Devolution may be a step in the right direction to rebalancing the UK’s growth, however its strategy and execution need to be carefully thought through if the construction industry is to reap the rewards, writes Jeremy Blackburn, Head of Policy and Parliamentary Affairs at the RICS…
As expected, the newly elected Conservative Government has moved forward with its plans for the decentralisation of powers to cities and regions through its Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill. The commitment to this is shown in George Osborne’s city deal announcement within twenty four hours of the government taking office and two specific Ministers for the Northern Powerhouse.
This redistribution of decision-making authority is something that RICS fully supports, as part of the overall drive to rebalance the economy. In fact, the objectives set out for devolution partly mirror RICS’ own vision for a ‘bigger than local, smaller than national’ approach to economic development.
However, our concern is that there is still great uncertainty about exactly what the new powers will entail for local authorities; and how these will fit together as part of a coherent framework of governance.
There are now many components to local leadership and funding. LEPs, elected mayors and Enterprise Zones are just some of the mechanisms currently used. It’s not enough for the Government to simply devolve power from Westminster to the regions, it also needs to provide guidance and clarity about how those new powers can be used.
RICS recommends the development of a prospectus to give local authorities – and their many delivery partners – a chance to see what is on offer as part of the devolution agenda. Without clarity there is a risk of adding yet more confusion to an already intricate planning and delivery pipeline.
Careful consideration must also be taken as to the measures and mechanisms that will be needed once devolution becomes widespread. One criticism of the current system of leadership – particularly in relation to LEPs – is that they don’t necessarily have the administrative or financial clout to create jobs or get ‘spades in the ground’.
One suggestion made by RICS in its recent Property in Politics paper is to empower bodies such as LEPs to use their local insight to assess the merits of the planned infrastructure and construction projects being proposed.
An example of how this could work can be seen in our call for the development of ‘Olympic-style’ Infrastructure Delivery Partnerships. These would see local bodies and private sector companies coming together to deliver area-specific projects, given proper priority in the National Infrastructure Plan. The publicly-accountable and jointly funded partnerships would remove deterrent risk and would focus on delivering contracts on time and to budget.
Similarly, the same logic can be applied to local construction industries. One major concern for many RICS members is that there is a lack of cooperation across local authority boundaries – something which is becoming a real barrier to housing delivery in the regions.
To counter this, we’d like to see the establishment of a clear leadership function to fast track the delivery of major projects in the form of Development Delivery Units (DDUs), under LEPs or combined authorities. Armed with the appropriate powers and expertise, these bodies would help to drive the delivery of construction contracts and enforce the Duty of Cooperation between regional partners.
Devolution, and the government’s drive to implement it, should be seen as a necessary and wholly positive step forward for the UK and its many regions. We are being given a real opportunity to bring about long-term economic and social change.
However, we need to ensure that local authorities and their supporting cast of stakeholders have the right roadmap in front of them in order to understand exactly what devolved powers are on offer and how these can be wielded effectively. That, combined with the appropriate leadership mechanisms and close collaboration with the private sector, is what will really help to make devolution a success.
For more information about devolution in the UK regions, visit www.rics.org.
Jeremy Blackburn
Head of Policy and Parliamentary Affairs
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
Tel: +44 (0)24 7686 8555
contactrics@rics.org