Clarity is required from the government over how planning changes are to help meet targets for 1.5m new homes in the next five years.
Announced as part of the King’s Speech, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill intends to simplify the consent process for substantial infrastructure projects by cutting bureaucratic obstacles that can delay project approvals, and by unlocking additional sites for development.
Other crucial provisions in the Bill include funding nature recovery initiatives to ensure environmental protections are in place while developers build more homes, introducing compulsory purchase compensations to reimburse landowners affected by new housing developments, and modernising planning committees to prevent delays regarding planning applications.
Propertymark says to meet its targets, the government needs the equivalent of a large housing estate with over 1,150 homes built every single working day.
While the body says it welcomes the target, it wants clarity and demands that within any new legislation there must be transparency regarding any planned use of Green Belt land and a framework that prioritises already available brownfield and Grey Belt locations for development. And it urges that a ‘connected communities’ approach must be implemented by design, which delivers affordable housing in key areas where insight shows demand and potential requirements.
It also wants what it calls “full stakeholder engagement” - without defining what that is.
Nathan Emerson, chief executive at Propertymark, says: “While the new UK government clearly recognises the need for additional new homes by the end of this parliament, an aspect which is essential if they are serious about evening out house prices in the long-term, it will take well thought out and applied legislation to address the vast mismatch between ongoing demand and current supply.”
A Labour announcement about new planning concepts is expected today.
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The Tories had tried to strip out the red tape by setting targets for local council planning departments, restricting money and adding special measures. None of which really seemed to work, planning control controls planning and they don't want anything new, at least not without a considerable fight. Belligerent and self serving, they are the worst kind of police.
The planning system doesn’t work. It needs to be completely overhauled.
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