
be able to work with communities to see their vision for development
realised. A key element of this will be decisions about housing
and planning policy, including housing numbers and the pattern
of development, which should rightly be taken locally.
14. Our decentralised approach will mean that
local plans are more, not less important because they will deliver
the sorts of projects that people want and support. It is vital
that local planning authorities continue to bring forward local
plans and we issued guidance when we announced the revocation
of Regional Strategies to assist them on some transitional issues.
Through powerful incentives rather than weak targets communities
will for the first time be able to see real, direct benefits from
the planning system.
The likely effectiveness of the Government's plan
to incentivise local communities to accept new housing development,
and the nature and level of the incentives which will need to
be put in place to ensure an adequate long term supply of housing
15. Housing targets were all stick and no carrot.
Local communities saw only the costs of new development, such
as increased traffic and more burdens on local services, without
sharing in any of the benefits that accepting new homes can bring.
16. The Housing and Planning Delivery Grant (HPDG)
was introduced by the previous administration to incentivise housing
delivery. But it was not successful because it was too complicated
and target driven. Local authorities were not able to rely on
it as a sufficient and stable incentive and as a result its impact
was significantly reduced.
17. The Coalition Agreement makes a clear commitment
to providing local authorities with real incentives to build new
homes. The New Homes Bonus scheme will directly reward councils
for new homes built, and there will be a consultation on the detail
of the scheme later this year. These incentives will enable local
authorities and communities to really benefit from delivering
the housing that they want and need and encourage them to increase
their aspirations for housing and economic growth, and to control
the way in which villages, towns and cities develop and the quality
of their local environment.
18. Councils who take action now to give planning
consent and support the construction of new homes will receive
substantial funding for doing so. These funds can be spent according
to local wishes—such as offering council tax discounts to
local residents, supporting frontline services like rubbish collections,
or improving local facilities like playgrounds and parks.
19. Incentives to build new homes are the cornerstone
of the Government's housing supply strategy. However, the Government
recognises that sustainable development is about more than just
new homes and the Coalition Agreement sets out our clear intention
to incentivise both housing and economic growth. The New Homes
Bonus Scheme is part of a wider family of incentives and funding
programmes, aimed at facilitating and incentivising locally-driven
growth in a post-targets world:
- We will be publishing a White Paper to consider
the most appropriate framework of incentives for local authorities
to support growth, including exploring options for business rate
incentives, allowing local authorities to reinvest the benefits
of growth into local communities.
- We are committed to ensuring an appropriate mechanism
for securing funding from development proposals to deliver the
infrastructure necessary to support growth. We are considering
the future of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and the
related planning obligations regime (also known as section 106
agreements) and will make an announcement on these as soon as
practicable.
- We are also working on the redesign of growth
funding provided by the Department to priority growth areas. Growth
funding currently provides a block grant which is designed to
enable upfront infrastructure required to facilitate housing delivery
to be put in place in growth locations. Although there is a good
rationale for the growth funding programme, in future recipients
will need to meet the following tests:
- Securing real local and community engagement.
- Making the benefits of growth funding visible
to local residents.
- A robust locally owned vision for housing growth.
These tests are currently being applied, with funding
for 2010-11 being released upon a satisfactory response from each
of the growth locations.
The arrangements which should be put in place to
ensure appropriate cooperation between local planning authorities
on matters formerly covered by regional spatial strategies (eg
waste, minerals, flooding, the natural environment, renewable
energy etc)
20. The Conservative Party publication Open
Source Planning acknowledges that there will be a need for
coordination at a level higher than individual local planning
authorities, particularly in planning and delivering infrastructure.
The Government recognises that local authorities and county councils
will want to work together and make strategic planning decisions
on issues that cross boundaries such as green belt, biodiversity,
flooding, retail markets etc.
21. Authorities are free to work together on
cross boundary issues and many already do. The Government does
not wish to dictate when and how authorities should work together.
That is for them to decide. But we believe that it would be helpful
to offer authorities who want work together more formally the
option of developing strategic planning frameworks with statutory
status. Having an agreed planning approach across neighbouring
authorities on issues such as infrastructure, employment, transport,
infrastructure, or the natural environment will provide certainty
for all parties engaged in the planning process and help to attract
investors.
The adequacy of proposals already put forward
by the Government, including a proposed duty to cooperate and
the suggestion that local enterprise partnerships may fulfil a
planning function
22. Open Source Planning acknowledges
that local authorities must have access to all the relevant information
concerning proposed development so that they can anticipate the
nature and dimension of future infrastructure needs. Timely access
to the best available information is vital for authorities to
make planning and investment decisions. Too often, however, authorities
can be hampered by insufficient sharing of information between
the relevant bodies regarding current and potential future development.
The Government is committed to opening up information flows between
public bodies and utility companies so that all the relevant development
information, including plans produced by these bodies, is shared.
We have already committed to legislating for a "Duty to Cooperate"
to apply to local authorities and other public bodies to achieve
this. This will also support joint working on development plans
and work by local authorities on cross boundary issues.
23. The Government is also encouraging local
authorities and businesses to work together to support their local
economies. We have written to local authority leaders and business
inviting them to submit proposals for local enterprise partnerships
which will replace Regional Development Agencies. Local enterprise
partnerships will be central to the Government's economic vision
of rebalancing the economy toward the private sector.
24. We are encouraging a wide range of ideas
but we anticipate that local enterprise partnerships will comprise
both local authorities and business with a prominent business
leader chairing the board. We also expect that partnerships will
reflect the natural economic geography of the areas they serve—covering
the real functional economic and travel to work areas—rather
than existing administrative boundaries. Partnerships will want
to provide strategic leadership in setting local economic priorities
and creating the right environment for business and growth by
tackling issues such as planning, housing, local transport, employment,
enterprise and the transition to the low carbon economy. This
suggests a close relationship with any strategic planning frameworks
that are brought forward, particularly in terms of local economies.
25. The Government will be publishing a White
Paper on sub-national economic growth which will set out more
broadly our approach to economic growth, including the key role
of local enterprise partnerships.
How the data and research collated by the now
abolished Regional Local Authority Leaders' Boards should be made
available to local authorities, and what arrangements should be
put in place to ensure effective updating of that research and
collection of further research on matters crossing local authority
boundaries
26. It is very important that local authorities
capture, store and make available the information held by the
Leaders' Boards. For this reason we have asked Leaders' Boards
to demonstrate effective arrangements for the handover and management
of data as part of their transition plans. Local authorities in
all eight regions outside London are putting in place arrangements
for the safe long term storage of data and information. These
arrangements are well developed in all regions. In some regions
the National Archive has taken a "snapshot" of the information
held in electronic format, in addition to the arrangements being
made by local authorities.
27. Updating data and research will now be a
matter for local authorities and we expect them to start putting
their own arrangements in place for the collection and analysis
of evidence. Where local authorities found particular data valuable
they may choose to continue to collect it either individually
or in partnership with neighbouring authorities.
CONCLUSION
28. The planning system is vital for delivering
sustainable development and we firmly believe in its potential
to do so. But Regional Strategies took decisions away from communities
and democratically accountable decision-makers and imposed targets
on local communities. That created opposition to development,
delayed decisions and reduced confidence in the system. And Regional
Strategies have not been effective. Only 18% of local planning
authorities have adopted core strategies with up to date housing
targets at a time when housebuilding rates are at their lowest
for many years.
29. Our proposals are designed to decentralise
decision making and incentivise development so that the planning
system starts to support the delivery of homes and economic growth.
This will be done with the support of local communities as proponents
of sustainable growth. That is what the planning system was created
for and what it can deliver again.
September 2010
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