Planning and Regeneration

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Tuesday 26th February 2013 Westminster Hall

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dobbin. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Weston-super-Mare (John Penrose) on securing this important debate, which covers a range of subjects, all of which are keenly considered important by those whom we represent.

The full title of the debate is “Role of planning in preserving urban views and regenerating high streets”. Our high streets are coming to terms with the change in shopping habits. Can the planning system do anything to help speed and assist that regeneration? The key question is, is the planning system a help or a hindrance in that process at the moment? Clearly, it has a part to play. I served for five years as a cabinet member on a local authority, in charge of planning policy. Thankfully, I was not in charge of implementing individual decisions, which of course is the most contentious part of it. The part that I found most difficult was the speed at which the planning system works. Whether people are on the side of a developer or a shopkeeper wanting to make a minor change, or objecting to an application that they feel will blight their part of town, they want a speedy resolution of the issue.

We can all relate to the listed views that my hon. Friend mentioned. As he represents a different seaside resort, I am sure he has a different view, but he should come to witness the sunrise over Cleethorpes. All of those things add to the quality of life, so they are important.

The Government have made some important changes to the planning system since the coalition agreement, including the new planning framework, all of which has been very good. One aspect about which I have reservations is that more decision making is being passed to unelected officials, be it the Planning Inspectorate or whatever, whether on appeal or because a local authority is seen to be failing in its duty. A vital part of the local democratic process is that local councillors should be in charge of making planning decisions. Those of us who have served on a local authority appreciate that people expect us to be involved in and to influence planning decisions, whether small or large. That goes right to the heart of our local democratic process.

Cleethorpes High street has a good mix, and it is surviving despite the onslaught from out-of-town developments and neighbouring Grimsby, where the main shopping centres are located. I appreciate that shoppers do not take note of political boundaries. In fact, Grimsby and Cleethorpes are one area. Thirty years ago, Freeman street in Grimsby was the hub of the local retail community, which served a vast housing area where many who worked on the fish docks lived. Freeman street has declined into a street of boarded-up properties with the occasional charity shop, a few takeaways and little else because the local authority, on which I served for a period, did its level best to maintain the high street as it was without recognising that the main shopping centre had moved elsewhere. We tried to preserve the high street, and it was like continually putting plasters on to a wound.

We must recognise that the high street is changing. Out-of-town retail parks have, to a considerable extent, become a replacement high street. People can go to the local out-of-town supermarket, which is surrounded by half a dozen outlets of a similar nature. People can get everything in that one place, which we must recognise. I want to preserve high streets where they are commercially viable and, in effect, wanted by the local community.

I am not a particular fan of the recommendations of the Mary Portas review, although not because I do not support its aims and objectives—I served on a town team for a great many years. Across the country, there are councils, chambers of commerce, traders associations and the like that have tried virtually everything contained in the Portas review, including adjusting planning controls and doing their best to keep parking charges at a reasonable level.

We must recognise that parking charges are an important part of a local authority’s income. When I was a councillor, parking charges represented just over £1 million of income. Yes, people can say that doing away with or restricting parking charges would boost the local economy and might attract more business, thereby boosting business rates, but it is a long-term process. In the meantime, the local authority is stuck with having to provide services on hard-pressed budgets. That income simply cannot be replaced. Yes, there are schemes. North Lincolnshire council, which forms part of my constituency, has had a very successful scheme in recent months that has proven a godsend to many of the smaller towns and has helped things along considerably.

Promenades are an important part of seaside resorts such as Cleethorpes and Weston-super-Mare, and they are equally part of the retail mix. Yes, promenades have their amusement arcades, but if we want a vibrant seaside resort, there has to be a mix of arcades, retail, cafés, restaurants, and so on. We urgently need to do all we can. My own party produced a document on seaside resorts prior to the election called, as I recall, “Not the end of the line.” The document considered many of those issues, and perhaps it is worth the Minister digging the document out of the files so that we can see whether we can proceed with some of its suggestions.

My hon. Friend mentioned the need for change of use so that people are able to bring many of the now surplus retail units back into use—every town has parades of shops that are now redundant as retail units. Yet more help is needed, perhaps including a programme of support, so that owners can change those units into residential use. We all know of the chronic housing difficulties in many parts of the country, and many of the surplus retail properties are owned by small-time developers or redundant family businesses that have now closed down with people moving on. It would be helpful if the Minister were to consider those things.