The Housing White Paper published this week, ‘Fixing our broken housing market’, is apparently the first of its kind for more than twenty years, a time when I was working as a town planner in a local authority. Back in 1995, as the then Secretary of State John Gummer introduced its predecessor, he commented that “We live in a heavily populated country, yet we shall have to meet the demand for new homes in an environmentally sustainable way.”
The need has changed little since 1995, although we now know far more about the parlous state of our environment, thanks to initiatives such as the State of Nature 2016. We also have a much greater sense of urgency about the need to deal with climate change.
Last month Martin Harper blogged about our hopes for the 2017 Housing White Paper. Victoria Bankes-Price, chair of Wildlife and Countryside Link’s Planning Working Group has also made some good points. How do Secretary of State Sajid Javid’s proposals measure up?
According to the introduction to the White Paper, among the things that communities need is “a sustainable natural environment”. Do I see shades of John Gummer there?
One test of the White Paper is whether the planning system will continue to protect special places like Lodge Hill, a Site of Special Scientific Interest famed for its nightingales, currently under threat from 5,000 new homes in Medway Council’s draft local plan. So it’s reassuring that the White Paper doesn’t propose any significant changes to the site protection system. Indeed, it gives some additional and welcome protection to ancient woodland.
Protected species can also breathe a sigh of relief. There’s reference to the work carried out by Woking Borough Council and Natural England to piloting a new strategic approach to site licensing for great crested newts, which is to be rolled out to other local authorities.
More broadly, the White Paper emphasises the importance of planning for the right homes in the right places. It supports a plan-led system, and recognises that local authorities need additional resources for skilled professionals (including, in our view, ecologists). This is crucial if the planning system is going to deliver places that are great for nature as well as great for people.
It’s also good to see recognition of the role that garden cities, towns and villages can play in building high-quality environments. And as a former member of the Lyons Housing Commission I’m pleased to see attempts to diversify the housing market.
We’ll have to think through some of the proposed policy changes carefully to make sure there are no unintended consequences. Changes to the wording of key policies on sustainable development, and the emphasis on brownfield land (what if it’s of high environmental value?) are some of the proposals which we will reflect on.
There are some changes to Green Belt policy to tell local authorities what they need to do in the ‘exceptional circumstances’ of releasing Green Belt land, but this is little more than a clarification of existing policy. What I find more striking is the attention given to Green Belt policy (quite a lot) compared to green spaces (hardly anything). Green Belt policy is more a tool of strategic planning than an environmental designation. Yes, there’s a nod to Defra’s forthcoming 25 year plan for the environment, but this felt like a missed opportunity to expand on how the planning system can do more to build great communities where people can access wildlife-rich green spaces on the doorstep of their new homes: just as we are doing working with Barratt and Aylesbury Vale District Council at Kingsbrook.
Nor is there any sign of a commitment to zero carbon homes, although we are given the possibility of further consultation if improving requirements can be done without making homes less affordable. For more details, we’ll have to wait for the Emissions Reduction Plan.
These are just my first impressions and I’m sure much more could be said. The White Paper is tinged green – but that’s more to do with providing the opportunity for comment than being what nature needs. We’ll be delving more deeply into the contents in the coming weeks.