WMRSS Phase 2 Panel Report – of Semantics & Sustainability

I received notification yesterday that the Planning Inspectorate Panel  Report on the proposed West Midlands Spatial Strategy Phase 2 Revision had been published – Please see link to : www.gos.gov.uk/gowm/Planning/515750/panelreport09/

A full and proper reading of this document by me will have to await my return from a conference – not the Conservative Party’s ! - next weekend at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Macynlleth, Wales. Please see : www.cat.org.uk

The CAT conference is entitled “Power & Place” and its subject is that much talked of (and rather less actioned) theme : locationally appropriate sustainable energy from renewable sources, from which might, incidentally, be derived the rather elegant acronym, LASERS…of which more later.

Returning to the WMRSS Phase 2 Panel Report, I note this refers to “Semantics”, with reference to my own submission, and “Uncertainties” with particular reference to the economy, and to which might be added “political”. However, the key question is whether the Panel’s recommendations are sustainable, according to the various meanings of the word.

Now I have to confess to enjoying the occasional semantic skirmish, and readers of my other blog @ http://janetmackinnon.blogspot.com may see that I was both tickled and tantalised (as the late Ken Dodd might have said) by Lord Mandelson’s use of the words “Flibbertigibbet” with reference to Tory Party Leader David Cameron.

In own humble opinion, however, it is former Deputy Prime Minister, and before that Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions – both roles carrying the burden of the planning portfolio – John Prescott  who really conjures up the qualities of a “Flibbertigibbet”.

Partly as a consequence – civic servants and others must still carry some of the can  - quite  a lot of “Flibbertigibberish” (as they might have called it in Diddyland*) has found itself into New Labour planning policy, particularly where issues of sustainability are concerned, and must be cut through (as with LASERS – see above).

* Ken Dodd’s sustainable community for Diddymen

Collapse in Value of Quango Land Bank

The following article is taken from “Inside Housing” (25.9.2009).

“The 2008/09 accounts for English Partnerships – quietly posted in July on a website that has supposedly been defunct since December – reveal the financial devastation visited on the agency in its last eight months of existence, as it posted an operating loss of £492.2 million. It was so badly hit by the house market collapse it had to seek an extra £67 million of funding from the Communities and Local Government department to continue trading.

Its two divisions – the Commission for the New Towns and the Urban Regeneration Agency – were both absorbed by the Homes and Communities Agency in December. Each organisation prepared separate accounts.

The URA, the main land holding division, was particularly badly hit by the housing market downturn.

It was forced to wipe £263.7 million from the value of its land. Its operating deficit more than doubled from £200 million in 2008 to £406 million in 2009. The agency always ran at a deficit because of the way it was funded.

The Commission for New Towns made a £56 million write-down. It lost £12.6 million in a land deal after a developer which owed it £15 million became insolvent. It got the land back but its value had dropped to £2.3 million.

Overall, the value of the URA’s £719 million land bank in 2008 was slashed by a third over the eight months from 1 April to 30 November, leaving it £481 million of land assets to transfer to the HCA on 1 December 2008.

Communities secretary John Denham will face a barrage of questions over the revelations.

Conservative shadow housing minister Grant Shapps, said: ‘When Parliament returns I will be lining up a series of questions for the secretary of state to uncover the truth behind what looks like a very murky situation. When you find out these things months after the event it becomes difficult to hold the quango to account. Why weren’t we told about this at the time?’

The accounts raised a ‘host of questions’ about how EP assets were transferred to the HCA, he added. ‘I was critical of setting up a mega-quango because it is very difficult to track what is going on.’

An HCA spokesperson said the housing market downturn had left EP with ‘a deficit between anticipated receipts and spending commitments’.

‘This was constantly monitored by EP and the CLG,’ he added. ‘To ensure EP did not breach its allocated budget, additional capital budget cover was requested.’

The extra £67 million of funding was approved at the end of last year. The spokesperson said EP had ‘short-term budget issues’ which the HCA had inherited. ‘Short-term operating budget pressures are not the same as technical insolvency. EP passed £1.8 billion of assets to the HCA on 1 December so was clearly not insolvent.’ A link to EPs’ accounts was posted on the HCA’s website.

A history of EP

• 1961 Commission for the New Towns created
• 1993 The Urban Regeneration Agency established
• May 1999 English Partnerships set up to run the agency and commission
• November 2008 Both organisations cease trading
• December 2008 Homes and Communities Agency launched”