Pictured above: John Truslove

Business property consultant John Truslove has challenged the new Government to simplify planning laws and kick out unnecessary red tape to help boost the commercial property market.

He said he feared that early statements of intent could be watered down once civil servants got their "revise" pencils on to plans for a far reaching overhaul of the planning system.

Mr Truslove is head of a commercial property practice based in Redditch, covering Worcestershire, Warwickshire and the West Midlands, who has been advising businesses from plcs to start ups since 1981.

"I welcome the stated intentions to scrap regional planning bodies, regional spatial strategies and regional housing targets as they have simply been talking shops that have hindered rather than helped.

"Similarly, the Infrastructure Planning Commission is another body that could be scrapped to advantage."

He called on the Government to act immediately on one planning aspect he said was crippling initiative and regeneration.

"The first thing to do, without question, is to stop all Moratoria, and pass legislation preventing planning authorities from ever using this pointless undemocratic weapon again."

Moratoria and interim zoning (sometimes called "stop-gap" zoning) are techniques used by local governments to preserve the status quo or at least to limit the extent of change while the local government creates and adopts a new plan or zoning ordinance or while it addresses some other local policy issue, such as adding capacity to an overloaded sewage treatment plant.

He cautioned on Conservative/Lib Dem support for "localism" which would increase the power for local residents to object to developments and introduce third party rights of appeal.

Both parties are committed to cutting down on so-called "garden grabbing" but Mr Truslove fears that this could lead to an unintended crackdown on housing development on small sites.

"When a recession is easing and new home buyers start to put their heads above the parapet, it is very often the smaller developer who is producing smaller numbers of houses or apartments who can respond quickest to an improving market.

"It is far easier to build four to eight homes with the likelihood of selling them with some certainty, than expect a major developer to commit to new housing estates of 200 plus homes," he pointed out.

In some areas, policy has yet to be clarified. In the run up to the election, the Tories announced plans to scrap the Community Infrastructure Levy, the proposed system to replace Section 106 agreements, but it appears this could be delayed.

Mr Truslove said: "The various changes proposed, if enacted, and the mood towards more local determination is a warning to developers, both residential and commercial, that they must communicate more openly with their potential neighbours.

"They need to ensure they are in sync with local opinion and are working in a clear and transparent manner, communicating their intentions and the benefits these will bring, at every stage of the planning and development or they will find they may well struggle to secure new development opportunities.

"Developers who do not invest more time and money explaining their plans to local residents and local authorities will only have themselves to blame if those who live and govern in the area simply turn round and throw out their initial proposals," he said.

"Let's hope that 'New Politics' means less politics and less highly paid executives in quangos, plus no more consultants charging exorbitant fees to 'advise' the Government on issues where their civil servants should be more than capable of advising them - as part of their jobs.

"Business is ready to grow again, company owners want to feel more confident but they need clear and ambiguous signals from the Government that their contribution to the economy and ability to create jobs, often through property development and expansion, is understood and will not be stifled by unnecessary red tape and bureaucratic interference."

For more information on John Truslove, view the website here: www.johntruslove.com