Archived decisions

Contact: Paddy Hillary Ext. 7391

1. Summary

1.1 This report gives details of the key proposals put forward in the statement by

the Deputy Prime Minister on 5 February in publishing `Sustainable
Communities: Building for the Future' also known as the Communities Plan.

1.2 The Communities Plan makes a range of proposals which cover the changes to the planning system, tackling housing shortages in the south and revitalising communities in the north and midlands and sets out a wide ranging agenda aimed at ensuring that decent, affordable homes are genuinely available for all within reach of work leisure and social facilities: objectives that have been at the heart of local government concern for many years.

1.3 The Plan is a statement of policy and not a consultation document therefore there is no formal process for comment. However, the proposals are potentially far reaching for services provided in the Hampshire area and the Policy Review Committee is asked to give views on the proposals for inclusion in a report to Cabinet in May 2003 so that a response to the Deputy Prime Minister can be considered.

2. Introduction

2.1 The Deputy Prime Minister announced his proposals for a `Communities Plan' in July 2002. The statement on 5 February 2003 includes the publication of the full details of the long term action plan, which is not a White Paper, and the spending allocations intended to achieve delivery. The full text is available on the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister website and a copy has been placed in the Member's room.

2.2 The plan is described as a `step change' in the Government's policies for

building sustainable communities and presents a comprehensive programme of action to take these policies forward. The document also includes a series of `daughter' documents concentrating on regional plans including one for the South East.

2.3 The plan covers a wide range of proposals including regeneration of deprived areas, increasing housing supply in four growth areas (Thames Gateway, Milton Keynes-south midlands, London-Stansted-Cambridge and Ashford), introducing a regional approach to housing policy, affordable housing for low income households and key workers, support for people to move into home ownership, bringing council homes up to a decent standard, homelessness and action on empty properties, measures to protect the countryside including guarantees on green belt provision, improvements to local parks and green spaces and affordable homes in villages.

2.4 The plan proposes a spend by Government of some £22 billion over three years on these actions plans and establishes a number of new organisations to ensure delivery including Regional Housing Boards, a Home Ownership Taskforce and a new green spaces unit as part of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).

2 Key specific proposals

2.1 Decent homes, decent places
This section is primarily aimed at housing authorities covering the position of local authorities as landlords, stock options and funding for improvements to help vulnerable tenants. It also proposes the inclusion of a strategy to improve social housing as part of the wider strategies for neighbourhood renewal and sustainable communities. This section also includes the announcement of the new CABE Space unit to champion high quality planning, design and management of parks and open space and a `liveability fund' of £89m over three years to support local authority led projects to improve these spaces.

2.1.1 County Council comments
Local authorities who still retain housing stock (Fareham, Gosport, New Forest and Winchester together with Portsmouth and Southampton) will be required to separate the landlord function from their strategic housing responsibilities. They will be able to choose from three different options for the additional investment necessary to reach the decent homes standard. The options are: stock transfer, Private Finance Initiative or, for high performing authorities, Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs). Authorities can use different options for different parts of their stock as part of an overarching strategy.

With effect from April 2003 the Government is changing the system of allocating funds for investment in housing at the regional level so that it supports the new Regional Housing Strategies. A significant part of that change involves the reform of local Authority housing finance including the abolition of Local Authority Social Housing Grants to allow more strategic use of resources and the removal of the anomaly whereby debt-free authorities could spend the money twice. This will have an adverse impact on the ability of Hampshire local authorities, seven of which have debt free status, to fund affordable housing schemes. In future they will only be able to fund small scale developments while the Housing Corporation will take care of larger projects. Decisions have yet to be taken about the dividing line between the two. Transitional arrangements to ease the impact of this change were announced and then subsequently modified following representation from local and regional bodies.

The Government plans to continue to develop the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy in four areas in the South East - including Southampton and Portsmouth. The programme of Area Investment Frameworks, promoted by SEEDA, and new delivery partnerships for the Priority Areas for Economic Regeneration will also be developed. This commitment is welcomed but there is little by way of recognition of the needs of suburbs which are dismissed as `suburban sprawl'. Members of the `In Suburbia Partnership', which includes the County Council and Rushmoor Borough Council have expressed many of the same views as in the plan but it is disappointing that these areas have not been included as requiring attention.

The plan recognises that healthy, vibrant communities can only be achieved by involving the people who live and work in them. The government proposes to take forward the regional Social Inclusion Statement and to encourage Local Strategic Partnerships and sub regional partnerships and to work to tackle street crime, racist crime and domestic violence. This recognition of LSPs is welcomed, but not enough emphasis is given to their fundamental role in building a bottom up approach to the issues covered by the plan.

