2007 Planning White Paper: Archive Pages

17-Aug-07

Introduction

These pages provide a record of the evolving policy positions that the RTPI developed to inform the preparation of its response to the planning white paper.

The content of these pages commenced development in response to the Barker 2 and Eddington reports.  They were significantly amended in a series of reviews following the issuing of the white paper and its various 'daughter' consultation documents.

Their purpose was to transparently inform RTPI members of the approaches being taken to policy development by their Institute, in response to the white paper.  They enabled members to visit key issues and themes in the white paper, read RTPI responses and provide feedback to the RTPI policy team.

Over the period that these pages were available for member consultation, they had 17,129 unique visits.  Interestingly, although extensive opportunities were provided for member feedback by email, the quantity of feedback was small and almost all feedback supported the approaches set out in the pages.

The pages were also used to provide the core of briefings to the RTPIs Policy and Practice Committees and Networks, to stimulate the debates that gave rise to our finalised responses to the white paper.

It follows that the RTPI takes some considerable comfort that its white paper responses represent the broadly shared view of members.

The text below is an unaltered copy of the material that was available on the RTPI website up to 1pm on 17 August 2007.  Some links within it refer to external websites.  Please note that these links are no longer maintained.

 

Find out what's happening and get involved...

The white paper proposes major changes that will affect all planners and you have an opportunity to influence those changes through five consultation processes.

Are you a Member of the RTPI? Members views on any of these positions are always welcome. 

  • Click here to access the white paper consultations and provide your views.

What is in the White Paper?

The White Paper broadly sets out Government actions in response to the Barker and Eddington Reviews.  It has four key pillars:

  • A new system to decide major infrastructure projects with new approaches to community engagement and independent expert decision makers and new inquiry procedures.
  • Simplifying the local planning system for householders to make it far easier to make home improvements like extensions and conservatories, where there is little or no impact on neighbours.
  • Planning playing a bigger role in tackling climate change.
  • Ensuring the planning system continues to support vibrant town centres.

Changes to the development plan  and appeals system are also proposed.

Major infrastructure

Construction%20siteThe proposals include:

The RTPI is developing its response to these proposals in a more detailed article.  

  • Click here to view the article and contribute your views.

Local householder applications

House%20buildThe proposals include:

The RTPI is developing its response to these proposals in a more detailed article.  

  • Click here to view the article and contribute your views.

Climate change

solar%20panelThe proposals include:

Town centres

The proposals include:

  • a new test will require Councils to scrutinise any proposal for shopping developments outside of town centres and require Councils to carry out a rigorous assessment of the impact of unplanned out of town developments and to refuse any application that may have a negative impact on the local high street and not benefit the consumer;
  • new policy guidance for business proposals;

But what is missing?

Analysis suggests that three issues have not been dealt with as well as they might.

  • The white paper has committed to clearer national planning policy.  The RTPI has consistently called for the integration of national policy within a 'spatial planning framework' that allows cross-cutting linkages to be made much more easily.  The proposed reforms do not equate to this model.
  • The Government has also pledged a new commitment to protect the Green Belt. The White Paper makes clear previously developed brown field land must remain the clear priority for housing development with parks and green spaces protected. The RTPI is not clear that this position is necessarily the most sustainable.
  • HM Treasury has been undertaking a significant body of work on the provision of infrastructure to support housing growth.  It is not clear that this work has been reflected in the white paper to the level of significance that it warrants.

Is it what the RTPI asked for?

The RTPI has been working closely with a large number of stakeholders to develop clear positions on what the White Paper should say and to communicate these to the government.  The RTPI has developed policy analyses of the main positions set out in the white paper and these are found below.

However, this work is based closely on preliminary analysis undertaken to assist with the development of the white paper, before its publication.

  • Click here to access a breakdown of the RTPI's preliminary positions and the actions that were taken to communicate these positions.

 

 

The White Paper Says…   
National infrastructure policy statements

For key national infrastructure such as major airport and port projects, improvements to the Strategic Road Network, major new power generating facilities and facilities critical to energy security, and major reservoir and waste water plant works, [the Government] propose to:

  • produce, following thorough and effective public consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny, national policy statements to ensure that there is a clear policy framework for nationally significant infrastructure which integrates environmental, economic and social objectives to deliver sustainable development;

The RTPI explains...

  • This is the most important stage in the new system of dealing with major infrastructure proposals. If we can get national policy right through a democratic process then the rest of the proposed decision making system will be much more effective.
  • The RTPI has already issued its eight point plan for a workable independent commission. The new proposals in the White paper are not yet detailed enough to reassure the RTPI that they pass the tests we set for them.

The issues...

