Category: Speeches

Below is the text of the speech made by Lord Falconer to the Law Society Council in London on 17th December 2003.

I’m delighted to be here today. Frankly, I’m also astonished to be here today.

Delighted because of the opportunity to speak to the Council of the Law Society. Astonished because I understand that I am the first Lord Chancellor ever to do so.

However, all I can say is that, given my declared intention to abolish myself, you struck well in getting the Lord Chancellor here for the first time because – depending on the will of Parliament – the first time may also be the last time.

I want to do two things today:

Firstly, to say something about that reform, and all the reforms we’re bringing forward, across the whole range of the justice system

And secondly, to say something – as your Chief Executive, Janet Paraskeva, has asked me to do – about how I see the future of your profession within that landscape of reform

But before I do so, could I just take this opportunity to thank Janet, and indeed this Council and the Law Society as a whole, for all of the positive contribution you make to our justice system. In Janet you have a first-rate chief executive, and though we are bound to take different views from time to time in our discussions, I believe both you and I would say that relations between the Society and me and my department are positive, constructive and helpful and I very much welcome that, and thank you for it.

The programme of constitutional reform we have already carried out in government since 1997 is a large one. But we believe there is more to do.

In The Queen’s Speech a few weeks ago, we set out our legislative agenda for this year. We have made provision to legislate on the policy proposals we put forward immediately on the creation of the Department for Constitutional Affairs That includes:

– the abolition of that office

– the removal of the Law Lords as the final appellate committee in the House of Lords

– the creation instead of a proper Supreme Court

– the ending of my power to appoint all judges in Britain, and of my role as the head of the judiciary

– the establishment of an independent commission to recommend judicial appointments

This is a big programme of reform and going with it is also further reform of the House of Lords.

But it is reform for a purpose. It is reform to help create a better system of justice in Britain. I’m proud of our justice system in Britain. I flew in this morning from a short trip to the USA, and though there are many fine things about the American justice system, I think we here in the UK can hold our heads up high about the British justice system. It is good. It does work. But just because it is good and it does work doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t seek to improve it. I strongly believe that the best time to reform and improve is not at a time of crisis, but from a position of strength and stability. And that’s what we intend to do.

Could I spend the rest of my time talking to you today to about the part solicitors play in the justice system. I want to touch on three main areas:

– how things seem to me now

– my own view of where we need to go

– and as a result, what I think we should do to get there.

Could I say at the outset that I believe and believe very strongly that the vast majority of transactions undertaken by lawyers serve the public very very well indeed. The public rightly look for good service from the legal system and from the lawyers within it, and in the vast majority of cases that’s exactly what they get. I believe that the profession in general, and of course solicitors’ part in the profession, can in the main consider that they do a good job, and do it well.

But at the same time, there’s no doubt that for too long, many people have found interacting with the legal profession daunting, or sometimes more than that: a complex, challenging, sometimes even alien experience, with lawyers sometimes operating in a manner and in an environment a world away from most people’s lives.

The significant areas of difficulty seem to me to be these:

– unmet need

– unmet demand

– customer care

– and associated with this, barriers to entry for people who wish to become solicitors.

It’s clear to me that there are customers’ needs which the system is not yet meeting. There are people who need advice, who need representation, who are not getting it. The National Periodic Survey of Legal Needs produced by the Legal Services Research Centre for the first time gives us hard evidence of unmet need. A need for help and advice on welfare problems. On family problems. It shows us the need for help and advice on problems arising from deprivation: on housing, debt, benefits, employment, immigration, and community care. People facing social exclusion often have a number of inter-related problems which need expert independent advice. Early intervention to tackle such problems can really help. I’m sure that the results of the follow-up survey, to be released in the New Year, will reinforce this view – and demonstrate clearly that there is unmet need to which the legal system must respond.

But there is unmet demand, too. Customer attitudes are changing. We should and do welcome that. Customers today demand more choice. Better prices. Higher quality. And again that’s quite right. We need to know in detail what people want from the legal system. What their unmet demands actually are.

If, for example, we have Tesco law, will we discover that more people have a personal injuries claim ? That more people are victims of domestic violence? And if we do, what does that tell us about the current market for legal services ? Why are these people not going to solicitors at the moment? Why are some Personal Injury claimants choosing to use the unregulated businesses that have been springing up? And as we respond to these needs, we need to ensure that, in giving the customers what they want, we do it in a way which properly protects their interests. The link between regulation and better services is absolutely crucial. We must get the balance right.

In all this, the customer is vital. That means meeting customer need and customer demand. But it also means taking action when things go wrong.

Customers must not only be able easily to access the quality services they need at competitive prices, they must also be sure that, if things go wrong, their complaints will be handled quickly and fairly. Solicitors need to handle complaints properly and, if they don’t, the OSS needs to respond, and to respond quickly within a reasonable time.

