Pickles paves way for scrapping of two-tier code
The Communities Secretary has said he plans to scrap the local authority two-tier code.
In a speech to the CBI, Eric Pickles said: “Where councils outsource functions, it [the code] required private firms to employ new workers on the same terms as the public sector workers who transferred across.
“It has increased the cost to the taxpayer of providing public services, and is actively discouraging the creation of new jobs by private firms.”
Last December the Cabinet Office announced that it would scrap the two-tier code for central government with immediate effect.
The Communities Secretary also announced in his speech that the Department for Communities and Local Government would relax regulations that stop developers from converting disused commercial property into homes.
“It's in everyone's interests to make it easier to turn run-down old eyesores into much-needed new homes,” he argued. “Let the market decide what's best so far as housing is concerned.”
The Communities Secretary continued his attack on the planning system, which he argued was one of the biggest sources of friction between councils and businesses.
“The problem is – frankly – structural,” Pickles claimed. “Today, there are something like 900,000 words in planning guidance. That makes War and Peace look like light reading. In fact, that's more than the complete works of Shakespeare. And, if we carried on at the same rate over the next Parliament, we'd have not just the complete works of Shakespeare but the Bible as well – both Old and New Testaments.”
The Communities Secretary suggested that the planning system should act as a driver for growth. “But if I am being completely frank with you, it's the drag anchor to growth,” he said.
“How many proposals disappear into the planning system, never to be seen again? Millions of pounds are wasted. Many months and years are lost to delays.
“We need a system which supports growth: not shuts it down. We need a system that always says yes to the right sorts of development. Which gets to grips with the national housing shortage. Which helps business grow and expand. And which delivers the infrastructure, transport, and energy we need to thrive in this new century of ours.”
Pickles also said the current system was “largely predicated upon conflict, which sets up business, councils and communities as adversaries”.
“When I came into office is appeared to me that we have a planning process that function by appeal,” he claimed. “What we need is a system which encourages them to work together.”
The Communities Secretary also suggested that when it came to local enterprise partnerships, which now cover 90% of the country, the government had “ended up with something much better than what we started with”.
