South East Forum For Sustainability

CURRENT SITUATION

 South East England Partnership Board (SEEPB)

• Has now been dissolved; all remaining staff were made redundant on July 31st.
• The work on the Regional Strategy has been discontinued; supporting evidence will be archived by GOSE and made available (probably through SEEC) to local authorities.
• SEEPB functions are being transferred where appropriate (e.g. secretariat for the Thames Basin Heaths Joint Strategic Partnership now resides with Surrey Heath District Council).

 South East England Councils (SEEC)

• South East England Councils (SEEC) was established in April 2009 to represent the views of local authorities in the South East. SEEC represents over 95 per cent of the 74 councils across the South East and is chaired by Cllr Paul Carter (Conservative, Leader of Kent County Council). Cllr Louise Bloom (Liberal Democrat, Eastleigh Borough Council) is Vice-chair. SEEC has a wide remit, which includes providing effective representation of local authority interests on regional, national and international bodies; scrutiny of the activities of regional bodies; and a forum for the consideration and determination of regional issues, including strategic policies and investment priorities.
• SEEC has one member of staff to support their activities and meets regularly once a month. The next meeting is on the 10^th September.
• Details about SEEC activities can be found at: www.secouncils.gov.uk

 South East Strategic Leaders (SESL) & South East Strategic Chief Executives (SESCE)

• SESL has evolved from the ‘South East County Leaders’ group, formed in 2006 to promote county interests during the SE Plan EiP. SESL comprises local authority Leaders; SESCE is a parallel group of Chief Executives. These two groups cover an extended area (the old SERPlan area) and membership (county, district and unitary authorities)
• SESL aims to deliver an ambitious programme of joint policy development and lobbying at all levels – national, regional and local. Specific aims are to:
  • influence national and regional policy
  • establish networks and key contacts at the regional and national level
  • offer support and an innovative policy forum for joint working across the South East
  • raise the profile of the South East Strategic Leaders and their work
  • The group works by issuing news releases and producing common ‘South East’ positions on key policy initiatives of the coalition government (see http://www3.hants.gov.uk/sesl.htm). In effect, this is the closest thing there is to an active regional body. Hampshire CC provides support services (including an area on their website); Surrey CC Leader and CEO were elected in July as chairs of SESL and SESCE, respectively.

 South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

• Closure of all the RDAs has been announced
• Local authorities have until September to submit proposals for replacement ‘Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)’ So far it looks as though each county wants to set up their own LEP.
• The Public Bodies Bill which will provide the legislative basis for abolishing RDAs and any other public body will be introduced in the autumn, but Royal Assent is not expected until summer 2011 at the earliest. Government has not yet decided the closure time line for RDAs although it has set up a backstop date of 31st March 2012.
• SEEDA has a programme budget cut of £28.2 million for 2010-11
• SEEDA still has a programme budget of £79m to spend this financial year and is working with partners and stakeholders to achieve the most for the region’s economy from this .An outline of the budget priorities (and cut backs can be seen in a letter from Pam Alexander on the SEFS website):

 Government Office of the South East (GOSE)

• Eric Pickles announced in July the Government’s intention in principle to abolish the remaining eight Government Offices of the Regions across England, although final decisions will be made at the end of the Spending Review in the autumn
• The GOSE websites has been merged with a Government Office Network website (http://www.gos.gov.uk/).

 The Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review

• Will be announced on 20th October 2010.
• A public consultation (for public sector workers and the public generally) was launched on 24th June 2010 asking for views on where cuts should be made.

Regional Government Departments & Agencies

• Most government departments will be expected to cut budgets by an average of 25% over the next 3 years
• Defra and the Defra family (Natural England, Forestry Commission and the Environment Agency) will be affected. The Environment Agency is undergoing a major structural review and is expected to merge its Southern Region and Thames Region, but there will are more/bigger changes anticipated for EA. Natural England has merged its South East and London regional offices. This is likely to be a temporary/transitional measure since it appears that NE will be ‘de-regionalised’ (in part responding to the switch from regionalism to localism, in part in response to the expected 30-40% budget cut). Forestry Commission is planning for at least 30% cuts and will not have any money for programme work or partnerships.
• There are suggestions that CABE & English Heritage might be merged.

