Local government is currently embroiled in solving two of the economy's biggest problems – achieving growth and building more houses. Common to both is the planning system. The government regards slashing regulations in order to make it easier and quicker to build homes, factories and offices as crucial to getting the economy moving and addressing the housing shortage. Ministers slave over media microphones, explaining how the government is condensing over a thousand pages of planning rules into barely 50.
The new rules shift power in the planning system to developers. The draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) demands that councils support "sustainable development", but that is defined, first and foremost, as sustaining the economy rather than the environment. The second priority is to sustain communities by building more houses and the environment comes at the back of the queue. It's no surprise that powerful lobby groups such as the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) fear a tide of brick and steel will subsume the countryside, as developers turn away from costly industrial land to build on fields.
Don't be fooled by the use of the term "sustainable" either; this is simply a charter for development. Despite the Conservative's claims to be a green party, there are no effective environmental safeguards in this guidance against which to test a proposed building project.
As to the quality and style of buildings, the government has thrown in a few morsels about the importance of good design, but then says "high quality… design goes beyond aesthetic considerations". So cheap, ugly buildings are okay then. Councils' local plans will have to support development unless the damage done "would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits". In other words: resistance is futile. Start digging.
But the government claims the document contains another power shift – this one towards neighbourhoods. Parish councils and neighbourhood forums will be able to "develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood" – as long as that vision involves lots of new buildings. Having a vision of keeping your rural idyll unchanged is a waste of time. It is about where you want the development to go, not whether you want it. No wonder that in this week's network live discussion on planning and the NPPF the representative of the British Property Federation (BPF) - which appears to have effectively co-authored the government's plans - was so enthusiastic.
As the discussion highlighted, there is a serious danger that the reforms will unleash scattergun developments across rural areas with little regard for which towns and villages can best sustain new houses and businesses. This risk provides a compelling reason for councils to get a robust local plan in place, so they can at least try to steer where development goes. Claire Graves of the National Trust commented during the discussion that fewer than half of local authorities have even published a local plan, which means the risks of uncoordinated development are high.
The existing planning framework is a bad system which too many councils have managed poorly. It is slow, bureaucratic, opaque and desperately in need of radical surgery. Businesses need to be able to build, and we need more homes but the proposed planning rules are the wrong approach. Councils must promote development, but they should have the power to ensure that the right projects are built to the right standard and in the right place. The government's framework is barely better than allowing a free for all.
Richard Vize is contributing editor of the Guardian local government network. Follow him on Twitter here
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