News

.... a weekly column from Dover and Deal MP Gwyn Prosser

14 June 2007

It is 60 years since the Attlee’s Labour Government introduced the first Town and Country Planning Act and since then that planning system has been successful in allowing the creation of thriving towns while safeguarding our green spaces and protected areas. But today we face challenges that the Attlee Government could never have foreseen – from climate change to globalisation, from energy conservation to sustainability.

Independent experts have highlighted the complexity and delays in the current planning system and they point to the example of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 which required 37 applications under 7 different pieces of legislation and took no less than seven years to obtain planning permission.

Another example is the Channel Tunnel which also took years to obtain its planning consent - but I have to declare an interest because I played a significant role in opposing key elements of the scheme, for raising thousands of objections and for delaying the progress of the enabling legislation. I have no regrets however because I was campaigning to protect local jobs in my constituency and fighting to minimise environmental damage.

But times have changed, and if we are to thrive, we need a better system for taking difficult decisions on key national infrastructure such as transport, environmental, waste or energy projects. If we do not the risks are significant – energy shortages, mounting congestion, loss of jobs and increasing pollution. And that’s why the Government wants to reform our planning law.

It’s essential of course that we continue to take account of the interests of those most directly affected by these major projects. People find the current system baffling and they complain it’s hard to have their say. And people are frustrated that the current process often favours the well-resourced over the less well off.

What’s needed is a system that is simpler and which allows communities to have a greater say. The Government’s proposals include a package of measures to improve community engagement such as a new legal duty for developers to consult the public and a doubling of the provision of free planning advice to local people.

Labour created the greenbelt concept and we reaffirm our commitment to protect it so previously developed land (brown field sites) will remain the priority for development. Currently about three-quarters of new housing is being provided on previously developed land which is a significant increase on the Tory years.

We will make it easier for householders to reduce their fuel bills and carbon footprint by installing small-scale renewable technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines

In addition to our proposals on major infrastructure, we will continue to promote thriving urban centres. Our ‘Town Centre First’ policy has been a real success, with over two fifths of retail development now in town centres, compared to just a quarter in 1997. And in future, councils will have to conduct a rigorous assessment and will refuse any out-of-town application that may have a negative impact on the local high street – and about time too.