Out of Whitehall

The purdah imposed by the general election temporarily stemmed the government’s flow of policy announcements and regulatory changes, but that does not mean nothing has been happening. And, as ever, planning is where the action is.

The controversy over the revision of PPG3 continued right up to the close of the consultation period in mid-April. Many respondents said proposals to give councils a greater say in the mix of housing on individual developments would be a drag on housing delivery.

The current revision is only the first of a two-stage process. The Barker review included several recommendations relating to PPG3 and these are to be reconsidered and incorporated into the guidance under a separate revision to be carried out over the summer.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s overhaul of the planning system is proving just as contentious. The Scottish executive has come up with a series of reforms for its system, including intentions to create a structured hierarchy of national, major, local and minor planning applications, and to extend ministers’ powers over nationally important proposals.

One measure considered in a consultation paper issued by the executive last year was a third-party right of appeal on some applications, such as major developments. A leaked memo has now made it clear that the executive has ruled out the idea, causing anger in community groups. Friends of the Earth, the environmental pressure group, which released details of the memo last month, says that the executive bowed to pressure from business.

In the last days of parliament before the election was declared, the British government made an announcement on an issue that was once the preserve of the Conservatives: home ownership. It launched a consultation paper setting out its plan to extend the HomeBuy scheme.

The proposals are to make shared ownership available to buyers of open market housing and to bring in a Social HomeBuy to give social tenants the opportunity to buy a discounted share of their home. Most welcomed the proposals, although some had misgivings. The Chartered Institute of Housing, for example, was concerned it could signal a shift away from providing more homes.

Now the election is over, attention is likely to return to the issue of how to generate more private investment. This is particularly important for the transport infrastructure and estates.

The latter was a key issue in a debate of regeneration and housing industry leaders held at 10 Downing Street. The raising of the issue signals a recognition that successive estates regeneration initiatives are failing to have a long lasting impact, and it is being mooted that the New Deal for Communities programme is about to come to an end.

Transport could remain a tough nut to crack, although the idea put forward in Barker’s recommendation for a national planning gain tax is the subject of a government review. There are signs this levy is being usurped before it has even been developed, as Milton Keynes has come up with its own “roof tax”, and others are following suit.