10 stories you may have missed over Christmas
Read on for a summary of 10 key news stories that broke over the Christmas holidays, including reports that Margaret Thatcher was urged to abandon Liverpool to ‘managed decline’ and the appointment of a senior civil servant who will oversee the coalition’s planning reforms.
1. Thatcher told to abandon Liverpool to ‘managed decline’
Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher was urged to abandon Liverpool to “managed decline” by her chancellor, according to newly-released National Archives files made available under the 30-year rule. The documents revealed cabinet discussions following the 1981 Toxteth riots. But Lord Howe, the former chancellor, has said that his letter was misunderstood.
The revelation prompted much discussion about regional policy. In an editorial, the Observer said that 30 years on, the “problem of how to coax declining regions back to life remains acute”. And in a new blog, Regen.net economic development blogger David Marlow says: “Beyond the controversial emotive terminology, what is most striking is development and regeneration’s enduring struggles with the relative balance between investing in success and tackling deprivation; and that tackling deprivation still needs to present a compelling case for interventions sustaining better futures as opposed to making present poverty bearable.”
2. MPs urge ministers to hold second NPPF consultation
The government’s draft National Planning Policy Framework requires ‘significant changes’ and the government should hold a second consultation into the proposed reforms, according to a report by MPs.
The report, published in the week before Christmas by the Communities and Local Government select committee, welcomes the government’s aspiration to make the planning system simpler and more accessible by reducing the amount of planning legislation to a single document. However, it says the document, as currently drafted, contains a weighting towards economic growth that risks allowing unsustainable development.
3. New DCLG director-general to oversee planning reforms
The Department for Communities and Local Government has appointed Peter Schofield as director-general for neighbourhoods. According to the DCLG, Schofield’s responsibilities will include housing, planning and regeneration. “He will take a lead role in implementing the housing strategy, major reforms in the planning system and delivering local economic growth,” a statement said. Schofield joins the DCLG from the Treasury, where he was director of the enterprise and growth unit.
4. Government launches private rented review
Housing minister Grant Shapps confirmed in the week before Christmas that Sir Adrian Montague will lead a review of barriers to investment in rented homes. The Department for Communities and Local Government said that the review would “examine how best to encourage greater investment in rental properties – helping support the rapid growth of the private rented sector by increasing the supply of affordable homes”.
5. High Court rules solar subsidy cut unlawful
Campaign group Friends of the Earth and two solar energy firms have won a legal challenge against government plans to reduce the rate of subsidy available under the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme for solar energy installations.
A Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) consultation document issued in October proposed to cut the FiT rate from 43.3p to 21p per kilowatt-hour for the smallest band of solar installations. The claimants argued that DECC’s decision to cut rates from 11 December – almost two weeks before the consultation ends on 23 December – was unlawful. In the week before Christmas the High Court agreed that the proposals are unlawful.
6. Local finance bill to pave wave for Tax Increment Financing
The week before Christmas also saw the government publish its Local Government Finance Bill. The bill will introduce the Tax Increment Financing mechanism, which allows public bodies to borrow money to fund the infrastructure required to get a project off the ground against the anticipated uplift in business rates expected from that development. In a statement, Pickles said the bill would “provide local authorities with the framework to implement Tax Increment Financing”.
7. Get Britain Building fund guidance issued
Housing and regeneration quango the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) issued detailed guidance before Christmas for developers wishing to apply for the new £420 million Get Britain Building programme. The programme, unveiled in November as part of the Government’s housing strategy and managed by the HCA, is intended to enable work to start on stalled sites with planning permission. The quango says that the programme will unlock up to 16,000 new homes by December 2014.
8. Scottish wind farms win approval
Two wind farms which could power nearly 100,000 homes in the north of Scotland have been approved by the Scottish government’s energy minister. Fergus Ewing gave the green light to the 59-turbine 177MW Dorenell wind farm on the Glenfiddich estate, near Dufftown, Moray. He also granted permission for a six-turbine, 21 MW extension to the 104 MW Muaitheabhal wind farm in Lewis.
9. IPC accepts two more applications for examination
Two more major project applications, both in Lancashire, have been accepted for examination later this year by the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC). The commission has decided that the pre-application consultation procedures set out in the Planning Act 2008 were correctly followed for Halite Energy’s gas storage facility in the Preesall Saltfield. It has also accepted Lancashire County Council’s development consent application for a five-kilometre road between Torrisholme, near Morecambe, and junction 34 of the M6.
10. Planners recognised in New Year’s honours list
Scotland’s chief planner and a past president of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) were among the key figures from the planning and regeneration sectors to feature in the New Year Honours List 2012.
Click here to view PlanningResource.co.uk’s 10 most popular stories of 2011.
jamie.carpenter@haymarket.com. Follow Jamie on Twitter at @J_J_Carpenter
