SUMMER 2011 INQUIRY:

 

UNLEASHING GROWTH: HOW PUBLIC SECTOR PROPERTY CAN DRIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

WRITTEN EVIDENCE DEADLINE:                                            26 August 2011

                                                                                                (to pclift@bpf.org.uk)

 

ORAL EVIDENCE SESSION:                                                     tbc (w/c 5 September 2011)

                                                                                                HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT

 

FINAL REPORT:                                                                      tbc (w/c 10 October 2011)

 

PURPOSE

The eighth All Party Urban Development Group inquiry wishes to address how Local Authorities can use public sector assets more effectively to help promote development and regeneration projects. The key output will be a set of policy recommendations intended to optimise the way in which the public sector uses its assets to drive economic growth.

 

BACKGROUND

The key economic imperative for the Government and the country is increased economic growth. Regeneration and development is one of the key drivers of economic growth but comparatively little activity is taking place in the sector. One of the major reasons for this is that both the public and private sectors are severely constrained by a range of factors that include cuts in public sector budgets and difficulties in accessing development finance. 

This means that progress in the future will depend even more than in the past on partnership between the sectors. That means, in turn, that the public sector will need to make the most of what it has to contribute to such partnerships – principally the powers that it has at its disposal and the assets that it possesses.

This report focuses on the potential to use public sector assets more effectively to help fund development and regeneration projects. Possible ways of leveraging off these assets include:


·         Putting public sector assets into asset backed vehicles (joint ventures with the private sector such as LABVs and Local  Incentive Backed Vehicles) to promote the rationalisation of operational portfolios and regeneration opportunities.
·         Ensuring that asset disposals have the generation of economic growth as their primary purpose.
·         Reinvesting funds from asset disposals in growth generating initiatives.
·         Maximising the effective use of assets in designated areas such as enterprise zones.
·         Using public assets as a regeneration hub through e.g. co-location of services.
·         Pooling local authority and other public sector assets to create ‘Total Capital’ that can then maximise portfolio rationalisation and regeneration opportunities.


The report will examine how far these approaches are being used at present, how effective they have proven, what the barriers are to their wider use, and how these barriers can be overcome.


THE INQUIRY:

The inquiry session itself will be split into three sessions, and will take evidence from property developers, business occupiers, and key public sector players including local authorities. The key questions to be examined include:


  • ·       Asset-backed vehicles such as LABV have been widely touted as an effective way to combine public sector assets with private sector expertise, yet relatively little use has been made of such vehicles. Why is this? And what are the barriers to their further utilisation?

  • ·       What pressures have prevented local authorities from using asset disposals to create the greatest opportunity for regeneration and development?

  • ·       How should public assets be used in designated areas such as Enterprise Zones so as to maximise their potential for growth? How could Enterprise Zones be improved to make best use public assets?

  • ·       What are the barriers to local authorities making greater use of existing powers – such as Compulsory Purchase Orders, Local Development Orders, master planning and Area Action Plans – to integrate public and private assets to achieve maximum impact?

  • ·       What changes to the planning regime would help local authorities to maximise the value of public assets in planning for development?

  • ·       To what extent can the private sector encourage and support the public sector to rationalise their use of public property, and release those assets that could make the maximum contribution to regeneration and growth?

 

INFORMATION AND SUBMISSIONS

Written evidence must be received no later than 26 August 2011.


To submit written evidence to the inquiry, please contact:

Patrick Clift

Clerk, All Party Urban Development Group

Media and Public Affairs Manager, British Property Federation

pclift@bpf.org.uk

0207 802 0128 (direct)

0207 828 0111