"The Urban Renaissance" (Hansard, 4 February 2000)

§ Ms Beverley Hughes

There are more than a hundred wide-ranging and forward-thinking recommendations in the Urban Task Force report. The Government have welcomed the report as an important contribution to the urban renaissance debate and are considering its recommendations in detail in drawing up the White Paper on urban policy, due to be published later this year. The Mayor may also wish to consider the report when producing the Spatial Development and other strategies set out in the GLA Act 1999 and generally, as the London boroughs are already doing.

In the meantime, it is important to keep up the momentum and many of the report's recommendations are already being taken forward. We have already set up nine pilot home zones, including two in London, at Five Roads in Ealing and in the Holmewood area of Lambeth. In addition, pilot urban regeneration companies have been published, although as yet there are none in London.

Issues relating to the management of land supply are being covered in revisions to Planning Policy Guidance notes 3, 11 and 12 that apply throughout the country. The recommendations for streamlining of the Compulsory Purchase Order process are to be covered in the review 758W which is currently taking place, while similar work on planning obligations is also under way. These will all be of direct significance to the capital.

In London, the new Mayor and Assembly are charged with preparing a spatial planning framework (the Spatial Development Strategy) that is consistent with other Mayoral strategies for transport, economic regeneration and the environment. This provides an opportunity to provide a more effective and integrated strategic framework for delivering urban renaissance in the capital.

Draft guidance has recently been issued on Strategic Planning in London which stresses the importance the Secretary of State attaches to the SDS promoting urban renaissance through good urban design and improvement of the public realm. New arrangements for consultation on strategic applications will mean that the Mayor can ensure SDS principles are delivered on the ground.

The Government have just published a report, jointly with the London Planning Advisory Committee (LPAC), on how to achieve more sustainable patterns of residential quality by using a design-led approach ("Sustainable Residential Quality: Exploring the Housing potential of Large Sites: LPAC January 2000"). Copies of this report have been forwarded to every London borough.

In addition to the responsibility for drawing up the Transport Strategy for the capital to which the boroughs will have regard in producing their Local Transport Plans, the Mayor has also been given the powers to introduce road user (congestion) charging and workplace parking levies and to use the revenue generated in support of the Transport Strategy. With the agreement of the Mayor, the London boroughs may also introduce such measures.