Barker insists review will not tear up the planning system

Kate Barker has offered assurances that her Treasury-led review of the planning system, due to be completed by the end of the year, is highly unlikely to require further wholesale changes to the plan-making regime.

As she launched her preliminary findings Barker, whose earlier proposals on housing supply and advocacy of a Planning Gain Supplement caused controversy, acknowledged that her exercise added an element of uncertainty, which had prompted concern.

But she stressed: "The overall flavour of the consultation process indicated little appetite for a radical rethink of the plan-making processes set in place by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004."

"Many observed that this still needs time to bed-down. As the terms of reference indicate, the review will aim to build on those reforms," she added.

Her 100-page interim report highlighted the need to make the planning system more efficient and to reduce unnecessary delays and complexity.

According to the document, this was required at "all levels", involving "national policy, regional and local plan-making and development control".

Her final report will investigate the issues surrounding planning policies which are meant to deliver important government priorities to see whether "any might be more appropriately tackled, at least in part, by other policy routes or whether there are ways to deliver more joined-up policy".

Barker also stressed that her work so far has questioned whether it is possible to make the planning system more responsive to price-signals and changing economic circumstances at a local and regional level.

The report said: "For many local authorities there is often little financial incentive to adopt pro-growth strategies to enhance competition. The issue of the level at which decisions are best made will also be explored, considering how the principle of subsidiarity might best be applied."

Barker has made it clear that her review should be viewed in the context of the government's soon to be published energy review and the work being done by the Lyons Inquiry on local government funding and the Eddington transport study. She insisted that it was important to maintain "participation and democratic accountability" in the system.
 
Her final report, she explained, would explore "what can be done to enable the planning framework to deliver the outcomes, for productivity, for the environment, and with regard to social concerns which maximize overall welfare and quality of life. While this interim review has focused on business concerns it is clearly vital that the final recommendations do not advance business interests above environmental and social ones".

Barker insisted: "A world-class planning system has to deliver the right balance between multiple public policy objectives; it also needs to be flexible and deliver decisions efficiently and effectively. Recent reforms have made big steps forward – but I believe we can still do more to reach those goals."

Planning minister Yvette Cooper said: "The planning system has got to be able to respond to new challenges such as the pace of global competition and the threat of climate change.

"Although progress has been made, this report makes clear that further changes are needed to support competition and encourage growth."

The interim report quoted a recent Confederation of British Industry (CBI) survey which showed that 69 per cent of firms are dissatisfied with the record of planning authorities.

The report highlighted planning problems over the development of new so-called high-tech clusters and universities and questioned whether the land market was operating optimally given that England now has some of the highest commercial occupation costs in the world.

Read full text of Barker Review of Land Use Planning (PDF 4396Kb)

Further information about the independent Lyons Inquiry

Read previous article - Barker report proposes housing and planning shake-up

Roger Milne

6 July 2006