2007 Queen's Speech |
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2007 Queen’s Speech The 2007 Queen’s Speech of 6 November 2007 has confirmed the Government’s intention to progress a Housing and Regeneration Bill and the Planning Bill in the 2007/08 Parliamentary session. The Government sees these Bills as the vehicle for making it possible to provide 240,000 new homes a year from 2016 onwards, and thus to achieve an overall target of 3 million additional units by 2020. The Housing and Regeneration Bill will promote the establishment of the Homes and Communities Agency bringing together land and investment for new homes - combining responsibility for surplus public sector land and a multi-billion pound budget. The Bill will also make it easier for councils and housing associations to build more homes. The new agency will become responsible for promoting the provision of private and public sector affordable and social housing. The Government intends that 50% of the 200,000 new homes, to be provided by 2016 on public sector sites, will be designated as affordable housing (for social rent, first-time buyers and key workers). The Planning Bill will help deliver the new infrastructure new homes and communities need. The Government intends that this Bill will establish a speedier and more transparent planning system. The Bill will promote the establishment of an independent Infrastructure Planning Commission to aid the provision of major infrastructure projects. Following development sector wide lobbying the Government announced in October that it was scrapping its proposals for a Planning Gain Supplement and that a Development Plan lead tariff system, administered by Local Planning Authorities, would be introduced as the means of capturing infrastructure funding. The Planning Bill will be the vehicle for the introduction of the new tariff system, which it is expected will operate alongside Section 106 agreements. The Planning Bill will also promote measures to streamline: the preparation of Local Development Plan documents (the Local Development Framework system); and the appeals system, by allowing local planning authorities an opportunity to reconsider minor planning applications before a full appeal is made to the Planning Inspectorate. Editorial Comment It is clear that the delivery of housing and new infrastructure is at the top of the Government’s agenda. The decisions to shelve the introduction of a Planning Gain Supplement and review the Local Development Framework (LDF) system are to be welcomed. However it is to be hoped that the proposed new legislation is better conceived than the changes to the planning system, for example to the Development Plan system, contained within the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Potentially a lot of work is required to make the LDF system fit for purpose, while the proposed infrastructure commission is unsurprisingly proving to be a controversial concept, likely to become the subject of heated debate during the Planning Bill’s passage through Parliament. It is the Government’s stated intention to elevate community engagement and empowerment and yet in planning there is always a tension between increasing the speed of decision making and greater public participation and it will therefore be interesting to see how the legislation resolves the balance between these competing objectives. |
