Stopping land price speculation

Cllr John Moss, a councillor on Waltham Forest Council, says to get more homes built property developers should deal with the public rather than little cliques of planning officers

Given the slow progress of economic recovery and the continued depression in the construction industry and house-building in particular, You may think I am offering a solution to a problem we don't have, but a major reason for the slowdown in new residential construction is the fact that developers are sitting on sites for which they paid far too much.

We have for more than three decades operated on the basis of developers land-banking, ie buying up sites without planning consent at inflated values and fighting extended planning battles whilst betting on ever-rising prices bailing them out. They usually get away with it. Sadly, as the latest decade of unsustainable increases in house prices from 1997 to 2007 saw a bigger boom than ever before, with prices and rents trebling on average and soaring even more than that in hot-spots, the bust, when it inevitably came, was even bigger.

It is estimated that planning consent exists for 400,000 new homes. The reason many of these developments sit un-started on developers' Books, is that they paid far too much for the sites and cannot economically develop them. This holds up not just the development of market homes, but also of the affordable homes which rely on cross subsidy from the market elements of schemes to make the whole thing viable. Without change, we are destined to repeat this mistake.

If a new project is right then don't be put off by noisy well-funded protests

Cllr Peter Jones, who is standing down as leader of East Sussex County Council, says why he stuck to his guns on a new incinerator and a new road

As I prepare to stand down as leader of East Sussex County Council, I can celebrate two victories over scare mongering protestors; one several years ago in relation to building an incinerator and just recently final Government approval and funding for a new road to link the towns of Bexhill and Hastings.

Both projects involved long and complex consultation, planning, public enquiry and court processes and both ignited a storm of protest from so-called environmentalists. The incinerator gave us protestors climbing up cranes and our short (3.5 mile) new road has so far seen them camping up in trees and holes in the ground. Both projects bring great advantages to our communities; the incinerator means effectively 90% recycling and electricity for 25,000 homes while the road will drive regeneration through the construction of 2,000 houses and new business parks providing at least 3000 jobs.

Our latest road project is the first of a hundred plus schemes nationwide to start construction and so has become the focus for a vicious campaign of opposition by anti-road groups, mostly peopled from outside our area. They have targeted us presumably to try and undermine the determination of others as well as trying to stop us. As with the incinerator, we have so far been able to defeat the antis latest antics
and would be happy to share our experiences with others who are yet to start their projects.

Regionalism dead and buried

Very pleasing Written Statement from the Communities and Local Government Minister Baroness Hanham It revokes the Regional Strategies for the West Midlands, North West and South West.

She says:

Subject to Parliamentary ratification, this completes the abolition of every Regional Strategy in England, thereby fulfilling an important Coalition Agreement objective and ushering in a new era of true localism across England. This is a milestone moment for planning and localism in this country. From now on, every local community in England will have more control over local planning and development.

The top-down approach of Regional Strategies from the last Administration imposed centrally set building targets on communities and coincided with the lowest peace-time levels of house building since the 1920s.

The abolition of these unpopular and counter-productive Regional Strategies reinforces the importance of councils’ Local Plans produced with the involvement of local communities, as the keystone of the planning system. It is this approach that will help deliver the homes, jobs and infrastructure we need. 

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy cited to justify planning notices

The Government have no plans to scrap the statutory requirement for planning notices to be advertised in local newspapers. This is a shame, as it effectively requires councils to subsidise local newspapers - an unsatisfactory arrangement for all concerned.

Still I was amused by Written Answer by the Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis stresses the importance of ensuring planning applications had due prominence.

He said:

More broadly, in response to his implicit suggestion that such notices should be abolished in newspapers, I would direct the hon. Member to a passage from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

“People of Earth, your attention, please... This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council. As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and regrettably, your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you...

"There's no point in acting surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now...

"What do you mean you've never been to Alpha Centauri? Oh, for heaven's sake, mankind, it's only four light years away, you know. I'm sorry, but if you can't be bothered to take an interest in local affairs, that's your own lookout. Energize the demolition beams.”

Councillors falsely presented as "anti development"

Some interesting polling - one survey of councillors, another of the public - on attitudes to development.

It was carried out by ComRes on behalf of Development Intelligence, which lobbies for Hammerson and Countryside Properties. There were lots of questions. But pretty much all variations of whether respondents were pro or anti development.

Faced with the bald choices most came out as anti when asked if their areas were "overdeveloped" or "underdeveloped". This was the angle The Guardian picked up on.

However were pro when asked if they favoured more housing or not. Make of that what you will. Is your area overdeveloped? Yes. would you like more housing in your area? Yes. Make of that what you will.

