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RTPI Annual Convention 2008

Date of speech	10 July 2008
Location	The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London
Event summary	The Royal Town Planning Institute's 2008 Planning Convention: 'Changing Places: Changing World'.

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Draft text of the speech - may differ from the delivered version.

Let me start by saying how much planning matters.

Your job is to look ahead, make communities that work, buildings that last, places where people are proud to live, work and raise a family.

Get it wrong, the result can be monolithic estates, concrete jungles - a burden to everyone who has to live near them or in them.

Get it right, it's a gift to the next generation.

Last month saw the 60th anniversary of the Housing Design awards.

I was particularly interested in the awards this year - not just because Chimney Pot Park, in my constituency, won a gong.

But also because the awards looked back at six decades of homes, the places still thriving today thanks to good planning and design.

From Highworth Cottages built in Hampshire in 1954, to Smithfield Buildings built in Manchester ten years ago.

There could be no better testament to your work than the success of places like these.

It's also 60 years or so since the post-war Labour government put in place the essentials of the planning framework.

A framework designed to prevent what the then Chancellor Hugh Dalton called the 'muddle and ugliness' of unfettered development: while at the same time leaving room for local character, enterprise and charm.

The post-war Government weren't inventing planning out of nothing.

There was a framework - patchy and piecemeal - taking shape from as early as 1909.

But the mid-twentieth century brought new challenges. Not just the urgent task of rebuilding towns and cities post-war, but also the pressures of a radically transformed economy. The Minister, Lewis Silkin said,

"It is because existing legislation cannot provide the instrument for planning the use of our land in accordance with these new conceptions that this Bill has become necessary."

Today, we face new challenges once again. The need for green energy sources. Global warming. A growing and ageing population. The demand for infrastructure to support unprecedented levels of international business, trade and travel.

Supporting economic growth by creating transport systems that work, that link people up to jobs.

Helping mitigate climate change by making low-carbon living easier, and anticipating its consequences.

Building the new homes and communities that we still urgently need for the long term, whatever the short-term conditions.

But these are challenges of a type and on a scale that the architects of the 1947 Act could not have imagined.

Just as Dalton, Silkin and the rest renewed the planning system to make it relevant to their world, so we need to ensure planning adapts so it can continue to thrive.

To put it another way, reform isn't optional. It's essential.

Some reform can be encouraged by Government. Some needs to come from the sector itself. It's when we meet in the middle and come together that we can make the most difference.

"Town centres are the hearts of our communities. I want to see our town centres and independent shops busy and thriving and I'm absolutely committed to help defend their future."

And today I want to talk about 3 key ways in which we are working together to help the planning system evolve.

First, getting the right framework.

Second, giving planners the skills and confidence to excel.

And third, plugging communities into planning.

First, renewing the framework.

The Planning Bill has completed its passage through the Commons. Not without a little drama, but we got there. I want to say thank you to the RTPI. Your support for the Bill helped remind people why it is both important and necessary.

The current system for deciding on major projects just doesn't work well enough. No-one benefits when it takes literally years to decide on vital infrastructure such as wind farms or ports, with a process for making decisions that even the experts can find convoluted. The Bill will reduce unnecessary delays and uncertainty and help the country face up to 21st century challenges successfully.

As well as the big principles, Government has had a real debate with RTPI on the detail, including issues such as Local Member Review Bodies. Your arguments, along with those of other groups such as the LGA, are very important as we consider whether these Local Member Review Bodies are the right way to achieve our objective of devolving more power to a local level, or whether this is the right time to be putting them into practice. Especially as, in the meantime, the new fast-track appeal service launched by the Planning Inspectorate is already giving householders quicker decisions.

I hope the dialogue we have started will continue as the Bill completes its parliamentary passage.

And I also want to keep up that debate on the other changes taking place as well as the Planning Bill.

Take the review into town and country planning applications. How the process can be made more efficient: clearer: easier for non-experts to understand and influence.

I'm delighted that David Pretty is here to talk about the work that he and Joanne Killian have started.

4 months after they took on the task, they've accumulated evidence about where the problems are.

They've launched a 'call for solutions' - hoping to learn from the wealth of expertise and ingenuity that is out there in the planning world. This review should be driven not by government, but by the sector. I know there will be lots of people in the room today who will have a contribution to make, and I encourage them to get involved.

I'd also like to thank everyone in the sector for helping to shape our thinking on the long-awaited revisions to Planning Policy Statement 6: planning for town centres.

I know many of you have been anxiously waiting for our proposals. I'm therefore delighted to say that I am today able to publish our proposed revisions, designed to make town centre planning policy more effective.

Town centres are the hearts of our communities. I want to see our town centres and independent shops busy and thriving and I'm absolutely committed to help defend their future.

