More details of the biggest shake up in planning in England for six years have been revealed as part of a 10 week consultation aimed at speeding up the process and getting more new homes built.
Maximising the use of land, strengthened protections for the green belt and a greater emphasis on converting planning permissions into homes are at the heart of the new planning reforms.
Housing Secretary Sajid Javid said that while the Government has already delivered more than a million homes since 2010, more needs to be done to deliver the 300,000 homes a year needed by the mid 2020s.
The Government believes that more planning permissions need to be fast tracked into homes for a generation of first time buyers locked out of the housing market and the increasing older generation who need the right homes designed to their needs.
A major overhaul to the National Planning Policy Framework aims to make sure that councils and developers work together and with community groups to ensure those affected by new developments will have a say on how they look and feel.
Local authorities will have a new housing delivery test focused on driving up the numbers of homes actually delivered in their area, rather than numbers planned for. Developers will also be held to account for delivering the commitments, including affordable housing and the infrastructure needed to support communities.
More freedom will be given to local authorities to make the most of existing brown field land to build homes that maximise density. Redundant land use will be encouraged such as underutilised retail or industrial space for homes, with more flexibilities given to extend upwards on existing blocks of flats and houses as well as shops and offices.
This aim is to build more homes on this kind of land while maintaining strong protection for the green belt. To make this happen developments will be asked to show that there is a net gain to the environment where possible and increases the protection given to ancient woodland so they are not lost for future generations.
There will be housing developments just for first time buyers, Build to Rent homes with family friendly tenancies, guaranteed affordable homes for key workers and adapted homes for older people.
There will also be new quality standards so well designed new homes are built in places people are proud to live in and live next door to.
Local authorities will be encouraged to continue to close the gap between planning permissions granted and homes built. A new standardised approach to assessing housing need will be introduced with new measures to make the system of developer contributions clearer, simpler and more robust, so developers understand what’s expected of them and will be in no doubt that councils will hold them to their commitments.
‘An entire generation is being locked out of a broken housing market as prices and rents race ahead of supply. Reforming the planning system is the crucial next step to building the homes the country needs,’ said Javid.
‘This Government is determined to fix the broken housing market and restore the dream of home ownership for a new generation. There is no silver bullet to this problem but we’re re-writing the rules on planning so we can take action on all fronts. In moving to a more integrated society, the focus for everyone, whether a developer or a neighbourhood group, must be to come together to build the homes our communities deserve,’ he added.
According to John Acres, president of the Royal Town Planning Institute, planners are critical to and passionate about building vibrant and connected neighbourhoods, towns and cities. ‘A clear, concise and consistent policy context can help to deliver this,’ he said.
The consultation aims to give everyone the opportunity to feed in views on proposals for the future of planning and will run until Thursday 10 May.
The National Federation of Builders (NFB) welcomed the consultation but said that councils ought to pay more attention to identifying small and medium sites in their five year land supply plans. ‘These sites do not place undue strain on the existing infrastructure, are developed relatively quickly, and attract local developers, who employ and train locally,’ said Richard Beresford, NFB chief executive.
‘The Government can do more to tackle the housing crisis, but it needs the entire housing supply chain to support its drive as well as challenge its ambition. We would like to see the Government more ambitious on planning reform and the green belt, but we welcome the direction the NPPF review has taken. Local government has a big part to play in enabling the right homes in the right places,’ he added.
Likewise, there are calls for smaller builders to be part of the house building boom. ‘We need house builders of all sizes to be building. While support for local house building almost doubled between 2010 and 2016 from 29% to 57%, the Government needs to do more to support small and medium sized (SME) house builders,’ said Robert Grigg, managing director of property finance at Hampshire Trust Bank.
‘SME house builders don’t hoard land but often miss out on opportunities due to the endless red tape that binds them, mainly due to the costly and lengthy planning process, and this is having a significant impact on their business development plans. We urgently need the Government to deliver on its pledges made in today’s papers to reduce red tape and streamline the planning process for SME housebuilders, enabling them to build more much needed homes,’ he explained.
There are other issues which are not being addressed, according to Charles Holland, head of residential development and investment at Marsh & Parsons ‘The Government is playing around the margins. The wider issue is the release of public sector land, which needs to be brought forward for development quicker,’ he said.
‘The public sector needs to do much more of the heavy lifting in addressing the land supply issue, by rationalising its estate and ensuring that what is brought forward delivers genuinely affordable housing, across a mix of tenures,’ he pointed out.
‘Whilst it is positive that the intention is to reduce planning red tape, the current procurement processes for the release of public sector land are cumbersome, time consuming and expensive to participate in, thereby restricting participation to a limited field. We would urge the Government to act quickly and not sit on their hands,’ he added.
