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Home > Regional Housing
Strategy > Annex A: National policy
framework
Annex A: National policy framework
This Regional Housing Strategy addresses a number of the Public
Service Agreement (PSA) targets which a number of Government Departments
are committed to achieving. The Strategy will also carry forward
national policy initiatives including the Communities Plan, the
Housing Market Renewal Fund and the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy.
It will also build the on the Governments' proposals for reforming
the planning system.
Selected relevant PSA targets
|
Department(s) responsible |
Target |
|
ODPM |
PSA 1: Promote better policy integration nationally, regionally
and locally; in particular to work with departments to help
them meet their PSA floor targets for neighbourhood renewal
and social inclusion. |
|
ODPM, DTI, Treasury |
PSA 2: Make sustainable improvements in the economic performance
of all English regions and over the long term reduce the persistent
gap in growth rates between the regions, defining measures to
improve performance and reporting progress against these measures
by 2006. |
|
ODPM |
PSA 5: Achieve a better balance between housing availability
and the demand for housing in all English regions while protecting
valuable countryside around our towns, cities and in the greenbelt
- and the sustainability of existing towns and cities. |
|
ODPM |
PSA 7: By 2010, bring all social housing into decent condition
with most of this improvement taking place in deprived areas,
and increase the proportion of private housing in decent condition
occupied by vulnerable groups. |
|
Home Office |
PSA 1: Reduce crime and the fear of crime; improve performance
overall, including by reducing the gap between the highest crime
areas and the best comparable areas. |
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Home Office |
PSA 9: Bring about measurable improvements in race equality
and community cohesion across a range of performance indicators,
as part of the Government's objectives on equality and social
inclusion. |
|
DEFRA, ODPM |
PSA 1: Promote sustainable development across Government and
the country as a whole as measured by achieving positive trends
in the Government's headline indicators of sustainable development. |
|
DEFRA |
PSA 4: Reduce the gap in productivity between the least well
performing quartile of rural areas and the English median by
2006, and improve the accessibility of services for rural people. |
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DEFRA |
PSA 7: Reduce fuel poverty among vulnerable households by
improving the energy efficiency of 600,000 homes between 2001
and 2004. |
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Health |
PSA 2: Narrow the health gap between socio-economic groups
and between the most deprived areas and the rest of the country,
in childhood and throughout life. |
The Communities Plan
Sustainable Communities: Building the Future, the national
plan of action, marks a step change in building successful, thriving
and inclusive communities in all regions. The focus is on building
partnerships for change, providing the regions with the tools and
resources to do make a difference, and make sure there are links
between what we build and how we build with plans for public services,
transport ad jobs.
Sustainable Communities in the North West applied the general
principles in the Communities Plan to the particular circumstances
of the North West. It identified tackling the significant areas
of deprivation in the region as a key strategic challenge. This
deprivation was often concentrated in parts of the older urban areas,
often characterised by poor housing, though deprivation is also
found in some rural communities. The plan recognised the need for
a joined up approach to tackling deprivation, involving better housing,
urban regeneration, creating more jobs, preventing crime, improving
health, and improving the wider environment.
Housing Market Renewal Fund
The Communities Plan recognised the need to bring back to life
those areas, found mostly in the North and the Midlands, where demand
for housing is low or - in the worst cases - houses have been abandoned.
The Government has made £500 million available over three
years through the Housing Market Renewal Fund. The aim is to tackle
the collapse of the housing market in areas where demand is low
or non-existent. Nine Pathfinder areas have been designated in England
where the problem of low demand is most acute. Four of these nine
Pathfinder areas are in the North West - Manchester / Salford, Merseyside,
Oldham / Rochdale and East Lancashire. These Pathfinder areas will
draw up strategies and area development frameworks for the restructuring
of their urban fabric and to develop 21st century living and working
conditions.
Neighbourhood Renewal
New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal: A National Strategy
Action plan, launched in January 2001, sets out the Government's
vision for narrowing the gap between deprived neighbourhoods and
the rest of the country. The aim is to tackle deprivation in the
most deprived areas. A Neighbourhood Renewal Fund has been established
to finance projects and to build community capacity in these deprived
areas, but the main thrust of the policy will be to bend mainstream
programmes to assist these areas. 21 of the 88 Neighbourhood Renewal
Fund areas in England are in the North West.
The Planning Reform Agenda
The planning system can be used to deliver the Government's
urban renaissance objectives. Development proposals flowing from
this Regional Housing Strategy will be carried forward in local
authorities' development plans.
The Planning and Compensation Bill proposes a radical reform of
the planning system. The Bill proposes a new format for development
plans that should make the system simpler and quicker whilst creating
opportunities for community engagement. At the core of the new-style
system of development plans will be a criteria-based Core Strategy,
whilst Action Area plans will provide a more detailed framework
in areas where radical change is expected.
But the Government also wants to change the culture of planning
as well as changing the planning system. It sees planning as a crucial
tool for promoting sustainable development. It should be a creative,
pro-active mechanism which communities can use to shape their own
destinies. The Government wants to raise the profile of planning
and to place it at the heart of initiatives to redevelop our communities.
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