I readily acknowledge that the majority of solicitors not only do high quality work but are properly responsive to complaints. But the few who are still unresponsive or take too long distort customer perceptions in a way which impacts on the whole profession.

I readily acknowledge that the Society has made, and continues to make, considerable efforts to improve its complaints handling regime. But more must be done. If the unhelpful, the inefficient, know that a complaint to the Law Society will be handled quickly and efficiently, they will be more anxious to avoid the complaint getting that far.

I am watching with interest the recent improvements in turnaround by the OSS, but there too the pressure for sustained, embedded improvement must be maintained. Maintaining that pressure is for you – but, it is also for me.

Failing the customer not just once, through the delivery of a poor service, but twice, in failing to put the original wrong right, or address legitimate complaints swiftly and fairly cannot, and must not, be allowed to happen.

To meet the needs of a diverse customer base we will also require a diverse profession. Talent must be drawn from all quarters of our society. We must do all that we can to ensure that the legal profession is open to the most able people in our country.

So we need to look critically at barriers to entry for solicitors. How can we drive down the cost of qualifying? Is there more the profession can do to help with those costs? It is in the interests of the profession to match the diversity of their customers with the diversity of their lawyers, so it is surely also in the interests of the profession to help bring this about.

Cost is a problem. So too is the availability of training contracts. I am setting out a vision of a much more competitive, much more responsive profession which is good for consumers. But better competition also benefits the providers by expanding markets; and with that expansion I hope we will see many more training opportunities, opportunities which are open to the widest range of people.

I believe that to tackle all these issues, the legal system and the role of the solicitor must change. Going forward, the role of the solicitor will only be judged to be working effectively if there is clear and demonstrable evidence that solicitors are continuing to serve the public well.

So I believe that the solicitors’ profession should:

– meet the needs and demands of the public looking for legal services by providing advice and services of real quality

– reach those parts of society which can most benefit from advice, irrespective of their means

– and be both diverse and representative, so that it is well equipped both to serve the public properly, and to play its full part in both the legal profession and the justice system, in particular by providing a pool from which Judges are appointed

How can we best achieve this vision ? How can we, working together, secure this better future for the solicitors’ profession within a legal framework, a legal system, which works better for the public?

Again, I think there are three key issues:

– regulation

– legal aid

– customer care

How solicitors provide services to the public – in what form, and at what price – is inextricably linked with regulation. Is the balance right between regulation and the needs of the customer? We have to find an answer to that question in a way which provides better service, consistent with proper consumer protection.

A diverse, flexible and responsive legal landscape will require a flexible, responsive and accountable, regulatory regime.

I know that, once again, the Law Society is working to meet this need. I welcome the significant work in simplifying the rules of conduct, for example, that has been undertaken by your Regulation Review Working Group. But more needs to be done. Despite welcome steps forward, current users of legal services, whether at the consumer or business end of the market, may not always be served by the existing model of regulation. We know that it can be over complex and can prevent growth and innovation.

So what we needed was a root and branch examination of the system as a whole, to establish what works well and what needs to be changed.

That’s why I’ve asked David Clementi to undertake this challenging task. David will report by the end of 2004. Ahead of that, he will issue a major consultation document early in the New Year. I want to see the Law Society supporting and contributing to this review. There can be no sacred cows in seeking to deliver the high standards of services that customers want.

But we must not let the welcome fact of the work of the Clementi Review put a stop to all progress in the meantime. We need to work together to examine areas where change for the consumer’s benefit can be delivered in the short and medium term. Multi-disciplinary partnerships, the role of employed solicitors, the probate market – these are just some of the areas we should look at quickly and imaginatively to see how we can respond rapidly to consumers’ needs whilst, of course, ensuring that their interests are properly protected.

Turning to legal aid, I attach particular importance to the legal aid work carried out by dedicated and conscientious lawyers and advice workers. I know their work is not always appreciated. But it is of central importance to our ambition to be a society that protects the rights of the most vulnerable. I intend to ensure that we continue to support the vital public service they provide in tackling social exclusion and in protecting the fundamental rights of some of the most vulnerable members of society.

I doubt that any one would deny, however, that there are problems with the legal aid system. We are all working to find suitable solutions. I know you in the Law Society have been working hard on a strategy for legal aid, and I very much welcome your contribution to the debate in this vital area.

But the task of dealing with the problems with legal aid is made all the more difficult by the fact that there is unlikely to be any increase in funding. Our budget this year is some £2 billion. That’s a big bill by any standards – £500 million more than in 1997/98 when the Government came to power.

The Government has a responsibility to ensure that we are getting the best possible value for money from the legal aid system. We must therefore seek to minimise our transaction costs and reduce bureaucracy on the Government side. In order to develop more robust controls, we need a far better understanding of why the cost per case has increased in some areas. We need look at the legal processes which drive legal aid costs, as well as rigorously cost all policy change so that we can estimate and fund consequential legal aid costs.

