Presidential visit to Parliament

A busy ten days for me started with the annual ROOM@RTPI lunch at the House of Lords. On the first Monday in March each year, Lord Edmonton (an ex trade unionist) books the House of Lords veranda marquee overlooking the River Thames for ROOM and has done so for the last 10 years. The event originated when ROOM was the National Housing and Town Planning Conference before the National Housing and Town Planning Council (NHTPC) moved under the wing of the RTPI and was renamed ROOM@RTPI. The event includes a tour of Parliament then a lunch addressed by the Lord Edmonton and two other guest speakers. Funds raised from each ticket sold subsidise the London Branch of ROOM each year and the event tends to be attended by contractors and Housing Associations with a few consultants thrown in for good measure.

I have visited the Houses of Parliament a number of times including chairing a couple of events but have never experienced the tour which was fascinating. The history of Black Rod, the opening of Parliament and the Queen’s presentation of her government’s proposals for the following year provides a rich tradition. Both Houses were much narrower than they appear on TV, two swords lengths apart for the front rows. There are not enough seats for all Members to sit at the same time so I guess it can be quite a scrum!

I was invited to the lunch by John Harvey, the “Association’s” (now included in Networks) representative trustee on Executive Board, who wanted the President to talk about the links between housing and planning especially in these troubled times. I was able to refer to the current problems surrounding Section 106 Agreements relaxations on affordable housing to promote development and also talk about the RTPI-CIH Planning for Housing Network, a joint initiative launched last year with the Chartered Institute of Housing. Another important issue I raised is the need to sustain quality and sustainability standards alongside volume in the current environment. I feel strongly about this issue as there are enough bad examples of short term fixes to housing problems over the last 60 years for planners to be cautious about relaxing standards in a poor market! It was an enjoyable event although there is still much to do in improving links between housing and planning professionals.

On Thursday I briefly joined in on a telephone conference organised by the Global Planners Network (GPN), administered by RTPI’s Judith Eversley, which brings together representatives from planning bodies in Australia, Canada, the Commonwealth, USA, France and ourselves, looking to share knowledge of planning best practice internationally. The challenge for the GPN is how to resource and manage an initiative where the wealthier bodies can contribute resources but the less wealthy, in relative terms, have the greatest need both to own the GPN and benefit from it. More to follow as my year progresses.

Later that day I joined a distinguished panel at the EcoBuild Conference and Exhibition to discuss, amongst other things, EcoTowns. The event was chaired by Sarah Montague of Radio 4 fame and consisted of Maxwell Hutchinson (architect), Christian Wolmar (transport commentator), Kelvin McDonald (strategic policy consultant), Toby Lloyd (consultant) and myself. There is understandably a great deal of suspicion regarding EcoTowns especially in the current economic climate. However, the Panel did not entirely reject them but felt that there would almost inevitably be a need for substantial public investment upfront and so they would have to take their chances with other schemes. The truth is that we all felt that EcoTown standards should be applied to all major development and that urban extensions were more likely to deliver sustainable communities in the short term!

Keep track of my blog next week when I will report back on my Presidential visit to Scotland.

Martin.