Sustainable Communities Summit 2008: A Shared Strategy for the Future will address how the following agendas link together in order to provide a comprehensive picture of the skills and strategies required for future progress in making places and creating sustainable communities.
Devolution to Local Government and Communities
Following on from Strong and Prosperous Communities, the Local Government White Paper (Oct 2006), which began the process of local government reform, and with the Governance of Britain Green paper, published in July 2007, Gordon Brown’s “reinvention of the way we govern”, moves a step closer.
On 12th December 2007, the Central-Local Concordat written agreement reiterated Gordon Brown’s call for a fundamental transformation in the way we govern, shifting more power to local communities.
“For local authorities, it promises the progressive removal of obstacles that prevent them from pursuing their role. And for local communities, it provides the springboard for giving local people more power and control over their communities and their own lives.” Hazel Blears MP, Minister of State for Communities and Local Government.
Furthermore, a new Empowerment White Paper, to be published in the summer, will go some way to providing new opportunities for local people to reconnect with their councils and provide input to improve local services, built around four key pillars:
- Improving deprived areas through regeneration and promoting work and enterprise;
- Encouraging active citizenship and reviving civic society and local democracy;
- Improving local public services;
- Strengthening local accountability.
To support the ‘overarching ambition of the Local Government White Paper to secure better outcomes for citizens in places’, Local Area Agreements (LAA) are to be in place in all areas from April 2008, and the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) will start in 2009/10.
The Sustainable Communities Act 2007
The Sustainable Communities Act received royal assent on 23rd October 2007 and aims to ‘promote the sustainability of local communities’. Designed to strengthen the role of communities, it provides a simple process for forwarding the ideas of local communities to be fed through their local authority and an organisation ‘the selector’ (probably the LGA) to central government. The Government will respond to all suggestions short-listed by the sector and publish an action plan in response.
In addition to this, the Act ensures that comunities are ‘better informed about public funding spent in their area’ through Local Spending Reports. Enabling more informed decision-making by local authorities, partners and their communities regarding the priorities chosen to promote community sustainability.
The Housing and Regeneration Bill
During the past 30 years house-building rates have halved and the number of households has grown by 30%, with house prices trebling in the last 20 years. There is now an urgent need to address the housing shortage, which is a barrier to economic success and a threat to local services – for example: the inability of key workers to live near their work; disrupting families and communities; and putting a strain on transport systems.
In July 2007, Prime Minister Gordon Brown first announced plans to build three million new homes by 2020. The Housing and Regeneration Bill announced on the 15th November, aims to provide the tools to address the following:
- The shortage of affordable housing for first-time buyers and families;
- Make new housing greener to tackle climate change; and
- Give social housing tenants a better deal.
This Bill drives the Government’s commitment to build three million greener and more affordable new homes by 2020, setting out plans for “more market, social and shared ownership housing on disused public sector land, and in new eco towns, with £8 billion for new affordable homes”.
Part 1 of the Bill creates the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), setting out its objectives and powers:
- To improve the supply and quality of housing in England;
- To secure the regeneration or development of land or infrastructure in England; and
- To support the creation, regeneration or development of communities in England.
Part 2 creates the new social housing regulator, the Office for Tenants and Social Landlords, again setting out its powers and objectives. This body will regulate social housing in England provided by registered providers, taking on the regulation functions of the Housing Corporation, which will be abolished.
The Bill will give local authority tenants more say on the future of their homes and a stronger requirement for councils to co-operate with tenants. It will also “rewrite the rules on financing new council housing, helping councils to build new social homes in their areas where it offers value for money”.
Planning Bill
The Bill introduces a new system for approving major infrastructure of national importance, such as harbours and waste facilities, and replaces current regimes under several pieces of legislation. The objective is to streamline these decisions and avoid long public inquiries.
Key areas
- Decisions would be taken by a new Infrastructure Planning Commission
- Decisions would be based on new national policy statements
- The hearing and decision-making process by the Commission would be timetabled
- The new regime would be used for energy developments like nuclear power
- The Secretary of State would no longer have the final say on major infrastructure decisions
- There would be a new Community Infrastructure Levy on developments to finance infrastructure. The idea of this would be to raise money from developers to pay for facilities needed as a consequence of new developments, such as schools, hospitals and sewage plants.
Planning appeals for minor developments would be heard by a panel of local councillors rather than by a planning inspector.
Planning Policy Statement on Climate Change
On 17th December, Yvette Cooper published a new Planning Policy Statement on Climate Change, which outlines Government plans to ensure all councils will provide for on-site renewable energy and local community energy schemes – promoting green growth. Councils and developers will be expected to work with the community to promote sustainable living.
The Planning Policy Statement on Climate Change establishes the following details:
- Ensures local plans have strong carbon ambitions and targets;
- Help to deliver decentralised renewable and low carbon energy;
- Speed up the shift to renewable and low carbon energy; and
- Create communities that are resilient to the effects of climate change.
The Eco Challenge
A key element of the Government's plans to build 3 million homes by2020 is the responsibility to provide a sustainable response to housing growth. This is embodied in the world-beating target that all new homes must be zero carbon by 2016.
The Carbon Challenge currently run by English Partnerships (soon to become the Housing and Communities Agency) and the Department for Communities and Local Government aims to accelerate the house-building industry’s contribution by fast-tracking the creation of carbon housing developments – meeting the Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6 in “quality and setting”.
In line with this, Gordon Brown MP outlined his vision for 10 new eco-towns, based on the “three-legged” concept that the towns will be “environmentally, economically and socially sustainable, built with the co-operation of both communities and councils”.
New small zero carbon eco-towns built on brownfield land, it is hoped, will lead the way in cutting carbon emissions and building affordable homes. The Government is currently considering plans for eco-towns put forward by local authorities as part of the New Growth Points scheme.
New eco-towns of between 5,000-10,000 homes would have strong public transport links to nearby towns and cities, make best use of brownfield land – may be targeting surplus public sector land such as former MoD or NHS sites – and help drive the adoption of environmental technologies for zero carbon homes, such as CHP (combined heat and power), DHS (District heating systems), GSHP (Ground source heat pumps), Passive Heating and Solar and Wind energy.