The Big Question on… local planning: Can effective planning only come from devolution?

The governance of planning at the local and regional scale in England has been characterised by upheaval and uncertainty with negative effects on local growth and equity. The latest upheaval comes in the form of “localism”, which is a misnomer insofar as key powers in the planning system that affect local communities continue to be exercised by the Secretary of State.

Centralisation and lack of transparency in planning make a major contribution to declining faith in the political system because the planning system is often an important point of contact with the state for the citizen. Ensuring the public legitimacy of the planning system is a pressing concern. A necessary condition for this is a genuine decentralisation of planning as part of a wider reinvigoration of direct, participative and representative democracy.  The next government should commit to achieving a broad consensus for such a programme. This will involve a move away from the ad hoc deal-based system which characterises current central-local relationships and in the direction of enduring and stable frameworks within which regional and local development occur.

Such frameworks should recognise the need to set national frameworks for certain key issues. For example, England-wide spatial planning is required to create the conditions for a “rebalanced” economy and to deal with housing supply and problems such as coastal management in an era of accelerating environmental change and rising sea levels.

But they should also recognise the democratic right for cities and regions to shape their future directions. A major current weakness of the planning system is its inability to deal with “larger than local” or strategic development issues. The Coalition government has argued that planning decisions should be made at the local scale and strategic issues should be addressed on the basis of inter-municipal co-operation and agreements. But there is mounting evidence that the “Duty to Cooperate”, introduced by the Localism Act 2011, is failing to fill the strategic void created by the abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies. Regional frameworks for strategic planning matters are needed, based on regional democratic control of decision-making.

Effective spatial planning is needed especially in our major urban areas to reconcile land-use requirements in relation to employment, housing, transport, waste management and environmental protection. The recent Greater Manchester Agreement between local authorities and the UK government, which provides the basis for a statutory spatial plan, represents an approach that should be extended to other parts of England by right. It would combine city-level strategic thinking with urban democracy.

John Tomaney, Bartlett School of Planning, UCL

Five Radical Ideas for a Better Planning System

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UCL’s Big Questions sought contributions from academics around UCL to address the ‘big question’ facing the next UK government, and how research can provide an evidence base. It was devised by Clio Heslop (UCL Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy) and Olivia Stevenson (UCL Public Policy), with the support of the Communications and Marketing team.

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