South East Regional Rural Board, Rural Forum for the South East & Sustainable Food and Farming Board

• The SE Rural Board will not meet again and is to amalgamate with the Rural Forum assuming the RF agrees.
• Rural Forum has finance up until the end of March 2011 (Defra has paid GOSE the £20K towards the operation of the Forum for this financial year) and so does the Sustainable Food and Farming Board. However their futures are under review by ministers. The Rural Board is closing immediately because of the demise of SEEDA who run its secretariat.
• The Government has announced that they agree with the principle and themes within the Food 2030 document and are currently working on a suitable implementation plan, and considering how the regional boards could help with its delivery. This is now being referred to as the Food Strategy.
  • The Rural Forum next meets on 15th September 2010 and the next meeting with the new minister is scheduled for 21st September 2010

South East Rural Community Councils (SERCC)

• SERCC have appointed an Interim Chief Executive, Neil Casey
• With the existing political uncertainty about regional structures and delivery, the SERCC Board are using the opportunity of an interim executive appointment to undertake a review of the organisation over the next three months.
• During this review SERCC will continue to deliver all its projects.
• Council for Rural Communities has been disbanded

South East Region Technical Advisory Body for Waste (SERTAB)

SERTAB meetings are planned for the autumn with a workshop due to take place on the 4th October to consider the “SERTAB__Role_and_Action_Plan”. It has also been proposed that a SERTAB response is collated and sent to DEFRA on its “Path to Zero Waste economy” consultation. Hampshire County Council is currently supplying secretariat for SERTAB.

Sustainable Development

• DEFRA is withdrawing funding from the Sustainable Development Commission at the end of the current financial year.
• DEFRA SD Unit will take SD forward, assuming it survives DEFRA cuts.
• The government is due to radically reform the planning system on the basis of the Open Source Planning green paper. The aim is to “decentralise and streamline the planning system and allow it to focus on promoting sustainable development that local communities want.”
• The Planning System changes are (according to the DCLG Structural Reform Plan) due to take place over the next year and be in place by April 2012
• Planning Policy Statements – According to the Open Source Planning green paper the need for existing Policy Statements (and PPGs)  “will be evaluated and those required will be re-ordered and aligned in order to reflect the national priorities, as determined by Parliament. The result will be a series of short and focused guidance notes describing how specific aspects of the planning system will operate to deliver the government’s agenda and setting out minimum environmental, architectural, economic and social standards for sustainable development. These will support the overarching National Policy Framework
• All revisions of PPSs has been halted; the PPS on Regional Spatial Strategies has been withdrawn.

Other Regional Environmental Fora

• East Midlands Environment Link  is organising a meeting of all regions to discuss:
  •  What is the function of future regional environment links and how do we fit with the new architecture?
  • What will be the future of strategic planning?
  •  How, in this new structure, can we help maintain gains around sustainable development?
  • How do we respond to Big Society thinking and maintain strategic perspectives?
  • North West Environment Link – Is hoping run an event in the North West on the challenges and opportunities to the environmental VCS of the big society concept, and also to have at least introduced themselves to the new LEPs to see if they can develop some kind of working relationships with them.

NEED FOR REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK IN SOUTH EASTERN ENGLAND

The view amongst SEFS P&EC members (and some external organisations to SEFS) is that even with the demise of regional level planning policy as we know it, there is still a need for a strong, SE (or wider) network of environmental organisations to ensure:

1)     Information sharing

2)     Support and overview policy input to help those working at sub regional/local level

3)     Liaison with remaining regional bodies (SE England Councils, SE Strategic Leaders and SE Strategic Chief Executives).

A for a little bit of irreverence  on the demise of 10 years hard work watch Lords of the Plans on You Tube.

SEFS was delighted to use the National Trust Offices at Queen Anne’s Gate in London for its 2010 General Meeting. Members engaged in the discussion on current state of regional activities and the future of regional level work. There were also interesting presentations from Rob Jarman of the National Trust on their Carbon Reduction programme, Rachel Stancliffe of Campaign for Greener Healthcare on NHS Forest (NHS Forest Presentation- short) and Bettina Lange from Campaign for Better Transport on the goverment’s programme – Delivering a Sustainable Transport System.

The minutes can be found here

Eric Pickles today announced that Regional Spatial Strategies will be revoked with immediate effect. Councils will now be responsible for deciding whether or not to keep their existing housing targets or develop new plans. Local Developement Frameworks and Planning Documents will continue as is though there may be a need to revise or review them to remove references to Regional Policy.

CPRE amongst others has voiced it’s concern over the cutting of RSS and the void this leaves in the cross boarder planning for things like transport, waste, minerals, green infrastructure.

Click here for the full RSS revocation letter and guidance covering, issues related to LDFs, transport, housing, waste and minerals planning.

SEFS is delighted to announce the publication of it’s new leaflet Small Choices Big Difference.

The leaflet aims to helps residents of the South East make small changes to their lifestyle which will not only save them money and help people lead healthier lifestyles but will also reduce the regions demand for the worlds resources.

Click here to download the Small Choices Big Difference flyer and visit the Make a Difference section of this website for more details on how to make these changes. This section will be updated in July so please check  back for more information.

Campaigners have been calling for the decision to grant planning permission to Lydd airport to be taken to public inquiry. GOSE is currently considering this request but won’t now make a announcement until the end of June.  So watch this space.

The new coalition has hit the ground running and proposed changes are already starting to happen here’s a summary of where we’re at in the South East (we will be discussing this further at our general meeting on 15th June)

Current Situation Relating to Regional Planning

1)     The Partnership Board is being wound up on 31^st July. The Planning Panel meeting scheduled for 7 June and Housing and Regeneration Board meeting scheduled for 9 June have been cancelled.

