3rd June 2010

Bob Neill MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department of Communities and Local Government, took the opportunity today at leading housing and planning charity, the Town and Country Planning Association's summer conference, Making Planning Work - a new agenda for future settlements, to address the planning community for the first time since the formation of the new coalition Government. 

Speaking in response to the paper launched by the TCPA today, ‘The Future of Planning report: Distilling the TCPA roundtable debates'^, Bob Neill MP said:

"The new Government has committed to radically reform the planning system to ensure local people and communities are put at the heart of local decision making, and can work with Local Authorities and businesses to shape future development in their area." 

‘The Future of Planning report' was informed by 5 cross sector roundtables held in spring, with participation from Bob Neill MP, sparked by the general election and the Conservative Party Planning Green Paper, ‘Open Source Planning'. This timely conference today has expert speakers from across the private, public and voluntary sector discussing the key themes from the roundtable debates: housing, strategic planning, climate change, community empowerment and the guiding principles for planning.  

TCPA Chief Executive Kate Henderson said:

"We are delighted that Bob Neill MP chose the TCPA conference today to address the planning community for the first time since the general election. The TCPA has called for the coalition Government to build a new consensus around the principles to underpin planning reforms and to start an open dialogue with local communities across the country, business, investors and professionals, to agree these principles. We are therefore pleased to hear his commitment to a government that engages with the public and private sector as well as local people. Failure to do so could lead to reforms which could have potentially devastating impacts on our economy, on our communities and on our environment."

The TCPA also set out today what it believes are the core principles for consideration in beginning the dialogue between the coalition Government, local communities and relevant cross-sector professions.

Kate Henderson added:

"The TCPA has developed four principles for consideration to guide the reform process: responsible localism, a national spatial framework, strategic planning and incentives for growth, in its statement ‘Making Planning Work: a peaceful path to real reform'.  We are now inviting a wide range of organisations with a stake in effective planning to join our "Making Planning Work" coalition to develop these principles. In the words of Ebenezer Howard, who founded the TCPA over a century ago, we hope these principles will provide a "peaceful path for real reform", with social and environmental justice at its heart.  We welcome dialogue with Government about these principles and look forward to working with the coalition Government on this agenda." 

The conference will be followed by the TCPA's AGM and the 2010 Sir Frederic J Osborn Lecture, which will be delivered by the world renowned TCPA President, Professor Sir Peter Hall. Sir Peter will be sharing his thoughts on creating sustainable communities and decent homes for generations to come. The TCPA is very grateful to the Lady Margaret Patterson Osborn Trust for supporting this event.