The Government has been accused of making a “power grab” for planning control in the Greater Cambridge area as plans to set up a development corporation take a step forward.
A consultation was launched earlier this week by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, to gather views on the plans to establish a Greater Cambridge development corporation.
The Government said a development corporation would help ‘unlock thousands more high quality homes and jobs’ in the city and across South Cambridgeshire.
Matthew Pennycook, Housing and Planning Minister, said: “This Government is determined to realise the full potential of Greater Cambridge to the benefit of its existing communities and the country as a whole.
“The centrally-led development corporation we are proposing would provide us with the necessary powers, authority and access to finance to unleash ambitious and high-quality sustainable growth in Cambridge and its environs in the years ahead.
“I encourage all those with an interest in the future of Greater Cambridge to respond to our consultation and share their expertise, insights and knowledge.”
The consultation is due to run for eight weeks until 11.59pm on April 1.
‘Sustainable, fairer city’
Daniel Zeichner MP for Cambridge (Labour), said he was “delighted” at the plans for the consultation, which he said would give people in the city the chance to have their say on the area’s future.
He said: “I am particularly pleased because it offers hope to a whole generation that there will be homes for them in future.
“And for those of us lucky enough to live in such a wonderful city, the chance to use this growth to create a transport system that the city has been crying out for over many decades.
“During the last election campaign I laid down the challenge that we should seek to make Cambridge the best small city in the world.
“That is a mighty ambition – others have talked of making us the most liveable city in Europe, and that, too, would be an outstanding achievement.
“We have a great opportunity to create a more sustainable, fairer city, and we should seize it.”
‘Power grab’
Councillor Tim Bick from Cambridge City Council branded the plans a “power grab” and urged people to use the consultation to “challenge Labour’s undying control mindset”.
He said: “We had two tests for the governments on this.
“One was: can their development corporation credibly tackle the issues that are beyond the control of the local authorities – co-ordination and funding of infrastructure such as for water and power and delivery of development itself?
“The other was: can it be part of a genuine partnership with local authorities, so local people feel a stake in the future through their elected representatives?
“There is possibly a good story on the first of these.”
He continued: “The proposal looks like it might be giving the devco [sic] the powers that are needed to address the well known constraints on high quality development that respects the environment that we have in this area. This is welcome to enable us to relieve local housing shortage and enable an economy that is inclusive to thrive.
“But on the second, the proposal looks like it’s just paying lip service to local accountability.
“Stripping out planning powers from the councils is an act of centralisation that is simply not justified by token representation on otherwise technocratic committees.
“It is completely at odds with recognition of the positive local record of shaping development.
“It will emasculate the recently created local planning service, which has just been distinguished as planning service of the year.
“It will leave our area with less democratic control of its future than any other part of the country.”
‘Control’
Councillor Heather Williams, from South Cambridgeshire District Council, said the plans also felt like an “absolute power grab from government to take control of planning in Greater Cambridge”.
She argued the proposals offered nothing to people in the area “other than grief and disruption”.
She said: “Let’s be clear, this is not about helping people that live here, this is the national Government wanting to rinse every penny they can get their hands on from the Cambridge cash cow.
“I suggest the Government get a grip of the country’s finances rather than coming to us to bail them out.
“If they want to help us here, then they can give us the infrastructure we need for our population as it is now – not under the agreement of 150,000 houses.
“The consultation shows the real threat that this corporation has to completely remove local voices and elected, accountable people from the planning process.
“Be of no mistake this parliamentary power grab will see local voices ignored and could make South Cambridgeshire into an unrestricted developers’ paradise.”
This story was supplied by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
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