1. Development and Infrastructure Consultants
Planning and Land
Where have we got to (almost) 70 years after The Town and Country Planning Act 1947
John Baker
Partner
Development and Infrastructure Consultants

3. “uninformed populism supporting deeply divisive measures”
Gerraint Oakley

4. types of democracy
elected representatives
referendums
democracy should be the recognition of all views, rather than ‘winner takes all’

5. first spurious statistic
83%
of all planning is political

6. manipulation of consultation responses

7. What have we achieved? Positive benefits of good planning new towns
national parks

8. must try harder housing needs going unmet
too much development in the wrong locations
not enough integration of infrastructure and development
too much travel, and too many trips by inappropriate means
no effective means of planning strategically
too few great places and buildings
short termism

9. evolution of planning Imminent White Paper, LPEG Response?
1947 Town and Country Planning Act
1971 Town and Country Planning Act
Acts (s54A of the 1991 Act)
2004 Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act
2011 Localism Act
Development Control
Plan-led system
Development Management
Imminent White Paper, LPEG Response?

10. local
strategic
development management
collective good

11. more spurious statistics
30% of policy officer time
spent on proper plan making
1/3 decent plans
1/3 out of date plans
1/3 no plan
50% of spend on consultants wasted
most plans could be
made in half
the time

12. to achieve process success plans need be little more than a list of sites deliverable in the next five years

13. the land question and the viability test
Plans should be deliverable….. To ensure viability, the costs of any requirements likely to be applied to development, such as requirements for affordable housing, standards, infrastructure contributions or other requirements should, when taking account of the normal cost of development and mitigation, provide competitive returns to a willing landowner and willing developer to enable the development to be deliverable.

14. the land question and viability test
development value
minus costs
minus profit
residual value compared to benchmark value

15. the land question and viability test
‘benchmark’ value inflated way above agricultural land value
may be way above cost of acquisition
benchmark value reflects landowner gain from planning
value accruing not transferred to community assets
market rather than best planning effectively determining patterns of development

16. remember the 1947 Act one of a package of welfare Acts
rooted in long history of radical ideas such as common ownership of land
created the need for planning permission for development
stopped short of nationalisation of land
Introduced CPO powers

17. long termism
far seeing strategy within which short term decisions made
emphasis on place and function rather than administrative boundaries
planning for whole community for whole plan area and whole plan period
greater confidence and attraction to development

18. we need (for starters!)
more investment in greater professional capacity
greater dialogue
evidence to have more influence
professionalism to be the new radicalism

19. Happy Christmas and a better planned New Year
(and future generally)

20. Development and Infrastructure Consultants
Planning and Land
Where have we got to (almost) 70 years after The Town and Country Planning Act 1947
John Baker
Partner
Development and Infrastructure Consultants