Deputy prime minister John Prescott has urged planning authorities to be more flexible about releasing land earmarked for industrial or commercial use for housing developments.
Speaking at the Guardian/Observer New Agenda for British Housing conference on Tuesday, Prescott said that a culture change in planning was vital if the government was to deliver its £22bn Sustainable Communities Plan.
Prescott said: “We need to look at how we can be more flexible with the way local authorities allocate land for housing.
“Unless there’s a convincing case otherwise, local authorities should allow land allocated for industrial or commercial use to be used for housing or mixed-use development.
“We can also do a lot more with the vast amounts of surplus public land – much of it owned by the government – and we will shortly publish the first national register of all surplus public land.”
He added: “Planning authorities should see their job not just as operating the planning system, but also making sure that they meet their housebuilding targets and also the quality targets in the Communities Plan.
“There has to be culture change.
“The provision of housing is vital to us all, so I will be asking the Audit Commission to assess the performance of authorities in delivering the right sort of housing, in the right quantities and the right places.”
Prescott added that he would exercise his powers to “intervene when necessary”.
He said: “We can’t be in a situation where major housing developments are being held back – where planning becomes part of the problem, rather than part of the solution.”
The Communities Plan, published in February, included proposals for:
- an extra £5bn for affordable housing
- £500m for deserted and rundown areas in the North and Midlands
- £2.8bn to improve social housing
- £201m for improving the local environment
Prescott also told the conference that from next year a quarter of new homes funded by the Housing Corporation would be pre-fabricated.
He said: “We must switch our attention to more off-site manufacture – which not only cuts the build time, but offers better design and quality and a much better safety record.
“I can announce today that we have set the Housing Corporation a new target, that from 2004/5, 25% of new homes they fund should be off-site manufacture.”
The deputy prime minister also said that the government would set up a further three Urban Regeneration Companies (URCs) in Sandwell, Derby and West Cumbria & Furness.
This brings the total number of URCs to 14.
References: EGi News 08/04/03
