After announcing the new legislation on Tuesday, the CLA calls on
the government to include key measures in the new legislative
agenda in order to close the rural productivity gap
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) welcome the new
planning measures outlined in the Levelling Up and Regeneration
Bill after its announcement in Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech. During
the development of this legislation, we are calling on the
government to include the clear steps set out in the new
cross-party parliamentary report on levelling up the rural
economy in order to benefit rural communities across England.
The proposals to overhaul the ‘one-size-fits-all’ planning
system, which has disadvantaged rural areas, especially villages,
with new design codes to let local communities set rules about
the layout of new developments is potentially an encouraging step
forward.
The aim of getting as close as possible to the target of building
300,000 new homes a year is also a crucial part of solving the
rural productivity gap. The more affordable houses there are in
rural areas, the more likely that people can afford to live where
they work, which keeps money within the local community. It will
be important for these projects to be delivered in all types of
settlements, including organic and incremental growth of small
rural villages and hamlets - not just focussing on urban
expansion programmes.
CLA President, Mark Tufnell, said:
“We strongly emphasise how urgently the proposed measures to
simplify local plans and digitalisation of the planning system
are required as far as economies in rural areas are concerned.
These must be delivered in all types of settlements, including
organic and incremental growth of small rural villages and
hamlets.
“Rural businesses, and the CLA’s objective to increase rural
productivity, are negatively impacted by a planning system that
is not fit for purpose, with many local plans perpetually
out-of-date, coupled with staffing issues in planning authorities
across the country.
“We are calling for a strong and consistent planning system that
is fit for purpose as soon as possible, otherwise, efforts to
close the productivity gap between rural and urban businesses
will never be achieved. If these issues are not addressed, we
face the long-term sustainability of rural businesses and
communities, their need for jobs, homes and access to services
being left out of the levelling up agenda and ultimately
failing.”