As yet there is no detail on how the `liveability fund' will apply and what the eligibility will be and the concern is that the funding will be directed towards neighbourhood renewal areas.

2.2 Low demand and abandonment
These proposals are intended to bring back to life those areas where there is low demand for housing and to create more sustainable communities. Partnerships of local authorities and other key stakeholders will develop strategic plans for whole housing markets, linked to pilot projects to tackle housing, environmental health and anti social behaviour and alongside Enterprise Areas which will be established to encourage business and jobs in run down areas.

2.2.1 County Council comments
The main areas of low demand and abandonment can be found in the parts of the North and Midlands and are to receive funds to recreate sustainable communities and ensure that such problems are not repeated in the longer term. Hampshire is fortunate that no areas suffer from the extremes of abandonment and low demand that the government is addressing. However, the lessons learned during the pilot projects may highlight actions that Hampshire could take as it implements and refines its own Urban Living Strategy.

2.3 A step change in housing supply and sustainable growth
This section aims to create conditions in which private house builders will build homes of the right type, address the need for affordable housing for key workers and the homeless and make the best use of existing housing stock. In particular this section cross refers to the proposals in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill and announces the creation of a £300m Challenge Fund to deliver 6,000 more houses in the London and South East area.

This section also deals with the Government's plans to deliver a `step change' in the supply of new housing in London and the South East by 2016. London and the growth areas are identified as having the potential to accommodate at least 200,000 homes above levels currently in regional planning guidance. Alongside the specific proposals for the growth areas in the Thames Gateway, Milton Keynes/south midlands, Ashford and London/Stansted/Cambridge there is a commitment to ensure that the built environment in the new and expanded communities is of a high quality and surrounding countryside is protected and enhanced and that the issues of public services and infrastructure are addressed.

2.3.1 County Council comments
The plan restates a number of initiatives and policy changes already announced by Government such as the proposals to change the planning system with a greater focus on regional planning. The South East England Assembly is to receive a planning delivery grant of £581,000 in 2003/4 to enable it to make progress on developing the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) and other policies and plans. A timetable for a review of regional planning guidance is also included which will see the draft RSS published in 2004 with a final version in 2006.

Local authorities are expected to take a pro-active role in identifying and responding to housing needs and additional funding is to be made available through the planning delivery grant. An additional £2m is being made available for Hampshire planning authorities for 2003/4 which is aimed at speeding up planning decisions and keeping the new style plans up to date. Funding is expected to be channelled to areas of service that require improvement and future funding will be dependent on achieving this improvement. County Councils have not benefited from the grant but, as previously announced, are able to work on an agency basis for the regional planning body.

Comprehensive Performance Assessments will include consideration of how planning authorities are delivering planned levels of new housing and the audit Commission is to include housing market issues in the review of CPA scores for unitaries and counties in 2003/4.

The regional growth areas are expected to absorb 200,000 additional houses above current planned levels. The decision to expand these areas has an effect on Hampshire insofar as the county is unlikely to have to provide as much housing in future years as would have been the case without them. This does not however mean that the next regional planning dwellings requirement will be lower than the current figure. The Government is expecting a significant improvement in the numbers of dwellings built, changes in housing mix, increased use of previously developed land and better design. It is putting additional resources into the planning system and has signalled its intention to intervene if improvements are not delivered.

The plan provides for almost £5bn for more affordable housing in the London, East and South East regions between 2003 and 2006 of which £1bn is for key worker housing. Although this represents an increase on current levels of funding, future housing policy and funding decisions will be made by the Regional Housing Board rather than local authorities and funds will be channelled towards key regional priorities such as the growth areas. This may mean that the Hampshire may be able to secure less of the available funds than at present. Other counties, such as Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Surrey generally have a larger affordability gap between house prices and income than in most parts of Hampshire and regional policy could direct funds towards these areas.

The Government has said that it will consult on allowing local authorities to seek affordable housing where justified and will ensure that local plan policies are supported by robust housing needs assessments. It will also work with district councils to achieve a better balance between housing supply and demand. These proposals could be helpful as many planning authorities in Hampshire believe that the current threshold for requiring affordable housing is set too high.

The additional funding for key workers represents a significant increase on current levels and schemes will be targeted to the recruitment and retention needs of different public services with employers contributing to the schemes. Hampshire has benefited from key worker support and is likely to continue to do so from these increased funds.

