The Housing Secretary has announced an overhaul of the country’s outdated planning system to be at the heart of the most significant reforms to housing policy in decades.
The landmark changes will transform a system that has long been criticised for being too sluggish in providing housing for families, key workers and young people and too ineffectual in obligating developers to properly fund the infrastructure, such as schools, roads and GP surgeries, to support them. Valued green spaces and Green Belt will continue to be protected for future generations, with the reforms allowing for more building on brownfield land.
Local community agreement will be at the centre of the proposals being put forward in the White Paper, Planning for the Future, published today.
The changes will be a major boost to SME builders currently cut off by the planning process. They will be key players in getting the country building on the scale needed to drive our economic recovery, while leading housebuilding that is beautiful and builds on local heritage and character.
The current system has shown itself to be unfavourable to small businesses, with the proportion of new homebuilding they lead on dropping drastically from 40 per cent thirty years ago to just 12 per cent today. Recent studies show smaller firms feel the complexities of the planning process and its associated risks, delays and costs are the key challenges they face in homebuilding.
Housing Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said: “Our complex planning system has been a barrier to building the homes people need; it takes seven years to agree local housing plans and five years just to get a spade in the ground.
"These once in a generation reforms will lay the foundations for a brighter future, providing more homes for young people and creating better quality neighbourhoods and homes across the country. We will cut red tape, but not standards, placing a higher regard on quality, design and the environment than ever before. Planning decisions will be simple and transparent, with local democracy at the heart of the process.
"As we face the economic effects of the pandemic, now is the time for decisive action and a clear plan for jobs and growth. Our reforms will create thousands of jobs, lessen the dominance of big builders in the system, providing a major boost for small building companies across the country."
The reforms will mean:
- Local communities will be consulted from the very beginning of the planning process. By harnessing the latest technology through online maps and data, the whole system will be made more accessible;
- Valued green spaces will be protected for future generations by allowing for more building on brownfield land and all new streets to be tree lined;
- Much-needed homes will be built quicker by ensuring local housing plans are developed and agreed in 30 months – down from the current 7 years;
- Every area to have a local plan in place - currently only 50% of local areas has a plan to build more homes;
- The planning process to be overhauled and replaced with a clearer, rules based system. Currently around a third of planning cases that go to appeal are overturned at appeal;
- A new simpler national levy to replace the current system of developer contributions which often causes delay;
- The creation of a fast-track system for beautiful buildings and establishing local design guidance for developers to build and preserve beautiful communities; and
- All new homes to be carbon neutral by 2050, with no new homes delivered under the new system needed to be retrofitted.
Matthew Fell, CBI chief UK policy director, said: “Changes to the planning system will help ramp up the availability of homes in places where people need them most. These reforms will allow housebuilders to get to work, supporting supply chains, and more flexible, local labour markets around the country.
“Delivering high-quality, safe and environmentally friendly new homes is critical for meeting our climate targets while accelerating regional growth and tackling inequality. Affordability of future housing supply must remain at the forefront of these efforts.
“With coronavirus continuing to cast a shadow of uncertainty over the economy, a more flexible planning system must give local authorities and businesses scope to deliver the homes people need in the short term while laying the groundwork for sustainable communities for decades to come.”
James Thomson, CEO of Gleeson Homes, said: “We strongly support the reform of our historic planning system, to bring it up to speed and ensure it is fit for purpose for the modern-day. In particular, we welcome initiatives to make it more transparent, speed up planning where appropriate and has a presumption towards development rather than against. The renewed commitment to building 300,000 new homes a year is an important goal and will be aided by these new initiatives.
“At Gleeson, our focus is building low-cost quality homes in areas of regeneration and on brownfield land. The permission in principle initiative will help us to fast-track hundreds of new affordable homes for first-time buyers and essential workers on lower incomes who are eager to get a foot on the property ladder. Not only will these reforms go some way to supporting local SME housebuilders and their supply chains, but they will also help to ‘level-up’ the country through increased infrastructure investment, bringing jobs and homes to the north.
“It’s also promising to see the Government renew its commitment to building well designed places for people to live and work, rather than just schemes that focus solely on density often to the detriment of place.”
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: "We welcome the government's ambition to build high-quality, sustainable homes and communities. We look forward to working with the government to shape the proposals and deliver the high-quality social housing the country desperately needs. We also welcome the ambition to get homes built more quickly, particularly given the positive impact this will have for the economy and jobs.
"However, they are proposing to scrap the policy which requires private developers to build a certain amount of social homes in every new development - so-called 'Section 106 agreements'. These are the single biggest contribution to building new affordable homes in the country - last year, Section 106 agreements delivered almost 28,000 affordable homes, about half of the total. This policy also helps ensure that every town and community across the country is made up of people on different incomes, living in a range of homes.
"Any alternative to section 106 must ensure we can deliver more high quality affordable homes to meet the huge demand across the country. Any new system must also enable the 'levelling up' of communities that have already been left behind, such as rural communities or places with a struggling local economy.
"We must also remember that, ultimately, the best way of ensuring we build enough social housing is through direct investment from the government."
Victoria Hills, chief executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), said: “The policy paper published by the government today represents a massive change to the planning system. There are some major propositions contained within the document that will not only require the government to work hand-in-hand with the planning profession to implement, but will also demand some serious resourcing.
“The RTPI will judge the success of these reforms on how successfully they tackle inequality, accelerate progress to net-zero carbon emissions, promote sustainable transport and answer the need for strategic planning.
“It is, however, extremely encouraging to see recognition in the proposals of the importance of a local plan, quality design, community engagement and a plan-led approach.
“We will be consulting widely with our members on these proposals and look forward to working constructively with the government to deliver sensible, realistic reforms that will ensure the high quality homes we need, and a sustainable, resilient and inclusive future for the UK. We must however not lose sight in the immediate term of the need to resource planning now so it can support the green recovery we all want to see.”