We are also consulting on proposed changes to the Criminal Defence Service. The aim of the changes are to better target resources and to get real value for money by removing from the scheme less serious matters. No final decisions have been made on which proposals to implement, although I have been considering responses received during the consultation period before making final decisions on what changes to make.

Finally, customer care. Once lessons have been learned we need to share that new knowledge with others – particularly with customers. I very much applaud the Clients Charter that was introduced earlier this year. But I want you to do yet more: more to ensure that the customer can make positive choices based on good information. A simple example of this is that yet again, ‘delay’ and ‘lack of response’ were the main causes of complaint referred to the Law Society last year. How many of those issues would have been resolved if the customer had been better informed?

I believe that the Society has the potential to bring about significant changes and improvements to practices and policies by working closely with others. It has also demonstrated an ability to adapt to new environments and meet new challenges. The appointment of a Legal Services Complaints Commissioner will provide the Society with a further opportunity to showcase these skills in a prominent and meaningful way. The role of the LSCC will bring a new perspective to how complaints have previously been examined – a perspective I believe which will benefit both the organisation and the complainant. I look forward, with the Society, to a time when the legal profession is heralded as a model of excellence in customer care.

There are, of course, other issues, such as the Community Legal Service, for instance. I believe that the CLS is a success. I think it has an important role to play in ensuring the responsive and flexible delivery of legal services. Partnership coverage across the country is now extremely close to 100% and continues to progress far ahead of the government’s own targets. The take-up of the Quality Marking scheme has been exceptional.

But the CLS cannot stand still. We are continuing to move forward in a number of ways. If the Community Legal Service is to reach its full potential we realise that we need to continue to work hard to place legal and advice services at the heart of the government’s social inclusion strategies. We are also working with frontline staff: for example, to provide guidance on the CLS for Job Centre Plus staff. And an independent Review of the Community Legal Service is already underway which will provide a road map for the CLS for the next few years.

I know all of this, coming as it does within a wider programme of reform of the justice system, is a big agenda, both for you, as a Council, and for the solicitors you represent. And for us as a Government.

But I know as well that you will want to work to achieve it. Because I know that you want to represent solicitors as well as you can. Because you want to make the legal system in which they operate work as well as it can. Certainly, for those working in it. Of course their work must be properly recognised and properly rewarded. I know there are important financial and other issues to be addressed. But most importantly of all, for those whom the system, and all those working within it, including me and including you, are there to serve: the client, the customer, the public.

I know that is a shared goal. A shared objective. And I’m confident that you know and believe that the best way of reaching that goal is by working together. That’s always hard. It always needs patience, and co-operation. And sometimes, especially at times of real change, there will be difficulties along the way.

These are real challenges. Difficult challenges. But I believe that by working together, we can overcome those difficulties. We can resolve what problems we have. Because we want to meet the challenges which are there for us all: the challenge to improve choice, the challenge to achieve excellence, the challenge to promote innovation and the challenge to secure equality.

Below is the text of the speech made by Lord Falconer on 11th September 2001.

Thank you all very much for coming today to the launch of Better Places to Live: By Design.

We all know the huge cost of bad design. Bad design can facilitate high crime. It can repel people rather than attract them.

Too many housing estates are designed for nowhere but are found everywhere. They fail to sustain local services, they waste land and they promote dependency on the car. They easily end up being soulless and dispiriting.

Bad design creates barriers to building communities. It is socially destructive – and can be hugely costly as councils and social and private landlords struggle to maintain living communities against the odds.

It contributes to poor services and undermines social regeneration.

And it’s not just in cities – and not just in the rented sector. Across the country identikit estates, often sold as executive homes, have mushroomed. They make no architectural reference to their region.

So launching Better Places to Live is not simply some dry abstraction. It is about creating high quality living environments through good design. Places where people will want to live – and thrive.

It is the result of close partnership between my Department and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. So I’m delighted that Sir Stuart Lipton is here to help launch the guide and, of course, extremely grateful to CABE for their commitment and help with this document and agenda.

I am also pleased to welcome Geoff Ball, President of the House Builders Federation and Sir Terry Farrell, an architect and urban designer well known to you all. Geoff and Terry share this platform because we are also launching today Building for Life. This is an industry initiative with CABE and the Civic Trust to drive up the standards of design in new housebuilding. It is the perfect complement to Better Places to Live.

We are not setting ourselves up as style gurus. But we are challenging all those involved in the planning and development of new homes to think more imaginatively about design and layout.

Housing accounts for the vast majority of new development in this country. New housing changes places. That it is why it is so vital for places to be designed around the needs of people and not the other way round.

Yesterday I was in Plaistow to launch the New Deal for Communities annual review. This is a £2 billion programme already delivering real benefits to neighbourhoods.

The involvement of communities, local political leaders and businesses have proved crucial to the success of New Deal areas. They have proved what can be achieved by partnership – and good design.