Nick Keable, its chief executive, sounds pretty exasperated. Quoted in The Guardian he said:

"We support the government's pro-development policy, but they have no idea how to implement it in a nimby nation. Negativity about development is driven by the haves, not the have-nots. Where there is deprivation and high unemployment people are more positively disposed than they are in the leafy, suburban south-east."

What might have provided more relevant findings for Mr Keable would have been if the survey had asked about design. Ideally showing alternative images. "Would you welcome new development if it looked like this...Or this....."

Pickles warns that councillors should not take payments to lobby their own councils

A robust response from Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles to the revelations in the Daily Telegraph of councillors.

In a letter replying to his Labour Shadow Hilary Benn, Mr Pickles says:

It is unacceptable for councillors to be receiving any form of payment to lobby their own council. Such behaviour is a clear breach of the Nolan Principles (embedded in the Localism Act), and we would expect such conflicts of interest to be prohibited in councils’ own local codes of conduct, which the statute requires must be consistent with those principles.

Under the Act, councillors must also register their employment and any trade for profit or gain, and failure to do so is a criminal offence. It is a requirement in law for such registers to be online by the local authority. I have asked my officials to remind councils of this requirement.

Nor is this the only legal safeguard:

The Bribery Act also covers those who promise or provide such payments, be they consultancy firms or individuals. Those who offer financial advantage to any councillor to attempt to influence the planning process in their local authority are themselves potentially committing a criminal offence. It is no different than offering a bribe to a police officer – a practice that is both unacceptable and illegal.

Telegraph exposes councillors lobbying for planning development

One of Enoch Powell's themes in opposing what is now called the European Union was how lobbyists are enriched by it and have a vested interest in it growing in power.

He said:

Quite apart from politicians, there is the multitude of lobbyists, purporting to represent almost every interest with which the Common Market might interfere, who have thus gained an illimitable extension to the parasitical profession of go-betweens and know-somebody-who-knows-somebody else.

Mr Powell added that "great corporate voices" such as the National Farmers Union and the Confederation of British Industry would be part of a new bureaucracy "public and private, to handle relations with the new seats of power at Brussels. Those thus engaged become advocates of the indispensibility of the institution with which they operate, especially as their activities, in common with most political acivities on the continent, tend to be lushly remunerative."

Abolish the Architects Registration Board

If you are an architect from France or Germany and you move to the United Kingdom to come and work here you are allowed to continue to call yourself an architect. However if you are an architect from the USA or Australia (or any other non-EU country) and come and work here, still calling yourself an architect, you are in trouble.

Expect a threatening letter from the Architects Registratiion Board.

Similarly if you are partner in a firm of architects having served an apprenticeship and worked for decades designing buildings who will be in trouble with the ARB if you are caught describing yourself as an architect - if you don't have the relevant paper qualifications approved by the ARB.

Quinlan Terry is a properly qualified architect and duly registered with the ARB (for which he must pay £98.50 a year.) But consider Roger Scruton's account of how this came about. Mr Terry entered the Architectural Association as a student in the 1960s:

Pickles warns of new EU rules to cause planning delays

Understandably sometimes Ministers aren't keen to point out how much power has been taken from them to make decisions by the European Union. But the Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has chosen to highlight the way the EU has quietly taken over the planning system. Rather than ignore this problem Mr Pickles has made a statement to MPs warning of proposed further EU red tape.

He says:

Environmental Impact Assessments are a European Union requirement which impose significant costs on the planning system, over and above long-standing, domestic environmental safeguards in planning law.

Certainly there is some "gold plating" involved he proposes to help councils avoid it:

Newly built neo-classical social housing in Islington

The picture above is of Union Square in Islington. It shows newly built social housing. As part of a redevelopment of Packington Estate, these houses, in sympathy with the rest of the square, replace the 1960s ugly slab blocks.

The Hyde Group housing association who are responsible for the scheme say:

The terrace of four and five bedroom traditional town houses on Union Square, are all for social rent. The 17 family homes on Union Square are designed to mirror the existing Edwardian street properties.

Hyde is replacing 491 council homes, and adding 300 new homes which will be sold on the open market to finance the £130 million scheme (not completely - there is a £33 million "gap funding" subsidy from the Government.) There will also be new community spaces, a youth centre, retail units, and employment spaces.

Perhaps the scheme could have been made self financing - this will increasingly be the requirement in the future. The social housing seems to be entirely for fully-subsidised social rent tenure rather than for affordable rent or shared ownership.The Guardian are naturally pleased that the tenure mix does not make room for the aspirational squeezed middle.