The government has announced an overhaul of the planning system to accelerate housebuilding to deliver their 1.5 million homes target.
Under the new planning rules, updated via the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF):
- Councils will be told to play their part to meet housing need, with new immediate mandatory housing targets for councils to ramp up housebuilding.
- Areas with the highest unaffordability for housing and greatest potential for growth will see housebuilding targets increase, while stronger action will ensure councils adopt up-to-date local plans or develop new plans that work for their communities.
- A new “common-sense approach” will be introduced to the greenbelt. While remaining committed to a brownfield first approach, the updated NPPF will require councils to review their greenbelt boundaries to meet targets, identifying and prioritising lower quality ‘grey belt’ land.
- Any development on greenbelt must meet strict requirements, via the new ‘golden rules’, which require developers to provide the necessary infrastructure for local communities, such as nurseries, GP surgeries and transport, as well as a premium level of social and affordable housing.
- To further tackle the housing crisis, councils and developers will also need to give greater consideration to social rent when building new homes and local leaders have greater powers to build genuinely affordable homes for those who need them most.
The government also announced £100m additional cash for councils’ planning officers, along with 300 additional planning officers.
Commenting on the overhaul, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “For far too long, working people graft hard but are denied the security of owning their own home. I know how important it is – our pebble dash semi meant everything to our family growing up. But with a generation of young people whose dream of homeownership feels like a distant reality, and record levels of homelessness, there’s no shying away from the housing crisis we have inherited.
“We owe it to those working families to take urgent action, and that is what this government is doing. Our Plan for Change will put builders not blockers first, overhaul the broken planning system and put roofs over the heads of working families and drive the growth that will put more money in people’s pockets.
“We’re taking immediate action to make the dream of homeownership a reality through delivering 1.5 million homes by the next parliament and rebuilding Britain to deliver for working people.”
Industry reaction
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has welcomed the government’s announcement on planning reform as a boost to build more homes but noted that the failure to increase the percentage of small site allocations from the existing 10% is a big disappointment for micro housebuilders.
Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: “Changes to the planning system are long overdue and the government’s decisive action to ensure that new homes are built is very positive, with SME housebuilders long reporting that the planning system is the biggest hinderance to delivering new homes. The pragmatic approach to the green belt and local targets is much needed as they may help push through homes where they’re needed most.
“But not revising the small site allocation in local plans is going to come as a disappointment for small house builders, who desperately need available land to build on, which they’ve been reporting as a blocker for years. The government’s reforms must be seen as the start of the process to help diversify an increasingly restricted housing market, as the current changes don’t shift the dial enough for micro house builders.”
He continued: “Other fundamental issues are also at play. Small house builders are at the sharp end of the planning system, often having to jump through the same hoops as volume developers. While any increase to planning officer numbers is welcome, the 300 proposed is a drop in the ocean and will not turn the tide for the nation’s local house builders. SME house builders frequently cite poor resourcing of planning departments and the subsequent poor communication from them as the number one reason they can’t build new homes. We need to see this change.”