  • Can we get different Government Departments to issue one coherent and integrated statement of policy without compromising on the Government agendas on social cohesion, economic growth and climate change?
  • The Independent Commission must take into account all relevant Government policy, including the range of Planning Policy Statements (PPSs) as well as just the new National Policy Statements;
  • If there is to be a presumption in favour of development that accord with the new national statements, then these statements will have to be very comprehensive in their approach;
  • The national policy statements will have to be clear enough to form the basis of a engaging and valuable programme of public involvement;
  • The White Paper commits the Government to undertake proper sustainability appraisal of its National Policy Statements – particularly if they discuss locations. This procedure may provide the sharpest test yet of the Government’s proposals for such developments as airports and power stations;
  • How will the statements on, for example, energy tie in with that on transport or water without have a single integrated strategy?
  • How will the statements deal with the breadth of issues from national need to local?

The RTPI comments...

  • National Policy statements are a clear step in the right direction towards having a properly expressed national infrastructure strategy but the White Paper falls short of explaining how the new statements will reconcile the often conflicting priorities that beset national decision making...

 

The White Paper Says…    
Greater certainty for and earlier consultation by infrastructure promoters

The Government propose to:

  • provide greater certainty for promoters of infrastructure projects and help them to improve the way that they prepare applications by making better advice available to them; by requiring them to consult publicly on proposals for development; and by requiring early and effective engagement with key parties such as local authorities, statutory bodies, and relevant highway authorities...

The RTPI explains...

  • One of the problems outlined in the White paper is that, in the past, the proposers of major infrastructure have not always put forward proposals that are adequate in themselves. The White Paper now gives the proponents the responsibility to come forward with proposals that are thought through and on which they have adequately consulted the public.
  • At the moment, applications are made under a number of different pieces of legislation – such as the Electricity and Highways Acts. This proposal will introduce one single regime for deciding on the range of applications. The only exception to this is legislation dealing with health and safety.

The issues...

  • It will be important to streamline the procedures for infrastructure projects of national significance by rationalising the different consent regimes and improving the inquiry procedures for all of them;
  • Will the new Independent Commission use its full powers to send proposals back if they are not up-to-scratch?
  • Will we get the ‘streamlined system that the Government is hoping for if health and safety and operating licenses are dealt with separately?

The RTPI comments...

  • The procedures under health and safety legislation will need to be clearly integrated into this new single regime if the Governments objectives on transparency, legitimacy and speed are to be realised...

 

The White Paper Says…    
The independent planning commission

The Government propose to:

  • clarify the decision making process, and achieve a clear separation of policy and decision making, by creating an independent commission to take the decisions on nationally significant infrastructure cases within the framework of the relevant national policy statement...

The RTPI explains...

  • The Independent Commission will be made of some 20 to 30 experts who will decide on 10 to 25 proposals a year, operating in panels. The Commissioners will have the final say on any proposal.

The issues...

  • The Commission cannot be totally divorced from the democratic – and political – decision making process. It must be answerable for the overall thrust of its decisions to Ministers and to Parliament
  • There will need to be a wide range of expertise represented on the Commission, from engineering to planning and from public involvement to transport. Will it be possible to have that range of expertise on one panel?
  • It will be vital to appoint Commissioners who are seen to be truly independent of the various lobbies – but who still have the relevant expertise.

The RTPI comments...

  • The Independent Commission will be judged not only on the transparency of its decision making but on independence and expertise of those that sit on it and the way in which they are chosen...

  • Click here to see the RTPI's 8 point plan for the operation of the Independent Planning Commission.

 

The White Paper Says…    
Improved public involvement

The Government propose to:

  • improve public participation across the entire process by providing better opportunities for public consultation and engagement at each stage of the planning approval process; improving the ability of the public to participate in inquiries by introducing a specific “open floor” stage; and, alongside the introduction of new system, providing additional funding to bodies such as Planning Aid...

The RTPI explains...

  • The involvement of the public in this process will be one of the key tests of the value of this new system.

The RTPI comments...

  • The Government, the Independent Commission and the proponents of major infrastructure schemes will have to work hard to involve the public in a really meaningful way to avoid such engagement being purely tokenistic. It will certainly not be acceptable if the Government, from the new Prime Minister downwards, has already made its views clear on a major infrastructure proposal – such as nuclear power...

 

The White Paper Says…    
Town and country planning: a new policy approach

The Government propose to:

  • produce a more strategic, clearer and more focused national planning policy framework with PPS1 – Delivering Sustainable Development at its heart, to provide the context for plan-making and decision-taking...

The RTPI comments...

  • The CLG has fallen short of its commitment to make more focused and coherent policy statements. There is the need for a radically new approach, including looking at one national statement of key spatial planning policies...

