In August, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published ‘Planning for the Future’, its White Paper setting out the Government's proposals for ‘once in a generation’ reform to the planning system in England.

NLA has this week submitted its response to the government’s consultation, focusing on the impact of the proposed planning reforms on Greater London. As the independent centre for London’s built environment, NLA’s membership represents a broad cross-industry response, from the development community to local authorities, planners, architects and others.

 

NLA’s response has been led by the NLA Expert Panel on Planning, informed by an extensive NLA member survey and with soundings from the New London Sounding Board, which was set up to provide a cross-industry voice to the debate surrounding major change in the capital. View the full response here and the NLA member survey in graphs here.

The response demonstrates support for the strategic objectives presented by the White Paper to make the planning system more accessible, transparent and certain, with 84% of member organisations surveyed supportive of digitalis­­ation of the system, and 55% for shorter, more focused Local Plans. However, NLA also raises concerns about the implications of some these changes for London.

 
Currently 61% of the survey respondents do not believe that local authorities will be adequately resourced to manage the new Local Plan process. NLA warns that success of these reforms will be dependent upon proper skilling and investment into local authorities. 

A more nuanced approach is needed to the land categorisations of ‘Growth’, ‘Renewal’ and ‘Protect’, NLA says. Under this categorisation, many areas of London would be granted ‘Protected’ status where development is both possible and desirable. NLA suggests that the inclusion of a ‘Sensitive’ category would recognise the capacity for growth within some conservation areas, especially in central urban locations.

 

The reforms place much positive focus on housing delivery and good design, yet less emphasis has been made on supporting the economic recovery of central urban areas. NLA highlights that the renewed planning system must prioritise non-housing matters too, vital for London’s post-COVID recovery strategy. 

 

NLA welcomes the focus on good design throughout the reforms, including through the establishment of a new design body and introduction of a chief officer for design and placemaking in each local authority. However, with 64% of respondents indicating that standard design codes may not lead to better design quality, NLA warns that it is important a future National Design Code does not have the unintended consequence of levelling down design ingenuity.

NLA also welcomes the objective for greater community engagement but says that this currently appears too restricted to the plan-making stage, when development could come forward many years after the adoption of a Local Plan. A lack of community engagement throughout the lifecycle could have the potential unintended consequence of slowing down rather than speeding up decision making. Community engagement should also not be overly reliant on digital means only, NLA says. 

NLA notes that the proposals need to go further to ‘place sustainability at the heart of the planning system’ and to advance and embed a holistic approach to health, wellbeing and climate resilience into our national policies. London has made world leading commitments to become a net zero city by 2030. To help fulfil these commitments, this proposal should be integrated with other national commitments such as the Climate Change Act, and bring forward our national target to make all homes carbon neutral.

Catherine Staniland, Director, NLA, commented: “NLA’s submission to the Planning White Paper consultation represents a major cross-industry response on the implications of the proposed reforms on Greater London, with detailed input from 100 organisations in our membership across development, planning and design. While we welcome the overall strategic objectives to make the planning system more accessible, transparent and certain, and support its emphasis on good design, we also present concerns about the impact some of these changes will have on Greater London, and call for far greater local authority resourcing to help make these reforms a success. We look forward to engaging with government on the detailed proposals.”