Draft text of the speech - may differ from the delivered version.

Introduction

I want to start by thanking the New Local Government Network for hosting this event - my first speech on planning since taking up post - this morning.

I’m often described as just the ‘Minister for Housing’ as if planning was just an afterthought to my job. Actually, as everyone in this room will already understand, planning is central to my role, and indeed, to the work we’re doing across government. Planning is critical to the work being done to develop sustainable communities, whether in DEFRA, the Home Office or in education. And it’s integral to all the work that local authorities do.

Not only is it critical to delivering the homes we desperately need, it helps make sure that those homes form the basis of successful and cohesive communities where people actually want to live.

And it’s essential to creating the infrastructure - the roads, hospitals, energy - in the right places to support our housing needs.

So today, I want to take this opportunity to set out what I think good planning is all about. And describe how I think we can create a more effective system which delivers better outcomes for local communities. In particular, I want to get away from the sense that all development per se is bad. Instead, we have to make sure that development is part of a fair and transparent process.

Today, I want to focus on the big issues - how we can continue to drive improvement and how I see the role of planning departments within Authorities - rather than technicalities and regulations.

I will also say something about eco-towns, the planning process for which has sparked some passionate debate although not always one based on a rational analysis of the facts.

So, where are we?

Despite, the best endeavours of many in this room, I think planning is still seen as a marginal or specialist concern and development as something bad.

Actually, I believe they are both central to everything that local and central government are working towards - promoting economic development; tackling climate change and supporting sustainable communities both urban and rural.

It is vital to sustaining a thriving economy equipped to deal with globalisation; to addressing the serious housing shortage; to creating the shops, schools, hospitals and transport infrastructure strong and dynamic communities need. And to mitigating the threat of climate change.

To have a chance of succeeding in these colossal endeavours development is required but we have got to get the planning system right.

So when talking about the planning system, we mustn’t allow it to become an exclusive and bureaucratic debate about technical details, processes and procedures.

It’s a debate about how we can support a growing economy and changing society. It’s a debate about what our communities will look like in ten, twenty, fifty years. It’s a debate about the kind of places we want our children to be living in, and the kind of places we want to grow old in.

But as we think about the kind of planning system which will achieve those ends, we should be thinking more about the outcomes than the structures

A system where homeowners are able to make small and sensible changes to their homes without coming up against endless frustrations and obstacles.

A system which gives business the confidence to plan and invest. A system which gives local communities a fair chance to speak up and have their say. Including the many people who aren’t currently engaged in the planning process, who may not appreciate the jobs and opportunities that may come with development. Including the many people who are in need of affordable housing, who are stuck on waiting lists - who is speaking up for them?

Its also a system which brings different aspects of local government and public services together. Not just setting out a shared vision for the area but with a clear plan for delivering those shared ambitions. As a former health and home office Minister, I fully appreciate how crucial it is that the police and the PCT are brought to the table - not just to help with regeneration, but because they will have an important role in serving new communities and developments.

And the way that we will build that system is not always through more legislation - though the current Planning Bill does contain vital changes particularly to the process for major infrastructure projects - or structural reform.

It’s by asking ourselves - what practical changes would make the system fairer and more straightforward? And is the best practice always being used by local authorities?

You could actually argue that the most significant changes to the whole planning system over the past few years has been the technological changes which mean that people can just submit their planning applications through a simple on-line form.

It’s not particularly radical, it’s not time-consuming, and it’s not expensive. But it’s a change which makes the system much more user-friendly.

And I hope the current end-to-end review we’re undertaking will help identify more of these very practical changes. Helping make the system much more accessible for the people and businesses frustrated by the way things work now.

And I think there’s a major role for local government and local planners here.

With the planning policy statements, we are making it very clear what the national priorities should be.

But the challenge is to make sure that these are making a difference locally. And as we improve and simplify the plan making system, I want to see a greater sense of urgency about developing appropriate and effective local plans. Because these have to be the bedrock for assessing local decisions.

The Local Development Framework should not be a dry planning document. It is where the vision of a place is set out, it shapes the outcomes for places and it steers capital investment in your area. These plans must be a major priority for any local leader.

