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Friday, 4 June 2021

Planning radicalised – or a ‘damp squib’?


Last year, the government published a controversial and much criticised White Paper on some wide-ranging planning ‘reforms’, which canvassed radical proposals for shaking up the English planning system. There was another fanfare (with the accompanying ballyhoo in the press) when, on the day before the Queen’s Speech last month, the Prime Minister announced with his usual hyperbole that the government was definitely going ahead with these revolutionary changes. The Queen’s Speech duly contained the announcement of a Planning Bill to put these proposals into legislative form.

After that, however, it quickly became clear that the government is in fact nowhere near ready to go ahead with the promised Bill. It emerged in the weeks that followed that as a result of strenuous opposition within Tory ranks, the government is far less determined to press ahead with their planning proposals than the PM made out. Considerable alarm was caused among party loyalists early in May by the loss of control of several councils in the south of the country, as a result of growing public opposition to the perceived threat of development in traditionally Tory-held areas.

For many years, there has been unresolved tension inside the Tory party between the gung-ho free marketeers on the one hand and a more conservationist faction (NIMBYs, if you like) on the other hand. The latter clearly had the upper hand when the Conservatives got back into government in 2010, having campaigned on a policy of ‘localism’, and promising electors that in future they would have local control over development in their area. Eric Pickles, as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, immediately set about putting this localism agenda into action, with the abolition of government-imposed Regional Spatial Strategies and the introduction of locally formulated Neighbourhood Plans.

Those of us who had been professionally involved in planning and development for many years did not believe that this new approach could be maintained and, as we expected, ‘localism’ was gradually watered down until, with the publication of last year’s White Paper, it seemed that the last vestiges of ‘localism’ were to be swept away, to be replaced by a radically overhauled planning system which would put an end to local residents’ ability to query and oppose unwanted development in their area. Unsurprisingly, this led to considerable push-back at a local level from Tory councillors and local party members, which in turn led to increasing pressure on backbench MPs to resist these proposals.

The government’s initial reaction was a robust reaffirmation of their determination to push ahead with their proposals, as evidenced by the PM’s statement on the eve of this years’ Queen’s Speech. Then Robert Jenrick (the current Secretary of State) was sent out to ‘reassure’ Tory backbenchers that it wasn’t going to be as bad as all that. This, however, has clearly failed to quell the disquiet in Tory ranks, which has only intensified in light of last month’s worrying local election results. As a result, there have been increasing hints that the government itself is now rowing back from its earlier gung-ho approach to their proposed planning ‘reforms’.

It would not be altogether surprising if the promised Planning Bill does not in fact come forward in the current parliamentary session, despite its announcement in the Queen’s Speech, or if it does that it may be delayed until later in the session. Any expectation, raised by the PM’s pre-Queen’s Speech announcement, that the promised Planning Bill would be introduced almost immediately was clearly misleading. At present, it is not even possible to predict which proposals from last year’s White paper will in fact survive to be included in the Bill. There is now a widespread expectation, even among government supporters, that what may emerge is likely to be a considerably watered-down version compared with the government’s original proposals, which will be much less radical in its effect than the government had hoped.

Even if we set aside speculation about the timing and contents of the Planning Bill, long experience has taught me that it is unwise to get too excited about parliamentary bills when they are first introduced. They usually look very different by the time they get to Royal Assent, mainly due to the government having second and third thoughts as the Bill goes through parliament. Opposition amendments are usually voted down (especially when the government has an 80-seat majority), although in this case, threatened backbench revolts on the government side over the Bill’s contents may persuade the government to back down on some clauses in the Bill if these still prove to be unacceptable to a significant number of their own backbenchers.

So I am prepared to predict that the resulting Planning Act, when it eventually reaches the statute book, is unlikely to work in the way the Prime Minister suggested ahead of the Queen’s Speech. It may become easier to gain planning permission for housing development; but this isn’t guaranteed, and many of the delays and expensive procedural hurdles for developers may continue to hamper the actual delivery of new housing. So my overall conclusion is that those of us in the planning and development sector will just have to “Wait and see”.

UPDATE (21.6.21) : Following the shock result of the Chesham and Amersham byelection last week, it comes as no surprise that backbench Tory MPs are getting even more jumpy about the government's proposed planning 'reforms'. There will clearly be intensified pressure on the government to row back from its more radical proposals, if not to drop them altogether. It seems that ministers are still trying to bluff and bluster their way through this 'noise', but at the very least I would expect some substantial further delay in the introduction of the promised Planning Bill while ministers decide how far they might be able to go in implementing their original proposals. A complete U-turn on the part of the government cannot be ruled out, so don't be surprised if we don't even see the Planning Bill introduced this year.

© MARTIN H GOODALL

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