Can you imagine playing a game of football where the referee is changed 10 times during the course of the game with each bringing his own very different version of the rules unknown to the players before kick-off? Surely, disbelief and frustration amongst the players would be the inevitable result. Consider, then, that there have been no fewer than 10 housing ministers in the last 10 years each of whom has differing rules as to how the housing crisis should be addressed. Oh, and just for good measure, throw in the Covid19 pandemic spanner but without extra time.
The difficulty in producing a Local Plan is that it takes so long. LPs require extensive evidence gathering, assessment and various stages of consultation so it is not unusual for a Plan to take up to five years from initial review to final adoption and sometimes even longer. The consequence of this lengthy process is that changes can occur in the interim. These changes emanate variously from central government policy, shifts in local government politics or wider circumstances. In the case of Spelthorne this year, the officers have experienced all three. The Government’s new Plan-ning for the Future paper, a change of administration at the Council and the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors will all have a seismic impact on the production of the Local Plan.
Effectively it’s like trying to hit a moving target. Planners are trying to make sense of the changes to the planning regime proposed by the Government but as the current proposals are out to consultation they are unable to yet give weight to them and are still assessing what impact they would have if introduced, particularly around the revised methodology for calculating housing need. With the new Council administration comes the potential to review the work done so far on the Local Plan and the direction it’s taking. The result of the pandemic is that evidence may need to be revisited and updated, such as working patterns, air quality, access to open space. This uncertainty and additional work inevitably results in delays to the timetable. It’s easy then to see how a Local Plan can end up taking several years to produce. The Government imposes deadlines on local authorities to produce their plans yet it is the changes they introduce that often result in delays. It can be hard for planners working in this field to remain motivated. They all want to see the Local Plan through to its conclusion and see it implemented but it can be disappointing when the light at the end of the tunnel keeps moving further away. However, it’s gratifying to hear that planners know this is to be expected and take heart that they’ll all get there in the end. That is professionalism and they should be commended for their fortitude!