Archived press release

"chapter and verse" demanded as Government promises u-turn on regional policy

16 February 1998

“CHAPTER AND VERSE” DEMANDED AS GOVERNMENT PROMISES U-TURN ON REGIONAL POLICY

Friends of the Earth has demanded “chapter and verse” over reports of a Government u-turn on plans to give unelected quangos extensive powers to develop green field sites [1].
The Government is reported to be “hastily back pedalling” over clauses in the Regional Development Agencies Bill which will set up new Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)with sweeping planning powers. The Bill is due to be debated in Parliament tomorrow.

Roger Higman, FOE's Senior Planning Campaigner said today:

“Government plans for Regional Development Agencies are seriously flawed. The new Agencies are being given sweeping powers to allow building on common land,green belt and even National Parks. They will be accountable neither to Parliament nor to local people.”

Amongst other things, the RDAs will take over the work of the development agency English Partnerships. Last month, FOE attacked plans by English Partnerships for a 90 hectare development in London's largest wetland site, Rainham Marshes, part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The planned development includes a petrol station, drive-through restaurant and warehouses, using about £16m of public money. The site is home to water voles and birds such as teal and redshank.

FOE fears that the RDAs will be used to achieve massive house building targets at a regional level, without any local control, and without the Environment Secretary being fully accountable for his actions to Parliament. Only last week, Planning Minister Richard Caborn warned councils in the South East of England that they could be forced to accept at least 100,000 new homes over their existing plans.

FOE is demanding amendments to the Bill to ensure that the RDAs can only exercise their planning and land functions under guidance agreed between local councils and central Government.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

[1] Key clauses in the Regional Development Agencies Bill have been attacked for giving sweeping planning powers to new unelected quangos. The Bill sets up nine Regional Development Agencies which will be run by Boards of between 8 and 15 people appointed directly by the Environment Secretary.

Clause 20 of the Bill gives the RDAs powers to make compulsory purchases of land to further their aims and objectives. These are defined elsewhere in the Bill as “to further economic development ... promote business efficiency ... (and) enhance the development and application of skills”.

Clauses 24 and 25 of the Bill also give the RDAs extensive powers over planning policy in “any part of the area of a regional development agency which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, is suitable for regeneration or development”. This is despite promises from Planning Minister Richard Caborn (in the DETR paper“Modernising Planning”) that “statutory planning at the regional level will have to await a democratically accountable statutory body to undertake it”.

The Bill states explicitly that the purposes of RDAs apply as much to rural as to urban parts of each area.

[2] Key land statistics

Common Land	1.5 million acres in England and Wales. Examples include parts of Epping Forest, the Malvern Hills, the Forest of Dean, Wenlock Edge, the New Forest, and Hampstead Heath
Green Belt	15,557 sq km in England (1993), including 4,856 sq km around London
Forest Cover	2.5 million hectares in the UK (1995/6)
SSSIs	2.0 million hectares in Great Britain (1996)
Land Changing to Urban Use	5,500 hectares (1993)

[All the above figures from DETR Digest of Environmental Statistics, 1997]

National Parks

cover some 5.5% of the land mass of the United Kingdom.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust