The abolition of regional spatial strategies has eliminated a key tool in discerning the difference between national and local need for waste infrastructure.
That was one of the key messages at a meeting of politicians, waste industry professionals and council officers in central London this week (May 3) jointly hosted by the Associate Parliamentary Sustainable Resource Group and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Infrastructure.
Regional spatial strategies (RSS) were documents provided at a regional level to outline a planning framework for future development. However, in May 2010 the coalition government made the decision to scrap the plans, which came into effect in July 2010.
But, speaking this week many delegates at the Infrastructure 2020: Incentivising Community Buy-In event bemoaned the removal of what they said was a valuable source of information that helped outline local need for waste developments.
Richard Reed, head of planning and development at Hampshire county council, said: Whatever we may say about regional [spatial] plans, they did help to do a good function of saying what is needed and how much is needed in an area.
We have got a muddle now between national aspirations and what is being generated at a local level. Where are we going to deal with the spatial issue?
Mr Reeds sentiments were echoed by John Twitchen, managing director of Sauce Consultancy, who said that the RSS had been very useful as a tool for waste development. He added that the RSS also helped provide a long-term framework rather than Wiki-plans councils and regions could be forced to develop on an ad hoc basis in the future.
In March 2011, the Communities and Local Government Committee which scrutinises decisions undertaken by the Department for Communities and Local Government criticised the abolition of the RSS, claiming it would create a vacuum at the heart of the English planning system.
Planning
In a questions and answer session at the event, Tessa Taylor, regional communications manager for Viridor, asked whether the increasing number of appeals and inquiries surrounding large scale waste projects meant that councils should take these into account when setting out timetables for plans being approved.
In response, Mr Reed defended councillors undertaking difficult planning decisions and said the right to appeal was part of the democratic process.
Also at the event, Alison Hood, communications manager at renewable firm Your Energy, gave the audience an account of the role of incentives in the onshore wind energy sector in order to help encourage developments.
Ms Hood offered a stark warning that the issue of incentives could be difficult to discuss with communities and that there was a fear that, in some cases, the developer could be seen to be bribing a planning authority to grant permission by offering subsidy electricity or a community fund.
She said: We need to keep these incentives as positive as they can be, as they can be a way of getting the substantial majority to support you but in some cases it is just never going to be enough, no matter how much you offer.
Subscribe for free