Power to the people rules OK – but will localism work?

The Localism Bill has been finally published – making it clear just how huge a role local people will have in planning.

They will be given unprecedented powers to agree to or veto local developments, and even to build their own houses and local amenities.

The Government itself called it a “landmark Bill that heralds a ground-breaking shift in power to councils and communities, overturning decades of central government control”.

The Bill includes a new duty on developers of large-scale schemes to consult the local community before submitting a planning application to the local authority.

Steve Lees, director at SmartNewHomes.com, said: “The jury is still out as to whether the Localism Bill will actually allow new homes to be built in the volume required.

“Incentives for local communities to embrace new homes, such as the New Homes Bonus, implies that homes are merely a quick-fix income generator for increasingly cash-strapped councils, instead of much-needed homes for local people that also create thousands of jobs.

“The UK is still woefully short of new houses to meet demand from the growth in population. Grant Shapps has said he wants to see a return to the age of aspiration, but aspirations are no good if the reality is illusive.

“Some estimates suggest that plans for over 100,000 new homes have been put on ice since the Coalition came to power as councils wait to hear what policy changes are planned.

“Is the government shrugging off its house-building responsibilities in the name of the Big Society?"

Ian Baker, group managing director for house building at Galliford Try Homes, said: “The Bill in its current form has produced more questions than answers.”

He warned that local people could ‘hijack’ sensible housing proposals. He said: “Numerous surveys show that people recognise the need for new homes and future development, but not within their own communities.”

Stuart Robinson, head of planning at property consultants CB Richard Ellis, said: “This has the potential to change attitudes, but nimbyism is much engrained and this may take a generation to change.”
 
Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Housing Federation, warned that the Bill must be introduced carefully.

She said: “The Government has to perform a delicate balancing act between promoting greater community engagement and unleashing nimbyist tendencies that could hold back economic growth.”

As well as overhauling the planning system, the Bill includes a right for 12 cities to directly elect their own mayors; a right for communities to buy local assets such as libraries, pubs and shops, to veto ‘excessive’ rises in council tax, and also to build new homes and amenities in their areas.

HIPs are also formally scrapped in the Bill.