In a speech this week (23rd June) to the National Planning Forum, Planning Minister Bob Neill has called on the planning profession to lead the revolution to put power back into the hands of local people.
Mr Neill set out the Government's vision for the future where councils and local people work together with developers and planners to deliver new buildings in their area in the absence of top-down regional targets set, as he would have it, by unaccountable quangos and bureaucrats.
The suggestion is that decisions are no longer to be made based on Whitehall dictats regarding where and what must be built. Rather, those who make planning decisions will have to report back to those whose lives are directly affected by them and presumably be accountable through the ballot box if hard unpalatable decisions are made.
Mr Neill said that "Communities will be able to come together and take responsibility for solving their own local challenges in a way that make sense for them. And in return, they will be offered powerful incentives that ensure they see the benefits of the development they welcome”.
In the new planning scheme:
- Planning policy is to be streamlined and simplified, to free up local planning authorities and communities to make their own decisions
- Local plans will be more transparent and spell out how they will benefit the community
- Communities will help develop proposals for their neighbourhoods, rather than be consulted on 'options' that have already been prepared
- Local, long-term plans will become more important. That is to say that, if a new development is in the plan that is supported by local people, a proposal in line with that plan will be approved unless there are significant reasons against it.
Comment
It is difficult to see how these proposals are really going to make any significant improvement to the planning system. The implementation of ‘simplified’ Planning Policy will become fragmented and inconsistent, leading to challenge, delay, cost, frustration and a stifling of much needed economic stimulation and regeneration. It will lead to the imposition of another form of dictat, albeit local rather than central or regional, and will do nothing to increase the level of local participation in the process much above its current level. But most tellingly, it will not lead to the really controversial decisions, such as dealing with major infrastructure, being dealt with locally.
For further information on this or any other Planning, Energy or Environmental enquiries please contact David Merson, Head of Planning and Environmental Law at dmerson@steeleslaw.co.uk or telephone 020 7421 1742.