Kick Start For Stalled Housing Development

The Parliamentary Yearbook  is currently gathering news items for major features on housing and regeneration and its impact in the current economic climate and has been monitoring progress of the consultation process following the publication of the Government’s Housing Strategy “Laying the Foundations: A Housing Strategy for England” in November last year

Expert brokers will spearhead a fresh drive to get stalled housing deals up and running and builders back on moth-balled sites, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles announced yesterday.

Glenigan Data, March 2012, estimates that there are currently 1,400 housing schemes of over 10 housing units with planning permission that are stalled.

Mr Pickles is concerned that too much development is being stalled because of economically unrealistic agreements negotiated between councils and developers at the height of the housing boom. This results in no development, no regeneration and no community benefits at all when agreements are no longer economically viable.

The deals, known legally as Section 106 agreements, require developers to make a financial contribution to the community or provide housing, amenities or infrastructure as part of their planning permission.

Teams of intermediaries will now offer a free-of-charge advice and support service to councils and developers and will be available to help kick-start renegotiations of these deals to stop them being a barrier to getting building underway.

Brokers will begin work immediately with an initial wave of councils that are keen to address obstacles that are preventing development in their area before working with other councils around the country. The experts will:

• provide technical expertise to unlock negotiations
• act as go-betweens in disputes
• offer access to a range of support services.

The Government is today also launching a consultation that proposes giving developers the option to ask councils to renegotiate Section 106 obligations if they were agreed prior to April 2010. Currently these obligations cannot be renegotiated for five years once a council refuses a request for voluntary renegotiation by a developer.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said:

"Tackling problems with stalled development is essential to getting builders back on moth-balled sites and building the homes we need. There is huge potential in sites to boost local economies and we simply cannot afford to have them lying idle because of earlier agreements that are no longer viable.

"The support and advice the expert brokers will offer is one of the many measures we have introduced to get development underway and I hope councils grab this chance to make use of the support we are offering.

"Our reforms to the planning system are already cutting planning red tape and making the system simpler and more accessible to communities and businesses. And further changes we're introducing will simplify national planning policy even more and streamline the planning application process."

Councils in Leeds, Ipswich, Corby, Swindon, Ashford, Gloucester, Kirklees, Carlisle, Northumberland and Durham will the first to benefit from the support offered by the expert brokers and will identify key stalled sites they want to see back up and running.

And opening up the renegotiation process further will provide another new opportunity to help get developments back on track, provide affordable housing and bring wider benefits for communities.
Ministers are clear that any renegotiations of Section 106 agreements will not remove the developer's obligation to provide critical infrastructure or other contributions to offset the effects of the development, and they should not result in land banking.

Deals need to be realistic and deliverable and will take commitment from both councils and developers to ensure they are delivered swiftly. And councils need to ensure they continue to consider local decision making processes when agreeing new deals.

Teams of expert brokers, along with officials from the Department and the Homes and Communities Agency will join together to work with the councils.

Pat Ritchie, chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, said:

"As a sector we need to see as many stalled sites as possible unlocked to deliver much needed new homes.
We are currently using our investment to do this through Get Britain Building, while our support in unlocking large projects in the planning system - through our ATLAS team - is highly valued by local authorities and the private sector.

"So where sites are stalled because of agreements signed under very different economic conditions, we will work with councils to help see how we can get them moving again while meeting the needs and priorities of local communities."

It is estimated that there are currently more than 1,400 housing schemes of more than 10 housing units with planning permission that are stalled and unblocking these developments is a key part of the Government's Housing Strategy.

The support and advice being offered to councils is just one of a number of measures the Government is taking to help boost development. The £570 million Get Britain Building fund is tackling the housing shortage and creating jobs and the £770 million Growing Places Fund is providing local areas with flexible funding to get the infrastructure built needed to build new homes.

Today's announcement is a key step in encouraging all local authorities to consider renegotiating Section 106 agreements where development has stalled.

In March 2011, the chief planning officer wrote to planning authorities asking them to review agreements. The new National Planning Policy Framework requires councils to take account of market conditions and be sufficiently flexible to prevent development being stalled.

The Parliamentary Year book will continue to report on construction and housing issues and their impact on the UK and Europe as we go through the months ahead. Construction is a crucial sector for the UK and European economy, generating almost 10% of EU GDP and providing 20 million jobs, mainly in micro and small enterprises. Competitiveness in the construction sector can significantly influence the development of the overall economy.

