Out-Law News 1 min. read
20 Jan 2016, 2:57 pm
Writing in a national newspaper last week, Cameron said some estates would be knocked down and rebuilt whilst others would benefit from changes to their layout, upgraded facilities and improved road and transport links.
The prime minister said a new advisory panel would identify estates for redevelopment and work with residents to draw up plans for their regeneration. He said the work would be financed through a £140 million fund "that will pump-prime the planning process, temporary rehousing and early construction costs".
Cameron also announced that the government intends to publish "an Estates Generation Strategy that will sweep away the planning blockages and take new steps to reduce political and reputational risk for projects' key decision-makers and investors".
A report from real estate firm Savills last week said increasing the density of housing, including on existing council estates, could play a role in delivering the 50,000 homes a year that are required in London over the next 20 years.
Planning expert Matthew Fox of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "This is a case of words being far easier than actions. David Cameron speaks of pump-priming the planning process and removing planning blockages but isn’t clear on how this will actually be achieved. Estate regeneration is most frequently pursued through the CPO regime, which, even with the reforms proposed by the Housing and Planning Bill, would not be considered by anyone as a fast and speedy process."
"There is reference to an Estate Regeneration Strategy that could help with this, but we will have to await details, to see whether it will create a CPO faststream for urban regeneration projects," said Fox. " Furthermore, even Woodberry Down, considered by David Cameron as a flagship estate regeneration, has been subject to much controversy as to tenure mix. The Estate Regeneration Strategy will need to deal with this and have force for these proposals to have bite."