MIPIM UK NEWS: The Neighbourhood Planning Bill will confirm a statutory duty for authorities to have a local plan in place and give the housing and planning minster powers to make councils work together, according to Gavin Barwell.
Speaking to Estates Gazette at MIPIM UK, he said that he will be able to direct authorities to work with others in the area, or allow a county council to take over for a district council, in the event that plans have not been made.
“They are not powers that I would anticipate using a lot but I think their existence will focus minds and ensure we get plans in place across the whole country,” he said.
“One of the things I am very clear about is there is too much confrontation in the system… So it is a key objective to make sure that right across the country we have local plans in place and then developers will have more certainty and communities can have a lot more confidence that development will go in the places that their local plans say it should go.”
Barwell would neither confirm or deny direct intervention against housebuilders once they have received planning, saying to wait for the forthcoming White Paper, due out around the time of the Autumn Statement.
He said he wants to look at planning conditions, utility performance and what the developers do themselves.
However, he cautioned that if he listens to their problems, and deals with them “then I have a right to go back to them and say ‘right, I have dealt with all the things you said were a problem, and now I have a right to see you raise you game as well’.”
Starter homes, stamp duty relief and the industrial strategy
Barwell would not be drawn on a potential stamp duty relief for large rental investors, saying “All decisions on taxation are matters for the chancellor.”
However, he did confirm that starter homes would not be abandoned.
“It is TBC in terms of decisions on starter homes,” he said. “I am not saying the starter home programme is up in the air – we are going to do starter homes, to be very clear on that, what I am saying is… there is a lot of detail to come about how we are going to take through starter homes.
Finally, in a glimpse of the importance of housing across government, Barwell said it was feeding into the industrial strategy.
“I think there is a moral case on housing in terms of people’s quality of life, but actually it has a real impact on productivity and labour mobility too, so it feeds into that core economic agenda,” he said.
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