Government outlines planning reforms in Queen's Speech

Planning reform on the agenda

The overwhelming cry for change in planning law has been acknowledged in a Queen’s Speech otherwise heavily focused on law and order measures. Although there had been rumours that a planning Bill was to be left out of the Queen’s Speech, John Prescott will get the chance in the next twelve months to put his changes through parliament. However, the regionalisation and abolition of county Structure Plans will proceed in a separate regional government Bill to be published this week.

Much of the reform package will emerge through secondary legislation and under the Secretary of State’s existing powers; parliamentary – and, therefore, public - scrutiny will be much more limited and the public debate the government may have feared will not take place. The issue of government intervention on low-density schemes will be dealt with in this way. Work on many issues covered in the Green Paper – such as the statements of community involvement in the planning process which will give community consultation a much higher profile – is still ongoing and its implementation is being considered by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM).

Among the measures likely to be included in the Bill are:
Speeding up for major infrastructure projects and fast-track developments in town centres and areas where jobs are needed;

Setting statutory targets for quicker handling of ‘called-in’ applications;

Reforms to public inquiries;

Replacement of the Local Plan system with Local Development Frameworks;

Changes to speed up compulsory purchase powers;

The promotion of sustainable development as a legal purpose for planning.

As the Bill is published it will emerge whether aspects of the reforms will be subject to serious challenge from opposition parties. At this stage it is likely that opposition attention will be focused on other legislation. Green Issues will be monitoring events in parliament and analysing the effects for all stakeholders and businesses involved in the planning process.

Power to the Regions?

The widely trailed regional government Bill will allow the setting up of a referendum in a region where evidence of support is forthcoming. However, it is predicted that the Bill will not include specific provisions for the assemblies themselves. This will add to the opposition to regional government from the Conservatives, who oppose it on principle, some Liberal Democrats, who feel it does not go far enough, and a much larger group, particularly in the south east, who are relatively neutral on the concept and will not spend much time supporting it.

The House of Lords is almost certain to oppose the move for Structure Plans: Conservative (because of a perceived European agenda) and Liberal Democrat peers (many of whom have a county council background) will join crossbenchers and can comfortably outvote the government.

Even if the legislation goes forward, Labour and regionalists will have a major battle to establish regional government everywhere. Many local disputes exist about regional boundaries – for example, Cornwall is desperate for regional government, but opposition grows the further east of the Tamar its boundary is set. There are, as the Local Government Association puts it, ‘different views about the merits of regional government depending on… political and geographical influences’. In other words, all political parties have splits, many of them on geographical lines.

Other Bills

The forthcoming session of Parliament will not be short of controversy. The Hunting Bill will see to that. The long-awaited reform of pub licensing – opposed by some publicans due to concerns that local government will oppose extensions to licensing hours – is also included. And legislation on cross-media ownership will be the subject of furious debate.

Environmental measures get some attention from government, including water conservation and rail transport safety.

Reactions

The Conservatives are undergoing a major policy review at the moment, and are likely to focus on opposing aspects of Labour’s proposals. Tory peers are likely to forge alliances with Lib Dems and others and will have a busy session amending and even blocking legislation; attention will focus mainly on criminal justice reforms but also the abolition of county Structure Plans. The majority in the House of Lords is likely to delay the passing of this and put pressure on John Prescott to save the Structure Plan.

Liberal Democrat alternatives do not centre on planning reform but focus instead on decentralisation. Their calls for the strengthening of local councils’ powers form part of a package of localisation, public service reforms and other legislation set out in an alternative Queen’s Speech. They are also seeking an environmental responsibility Bill setting out reporting requirements for business.

For more information on the possible implications of this raft of measures, contact Jon Hartley or Gareth Epps on 0118 959 1211.

Green Issues Communications
The Green House
9 Southern Court
South Street
Reading
Berks
RG1 4QS

FIND US!

Managing stakeholder communications
greenissues.communications