Conservative Conference 2010: Development will be in favour say Tories

Published 05th Oct 2010

The government has sought to address fears from the property industry that councils will use the government’s localism drive to refuse development proposals.

Research published by the National Housing Federation this week claimed that up to 300,000 planned houses would be scrapped by councils across the country.

But John Howell, chair of the government’s planning sounding board and author of the Conservative’s planning green paper, said that authorities which do not allocate enough land to meet the need for development in their area will have local plans rejected.

Speaking at a Town and Country Planning Association event on the government’s planning reform, he explained the government’s proposed “presumption in favour of sustainable development”.

“What we are saying to councils is very clear,” he said. “If you don’t want to put in a local plan that deals with the needs of your area that’s fine, but there are consequences of doing that. In the absence of a plan a developer can come in and build what he likes where he likes.”

He told Property Week: “You need to have some guidance for councils to follow to be able to tell what they need to provide in their areas. If they haven’t done that or if they have done that and have chosen to ignore it by saying we don’t need any homes, I would find it very difficult to see how they could justify that they had met a test of sustainability.”

CB Richard Ellis head of national planning Ian Anderson said: “It sounds potentially positive and dare I suggest sensible planning. There needs to be detail around the rhetoric before one can be fully comforted. However, it is potentially a very strong message to local authorities that would allay with developers’ aspirations.”

Home Builders Federation head of planning Andrew Whitaker welcomed the move: “The proposed presumption in favour of sustainable development will be a clear signal to local authorities and communities to face up to their responsibilities of providing for housing growth required in their area.

“It will avoid the problem of areas choosing to do nothing with regard to development plan production in the hope that by doing so they will be able to resist development proposals. Planning should be a positive tool that enables development to meet housing requirements not used as a process for saying no.”

Source: ' Property Week '

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