SEGRO’s Sleath: Why the planning overhaul is missing a trick

COMMENT Prime minister Boris Johnson’s pledge to “build, build, build” and his government’s announcement of radical plans to rethink the planning system amount to the biggest shake-up of the built environment since 1947. That was the year the Town and Country Planning Act came into force, but the Planning for the Future consultation which closed on 29 October promises a fundamental rethink by introducing classification of land into “growth”, “renewal” and “protected” status in its place. At SEGRO we welcome the government’s aim of simplifying and speeding up the plan-making and planning application process, and acknowledge the need to deliver more homes, many of which should be affordable. We also like the idea of modernising the system by using more digital resources and processes. We have seen first-hand the benefits of working with a Simplified Planning Zone on the Slough Trading Estate, and a smart use of the “growth” and “renewal” classifications could have real benefits. But Planning for the Future is missing a trick in its lack of recognition of the need for employment space to complement those new homes, and of the vital role of logistics in creating sustainable communities. Warehousing comes of age Logistics’ key role was proven as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold in the spring, when the UK’s warehousing networks came of age as a key feature of the country’s national infrastructure. Food needed to get to supermarkets, medical supplies and protective equipment had to reach hospitals and other essential items needed to be shipped to people’s homes – especially for those unable to get out to the shops like doctors and nurses on the frontline and those having to shield themselves. Everything was shipped from warehouses by the suppliers, logistics groups and online retailers which are now part of our everyday lives. We therefore have three main concerns about Planning for the Future. Firstly, planning reform needs to provide local authorities with clear direction to consider the need for industrial and logistics space. That space will be needed not only to provide employment for new residents but also to service them with the goods and services they require. Simply allocating land for housing may solve one problem but could easily create another. New dormitory towns which do not include the right employment space – including warehouses – will force people to travel further for work and would mean goods and services being supplied from far afield, neither of which would be good for the environment. Secondly, while we support decisions on planning being made locally, provision of warehousing and logistics supply chains need to be understood in a regional, national and even international context. There are few local authorities which, when they are considering land for commercial sites, will be able to determine how much warehouse space is needed and where to locate it, because most warehouses are not solely serving the local community. A single warehouse is rarely an isolated, independent storage facility – it is often one in a network of facilities that work together to serve consumers, businesses and communities on a regional and national basis. Government should create a national spatial plan for logistics to guide industrial development and ensure that the right land is allocated for warehousing so as to create a world-class logistics supply chain. Thirdly, Planning for the Future’s focus on design codes to promote “building beautiful” cannot be applied in sweeping fashion across employment uses. In its 84 pages the vast majority of the images in the government’s consultation document are of homes, with an apparent assumption that traditional design is beautiful. But what constitutes a beautiful commercial property? Knowing what works At SEGRO we build warehouses and industrial properties across eight European countries and, with relatively few variations, they are the same everywhere. As a pan-European developer, we know what our customers (which employ thousands of people) need from a warehouse. We know how to design these properties and we know what makes them functional, energy efficient and sustainable. What wouldn’t help would be if every local authority planning department decided they want a particular variation of mouse trap and set design codes accordingly. Therefore, design codes for industrial property need to be centrally developed and issued in the form of guidance for local authorities. When almost 70m people were locked down and almost 2m were shielding, it was the warehousing and logistics world which organised their vital supplies. Ministers should recognise this by creating the appropriate framework for what is now widely recognised as a vital part of Britain’s infrastructure. “Build, build, build” and Planning for the Future are laudable aims – but only if we build the right mix of employment uses and housing will we really ensure that we “build back better”. David Sleath is chief executive of SEGRO