Nobody could accuse the Government of not being busy this Christmas season! Since it took office in July we have had a plethora of announcements about planning, housing and local government policy. And these are now being crystalized into a raft of White Papers, regulations and policy consultations.
Between 5th and 19th December this year there were no less than fifteen policy announcements relating to planning and housing.
Driving all of these changes is the commitment to build 1.5 million homes by 2029. The government seems to believe that planning is the main constraint on development.
But at least for the moment it has failed to address the main problem – getting builders to build houses. The housing market works to keep prices high by restricting the amount of house building! Housebuilders are known to postpone the development of schemes with planning permission or adopt slow build out rates to keep prices high.
Added to this, where are the skilled craftsmen to build all these houses?
At the forefront of the Christmas policy changes is the National Planning Policy Framework, or NPPF as we have fondly come to know it. Revisions to this were put out to public consultation in the summer and there were over 11,000 responses. Presumably these were all supportive, as the document has come back with very few changes.
This revised framework replaces the previous National Planning Policy Framework published in March 2012, revised in July 2018, updated in February 2019, revised in July 2021, updated in September 2023 and revised in December 2023. So we can expect this new one to last at least a few months, or even a year.
The new NPPF reinstates mandatory housing target for every local planning authority. This was originally introduced by the last government, but then abandoned. There is a new method for assessing housing need.
The NPPF also has a requirement to produce up to date “agile” local plans and has a sequential approach to the use of land for housing development: Brownfield first – grey belt – green belt. There are “golden rules” for development in green belt e.g. infrastructure and maximum of 50% affordable housing.
It also gives higher priority for social rented homes.
As well as the NPPF itself there are new and revised planning practice guidelines (PPGs), that set out expectations about how local authorities will deal with planning matters.
The government has also published a discussion paper on modernising planning committees. The paper invites views on proposals to increase and standardise the delegation of decisions to officers and require compulsory training for planning committee members.
The Coventry Society would certainly support this last proposal.
The last Christmas present to arrive was the complete restructuring of local government in England. The Devolution White Paper focusing on existing and future mayoral city regions / sub-regions.
Smaller local authorities will be reorganized into unitary authorities with a population of 0.5+ million. It is to be hoped that the new super-councils will not find themselves in a financial emergency as Somerset was after its reorganisation.
Mayors will have a central role in the creation of strategic development strategies, which will guide where new housing is to be built. They will also set the strategy for future Affordable Homes Programmes (AHPs). They will also direct Homes England activities.
Looking forwards to the New Year, we can expect the update of the national design guide, a national design model code, the Planning & Infrastructure Bill, a Devolution Bill and a 10-year housing plan in March. So quite a year ahead!