Many of the crime cutting measures they have taken are simple. For example, putting gates across alleyways in Manchester and Salford has stopped criminals getting access to the backs of houses.

On the Hulme estate, simply fitting corner windows onto flats and houses has allowed people to see and be seen.

Good design is the key. This is a shared commitment by all of us on the platform today. Government, industry and our partners are clearly committed to deliver better design. This strikes me as a powerful combination.

The guide is intended to support the new approach to planning for housing we set out in PPG3.

Most of you will know that PPG3 is a fundamental change It has a brownfields first policy. At its heart is the challenge to create well-designed places for people to live.

Through it we want to deliver:

– more efficient use of land through higher densities;

– community safety by designing out crime;

– a better mix of housing types and sizes to promote social inclusion and affordable housing; and

– better access to local facilities and public transport.

In the past too much housing development has fallen short of what we should expect.

Better Places to Live shows this does not have to be so. In drawing up the guide we have looked at a number of contemporary developments and at places that have stood the test of time. Some will be familiar to you. Others less so. Look around the walls and you’ll see examples and photos of places.

We wanted to draw out the transferable lessons and explain how they can help create better residential environments. We are not saying the case studies are a template to follow in all aspects. But what they have in common is how good design can enhance the quality of life.

The challenge we face is delivering a fundamental change in the quality of the places we build. It is not meant to be a substitute for skilled designers. But we will achieve nothing without a shared ambition for quality. Above all, we need investment in design and people with the right skills working in the industry.

The prize is better communities. The penalty? The chronic social problems that leads to riots, disaffection, low voter turnout and a low quality of life. What you do today will have an affect on the way people live tomorrow.

I would now like to hand over to Sir Terry who will lead the initiative to say a words about it.

Below is the text of the speech made by Lord Falconer to the British Retail Consortium on 27th November 2001.

Thank you for that kind introduction.

The retail industry is vital to the national economy. This morning I was in Eccles to open the new town centre and new transport interchange. The interchange helps link people to the centre. The importance of retail to the region is obvious. It’s a key sector, a major employer and an indicator of public confidence.

We in government appreciate your role.

We need your investment and innovation to help regenerate our towns, cities and local centres.

We need your help to deliver the urban renaissance.

And we need your help in tackling social exclusion by bringing shopping choice to communities.

We want to encourage the right development in the right place. We want you to develop and expand stores in town centres.

Investing in town centres and neighbourhood centres, providing good jobs for local people and creating confidence in the future – these are good for business and good for communities.

Changing the Planning System

As retailers you know how you are doing – your customers tell you.

You are our customers as far as the planning system goes. And you’re telling us that it’s not going well at present. That’s in terms of the process rather than the policy.

What do you want? As Terry Leahy put it at the CBI Planning Conference – certainty, consistency and transparency. But you’re not getting it.

Take development plans – they should deliver certainty. Since 1991 applications are supposed to be decided in line with the plan, unless there are good reasons not to. And all local authorities should have up-to-date plans.

Ten years on more than 10% of authorities still have no plan at all and nearly 40% of plans are out of date. Without up-to-date plans you have to rely on Government guidance.

In the retail field you have PPG6. It says plans should lead – providing positive guidance to retailers where to invest, allocating and helping assemble sites.

But today’s plans are often reactive – simply reasons for saying “no”.

The big uncertainty is not just what the decision will be, but how long the decision will take.

Complicated applications like major town centre shopping schemes take longer. Nobody’s suggesting the same time-scale for all applications.

But planning authorities need to ensure that larger, more complicated applications get sufficient resources. Some authorities lack resources and skills. This leads to delay. And delay costs money.

Another source of delay and uncertainty is planning obligations. The amount to be paid by developers and how it is resolved lacks clarity and certainty. And negotiations take too long.

Solutions

So what’s the solution?

You need greater certainty and a better service. You need to know the vision and strategy for town centres – developed with help from business and the community.

And you need to know where development will be encouraged.

We see town centres as places where the action will be.

We must change the culture of planning – we want positive planning – planning for development.

We want a system that is predictable.

And it has to be accessible. Both business and the community must be actively involved.

Plans

We will address the problem of complicated, out-of-date and contradictory plans.

We need a local planning framework that can be put in place quickly and kept up to date. We need to focus more on places that are changing. Like town centres.

We also need to simplify planning guidance, to focus on those things that are of national and regional significance.

We know PPG6 could be improved. We are reviewing its effectiveness in promoting retail investment in city, town, district and local centres. We are not proposing to change the policy, but to express it more clearly. Because clarity and certainty are vital in the planning field.

To give you greater certainty, we need clear, unambiguous policy guidance and to apply it firmly and consistently.

For planning applications, a more focused, user-friendly approach is required.

We will stress the importance of clear procedures, agreed timetables and time limits, so that you know when you will get your decision.

We must promote the importance of good, timely and predictable decisions as vital to the well-being of the community.

