Concern over Labour plans to silence voice of local people on planning
Whitehall to push through controversial
developments and gag local communities
Bob Blackman Assemblyman for Brent & Harrow criticised new proposals from the
Government to change planning rules and weaken the say of local communities. The
policies were unveiled by Whitehall ministers in a Planning ‘White Paper’.
- Sewage plants and incinerator chimneys dumped in your
neighbourhood: A new centralised planning quango will strip
local communities of any say not just over airports, power stations and
motorways, but also on incinerators, sewage plants and hazardous landfill
sites. Its powers also include compulsory purchase of land.
- Unsackable quangocrats: The new unelected ‘planning commissioners’ will
effectively be unsackable and unaccountable. The Government propose fixed eight
year terms, and no ability for their removal on grounds of their decisions –
giving a green light for the quangocrats to ignore public opinion.
- Supermarkets favoured over small shops: Controls will be weakened on out of town
development, giving the dominant supermarkets even greater power over small
shops and local high streets.
However, Bob Blackman expressed an open mind on
proposals to make it easier for households to build an extension – provided
that neighbours were still given the opportunity to object if it affected their
property or local amenity.
Bob Blackman said:
“After ten years of Labour in office, the number of
people who own their home is now falling. Labour’s regional planning red tape and
Whitehall targets have snarled up the planning system, whilst restricting the
say of local residents. Ever higher stamp duty and soaring council tax have
made it harder for people in Harrow to get a foot on the first rung of the
housing ladder.
“Gordon Brown has shown his true control freak
instincts by backing moves to strip local communities of their say over
incinerators, rubbish dumps and sewage plants. Labour has sided with large
developers, rather than the people.
“Yes, the planning system needs reform and we
need to build more homes. But the voice of local communities must be preserved
and a democratic, accountable process must be maintained.”
Notes
to Editors
NEW CENTRALISED PLANNING QUANGO
A
new central government quango will strip local authorities of their say on
planning applications on airports, power stations, motorways, ports, gas
storage, incinerators, sewage plants, and hazardous waste storage/landfill
(DCLG, Planning for a sustainable future,
White Paper, 21 May 2007, p.75).
http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1510503The
planning quangocrats will effectively be unsackable and unaccountable.
“The Commissioners [of the new quango] would
be appointed on a basis that would ensure they had sufficient security of
tenure to avoid any risk that their decisions might be influence by fear of
dismissal. We envisage that this might mean appointing them for terms of
anywhere up to eight years, and that commissioners could be removed on grounds
of misconduct or incapacity but not because of the decisions they took” (White
Paper, pp. 91-92).
Its
functions include the ability to “compulsory purchase of land” and “powers to
amend, apply or disapply local and public legislation governing infrastructure”
(p.80).
GORDON BROWN’S PLEDGE… ALREADY BROKEN
The
Planning White Paper is heavily influenced by the Treasury’s recent Barker view
into land use planning. The proposals for a new planning quango make a mockery
of Gordon Brown’s pledge least week to stop politics becoming a ‘spectator
sport’ and pledging to provide a ‘voice for communities’.
“To
those who feel Westminster is a distant place and politics simply a spectator
sport... I want to become a voice for communities far beyond ... to build trust
in our democracy, we need a more open form of dialogue for citizens and
politicians to genuinely debate problems and solutions” (Gordon Brown, Speech
accepting the nomination as Leader of the Labour Party, 17 May 2007).
WEAKENING CONTROLS ON OUT OF TOWN DEVELOPMENT
The
White Paper (p.116) proposes the abolition of the ‘needs test’ which currently
regulates out of town development, and was introduced in 1996 by John Gummer.
Its
removal could mean a new wave of speculative out-of-town development and – in
the grocery market – an increase in dominance of the leading supermarkets.
Diversity could be lost and low income shoppers would find it even harder to
access food locally. Transport-related carbon emissions would also rise as more
shopping trips would be car based.
TEN YEARS IN POWER… AND HOME OWNERSHIP IS
FALLING, TAXES HAVE SOARED
Falling home ownership: Fewer people are now getting onto the housing
ladder. Home ownership is now falling, for the first time in recent memory,
despite ongoing rises in home ownership in the 1980s and 1990s. Total owner
occupation fell from 14,646,000 in 2005 to 14,621,000 in 2006. This masks the
ongoing fall in home owners who have a mortgage (i.e. who do not own outright)
which has fallen from 8,527,000 in 2000 to 8,230,000 in 2006 (DCLG, Live Tables, S101: Trends in Tenure, as
of March 2007).
Soaring stamp duty: In 1996-97, 59 per cent of homebuyers paid no
stamp duty, with the remaining 41 per cent paying 1 per cent. By 2005-06, only
48 per cent of homebuyers paid no stamp duty, with 39 per cent paying 1 per
cent duty, 11 per cent paying 3 per cent stamp duty and 2 per cent paying 4 per
cent stamp duty (Hansard, 22 March
2007, col. 1121W). The average first time buyer thus pays £1,500 in stamp duty
(Hansard, 18 April 2006, col. 121W),
compared to nothing in 1997, since stamp duty thresholds have not kept pace
with house price inflation.
Rocketing council tax: From 1997-98 to 2007-08, bills rose by 92 per
cent across England, taking the average Band D bill from £688 to £1,321 (DoE press release, 20 March 1997; DCLG Press Release, 27 March 2007). This
makes it harder for people to save for a deposit if in rented accommodation, or
to be able to pay for a mortgage if they are a home owner.
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