THE feedback from our developer and investor clients, following the Budget last week, is that the Coalition’s approach to overhaul the planning system is giving a mixed message.
In one corner we have the drive towards localism and the plethora of proposals aimed at giving communities a greater say over the planning decisions made in their area, including proposals for the introduction of neighbourhood plans following local referenda.
In the other, we have the pro-growth planning agenda unveiled in the Budget speech, including the much-heralded presumption in favour of sustainable development.
There was even a pledge to deal with the planning application process (including appeals) within 12 months, although the fear is that this will result in more applications being unnecessarily refused.
To cap it all, the Chancellor stated that “while it was quite right for local communities to have their say, there would be an expectation for councils to prioritise jobs and growth”.
Equally important, in my view, is the proposed increase in budgets for local authority spending on planning services.
We have been saying for a long time that more emphasis should be placed on well-resourced planning authorities, and properly remunerated planning officers.
Successive governments seemed to have misunderstood this and the inescapable fact that any system is only as good as the people administering it.
In a region with two of the country’s proposed 10 new enterprise zones, is this an attempt to rebalance the new system which was becoming precariously unstable?
While some of the proposals are unclear and worryingly experimental, it does feel the playing field is being rebalanced.
It is critical, however, that the measures highlighted in the Budget are embedded in the planning system in a way, which is not compromised and provides real teeth.
My advice to developers and investors is that significant opportunities are emerging through a system which is becoming less fixated with out-dated planning policy and more focused on effective negotiation.
For those involved in development, it is clear that these skills will be tested to breaking point over the coming months and years.
