Another Local Plan bites the dust

The phrase “our broken planning system” is spoken more like fact than opinion these days. Indeed, one thing that might actually unite all developers, consultants, local communities and political decision-makers alike is the view that the planning system simply isn’t working. What certainly doesn’t unite these groups is how it should be fixed.

The situation was only too telling when yet another Local Plan fell at the final hurdle last week. On 23 March, councillors at Castle Point Borough Council voted overwhelmingly against their strategic plan for 5,000 homes in the borough. Leader of the Council, Cllr Andrew Sheldon (Conservative), called the Local Plan process “an exam set by the Government” and proposed that the Council should begin a “new essay” with just “ten minutes to go”, having purportedly been presented with a lack of alternative sites over the last decade.

It was a similar situation in Basildon Council earlier in the month, when 20 of its councillors voted to withdraw the Local Plan mid-examination, after eight years of work. The plan would have supported the delivery of almost 20,000 new homes, but the Conservative administration cited major concerns over Green Belt release and high-rise development in the town centre.

The situation is not unique to Essex. In the last few months, councils all the way from Hertsmere to Sheffield and Ashfield to Dorset, have opted to delay, pause, or withdraw their Local Plans entirely.

Are these decisions purely political, or a sign of a bigger problem? Some would certainly assert the former. There are local elections ahead in May and the Conservatives in particular will still have their loss in the Chesham & Amersham by-election at the forefront of their minds. In Castle Point, a recent Council by-election saw the Conservatives hang on by a thread to an Independent candidate – narrowly avoiding a loss which would have compromised their majority.

But the lack of clarity over the national policy position is almost certainly a factor. The Chesham & Amersham by-election can again be seen as a turning point in the Government’s approach to planning reform, having been viewed as a major rejection of the Planning White Paper and a warning to the Conservatives about the vulnerability of seats in their traditional heartlands. Indeed, the latest intelligence is that a standalone planning bill has been scrapped entirely. Looking again at Basildon, the much criticised ‘algorithm’ for calculating local housing need and inconsistent messaging about Green Belt release were both cited by Council Leader Andrew Baggott as reasons for withdrawal of their Local Plan.

Ultimately, such uncertainty from the centre can only be a hindrance to the process – or, more cynically, provides a good reason to hold off on politically difficult decisions. What is certain is that national government will need to provide more clarity on the future of planning, and better incentives for local authorities to deliver. Local authorities should, at the same time, be mindful of the looming December 2023 deadline to get their Local Plans in place and – more importantly – the consequences for decision-making if they do not.

Surely the answer to fixing local planning issues is not to hand power to inspectors and national government to take the difficult decisions. The big question is: what is?