Housing Secretary unveils planning reforms to boost p...

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31 July 2024

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By Marc Shoffman

TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Housing Secretary unveils planning reforms to boost property market

All councils in England will be given new, mandatory housebuilding targets under planning reforms unveiled by the Government yesterday.

Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner outlined the Government’s plans to build £1.5m homes over the next five years.

The new targets will mean councils must boost housebuilding in areas most in need.

Currently just a third of councils have a plan that is under five years old, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said.

Rayner has written to every council leader and chief executive in England to make clear that there is “not just a professional responsibility but a moral obligation to see more homes built”, and that she will not hesitate to use her powers of intervention should it be necessary – including taking over an authority’s plan making directly.

Reforms will make explicit that the default answer to brownfield development should be “yes.”

Councils will also have to review their green belt land if needed to meet their own target, identifying and prioritising ‘grey belt’ land, which the Government has finally defined.

A consultation on reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), released yesterday, defines the grey belt has land that makes “limited contribution” to green belt purposes

Land released in the green belt will be subject to the government’s ‘golden rules’, which make clear that development should deliver 50% affordable homes, increase access to green spaces and put the necessary infrastructure is in place, such as schools and GP surgeries.

Commenting on the proposals, Simon Gerrard, managing director of Martyn Gerrard Estate Agent, said these are positive steps but more work is needed.

He added: "A vital part of meeting housing targets, and of providing homes where they are most needed, will be fixing the permitted development right system. Under the Conservatives, these rules that were meant to more easily allow additional homes to be built in densely populated areas became nothing but an endless frustration for housebuilders. This is in large part due to a High Court ruling that gave local planning authorities carte blanche to block any new homes on purely subjective grounds. If a development were deemed ‘too tall’ or as ‘not fitting into the street scene’, it would not be built. This ruling must be overturned if we are to have a hope of providing new homes where they are most desperately needed, and I urge the government to go further in their efforts.

“Indeed, the entire culture that seems to exist within local planning authorities of being inherently against new development needs to change. Mandating housing targets is a good place to start, but the Labour government must show strength where the Conservatives couldn’t. I have experienced first-hand the lack of cohesion that exists within local planning bodies, where applications go back and forth endlessly to try and appease every person who has a say in how a development should be built. Inevitably, a consensus can’t be reached, and the application is rejected. The Labour government must demonstrate effective leadership to keep local authorities aligned with their mandate to act in favour of development.”

Nathan Emerson, chief executive of agency trade body Propertymark, said: “Propertymark is keen to work closely with the new UK Government to help ensure a balanced mix of housing is delivered across the next parliamentary term and beyond.

“Ensuring sustainable homes are delivered in key areas is paramount for the economy and it’s encouraging to hear Angela Rayner’s commit to an in ‘infrastructure first’ approach, and one that focuses on making full use of available brownfield and grey belt land where possible first.

“Propertymark has long called for an enhanced housing strategy to be developed and one that can deliver for generations to come, so it’s positive to hear this will become an integrated ambition moving forwards. It is essential housing supply has seamless continuity and keeps pace with demand, so the return of mandatory housing targets and a commitment to building a mixture of housing becomes a reality.

“Ultimately, future direction to deliver the 1.5m new homes promised must be driven by robust insight and delivered with precision with via close stakeholder engagement.”

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/housing-targets-increased-to-get-britain-building-again

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- Jon Moreton
- 31 July 2024 07:47 AM
1.5 million in the next 5 years! As I was feeding my unicorn this morning, a pig flew overhead.

- James Gibbs
- 31 July 2024 08:05 AM
Angela Rayner is probably not capable of being a junior negotiator rather than our Deputy Prime Minister. Stop the huge flow of immigration and the housing problem goes away. The Labour party is already out of its depth and the problems in Southport is a direct result of their inadequacies. And they can't see it or talk about it.

- Agent S
- 31 July 2024 08:19 AM
and of course we've got loads of tradesman to build them and all those council workers will actually go into work to tick the right boxes to get everything through in time - well we all need a laugh!

- David Fulcher
- 31 July 2024 08:36 AM
1.15million homes will be built over 5 years, the UK builds 230k a year. The last administration tried to change this, I don't see the next lot making any difference either.

- John Ahmed
- 31 July 2024 08:48 AM
More rubbish talk from Labour.
If politicians foccused more on the British public rather than give money to overseas nonsense, or waste it at home we might move forward.
As it stands I still see the UK declining.

- Welsh Cynic
- 31 July 2024 10:23 AM
If you override reasonable planning conditions, such as restrictions on the height of buildings or the unsuitability of certain types of development in established areas, in the short run you will risk local resentments and integration and future generations will express regret about the changes of character in those residential areas. There are areas best suited to different forms of development and Planners should be given the chance to at least raise these questions. After that, it becomes be a political decision and history will judge those.