2) However, a meeting of the Transport Board on 11 June will still take place so local authorities can agree transport investment priorities ahead of a Government spending review in the autumn.

3) Details of whether a final Partnership Board meeting scheduled for 2 July will go ahead or not will be announced soon.

4)  All planning responsibilities will now be devolved to county, unitary and district councils, working within a national framework.

5) But on 16 June, South East England Councils will meet in London to discuss how local authorities will continue to address issues, such as the need for investment in infrastructure, that require cross border cooperation.

6)  SEEDA is in discussion with local authority leaders about the future.

7)  The Regional Stakeholders Conference planned for 2^nd July has been cancelled

8)  As announced in the Queens Speech under the Decentralisation and Localism Bill the Government will:

a) Abolish Regional Spatial Strategies.
b) Return decision-making powers on housing and planning to local councils.
c) Abolish the Infrastructure Planning Commission and replace it with an efficient and democratically accountable system that provides a fast-track process for major infrastructure projects.
d) Create Local Enterprise Partnerships to replace Regional Development Agencies, described as “joint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities to promote local economic development”

9)    The TCPA has published a document on the future of planning. This raise concerns about the abolition of RSS and what needs to be developed to improve/replace it.

10)  RTPI & POS are calling on the government to rethink its plans to abolish regional planning

11)   However,  Eric Pickles has written to councils advising them that the government intends to rapidly abolish RSS and that “Consequently decisions on housing supply (including the provision of travellers sites) will rest with Local Planning Authorities without the framework of regional numbers and plans. “

The Chilterns AONB has launch a new searchable service on it’s website to allow you to plan walks, bike and horse rides.

The website allows you to search walks/cycles or rides by postcode, it includes open access land and also things of interest to look out for e.g. red kites. So click here to explore.

As David Dimbleby said on numerous occasions during the election coverage last night “this is quite an extraordinary election”. Swings went this way and that, but with most of the seats now decided we have a clear picture of how things look for the South East.

There was a 2% swing from the Liberal Democrats, who lost 2 seats, to the Conservatives who gained 14 seats. The Labour party lost 13 seats and of course remarkably  and historically the region gained a Green seat when Brighton Pavilion elected its first Green MP Caroline Lucas.

So overall the region has 75 Conservative, 4 Liberal Democrat, 4 Labour and 1 Green MPs.

We will watch with interest as the hung parliament develops and what deals are brokered particularly in relation to Regional Planning.

Full coverage of the election including a detailed breakdown of the results can be found on the BBC website

Since the announcement of the general election the future of regional level planning has been up for debate. Even now the results are mainly in, the future is uncertain. The Conservatives have increased their hold on seats in the region but for the first time there is a Green MP. We don’t know how things will pan out in the scheme of a hung parliament but SEFS will be discussing the issues at the General Meeting on Tuesday 15^th June (details on the SEFS website). SEFS will be discussing the issues post the election at the General Meeting on Tuesday 15^th June (click for details). We do hope you will be able to join us then to engage in our debate. In the meantime this is what the different parties are saying about regional level planning in their manifestos:

Conservatives:

• Abolish regional tier including RSS and building targets.
• Councils/business to have the power to form partnerships instead of RDAs but allow them to have regional based enterprise partnerships if they want them.
• Any quangos that do not perform a technical function or a function that requires political impartiality, or act independently to establish facts, will be abolished.
• Hold referendums on whether to have directly-elected mayors in 12 of England’s largest cities outside London; allow local people to trigger referendums on “issues of local importance” by amassing petitions signed by 5% of local people over a six month period; use Cabinet Office budgets to fund the training of independent community organisers to help people establish and run neighbourhood groups.

Greens:

• Referenda on local govt decisions if called for by 20% of electorate.
• Revive local government, with the introduction of proportional representation and with grassroots democracy spreading through the use of smaller community and district councils. Such authorities should have enhanced powers, and in due course new tax-raising powers.

Labour:

• Enhance RDAs and Regional Ministers.
• Enhanced role for local government.
• Regional growth fund.
• Help for city regions to enable them to become powerhouses of growth and innovation with devolved power to shape transport and skills. With the possibility of directly elected mayors.

Liberal Democrats

• Reform Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) to focus solely on economic development, removing duplication with other parts of government and allowing substantial budget reductions. We will give responsibility for economic development to local authorities. Where existing RDAs have strong local support, they may continue with refocused economic development objectives. Where they do not, they will be scrapped and their functions taken over by local authorities.
• Scrap govt offices for the regions/Regional Ministers.
• Implement the Sustainable Communities Act Amendment Bill, which gives local communities the right to propose actions in their area to improve sustainability.
• Scrap nationally-set targets and performance indicators.
• Give councils control over housing and planning.