In recent years, our 'town centre first' policy has started to make a real difference. There is now more retail development and investment in and around our town centres than at any time during the last decade.

But we cannot afford to be complacent. Town centres and retail development are facing significant economic challenges. Competition is fierce and trading tough.

That is why we need to ensure that our policies maintain their effectiveness and they are responsive to future challenges. We need a policy which provides the right degree of protection for smaller retailers who are facing very challenging trading conditions and increased levels of competition.

When you look closely, the 'need test' isn't doing the job it was designed for. That's why we are removing it and creating an improved, more rounded, 'impact test'.

It will require Councils to more thoroughly test what new development could mean for their area. Will it give better choice for shoppers? Will it draw trade away from the town centre? Encourage more investment and bring about regeneration and jobs? Make the high street a more popular destination?

I am keen to see this stronger PPS6 working for town centres. It is imperative that we support them during the challenging times they are facing. I believe that the strengthened rules will guide future town centre development by giving Councils the tools to attract investment, and to protect and promote their high streets.

If the first big challenge is working together to improve the planning framework, the second is for planners to keep on developing the skills and confidence to make the most of it.

On one hand, Government provides targeted support.

We've invested significant sums in the Planning Advisory Service which has done a great job boosting planning departments across the country. The Advisory Team for Large Applications is helping smaller authorities deal with large new developments.

We have spent £5million on bursaries and put over 500 people through planning school. Since this scheme was introduced the number of planning graduates has increased by more than 50 per cent - a great success. And we are now increasing support by a further £1m over the next three years, to bring a further 45 planners a year into the system.

And together with the RTPI I'm pleased to say we're publishing a new tool today that helps planners evaluate their successes, helping everyone understand how they can make the most difference.

But I think it's time for bigger changes, too, in the way we think about planning. And they can be best achieved not by Government, but by the sector itself.

I like the comparison that my colleague Caroline Flint drew recently. We all respect and value architects. Say you're an architect, people understand what you do, and they like it.

Planners deserve the same prestige and recognition. It's important if as a profession you are to keep inspiring and attracting the brightest and best.

"I believe ... strengthened rules will guide future town centre development by giving Councils the tools to attract investment, and to protect and promote their high streets."

That's why you need more people fighting your corner. Making your case. And explaining what you do.

So I am delighted that Steve Quartermain, the Designate Chief Planner is here to set out his vision for the sector.

Steve brings 29 years of planning experience to the role, and as President of the Planning Officers Society he has already represented the planning profession at a national level.

So I feel confident he can not only be a voice for the sector with Government, but reach out and make sure that more people know what you're about.

And that links to my third, and final point.

Planning is about big decisions. How you balance the needs of industry and the environment. What our towns and cities will look and feel like five, ten, twenty years from now.

These decisions impinge on people's lives so it's vital that they have a real say.

I don't have any time for the argument that our reforms will make the planning system less democratic. Some people would have you think that making a system more efficient and faster necessarily means a raw deal for local people.

But it's a false choice. You can do both. Get a faster, better, more efficient system that gives people a better chance to have their say.

Take the Planning Bill and national infrastructure. Rather than a time-consuming inquiry process with the odds stacked in favour of the people with the most resources and time, the new system has three clear stages for people to voice their opinion. As national planning policy statements are drawn up, when plans are put forward by a developer, and at the inquiry stage. Not one, but three chances.

The Empowerment White Paper I launched yesterday talks about injecting a greater dose of democracy to planning. It outlines how we are boosting support for Planning Aid to £3.2m for this year, so that everyone gets a better chance of having their voice heard.

But again I think there is a challenge to planners as professionals as much as to central Government.

Any profession needs its own lexicon of specialist terms. But mention place shaping, plan-making, or spatial dimension to the general public, and you risk sending them to sleep.

As well as technical skills, it's vital to be able to explain what you're about in straightforward language.

It's important to frame the debate in a way that people can understand and engage with - do you want to see a new park by the new housing estate, or leave it as open fields? Keep two small existing recycling centres, or make one big new centre? Cover over the shopping arcade in the high street or leave it open?

I'm pleased to say that my Department will be working with the Royal Town Planning Institute on the community planning content of their education and lifelong learning programmes.

I hope it will help make it easier for the profession to make a real connection.

In conclusion, I recognise that there's a lot of change happening for planners right now.

But I also think there are huge opportunities for you to shine. There's no way society can rise to some of the most pressing challenges of the day without you.

• cutting carbon
• building the new homes and communities needed for the long term
• helping people live safe and healthy lives

So I look forward to keeping working with you in the months ahead, helping you grow and thrive in changing times.

Thank you.