 

The White Paper Says…    
Town and country planning: a new economic policy

The Government propose to:

  • publish a new Planning Policy Statement, Planning for Economic Development, which will further reinforce the Government’s commitment set out in PPS1 to promoting a strong, stable and productive economy with access for all to jobs, to regeneration and improved employment prospects...

The RTPI comments...

  • We welcome moves to update a policy that is now nearly fifteen years old. The new policy will have to be set in the context of the new agendas of climate change, and social and economic exclusion as well as the stated aim for a strong, stable and productive economy...

 

The White Paper Says…    
Town centres and the need test

The Government proposes:

  • improve the effectiveness of the town centre planning policy by replacing the need and impact tests with a new test which has a strong focus on our town centre first policy, and which promotes competition and improves consumer choice, avoiding the unintended effects of the current need test...

The RTPI explains...

  • At present, local planning authorities can require a developer to show what effect a new shopping development will have on The Barker Review of Land Use proposed ‘removing the requirement to demonstrate need (the ‘needs test’) as part of the planning application process. Kate Barker has subsequently stated that she has re-thought this aspect of her report.

The issues...

  • It is not the time to even threaten loosening the powers of planning to examine the effects that a shopping proposal will have on local choice when there is such public concern about the domination of a few retail chains both out-of-town and on the high street.

The RTPI comments...

  • Kate Barker has already stated that she hopes that the Government will listen to the objections to her proposal! The White Paper goes some way to reassure those who campaigned against removing the needs test entirely but we are still very concerned that changing the test could well lead to its watering down – to the ultimate detriment of local choice in shopping...

 

The White Paper Says…    
PPS Climate Change

 The Government propose to:

  •  finalise the Planning Policy Statement on climate change and introduce legislation to set out clearly the role of local planning authorities in tackling energy efficiency and climate change...

The RTPI explains...

  • Last year’s report by Sir Nicholas Stern made clear that emissions of greenhouse gases could lead to catastrophic climate change, causing very significant economic damages. In contrast, the economic cost of action to manage climate change would be significantly lower. Market, fiscal and planning measures were identified as necessary.
  • Planning policy and legislation clarifying the climate change actions to be taken by local planning authorities respond to this.

The issues...

  • It is important to ensure that the planning system takes action to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses due to the use and development of land...

The RTPI comments...    

  • This white paper commitment is ‘work in progress’, emerging from the Stern report, the Climate Change Bill proposals. The PPS on climate change was consulted on from December 2006 to March 2007. The RTPI made a broadly supportive response to the draft PPS.
  • The idea of legislation to define a clear role for local planning authorities appears to complement the proposal for a Climate Change Bill...

 

The White Paper Says…    
Reduced-carbon commercial buildings

The Government propose to:

  •  work with industry to set in place a timetable and action plan to deliver substantial reductions in carbon emissions from new commercial buildings within the next 10 years.

The RTPI explains...

  • The Code for Sustainable Homes has already set a trajectory towards zero carbon new residential development by 2016. The Code does not apply to new commercial buildings.

The issues...

  •  The lack of a code for sustainable commercial construction has drawn an artificial distinction between residential and commercial development. All new development should respond to climate change and action should be taken to reduce the climate change impacts of existing development.

The RTPI comments...

  • The RTPI supports the concept of a zero carbon development trajectory for all new development, by 2016.
  • However, the key issue to remember is that even if we build at a very high rate over the next ten years, most of the built environment will still be made up of existing building stock. It will be important to ensure that action is taken to reduce the climate change impacts of existing development...

 

The White Paper Says…    
Micro-generation permitted development 

The Government propose to:

  •  review and wherever possible extend permitted development rights on microgeneration to non residential types of land use including commercial and agricultural development...

The RTPI explains...

  • This proposal is about allowing commercial land uses to install their own small renewable energy measures, without needing planning permission.

The issues...

  • At present, most commercial land uses lack ‘permitted development rights’, allowing them to make minor changes to their buildings without needing planning permission.

The RTPI comments...

  • The RTPI supports the idea that small changes to commercial buildings that reduce carbon dioxide emissions should be able to be made without planning permission, as long as the changes do not cause direct harm to the public interest or the public realm...

 

The White Paper Says…    
Sustainable Community Strategies and Local Development Frameworks

 The Government propose to:

  • place planning at the heart of local government by aligning the Sustainable Community Strategy and the local development framework core strategy. We will also work with the Local Government Association and others to continue building capacity, promoting culture change in planning and we will issue ‘place shaping’ guidance...

The RTPI explains...

