Tensions and future prospects for sustainable housing growth. A case study of Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes
Lead Research Organisation:
The Open University
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
Publications
Cochrane A
(2015)
Living on the Edge: Building a Sub/Urban Region
in Built Environment
Cochrane A
(2019)
In and beyond local government: making up new spaces of governance
in Local Government Studies
Cochrane A
(2013)
Developing a sub-regional growth strategy: Reflections on recent English experience
in Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit
Cochrane A
(2015)
Governing the ungovernable: spatial policy, markets and volume house-building in a growth region
in Policy & Politics
Cochrane, A
(2014)
Spatial policy, urban extensions and volume house-building
Cochrane, A
(2018)
The Routledge Handbook on Spaces of Urban Politics
Cochrane, A.
(2016)
Where is the London City Region?
Cochrane, A.
(2016)
Thinking in and beyond the market: housing, planning and the state.
Cochrane, A.
(2012)
Whatever happened to sustainable communities? Living on the edge of the London City Region
in Not applicable
| Description | Impact narrative The findings of the project are directly relevant to current policy debates around planning and housing development because of the way in which they explore the uneasy negotiation that underpins new house building. Our research questions the argument that planning is the principal constraint on development even where pressures for housing growth are high and it also highlights the lack of transparency around issues of viability which make the process seem like a technical rather than a democratic process. The emerging impact of the project can be briefly summarised under three headings: 1. Engagement with practitioners, policy makers and the public Throughout its life the project sought to maintain a continuing dialogue with those engaged in policy and practice. The interviews themselves were open discussions rather than merely attempts to extract data from participants, but this approach was also reflected in the workshops organised by the team at the start and end of the project, which drew in a wide range of practitioners from various sectors beyond the academy. Our advisory board was similarly constructed in ways that ensured the voice of practitioners in housing and planning would be heard, as well as to ensure that they would be able to engage with our research. The project web-site was used to ensure that the research was made more widely available - and a series of policy briefs were prepared to link the research to issues of current concern. Presentations arising from the research were given to wider audiences, including the Midlands Housing Forum and Future City Talks organized by the Fred Roche Foundation in Milton Keynes. Presentations were made to specialist groups, such as the ATLAS group within the Department of Communities and Local Government, as well as the Labour Land Campaign and the Highbury Group on Housing Delivery (an independent group of specialists from the public, private and independent sectors) . A conference on Garden Cities for Tomorrow: A Challenge for the English Midlands was organised through the project (in December 2012) in order to take the debate further - our work contributed to the growing debate around the prospect for a new set of garden cities. One of the aims of the Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship awarded to the Principal Investigator (Professor Allan Cochrane), which runs until the end of September 2015, is to develop the policy relevant work of the project on planning for growth on the edge of a growth region. 2. Informing policy It is perhaps premature to identify ways in which our work has so far directly influenced policy, but it has certainly been taken up to inform policy-making and policy debate. So, for example, reference has been made to the project and its findings in national reports, such as the Lyons Review as well as a report on housing that has been prepared for the Department of Business Innovation and Skills as part of the Foresight Future Cities programme. We were invited to comment on the draft report by Shelter/KPMG into Building the Homes We Need in 2014 and made a submission to the RTPI for their review of the Value of Planning in the same year. Our work has also fed directly into local planning documents, for example in Northamptonshire Economic Partnership's Strategic Economic Plan and is referred to in the forthcoming report on housing supply in Northamptonshire currently being prepared by Three Dragons/SQW. Members of the research team have been invited to participate in a several workshops and discussions organised by local authorities in the sub-region (and one of the members of the team has been appointed to the Housing Board of the NEP on the strength of the research). 3. More unexpected impacts One consequence of the research has been to open up questions in areas which were not initially planned. The main example of this relates to questions of openness in the planning process, particularly as it relates to 'viability assessments'. One of the Co-investigators (Dr. Bob Colenutt) was called on to provide an Expert Witness Statement to the Freedom of Information Tribunal hearing on the (successful) appeal by Greenwich Peninsula residents in 2014, and the evidence he provided drew heavily on the work of the project. More recently, he prepared a paper on 'Viability Assessment and Freedom of Information' and made a presentation to the Information Commissioner's Office (February 2015), again drawing directly on the research. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Citation Northamptonshire Housing Study |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Description | Citation Strategic Economic Plan |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/en/councilservices/Environ/economic/Documents/PDF%20Documents/SEP... |
| Description | Citation in Lyons Review |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/uploads/editor/files/The_Lyons_Housing_Review_2.pdf |
| Description | Housing Strategy Board (Northamptonshire) |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | Leverhulme emeritus fellowship |
| Amount | £9,966 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EM-2014-086 |
| Organisation | The Leverhulme Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2014 |
| End | 03/2016 |
| Description | ATLAS presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of research findings to Advisory Teams for Large Applications (ATLAS) Team in Homes and Communities Agency. Thoughtful discussion around possibilities associated with sustainable urban extensions. No direct impacts - feeding into wider sets of debates around large planning applications. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Advisory Groups |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Supporters |
| Results and Impact | The main result of the activity was to ecnouarge a continuing critical dalogue about our work. The main impacts related to invitations to present to other audiences (such as ATLAS) and engage with locally based agencies |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014 |
| Description | Briefing notes |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The research team prepared a series of (six) policy briefs covering key areas of the research and made them available on-line as well as circulating them to advisory group members and other research particpants. One result was that feedback was received from members of the advisory group and the work on the briefs also fed into other engagement activities. Briefing Note 6 is our submission to the Lyons Review. Difficult to identify any notable impacts, except insofar as preparing the briefs enabled members of the team to operate as experts in various contexts. Our submission to the Lyons Review was directly cited in the report. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/tensionsandprospects/communication-outputs/briefing-notes |
