PLANNING
144. The planning system is supposed to balance the
supply of and demand for housing but over the last 30 years the
number of new houses built outside the cities has led to decentralisation
and suburban sprawl as people move out of inner urban areas and
into the suburbs.[317]
In Birmingham, for example,
"Younger economically active households
are moving out of Birmingham, particularly black, minority ethnic
households, to cities around the edge of Birmingham to Telford,
to Redditch, to Tamworth, three growth towns, 15 miles away."[318]
The Government's Planning Policy Guidance Note 3,
which was welcomed by our predecessor Committee ,[319]
was introduced in March 2000. It set out a clear policy to stem
the decentralisation by stating that new homes should be built
in urban areas and on brownfield land in preference to greenfield
sites.
"Local planning authorities should provide
sufficient housing land but give priority to re-using previously
developed land within urban areas, bringing empty homes back into
use and converting existing buildings in preference to the development
of greenfield sites."[320]
145. Yet the evidence we have received suggests that
regional and local planners are not implementing PPG3 and are
continuing to allow too many new houses to be built on greenfield
sites. They are clearly not giving priority to the re-use of the
empty homes and the sites on which they stand:
- Regional Planning Guidance is not setting rigorous
targets to reduce the vacancy rate, which then feeds through to
an additional requirement for new homes to be built on greenfield
sites;
- there is insufficient information about the number
of greenfield sites that currently have planning consents;
- local authorities are ignoring the vacant properties
and brownfield sites in neighbouring boroughs; and
- Regional Planning Guidance does not take account
of proposals for housing market renewal.
Overall too many new homes are being planned for
greenfield sites, and Regional Planning Guidance, such as that
proposed in the North West, is likely to make the problem worse.
Targets to reduce the vacancy
rate
146. Regional Planning Guidance (RPG) sets out the
requirement for new homes in a region on the basis of forecasts
of demand and in the light of the region's existing housing capacity.[321]
Alan Wenban-Smith explained the importance of assumptions about
the vacancy rate in determining housing capacity. RPG "should
allow enough vacancy for ease of movement, but no more. Where
the current vacancy rate exceeds the national target (or a regional
target derived from it), the amount of housing to be provided
should be reduced accordingly."[322]
Assumption of a higher vacancy rate would increase the number
of new homes required to be built on greenfield sites, "It
is a significant difference in the sense that all that extra feeds
through and at the end of the day means more greenfield land must
be identified to meet it."[323]
147. Despite a national vacancy target of 3 per cent,
the draft RPG for the North West set out requirements for new
homes on the basis that the vacancy rate would remain at 4.3 per
cent[324] Alan Wenban-Smith
argued that this had led to an assumption that 25,900 more homes
would be required over the plan period, than if a 3 per cent vacancy
rate had been assumed.[325]
The Panel Report on the Draft RPG for the North West defended
its assumption that the vacancy rate will remain high:
"The advice in PPG11, paragraphs 5.21 and
16.05 refers to the housing vacancy rate as a 'contextual indicator'
which is not directly influenced by RPG.[326]
Clearly it is desirable that maximum use should be made of the
existing housing stock but only where this is suitable for the
purpose. It must be primarily for individual local authorities
to decide, taking account of local circumstances the extent to
which it is feasible to bring vacant or difficult to let housing
back into use."[327]
PPG3 requires planners to prioritise the re-use
of empty properties and the brownfield sites on which they stand,
in preference to new building on greenfield sites and we are disappointed
that this does not appear to be happening. Regional Planning Guidance
must reflect PPG3, should include rigorous targets for the reduction
of the vacancy rate and should use this to calculate whether any
additional houses are needed.
302 EMP89A Back
303
Op cit, Paragraph 1.12 Back
304
Q 417 Back
305
Q 419 Back
306
Housing Corporation Sector Study 13, Characteristics of low
demand housing associations, February 2002 Back
307
See EMP86 Back
308
Qq 218 and 220 Back
309
Review and Evaluation of Regional Housing Statements, DETR Housing
Research Summary Number 143, 2001 Back
310
Which covers the North West, North East and Yorkshire and Humberside Back
311
Q 191 Back
312
The role of the RDAs is described in greater detail in the First
Report of the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee,
Session 1997-98, HC415 and the Tenth Report of the Environment,
Transport and Regional Affairs Committee, Session 1998-99, HC232-I Back
313
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, SR2000,
Service Delivery Agreement Back
314
Page 35, England's North West: A Strategy Towards 2020, NWDA,
2000 Back
315
ERF08, HC483-II Back
316
First Report of the Environmental Audit Committee, Session 2001-02,
HC326, Paragraph 326 Back
317
EMP47(a) Back
318
David Thompson, Q 77 Back
319
Seventeenth Report of the Select Committee on Environment, Transport
and Regional Affairs, HC490-I, Session 1998-99, Paragraph 7 Back
320
Planning Policy Guidance Note 3, DETR, 2000, Paragraph 2 Back
321
The Tenth Report of the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs
Committee, Session 1997-98, HC495-I looked at how projections
of housing demand were made Back
322
EMP76 Back
323
Q 270 Back
324
Q 270 Back
325
EMP76 Back
326
Alan Wenban-Smith told us this was a "cop-out," Q 275 Back
327
Paragraph 7.18, Regional Planning Guidance for the North West:
Panel Report, 2001 Back
