Major blow as government body planning flagship office in Stoke-on-Trent is scrapped

The Government has announced that a body due to establish a flagship office – and new highly-skilled jobs – in Stoke-on-Trent, is to be closed down.

In a statement made in the Commons yesterday, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said that the Office for Place, previously a small team in the then Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, will be wound up to allow work to be ‘more efficiently and effectively delivered’ by the department itself.

The Office for Place was set up to help promote and advise on good design in the planning system.

It has reportedly been leasing desks at Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s Civic Centre whilst searching for a permanent home in the city.

New vacancies there – including the role of chief executive and other senior staff – were advertised as recently as August.

Current staff will be redeployed within the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), across the country. 

Daily Focus reported in July last year that the flagship office in Stoke-on-Trent would be used as a base to develop housing strategy for the UK’s towns and cities.

Civil servants as well as government ministers were expected to be based at the office and Interim Chair of the Office for Place Nicholas Boys Smith said he was “delighted” about the move.

The news comes just a couple of weeks after plans for a brand-new multi-million-pound Home Office base in Stoke-on-Trent have been scrapped, as revealed by Daily Focus here.

Matthew Pennycook’s statement reads: “Alongside spending decisions taken at the Budget and the re-setting of departmental budgets, the Deputy Prime Minister and I have, however, concluded that support to improve the quality and design of new homes and places can be more efficiently and effectively delivered by the Department itself.

“The Office for Place will therefore be closed down and the expertise of its staff redeployed within the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), across the country.

“I would like to reassure the House that this will not impact on wider government commitments to Stoke-on-Trent, including the award of £19.8 million for their Levelling Up Partnerships programme.

“In taking the decision to wind up the Office for Place, the government is not downgrading the importance of good design and placemaking, or the role of design coding in improving the quality of development.

“Rather, by drawing expertise and responsibility back into MHCLG, I want the pursuit of good design and placemaking to be a fully integrated consideration as the government reforms the planning system, rolls out digital local plans and provides support to local authorities and strategic planning authorities.

“I also believe that embedding this work within MHCLG will allow experience to be better reflected in decision-making, as well as integrated within an existing delivery team in Homes England already focused on design and placemaking.

He added that he would like to offer his ‘sincere thanks to the interim board, led by Nicholas Boys Smith as chair, and the Office for Place team for their exemplary work’.

A Stoke-on-Trent City Council spokesperson said: “We know that the Government has had to make some very hard choices with respect to use of limited resources and it is understandable that they are prioritising front-line imperatives such as tackling homelessness and increasing house-building. 

“Nevertheless, the city was proud to provide a home for the Office during their brief existence and we hope that the Government will consider the benefit of maintaining some of the national Chief Planner’s newly expanded team here in the city.”

The minister’s full statement can be read here.