2.4 Land, countryside and rural communities
This section aims to protect the countryside and enhance its quality rather than create urban sprawl and to address the housing needs of rural communities. Specific proposals include increased funding and a new role for English Partnerships in remediating and assembling brownfield sites for development; a new Land Restoration Trust to manage, in partnership with local communities, brownfield land that is suitable only for public open space; commitments to include a regional allocation of green belt land and a requirement for regional investment strategies to be rural proofed. Additionally, the target for affordable homes in settlements below 3000 people will be increased to 3500 homes in 2004/6.

2.4.1 County Council comments
The proposed action on brownfield land is welcomed, as is the proposed register of surplus public sector land (although there is no guarantee that this land will come forward for development). A new and imaginative approach is required for all areas of the urban fringe around towns and cities, not just Greenbelt. Current protection policies often stifle creative solutions to urban fringe problems and do little to encourage owners to manage the land or open up fresh areas for public access. Further initiatives are needed to establish multi purpose countryside, support appropriate land management and improve benefits for the countryside for urban populations, especially those who are socially excluded. There is no commitment to long term funding to achieve these aims.

While welcoming the overall proposals to increase funding for acquisition of land for `countryside' purposes there is concern that proper weighting is given by English Partnerships to the wildlife value and biodiversity of the land chosen. The County Council would support the principle of creating more country parks but more funding would be needed in order to take on the management role for these.

The proposals for remediation of brownfield sites for public open space supports work already carried out by the County Council, for example at Westwood Woodland Park, and more of this work could be done with additional funds. The concern is that the proposals will divert funding away from local authorities and, although organisations like Groundwork are good at starting projects, there is a risk that they will withdraw leaving local authorities to `rescue' projects and pick up the ongoing costs.

The government is increasing the Housing Corporation's rural target to provide 7,000 affordable homes between 2003 -2006 in settlements below 3,000 people in addition to the 1600 in 2003-2004. While welcoming the commitment to rural proof the region's strategic approach to investment, sustainable communities need more than just housing and the plan contains no proposals to improve accessibility to services, healthcare, jobs and training and fails to recognise the additional pressure on local public services in providing this infrastructure.

2.5 Reforming for delivery
This section looks at the framework of laws, structures and decision making processes that are needed to deliver the action plan and includes proposals ranging from additional funding for skills development to support for involvement of local communities in the planning process. Regional Housing Boards, comprising representatives of the Government Office, the Housing Corporation, the Regional Chamber and Development Agency, English Partnerships and other relevant bodies, will be established with the responsibility of preparing regional housing strategies to develop and implement regional housing policies and provide advice to Ministers on housing investment priorities. In each region there will be a single new pot for housing investment comprising the resources currently allocated through the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme and the local authority Housing Investment Programme.

2.5.1 County Council comments
The government recognises that the current shortages of skilled people in some professions and trades will hamper achievement of its objective to develop sustainable communities. Its proposals include working across government and with key stakeholders, including the private sector, to develop the skills base. It intends, by July 2003, to develop a comprehensive skills strategy for sustainable communities including building capacity in planning and providing £4m over 3 years in Planning Aid to help communities become more involved in the process and £17m at the regional level to improve urban design skills.

The national and regional plans appear to have a different focus on this issue with the national perspective addressing skills for sustainable communities while the regional action plan concentrates more on low level skills, exclusion and under-utilisation of the workforce as a whole. A deficiency generally in the skills base in Hampshire has been recognised as an issue and the proposals in this plan may start to address this problem.

3 Conclusion

Overall there is much to welcome in the Communities Plan such as the recognition of the need for more affordable housing, the additional housing finance for the south east and the acknowledgement of the need to develop communities rather than housing estates. However there are a number of concerns, echoed by the Local Government Association and other bodies such as the Environment Agency, which are highlighted in this report.

Consideration needs to be given to the impact of these proposals on existing partnership working both at the corporate and strategic level through, for example the Community Safety partnerships, and at the more operational level. In particular, although the document does mention Community Strategies and Local Strategic Partnerships, there is little in the way of clear linkages with this developing work. It is important that LSPs are informed of the proposals and the possible impact on the development of their strategies.

The proposals assume the implementation of changes to the planning system in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill and create a number of new, undemocratically elected bodies to either oversee or to directly deliver the action plan. One clear example of this is the proposal to create Regional Housing Boards. There is little mention of the role of local authorities and there seems considerable scope for duplication and confusion of roles.

Most of the proposals add targets and funding to existing activities but with no clear explanation of how these additional targets are to be delivered.

5. Recommendation

That the Policy Review Committee makes comments on the proposals for inclusion in a report to Cabinet in May 2003.

Background Information

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report. NB the list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

File: None Location