‘We want to have our cake and eat it’

It is proving difficult to find a quiet corner in the glass-walled corridors of the Department for Communities and Local Government where Regenerate can interview and photograph Richard McCarthy, the director of its programme, policy and innovation group. The open-plan office environment is too bustling: staff are gathering in a side office for a seminar, another has virgin notepads laid out around a table in preparation for a meeting. By chance, a huddle of people move from an informal seating area and we quickly take their places.

So much for any notions that the pace of activity within DCLG might have eased in these Prescott-less and soon to be Blair-less days.

In truth, the department and McCarthy have plenty to keep them busy. The merger of English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation, a move rumoured to have been championed by McCarthy, is now being worked out in some detail following the long-awaited announcement in January. A series of weighty independent reviews are being prepared and then must be considered and acted upon. Then there is the matter of the planning white paper expected in the spring.

In his plain white shirt and pale blue tie, McCarthy looks ready to roll up his shirtsleeves and take it all on right now. He has been at the department for more than three years now and is an extremely authoritative speaker both in meetings and on the conference circuit. McCarthy delivers the department’s messages with some force and in a rapid-fire manner that is as workmanlike as his clothes.

Before there is a chance to ask about the agenda set by Prescott, McCarthy says emphatically: “Our vision of the sustainable communities is still there.” In the name of the deputy prime minister’s 2003 sustainable communities plan (see box, right), housebuilding has changed radically, with the department setting both private and affordable housing providers some tough challenges: to use modern methods of construction, raise environmental standards, increase housing density, compete for affordable housing grant, raise design quality, provide more affordable and/or intermediate housing and a lot more.

A fresh approach means changes for the housing association sector, but not revolution

The department’s announcement last month that all new homes must be zero carbon by 2016 demonstrated that the challenges to developers keep on coming. McCarthy cheerfully acknowledges: “We want to have our cake and eat it.” Here he reveals how.

Q&A

• What are the aims of Communities England?

It is not just streamlining – we want to improve gearing and spur innovation. We are intending to give Communities England some pretty stretching targets that will force it to think in some innovative ways. It will work on strategy, on smart ways to deliver, on capacity building, and will work with local authorities in helping them to release their urban land and deliver sites innovatively. We are very positive about it.

• Where will Communities England be based? We have not made a decision on the head office yet, but there will be a regional structure and an office in each region – that is important to support the regional housing boards and in working with the regional development agencies.
• How is the creation of the new organisation progressing? We are working over the next few months on the detail, the positions and the funding models. We will consult on the detail in the summer.
• The department is also considering the Hills report into social housing, published last month. What has been drawn from that so far?

It is very important to us and John Hills did an excellent job in looking at where social E E housing fits in the 21st century, and its role. It identified some challenges for the future. Some of it relates to Communities England. There are still areas of severe deprivation in the country and there is more to do on mixed communities. Access to social housing is becoming more difficult. The growing incidence of worklessness in social housing causes us concern. We’re doing more analysis and looking at areas for reform.

• And you have Professor Martin Cave's review into housing regulation in progress and due to report in the spring? The review is to look at the approach we should be taking to regulation. There is now a range of providers of affordable housing and a range of managers, including private sector player Pinnacle. We want to encourage a mixed economy and in that context you have to have a fresh approach.

This all brings change for the housing association sector, but not revolution. The best housing associations have already been changing, but there are challenges for them – in working with the consumer, in the way tenants can influence choice, in getting better gearing in regeneration and housing, and there is more they can do to help people get into employment. There are some great examples of innovation and we would like housing associations to be building on that and doing more alongside others in the private sector.

• John Callcutt's review of housing delivery is in progress. What do you want to get from it?

We have made real progress on the supply side – we are up to 180,000 net new homes a year, but the industry continues to consolidate. While we have gone a long way to improve relations with the industry, there is a feeling that we can do more to stimulate more players into the market and improve innovation.

One of the biggest problems is pushing back dates for appeals. Watch out – we are going to get tougher

The reaction of the housebuilding industry to the Code for Sustainable Homes has been positive and there has been progress on design, but Cabe’s latest audit of the design quality of new housing [published in February] shows that there is still a way to go. We want John to help us understand and give us ideas. We want more and better housing. We want a good mix and range of housing, with family accommodation alongside the growth of one- and two-bedroom flats. We want a sense of quality to be the norm, rather than the exemplar.

We have a 10-year plan to get to zero carbon new homes by 2016, but let’s get housebuilders leading the way on getting there quicker.

I would love to see housebuilders developing homes that reach level 5 or 6 of the code and marketing their benefits to consumers.

• John Callcutt’s review is also looking at obstacles to development. Is planning one of those obstacles? The white paper on planning will respond to the Eddington review and to Barker’s latest review. It will contain some important proposals on major infrastructure, but it will not just be about that. It will look at householder applications, the appeals systems, the plan-making side and how we can move local authorities further. It is taking too long to introduce the core strategies and plans.

We have heard the message from the industry not to throw out the planning system, but to make it work. We have significantly improved it in managing appeals. But one of the biggest problems is appellants and local authorities pushing back dates for appeals. I would say to people, watch out, because we are going to get tougher on that. I have heard of housebuilders not getting the detail on schemes worked up until they come to appeal. They should get the design right first time, then we can get the decision. The scheme going to appeal should be the one that was heard.

• And what about the impact of Sir Michael Lyons' report on local government?

Lyons has talked about the importance of the place-shaping role for local authorities and that links back to the local government white paper. Ministers are keen to emphasise the strength of local government. The point of the new planning system is that we want shorter, sharper documents that shape the environment, that make it clear to the private sector where to invest its money and allow local authorities to shape investment into their area. It is still only half way through but we are in a planning renaissance.