The only way around is through

28 Mar 18

National planning policy puts Local Plans at the heart of the planning system, so it is essential that they are in place and kept up to date

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National planning policy puts Local Plans at the heart of the planning system, so it is essential that they are in place and kept up to date (as directed by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, as amended).

The Act has always provided the Secretary of State (SoS) with the power to intervene in plan-making, but the threat has never been that present. To date Sajid Javid’s predecessors have been more focussed on calling in individual planning applications to determine them, which hasn’t really dealt with the root cause of the problem – getting the right houses in the right places.

Sajid Javid’s action of writing to the 15 councils on Friday to confirm their fate has now made it very clear that the lack of Local Plan progress will no longer be tolerated and the full range of parliamentary powers will be used.

Having initially identified the 15 Local Authorities that were the worst offenders in the government’s eyes at the end of 2017, where Local Plan progress was slow three have now been singled out for intervention for their failure to get a plan in place – Castle Point, Thanet and Wirral. It does appear that the Communities Secretary’s willingness to follow through on the threat of intervention is a milestone. It is a further sacrifice of the Localism agenda in favour of central government intervention.

Action from Javid highlights how the housing agenda is integrally tied to the political agenda of Theresa May’s government and in large part its credibility and ultimately its legacy. They need every political lever to be pulled to appear as if government is actively tackling the housing crisis.

Of all the letters sent to 15 Local Authorities, the most recent to Wirral has possibly been the most scathing. But Wirral won’t be looking to come quietly. Councillor Phil Davies, Leader of Wirral Council said “Sajid Javid and his Tory colleagues are dead wrong. It is for Wirral residents through Wirral Council to determine what our housing needs are and where new homes should be built. We neither welcome nor appreciate the Secretary of State’s overtly political intervention”. This is an interesting stance when you consider the 2004 Act was enacted under a Labour Government; and that Thanet District Council is in no overall control with a minority Conservative administration, and Castle Point Borough Council is Conservative controlled.

It will be interesting to see how the SoS’s apparent powers will work in practice, and if Wirral will end up covering the cost of the government’s intervention.