Queen’s Speech 2007: More Brown than Green?

5 November 2007

Bills on Planning Reform and Housing must reflect environmental concerns, not ignore them

1. CPRE [1] fears that tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech will mark a backward step for the Government on protection of the environment and landscapes. It also risks undermining the Prime Minister’s avowed focus on community engagement and revitalising democracy.

2. CPRE’s biggest concerns are about the Planning Reform Bill. This looks like being a developer’s charter, and risks dealing a body blow to the planning system created 60 years ago by the post-war Labour Government, which has done much to protect England’s precious countryside. The Housing and Regeneration Bill is part of an agenda for massively more house-building. CPRE recognises and supports the need for more homes – particularly affordable homes – but this must not be at the expense of the environment, including the Green Belt. We welcome the expected Climate Change Bill, although it should be more ambitious if the UK is to remain a leader in tackling climate change.

Planning Reform Bill

3. The Planning Reform Bill, which is expected to be an early priority for Ministers, has already been the cause of much controversy and debate. The Government says new measures are needed to speed up a planning system they say takes too long to deliver vital new infrastructure, such as roads, airports, power stations and wind farms.

4. Laying blame at the wrong door: CPRE does not accept the Government’s view that the land use planning system is the major cause of delay in progressing major infrastructure development. Poor project planning, lack of funds and wrangling among developers often cause more significant delays. It is unfair to scapegoat the planning system, which has allowed most major projects over many years to be delivered in a timely fashion, while ensuring proper democratic involvement in the process, and taking environmental factors into account.

5. A diminution of democracy: we have major concerns that the Government’s proposals will cut people out of the democratic process of being able to have a say about what is built in their areas. Ministers have accused environmental groups of peddling ill-informed myths and misinformation, but they have yet to provide convincing assurances that their plans will not reduce the ability of ordinary people to get involved in key decisions. Ministers propose giving decision-making powers about major projects, including whether a local inquiry will be held and who will appear at it, to an unaccountable and unelected Infrastructure Planning Commission – a sort of super-quango. Tricky decisions on the need for major developments and their design and location should, in CPRE’s view, remain with democratically-elected Ministers.

6. The climate change con: the Government says it needs a speedier planning system to put in place the infrastructure required to address the challenges of climate change, even though the Stern Review suggested that we need less ‘big kit’ infrastructure in the face of these challenges. It is also disingenuous to suggest that tackling climate change is the driving force behind the Planning Reform Bill. This is a piece of legislation which will help push through new airports, roads and power stations, all significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. So the Bill is more likely to damage the UK’s fight against climate change, rather than bolster it.

7. Consultation, what consultation? Given the very real concerns that the Planning Reform Bill will reduce the involvement of the public in the planning process, the Government is hardly making an auspicious start by pressing ahead with the Bill before the results of its early consultation on what should be in it have been fully analysed. There were 32,000 responses to the consultation on the Government’s planning reforms in the summer [2], but if, as expected, the Bill is introduced to Parliament later this month, Ministers will hardly have had time to reflect on those responses. Indeed, the Bill must have been written during the summer, so did the consultation make any difference at all? A rushed Bill that does not reflect on responses to the consultation will further undermine public confidence in the process.

Housing and Regeneration Bill

8. This Bill will set up two new agencies, one to deliver its housing agenda, and the other to regulate social housing. A Homes and Communities Agency will facilitate the delivery of new homes and oversee the disposal of public sector land. CPRE is calling for this agency to be a champion of regeneration, rather than green field sprawl. It must focus on regeneration and brownfield recycling as well as housing delivery, so it does not simply become the Government’s house-building agency.

9. The new agency must also understand the way the planning system works. Its overall aim should be to secure the best use of land in the public interest, and not automatically to assume that new homes can be built wherever someone thinks there is a development opportunity. Ministers must re-affirm their ‘brownfield first’ approach to development, and build on the significant progress they have made in recent years, with 74% of new homes now being built on brownfield.

Climate Change Bill

10. CPRE, as a member of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, supports the Climate Change Bill. We believe that climate change is an overwhelming threat to England’s landscape and natural environment. The Government has the opportunity, through this piece of legislation, to set meaningful and measurable targets to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.

11. However, Ministers should be bolder on climate change – Gordon Brown’s announcement that the Climate Change Committee will be asked to examine the case for an 80% cut in UK emissions by 2050 is a good start. We support the calls of a wide coalition of environmental NGOs for the Climate Change Bill to include the UK’s share of emissions from international aviation and shipping in its targets for emission reductions, and to set annual targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, rather than five year ‘carbon budgets’ as currently proposed.

Editor’s notes

1. 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: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen.

2. The Government consulted on a White Paper for planning reform, Planning for a Sustainable Future, during the summer of 2007. The consultation opened on 21 May, and closed on 17 August. At the time of writing, the Government has not published an official analysis of the responses received.

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