My article in this week’s Cornish Guardian looks at the recent announcement that the UK Government is about to rip up existing rules for the planning process. It will be as follows:
The Prime Minister has just announced the UK Government’s approach to economic recovery following the present health crisis, which he has branded “Build, Build, Build.”
It includes pushing forward with a range of capital projects, and it is right that we welcome investment in public services and appropriate infrastructure schemes. But it is extremely disturbing that, at the same time, the Government has said there will be a loosening of the planning system.
Government ministers have revealed that they will be bringing forward what has been described as the “most radical reforms of our planning system since the end of the Second World War.” They are already promoting a range of new “permitted development rights,” which would allow existing homes to be expanded upwards and commercial premises turned into housing without the need for planning permission.
The Government has also confirmed that a policy paper will be published later this month. The housing minister Robert Jenrick has publicly backed a “first principles rethink,” away from the “current plan-led system,” and the Prime Minister’s chief advisor Dominic Cummings is heavily involved. I understand that there is also an advisory panel that includes Sir Stuart Lipton, a powerful property magnate and Conservative Party donor.
As a local councillor, I know how the planning system already favours large developers over communities, and I have been involved in many planning battles where local people have been at a massive disadvantage to the building industry.
Any further relaxing of the planning system would be a disaster for places such as Cornwall and it is disturbing to hear the Prime Minister caricature the planning process as “red tape” and bureaucratic “newt counting.”
A key part of planning should be to protect communities from bad or excessive development and it is good that the chief executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute, Victoria Hills, has hit out at the “planner-bashing rhetoric,” condemning any deregulation that would “remove the democratic rights of communities to input to local development.”
Cornwall needs a well-balanced planning system, which protect the countryside while allowing suitable developments that meet the needs of communities, such as proper local-needs housing.
Indeed, we need stronger planning controls, not weakened ones. That it is why I am campaigning for planning to be fully devolved to Cornwall, so that full responsibility for future planning decisions can lie to the west of the Tamar, and for the influence of planning inspectors in Bristol and politicians in Westminster to be eliminated.
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Biography
I'm a high-energy 70-year-old who loves to write. Back when I was a kid growing up in
the Deep South, we used to sit under grandmother's dining room table, sharing ghost
stories after dinner. That got me hooked on storytelling. As a Presbyterian Minister and
community building consultant, my work brings me in contact with community leaders who
are mobilizing others to make a positive difference in so many communities around the
United States and the world. Building Communities of Hope highlights some of these
incredible people and amazing communities. People who are community builders build upon
community assets, bring others to the table and create networks of
compassion.Organizations that serve communities, like healthcare systems and schools,
can be anchors in communities. At my age, I'm finding it increasingly important to
support people and organizations that overcome obstacles to create long-lasting positive
change. We can overcome challenges, inequities, and disasters when we mobilize for
collective impact. It's a wild and wonderful ride!
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