As someone who takes a keen interest in property, I have been amazed at the amount of announcements and new policies that have been made by the new Tory and Lib Dem coalition since they came to power last June.

David Cameron’s vision of a Big Society may not, as yet, have captured the hearts and minds of the nation, but the team at the Department of Communities and Local Government have pushed forward relentlessly with dismantling the previous Labour Government’s centralist planning approaches under a promise of giving local people more say in the way things work within our communities

At face value this seems laudable although I do worry that the majority of people are simply too busy with their own lives to bother to get too involved in local community issues such as planning.

The dynamic duo of Eric Pickles and Grant Shapps started their period in office by suspending the much maligned Home Information Packs (HIPs). This was generally greeted quite warmly by the property industry and by a public who never really understood their intended purpose. With hindsight, I am not so sure that removing HIPs was the best idea as it simply fuelled more property coming to the market and helped slow a housing market that was actually showing some signs of recovery after two years of decline.

Perhaps the biggest area of policy however that Messrs Pickles and Shapps started to play with is planning. They very quickly announced that they were going to remove the top down, central targets imposed under Labour and allow more local say in the granting of planning consents. From where I sit this just seems to have increased a propensity for NIMBYism as local people simply object to any form of future development in their communities. This was certainly not the intention and is clearly damaging to the future infrastructure as we are building far too few new homes to meet the enormous demand that exists from a growing population.

The Government, almost immediately after announcing its approach to planning then introduced a series of incentives to local planning authorities to actually grant consent. To many this just seems like a form of “bribe” to try and counter the likely reduced number of schemes being supported and promoted by local communities.

My own village desperately needs to see some new housing created, particularly of an affordable nature for young people. With the few sites available to develop now being subject to even greater local scrutiny and without centralised enforcement of social housing requirements, I am not convinced that the aims of the legislative changes in encouraging locally supported development will actually happen and we may see the opposite effect and less development take place.

They have also announced new policies in respect of social housing provision. Under new plans, housing associations will have an additional Affordable Rent option to offer households who need support. Affordable Rent properties will give housing associations the flexibility to offer fixed term tenancies to some new tenants at a rent level higher than social rent – with landlords able to set rents at up to 80 per cent of local market rents.

This has met with a mixed reaction with many seeing rental values of 80% of open market rent as being simply unaffordable by the very potential tenants they are seeking to help.

In February Mr Shapps has called a summit of mortgage lenders to look at encouraging them to increase the avaibility of lending, particularly to first time buyers. This is crucial to ensuring a sustanable property market but, at the moment, lenders have little incentive to lend and are looking at improving the look of their balance sheets instead. I do hope that Mr Shapps’s meeting can find a sensible way forward and is not just another example of posturing for the media.

And so, eight months on if I was to be giving a school report on Mr Pickles and Mr Shapps’ performance to date, I think it would read something like this.

Mr Pickles and Mr Shapps seem keen to be in the spotlight and take every opportunity to be written and spoken about. They have produced a huge number of announcements and new policies but many seem to lack depth and do not stand up to rigorous investigation.

Mr Pickles and Mr Shapps are in danger of discarding many established approaches and systems and replacing them in great haste. I admire their desire to get things done but feel that a little more concentration on the detail and consequences of their actions would be beneficial.

Overall I would give a B minus mark on their work to date to reflect the fact that, whilst working hard and looking to make positive change, they need to slow down, understand their subject matter more and ensure that their work is sustainable and credible in the long term.

Anyway. I think it is time to go and have a nice cup of tea and a piece of cake in the local tearoom. Despite difficult economic times some pleasures just have to be continued.

Come on Malcolm – Walkies!

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