Architects warn government could 'kick Farrell Review into long grass'

The Farrell Review is in danger of being “kicked into the long grass” by government, leading architects have warned.

The government’s decision not to respond to Terry Farrell’s report for a year suggests it intends to leave implementation of the recommendations to the next administration, said former RIBA president and Construction Industry Council chairman Jack Pringle.

“I should think Terry Farrell is rather disappointed with that because it’s quite close to kicking it into the long grass,” he said.

“He and anyone who supports the measures will have to work quite hard to keep them alive into the next government. He is going to have his work cut out to do that.”

Architecture minister Ed Vaizey, who commissioned the review, told the launch event that government would not make a formal response but would take stock of progress in a year’s time.

He said he wanted industry and architects to embrace the review and was confident developers would be keen to do this.

More than half the 60 recommendations are addressed at government.

Farrell admitted he has been advised by the author of another government report, on the computer games industry, that he would need to “become a raving nutter” to make his recommendations stick.

The review has been widely welcomed by architects but many raised questions about how key parts would be implemented.

Robin Nicholson, senior partner at Cullinan Studio, said: “Vaizey’s not a big hitter and Farrell has done all this for free. It’s brilliant that he has, but it never had the support of the Treasury and unless you have that you are pissing in the wind.”

He cited the recommendation on reducing VAT on renovation projects as an example of a change that’s been widely lobbied for but repeatedly blocked by the chancellor.

“I’m all for this idea of proactive planning but it needs massive investment. There was investment in planners under new Labour but as soon as the cuts came local authorities had to sack them all and the best ones have been pinched by the private sector.

“It should be supported but sadly the political reality is there’s not the public money or will to support it,” he said.

Peter Stewart, founder of the Peter Stewart Consultancy, said Vaizey’s failure to champion the report was a blow.

“Everyone would agree with what Terry is saying but how you make it happen is the challenge,” he said.

“It’s about culture change and you can do that without legislation. But it’s all about money and political support.”

He said it was at local rather than government level that change was most likely to succeed, if ambitious civic leaders embraced the recommendations.

Alex Ely, founding partner at Mae Architects and author of the London Housing Design Guide, said local authorities might find up-front investment in design-savvy planning teams paid for itself in the long run in reducing costly planning appeals. The bills for these can exceed £100,000.

He praised the breadth of Farrell’s review and said it was important that it was now “tested and challenged”.

Robert Adam, founder of Adam Architecture, was also a fan of the proactive planning process and the Place design review concept.

But he said the chances of the review being “implemented in its entirety” were “pretty slim”.