An independent review into how the NHS can make the best use of its estate to support NHS England’s Five Year Forward View has been published by government. The review highlights the opportunities available to support sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) and optimise the use of NHS land and buildings.

The report points to the “general consensus … that the current NHS capital investment is insufficient to fund transformation and maintain the current estate“ and calls for the NHS, through the STP process to “rapidly develop robust capital plans which are aligned with clinical strategies, maximise value for money (including land sales) and address backlog maintenance. Government should support these plans by providing capital, but only where a strong case has been made.”

In welcoming the review findings, the government notes that it is “already acting on some of the recommendations by:

• creating a new NHS property body
• making a £325 million capital investment over the next 3 years to develop local STPs – as announced in this year’s Budget
• developing an incentive scheme to guarantee that proceeds of sales are available for reinvestment”

It further notes that it will consider a further multi-year capital programme in the autumn and will respond to the broader recommendations in due course

The full report can be found here.

The government has published an independent review of community infrastructure levy (CIL) which recommends a new approach to developer contributions.

Commissioned in Nov 2015, the purpose of the review was to assess the extent to which CIL does or can provide an effective mechanism for funding infrastructure, and to recommend changes that would improve its operation in support of the government’s wider housing and growth objectives.

The review group submitted their report to ministers in October 2016 and concluded that, given the strengths and weaknesses of both systems, “we should have a system where we can use the best of both elements to optimize contributions from all development, including the smallest, towards the cumulative impacts of development over an area whilst acknowledging that the largest and most complex developments requires a bespoke approach to their specific infrastructure needs.”

Accordingly the review report recommends replacing the current CIL and s106 system with a hybrid system combining a broad and low level Local Infrastructure Tariff (LIT) applying to most developments with Section 106 for larger developments. The report and associated research findings can be found found here.

The new Mayor of London has published “A City for All Londoners” for consultation. The document sets out a direction for London, which the Mayor intends to expand on in detailed strategies, including:

• land use and growth (the London Plan)
• transport
• housing
• economic development
• the environment
• policing and crime
• culture
• health inequalities

Amongst other things, the document outlines how the Mayor plans to respond positively to pressures on growth and aims to ensure people from all walks of life are healthy and live well alongside each other.

The full document can be found here.