An alliance of 29 groups has written to the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Secretary Eric Pickles, urging the Government not to overlook planning at a ‘larger than local level’. The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) organised the letter, whose signatories include the British Property Federation, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and the homeless charity Shelter.

Ann Skippers, President of the RTPI said: ‘Communities need some level of strategic thinking beyond the local level to deliver many of the things they want, such as hospitals, transport links, waste management and flood protection. The most pressing issues facing the nation, for example, such as the housing crisis, economic recovery, climate change and biodiversity loss, cannot be dealt with solely at a local level.’

She added: ‘We have come together to offer to work with the Coalition Government and local authorities to help to develop thinking, policies and systems for planning to encourage and support joint planning across local authority boundaries so that the localism agenda may be used to enable democratic strategic planning to take place.’

However, the Financial Times reported a spokesman for Communities and Local Government spokesperson defending the move towards localism. He said: ‘The current top-down bureaucratic planning model has been very good at generating impressive-sounding numbers but built nothing but resentment. By allowing communities to shape their neighbourhoods and share in the benefits, we are beginning to restore the idea that development can be a force for good, rather than something to be resisted at all costs.’

To view background information and the text of the letter, visit the RTIP website
www.rtpi.org.uk/item/3937/23/5/3

For the Financial Times report, visit the Financial Times website
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a880c3ac-9ff9-11df-8cc5-00144feabdc0.html