Duty to Cooperate – a pitfall for spatial planning
June 2, 2020
Katie Christou
730 Views
The Duty to Cooperate (DtC) has brought several Local Plans crashing down at Examination. The latest victim being the Chiltern and South Bucks Local Plan. The Inspectors’ initial findings have indicated a strong likelihood that the Council will need to withdraw the Plan1.
The DtC may not be a duty to agree, but it has become a serious trip hazard that has left local planning authorities (LPAs) vulnerable to challenge and to speculative development. What is becoming apparent is that a Local Plan will not pass muster, where constructive, active, and regular engagement on strategic matters with neighbours cannot be evidenced.
Strategic growth is not politically popular; volunteering to accept additional new housing at a local level, beyond a LPAs own housing need is not (often) the done thing. Many LPAs are unable to meet their housing needs due to tightly drawn administrative boundaries. Invisible boundary lines are becoming a real barrier to growth. The DtC is failing to bridge the gap between planning at local and national levels.
An attempt to consider sub-regional growth has neglected to run in parallel with the Chiltern and South Bucks Local Plan process. The ‘WAGS’ – no not a re-run of Footballers’ Wives – but the jointly commissioned Wider Area Growth Study by Chiltern and South Bucks Councils, Slough Borough Council and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, leaves Slough’s unmet housing needs to a future Plan. The DtC lacks any clear joined up approach between spatial planning and localism.
Awaiting the Examination stage of a Local Plan is far too late in the process for these realities to emerge. LPAs should be required to address strategic matters at the earliest stage in Plan making and be focused on outcomes. The DtC as currently crafted is failing to deliver effective spatial planning outcomes.
Co-ordinated strategic development is not just about contributing to local housing needs (although that is a really important element). It is about delivering at a scale which will support sustainable and social infrastructure that shapes a development into a resilient, liveable, and vibrant community. This is not always possible within the confines of a single administrative area. This requires us to think bigger than local.
Continuing headaches over the DtC are inevitable, until there is an appropriate strategic planning framework in place. The DtC is resulting in a huge waste of resources, frustrations, and delay, leading to planning by appeal. Why does MHCLG not intervene in the plan-making process earlier, when they can surely see accidents waiting to happen?
RELATED NEWS
How DLA are helping to inspire the next generation of Town Planners and Urban Designers
This week we're embarking on our biggest technical challenge of lockdown so far. We've had DLA staff meetings with 60+ attendees (and thankfully the ability to mute each other) and regular 'virtual' meetings with our colleagues, clients and co-consultants since March but we are about to go to another level!
The Planning system has been relaxed – The implications PART 2
Part one of this blog considered the temporary measures which have been introduced regarding relaxation of the rules on change of use in the high street and the extensions to permissions that have been granted. However, as the economy adapts to different ways of working, shopping, and socialising, there are profound implications for the way in which we will use buildings in the future and the demand for buildings in different sectors.
The Planning system has been relaxed – The implications PART 1
This two-part blog outlines how the planning system has been temporarily relaxed in response to COVID-19, how the property market might respond to the implications of the pandemic and if more permanent changes to the planning system could help.
Economic Planning Post COVID-19
When COVID-19 entered our vocabulary earlier this year, the virus was considered to be a great leveller. We all stood an equal chance of being infected, receiving care, recovery and for some, sadly no longer being with loved ones. But in the space of a few months it has become clear that the virus discriminates.
Demise of Intu – An inevitable step along a pre-destined journey?
That debt laden Intu finally went into administration last Friday did not come entirely as a shock to many observers of all things retail. While COVID-19 undeniably represents the massive plank that broke the camel's back, the financial picture for the Shopping Centre giant had not been a happy one for some time.
Two Mile Ash Bluebell Circuit approved
David Lock Associates were asked by the Two Mile Ash Environmental Group (TMAEG) if we could, as part of the company's charitable activities, help the group to secure planning permission for an extension to and enhancement of a recreational route around Two Mile Ash.
The role of symbols in public spaces: are they outdated?
Senior Urban Designer Owen Reading questions the role of symbols in our public spaces.
Living in a “virtual inquiry” world – Top Tips
With The Planning Inspectorate's (PINS) move to "virtual" hearings and inquiries, DLA's Duncan Chadwick and Landmark Chambers' Barrister Anjoli Foster give their tips on how to prepare for these digital events.
‘Garden Villages and Garden Towns: Visions & Reality’ – Observations from the Coal Face
DLA's Heather Pugh reflects on the commentary on the perceived success of the current round of Garden Villages published by the lobby group Transport for New Homes.
