Bonfire of the quangos?

21 Jul 2010

This month the coalition in Westminster continues to charge ahead, scattering quangos and trampling on projects at such a ferocious speed that it is hard to keep up. The Sustainable Development Commission is now to disappear, we learn, along with Building Schools for the Future. Rather pointedly the Welsh Assembly Government took the opportunity to announce a major funding package of £144.8m in new capital projects for schools and school grounds across Wales. This was closely followed by major funding announcements on new support for the regeneration of Ebbw Vale and £15.8m for outdoor and adventure tourism.

All of which makes Wales look like a fortunate island in a sea of general uncertainty. In Northern Ireland, the grim saga of large-scale cuts that threaten landscape architects in the Department of the Environment rumbles on. We are in correspondence with a number of Assembly members who are working to ensure that proper provision of quality landscape services survives whatever drastic changes are eventually decided on.

Back in England, in recent weeks, the LI has been in discussion with the Royal Town Planning Institute and other organisations on the future of strategic planning. The word “regional” is banned from the vocabulary of Conservative cabinet ministers, and anything that inadvertently makes reference to the “r” word will get short shrift. However, planning at a landscape level cannot be adequately addressed by working exclusively within the boundaries of individual local authorities, since all kinds of things including climate change, biodiversity and major infrastructure cannot be sensibly dealt with at exclusively local scales. We are seeking an early meeting with DEFRA ministers to discuss how to make strategic plans in the context of localism. 

The future of CABE is now in some doubt, and there is a debate going on about the future of design reviews. Perhaps CABE will stop doing them (in which case, who will?), or perhaps it will stop doing everything else and just focus on them. In a couple of days, DEFRA is launching the consultation on the Natural Environment White Paper, which will no doubt result in more massive shake-ups that have an impact on the work of landscape architects...

...and closer to home, some really good news. By the deadline for entries to the Future Vision Awards, we had received a very encouraging 57 entries. For the LI Awards, there were a healthy 106 entrants, down just two from last year’s figure of 108. The last remaining Awards scheme open for you to enter this year is the UK Landscape Award. Entries close at the end of August and, so far, 26 schemes have registered.