Major New Energy Investment In Uk

Following the announcement by UKTI of the series of Global Business Summits to take place during the London Olympics, the Parliamentary Yearbook has been closely following progress and achievements as the conferences take place 

Chancellor George Osborne and Business Secretary Vince Cable will today welcome substantial new investment in the UK as international delegates from the world’s oil and gas companies meet at the British Business Embassy in London.

During the six weeks of the Games, the British Business Embassy will host 17 global business summits at Lancaster House, following the annual Global Investment Conference on July 26. Each will be targeted at individual sectors or countries.

The series of global business summits taking place at the British Business Embassy is the largest and most ambitious set of trade and investment events ever held in this country.

Over 3,000 Government Ministers, business leaders and policy-makers from the UK and around the world will come through the doors of Lancaster House. These events will allow businesses and Governments to exchange views and ideas, discuss local and international economic challenges, develop strong global partnerships for future growth and showcase the best of British business to the world.

Today’s summit highlights the UK’s capabilities in energy and the opportunities for collaboration with overseas companies. Key themes include technology-specific issues related to regulatory and market reforms, financing needs, deployment challenges and the scaling up of industrial capacity.

Up to 4,000 UK jobs will be supported by the GDF SUEZ- operated Cygnus project - the extraction of shallow water gas from an 18 billion cubic metre field under the Southern North Sea – in partnership with Centrica and Bayerngas. And an International Centre for Advanced Materials created by BP with universities including the University of Manchester will build on the UK’s world leading status in research and development.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, said:

“The Global Business Summit is a demonstration of how the UK can lead the world in the energy sector: securing investment, creating jobs and building a more prosperous future. The Government is committed to creating an environment in which innovation can thrive and businesses can grow: that’s why top businesses such as BP are investing in the UK and supporting our world-leading universities in delivering cutting edge research.”

Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

“The oil and gas industry’s immense contribution to our skills base, industrial capacity and strength as an exporter are pivotal as we rebalance our economy. Today’s summit underlines the Government’s commitment to making the UK a great place for energy firms to do business, develop new technologies and recruit the best technicians and engineers.

“Collaboration between business and higher education institutions is boosting the status of the UK as a driver of innovation, and giving our firms a competitive edge. I’m pleased that BP has chosen to partner with a number of our world class universities to find new and more efficient ways of using and generating power.”

UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Edward Davey, said:

“The North Sea remains a vital source of the nation’s energy security and our expertise is renowned the world over. The Government is determined to maintain the best possible investment environment to ensure we capitalise fully on this national asset.

“There continues to be significant interest in the annual licensing rounds, with interest in established and the new frontier West of Shetland. The go-ahead for the Cygnus field is terrific news, and will contribute substantially to the UK’s gas needs and support thousands of high skilled jobs.”

Bob Dudley, BP’s Group Chief Executive, said:

“Advanced materials and coatings will be vital in finding, producing and processing energy safely and efficiently in the years ahead. Energy producers will work at unprecedented depths, pressures and temperatures; as refineries, plants and pipeline operators seek ever better ways to combat corrosion.
Manchester has world-leading capabilities and facilities in materials and it was chosen after a global search to act as the ‘hub’ of the centre, with ‘spokes’ in other university departments worldwide. We look forward to building a very productive partnership between our professionals and the academic team at Manchester.”

International business announced today includes:

• GDF SUEZ as operator, together with Centrica and Bayerngas, partners in the Cygnus project - the largest gas discovery in the Southern North Sea for 25 years – signed a Field Development Plan (FDP) at a ceremony hosted by Ed Davey at the British Business Embassy yesterday (6 August). The FDP authorises new oil and gas fields and ensures no adverse environmental consequences. Operator GDF SUEZ and its partners Centrica and Bayerngas decided to proceed with this £1.4 billion project following the Government’s 25 July announcement of a £500 million field allowance for large shallow water gas fields. They are announcing initial contracts for the development of the Cygnus field worth a total of £375 million, of which £337 million will be invested in the UK, directly creating more than 1200 local jobs. The Cygnus reservoirs hold estimated reserves of 18 billion cubic metres of gas and, once in production, should supply around 5% of the UK’s gas production, with the first gas being produced in 2015. Around 80% of the project value is expected to be invested in the UK, and the total development is expected to be a significant economic boost and create around 4,000 UK jobs

• BP is creating an International Centre for Advanced Materials (BP-ICAM) in the UK to support fundamental science and the engineering application of advanced materials - those with superior qualities such as toughness, hardness, durability and elasticity - in the energy sector. The University of Manchester will act as the ‘hub’ of the centre, with ‘spokes’ in other universities around the world that have specific areas of expertise. At the launch these are: Cambridge University, Imperial College, London and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The BP-ICAM is a strategic, long term investment, with BP committing $100 million (£60 million) over 10 years to the network of universities. It will create 25 new academic posts, at least 100 PhDs and 80 post-Docs, and help maintain the world-leading status of the UK in the research of advanced materials

