Can Gove get a grip on planning?

Dare we pin our hopes on the latest in a long line of Housing Ministers, asks Devon CPRE’s

IT’S just over a year since the government proposed the most seismic overhaul to the planning system since 1947 – changes that are, admittedly, long overdue to make it fit for the complex challenges of the 21st century. But I wrote in this newspaper at the time that what the government was proposing amounted to a ‘property developer’s charter’.

I wasn’t alone in that view. Since unveiling the Planning for the Future white paper, ministers have faced passionate opposition from the countryside charity CPRE and many thousands of supporters across the West Country. Not to mention a backlash from Tory MPs and voters across the south of England.

With the government under pressure, members of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee recommended a re-think of certain aspects of the planning proposals, calling for them to be backed by better evidence and more detail. Its members were reportedly unpersauded by the government’s simplistic ‘zoned’ approach to development, under which different planning rules would apply depending on whether land was demarcated for growth, renewal or protection.

‘Constantly changing the minister isn’t the answer. What we need is an informed and considered policy’

The government is due to publish its updated plans this autumn.

In the meantime, the ludicrous merry-go-round of Housing Ministers continues: goodbye Robert Jenrick, hello Michael Gove. Mr Gove, pictured inset, was appointed as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in midSeptember. He’s the twentieth Housing Minister since 1997! When we unveiled our 2019 report into Devon’s real housing needs, Kit Malthouse held the post. He passed the baton to Esther McVey, who within months passed it to Robert Jenrick. Now Mr Gove dons his hard hat and enters the fray. Is it too much to hope that he may, finally, be the one who gets to grips with housing and planning?

Planning and the provision of the right number and kind of new housing – at prices people in normal jobs can afford – are among the most pressing issues of our time. Yet, Mr Gove’s predecessors have spectacularly failed to bring about real change. It doesn’t take a genius to see that constantly changing the minister isn’t the answer. What we need is an informed and considered policy and a change of attitude; someone who is committed to understanding the complex issues involved and finding real solutions.

Michael Gove is a politician who’s known to put his stamp on whatever portfolio he holds. Recently there’s been speculation that he’s about to do the same with housing and planning. If recent media reports are correct, Mr Gove will imminently announce a u-turn on key proposals we oppose.

On the face of it, it’s welcome news that some of the most damaging elements of what was a top-down developer’s charter have reportedly been binned, but the devil will be in the detail. Given its recent history on housing, you’ll understand why we at Devon CPRE are sceptical that the government will do ‘the right thing’ and why it’s certainly too soon to celebrate. Take the current situation in the South Hams. The District Council has declared a Housing Crisis because of an acute lack of longterm rental accommodation, a hike in house prices due to second home ownership and more people moving into the area since the pandemic and the rise in properties operated as AirBnBs. There just aren’t enough affordable homes for local people and those wanting to work in the district.

Unlike some councils, South Hams does have a five-year supply of land for housing, an adopted Joint Local Plan with Plymouth and West Devon and an adopted Housing Strategy that they consulted on last year. But even so, the situation is critical.

It’s a story we’re hearing right across the South West. Over the spring and summer, estate agents have reported booming sales and staggering price increases in the sale and rental market, pushing homes further out of the reach of local people. Giving developer’s ‘free rein’ to cover our greenfields in new homes isn’t the solution. When the big developers build massive new housing estates and new towns, there’s invariably a lack of joined-up thinking. Sherford near Plymouth is a good example: 5,500 new houses, but not a single extra bed at Derriford Hospital. New homes need to be provided with the appropriate services to meet the needs of new resineed dents.

Devon CPRE believes that local people have an important role to play in shaping the future of the places where they live; local communities should be empowered to protect the countryside while delivering the affordable homes they desperately and vital measures to regenerate the rural economy.

We hope the government takes notice of what we’re saying and works with us to create a planning system that puts the needs of local communities ahead of developer’s profits.

Are you listening, Mr Gove?

Joe Giddens Balancing housing need and protecting landscapes is key – only long-term strategies have not been helped by the fact that there have been twenty different housing ministers since 1997, the latest being Michael Gove, left