The Berkeley Group’s Tony Pidgley (pictured) has slammed the governments proposed changes to the planning system for making “swingeing and unnecessary changes while failing to tackle the real issues”.
In an official response to the government’s planning green paper, Pidgley said that the proposed tariffs that would replace the current planning gain negotiations could create a “conflict of interest”.
Berkeley managing director Pidgley also claimed that the proposals make it more likely that planning permission could be “bought”, because local authorities could “grant permission for an unsatisfactory development simply because it produces a higher tariff than another proposal that meets community objectives”.
He added that the proposals were “a stealth tax on a single industry which not only implies by its very nature that all development is bad, but also simply aims to shift the responsibility for funding future public services from local and national government to private industry”.
Pidgley continued: “The new proposals hit at the very heart of planning – the control of land use to the benefit of the individual and the community.
“For years developers have negotiated with local authorities, but far from this being some underhand, negative process, the result has been new schools, roads, affordable housing units, and regeneration and new life for many previously unusable areas. Now the government is giving local authorities and unscrupulous builders free rein.”
Pidgley also slated the changes for doing nothing to ensure that planning authorities fulfil their obligations while placing unfair pressure on developers.
Pidgley added: “The ultimate result of these recommendations must be that many projects will simply not be viable. We would urge government to now take time to work with us and others to find new, more workable solutions.”
EGi News 18/03/02
