The Greenest Government Ever? Planning and Sustainability in England after the May 2010 Elections

Abstract

This paper assesses how reforms being introduced in England by the May 2010 Coalition government may affect the capacity of the planning system to promote sustainability. Although moves towards decentralization may allow more innovative local responses to environmental challenges than seemed likely under New Labour, they raise dilemmas of coordination, capacity and accountability for wider, international environmental goals. In certain key respects, the implications of the Coalition's proposals for sustainability and planning echo those of preceding Labour governments. Neither allows planning a major role in more reflexive forms of governance, through which localized challenges to plans and projects can be connected to wider, overarching policy change. Both have sought to increase the emphasis on economic growth in their conception of sustainability.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Phil Allmendinger, Graham Haughton and the two anonymous referees for their thoughtful advice on earlier drafts of this paper.

Notes

Given the significant degree of devolution of planning powers within the British state, most of the reform proposals discussed here apply mainly to England. The Welsh Assembly does not have powers to enact primary legislation, thus some—but not all—aspects of the Localism Bill also apply in Wales (National Assembly for Wales, 2011).

Other freedoms and policy reforms will combine to enable local authorities to generate electricity themselves and sell it back to the grid.

Noting that the system of ‘biodiversity offsets’ is to support ecological enhancement of the wider landscape, not supplant strict protection of important wildlife areas.

A claim attributed to David Cameron, Prime Minister, 14 May 2010, speech to DECC civil servants. Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/14/cameron-wants-greenest-government-ever (accessed 6 December 2011).