A cross-party suburban taskforce has launched a public call for evidence to support out-of-town locations and development in a post-Covid world.
The taskforce aims to investigate the challenges for suburban places and support the long-term sustainability of areas using changes to planning, taxation and investment policy.
It is co-chaired by Labour MP Rupa Huq and Conservative MP David Simmons and supported by UCL’s Bartlett School of Planning, the All Party Parliamentary Group for London’s Planning and Built Environment.
An expert advisory board will work with the group. It will be chaired by Rockwell’s head of planning Jonathan Manns and includes Tony Mulhall, RICS’ associate director for planning and development and Richard Blyth, head of policy at the Royal Town Planning Institute.
The group was announced in March, following commitment from the government that it would consider its recommendations. It will focus initially on London’s suburbs and expand this to identify national trends.
It follows the government’s recent proposals for a radical reform of the planning system, which aims to introduce new zoning policy to boost development and upcoming permitted development rights legislation that will enable redevelopment of vacant commercial premises.
While industry experts have predicted an uptick in demand for commercial space in the suburbs, the group says neglected areas are still struggling with underinvestment amid pressure to expand.
Huq said: “Suburbs have been considered unproblematic and left by themselves under the pressures of austerity, and are now facing the problems of inequality and underfunding whilst still being under pressure to expand or intensify.
“This taskforce draws those from all political backgrounds to focus on the suburbs, seeking to understand what ‘suburban’ really means in modern Britain. Now, as we emerge from a pandemic which may well redefine our relationship to the places in which we live, work and play, it is the right time for that.”
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