Recently in Government Category

South Kilburn really does seem to be on a bit of a roll now (although there was still the ritual kerfuffle this Saturday morning when one of our officers had to come over to my place to get me to sign emergency papers before I flew out to MIPIM; same thing happened last year! Ah, the course of urban regeneration never did run smooth). 

I am really thrilled to report that the Homes and Communities Agency have come through with a very innovative and creative deal, awarding Brent council funding for the building of 500 new homes in place of crumbling 18-storey tower blocks on the South Kilburn Estate.

London and Quadrant (L&Q) are our chosen partner, the two sites (Albert Road and Carlton Vale) are being sold to them with - and this is the crucial part of the deal - the proceeds then being reinvested into the regeneration of the South Kilburn Estate. 

All parties, from HCA throughout, are investing for the long term here. It's a serious group effort.

Two-hundred and eighty-six new homes will be delivered now and the next phase of regeneration can begin. What a huge relief. 

Here you see a lovely photograph of the leader of Brent, cllr Paul Lorber (Liberal Democrat) on the right side of the picture and the lead member for regeneration cllr John Detre (Conservative) on the left, pretending that it is they themselves who will be demolishing the reviled bison blocks. 

So, finally, finally, finally! Yesterday afternoon the Conservatives published their Planning Green Paper, which they clearly orchestrated to be ready just in time for our Bura@20 event this afternoon. Thanking you kindly, Mr Cameron, for this act of great support!

And, as expected, the Infrastructure Planning Commission gets binned, as does the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) - if the Tories get in, then the CIL could be forever known as the "Lady Jane Grey" of the planning system - the IPC could be "Edward VI" (you can tell I've been reading my Churchill again!).

And, as leaked by Ms Spelman five months ago, the tier of regional planning and the RSSs get scrapped. There is to be a presumption in favour of sustainable development (my italics) which, of course, could always be construed as a presumption-against-development (on-grounds-of-sustainability) but hey!

There are the expected fulminations about the Green Belt and "the scourge of garden grabbing" (which I resolutely choose to interpret as being different from infilling - see blog 9th February - and can therefore heartily applaud).

So far, well, so predicted.

But I'm not quite sure that I buy into David Cameron's rather purple construct of a "broken" planning system - finding this a bit melodramatic (even for me!) since I believe the British planning system still to be the envy of the world (although if the South Somerset Planning Committee goes the wrong way for Teresa Sienkiewicz and her neighbours in Lopen tomorrow evening then I may be forced to concede there might be something in it).

It is very difficult to believe that the HCA Single Conversation is over a year old now! Doesn't time fly when you're having fun, huh!

And the verdict is truly a mixed one. 

On the one hand, it has been an excellent process for those local authorities that have passed through it. It has encouraged them to think creatively and strategically about housing supply both within their boundaries and - crucially - also in neighbouring districts. 

As for the HCA, it has allowed them to better forecast their expenditure, which is clearly no bad thing at all. 

The concern among local authorities that I speak to is this: can the HCA meet the expectations that they have inevitably raised among housing officers and members?  .

Having blogged about Michael Howard's manifesto last time, rather spookily, I found myself watching him in his home secretary days (when part of John Major's administration) in Michael Cockerell's The Great Offices of State series. 

Mr Howard was hardly the most attractive home secretary (section 28 was a shocking disgrace!) although as the programme explained it was (and is) nigh on impossible to find an appealing course in that office (the last one who managed it being the late Roy Jenkins, of course, having the benefit of being able to preside over the abolition of hanging). 

But what is now overlooked is the extraordinary circumstances under which Michael Howard became leader of the British Conservative Party in November 2003. 

If you recall, the party agreed not to have a damaging leadership election. And I don't think we should underestimate his effectiveness as leader of the opposition through the general election of 5 May 2005.

So we still seem to be hanging around waiting for the Conservatives Planning Green Paper (let alone the policy statement on regeneration) and the excellent Patrick Clift watches this for us like a hawk in the EG planning blog. 

Actually, many of us are getting a bit frantic with anxiety about it all. 

Alex Kendall has been coming onto this blog and saying rather provocative things, which I think I agree with (in an much as I understand them!) and I think we do need an honest debate here - and we'll be looking to start this at the BURA@20 debate on Tuesday 23 February. 