Both the Planning Inspectorate, who handle planning appeals, and we in Central Government need to improve our act. The call-in and appeals process creates uncertainty. It needs to be more transparent, more efficient and quicker.

We are also concerned about planning obligations. We know these can hold up development significantly in many cases. We need to streamline the procedure, providing certainty, while ensuring that the community shares in the benefits of development.

Compulsory Purchase

Having positive planning policies and timely decisions is vital. But local authorities can do more to make things happen. Land assembly, through compulsory purchase powers, has an important part to play in town centre renewal, bringing forward brownfield sites and regeneration.

We all know the process is archaic and complex, it takes too long, with too much uncertainty for acquiring authorities, for developers and for those whose land is taken. We are going to take action to put those problems right.

We will soon publish a consultation document setting out proposals for changes to the CPO system. The aim is to ensure that local authorities have adequate powers, to simplify and speed up the procedures, but equally to ensure that those affected and those whose land is taken are properly compensated.

One of the conclusions of our review was that many local authorities have lost the expertise to deal successfully with compulsory purchase orders.

We therefore commissioned a comprehensive manual to guide authorities through the procedures, with examples of good practice.

Therefore, over the next few weeks you are going to see:

– a Green Paper on reforming the planning system;

– a consultation document on new Parliamentary procedures for major infrastructure projects;

– a consultation document about compulsory purchase and compensation;

– new proposals for planning obligations; and

– a consultation paper on use classes.

This is a comprehensive, wholesale, radical look at planning. It will set out how we propose to deliver a fundamentally reformed planning system.

The time is right. Everyone agrees from central government to business to the community that action needs to be taken. We must deliver change.

Town Centre Regeneration

One of the key themes of PPG6 is town centre regeneration – developing a shared vision and strategy, taking a positive approach to planning, working in partnership and committing to the long term.

These are the lessons of our Beacon Council Town Centre Regeneration theme for 2001. Retailers need to be fully engaged in the future of the town centres in which they trade. Where there are genuine partnerships this will be achieved.

Based on the experience of the successful Beacon Councils we will disseminate good practice. Learning from the best will help town and city centres maintain their competitive edge.

We will also work with others to develop good practice. We are co-funding a National Retail Planning Forum good practice guide to improve pedestrian access from arrival points to key attractions in town centres.

Social Inclusion

Developing successful retail businesses in deprived areas is particularly challenging. It is difficult to attract new investment to these areas.

Local communities want a say in their own future. They want a part in developing local retail strategies. This will often mean revitalising local and district centres and attracting investment.

They need to find formats that meet the needs of their communities, not off-the-shelf, “big-bang” solutions. It requires a degree of sensitivity and means working with the community.

Town Centre Management and BIDs

Finally, could I turn to town centre management and ways of funding it.

Town centre management has come of age – over 300 town centres are now managed. But we have not yet delivered a sustainable system of funding.

We all recognise the need for new partnerships to develop and deliver a town centre strategy. But are we all committed to their continuing management?

In a managed shopping centre shops pay rates and service charges to ensure a well-managed operating environment. Why should town centres be different?

That is what Business Improvement Districts are all about. As you know, the Prime Minister has said that we propose to promote BIDs. With your help we will work up the proposal. We want consensus on the best way forward.

But we don’t need to wait for legislation. We want to work with business and property owners to devise equitable methods of funding town centres.

For our part, we will look at what we are putting into town centres and see how that funding can be used more effectively. That is why we have commissioned a cross-cutting review of the public realm.

Conclusion

Let me finish by encouraging you to keep investing in town centres. It is a barometer of your confidence in them as places to trade.

Last year, for the first time since the mid 1980s, more retail floorspace was completed in town centre schemes than in out-of-town shopping centres and retail warehouse parks.

We look to you as partners in a retail-led renaissance. We look to you to help:

– revitalise our town centres; and

– strengthen our local centres as part of our efforts in neighbourhood renewal.

We are pledged to make the system work better for you. To give you certainty and consistency through the planning system.

Ultimately success lies in local partnerships – between business, the local authority and the local community. Let me encourage you to become active partners working to deliver the local vision. Working for a retail-led renaissance.

Below is the text of the speech made by Lord Falconer to the CBI Conference in Birmingham on 6th November 2001.

Decisions on the use of land vitally affect business.

If the system is one which commands the confidence of the people who apply to develop, and the community whose land is affected then that system is capable of bold and sensible decisions for the future.

We do not have such a system in this country. And it costs us dear – in economic prosperity, in the quality of our development, and in cost to business.

Business is not confident that sensible long-term planning on its part will be reflected by clear, predictable, and timely decisions by the planning system.

They are not confident that the planning system is capable of making sensible timely decisions for improving the infra-structure of this country.

And they are right. Our planning system lacks the widespread support that would allow it to take good decisions both to develop, and not to develop.

