Local plans must be updated "as an absolute priority" for localism to succeed

Local plans must be updated and completed by every local authority “as an absolute priority” if the localism agenda is to succeed, a report has claimed.

The report – Working together: Delivering growth through localism – was put together by a range of bodies in the private, voluntary and public sectors. They include the Berkeley Group, the Planning Officers’ Society, the Greater London Authority, Westminster City Council and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Working together contains ten recommendations to government. In addition to the need for local plans to be prioritised, the report called for sufficient resources to be made available to ensure community engagement in the planning process.

The group welcomed neighbourhood planning, but warned that it was essential that such plans “are fully tested and conform to the strategic priorities within the local plan”. Provision for neighbourhood plans to cross local authority boundaries was also recommended.

The report added that:

• The National Planning Policy Framework had been welcomed by many organisations, particularly those in the development industry, but there was anxiety "in some quarters". Further dialogue was necessary
• Public sector land and asset disposals represented “crucial opportunities” to increase the supply of new homes and jobs. “To be successful, it is critical to have streamlined, cost-effective and efficient procurement and disposal processes”
• The localism agenda, in setting a new policy landscape, will need to be adequately resourced “so that maximum benefits can be delivered and undue delay in decision making be avoided”
• Local authorities should receive greater borrowing powers as well as financial freedoms, “which will extend prudential borrowing for investment in new stock, freedom to set rents with carefully managed housing benefit impacts and the creation of interest free deposit schemes". The group predicted that if councils were allowed to borrow against their assets and freed of historic debt in the system, up to 300,000 additional homes could be built in the next 10 years
• Take-up of the Affordable Rent Programme has been far greater than anticipated. “Registered providers wish to continue to work with the government to find ways of maximising the delivery of large family affordable homes in high value areas. Reviewing the normal exclusion of s. 106 sites from the ARP would also be welcome”
• Universal Credit proposals require further dialogue. “This is to ensure that rent debt is minimised and adequate safeguards, where appropriate, for large families are secured”
• Town centre revitalisation was essential. This would apply a Town Centre first approach in planning policy and extend the model of an  'Outer London Fund' to other cities
• Employment, education and training has to be refocused on disconnected and disaffected young people, and equipping them with the skills they need for work.

The report also includes a guide to growth and localism. This covers areas such as: the new policy framework (including the key strands of the government’s Localism agenda and the Plan for Growth); how to create successful places; a review of government initiatives to increase housing supply, including the conversion of offices into homes; and how to maximise affordable housing while delivering 150,000 new Affordable Homes in a context in which capital funding has almost halved and there are nearly 4.5 million people on waiting lists.

Working together also addresses the use of new models of financing development, and how councils and developers can engage with communities using techniques such as social networking and Barefoot consultation.

A copy of the report can be downloaded here.