Neighbourhood planning is a key plank of the Government’s localism agenda. Local groups can draw up plans, subject them to a referendum, and thereby determine the kind of development they want to prioritise in their local area.
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has made a fresh call for local planning authorities to bid for grants of up to £20,000 under the neighbourhood planning scheme, which is intended to act as a test bed for the coalition’s planning reforms. The call for applications follows amendments to the Localism Bill that are intended to open up the neighbourhood planning process to businesses.
The Government would like to see a greater role for business in neighbourhood plans; to the extent that a financial contribution toward the Plan making process itself ‘would be very nice thank you’. Because only local planning authorities are eligible for the grants under the scheme, Government is asking businesses taking part in the next wave of its neighbourhood planning 'vanguard' scheme to contribute towards the cost of the running the pilots.
Call me an old cynic if you will but what business worth its’ salt is going to chip in to a plan that could – on a democratic referendum basis – bring about its downfall through stricter planning arrangements. (sounds of turkeys singing ‘White Christmas’ off stage left).
Clearly we have the potential for (alleged - ahem) World Cup style finessing to achieve meaningful ends. Is this really what planning has come to?
Some would say planning has always been subject to persuasion by pecuniary ‘interests’ but in my view the ‘brown envelopes over the Chief Execs desk’ has only ever been a myth. Or, at worst, a lone occasion, blown up into an international incident.
Decentralisation minister Greg Clark has indicated that eight "business neighbourhood frontrunners" would develop business-led neighbourhood plans for local business areas and town centres. (see, I told you this was the Royston Vasey approach to planning)
The eight frontrunners are:
- Aldershot Town Centre
- Bankside, London
- Central Milton Keynes
- Liverpool Innovation Park
- Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead
- Trafford Park, Manchester
- South Bank, London
- West End, London
Liz Peace, chief executive of the lobby group British Property Federation, said the initiative heralded a "new approach to local planning". (You bet).
"The business neighbourhood frontrunners unveiled today are all areas with an enormous potential for economic growth. Designation as a business neighbourhood should help them to put together a planning and development framework for their areas that allows them to realise that potential."
It would appear that such neighbourhood plans can be set up deliberately for "promoting the carrying on of trades, professions or other businesses in such an area".
Not a bad idea but whereas, in other areas, the residents may have to recognise that businesses do actually exist and development may have to happen, the business neighbourhoods must equally recognise that there may be other interests that need to be taken into account. Who is going to balance all these competing objectives?
Clark said: "We need to involve local companies more explicitly in neighbourhood planning decisions for business areas if communities are to get the most out of them.
"Businesses have access to skills, resources and expertise that can give a real boost to getting the right kind of growth underway in many areas. Business neighbourhood frontrunners are about residents and businesses shaping their neighbourhood together."
Well I thought that was what Planning Policy Statement 4 was all about. Economic Development. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for supporting business development – it’s been my stock in trade for 30 plus years - and getting involved in the plan making process is vitally important too. But to create a financial link (supposedly out of goodwill and neighbourliness) is perhaps going a step too far toward cash for permissions. Or is this just another part of the recent suggestion of financial considerations in planning?
The closing date for the receipt of applications is Friday 8 July. And remember “You’ve got to be in it to win it”.
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