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Planning system leads to chaos and inequality, says former housing minister
Deregulation has left the planning system a “chaotic patchwork” incapable of protecting the health and well-being of communities, a damning report by a former housing minister has said.
The Raynsford Review of Planning, launched by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) and chaired by former housing minister Nick Raynsford, is due to be published tomorrow.
It argues that deregulation has led to a chaotic, complex system that contributes to inequality and fails to protect and enhance residents’ well-being.
The report will call for the axing of “permitted development rights”, which allow certain buildings to be converted into homes without going through the system.
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Hugh Ellis, interim chief executive of the TCPA, said: “Let’s be really clear, permitted development is the ultimate deregulation.
“It is shameful that we would want to put people in tiny, tiny flats with no proper access to green space, with no proper access to educational facilities and without the basic kind of services placemaking needs.
“That is shameful. It’s the only word for it.”
The government recently announced plans for an expansion of permitted development to add floors to former commercial buildings at the last Budget.
The report, which will be published at 2pm tomorrow, will add that the Treasury should partially redistribute capital gains tax and stamp duty to invest in the nation’s most deprived areas.
It will also call for compulsory purchase powers for local authorities to buy land to enable a “genuinely fair share” of development values between landowners and communities.
It also proposes a National Sustainable Development Plan which could act as the overarching framework for planning decisions and speed up development.
Mr Raynsford, who was a housing minister under Tony Blair and contributed to the creation of the Decent Homes Standard, said: “We ignore at our peril the anger and disaffection felt by so many communities at the failure of current planning policies and procedures to listen to their concerns and respond to their needs.
“Restoring public confidence in the planning system is one of our generation’s greatest challenges.”
The report says that planning should also focus on meeting environmental challenges and tackling global warming.
This would include bringing back zero-carbon and energy-positive standards, building flood-resilient housing, and redesigning urban spaces to deal with higher temperatures.
Mr Ellis added: “It’s the greatest transformation in what we build and how we build that we’ve seen in a hundred years, and it’s something that needs to start yesterday, given the urgency of the problem.
“The government has no coherent policy to test whether housing will be resilient for future generations on climate change.
“Future generations are going to condemn us for not having dealt with this problem.”
The TCPA is an independent charity that campaigns for UK planning system reforms, focusing on social justice, sustainable development, and integrated planning based on accessibility, sustainability, diversity and community cohesion.
The final report published will give 24 recommendations for reform.
