New Planning Framework: A Case For Development?
Conservative Planning Minister Greg Clark told the House of Commons that the planning system in England sorely needs reforming, and that the changes that he is proposing will be good for developers, homebuyers and the countryside alike. Mr Clark said that government had to stop getting in the way of building new houses, otherwise young families would believe that "the property-owning democracy was for our generation, not for theirs."Speaking in the Commons on the 27th of March, the minister said that “top-down targets [leave] communities seeing planning as something done to them, rather than by them". The national planning policy framework is meant to undo a decade of centrist planning and make scores of new houses available for sale to first time buyers.
The new framework supports localism, while reducing the planning burden on local councils considerably. A government spokesperson said that the planning regulations had become too complex and were holding back economic growth. This new framework reduces a 1,300 page document to a 50 page booklet.
The British Property Federation (BFP), which represents landlords and property developers, said that a raft of amendments made in response to early criticism of the framework have helped to reassure critics. The new framework lays down a requirement favouring brownfield ahead of greenfield sites, a strong “town centre first” emphasis and a clearer definition of sustainable development. Greg Clark also said that the amended framework will continue to protect gardens and playing fields.
However, questions still remain about how the new framework will be implemented. According to the BPF it is still unclear “how the framework will work in practice given around half of local authorities still have not produced a Local Plan, and the complete lack of any underpinning guidance to support the document.” Councils without an existing local plan will start to use the government’s guidance immediately, while those that already have a plan will have one year to make it consistent with the framework.
Some critics continue to voice concerns about the level of protection afforded to communities and the environment. The National Trust has said that the changes from the first version give the framework "better tone and balance,” but Dame Fiona Reynolds, The Trust’s director general said: "The country needs huge effort at a local level to get plans in place that properly reflect the integration of social, economic and environmental goals, and protect places people value."
Paragraph 199 in particular leaves the framework open to pressure by development interests: "Local planning authorities should consider using Local Development Orders to relax planning controls for particular areas or categories of development, where the impacts would be acceptable, and in particular where this would promote economic, social or environmental gains for the area, such as boosting enterprise." All sustainability provisions can be weighed against an economic argument and set aside if the council so decides.
Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hilary Benn, questions whether the reforms are needed at all: "Ministers claim that planning is the obstacle to building homes when 300,000 dwellings, already given permission, have not yet been built...because of the failure of the government's own economic policy," he said.
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