Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS)

5.  There has been some confirmed good news today (20th May 2010). The ridiculous RSS has been formally abolished. The present Coalition Government has applied common sense and reverted planning requirements for the Duchy back to the Cornwall Council. In short the idiotic housing target set by the RSS of almost 70,000 new build homes by 2026 now ceases to exist and will be replaced by a Cornwall wide planning strategy. It remains to be seen what level of new build homes will be required by this new strategy but we would expect a significant reduction to what is a realistic level. So before euphoria sets in we need to see what this level, set by the Duchy, will be. 

Since 2004 there have been, we understand, 12,858 new builds already produced in the Duchy with the 2009/10 figures, which we expect to be in the region of 3,000, still to be added.   TA will continue to monitor precisely the planners intend and will publish the target as soon as it is established.

4.  There are some very interesting points raised in a blog by Cornwall Zetetics relating to the effects that mass building is likely to have on the Duchy.

Items Dated 13 & 14th Feb 2010 - The future of Cornwall ,and, are we building our way  to a population of 1.2 Million,  have attracted a number of comments on the site

(Note: The Cornish Zetetic  articles on their website is under the  ’housing’ tag)  and the link to the website is  HERE    

3. First the good news. The AAP for the CPRI area is now officially on hold until after the forthcoming general election. This is primarily because it is based on the RSS which was put on hold some months ago because of legal action challenging how some environmental aspects of the strategy have been conducted. It was also stated by Cornwall Council that the intervening time could be used to establish what the real need for housing in the CPRI area actually is.

The bad news is that the present group of councillors who are considering this may give weight to the survey conducted by the former Kerrier District Council. On the face of it, this survey is significantly flawed and accommodates the need for an 82% inward migration into the area.

Several years work has gone into the production of the AAP based on the discredited RSS. It has cost hundreds of thousands of pounds of ratepayers money to produce, despite calls from the general public that the RSS was unwanted, unnecessary, unsupportable, badly conceived and was a Government target, not a local needs document. Numbers of councillors have voted for the AAP rather than the then County Council reflecting the wishes of the local electorate and making a statement to the Government that it is unacceptable to the Council, and more importantly, to the people of Cornwall.

However, the AAP is now shelved for a few months but we must be wary. Should the RSS be scrapped in its entirety, we must ensure that Cornwall Council does not resurrect the document, delete all reference to the RSS and impose it on us in one form or another.
Rather than plucking numbers out of the air we must ensure that housing targets are for local need and are not inflated to satisfy Government targets or inward migration.

2. As you will almost certainly be aware, a ruling has been passed that the RSS needs to be reviewed as a result of a court action in the East of England.

This raises a number of questions:

Which areas of the RSS are being reappraised?
Who is undertaking the reappraisal?
Will there be an examination in public of the findings
Will there be a public consultations and if not, why not?

The people who might provide you with the answers are:

John Denham M.P., DGLC, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DU  e-mail: john.denham@communities.gsi.gov.ukThe Govt Office for the South West is at:
The Planning Team, GOSW, 2 Rivergate, Temple Quay, BRISTOL BS1 6EH  e-mail  swplanning@gosw.gsi.gov.uk

 

TA has requested answers to these questions but you are all encouraged to ask so that an idea of the strength of feeling and interest will be noted. 

1. The RSS, formulated by a Quango and amended by the Government is the outline plan which determines that Cornwall is to have an additional 68,200 houses built by 2026 which has the potential to increase the present population by about one fifth.
The RSS throughout the Country has been thrown into disarray due to a successful legal challenge in the East of England.  As a result the RSS is now on hold and here in the SW it will be reviewed. The review process has not yet been made clear ie When?  Who will review it?  What sections will be reviewed?  Will there be a public consultation after review?  to name but a few of the queries.

The Status of the Draft RSS
30 September 2009

Summary

The publication of the draft RSS for the South West has been delayed by the Government Office for the South West (GOSW). The question that therefore arises is, what weight can be given to the draft RSS in the meantime?

GOSW Position

GOSW advised, in June 2009, that “the RSS has reached such an advanced stage that we would expect it now to be given considerable weight in consideration of any application for development”.

For the reasons set out below, this advice is open to doubt. 

Legal Requirements

The GOSW explained that the reason for the delay in the publication of the finalised RSS was in order to: “consider the implications of the recent High Court judgement on the East of England RSS.  The question at issue is whether the sustainability appraisal of alternative options meets the requirements of the SEA Directive and Regulations.”

Under regulation 12(2) of the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 and Article 5.1 of Directive 2001/42/EC, where an environmental report is required during the preparation of a plan, it shall identify, describe and evaluate the likely significant effect on the environment of - (a) implementing the plan or programme: and (b) reasonable alternatives taking into account the objectives and the geographical scope of the plan or programme. 

The central question in the East of England case was whether the environmental reports produced during the preparation of the plan identified, described and evaluated the alternatives to the challenged policies.

Having considered the implications of the judgment on the draft RSS, on 25 September 2009, the GOSW wrote to the Chief Executives of South West Local Authorities stating that a new sustainability appraisal would be carried out. The GOSW was therefore concerned that the sustainability appraisal did not meet the requirements of the Regulations and the Directive.

Planning Guidance

Communities and Local Government guidance “Planning System: General Principles” published in 2004 notes that emerging policies can be regarded as material considerations, depending on the context.  In light of the circumstances and context behind the current review of the draft RSS, affording “considerable weight” to a policy which could be required to change following a proper consideration of alternatives, is entirely inappropriate.

By TA:  This indicates that the Government Office for the South West has stated that developers and planners should give weight to the RSS in its present form, which will change after further review, by an unknown degree. In fact in an extract from a planning journal report written by Mark Wilding it is said that Francis Taylor Building Barrister Gregory Jones has stated that  “Any decisionmaker giving such weigh to the proposed changes is open to to a High Court challenge. What the government office is proposing would drive a coach and horses through the strategic environmental assessment directive, challenges could be made to decisions which rely on the draft RSS and also the advice given to councils”.  In the same report, Burges Salmon planning partner Gary Soloman agreed that councils following the advice may be open to court action. He stated   “It is premature for the secretary of state to be issuing such advice when he is not yet satisfied that the proposals are the most sustainable for the region”

TA thinks that, in a nutshell, these combined statements indicate that the secretary of state, via the local government office has gived unsound advice, which has been passed to the local council. Should weight be given to the RSS in the planning process, this could result in high court challenge which, should the council lose, we, the ratepayers, will pick up the bill for costs.


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