With a General Election weeks away, it is not a bad time to see who is offering what to that part of the electorate for whom planning raises important issues.
Over the last two parliaments, one of each colour with a bit of orange thrown in, town planning and local government has been legislated to within an inch of its life, so much so that number one of the Royal Town Planning Institute’s (RTPI) election wish list is that, for the next parliament, there should be no primary legislation, allowing all of the changes of the last few years to bed down, within a general framework of gradual policy shift. So, for whom are the development industry and the custodians of national/local planning policy going to cast their vote come 7 May?
Housing
The competition for who promises to build most new houses would be won by a Lib Dem government for whom the annual target is 300k built to the Zero Carbon Standard. This would include ten new garden cities, five of them on a new rail link between Oxford and Cambridge. The Labour Party looks to build 200k homes annually, and, to do so, would endorse the use of Green Belt Land for housebuilding. The Conservative targets may not reach these heights, looking for 200k homes on brownfield sites by 2020 and 165k affordable homes (2015-2018). Perhaps wisely, there is no commitment to an annual rate of construction.
New Towns
The Garden City concept is experiencing a new level of popularity. Labour’s housing target includes 500k new homes to be built in a new generation of towns, garden cities and suburbs. The Conservatives look to local authorities to drive the initiative for new communities of at least 15k homes each. So far, only the Lib Dems appear to have given thought to how many and where.
Affordable Housing
The Conservatives claim that 200k affordable homes have been built in this parliament, at a rate not achieved since 1994. They look to provide 100k discounted houses for first time buyers, a new homes bonus for local authorities and a reduction in the time period for right to buy opportunities. The Labour Party promises to revoke the recently applied threshold which precludes the provision of affordable homes on developments of fewer than ten houses.
Brownfield Sites
Each party’s planning policy lays understandable stress upon the role played by brownfield sites. The Conservatives look to make brownfield development immune from Community Infrastructure Levy. Labour would adjust the NPPF to make it a requirement to include a brownfield first sequential test. The Lib Dems acknowledge that their ambitious housing target would not be achieved only through brownfield site development, notwithstanding their endorsement of the brownfield-first principle. UKIP’s interest in getting Britain building includes the relaxation of planning rules for brownfield development, the creation of a national register of such sites, low-interest government bonds to enable decontamination, the suspension of Stamp Duty on first sale brownfield site homes and the relaxation of VAT.
Green Belt
Probably not a vote winner to suggest that the Green Belt is expendable, though Labour is open enough to admit to the possibility if it helps in building enough homes, and the Lib Dems presumably accept that brownfield sites and new communities will not hit their ambitious target without greenfield sites. The Conservatives, in the spirit of localism, leave Green Belt definition and use to local councils. UKIP “will protect the Green Belt”, though they don’t say from what.
Other Stuff
Planning and development issues often crop up as side lines in political manifestos, ideas that might sneak in under the radar and those which might be forgotten by 8 May. The Lib Dems look to introduce devolution into the Use Classes, allowing LPAs to determine such matters locally. UKIP would have planning permissions for large-scale developments overturned by a local referendum securing 5% of district voters. Planning Minister Brandon Lewis has acknowledged that LPAs which choose to rely upon the NPPF rather than produce a local plan could do so without coercion from a Conservative government. Labour will allow LPAs to secure land from developers who hoard it rather than implement a planning permission, and would give towns a right to grow over boundaries into neighbouring districts which oppose such growth. UKIP would, of course, scrap HS2 while the Conservatives will move on to HS3 across the Pennines. Only the Labour Party addresses the cost of providing a development control service and would do so by enabling LPAs to set planning fees locally on a full cost recovery basis “in return for guaranteed high levels of service”.
Pre-Election Thoughts
It is, of course, highly improbable that planning policies or proposals will play a significant part in the General Election, except where local issues prevail. UKIP might secure more votes than they might expect along the HS2 route and Labour’s seemingly flexible attitude towards the Green Belt is unlikely to damage their prospects in the Home Counties. While housebuilding and the re-use of brownfield land are critical issues, none of the parties have anything new to say in this regard. Indisputably, the country needs to build houses at a faster rate, homes that new purchasers can afford. The targets are ambitious, but they have to be, and none of the parties appear to have a worked-up strategy for housing, certainly not one that delivers in the time scale of a single parliament. The RTPI’s ambition for the new government, that it should plan to solve the housing crisis within a generation, is too long term for politicians, especially when one generation has already been let down by housing strategy. Perhaps housing is one social issue which, can only be handled by a coalition.
The RTPI will be relieved to see that no party anticipates more primary legislation and that the changes of the past few years will get the chance to succeed or fail over a reasonable period. In the meantime, do what you always do – vote for whoever cuts petrol and beer duty the most.
Mark Thackeray
Principal Consultant
Walsingham Planning
Tel: +44 (0)162 853 2244
mark.thackeray@walsingplan.co.uk