What are the problems?

First, it is much too complicated, and uncertain.

Currently we have a plan-led system. Where the proposed development accords with the plan, normally development should be allowed. That’s the principle of the system. Unless there are material considerations to prevent the grant of planning permission.

Sounds simple. But it’s a quagmire.

Despite the fact that the requirement for plans was introduced in 1992, over 40 local authorities haven’t yet produced any plan. The process for producing local plans involves complicated, lawyer-driven enquiries. These enquiries often take years.

Community, and business alike feel excluded by the process. Only the professional developer, and the pressure group will have the stamina to last the course. Even they resent the cumbersome nature of the process.

Moreover, once produced the plan is very difficult to change.

Because production takes so long, plans at the moment of the production are very frequently already inconsistent with regional plans, or county structure plans or national planning guidance. National planning guidance now runs to more than 800 pages. All of these matters will be material considerations.

The business, whose investment involves land use decisions, has no easy way of telling if its proposal is going to be allowed. It may be in line with the local plan but not with national guidance. The business will ask what changes should be made to give the application a better chance of success. Sometimes there will be a clear answer. But all too often the local plan is so outdated that neither the local authority nor the planning advisers will know what the answer is.

Linked with this first point of complication and uncertainty, is the length of time decisions take, and the uncertainty about how long it will take to get a decision.

There is a widespread recognition that complicated applications with widespread economic and social consequences will take longer to decide than simpler more limited proposals.

Nobody is arguing for a rigid time-scale for all applications.

The demand is that first, the system decides applications within a reasonable time, having regard to the nature of the application. And second, that what that reasonable time is, should be predictable. Delays in planning decisions will frequently have an effect on the viability of a proposal. Uncertainty about both result and time deters a sensible business from basing plans around an issue whose result cannot be predicted.

The system is not remotely user-friendly. The local planning authorities have to deal with a great burden of decision making, not just the business applications – around 150,000 in a year. But the domestic ones as well – over 300,000 in a year.

In many places, this makes the local planning department unable to devote the time and the understanding which many more complicated applications require.

Whilst there are shining examples of good practice – the city we are in was able to process bold plans for its city centre with great speed and understanding recently – there are all too many places where applicants despair of making their plans understood, and watch, bewildered, as their applications get lost in the incomprehensible meeting cycle of the local planning committee.

The frustrations which applicants feel are shared by those who wish to object.

Neither side knows what the timescale is, what the important milestones are, and how and when the decision will be made.

The system does not connect with other aims the government or the regional or local community have. What, people ask, is the point of an economic strategy for the region which is not capable of implementation because there is no way of knowing when, and how the planning system will react to applications made to it which are consistent with that strategy.

The system by which planning obligations to be paid by developers are resolved lacks clarity, and certainty. Frequently, all issues save planning obligation, will have been resolved. Then there will be long delays whilst a lengthy negotiation proceeds to resolve these issues. Sometimes the LA will ask for so much the development is lost. On other occasions they will ask for too little and the community will lose. Certainty and agreements which promote sustainable development without reducing the flow of developments should be the goal.

Finally, the system is poor at making decisions about major infrastructure projects.

We have the busiest airport in Europe at Heathrow. It makes a huge contribution to the country’s GDP. The BAA made a planning application to expand its terminal capacity there eight years ago, and there is still no decision. Whether it is granted or not it shouldn’t have taken so long.

The consequences of failing to remedy the defects in the system will be felt at every level. For small and medium size businesses, the current system discourages sensible planning applications to facilitate expansion and change.

For bigger businesses, in particular those with a choice of country in which to operate, the vagaries of the system make other countries where planning is predictable and timely, more attractive to do business.

For repeat users of the system – housebuilders, retailer, commercial developers – the system incurs unecessary costs on process rather than on core business.

For all business, delays in the development of the national infrastructure decrease international competitiveness and reduce the ease of trading domestically.

Make no mistake, we are aware both of the nature of the problem, and the consequences of the problem not being solved.

As everybody understands, the solution does not lie in anything remotely like a free for all in the planning system.

The system must address, and deal effectively with the legitimate complaints of complication, uncertainty, delay, and lack of user-friendliness. It must have the confidence of the community that it is coming to the right results. And it must be able, confidently, to make decisions about the vital major infrastructure problems on which the trading future of this country depends.

We are not going to mend the present system and make it work without wholesale change.

We must keep the best and provide continuity but improve.

But the time is right. There is a widespread desire for change in the system. People recognise the system does not work. They also see that tinkering will not deliver results.

My vision of a good planning system is one that is predictable. It allows both business and the community to be fairly certain that if there is a development in accordance with national and local policies, it will get consent.

It has to be accessible. The community must have understood, and been involved in the process of drawing up the local plan. Planning has to understand how business works. Planning is a public service and it has to deliver in a customer focused way.

