Quality of life needs strong planning: call for rethink on eve of white paper

19 March 2007

The Government is proposing sweeping changes to the planning system [1] based on a review with a strong economic bias. But the ability of planning to deliver a high quality environment will be weakened if we favour economic growth above all the other needs of society.

This is CPRE’s [2] key message as it launches a major critique [3] of the Barker Review of Land Use Planning.[4]

Marina Pacheco, CPRE’s Head of Planning said:

‘Barker’s controversial Review of land use planning with its narrow focus on making the system faster and better for business completely misses the point that planning is about getting the right development in the right place at the right time.

‘The planning system needs to be used to address key environmental concerns like global warming, while improving the environment and our quality of life. There is little evidence that planning is biased against development – in fact the opposite is the case. And it is not clear why planning for major infrastructure projects like nuclear power stations, airports and highways is facing further reform when new procedures, which have never been used, where introduced only 19 months ago.

‘We urge the Government to take note of this critique which questions whether Kate Barker’s evidence really does point to a planning system which is unresponsive, costly and inefficient.’

Key arguments made in the critique include:

• Barker’s approach to planning is naïve and simplistic because many of her apparent costs of planning, such as investment forgone or the extra expense to developers of complying with planning requirements, are really benefits of the system in the form of damaging developments prevented and/or poor quality developments improved;
• the planning process is already biased in favour of developers who only need to get lucky once on a planning application for it to go through, whilst objectors have to get lucky every time to prevent development and have no right to appeal;
• protection for Green Belt is as critical as ever, and continuity of Green Belt boundaries is essential to prevent developers buying land up on the expectation of getting planning permission sometime in the future;
• the Government should question the need for ‘big kit’ infrastructure which is becoming harder to justify and should try and develop in a more sustainable way as a first step;
• the planning system could contribute a lot more to reducing and adapting to climate change, but the growth and competitiveness agenda militates against this.

Marina Pacheco continues:

‘We strongly believe that what Kate Barker sees as weaknesses in the system are actually strengths protecting our environment and our quality of life. As the finishing touches are put to the Planning White Paper it is critical that the Government takes note of this damning critique and rethinks its approach to planning reform.’

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. In December 2005 the Chancellor and the Deputy Prime Minister commissioned Kate Barker ‘To consider how … planning policy and procedures can better deliver economic growth and prosperity …’ The Barker Review of Land Use Planning Interim Report – Analysis, was published in July 2006. The Barker Review of Land Use Planning Final Report – Recommendations followed it in December 2006. The Barker Review of planning ran in parallel with Nicholas Stern’s review of the economics of climate change and Rod Eddington’s review of transport. All three were published shortly before the Chancellor’s 2006 Pre-Budget Report and taken into account in it. They are likely to be major influences over policy in their respective fields for years to come especially if Gordon Brown, who co-commissioned all three, becomes Prime Minister. CPRE commissioned Levett-Therivel consultants to assess the robustness and balance of the Barker findings and recommendations and their implications for sustainable development. (Deconstructing Barker – A one dimensional misunderstanding of a multidimensional issue). See note 3 below.

2. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Sir Max Hastings. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen.

3. Deconstructing Barker – A one dimensional misunderstanding of a multidimensional issue is an independent report by Roger Levett of Levett-Therivel consultants for CPRE analysing the Barker Review of Land Use Planning. It explains why the Barker Review is a deeply flawed, one sided economic argument and why the Government needs to retain the benefits of the existing arrangements in the new planning system. Electronic copies are available for journalists in advance of the embargo (Monday 19 March) from: www.cpre.org.uk/news/media-centre (login - all lower case: user name: media, password: journalist) or from CPRE’s press office on 020 7981 2880 / nicolaf@cpre.org.uk. Copies will be available to the general public, price £10.00, from CPRE Publications 020 7981 2856, or can be downloaded free of charge from www.cpre.org.uk from Monday 19 March.

4. Barker Review of Land Use Planning – Final Report, HM Treasury, 2006. Economist Kate Barker is a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee.

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