Decision details

This report seeks approval for the Executive Member for Planning and Development to attend Town and Country Planning Association Annual Conference 2014, to be held on 25 November 2014 in Central London.

As we approach the 2015 general election, housing and planning for housing are increasingly high on the political agenda.  The need to build more than 200,000 new homes a year to house our growing population is now widely acknowledged.  The political will is there- but what are the practical obstacles?  What do the public and private sectors need to do to ensure that enough new housing is built, in the right places?  How can we ensure that the urgent need to build millions of new homes does not lead us to forget the vital importance of ensuring that they are of good quality?

Now that the reforms to the planning system have had time to take effect, it is timely to ask whether the new system is delivering well-designed, sustainable places that will remain attractive for many generations.  With a new emphasis on the importance of the local plan, are local authorities now empowered to deliver high-quality new developments to meet the needs of their populations?  Or, is the emphasis on economic viability, the weakness of the duty to co-operate, and the lack of larger-than-local strategic planning undermining their ability to create high-quality places with decent housing?

That approval is given for the Executive Member for Planning and Development to attend the Town and Country Planning Association annual Conference 2014, to be held on 25 November 2014, in Central London.