| Description | Concluding workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This workshop brought together a wide range of colleagues from across the policy/practitioner/provider spectrum, as well as some academics (the majority of participants were not academics). The exciting aspect of the workshop was the way in which academic research was discussed in ways that stretched direcly into issues of professional and business practice. The dialogue that was possible was unusually rich. This workshop, coupled with some of the other engagement activities identified in this section, laid he basis for continuing discussion and direct engagement with policy and professional actors - see policy impact entries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Expert evidence (Elephant and Castle) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Judicial and planning process so precise impact difficult to determine, but the tribunal determined that aspects of the viabilty assessment could be kept confidential on commercial grounds although it was deermined that some information should be made available. There has been no significant impact so far, but it remains important to open up the debate around viability, its assessment and the need for greater openness remains. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Future city talks (MK) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation (March 2014) as part of a series of talks organised by Fred Roche Foundation and Milton Keynes Gallery on 'Future City' in Milton Keynes. Contribution to wider debate about the future of MK - leading to discussion of Plan: MK (local plan) in November 2014 Continued engagement in discussion around plans for Milton Keynes - invited to participate as stakeholder in discussions on local economy, facilitated by GVA Grimley on behalf of the local Council (September 2014) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.mkgallery.org/events/2014_03_06/talks_people_places_and_culture/ |
| Description | Interim findings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Policy oriented summary of interim findings initially presented to Project Advisory Group, inlcuding professional practioners and policy makers - generated thoughtful discussion. Then made available to wider audience on-line. Fed into continuing local enagement with policy actors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/tensionsandprospects/files/tensions-prospects-pr/files/ecms/w... |
| Description | Interview for online open programme - Understanding Milton Keynes |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I was a central contributor to and interviewee on a specially commissioned open on-line programme prepared in the context of the 50th Anniversary of Milton Keynes designation as a new town. The programme (Understanding Milton Keynes) is widely available through the Open University's Open Learn platform. The work undertaken for this programme also fed into an event that took place in Middleton Hall in Milton Keynes Shopping Centre on 29 June 2017 - 'Milton Keynes of the Mind: What does it mean to have a whole new town in mind?' I made a presentation on 'Building an everyday utopia in North Bucks' and extracts from the film programme were also shown. There was an audience of around 60 people, including planners and local community actors. The aim of the programme and of the event was to explore the MK model and its continuing relevance to urban planning, both in the UK and elsewhere in the world. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.open.edu/openlearn/society-politics-law/geography/understanding-milton-keynes |
| Description | Labour Land Campaign |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Policy oriented discussion following presentations. Not clear whether there were any immediate outcomes - the purpose is to encourage policy thinking around land owenrship and development. This is an area in which political thinking remains very cautious. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2014 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/tensionsandprospects/communication-outputs/presentations |
| Description | MK Video |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interviewed for artist's video (Clare Chun-yu Liu) which has been shown as part of several artistic events, and is also available on-line. The film relates directly to Milton Keynes and its development and is entitled MK Boogie Woogie. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://fusion-journal.com/issue/010-fusion-land-dialogues-interdisciplinary-research-in-dialogue-wit... |
| Description | Midlands Housing forum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The main immediate results were in terms of continued engagement, for example in consultation and discussion around regeneration activity in Milton Keynes. Only in terms of maintaining continuing relationships between the team and the world of practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013 |
| Description | Presentation to The Housing Forum Networking Conference for the Midlands |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Policy oriented presentation oriented towards housing professionals - raising questions about opportunities and constraints. Contacts made led to involvement in policy disussions relating to housing led regeneration in Milton Keynes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Project Launch |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Supporters |
| Results and Impact | As a project launch, the purpose of this event was to bring together a range of actors across the academic/policy/practice divide to present our ideas and to learn from participants about how we might take our research forward. The discussion was helpful both in shaping our strategy and in enabling debate between particpants. The main impact was on our own thinking, and it enabled us to build contacts with actors in the field as well as potential academic interlocutors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/tensionsandprospects/files/tensions-prospects-pr/files/ecms/w... |
| Description | SEMLEP Seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An informal seminar and presentation was arranged between members of the research team and a small group of professional actors, including members working for SEMLEP. The discussion was focused on the possibilities of development in the sub-region. Direct impacts uncertain. Mainenance of dialogue important. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Submission to House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committe |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Submission (BLD0012) to Committee reviewing the state of the English house building industry (Capacity in the Home Building Industry): submission focused on the business models used in the industry and on planning delays. Work of committee still ongoing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/communities-and-loc... |
| Description | University seminars |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Seminars were conducted in a range of academic institutions, including Oxford Brookes, Middlesex University and the University of Westminster. The prime audiences were postgraduate students and academics (mainly but not only working in planning). Productive discussion took place afterwards, focused on the role of planners and the constraints they faced in meeting housing need. Only that some of the tensions, constraints and possibilities were identified. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013,2014 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/tensionsandprospects/communication-outputs/presentations |