RSS Planing Enquiry

A panel of four inspectors invited interested parties who had made submissions to last year’s public consultation on the Regional Spatial Strategy to put their cases to the inquiry in Gateshead.

Chartered town and country planners from Blackett Hart & Pratt attended 11 days of the five-week inquiry to speak on behalf of our clients who include landowners and developers.

Other organisations at the inquiry included pressure groups, business representatives and local authorities, who gave evidence on the themes of transport, the environment, employment land and housing land.

The panel’s report is due to be handed to the Secretary of State for the Environment in the autumn. The new policies and the Regional Spatial Strategy that emerge will help local authorities to shape their Local Development Frameworks, which are now starting to replace all the existing Local Plans.

The public inquiry offered those of us who work in planning some advance notice of the approach we can expect to be working to between next year and 2021.

Firstly, it seems highly likely that the inspectors will recommend a prohibition on green field development, at least in the early years of the new Strategy. This is good news for environmentalists, but may prove to be a problem for the likes of former mining villages that need to grow in order to keep services like schools and health facilities.

There was recognition of the major problems we have with the highway network in the region but there are no costed solutions to resolve them. There is a lot of work to be done to find ways to allow development to take place.

Concern was also expressed about the region lacking a good mix of housing. There are problems with affordable housing in some areas but in others we need to provide a wider choice of homes, in particular at the top end of the market.

However, the need to develop more large, executive homes is likely to clash with the desire to preserve green field sites. Riverside apartments will be important but will not be the answer to everyone’s needs.

Every local authority in the region has requested a greater housing allocation than they have been given. This is a complete turnaround from a few years ago when councils were asked to provide more homes than they wanted.

The change of heart has come about because housing allocation gives local authorities the opportunity to be creative with brown field sites. If they are forced to stick to an artificial housing ceiling that is imposed on them it hinders the development of derelict locations.

Darlington, for example, is one authority that could be left with virtually no ability to allocate any fresh development potential.

If these policies come into force, it will make it much more difficult for landowners and developers to put sites forward.

They need to seek advice now if they want to promote their land and have it incorporated into the Local Development Frameworks. If they wait until the inspectors’ report, which will inform the LDFs, is out, it may be too late.