Come May and the general election, my hope is that planning is treated in a way that enables it to drive sustainable development that spans short-term political cycles.
We need to avoid a repeat of the approach of the past four years, when promising signs at the start – the NPPF and a desire to streamline the system – were undone by a raft of short-term, ad hoc policies focused on regulation and process. Opportunities to tackle the housing shortage, infrastructure delivery and sustainable development were missed.
Planning is a force for good that can facilitate growth and support development. It would be refreshing to see planning elevated to its rightful position and not relegated to arguments of speed, ease and appeasing lobby groups. It should be about creating successful, sustainable places for people.
But we have lost our way among the endless reams of regulation, legislation and process that have boxed planning into a corner.
Let’s start rectifying this by embracing planning as a mechanism for setting a vision and by providing strategic leadership. Addressing the huge deficiencies that have resulted from the abolition of regional planning and the introduction of the duty to co-operate is one way forward.
Another would be to view planning not as a regulatory system but as part of the bigger picture, sitting alongside economic development, housing, transport, regeneration and delivery. We need to look at how a package of policies can be brought together to maximise this work. For example, we need to think strategically about housing delivery as well as give local authorities more powers to build housing; or plan for infrastructure alongside a proper debate about devolving powers and funding to enable local areas to drive investment.
Housing is a hot topic for me and the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP are working with local authorities and neighbours on a study for the subregion. The aim is to address our housing challenge and link the approach to economic opportunities and infrastructure delivery. We will, however, be constrained by the limitations on strategic planning and the lack of meaningful national engagement on how we expand and improve our city regions.
We are also pursuing the housing growth agenda and utilising our Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust development vehicle to build high-quality council housing, with more than 1,200 new homes delivered so far, 1,000 on site and a further 450 starting in 2015. More could be done if a more strategic approach to delivery was taken and restrictions on council borrowing for house building reviewed.
But it’s not all about national direction and policies. There are also many things the profession itself needs to do.
A good start would be embedding an understanding of the development cycle and financial viability into a planner’s training.
Cultural change within the profession is essential. The Royal Town Planning Institute should be driving this alongside having a central role in any future decisions on national planning policy.
Waheed Nazir is director of planning and regeneration at Birmingham city council