• Versalis, Italy's largest chemical producer, owned entirely by ENI SpA, will be investing between €50 and €60 million in the development and expansion of elastomer production capacity at its Grangemouth site in Scotland in order to service technical developments in the automotive tyre manufacture market. Polimeri Europa UK Ltd, Versalis’ UK subsidiary, has been successful in its application for a £600,000 Regional Selective Assistance grant awarded on the basis of creating 20 new jobs. A further seven jobs will be created within contracting companies who supply services for the site.

• Neftex, an Oxfordshire-based geosciences consultancy business that supports the activities of global oil, gas and mineral exploration companies, has won several international contracts over recent months, including a UKTI-supported contract with JOGMEC (Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation) worth several hundred thousand pounds. As a result of its thriving business, Neftex, which already has over 80 staff and is one of the biggest annual employers of geology graduates in the UK, expects to recruit up to 50 new graduate staff as part of its near-term plans.

• Tangent Technologies Limited has been awarded a series of Australian contracts totalling around £105,000 and helping to create two new jobs in Plymouth, Devon, commencing in September 2012. TTL's contracts include over £65,000 worth of contracts for BHP Billiton awarded last year, a contract to assist Rio Tinto with a drill rig reliability investigation, a new A$20,000 (£13,250) contract for the St Ives Gold Mining Company in Western Australia to survey hot oil pipes that will commence in mid-August, and a newly announced contract for Energy Developments Ltd (EDL) Australia, worth over A$40,000 (£26,500).

• Melrose Resources plc has been granted a six-year concession for natural gas extraction at the Kavarna East field in the Bulgarian Black Sea. The company has been operating in Bulgaria for 14 years, has invested over €250 million and is already extracting natural gas from the Kaliakra and Kavarna fields, the production covering around 15% of the country's natural gas consumption. The new concession will help to consolidate Melrose’s position in the Bulgarian gas market, from which it generated 60% of its $189 million gas production revenues in 2011.

Gas is the single biggest source of energy in the UK and, as a lower carbon fuel than current electricity generation, it is expected to continue to play an important part in the UK’s energy mix well until 2030 and beyond. As part of wider announcements on renewables and gas infrastructure, on 25 July the Government announced a new category of field allowance that will encourage investment in marginal gas fields by protecting the first £500 million of income from qualifying fields from the 32% Supplementary Charge (SC) tax rate.

The Parliamentary Year book will continue to monitor and report on progress as we go through the weeks ahead.

Government Strategy For Life Sciences

Following the publication of the Government’s Strategy for UK Life Sciences in December 2011, the Parliamentary Yearbook has been closely following progress for major features in the next edition 

Yesterday Ministers announced substantial new funding awards to boost the UK life sciences industry, as UK and international delegates met in London for the British Business Embassy Healthcare and Life Sciences summit.

The UK has one of the strongest and most productive life sciences industry’s in the world, contributing to patient well-being as well as supporting growth.

The industry is high-tech, innovative, and highly diverse, spanning pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, and industrial biotechnology and has applications across many other sectors. Through the development of innovative medicines, medical technologies and services, its businesses contribute to a stronger and fairer society, helping people enjoy better health, well-being and quality of life. They are also helping the UK improve its sustainability and reduce carbonisation.

In December last year, the Prime Minister launched the Government’s Strategy for UK life sciences to help life sciences businesses grow and succeed. The strategy focuses on the health-related aspects of the sector. It is a long-term strategy, looking forward ten to 15 years, building on the March 2011 Plan for Growth. It was launched alongside, and will be implemented in collaboration with, the NHS Chief Executive’s Review:
Innovation, health and wealth: accelerating adoption and diffusion in the NHS.

The Strategy for UK life Sciences is based on three pillars:

• Building a UK life sciences ecosystem: the Government will make it easier for researchers to commercialise academic research, will place clinical research at the heart of the NHS, and will empower patients to participate in research
• Attracting, developing and rewarding talent: the Government will introduce measures to ensure that the UK attracts and nurtures world-leading talent and develops scientific excellence, These measures will also ensure that the UK offers exciting and rewarding careers for clinicians, scientists and technicians from all around the world
• Overcoming barriers and creating incentives for the promotion of healthcare innovation: the Government is introducing measures to incentivise early-stage investment and nurture the best innovations through the translational funding gap to a point at which they can secure follow-on investment. The Government will continue to reduce the bureaucracy of setting up clinical trials to ensure that patients have access to promising, cost-effective new treatments.

