Planning for Housing

The private sectorperspective

John Acres Director of Planning

(Sustainable Development)

Who are the Catesby Property Group?

• Catesby has property interests throughout the country - commercial, mixed use and residential

• Catesby assembles, promotes and develops land and secures planning consent for sale of land to house-builders and developers

• Catesby is promoting land for 3200 dwellings and 50ha employment land at Newark.

Newark Future

What am I going to cover?

Planning for Housing•The story so far•Where are we now•Where are we going•What is the outlook for

– planning, – the economy – society

The story so far..

• Carol Spelman’s letter – Aug 2009 – collusion?• Open Source planning – Feb 2010 – concoction • An ‘arranged marriage’ – May 2010 - coalition• The ‘Pickles’ letter – 27th May 2010 – confusion• Revocation of RSS’s – July 2010 - conspiracy!• The ‘Cala’ decision – Nov 2010 - condemnation• The Localism Bill – Dec 2010 - conclusion

House of Commons Select Committee‘Abolition of RSS’s – A planning vacuum’

“Having taken 30 years to build up the strategic planning

system and perhaps 3 years to prepare each Regional

Plan, it has taken literally 3 months to abandon the whole

process and create a situation of complete paralysis in the

planning system.”

Para 3: Introduction.

Key indicators of change.

What have been the trends?

House prices

Regional House price trend(East Midlands compared with England)

Housing starts & completions(England, 12 month rolling total).

Regional Housing starts(12 month rolling totals).

Regional Housing starts(12 month rolling totals).

Mortgage releases

Share prices(Comparison between major house-builders and FTSE share index)

Core strategies - progress

The numbers game!Number of adopted Core Strategies

In England In East Midlands

81 5

Where are we now?

• Strategic planning – the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater!

• Planning in limbo – Localism Bill • The implications of Cala 1 & 2 (& 3)• Kneejerk decisions• Less support, changes in structures• Coping with cuts – losses of jobs• The market in the doldrums• Confusion & delay

Key pointers for change

• The Budget statement. “ The planning system has held back investment and created distortions in the way that business compete, deterring development and growth”.

• Eric Pickles: “LPA’s and other bodies involved in granting development consents should prioritise growth and jobs… with immediate effect.”

• Greg Clarke: “The answer to development and growth should wherever possible be ‘yes’”.

• Steve Quartermain: “This statement is a material planning consideration”

Localism Bill

• What’s in?• Abolition of regional Planning• Abolish IPC – SOS decision• Duty to Co-operate• Neighbourhood Planning• Local Referenda• Community Right to Build• Community Right to Challenge• Removal of Pre-determination

rule/tightening penalties

• What’s out?• National Spatial Plan• Presumption in favour of Devt.• Housing targets• Any change to primacy of

Local Plans• Third Party rights of Appeal• Neighbour compensation• Local Enterprise Partnerships

(non statutory)

Where are we going?

The longer term outlook.

Impact on Planning(Will things be more or less plan led?)

• Less certainty – more flexibility• Less co-ordination – more variation• Less needs based – more opportunity based• Less influence from planners – more influence

from politicians/local people• Less professionalism – more parochialism• Less staff – more work to do!!

Impact on the Economy(Is the Bill pro-growth or not?)

• Less certainty = more reluctance to invest• Less public investment = more pressure on

private sector• Less bureaucracy = potentially less costs and

more freedom• Losing a layer in the hierarchy = quicker

decisions• Localism may = more uncertainty, but may =

closer private/public sector relationships.

Impact on Society(Will it help foster the Big Society?)

• Will it promote more genuine community involvement?

• If so, will it create more tensions in planning?• Who will undertake & pay for neighbourhood

planning? • Will it work in the urban areas?• Will it promote survival of the fittest approach?• Who will be the winners/losers?• Does ‘Big Society’ – mean lots of little societies?