Planning Policy Statement 12 and Local Development Frameworks

I recognise that sometimes, it’s been unnecessarily complicated to go about producing these local plans.

We’ve listened to those concerns and today I am responding to them.

I’m publishing a revised policy statement and new regulations, at the same time as the findings of a research project to show what actually works. We’ve worked very closely with the LGA and with the sector on this, and I want to thank them for their contribution. Sir Simon and I have written directly to local authorities outlining the impact of these changes.

It would be easy to drone on about the mechanical details, but I want to concentrate on the principles and the practical difference they will make.

Firstly, that they put people first - stressing the importance of grounding plans absolutely in what local people want. I want to make sure that local development frameworks are inclusive from the outset, helping people to understand the challenges locally, perhaps because of a lack of jobs, or poor public health and what new opportunities development could bring. I want them to be involved in thinking about what their communities could be like, and how past mistakes could be addressed.

So through these changes, local people will be able to play a stronger role in the development of their neighbourhood. Making sure plans include the community resources and infrastructure they want. And reflect a coherent analysis of local needs - to show why particular developments are needed.

Secondly, they are about helping to create a fairer, more streamlined, more transparent process.

These changes cut out some of the unnecessary hoops that needed to be jumped. Not because we want to railroad plans through, but because we want to make sure that common sense is always the guiding principle.

For example, before we introduced these changes, planners had to consult on their community strategy, and then consult again on the overall local development framework. What’s the point in that?

It’s confusing to the public, it’s confusing to me as a local MP - it’s hard to identify at what point I should get involved or I could add value.

And I’ve seen examples of older plans which were 300 pages long - I’m sure no-one ever read them. There are far fewer rules and prescriptions about what must go in.

Because, finally, these changes reflect the changing relationship between central and local government, continuing to give local leaders a much stronger role.

It’s your leadership which will transform drawings and diagrams on a page into places that people actually want to live.

So it is right that there is much greater freedom to decide what documents are needed and how these should be produced.

But at the same time, there is much greater expectation that the document isn’t just a list of what is being planned, but who is going to provide it, who needs to be involved, how and when.

This reflects some of the broader reforms affecting not just planning, but the whole of local government.

Reforms which are putting you in much greater control - because we can’t and shouldn’t micromanage everything from Whitehall.

And as the people who know and understand your communities, it’s only right that you have the freedoms and powers you need to respond to their concerns.

But - and there’s always a but, isn’t there - with this greater responsibility, central government naturally has higher expectations in return. And that means, there has to be a commitment to working differently. To really seizing the opportunities on offer and making sure that people in the area notice the difference.

Planning isn’t just for specialists

So I think we’ve got to get away from a culture and way of working that sees planning as a separate and specialist activity. Something distinctive from what’s going on elsewhere.

Where planning is disjointed and disconnected from the rest of the authority’s work, we can’t hope to improve the outcomes for the community.

A strong local authority has got to make sure that it has an effective planning department. But more than that, there have to be stronger links between planners and everyone else working in the local authority and the local strategic partnership if effective local leadership is to deliver a successful future for local communities.

This has got to be a conversation about the policing, the health services, the schools that are needed as well as the buildings.

Those leading those services - whether working in the primary care trust or in providing public transport - also need to share responsibility for developing plans that work. And authorities like Hambleton have successfully joined up their strategies for public services with their strategy for the built environment, and we need more of that.

Working in a different way

As just one example of the benefits, planners are able to draw on a whole range of skills and expertise - whether that’s in community engagement, development finance or design.

And that’s critical as we work to build capacity within the planning profession.

Already, we’ve invested significant sums in the Planning Advisory Service which has done a great job helping planning departments rise to the challenge, and in the Advisory Team for Large Applications to help smaller authorities.

In addition, we have spent £5million on bursaries and put over 500 people through planning school. Since this scheme was introduced the number of planning graduates has increased by more than 50 per cent - a great success. But we can do more, and I think there are skill sets within local authorities which can be better utilised.

I drew criticism last week from RTPI because when asked by a Select Committee whether every local authority should have a Chief Planner, I said that was a matter for local authorities.

Self-evidently that is true and I don’t think there are many in this audience who would argue that Ministers should be micro-managing local authority recruitment from Whitehall.

