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The RIBA has responded to the Conservative Party's Green Paper on housing: "Strong Foundations: Building Homes and Communities"

The Conservative proposals of most interest to the RIBA include:

• Revising the national planning system to slim down Planning Policy Statements and other national guidance, and a decentralisation of planning with the scrapping of all regional planning, including regional spatial strategies and regional Assemblies, and the end of all housebuilding targets

 

• The return of more planning powers to local councillors rather than planning officers or the Planning Inspectorate, with an aspiration to introduce a more 'consensual' process, and 'incentivising' development to encourage local communities to support more development in their area

 

• Allowing councils to revise Local Development Frameworks, enabling councils to revise their plans to protect Green Belt land and prevent the development of eco-towns if opposed by the local community, coupled with the reversing of the re-classification of gardens as brownfield land to stop 'over-development'

 

• Legislating to make pre-application discussions between developers, local people and other local stakeholders mandatory; working with the industry to build on existing approaches such as Enquiry By Design and Charrettes

 

• Local Housing Trusts - villages and towns will be able to create new community-led bodies with planning powers to develop local homes for local people, provided there is strong community backing (no more than 10% opposition in a community referendum); but only if that new development is 'in keeping' with the area's 'existing architectural style', and only to a maximum expansion of 10% over any 10 year period

 

• Giving communities new powers to demand the selling of empty or under-used government property

 

• Consulting on possible changes to simplify and localise Section 106 agreements and the proposed Community Infrastructure Levy

 

• A commitment to the Government's target of zero-carbon homes by 2016; with an aim to work with relevant parties to create a universally-accepted definition of zero-carbon, and strong support for the Merton Rule, which allows local authorities to set renewable and low carbon energy targets for new development over and above national Government targets

 

Sunand Prasad , President of the RIBA said:

"We are encouraged that the Conservative Party accept that we need to build more homes in our towns and communities. We are pleased that they want to look at how we can simplify our planning system, but disappointed that this Green Paper does not take forward some of the excellent thinking contained in their previous "Quality of Life Report" to rationalise the planning and building control systems.

We are concerned about the proposal to reduce the right to independent appeal. Similarly, the proposals to create Local Housing Trusts are well-intentioned but deeply flawed, for example in referring to style, rather than quality of architecture. The RIBA is very pleased to see that the Green Paper supports the 2016 zero-carbon homes target, and the emphasis on the importance of retro-fitting our existing housing stock. But we urge the Conservative Party to support a reduction to 5% for the repair and refurbishment of existing homes, which would go a long way to making refurbishment easier and more affordable - and boost our economy."