And yesterday Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and Universities and Science Minister David Willetts announced that the first awards totalling £10 million from Government’s £180 million Biomedical Catalyst have been awarded to fourteen UK universities and 18 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). These awards from the Medical Research Council and the Technology Strategy Board will support UK academics and businesses on the first vital step in exploring the market potential of their early-stage scientific ideas.

David Willetts also announced that the Medical Research Council and a consortium of 10 UK Government and charity research funders have invested £19 million to establish four e-health research centres in London, Manchester, Dundee and Swansea. The new centres will enable the UK to make more effective use of electronic health data – a field with huge possibilities for health care delivery and the understanding of disease.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the Olympic drug-testing laboratories, located in Harlow, will be converted into a £10 million world-class research centre. The MRC-NIHR Phenome Centre, the first of its kind in the world, will use cutting edge facilities developed for London 2012 to help develop better and more targeted treatment for patients, and will enable researchers to explore the characteristics of disease in order to develop new drugs and treatments for patients.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said:

"We want to create a world-class NHS that makes the latest and best treatments available to patients.

"Our investment in the new MRC-NIHR Phenome Centre, the first of its kind, promises better targeted treatments for patients with a wide range of common diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and dementia.

"It's part of the record funding made available for biomedical and clinical research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), to support studies including those funded though the Biomedical Catalyst programme."

Minister for Life Sciences David Willetts said:

"The UK has one of the world's largest and most productive life science sectors. We have cutting edge industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and medical technologies. We attract almost 10 per cent of the world's pharmaceutical R&D funding.

"The Global Business Summit on Life Sciences will introduce some of the world's most important and influential sector leaders to see what the UK have to offer.

"It will also highlight how UK innovation continues to flourish and how the industry collaborates, to produce world class services, products and individuals.

“I am delighted to be a part of this event, which positions the UK as a firm leader in the world of life sciences.”

The Life Sciences Day is one of 18 global business summits being organised by UK Trade & Investment to promote UK businesses and facilitate international trade during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

International business announced by firms at yesterday’s summit included:

• Fast Track Diagnostics Research Ltd (FTD) has announced the opening of an Indian subsidiary and said that it will be expanding its research capacity in the UK by the end of this year
• Morningside Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a multi-award-winning British company dedicated to providing affordable healthcare to aid agencies, has announced a €177K (£139k) contract with Unicef to deliver the medicine Podophylloxtin Solution, used to treat sexually transmitted diseases, to Malawi.
• Inanovate, a US-based company with expertise in protein screening to support research, drug development and clinical diagnostics, is to create a new biology post at its UK base in the West Midlands to support a recently-announced sepsis research project.

The Parliamentary Year book will continue to monitor progress as we go through the months ahead and a full feature will be published in the next edition.

Britain’s Broadband Strategy

Following the publication of the Government’s report on Britain’s Superfast Broadband Future in December 2010, the Parliamentary Yearbook has been closely following progress for major features in the next edition 

The Department for Culture, Media and sport is responsible for broadband policy and delivery.
They are committed to delivering the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015 and to do this Government:

• has allocated £530 million during the current Spending Review period to stimulate commercial
• investment to roll out high speed broadband in rural communities
• will invest £150 million in ‘super-connected cities’ across the UK
• will invest up to £150 million to improve mobile coverage in the UK for consumers and businesses that live and work in areas where coverage is poor or non-existent

Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), a unit within DCMS, is responsible for managing the Government’s broadband funding. Individual projects are the responsibility of local authorities and the Devolved Administrations, as set out in BDUK’s delivery model.

The ambition is to provide superfast broadband to at least 90 per cent of premises in the UK and to provide universal access to standard broadband with a speed of at least 2Mbps.

However earlier this week, in a report published by the House of Lords Communications Committee, it is suggested that the Government's broadband strategy, focussing as it does on broadband speed,  risks leaving communities, people and businesses in areas of the UK behind.

The Committee say that the Government is preoccupied with speed rather than focusing on access and the imperative of creating a 'future proof' national network which is built to last. As a result, the Committee are concerned that the Government's investment in this area could be a tremendous missed opportunity, albeit that it is not too late to change course. As part of an alternative approach, the Committee argue that policy in this area should be driven by the need to arrest and ultimately eliminate the digital divide – rather than deliver enhanced provision for those with already good connections. Fundamentally, the Committee report that broadband provision should be considered a key part of our national infrastructure, and propose a new vision that focuses on enabling access and reducing the digital divide. The realisation of the Committee’s proposal lies in the creation of a robust and resilient national network, bringing open access fibre-optic hubs within reach of every community. Open access to these fibre-optic hubs would provide a platform for local communities and businesses to access the broadband provision they want in the short term, and to upgrade that access flexibly as needs evolve over time.