  • Central government is working with councils, partner agencies and local people to create ‘sustainable communities’. These are seen as the residential and workplace surroundings in which people live and thrive, where there is a balance and integration of the social, economic and environmental components that define a community area.
  • Sustainable communities are seen as: 
    • safe and inclusive;
    • well planned, built and run;
    • offering equality and opportunity for all;
    • but forget the ‘one size fits all’ template, because sustainable communities are diverse, reflecting their own local circumstances;
  • Sustainable Communities Strategies are prepared by local government. There is an increasing need to ensure that plans prepared under the planning legislation and Sustainable Community Strategies join up and become as one.
  • Similarly, Local Area Agreements (or Multi Area Agreements) are formed as partnerships between local government and other entities involved in delivering public services.
  • The Lyons Report developed ‘place shaping’ as a strong theme for local government. Spatial planning has a strong contribution to make towards ‘place shaping’.
  • Culture change in planning aims to join up plan making and implementation

The issues...

  • The Local Government White Paper flagged the joining up of Sustainable Community Strategies and Local Development Framework Core Strategies. This is to a large extent a natural process.

The RTPI comments...

  • The RTPI broadly endorses the position outlined in the white paper, which builds on our response to the local government white paper, our work on planning for infrastructure at the local level and our recent 'Joining Together' report...

 

The White Paper Says…    
Planning Performance Agreements

 The Government propose to:

  •  introduce Planning Performance Agreements, which will help streamline the processing of major applications, and support a properly resourced planning service with changes to planning fees and consult on devolving the setting of planning fees to local authorities...

The RTPI explains...

  • A Planning Performance Agreement is an agreement between a developer and a local planning authority about the information and time needed to respond to a planning proposal.
  • The White Paper proposes that if such an agreement is in place, the planning application subject to it should be decided in the timescale set out in the agreement. The agreement will be able to provide for this timescale to extend beyond the current target timescale of 13 weeks for major applications

The issues...

  • The current target timescales of 13 weeks to decide a major application have led to perverse outcomes, when linked to funding measures for local planning authorities. Planning authorities can be pressed to decide proposals in 13 weeks, leading them to refuse planning permission on complex schemes that require negotiated improvements. Alternatively, local planning authorities can be pushed to accept poor quality outcomes in order to meet their 13 week targets.
  • Planning performance agreements enable local planning authorities and applicants to focus on making decisions in a timescale that is relevant to the complexity of the matter before them and to bring about higher quality outcomes.

The RTPI comments...

  • The RTPI supports the use of planning performance agreements to establish the timescale within which major development proposals are considered...

 

The White Paper Says…    
Householder permitted development

The Government propose to:

  • introduce a new impact approach to householder development which will reduce the number of minor applications whilst protecting the interests of neighbours, the wider community and the environment, and then extend this approach to other types of development...

The RTPI explains...

  • Householder permitted development comprises the minor things that can be done to a house without planning permission. The impact approach sets the threshold of permitted development at a level where the proposed alteration is likely to have a public impact. The principle is that if it does have such an impact, then planning permission should be required. If it only has a limited public impact, then planning permission should not be required.

The issues...

  • Research carried out for Communities and Local Government suggests that as people move house less, they tend to make many more minor alterations to their existing homes.
  • Attics and cellars are converted, extra bedrooms and an office are added and kitchens expanded.
  • Much of this work needs planning permission and this has seen a significant rise in the numbers of small cases dealt with by local planning authorities. These minor planning applications consume a significant volume of local planning authorities’ resources. It is not clear that many of these alterations genuinely have a public impact.
  • Increasing the scope of householder permitted development could remove the requirement for planning permission from proposals with limited public impact.

The RTPI comments...

  • The RTPI broadly supports the development of the impact principle to reduce the numbers of small scale householder development proposals that need planning permission.
  • However, the opportunity should not be taken to reduce the resources available to local planning authorities. Rather, more planner time should be spent on matters for which planning permission is still required, to ensure that outcome quality is improved...

 

The White Paper Says…    
Streamlined call-ins and appeals

The Government propose to:

  •  streamline the planning application process, reduce the number of applications called in by ministers and introduce a range of measures to substantially improve the appeals process...

The issues...

  • The Eddington Report found that major infrastructure proposals called-in by Ministers tended to experience long decision times.

The RTPI comments...

  • The RTPI broadly supports measures to ensure the timeliness of particularly appeal and call-in processes. However, measures based on the timeliness of decision-making should not be used to exclude communities from involvement in decisions that affect them...

 

 

 
Author:
Rynd Smith
Publisher:
The Royal Town Planning Institute
Date:
17-Aug-07
Categories:
Practice, Policy 
Sections:
What Planning Does

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