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The ODPM Select Committee report into affordability and the supply of housing, launched today, has admitted to being, "struck by the concerns in much of the evidence about the relaxation in planning controls proposed in the new draft PPS3, which could result in urban sprawl and undermine regeneration efforts in established urban centres.”
The Committee also agreed with the RTPI that new housing must include plans for infrastructure but stopped short of calling for a UK wide spatial plan to coordinate development.
Rynd Smith, Head of Policy at the RTPI said: "We welcome the ODPM Select Committee’s report as it highlights many of the problems we have identified with by-passing planning in favour of the market. By tying investment in infrastructure to the market PPS3 threatens to reject need and sustainability in favour of demand. It is refreshing to see the committee listening to and acting on common themes emerging from the evidence provided by the RTPI and other bodies.”
"Planning has an obligation to help create demand in existing communities, upgrade social infrastructure, create better environments and improve the perception of areas.”
The report focuses on key areas such as protecting and enhancing our town and city centres, climate change and managing the impact of development on the environment, the provision of infrastructure and enhancing regeneration initiatives such as housing market renewal. Government needs to realise that it is not the planning system that is complex, it is the issues that are complex.
The report also follows closely that of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee on Water. That committee also endorsed the need for sound strategic planning processes to ensure that growth is properly managed. There is a shared underlying message emerging from both reports. Multi party examinations of government policy are consistently endorsing the need for effective planning processes and making clear that market led solutions alone cannot address the UK’s housing and infrastructure needs.
Ends
Press release issued: June 20 2006