It has to be robust. A planning system that rolls over every time it faces pressure from an aggressive developer or a community group with a powerful lobby is no use to anyone.

Plans

We need to address the problem of complication, out-of-datedness, and contradiction in the existing network of plans, policy guidances, and frameworks. We need a structure that is mutually reinforcing and not, as at present, potentially contradictory.

We need a local planning framework that can be put in place quickly and kept up to date.

But we also need to simplify and clarify the contents of national and regional planning guidance. They must focus only on those things that are, truly, of national and regional significance.

Planning applications

At each of the three levels at which planning applications can be heard a more focused, user-friendly approach is required. All three levels take a long time. All are uncertain, both in timing and result. All of them need an overhaul.

At local authority level, a greater focus on the users of the system is required. An understanding of the importance of time-limits. A realisation of the need for certainty. A reduction in the number of decisions which have to be taken. An ability to prioritise. Clarity of procedure, so that the timing of decisions is understood, and they only take such time as is necessary and reasonable for the particular applications.

Of all the levels this is probably the most important. Making the system work at LA level is absolutely vital to delivering the system we all want. The steps we envisage taking must promote, and, over time, be accompanied by a change culture in planning depts. A culture where the importance of good planning is recognised. But also a culture where the importance of good, timely and predictable decisions is recognised as vital to the well-being of the community.

The Planning Inspectorate has already introduced a number of significant reforms to improve the appeal and enquiry process. But we need to do more. The process needs to be faster, and more accessible.

At central government level, the system is obscure, slow and inconsistent. The call-in, and recovered appeals process represents a significant uncertainty both as to result, and as to how long the process will take. The process, within central govt, needs to become more transparent, more managerially efficient and quicker.

Major infrastructure

Up to now, we have seen projects of vital importance to our national economy planned on an ad hoc basis and bogged down in the system.

Governments have not been as clear as they should have been about the priorities for infrastructure investment.

We don’t, for example, have a clear statement at the moment about the need to plan for increasing airport capacity in England over the next few decades.

Stephen Byers announced that we would tackle the planning issues on three fronts. He said that we would be introducing clear statements of national policy on infrastructure – and the first is likely to be one on airports.

Secondly, he said that we could speed up inquiry procedures.

And thirdly he said that we would be consulting on new Parliamentary procedures for agreeing major infrastructure projects. That consultation document will be out shortly as part of our package of planning reforms.

Planning obligations

We shall be consulting on planning obligations. We know that these can hold up development significantly in some cases. We need to consider streamlined procedures while ensuring that the community shares in the benefits of development.

There is not much disagreement on the platform, including from Fiona, on the problems. That consensus is important because it will facilitate the changes that are required. Over the next few weeks you are going to see:

– a Green Paper on reforming the planning system

– a consultation document on new Parliamentary procedures for major infrastructure projects

– a consultation document about compulsory purchase and compensation

– new proposals for agreeing planning obligations

– consultation on use classes.

This amounts to a pretty comprehensive look at planning. It will set out the detailed “how” of delivering a fundamentally reformed planning system. It will be informed by the principles I have discussed today.

It will deal with the problems that we have jointly identified.

There is much detail to discuss. There is much debate to be had. But on the need for wholesale reform, there appears no doubt.

We must restore peoples’ confidence in the planning system, so it can robustly defend that which we cherish, and effectively promote the changes we need.

Below is the text of the speech made by Lord Falconer to the Local Government Association on 22nd January 2002.

Thank you for that kind introduction.

I welcome today’s opportunity to explain how the Planning Green Paper represents a genuine opportunity for local government.

We are keen to engage in dialogue with you on the Planning Green Paper.

I believe that the proposals in the Planning Green Paper will empower you to deliver a more effective and efficient planning system.

These two themes – empowerment and delivery – are crucial to achieving a planning system that is faster and fairer and more effective.

They are crucial to creating a planning system with community interests at its heart, but with barriers to economic development removed.

In order to achieve this kind of fundamental change, we need to empower local authorities to bring clarity, certainty, and a sense of strategic direction to planning.

The first way to do this is to simplify the planning system.

At the moment, and you will all know this better than I, there are too many plans. The hierarchy of plans is complex, often overlapping and often contradictory.

Structure plans, local plans and unitary development plans are too often incomplete or unresponsive to local needs and aspirations.

That is why structure plans, local plans and unitary development plans will be replaced by the single, new local development framework.

I know that a number of you in the Counties have expressed concerns about our proposals to abolish Structure Plans.

Let me make clear that there is no hidden agenda to abolish counties.

My concern is simply and solely with the inherent inefficiencies and barriers created by an over-bureaucratic system. There are simply too many tiers of planning and one has to go.

Increasingly Structure Plans fail to add value. Strategic issues are best settled at the regional level.

More detailed planning, on the other hand, is best undertaken at a local level where the local community can most effectively be involved.

