8 Nov 2022. With all the changes of government and ministers in recent months, many people will have forgotten that the government’s White Paper on Plannning of 2020, on which we commented so thoroughly, did finally lead to a draft law (a “Bill”) being sent to the parliament. It was combined with proposals for “Levelling Up” and thus carries the name Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (LURBill for short).
Just Space people have been very busy with other things and missed the chance to comment again on government proposals during the summer Committee stage. The Bill soon goes to the House of Lords and there may be scope for lobbying there. More news soon as we work out how we can help our members deal with these issues.
Meanwhile the London Assembly Planning and Regeneration Committee considered the LURBill on 12 October. For once we were not formally represented but we are grateful to Shibo Chen who volunteered to summarise it for us. His summary is here.
In short the government claims that it wants to strengthen public participation but is making proposals which would do the opposite. The key change in this Bill is that National Development Management Policies —not part of the Bill but to be written later by the Minister— would be enforced across England and would override whatever policies local authorities had in their plans. This would be a further colossal centralisation of power and would probably deter citizens from bothering to participate. Provisions for ‘Street Votes’ proved controversial with Assembly Members divided. Plans to streamline Infrastructure Levy were criticised by both Members and GLA planning staff.
The full video record of the Committee meeting is here along with minutes and agenda.
The London Forum of Civic and Amenity Societies, which is a member of Just Space, made its own submission, at https://www.londonforum.org.uk/responses/London_Forum_evidence_to_LURB_Committee_July2022.pdf
Leave a Reply