‘Radical’ change to planning policy if Conservatives win power
Tories tell councils: hold build plans until election
The Conservative shadow communities secretary has advised councils to put off controversial housing developments and policy decisions until after the general election.
Caroline Spelman has written to local authorities telling them to expect an immediate and ‘radical’ change in planning policy should the Tories take power next May.
She wrote that ‘even before primary legislation has passed’ councils would be able to ‘put the brakes on elements of regional spatial strategies which they find undesirable’.
The strategies set 15 to 20-year development strategies for each region, including targets for the scale and distribution of new housing. The Conservatives have pledged to abolish these documents and the ‘regional planning bodies’ that set them.
The letter said a Tory government would introduce a new Local Government and Housing Bill in its first year in office. She wrote that councils should not ‘rush ahead with implementing the controversial elements of regional spatial strategies, expending time and taxpayers’ money’.
Chartered Institute of Housing policy director Richard Capie said: ‘We must be careful of creating a vacuum where local authorities tread water in anticipation of changes that may take some time to come to fruition.’
A spokesperson for the Home Builders’ Federation said the letter would ‘lead to a hiatus in planning for housing that could only exacerbate the supply crisis we already face’.
Ms Spelman’s letter said the only financial pressure the government could apply to councils that did not fall into line with current policies was the housing and planning delivery grant. In 2008/09 the government allocated £101 million of these grants.
She noted that the grant would be abolished under the Conservatives and that there was only one more allocation round before the election.
Housing minister John Healey said: ‘This seems deliberately designed to slam the brakes on building, yet [the Conservatives] have no plausible policies to secure the investment and new homes the country needs.’
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Readers' comments (2)
Bernard Townroe | 04/09/2009 7:56 am
Disraeli described the Tories as an organised hypcrisy. That has never been truer than it is now. They express horror at the rise in council waiting lists but sold the stock off in the first place. They're horrified at the low numbers of affordable housing being developed but oppose development everywhere. They wail about illegal gypsy & traveller encampments but, not only withdrew the duty for councils to provide adequate accommodation themselves back in the 1990s, but refuse to support the development of legal sites. They bemoan the number of empty homes but oppose the introduction of measures that could bring them back into use. They talk about local decision-making but did more than anyone to centralised the control of local government....... 'Hypocrites' is too mild a description.
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| 05/09/2009 6:04 pm
Like 'em or not, they will be the next Government. Difficult to see how they can be worse than the current shower. In any case, the shadow communities secretary has every right to warn LA's up front that the existing policy will be shredded next year. This will help save taxpayer's money being unwisely spent on planned work (both in house and from the use of highly paid external "consultants") that will never be implemented.
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