Commenting on the report, Committee Chairman Lord Inglewood said:

"The Government is quite right to make broadband a policy priority – barely an aspect of our lives isn’t touched in some way by the internet, and developments look set to continue apace in the future. A whole host of services will increasingly be delivered via the internet - including critical public services - and without better provision for everyone in the UK this will mean that people are marginalised or excluded altogether. If broadcast services move to be delivered via the internet for example, as we believe they may be, then key moments in national life such as the Olympics could be inaccessible to communities lacking a better communications infrastructure.

“Our communications network must be regarded as a strategic, national asset. The Government's strategy lacks just that – strategy. The complex issues involved were not thought through from first principle and it is far from clear that the Government's policy will deliver the broadband infrastructure that we need – for profound social and economic reasons – for the decades to come."

The Committee also recommend:

• That Ofcom actively considers changes to several aspects of the regulatory regime
• The Government should undertake a detailed costing of the Committee's proposal, not least because it removes the final mile – the most expensive per capita component of the network – from the costs requiring public subsidy
• That the Government pay urgent attention to the way public funds are being distributed, particularly the operation of the Rural Community Broadband Fund
• The Government & industry should consider the long term possibility of switching terrestrial broadcast from spectrum to the internet

The Parliamentary Year book will continue to monitor and report on progress as we go through the months ahead.

Reviving The Country’s High Streets

Earlier this year the Parliamentary Yearbook reported on the results of the Government’s competition to select 12 towns to become 'Portas Pilots’. A further 15 towns have now been selected to benefit from funding to help turn around their "unloved and unused" high streets. High Street regeneration will form part of a major feature on communities in the next edition

On 4^th February this year, Mary Portas and Local Government Minister Grant Shapps launched the competition to choose 12 towns to become 'Portas Pilots'. Mr Shapps has offered the cash incentive to those towns that come up with the best High Street blueprints in a move that fulfils the first and last recommendations of Mary Portas' High Streets Review, commissioned by the Prime Minister and published before Christmas.

Then on 26^th May the 12 winning bids were announced:

• Bedford, Bedfordshire
• Croydon, Greater London
• Dartford, Kent
• Bedminster, Bristol
• Liskeard, Cornwall
• Margate, Kent
• Market Rasen, Lincolnshire
• Nelson, Lancashire
• Newbiggin by the Sea, Northumberland
• Stockport, Greater Manchester
• Stockton on Tees, Teesside
• Wolverhampton, West Midlands

The competition to become a pilot received an overwhelming response, with over 370 applications from across the country. Mr Shapps said unsuccessful applicants should not despair - the quality of the bids has been so high that he was launching a second round of the competition, which will see additional pilots announced by the end of July. The Greater London Authority is also funding a further 3 which takes the total to 15.

Mr Shapps issued a call to MPs from the 392 Town Teams not chosen, to come forward and sign a national pledge to become a Town Team Partner - enabling access to a package of support to their own town. The package of support is worth £5.5million nationwide.

No high street left behind

Those that sign up to become Town Team Partners will receive backing from a multi-million pound support programme to help put elements of their plans into action. But they will also have the opportunity to:

• Get access to events, workshops and seminars across the country addressing key challenges facing struggling town centres;
• Receive direct mentoring support and visits from experts with a range of relevant backgrounds;
• Directly benefit from the experience of the 27 Portas Pilots;
• Meet regularly with town teams across the country to share their experiences and lessons learned; and
• Join an online community to receive tips and advice from retail experts

The Town Team Partners will also benefit from a new web-based encyclopaedia - 100 Ways to Help the High Street, which will be hosted and run by the Association of Town Centre Management. The ATCM will also work with the areas selected as Town Team Partners to help them progress their proposals.

Business in the Community will also marshal support from businesses, retailers and trade bodies both for the Town Team Partners and the 27 Portas Pilots.

Further details will be announced later this year.

This additional package of support forms part of a wider response to Mary Portas's Review, which was published last December. All town teams from across the country will also be able to bid for a £1million Future High Street X-Fund to reward the most effective and creative schemes to encourage people back to the town centres in 2013, and a £500,000 fund to help access set-up loans for new Business Improvement Districts.

