Localism - is it working?

RTPI North East held a conference on 26 September entitled “Localism: Is it Working?” The conference, which was held at the Centre for Life in Newcastle, was attended by around 70 delegates, who were treated to talks from public and private sector officials as well as an academic representative and a leading QC.

Karen Ledger (Head of Planning Services at Northumberland County Council) spoke about the challenges associated with the Neighbourhood Planning Process in Northumberland whilst Jules Brown (North of England Civic Trust) give a charismatic talk about the North Shields Fish Quay Neighbourhood Planning project. Zann Gunn from Newcastle University Global Urban Research Unit presented an academic overview of how she though the Localism Act was working. In the afternoon the conference heard from Stephen Litherland (Planning Manager at Bellway Homes) who give a housebuilders’ perspective, John Baker (Partner at Peter Bett Associates) who spoke primarily about the duty to co operate and finally from Ian Dove QC (No.5 Chambers) who gave a legal overview regarding the importance surrounding the duty to cooperate.

David Stovell (Partner at Stovell and Millwater), who chaired the conference, said:

“I think the conference was really well received by the delegates. The speakers were all excellent and we were able to cover a wide range of issues in one day.”

The key issues emerging from the conference were the same issues currently giving the planning industry as a whole some food for thought: primarily the tension between the drive to encourage economic growth and the need for more housing, versus the localism rhetoric coming out of the Localism Act.

There was a stimulating debate in the morning session around the neighbourhood planning process with many of the speakers and delegates unsure about the future of neighbourhood planning and its democratic accountability. In the afternoon the focus was placed on how the act might affect housebuilding and the importance that should be placed on ‘the duty to cooperate’ when Councils are preparing their Development Plans.

This conference was the second which concentrated on the Localism Act and whilst there were some advances on the questions posed in 2011 what was evident from the day is that there are still many more questions to be answered.

We look forward to answering these questions (perhaps) in 2013.

Stephen Litherland, Planning Manager, Bellway Homes