David Miliband lived up to his reputation for thinking big this week. On Wednesday the communities minister announced a review of the agencies that are responsible for delivering the government's sustainable communities plan. It's a brave decision and a potentially exciting development.
The review is to centre on the national delivery agencies - namely the roles of the Housing Corporation, English Partnerships and various functions within the ODPM. The idea is that between now and July, a panel of experts will create a new super-delivery agency - a kind of Environment Agency for housing. But how exactly do you transform this trio into a single, agile creature that will genuinely smooth the path of development, without it turning into a heavy-footed monster? What's more, just how radical will this shake-up be, and how wide the remit?
Of course, a merger of the Housing Corporation and EP has been mooted for years. Both focus on housing delivery - the Housing Corporation as a funder and regulator, EP primarily on land requisition and remediation - and in certain ways the two organisations have been tripping over each other. Creating a central, £2.7bn-a-year funding pot could offer much more flexibility in the way money is spent. Toss into that, say, cash previously doled out (very unsuccessfully) for housing PFI credits and other capital expenditure such as neighbourhood renewal - currently direct responsibilities of the ODPM - and suddenly you can look more holistically at housing and regeneration. Miliband is already rethinking the Decent Homes standard and how regeneration should centre on wider area initiatives, rather than just installing new kitchens and bathrooms, which makes sense. And if this new super-body took its lead from EP and adopted a private sector culture, it would stand a better chance of bringing in much-needed private involvement.
However, sticking points would be numerous - not least the issue of where regulation would sit. It's currently the preserve of the Housing Corporation, where it dovetails with the funding role. This close relationship between where housing grant money is spent and whether it's spent wisely underlies lenders' confidence in housing associations; it is vital that this is maintained if cash is to be loaned at the current low rates. EP's Margaret Ford, one of the driving forces behind the merger, is known to favour hiving off the regulatory role, which makes lenders nervous.
One thing that can't be allowed to happen during any such merger is disruption to the existing programme. The Housing Corporation alone has 84,000 homes to deliver in the next couple of years - and a great deal of construction businesses are banking on it.
Postscript
Denise Chevin, editor