Grant Shapps said:

"Today I'd like to congratulate the 15 town teams that, in the face of stiff competition, have been selected to be the next Portas Pilots. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, and I'm determined that we don't turn our backs on the other 392 Town Teams who put their plans forward to revive their high streets.

"That's why I'm calling on these communities, led by their MPs, to put themselves forward once again to become Town Team Partners. Each one that applies will benefit from a package of support to refine their plans and get the help and advice they need to bring their town centres back to life.

"I don't want to lose the incredible momentum and I want to know that no town is left behind after such an enthusiastic and imaginative response to Mary Portas's review. So alongside the 27 Portas Pilots across the country, these Town Team Partners will also be able to revive their high streets and make them the beating hearts of their communities once again."

Martin Blackwell, chief executive of the Association of Town Centre Management, said:

"The response to the challenge created by the government's response to the Mary Portas report from communities in towns and cities across England was enormous. It is terrific to see the government acknowledging that groundswell of activity in such a positive way.

"To enhance this support ATCM is launching a new web based encyclopedia - 100 Ways to Help the High Street - which will be available to all areas and Town Teams.

"We look forward to taking the same collegiate approach to working with all the Portas Pilot and Town Team Partner towns that we have done in hundreds of towns and cities across the UK and Ireland for many years."

Second Round Winners

Mr Shapps today confirmed 15 new Portas Pilots, taking the total to 27.

Of these, three have been selected by the Mayor of London. Recognising how this initiative complements his efforts to regenerate the capital's high streets Boris Johnson has joined forces with Mr Shapps and is investing £300,000 to fund these additional pilots.

The new 15 are:

• Ashford, whose Town Team will use its local market to attract people back to the high street by offering new stall-holders the opportunity to have a 'stall for a tenner';
• Berwick, who will work with local builders and other businesses to give their high street a much-needed facelift;
• Braintree, who will provide mentoring support to the high number of independent shops in the area;
• Brighton (London Road), who will encourage retailers to work together to tackle vandalism and crime to help realise the area's full potential;
• Hatfield, who will look beyond retail to provide community and event facilities to encourage more visitors to the high street;
• Leamington (Old Town), who plan to focus their efforts on tackling the high vacancy rate in the high street and encourage new businesses to the area;
• Liverpool (Lodge Lane), who will help aspiring young entrepreneurs in the community by offering a mentoring service;
• Waterloo - Lower Marsh and the Cut (London Borough of Lambeth), who plan to set up satellite markets and tackle the high number of empty shops in the area;
• Forest Hill, Kirkdale and Sydenham (London Borough of Lewisham), who plan to renovate 12 empty premises and improve signage in the local area;
• Chrisp Street, Watney Market, Roman Road (London Borough of Tower Hamlets), who will exploit their high visitor numbers to run a series of public information programmes;
• Loughborough, who plan to involve students from Loughborough University to reinvigorate their high street and encourage budding business owners to consider setting up locally;
• Lowestoft, who will create a Town 'group' discount scheme to attract local people, and establish a mentoring scheme in conjunction with schools, colleges and retailers;
• Morecambe, who will set up a community café to provide advice and support for those looking to take up business opportunities;
• Rotherham, who will launch a publicity campaign to highlight the unique nature of the high street and encourage people to 'shop local'; and
• Tiverton, who plan to improve parking facilities to encourage more visitors and tourists to the town centre

Of these, the three in London will receive funding from the Greater London Authority.
These 15 pilots will now receive:

• A share of £1.5 million to make their ideas a reality;
• A dedicated contact point in Government to provide advice and support to encourage greater local business growth;
• Free support from retail industry giants led by Boots, as well as Mary Portas's team; and
• Opportunities to meet and discuss lessons learned and experiences with fellow Portas Pilots

Mary Portas said:

"I am thrilled that communities up and down the country have looked beyond the money and have been mobilised to create 'town teams' and demand more for their high streets. Whilst I shall continue to fight for the other 27 'recommendations' in my Review am looking forward to seeing fifteen more British towns putting their plans into action"

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said:

"Driving growth and creating jobs through the rejuvenation of London's high streets is at the heart of my mayoralty and the Portas pilot initiative is a fantastic way to help us achieve this.

"Through our regeneration drive we have already started reversing the decay of our high streets that had been allowed set in through long-term underinvestment.

"The selected pilots have been chosen for their innovative approach and commitment to community partnerships. We will work closely with them and ensure their successful ideas are replicated across other towns in London and the UK. I strongly believe the regeneration of High streets will help lead the way in steering our town centres out of recession and get these vital economic hubs booming again."

