Delivering the Urban Renaissance: Government's Urban White Paper
In June 1999 Lord Rogers of Riverside proudly handed the Government his taskforce report 'Towards an Urban Renaissance'. There has been plenty of debate since, mostly about whether the Government would take up the report's recommendations, and whether the funding for the vision would be made available. We can now judge for ourselves how the future in urban areas could look: the Government's response is called 'Delivering an Urban Renaissance' and it was published last Friday.
John Prescott explained in presenting the report that 'How we live our lives is shaped by where we live our lives', and the Government wants to help shape the future by using a variety of 'tools', including:
- Statutory Town Improvement Schemes: money will be raised through an additional levy on local business rates which will be spent to improve an town centre's urban environment.
- 12 new Urban Regeneration Companies: three of these already exist in Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield. Their objectives include developing a strategic masterplan for a sub-regional area, with financial assistance coming from the local council and Regional Development Agencies as well as some support from Government.
- Increase in funding: in future years, Local Authorities and Regional Development Agencies will receive more money from Central Government to assist them in dealing with the increase in responsibilities in urban renewal programmes.
- Planning Agreements: the Government wants to examine what can be done to change the current system of section 106 agreements to secure planning benefits for local planning authorities. The introduction of impact fees is likely.
- Revised PPG1(General Policy and Principles on Planning): increased focus will be placed on the importance of bringing good design and architecture into the planning process. (Further details of the review though have yet to appear.)
- Redevelopment of brownfield land: developers will be able to reclaim immediately the cost of restoring contaminated land, instead of waiting for the site to be sold.
Concerns in the property industry do remain, particularly about ability of this system to deliver a framework that means development in cities can be profitable, and the number of different parties that will be involved in regional development and how effective they will be in achieving the Government's objectives.
If you have any questions or queries as a result of the issues highlighted in this e-mail, please contact Tony Kitson, Head of the Planning Group at CMS Cameron McKenna on 020 7367 3556, or by e-mail: tony.kitson@cms-cmck.com