What I could also have said is that if I were a local authority Chief Exec I would have a Chief Planner who would be a senior and pivotal member of my team. Indeed, I’ve just appointed Steve Quartermaine as the new Chief Planner in Communities and Local Government to champion the sector.

It may sound trite but I believe a career in planning is as important as a career in architecture and yet architects are held in rather higher esteem in the public mind. We need to think about how to change this.

But I also think we need to make sure that our energy and existing resources are being used in the right way, now.

And I’m particularly interested to hear from people today who’ve got examples of where planning departments are really maximising their role and resources.

Eco-towns

Finally, it would be strange for me not to mention eco-towns whilst I am here.

There have been a lot of rumours and misconceived speculation, bordering on scaremongering, about the planning process for eco-towns, so I want to make a couple of points clear which I hope will provide some reassurance.

Firstly, I understand that people are concerned about new development in their area, regardless of how necessary it might be.

They fear that resources could be diverted from existing settlements, that local roads and transport won’t be able to cope; and that the character of rural communities will be damaged.

Let me be clear. I do not want to see any eco-town built which has these consequences. I am not ambivalent to these concerns. I am listening.

Secondly, there is a view that local authorities are not being appropriately involved in this process. This is not true. Several of the bids are actually being proposed by local authorities including the Lincolnshire site at Manby that I visited a couple of weeks ago.

In other cases the local authorities are working with us. In all cases they are involved in our work in assessing the locations.

Thirdly, given that I have just spoken about the importance of local development frameworks, I know there is cynicism that our proposed eco-town policy statement is intended to allow eco-towns to by-pass local plans.

Again this is not true. Where an up to date local plan exists clearly the eco-town should be considered in the light of that plan. And where a planning authority would benefit from some extra resources to get their plan updated, we will provide those resources.

The policy statement we are proposing will do two things. It will provide a strong framework of criteria on what is and what is not an eco-town and it will help provide a planning context, where no up to date plan exists. And we think this will actually be quite helpful in helping local authorities to judge what they need, when they are being bombarded by ideas about eco-this and eco-that.

It will give authorities the back up they need to reject proposals that may come forward in the future which to do not meet the exacting standards the policy statement will set out.

I would argue that the document should be seen as a mechanism for protecting our precious countryside from future mediocre development.

Fourthly, I want to re-assure people that communities will have their voice heard with full consultation locked into every stage.

Let’s be absolutely clear, eco-towns will go through the planning process - otherwise we wouldn’t need to put in place a PPS - suggestions otherwise are wrong.

We have recently started the first phase of consultation, and in July we will be publishing more detailed documents for a second stage of consultation. And there will be many more opportunities for local voices to be heard.

No decisions have made on which locations will go forward to the final shortlist. And in addition each development proposal will have to submit a planning application, which will be open to full public scrutiny.

However, within the lively debate about eco-towns and housing growth more generally, I do want to ensure that all voices can be heard. We must not forget that whether it is in eco-towns or growth in existing settlements, we desperately need more homes.

Public consultation cannot be about who shouts loudest. It’s important that the voices of those who don’t have celebrity status, or the resources to hire PR companies, are not forgotten.

When I recently visited the proposed Lincolnshire eco-town site, I met several families living in overcrowded accommodation. One was forced to use a conservatory as a bedroom which was boiling in the summer and freezing in the winter.

These are people - third generation families from the local community - who might hope to benefit from the increase in affordable housing that an eco-town might realise in the area. Their voices matter too.

Many of these areas are places with major housing shortages, and even if an eco-town isn’t the right answer, that’s still a challenge the local authority will need to face. They will still need to step up and deliver the houses that first-time buyers and growing families need.

So we want to work with all the relevant authorities, developers and communities to find the right solutions for each area.

Conclusion

What I’ve tried to emphasise today is that our focus must be on outcomes, not processes.

There are people here who will have decades of experience. People who will have fresh ideas.

People who won’t even consider themselves planning experts but who none the less have an enormous contribution to make.

The important thing now is that these policy priorities and good intentions are actually translated into something that makes a difference for local people. And that means really getting these local plans going.

Thank you very much.