We shall be adding to the article as there are further developments and any changes to the plans will be reflected in the content. The full report will be published in print and online in the next edition of the Parliamentary Year book.

Justice Committee Report On The Freedom Of Information Act

The Parliamentary Yearbook reported on the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act at its introduction in 2002 and has been monitoring the effectiveness of the legislation  for a feature in the next edition of the book

The Freedom of Information Act is generally working well and its scope should not be diminished, although some concerns raised about its operation need to be addressed, according to MPs on the Justice Select Committee who have scrutinised the effectiveness of the legislation and produced a report today.

The Freedom of Information Act implemented what was a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 General Election. Before its introduction, there had been no right of access to government by the general public, merely a limited voluntary framework for sharing information.

The act was preceded by a 1998 white paper, entitled "Your Right to Know" by Dr David Clark. The white paper was met with widespread enthusiasm and was described at the time as being "almost too good to be true." by one advocate of freedom of information legislation. The final act was substantially more limited in scope than the initial white paper.

Following the white paper and the publication od a draft bill in May 1999, the act was extensively debated in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, receiving royal assent in November 2000.

The Freedom of Information Act creates a statutory right for access to information in relation to bodies that exercise functions of a public nature, three different kinds of bodies are covered under the act ... public authorities, publicly owned companies and designated bodies performing public functions. Around 120,000 requests are made each year. Private citizens made 60% of them, with businesses and journalists accounting for 20% and 10% respectively.

Today, with publication of the report, Sir Alan Beith MP, Chairman of the Justice Committee, said:

"The Freedom of Information Act has enhanced the UK’s democratic system and made our public bodies more open, accountable and transparent. It has been a success and we do not wish to diminish its intended scope, or its effectiveness. The Act was never intended to prevent, limit, or stop the recording of policy discussions in Cabinet or at the highest levels of Government, and we believe that its existing provisions, properly used, are sufficient to maintain the ‘safe space’ for such discussions. These provisions need to be more widely understood within the public service. They include, where appropriate, the use of the ministerial veto."

Policy formulation, safe spaces and the chilling effect

Some former Ministers and senior civil servants gave evidence to the inquiry arguing that FOI is having a ‘chilling effect’ on policy discussion at the heart of government. The ability for officials to provide frank advice to Ministers, the opportunity for Ministers and officials to discuss policy honestly and comprehensively, the requirement for full and accurate records to be kept and the convention of collective Cabinet responsibility, might all be threatened if an FOI regime allowed premature or inappropriate disclosure of information.

The Committee looked at the very limited evidence available, recognised there could be a problem--at least of perception at the highest levels of policy formulation, but believed that the existing provisions of the Act could be used more effectively to give assurance that there was no need for high-level policy discussions, and the recording of such discussions, to be inhibited by the Act.

The MPs have, however, reiterated that it was the clear intention of Parliament when passing the legislation to allow a “safe space” for policy discussions and called for guidance to be issued to civil servants about the protections in the Act. The MPs accepted that it could be appropriate to use the ministerial veto to ensure a “safe space” for high-level policy discussions.

The MPs were concerned that, despite making public criticisms of the legislation introduced while he was Prime Minister, Tony Blair failed to give evidence to the inquiry. Sir Alan Beith MP, said:

"Former Prime Minister Tony Blair described himself as a ‘nincompoop’ for his role in the legislation, saying that it was ‘antithetical to sensible government’. Yet when we sought to question Mr Blair on his change of opinion he refused to defend his views before us and submitted answers to our written questions only after our Report was agreed, and after a press report had appeared, suggesting we might criticise his failure to give evidence. We deplore Mr Blair’s failure to co-operate with a Committee of the House, despite being given every opportunity to attend at a time convenient to him."

Cost and Fees

The number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests is growing as awareness of the legislation increases and some evidence to the inquiry raised concerns. Some witnesses suggested introducing fees for FOI requests in order to recover some costs. However, the report concludes that while FOI imposes costs, it also creates savings when the inappropriate use of public funds is uncovered – or where fear of disclosure prevents the waste of public money. The MPs acknowledge the economic argument in favour of the freedom of information regime being more self-funding. Nevertheless, the Committee concludes that setting fees at a level high enough to recoup costs would deter requests with a strong public interest and therefore defeat the purposes of the Act. Fees introduced purely for commercial and media organisations could also be circumvented, MPs believe. Sir Alan Beith MP, added:

"Evidence we have seen suggests that reducing the cost of FoI can be achieved if the way public authorities deal with requests is well-thought through.