I suppose, as the cynics would have it, there aint many votes in planning - and this is one for Ann Skippers, the admirable new president of the RTPI, to get her teeth into (yes, Alex, they are my friends).

Was rather diverted by a feature in the Sunday Times at the weekend about "infill" houses.  Well! This is a most welcome arrival in the Sunday supplement mainstream. Some rather uplifting images were shown and, better still, comes the news that Boris has a gleam in his eye to build 30,000 new homes in the capital on GLA land (go, Boris!) while the HCA are looking at a scheme to deliver a (more modest) 1,250 homes across the UK. 

The RIBA, joining in, have launched a competition to unearth places as hitherto not worthy of development, working on the principle that it is those who live and work locally who are best placed to know. How wonderful! And there are websites that inform more: urbfill.com or the RIBA site at architecture.com. 

This reminds me that for some time I have been meaning to blog about the Steel House in Hart Street, Edinburgh, which I saw for the first time last autumn (when out for a stroll with the lovely June Barnes) and which is clearly very famous in architectural circles having won several awards. 

Levered into a sort of "in-between space" (where there was a garage or a shed at the end of the back garden of a Georgian House) I was captivated by it architecturally but - more to the point - was far more arrested by the sheer resourcefulness of the thing. 

Edinburgh's New Town is an uplifting place and is built to generous scale and nobody in their right mind would suggest that this generosity should be compromised, so the Steel House shows the way: if it can be managed in Edinburgh then don't tell me that many (most) of our town centres could sustain (absorb) extra units of housing, if sensitively and appropriately handled.

I've been tardy in responding to a certain newcomer on the blog and I must make amends.

The EG Regeneration Blog warmly welcomes our fraternal correspondent, senator Arnold Vinick (Republican) of the State of California to our merry band.  

I don't need to point out, to such an audience of aficionados, that I am of course referring to Senator Vinick of the "West Wing" - the second-best television series ever made. Delighted to see Arnold Vinick back in my life I must say. I have missed him.

I have a good friend who I used to text compulsively in the run-up to the election (Series Six I believe) and he and I both agreed (despite probably being more Democrat than Republican in persuasion) that Arnie Vinick was robbed! 

My once-boss (admittedly, a very long time ago) and ever-hero David Owen (that's Baron Owen of the City of Plymouth to you, matey) has written to me. 

"Dear Jackie" it begins. What a total thrill. Alright, alright, I know I'm one of many thousands of his closest friends! But it's on proper Conqueror, and personally word processed and signed, and seriously came as a shot in the arm to me. I always loved that man.

The substantive reads:

"I wanted to let you know about Charter 2010 website which I am involved in.

"www.charter2010.co.uk is dedicated to seeing any hung parliament, should it emerge, transformed into a stable, more representative and effective government. A government that can deal with Britain's urgent economic problems; not a parliamentary stalemate and the uncertain prospect of a second election. The detailed terms of the Charter, with its two core principles, are on the website.

Soooo.... PBR (recorded in full here) says "the government will continue to examine the framework that would be needed to implement tax increment financing and consider the primary legislation that would be needed if schemes were to be introduced". 

I was right then: we should be relying on this government promising to think about something for all of the last six months of its life with no prospect of delivery of primary legislation. Oh dream on.

Very august members of the property profession will be cross with me for saying this (and I am genuinely sorry, chaps) but I am forced to conclude that TIFs are simply not a re-election platform and certainly not the rabbit in the hat that Labour needs.

The model is long-term and potentially quite difficult to manage. All of which is fairly unpalatable stuff for populist politics.

I've got a queasy feeling about tomorrow's pre-Budget report. 

In recession-torn Britain, we may not get the big top-down instruments we were hoping for.  There'll be a lot of folk crying in their beer if, as suspected, we don't get an announcement for the go-ahead on Tax Increment Finance (TIF) models. 

I sincerely hope I'm wrong here, btw, but, as I say, I'm feeling uneasy. Ever the pragmatist, I have to say: move on quickly! Let's not waste time lamenting the whys and wherefores, let's look elsewhere for other ideas. And I'll go with anything as long as it works! 

When I set up the Brierley Hill Regeneration Partnership, we - the partners - just invented it. We didn't need any primary legislation. And we secured something called the "Parallel Access Route" (aka: a road) for Brierley Hill through that vehicle, among the other less-infrastructury-type regeneration benefits.