Scrapping Regional Spatial Strategy

• Posted by David Jones on 23rd Jun ’10 at 10:35 BST
• 0 comments

Government announces that all Regional Spatial Strategies are to be scrapped

David Jones, Chartered Town Planner and head of Planning at Development Consultancy Evans Jones LLP has monitored the new coalition Government´s recent planning announcements.

The rhetoric of both the Tory and Liberal parties both pre and post election has re-iterated a commitment to the delivery of additional housing quickly and efficiently. Regrettably, the first three major planning policy announcements are more likely to strangle the delivery of new housing, discourage developers from providing affordable homes, significantly reduce housing densities and place greater strain on the development of Greenfield sites.

The regional spatial strategy whilst undoubtedly unpopular, at least sought to guide local authorities as to the level of new housing which is required within a specific area. In contrast, the new coalition government believe that empowering local communities with the power to decide for themselves the number and location of new homes will be an adequate substitute to a target-based system.

In my 20 years experience, it is a sad truth that communities are on the whole resistant to change, and although the enlightened may well agree and accept the need for additional homes, all too often the majority view is that such homes should be provided somewhere else.

The new coalition government have proclaimed that the scrapping of the RSS dismantles the top down approach of the last administration, and replaces it with a bottom-up approach where communities take control.

What seems to have been forgotten is that the RSS also set targets for the creation of new jobs by the allocation of new sites for employment purposes.

Within many towns, there is already a significant shortfall in the supply of employment sites. Scrapping the RSS will thus do nothing to help existing businesses who are seeking to relocate or expand.

It is of course true that some cities and towns have significant areas of Brownfield land of sufficient size to cater for the areas immediate housing and employment requirements. In such areas the recent coalition government′s policy announcements could bring about earlier regeneration of Brownfield sites as the number of Greenfield sites diminishes under the coalition government′s planning policy.

In areas with little or no Brownfield land, the situation is very different. It is my view that the supply of new housing land or new employment land will be severely limited. For those who already own a house, the impact could well be positive, for those seeking to get on the housing ladder or for businesses seeking new premises, the situation could be very different. Time will tell at which point policies need to change to return to a system where local authorities make decisions based upon the and agreed plan, irrespective of whether those decisions may be unpopular.

For further information on the scrapping of the RSS or indeed any planning issue, please contact David Jones at email.

For additional information about our planning services, please click on the following link: www.evansjones.co.uk