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Housing and jobs boost for East of England

Published	12 May 2008

A new twenty year vision to deliver badly needed housing, infrastructure and new jobs for the East of England was published today by Communities Minister, Parmjit Dhanda.

The revised Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) will deliver a vision for continuing growth and spreading prosperity to all communities in the East of England in a planned and sustainable way over the next two decades.

Publication of the plan follows a rigorous public consultation and independent examination process. It will deliver a step change for housing and jobs growth that will help the region tackle homelessness and housing affordability. The plan also responds to the major transport, waste and environmental issues affecting the region.

The latest statistical projections show that new households are expected to grow by 30,500 a year up to 2021 in the region which means housing provision needs to accelerate to keep up with demand. The RSS sets out a plan to deliver 508,000 more homes (25,400 a year) and new jobs to hit 452,000 by 2021.

Over £142m will be invested (2008-11) to support growth around the main cities and towns including Cambridge, Peterborough, Stevenage, Harlow, and the growth points at Norwich, Colchester, Ipswich and Thetford. Today we are announcing that Chelmsford, Dacorum (Hemel Hempstead), St Albans, St Edmundsbury and Welwyn Hatfield are to be Growth Areas with £28m of additional funding confirmed and that King's Lynn has been confirmed as a Growth Point.

The Government has made millions of pounds of funding available to support infrastructure in the region including schools, hospitals, leisure centres and transport links through the Growth Fund, the Community Infrastructure Fund and Housing and Planning Delivery Grants. In addition the Community Infrastructure Levy currently being considered by Parliament will potentially create another important funding source for councils delivering new housing.

Communities Minister, Parmjit Dhanda, said:

"The East of England needs a long term vision for delivering much needed sustainable growth that tackles climate change, address its housing shortages and strengthens the region's economy.

"Beyond the short term squeeze of the credit crunch our population is still ageing and more people are choosing to live alone, meaning new households are growing faster than new homes. If more homes are not built now the housing ladder will get even further out of reach leaving the next generation with nowhere to live.

"This plan is a big step forward in addressing the demands in the East of England. It will deliver the affordable housing, better transport networks, stronger environmental protections and new jobs that the region needs."

Speaking at the launch event in Letchworth, East of England Minister, Barbara Follett will say:

"The Regional Spatial Strategy is a key milestone for the delivery of sustainable housing growth; tackling homelessness; making housing more affordable and managing climate change in the East of England. The Strategy was agreed after a rigorous consultation in which strenuous efforts were made to ensure that all views were heard. This is the Region's blueprint for the future and now I hope that everyone, especially the Regional Assembly; the local planning authorities and developers will work to quickly and effectively together implement its delivery."

Summary of key points in the Plan:

• Higher housing growth to deliver 508,000 homes by 2021 - revised from 478,000 to reach the latest housing projections, following the independent examination panel recommending the need for higher growth.
• Job growth targets increased from 440,000 to 452,000. This includes the addition of Bedford as a key employment location.
• New growth towns close to London have had nearly £28m pounds of growth funds confirmed today. Chelmsford (£11m), Hemel Hempstead (£6.5m), St. Albans (£0.6m), St Edmunsbury (£4.8m) and Welwyn / Hatfield (£4.6m). Confirmation that King's Lynn and Harlow will be important growth towns.
• Not including the Thames Gateway other housing development and additional growth investment, announced in December, will be focussed on brownfield sites and urban extensions in Cambridge (£36m), Peterborough (£17.5m), Stevenage (£6.7m), and the recently announced new growth points at Norwich (£12m), Thetford (£6m), and Colchester and Ipswich (£17.5m).
• It has identified areas where further work should be carried out to determine the additional measures needed to tackle congestion and support growth.
• The social need for housing is recognised with a minimum affordable housing target in new developments set at 35 per cent. In addition Rural Exception sites are identified as a key tool to support housing in rural areas.
• Water management is recognised as an important regional issue in the East of England with per capita consumption targets and an emphasis on the sewage work investment needed to reconcile growth and river quality.
• The plan sets targets for the first time for waste recycling; with landfill of untreated waste to be eliminated by 2021.
• The regional plan actually delivers a net increase to the green belt as a result of extensions to Hertfordshire's green belt.

New eco-towns could also be part of how the East of England meets their housing shortfall. Any successful bid from the region will be included in the further RSS review to be carried out which will take the plan up to 2031 and take account of new population and housing projections.

The 4 shortlisted eco-town locations in the region have only reached the first stage. Bids that have cleared the first hurdle will face considerably tougher tests ahead if they progress and will need to improve proposals still further. All the shortlisted locations will face further examination including public consultation and a detailed Sustainability Appraisal which will test the merits and challenges for each one.

All bids will have to reach zero carbon standards by promoting leading edge green technologies, provide high levels of affordable housing, demonstrate how they will deliver key infrastructure such as good public transport, schools and health facilities and safeguard local wildlife. Importantly no new eco-town housing will be on the green belt.

Richard Powell, Chair of Sustainability East welcomed the launch of the strategy, saying:

"Growth is a hugely complex issue, and its impacts are far reaching in terms of housing, transport, schools and hospitals, as well as the natural environment around us, and the resources which support us. We welcome the fact that through this process Government and regional partners have recognised that all of these issues have to be brought together and thought through strategically, and clearly, and drawing on the expertise of regional partners.

