printable version of the statement (44.032Kb) - DOWNLOAD

Position Statement

Barker Review of Land Use Planning

In December 2005, the Government commissioned Kate Barker, a member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee, to carry out a review of the land use planning system. Her terms of reference were:

To consider how, in the context of globalisation, and building on the reforms already put in place in England , planning policy and procedures can better deliver economic growth and prosperity alongside other sustainable development goals. In particular, to assess:

·          ways of further improving the efficiency and speed of the system;

·          ways of increasing the flexibility, transparency and predictability that enterprise requires;

·          the relationship between planning and productivity, and how the outcomes of the planning system can better deliver its sustainable economic objectives;

·          the relationship between economic and other sustainable development goals in the delivery of sustainable communities.

The Planning Officers’ Society made submissions to her, both when the project was launched and when her interim report was published, in July 2006. They proposed that her final report (expected in December 2006) should include the following:

• recognition of the unique challenges of planning in a British context (with both high population densities and large amounts of protected land;
• the need for a national spatial strategy, to set a context for more local planning;
• the need for better linkages between planning and other strands of policy (in particular, the Regional Economic Strategies);
• mechanisms for dealing with the uncertainties inherent in the long-term forecasting associated with planning;
• improved arrangements for consulting the public, that give a more balanced view of public opinion, strike the right balance between full consultation and a speedy planning system, and which avoid consultation fatigue;
• a simplified method of dealing with householder applications;
• improvements in the training of planners – in particular the increased need for in-service training to complement the move to shorter academic courses;
• a review of central Government’s input to the local planning system, with a view to speeding up the process;
• a need to review the role of elected councillors in relation to planning;
• mechanisms to ensure that the domestic effects of European legislation are anticipated before the Government becomes signatories to it;
• the need for growth proposals to be accompanied by the timely and adequate provision of the infrastructure needed to support it;
• the need to re-engineer the recent changes to the planning system, to remove unnecessary complexity;
• the need to ensure that there is congruence between whatever revisions are made to the planning system and any changes to democratic structures that emerge from the Local Government White Paper.

Where can I find out more?

Visit the Planning Officers Society website at http://www.planningofficers.org.uk/feature.cp/featureid/51

Any Comments? Contact Stuart Hylton.