We therefore propose that in County areas there should be the same, more straightforward, two tier system of regional and district planning as already exists for the 40% of the population that lives in unitary areas.

The Green Paper envisages that county planners will still retain minerals and waste responsibilities.

And there may be a role for them in continuing to support regional and, where appropriate, sub-regional planning as well as local development planning.

I have specifically asked in the Green Paper about what the county role should be and I invite your comments on this.

In addition to tackling the number of layers, we also need to simplify the relationship between the three levels of the system – national, regional and local.

The local development framework will be updated regularly to ensure it fits in with regional and national policy, which turn needs to be clearer, more focussed, and more accessible.

We are starting on the process of recasting guidance and will introduce a series of planning policy statements that will gradually replace the current PPGs.

Our intention is to be much more rigorous about separating out policy – things planning must deliver – from guidance about how to do it.

So, simplification and accessibility is the first principle.

The second way in which we can empower local authorities is to involve fully the people who use and are affected by planning decisions.

This includes both the business and local residential communities.

At the moment, the planning system disenfranchises rather than engages. Excludes rather than embraces.

The very people most affected by planning decisions often don’t understand how and why decisions are taken. Planning is seen as at best obscure and at worst a fundamental threat to quality of life.

What we are enduring is the bitter fruit of an adversarial system.

I want to create a new system whereby there can be real participation by the community – participation not consultation – especially in detailed planning for action areas.

There are already many example of planners taking community involvement seriously and engaging people in planning the future of their communities.

But there is tremendous scope for local authorities to use more modern and interesting ways to contact residents about planning issues, such as through the internet, or local radio, local TV – all means of reaching people and engaging them. Redcar and Cleveland, for example, has already used virtual reality to demonstrate choices for local development.

Under our new approach, local communities will be involved in the preparation of action plans for their neighbourhoods. They will help shape the vision, the objectives and the strategy.

With regard to development control, we will encourage pre-application discussions between developers and communities.

And we have proposed that, in the case of major developments, the effectiveness of community involvement could be a material consideration to be taken into account in determining a planning application.

Our vision is that local authorities will be empowered to provide a simpler system in which more people are able, and want, to get involved.

Simplicity and community involvement by necessity go together.

But this will mean little unless we focus on outcomes and the planning system delivers real improvements on the ground.

The first main issue of delivery is to create more sustainable communities.

We want our towns and cities to be attractive places in which people actively choose to live and work. We want to turn around the poverty which blights so many urban and rural areas. We want to safeguard our countryside and environment from inappropriate development and make the most efficient and appropriate use of land.

Planning must be a bridge to economic development not a barrier. The Green Paper puts these principles into practice.

For example, some types of business the need for planning consent will be completely removed. Our new business planning zones will allow high tech companies to bring forward high quality development, within defined parameters.

We have also published a consultation document on compulsory purchase which we hope will help remove a further barrier to regeneration.

The second aspect to delivery of outcomes is to ensure that planning connects with other local government functions.

In particular, local authorities must seize the opportunity of aligning their Community Strategies, regeneration or conservation strategies with their planning framework.

I very much hope that you will see planning as a valuable and powerful tool to making the aspirations set out in Community Strategies turn into action on the ground.

And the third aspect of delivery is to create a better quality of service to applicants.

The current target that 80 per cent of applications should be processed in eight weeks means that more complex – usually business – applications sometimes find themselves at the bottom of the pile as councils strain to meet the 80 per cent target.

It cannot be right, for example, that plans for the multi-million pound transformation of a city centre should take their place in a queue behind applications for domestic conservatories and dormer windows.

Our new targets – for example, sixty per cent of all major commercial applications in 13 weeks – seem longer. In fact, we believe they will speed up the system and will reinforce a sense of strategic direction in development control.

And lastly, delivery cannot pause for a break. We need to continue the momentum of change in order to deliver the improvements which are urgently needed.

Some of you may by now have seen an open letter that I sent to Cllr Keith House.

In that I have made the point that it is not acceptable for local authorities to down tools as far as updating current plans is concerned and to wait for the new regime to be introduced.

We have – obviously – to maintain a working planning system and seek to improve its delivery while we seek the legislative opportunity to change the system.

But I think we can take a constructive approach that takes full advantage of an interim position.

For example, there is no current provision that prevents an area based approach to the updating and review of plans.

There is already scope for supplementary planning guidance to be produced for action areas or areas of conservation.

There is already scope for counties to plan jointly with other authorities if they feel that cross-boundary working on sub-regional issues would be useful.

The Planning Green Paper outlines how we can move ahead to a fairer, faster and more transparent planning system, but local government can seize the opportunity to embrace change now.

The consultation period on this green paper ends in March so it’s vital you have your say before then.

In the meantime, I look forward to local government playing a key role in a reinvigorated planning system.

Good planning can make a major difference to the success of our economy, our communities and our environment. This country needs a faster, fairer and more foreseeable planning system and with your help we intend to deliver.