"Sustainable development is, at its heart, about achieving integration between the demands of growth, protecting and enhancing our natural and historic environment whilst ensuring equality and opportunities for all. Sustainability East will continue to challenge those delivering this plan to make sure we are achieving that integration, without this growth cannot be seen as sustainable. Business as usual isn't an option."

This RSS plan is part of an ongoing process of Government reforms and delivery that is strengthening regional regeneration, growth and accountability. For example, on top of the rigorous public consultation process already in place, elected local leaders will have even more say over housing and planning under the single regional strategy post 2010 giving them a stronger role in developing and signing off regional strategies, and better scrutiny of RDAs through local leader forums.

From 2010 the spatial plan (RSS) and economic plan (RES) will be joined up to create a new East of England implementation plan for new jobs, homes, transport and investment for the first time. These plans will continue to require transparent and open consultation with councils, local communities, businesses and environmental groups.

Notes for editors

1. The revised East of England Plan announced today was formally published by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in a Written Ministerial Statement to parliament. The East of England Plan covers the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Together with relevant sections of the Milton Keynes South Midlands Sub-Regional Strategy it constitutes the RSS for the East of England.

2. The East of England Plan can be viewed and downloaded from the Government Office for the East of England's website - www.goeast.gov.uk (external link). Hard copies can also be obtained from the TSO website: www.tsoshop.co.uk (external link) by email: book.orders@tso.co.uk or be telephone 0870 600 5522. 

3. Revised projections of households for the English regions to 2026 can be found at: www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/707319.

4. To support development in the Plan, Communities and Local Government is today confirming that Chelmsford Borough Council, St Edmundsbury Borough Council, Dacorum Borough Council, Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council and St Albans City and District Council are being included in the Growth Areas programme (on a whole authority basis).

5. Chelmsford and St Edmundsbury will be included in the London-Stansted-Cambridge-Peterborough (LSCP) Growth Area. Communities and Local Government will have further discussions with local and regional partners about whether Dacorum, Welwyn Hatfield and St Albans should be included in LSCP or the Milton Keynes-South Midlands (MKSM) Growth Area.

6. The Growth Fund allocations announced in December for 2008-11, is on top of over £213 million awarded to the region between 2004-08. Provisional awards were announced in December for Chelmsford, St Edmundsbury, Dacorum, St Albans and Welwyn Hatfield, subject to confirmation of the level of growth in the Plan, and confirmation of Growth Areas support. These awards are today confirmed. Details can be found at: www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingsupply/growthareas/growthfundallocations/.

7. 2008-09 Growth Funding to support King's Lynn's successful bid for Growth Point status which was confirmed today, will be announced at a later date. Capital funding will also be available to support second round Growth Points in 2009-10 and 2010-11.

8. Allocations for 2009-2011 are indicative at this stage. Communities and Local Government will be consulting on the new funding system shortly and will confirm allocations for 2009-11 later in the year, as well as allocating an additional £172m. The Growth Fund provides unringfenced block funding to local authorities so they can prioritise how the funding is used in their area. This is part of the £1.7bn that Communities and Local Government will be investing across the Growth Areas, Thames Gateway, Growth Points and Eco-towns during the CSR07 period.

9. The Plan also contains the Regional Transport Strategy. Its main purpose is to provide a framework for local planning authorities to prepare their development plans, which must conform to the East of England Plan.

10 The Sustainability Report demonstrates how the Plan accords with the principles of sustainable development and meets the legal requirements of the European Habitats and Strategic Environmental Assessment Directives.

11. The East of England Plan is based on a draft revision to the RSS prepared by the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) and submitted to the Secretary of State in December 2004. The original proposals were amended through the Secretary of State's Proposed Changes (December 2006), which responded to the recommendations of the Independent Panel which conducted an Examination in Public of the draft revision between November 2005 and March 2006, and in response to the consultation responses to those Proposed Changes. The Plan also takes account and builds on the Regional Economic Strategy produced by the East of England Development Agency and the Regional Sustainable Development Framework, which provides a high level statement of the regional vision for achieving sustainable development.

12. Preparation was informed by Sustainability Appraisal at both the draft submission and Proposed Changes stages incorporating Strategic Environmental Appraisal. The Secretary of State's Proposed Changes were assessed against the requirements of the European Habitats Directive (East of England Regional Spatial Strategy Habitats Directive Assessment, ERM, December 2006). In response to representations on that assessment by the Regional Assembly, Natural England and others, the assessment was revisited (Draft Regional Spatial Strategy for the East of England: Appropriate Assessment under the Habitats Regulations, RPS, September 2007) and a number of additional changes made to ensure the Regional Spatial Strategy is fully compliant with the Directive.

13. The next steps are for the region's local authorities and delivery bodies to implement the policies of the East of England Plan through the ongoing programme of Growth Areas, Growth Point and Local Development Frameworks and through individual development decisions. Meanwhile, the East of England Regional Assembly will start work on the review of the East of England Plan to roll forward the policies to 2031, to apply the Government's new targets for housing and sustainable economic growth and to set in train the move towards a new integrated regional strategy to meet the Government's review of sub-national economic development and regeneration. The Community Infrastructure Levy is expected to be in place by spring 2009, subject to the Parliamentary timetable. Further information on CIL is available at: www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/infrastructurelevyguidance.

14. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 strengthened the role and importance of regional planning, introducing Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS) making them the top tier of the statutory Development Plan in all regions of England except London, where the London Plan provides a similar role. The Act sets an objective for RSSs to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development.

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