Complaints about the cost of FoI will ring hollow when made by public authorities which have failed to invest the time and effort needed to create an efficient freedom of information scheme."
The MPs made a number of further recommendations to improve FOI:

• Higher fines should be imposed for destruction of information or data and the time limit should be removed on prosecution of these offences.
• The law should be amended to protect universities from having to disclose research and data before the research has been published.
• All public bodies subject to the Act should be required to publish data on the timeliness of their response to freedom of information requests.
• The right to access information must not be undermined by the increased use of private providers in delivering public services and contracts for private providers should be explicit and enforceable in stipulating FOI obligations.
• Where public authorities publish disclosure logs, the names of those requesting information should be included.

The Parliamentary Year book will continue to report on the effectiveness of the legislation as we go through the months ahead

Beyond The Kyoto Protocol

The Parliamentary Yearbook is currently gathering news items for major features on sustainable energy and climate change in the next edition and will be monitoring progress following the  Rio+20 conference “towards a greener future”

Europe should set a target to reduce CO₂ emissions by 30% on 1990 levels by 2020 in order to demonstrate political leadership in the run up to UN climate talks in 2015, when political agreement could be reached on a new international agreement to replace the Kyoto protocol. That is the verdict of the Energy and Climate Change Committee who earlier this week published a report looking at the future of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

In 1992 154 countries joined a treaty to "cooperatively consider what they could do to limit average global temperature increases and the resulting climate change, and to cope with whatever impacts were, by then, inevitable." This was called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In 2011 the 17^th Conference of the Parties (COP17) of the UNFCCC in Durban, South Africa, agreed the "Durban Platform for Enhanced Action". This launched a new process within the UNFCCC: "to develop a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force […] applicable to all Parties".
WWF-UK described this as a "major breakthrough" as "for the first time, all countries have agreed to be brought under one legally binding framework to address climate change." It is expected that this new agreement will be adopted at COP21 in 2015, and will be implemented from 1^st January 2020. A new Ad Hoc Working Group is currently preparing the framework for negotiations.

The UK's ambition to reduce its emissions by 80% by 2050, legislated for in the Climate Change Act 2008, shows climate leadership—rather than trying to do the minimum the UK and the EU are sending out the right signal that this should be a race for increased ambition.

 Tim Yeo MP, Chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Committee, said:

"Europe can be proud of the leadership it has showed on climate change: introducing the world’s first emissions trading scheme and keeping the Kyoto Protocol alive when it could have collapsed.

It must now show leadership again by setting a more ambitious goal to bolster the chances of a new agreement being reached in 2015.

“The EU’s current 20% carbon reduction target by 2020 is no longer sufficiently ambitious or challenging and will be easily reached because of the recession.

“Twenty fifteen needs to be the year in which an agreement is reached to give the world a fighting chance of keeping temperature rises below dangerous levels."

The Kyoto Protocol created an invaluable architecture for future agreements - including common emissions reporting, accounting standards and a compliance system – but it should not be renewed after its second commitment period finishes in 2020, according to the MPs. Instead, diplomatic efforts should now be focused on reaching a new, and genuinely international, agreement via the promising Platform negotiated last year in Doha.

The report points out that the global political situation could be favourable to reaching an agreement in 2015, as China will be thinking about its next five year plan and the US could be in a position to introduce measures in Congress. Europe’s influence over future international negotiations would be greatly increased if its own economy was decarbonised more rapidly – and the MPs are calling on the UK Government to argue strongly for this at an EU level.

The distinction between developed and developing countries set out in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol is now out of date. The Department of Energy and Climate Change should support the use of the Human Development Index in future to determine equitably which countries are treated as ‘developed’ – and required to decrease their emissions immediately and which countries are given excess carbon permits until their average earnings come in line with other developed countries.

Given the severe fiscal constraints in most developed countries, it is politically and economically unlikely that the US $100 billion Green Climate Fund target will be reached by 2020 unless an innovative mechanism is developed to budgetary contributions. The UK should exploit its expertise in financial services to develop innovative mechanisms for levering in more private investment to help achieve the target and make up for the inevitable shortfall in public funds.

The Government should support moves to eliminate the $400 billion of fossil fuel subsidies across the world, while ensuring that this is done in a way that does not worsen fuel poverty. Energy efficiency should be prioritised as a mitigation strategy as it is one of the most cost-effective ways to cut emissions. The Government should also show leadership by acknowledging that consumption in the UK and some other developed countries is driving up territorial emissions elsewhere.

The Parliamentary Year book will continue to report on environmental issues and their impact on the UK as we go through the months ahead.