In the Devolution White Paper published in December, Deputy PM Angela Rayner boasted of a step change to Local Government through a series of dramatic reforms to the way local government is organised, saying:
The number one mission of this government is to relight the fire of our economy and ignite growth in every region. To do this, we need to end this ‘cap in hand’ approach to our regions, where towns and cities are pitted against each other, fighting for a small portion. Because the truth is that for all the promises of levelling up, when the rubber hits the road, central government’s first instinct is all too often to hoard power and hold our economy back.
While the ambition and ability of the government to help the economy to grow is currently being hotly debated, reorganisation and devolution is marching ahead at pace. We have and will cover that elsewhere (see articles here and here).
This article looks at one of the most important but less debated planks of the piece – Strategic Planning. Removed by the incoming Conservative Government in 2010, the loss of Strategic Planning removed a key link between housebuilding and economic growth, infrastructure and health development. For those at the coal face, including councils and developers, it almost inevitably led to the question: “if you are going to build (insert number of homes here) what are you going to do about (insert name of hospital / GP here) and it was incredibly difficult to answer. We hope the re-introduction of strategic planning can begin to stitch these threads back together.
What and where?
Every area will need to create a Spatial Development Strategy (SDS), irrespective of whether they are a Combined Authority (aka a Strategic Authority) or not, leaving the whole of England covered by SDS’s. The White Papers states:
All areas, with or without a Strategic Authority, will have to produce a Spatial Development Strategy, which will be adopted with support from a majority of constituent members. This policy change means more homes will get built.
Outside most of the established Combined Authorities, we are expecting the new areas to correspond with those areas put forward for accelerated Local Government Reorganisation – e.g. Surrey, Essex, “Greater” Hampshire etc. Where there are no immediate plans for reorganisation, the Government will designate Strategic Authorities. Districts are explicitly not be part of Strategic Authorities for their area but will undoubtedly be collaborative partners, for as long as they continue to exist.
As a broader political point, there may be a drive in those areas which are not part of a Combined Authority to push for reform to give themselves more control. One to watch.
What is a Spatial Development Strategy?
The Government is pitching SDS’s as part of its approach to adopting a universal system of planning, creating a system which will reduce the variation of systems and processes across England. But importantly, a system that will deliver homes. And this is really the theme which permeates the whole change – the ability to build the homes the country needs more quickly.
The Government gives the example of the London Plan (albeit this is not necessarily a successful model for home delivery), with a caveat to say SDS’s should be high level, undoubtedly a response to the criticism of the extensive detail the London Plan now covers.
There is an interesting, but perhaps unsurprising detail – authorities within the SDS area will effectively pool their overall, mandatory housing requirement. The SDS can then redistribute these numbers across the whole SDS area. This provides a mechanism for Labour to address how some constrained authorities will be able to deliver – by enforcing cooperation with neighbours and shifting the load. For example, Portsmouth, which is physically constrained but has huge numbers of homes to deliver, could lean more heavily on its hinterland. This measure is backed by SDS’s only needing a majority of members to agree them, ending the situation where a single authority can bring down an entire, painstakingly developed, strategic plan (Stockport anyone?).
What is not entirely clear is how the relationship with Local Plans developed under the old framework will be – and this is the sort of detail all authorities will be watching. There will also have to be some interaction with any New Towns coming forward. At the time of writing, there is no direct ability to combine planning with other social service plans but the SDS’s will identify what infrastructure is needed for growth.
Tools for the job
The relevant strategic planning authority will be duly armed with the tools to accelerate housing development (assuming that is what they want to do!). Once an SDS is in place, Mayors will have:
These will be plans with teeth – but there remains the issue of political will. The inevitable backstop to all this is that non-delivery allows the Government to swoop in and take control.
When
In truth, it’s not clear. There is the ever-present danger of the development of SDS’s slowing the development of Local Plans and the determination of existing applications and/or conflicting with Local Government Reorganisation. The Government has said this can’t be allowed, we can only wait to see how successful that will be.
Cratus will continue to write and broadcast about Local Government Reorganisation and all that is associated with it. In the meantime, get in touch if we can help you and your business navigate the changes.
Source: MHCLG