Amendment of the Law

Annette Brooke Excerpts

Monday 28th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Flint]

I have already given way to the hon. Gentleman, so I am going to make some progress.

I turn to some of the measures announced in the Government’s plan for growth. I think we would all agree that the planning system shapes the places where people live and gives character to our communities. It helps us to protect our natural and historic environment, and it should ensure that everyone has access to green space and unspoiled countryside. It is crucial for growth, because it supports economic development, helps to create jobs and contributes to our prosperity as a nation. I have never shied away from the fact that we as a country need to build more homes, and that our planning system has to support that. When the Government were elected, they promised bold, radical reform of the planning system that would speed it up, reduce bureaucracy and support growth. Let us look at what has happened.

Following the Government’s chaotic and botched reforms to the planning system, there has been a dramatic fall in the number of planning permissions for new homes, which are now at a near-record low. The figure for the third quarter of 2010 was the second lowest seen in the past 19 quarters, and in the last quarter of 2010, new planning permissions were down 22% on the previous year. It is no good the Government blaming the previous one, because things have got worse and not better since they came to power. The biggest drop of all came just after the last general election. In the first quarter of 2010, before the election, more than 40,000 planning permissions were granted to developers for new homes, but by the third quarter, after the election, that had fallen to just 30,000.

The Chancellor sought to address that last week, but I am afraid that in doing so, he sounded the death knell of localism. I offer my condolences to the Communities and Local Government Secretary for the demise of localism, because after months of the Government pledging power to the people—neighbourhood plans, communities in the driving seat and so on—the Chancellor blew localism out of the water in a single sentence. He said that

“from today, we will expect all bodies involved in planning…to prioritise growth and jobs, and we will introduce a new presumption in favour of sustainable development, so that the default answer to development is yes.”—[Official Report, 23 March 2011; Vol. 525, c. 956.]

I cannot recall cheers from Government Members when that was said. While the Secretary of State trumpets devolving power to local people and promises to give them a real say in the development of their area, the Chancellor wants to make it easier for developers to bypass the planning system altogether. They cannot both be right, which reinforces the confusion that has paralysed the planning system in the past 10 months.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

Did the right hon. Lady support regional spatial strategies, which imposed on my constituents a brand-new town on green belt that was not supported by any democratically elected person? Does she prefer that to the Government policy that she describes?

[Caroline Flint]

I am afraid that if the Chancellor gets his way, nobody will be consulted.

No community can thrive if the system is biased against change. Every community must look to create new homes, workplaces and jobs. A planning system that is devoid of obligations to provide for the future and that just protects the present is destined to fail, but a fair and open planning system that involves local people, and that leads to better decision making and greater consensus on development, is important. Although the Government promise to give local people more of a say, their policies do exactly the opposite. Ten months in, their record on planning is one of incompetence and broken promises. Government Members who represent our green and pleasant land must be in mourning, for although existing controls on green belt will be retained, the Chancellor made it very clear that the Government

“will remove the nationally imposed targets on the use of previously developed land.”—[Official Report, 23 March 2011; Vol. 525, c. 956.]

Forgive me for putting that in plain English. More developers will be given a yes, but as there will be no obligation to develop brownfield sites, by definition, more greenfields will be developed. I do not hear any cheers from Government Members for that one.

We can add to the chaos in the planning system the fact that plans for more than 200,000 new homes have been dropped. Under Labour, more than 2 million more homes were built in England, including 500,000 affordable homes; 1.5 million social homes were brought up to a decent standard; 700,000 new kitchens, 525,000 new bathrooms and more than 1 million new central heating systems were installed; 1 million more families were able to buy their own homes; help was provided to more than 130,000 first-time buyers through shared-ownership schemes or equity loans; and even in the teeth of the recession, the previous Government were building 55,000 new affordable homes, which is more than this Government will build in any of the next four years.

--- Later in debate ---

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

I start by welcoming the increase in income tax thresholds. It is important that 1.1 million people, including a number of part-time workers, are being taken out of tax altogether. That will make a great deal of difference to them. In addition, up to 25 million people are likely to receive a rebate, which will, of course, be some help in these difficult circumstances. I would also like to welcome the many measures to help small and medium-sized enterprises, through incentives to invest and innovate, reduction in taxation and, most importantly, cuts in regulations that have been such a burden on our small and medium-sized firms.

We are where we are, and there is no doubt that it is growth in the private sector that is going to take us out of this situation. We are already seeing growth in manufacturing and growth in exports. That has to be where the growth comes from, rather than in the public sector. In his Budget speech, the Chancellor identified our current planning system as a chronic obstacle to economic growth in Britain. I would like to make a few comments on some of the proposals for planning.

First, on making it easier to convert commercial premises to residential ones, I am pleased this is going out to consultation as I can see some instances where it would be beneficial and others where it would be detrimental. The overriding question for me is how this fits in with localism, local decision making and indeed the proposed neighbourhood plans.

Developing an office block left empty for many years owing to a lack of demand for such facilities because of new ways of working sounds like a good idea, but let us suppose that that office block overlooks Poole harbour. It could be right for a second home, so what conditions could be placed on it to make sure local that housing needs were met and that there was an affordable component? My own district shopping centre has suffered from estate agent creep, takeaway café creep and, of course, charity shops, so I hope its viability will be secured through a neighbourhood plan, but will this proposal present another threat? I welcome residential accommodation above shops, but there is often a conflict with noise and other side-effects from the retail use, which would need to be considered.

Although more flexibility about the level of control over change of use is generally to be welcomed, I am wary about any top-down national measures that would impede local people from shaping their local or town centres. Councils and local residents need to decide when and where the relaxing of rules would be advantageous. The new presumption is in favour of sustainable development so that the default answer is yes. Again, my worry is how this will fit with localism and the proposed neighbourhood plans. What is sustainable development? Presumably, it will be defined in the national policy framework. Housing amidst shops is sustainable in one sense, but not in others—the viability of a local shopping centre, for example.

Having fought long and hard against centralised targets, the south-west regional spatial strategy and the last Government’s plans that would have destroyed valuable green belt within my constituency and that were not supported by any locally elected person, I welcome the commitment to protect the green belt. Naturally, I welcome the removal of nationally imposed targets, but with this presumption, can valuable green spaces, which are not green belt, be protected within a neighbourhood plan? It is particularly important in an urban setting to protect those green lungs and to be mindful of densities. High density works in some settings, but not in others. Will this new presumption be a trump card over local plans?

The infrastructure must be there. We need the right balance with housing. My local council seems to be pursuing its core strategy and trying to put the plan in place, but is still working to the housing targets set by the last Government.

I shall comment briefly on something that affects housing in my constituency. I represent an area with a great deal of valuable heath land, of which I am very proud. Natural England, however, has a policy that no development can take place within 400 metres of the valuable heath land. That is right for a large development, but when it comes down to infilling in an already built-up area, sometimes with dual carriageway between the housing and the heath land, I feel that it is too restrictive and should be looked at again. I do not want to jeopardise our valuable heath land, but I am sure that this policy, as it stands at the moment, is too restrictive.

It is important to achieve growth. There has to be some scope for speeding up the planning process, for empowering our councils to prioritise employment and housing opportunities and for giving them the tools to do so. That seems to me to make sense because we should have local decision making—on how we work, how we live and how we play.