Clive Betts responds to Government's Plan for Productivity

• Gov.uk news story: Productivity plan launched
• Report: Fixing the Foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation

“It is welcome news that the Government has finally decided to accept the recommendations of the Communities & Local Government Committee in the last Parliament to streamline the process for adopting Local Plans and ensure local authorities co-operate to meet their key housing and planning needs.

As a Committee, we recommended the Government make it a statutory requirement for councils to get local plans adopted. The Government's indication today that they will intervene where local authorities do not produce local plans could be a useful first step. But the detail is not yet clear on whether this will stop councils dragging their feet on this issue.

Everyone agrees that development on brownfield land should be speeded up. However, it isn't clear that giving automatic planning approval for brownfield sites will actually boost development on these sites or see an additional brick laid. In the last Parliament, the CLG Committee found the biggest barrier to more building on brownfield land wasn't sluggish local authority approval but the availability of resources to make these sites suitable for development. The previous Committee recommended the DCLG address this problem by establishing a remediation fund for brownfield sites.  I look forward to the Government spelling out their plans in more detail and I hope they will set out what resources will be made available to make brownfield sites viable. The concept of zoning is also a fundamental change in principle from the way the planning system has operated since the War and the Government has given no explanation about why it is necessary or how it will work in practice.

I am concerned though by the shift away from localism that is suggested by these brownfield measures, the proposals on planning and building in London, and the proposals to take away from local communities any say over housing development that is part of a major project. These moves appear to be a threat to the ability of local people to have their say on development in their area. They also fail to spell out how we can ensure development is supported by the necessary infrastructure, such as parks and affordable housing. It is only by considering these infrastructure needs that development can ever be genuinely sustainable.”

Further information

• Parliament topics: Housing and planning
• Parliament topics: Communities and families

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