Planning Green Paper - out on Monday

UPDATE, Wed 17 Feb, 22:00: OK so I think it's finally coming out on Monday 22nd.

UPDATE, Wed 10 Feb, 17:20: Still no Planning Green Paper. The House of Commons is off now until Mon 22nd Feb, so the Green Paper will probably be published that week.

UPDATE, Sun 7 Feb, 14:24: The Planning Green Paper has been delayed - not sure why - and won't come out tomorrow (Monday). The Tories better not delay it too long, because the House of Commons rises for its half-term recess on Wed 10th, and doesn't come back until Mon 22nd. So they will be hoping to get the Green Paper out on Tue 9th or Wed 10th.

The Conservatives' Planning Green Paper is out on Monday 22nd (I think). The overall thrust will be to make the existing planning system more democratically accountable - to Parliament and local councils.

We expect these Tories' proposals:

• Infrastructure Planning Commission - set up by the 2008 Planning Act - to be folded into the Planning Inspectorate and made more accountable, by getting Parliament to vote on National Policy Statements (on things like energy and transport) and Ministers to decide on individual cases.

• Regional Spatial Strategies to be abolished, with planning and housing powers handed back to local authorities. Council tax and business rate incentives will be offered to towns and cities that want to go for new development. Clusters of councils will be encouraged to collaborate, through Local Enterprise Partnerships.

• Community Infrastructure Levy won't go ahead in its present proposed form.

• Government Office London to be handed over to Boris.

Property developers have been very concerned about these plans, for months - see this FT report from last week. Land Securities etc are worried that a Tory Government will trigger a wave of excessive localism and encourage local councils to oppose vital new developments.

Excessive localism is definitely a risk, but I'm hoping that the Green Paper will anticipate that by being more pragmatic than dogmatic. The Tory plans will need to strike a delicate balance. Make planning too accountable, and they could bring all new development to a standstill. Backtrack too much on their localism rhetoric, and they could aggravate their political base in the shires.

Other risks include complexity and uncertainty. Reforming national plans, scrapping regional plans, and introducing new local incentives - all during a very fragile recovery - is an ambitious strategy. It's not clear how all this will pan out, what the net result will be, and how it might help or hinder the recovery.

PS Not sure whether the Green Paper will clarify the Tories' position on RDAs - will have to wait til Monday.

Comments

[Nick Webb]

It will be interesting to see the content of the policy paper. With regard to the concerns of developers I think one needs to look at the gulf between what is being said by Grant Shapps in terms of policy and the way in which General Election candidates and Councillors are interpreting it when they speak to voters. There are some who come dangerously close to viewing the Tory plans as an end to house-building in their area. How this can be seen as a plausible position when there are housing waiting lists, people struggling to afford their first home, population growth and a decreasing average number of people per household is beyond me. There also seems to be a lack of understanding that if young people can't afford to stay in an area there will be a skills shortage in due course.

I think Grant Shapps' policy is a welcome change to the regional spatial strategy approach. I'm very keen on the idea of more power being devolved to local government. However, I do feel that the way the policy is being interpreted by some politicians when campaigning is unhelpful and unrealistic.

The policy is not an end to house building. It is a shift of the decision making process. Any authority worthy of being elected will have to be pragmatic about housing numbers.

[gwen swinburn]

Dermot- any news from any party on a local hotel bed night tax? Gwen

[Dermot]

Nick - totally agree with your comments. You're quite right to highlight the difference between national party statements, and local politics on the ground - especially on something like planning.

Gwen - no sign of local hotel tax. Michael Lyons toyed with the idea, when he was reviewing local govt finance in 2007 - but decided against it. None of the parties is proposing it now, although the Lib Dems are calling for the business rate to be fully relocalised.