The Resolution Foundation. Blairite to Fabian-style regulators to a man:
The Foundation also called for a major planning shake-up, with the cost of planning applications now five times higher than in 1990.
“The outcomes are far too unpredictable, also holding back housing and badly needed energy infrastructure. In future, businesses submitting applications consistent with local plans should be automatically approved.”
They’ve cheered on, argued for, approved, every barnacle encrusting the economic ship of state. Now they think there should be a detailed plan for all building everywhere? And that only that which the concillors have already thought of may be built?
I was listening to The Mark Thomas Manifesto from around 2012 on Four Extra a couple of days ago and was staggered how authorotarian the overwhelmingly under-25 audience was, cheering to the rafters proposals to ban and impose things all over the place.
Jgh – Mark Thomas is “funny” in the same way Soviet concentration camp guards were “funny”.
“And that only that which the councillors have already thought of may be built?”
How quaint, you think councillors have anything to do with deciding anything in local government. All decisions about local plans, and the implementation thereof are taken by the unelected council officials, the paid staff. The only thing councillors have to do is have meetings to rubber stamp the decisions their employees have already taken.
” Now they think there should be a detailed plan for all building everywhere?”
There already is, is called the Local Plan. It pretty much determines where any development can go in any given location. Its not 100% definite – it is possible to get a development passed on land outside the LP, but this normally only happens when the LA have been remiss (which is admittedly common) and not brought forward enough development on land within their LP, and are thus behind on their planned housing and industrial development numbers. This allows a developer to pick a site outside the LP and effectively say ‘You haven’t actually built where your plan says development should be, we can build here right now, so give us permission’. And LAs know that in those circumstances if they refuse (on the grounds its not in their LP) an appeal to the Secretary of State will almost certainly succeed, due to the LA’s own failure to build where they wanted to. And the LA could face an award of costs against them, so they are forced to grant permission to sites outside the LP.
Between the 2001 and 2021 censuses my town’s population “grew” from 13100 to 12950. In the same time, 6500 houses have been built. What housing need?
Our school district closed one of the local primary schools as there was overall spare capacity in the system, this was 6 months after the council passed a decision to allow increased density in the housing policies and approved 6 different developments of apartment blocks of up to 12 floors*.
Fast forward a few years and kids are now housed in portacabins, class sizes are higher and school capacity is stretched. They also started their long delayed project to rebuild an old high school and the new building only has 80% of the capacity of the old one.
So much for joined up planning/thinking
* I did attend the school board meeting where they voted on closure and pointed this fact out to them, they did not feel it was relevant to their decision. They also declined an invitation to go to the school and be present when the closure was announced to the children, easy to make decisions when you don’t have to suffer the consequences
Perhaps the UK could take a lesson or two from the apparently terrible Napoleonic code the Reich is burdened with.
If a building proposal complies with the law and is proposed to be built in an area zoned for building, the building must receive a permit. No ifs or buts.
People can, and do, sue for their permits, when the building is legal but permission denied.
There is no council discretion, no backhanders, no committee votes, or public inquiries, or not public inquiries at the local Masonic Lodge.
If your proposal is legal you will get it built, sooner or later.
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