Jennifer McKiernan
Political journalist
Getty images
Advice must have greater powers to seize land, within the framework of government plans to stimulate the construction of houses.
The measurement is part of the flagship planning and infrastructure invoice, which was introduced in Parliament and aims to accelerate the building.
The Minister of Housing, Matthew Pennycook, said that he wanted greater use of compulsory purchase orders (CPO), which allow public authorities to acquire land without the owner’s consent.
Currently, the purchase advice of the sites via CPOs must take into account the “value of hope” – the potential value if the planning permit for development is guaranteed – and this should be eliminated to allow the purchase of land at a lower price.
However, rural campaign groups have raised concerns, farmers could be forced to sell at drop prices and that green spaces could be lost.
Victoria Vyvan, president of Country Land and Business Association, said that the “dear, slow and bureaucratic planning system” was what prevented land sales by its members, which “firmly believes that a small number of houses should be built in a large number of villages”.
She added: “By removing the value of the hope of compulsory purchases, the government wants farmers to pay for a housing crisis that they have not created.
“We doubt that the manufacturers of houses contracted by the advice will make a lower profit, so once again, farmers will be the only part of the supply chain to lose.”
Paul Miner, responsible for planning and policies at CPRE, the Countryside charitable organization, said the group supported the use of CPOs to build truly affordable houses on previously developed land.
But he added: “Compulsory purchase should not be used to allow the development of the precious campaign and local green spaces.”
Responding to such fears, Pennycook said the BBC Radio 4 bbc program that it was “somewhat mystified” by this interpretation, claiming that CPOs would be used “much more often” to regenerate industrial wasteland – or land previously developed.
“We believe that it is true that these powers are more widely used and it will be up to the local authorities to make decisions on the appropriate land so that these powers are used,” he added.
A requirement for the Secretary of State to sign on CPOs will be deleted “in certain cases,” he said, adding that the legislation would be “transformative” in unlocking construction for new houses, roads, rails and renewable energy projects.
The bill also aims to rationalize the planning process, with more decisions taken directly by officers rather than by advisers.
However, the advice has raised concerns, this could mean that they will be excluded from the democratic planning process.
Richard Clewer, housing and planning spokesperson Country Count Network, said he had praised CPO modifications as a “useful tool”.
However, he said that changes to the planning process could “dilute and get around the role of advisers”, in particular with rural developments where some new houses could have a significant impact.
Defending the plans, Pennycook said that “expert planning agents” will support the elected advisers with technical details and allowed advisers to focus on larger and more controversial requests.
The government has promised to build 1.5 million new houses in England over the next five years, with the key to commitment to stimulate economic growth.
However, the number of new houses continued to drop in the first six months when work was in power, the construction industry warning that the country does not have enough workers to deliver on the objective.
Pennycook said that the heritage of the previous conservative government was “disastrous”, but that there were “very positive signs” and “green shoots advancing” in the number of planning requests submitted.
The other measures of the bill include:
Up to £ 2,500 of energy bills for people living less than 500 million new pylons, the process of approval of key projects such as wind farms, roads or railways and the prohibition of several “without merit” legal challenges.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the plans “would support the manufacturers” and “take the blockers” to create “the largest boom in a generation building”.
She told the BBC that the reduction in the number of organizations that obtain their say in planning decisions would prevent certain cases of “ridiculous” refusals.
The managers will consult on the removal of Sport England, The Theatres Trust and the Garden History Society on the list of “statutory consultations”, which are legally required to provide advice on decisions.
The government said that in some cases, organizations slowed down the building, giving the example of a development of housing in Bradford which was delayed because the demand would not have considerably considered the speed of the cricket balls of a neighboring club.
“We cannot have absurd approaches which mean that people ‘houses cannot be built because of an wandering cricket ball,” said Rayner, adding: “We must have a common sense approach.”
