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The month before Christmas is always a busy time for Government policy initiatives.  With the prospect of Yuletide festivities in the offing, Ministers and civil servants are keen to clear their desks of all those awkward projects and proposals that have been hanging around during the previous year.

However, Christmas 2006 will go down in history as a vintage year for housing and planning policy initiatives whose impact will be felt for many years to come.

Firstly, at the end of November, the Government issued the final version of Planning Policy Statement No.3 on Housing, somewhat inelegantly subtitled ‘Delivering the Family and Affordable Housing Communities Need’.

The subtitle highlights one of the main changes in emphasis in policy on the crucial topic of housing density:  out goes the free-for-all that was the hallmark of previous policy guidance on density, and which has led to the proliferation of one and two-bedroom flats so beloved of the buy-to-let market. 
In comes a more pragmatic policy-led approach which should favour lower density family-friendly developments.  Although 30 dwellings per hectare is still to be used as a’ national indicative minimum’, more discretion is to be allowed to local planning authorities to set densities at levels they deem appropriate for their areas.  More power is also given to local planning authorities to insist on high standards of design, with the simultaneous publication by DCLG of a Practice Manual on preparing design codes.  All very helpful and positive.

Hot on the heels of PPS3 came the publication of Kate Barker’s ‘Review of Land Use Planning’ (a rather quaint title in view of the fact that we are all supposed to be ‘spatial planners’ these days – obviously someone forgot to tell Kate).

In a fortnight ablaze with new Government policy statements, it was ironic that one of her recommendations was that the Government should issue fewer policy statements. Some hope!

Amongst a raft of generally sensible suggestions for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the planning system there were some controversial nuggets.  Most relevant for the Growth Areas was the recommendation that Green Belts should be reviewed from time to time if their impact on the distribution of settlements was seen to be unsustainable.

Hardly rocket science (it’s actually what we did in Cambridge through the last Structure Plan review), but it was enough to send the CPRE into predictable spasms of outrage.  It will be interesting to see whether that particular suggestion surfaces in the White Paper on planning promised for the Spring.

And as if this was not enough, the Government also issued the long-awaited final version Code for Sustainable Homes which is to replace BRE’s Ecohomes standard from April 2007.  The wait was worth it.  The Code has been significantly tightened up from the draft issued at the beginning of the year, and the layout and detail is commendably clear.

A six star rating is to be used, and the Code will trail future changes to the Building Regulations in key areas such as energy use, leading to an ultimate requirement in 2016 that all new housing should be zero-carbon.  In the meanwhile, all Government-sponsored housing schemes will have to achieve a three star rating from April 2007. 

At the same time as issuing the Code, the Government also issued consultation documents on ‘Building a Greener Future: Towards Zero Carbon Development’ and a draft Planning Policy Statement on Planning and Climate Change.  At last it looks as though the Government is not just talking tough on the environment but is also prepared to play tough.

Let’s hope that the house building industry will respond positively to these initiatives – they have consistently asked for a level playing field on design standards for new housing, and now they are getting one.

So all in all there is much to celebrate from the past three weeks.  In the East of England the festive season has been topped off with the Government’s response to the Panel Report on the East of England plan to 2021, so there’s no lack of reading matter for those sad enough to need it over the festive season.

Peter Studdert
Director of Sustainable Communities
Cambridgeshire Horizons