Is Localism Dead and Buried?

In the end all the talk of the government ripping up the Green Belt was, if you forgive the colourful mix of metaphors, a red herring.  However, the far-reaching package of housing and planning reforms, which the government claims will deliver 70,000 homes and 140,000 new jobs, may have signalled something far more significant. Because many of the basket of 15 or more separate measures echoed a common - unstated - theme: the re-taking of power from local authorities by a government that just two years ago ripped up the planning system to introduce localism. The reason for the change in direction can be seen clearly in the last Home Builders Federation data, which shows the granting of residential planning permissions in England at a three-year low of just 24,872. Housing starts have also fallen by about 20% in the first half of 2012, according to the latest government data.  The changes which could be seen to fall under a shift away from localism are manifold. Pickles revealed that the government will legislate to allow the planning inspectorate (PINS) to take over planning decisions from local authorities that have “consistently poor performance” in the speed or quality of decisions. It will also allow PINS to penalise councils that turn applications down knowing this will be overturned on appeal - by awarding costs against them. And more types of applications will be diverted to the National Infrastructure Planning branch of PINS, away from local councils. In general the measures outlined start to introduce real penalties if local authorities don’t behave how the centre - the government - wants them to.  Read more on the Building website.