The Royal Town Planning Institute's (RTPI) response to the paper "Fairer and Stronger" published in June 2019 by the UK2070 commission is arranged around the 4 themes of the UK2070 report (Devolution, local economies, National Spatial Plans and Funding).
The RTPI promotes strengthening governance from at all levels from national to local level, so that once the appropriate level for making a decision has been identified, the relevant body can make and implement decisions effectively. We recognise that Often the key barrier to delivery is different organisations pulling in different directions – all dancing to a tune set by national ministries. With effective devolution it should be possible for a city or county leader to call all the relevant local organisations together to drive place-based solutions to maximise progress.
The priority should be given to geographies likely to deliver education, local transport and health, and then work on larger-scale cooperation. Devolution should not be limited to certain policy areas to maximise its effectiveness.
Namely, for the North of England, our research ""Ambitions for the North"" represented a possible spatial vision for the North. Its purpose would be to guide the spatial strategies at functional area level, where we see the key value to be added.
In order to do so, a spatial strategy for each functional area must be developed, with a focus on connectivity and rural and coastal communities.
Local economies should be enhanced with the help of the knowledge economy, (open) data-led local planning and of place-based networks for rural and coastal communities to foster innovation.
The RTPI welcomes the ides of a National Plan for England, provided that it actually results in the alignment of the government plans having intended or unintended spatial consequences; we also welcome the proposals for the UK Renewal fund as a way to correct the shortcoming in the way in which UK Government investment is determined.
A Key concern of ours is that whilst the need for strategic planning is well known among practitioners and academics , public support is still lacking.
