Angela Rayner might say the opposite but won’t new planning rules make the system more ‘chaotic and subjective’?
According to the BBC, planned changes will “give Whitehall officials the power to rubberstamp development proposals without permission from council committees, as long as they comply with locally agreed plans and national regulations on standards”.
But the Labour government is planning to change regulations in order to meet – for example – its housing target. Right?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
I can understand a national government wanting to veto council planning committees where they make biased decisions; as a newspaper reporter I have attended plenty of meetings where planning permission was denied because a councillor didn’t like the person or business making the application, or where it was granted because a councillor was a friend of the applicant.
But I can also believe that the national government is capable of granting permissions in order to fill its own quota, rather than to accommodate any real planning need. If these are big decisions, they could adversely affect large parts of the UK for decades to come.
This Site has already been over this ground regarding plans for 1.5 million new homes to be built over the next five years. The numbers allocated to each council area seem arbitrary, based on nothing more than the amount of housing that has gone there before – when it needs to be based on actual need, and on what available infrastructure can support, if no new schools, health centres, parks and shops are to be built alongside the homes
I also wonder if Labour is in a hurry to get this project started because building contributes the largest boost to a national economy of any industrial activity – and that party wants to stimulate economic growth as soon, and as widely, as it can.
In 2022 it contributed 6.2 per cent of the UK’s GVA (Gross Value Added), a measurement which tracks the increase in economic value due to a sector’s production or services.
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Won’t new planning rules make the system MORE ‘chaotic and subjective’?
Angela Rayner might say the opposite but won’t new planning rules make the system more ‘chaotic and subjective’?
According to the BBC, planned changes will “give Whitehall officials the power to rubberstamp development proposals without permission from council committees, as long as they comply with locally agreed plans and national regulations on standards”.
But the Labour government is planning to change regulations in order to meet – for example – its housing target. Right?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
I can understand a national government wanting to veto council planning committees where they make biased decisions; as a newspaper reporter I have attended plenty of meetings where planning permission was denied because a councillor didn’t like the person or business making the application, or where it was granted because a councillor was a friend of the applicant.
But I can also believe that the national government is capable of granting permissions in order to fill its own quota, rather than to accommodate any real planning need. If these are big decisions, they could adversely affect large parts of the UK for decades to come.
This Site has already been over this ground regarding plans for 1.5 million new homes to be built over the next five years. The numbers allocated to each council area seem arbitrary, based on nothing more than the amount of housing that has gone there before – when it needs to be based on actual need, and on what available infrastructure can support, if no new schools, health centres, parks and shops are to be built alongside the homes
I also wonder if Labour is in a hurry to get this project started because building contributes the largest boost to a national economy of any industrial activity – and that party wants to stimulate economic growth as soon, and as widely, as it can.
In 2022 it contributed 6.2 per cent of the UK’s GVA (Gross Value Added), a measurement which tracks the increase in economic value due to a sector’s production or services.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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