We at GVA welcome the Localism Act. Taken together, the principal components of the Act are a significant, positive step forward in giving power back to local authorities and encouraging innovation.
The Act will grant new freedoms and flexibilities for local development, strengthening local democracy and accountability.
It will create new rights and powers for local communities and businesses.
It will also secure greater opportunity to initiate and participate in local planning and change.
The ultimate consequence is that many more decisions about housing provision and delivery can be taken locally.
GVA has long advocated the merits of a city regional approach to economic growth, placing cities at the heart of the economic agenda in which strong civic leadership is critical to them reaching their full economic potential. Rebalancing the disparities in regional growth across the UK starts with leadership.
In clearing the way for locally elected mayors, the Localism Act will give many of our northern cities a voice in the first instance, but also the ability to generate resources to deliver local priorities and break free from the functional silos that public policy and finance tends to operate within.
The local government finance settlement was some £19bn in 2011/12.
Even if a small proportion of this was made available to forge a new creative relationship with the private sector across a platform of locally determined economic development and regeneration projects in our cities, then the prospects for growth in our provincial cities would look that much brighter.
This is the real potential of the Localism Act.
However, there are still matters which need addressing.
In terms of planning, there is a need for transitional arrangements to be agreed pending the adoption of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
The Localism Act has probably introduced the most significant changes to the planning system since 1947, and, as the NPPF moves forward, there remains on the one hand uncertainty around further planning reform, but also uncertainty as to how the framework will assist in the delivery of the potential outlined above.
Uncertainty is always very damaging to investor and developer confidence, and clarity of the Governments intentions around planning reform is urgently required if the sound principles of the Localism Act are not to be undermined by an unhelpful planning system.
We look forward to local authorities responding positively to the enhanced powers and freedoms which they have been granted.
