A briefing paper examined government attempts to use the planning system to stimulate housebuilding between 1993 and 2010.
Source: Christopher Barclay, Housing Targets and Planning, Standard Note SN/SC/3741, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2010-Dec
A briefing paper examined government attempts to use the planning system to stimulate housebuilding between 1993 and 2010.
Source: Christopher Barclay, Housing Targets and Planning, Standard Note SN/SC/3741, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2010-Nov
A report examined the impact of abolishing regional planning strategies in England, focusing on regions in the midlands and the north. There had been a substantial delay in replacing house-building targets. Some local authorities were struggling to understand the nature and scope of their new responsibilities, and were concerned that they did not have the financial or technical resources to assess local housing need.
Source: David Burton with Ben Pattison, Jennifer Strutt and Jim Vine, Abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies: Rapid impact assessment for the midlands and north of England, Building and Social Housing Foundation
Links: Report | BSHF press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Oct
A series of briefing papers examined planning policy. Specially designated development sites, offering substantial tax incentives, could be used to revive building as part of a radical new housing model. Such a development plan, which would also involve local councils issuing 'building bonds', could reduce the cost of development by a quarter.
Source: Responsible Democratic Localism, Town and Country Planning Association | National Planning Framework, Town and Country Planning Association | The Bigger Picture and the Longer View: Really useful strategic planning, Town and Country Planning Association | Incentives for Growth, Town and Country Planning Association
Links: Paper (1) | Paper (2) | Paper (3) | Paper (4) | TCPA press release | New Start report
Date: 2010-Sep
The new coalition government introduced regulations that would remove the blanket requirement for landlords to submit a planning application to rent their properties to unrelated tenants – known as 'houses in multiple occupation'. Local councils would only have to use this power where they knew high concentrations of shared homes were a problem.
Source: The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (No.2) (England) Order 2010, Statutory Instrument 2010/2134/TSO | The Town and Country Planning (Compensation) (No.3) (England) Regulations 2010, Statutory Instrument 2010/2135/TSO
Links: Text of Statutory Instrument 2134 | Text of Statutory Instrument 2135 | DCLG press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Sep
The new coalition government announced plans for a 'community right to build' that would give local communities in England the power to build the homes that they needed without being 'thwarted by red tape and bureaucracy'. Community organizations would be free to go ahead with development without the need for planning permission, provided that there was 'overwhelming' community support and 'minimum criteria' were met.
Source: Press release 23 July 2010, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: DCLG press release | Leaflet | RTPI press release
Date: 2010-Jul
The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government issued revised planning guidance taking gardens out of the brownfield land category, in a bid to strengthen local councils' ability to refuse unwanted residential development in gardens. It also scrapped the minimum density target of 30 homes per hectare.
Source: Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3): Housing, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Statement | Hansard | DCLG press release | LGA press release | TCPA press release | RTPI press release | CPRE press release | New Start report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jun
A study examined the changes that brownfield housing developments had brought to the most deprived neighbourhoods in England. The high level of brownfield reuse had succeeded in making the housing market more dynamic, particularly the market for flats, since the mid-2000s.
Source: Cecilia Wong and Andreas Schulze-Baing, Brownfield Residential Redevelopment in England: What happens to the most deprived neighbourhoods?, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2010-Jun
A paper highlighted problems in the existing planning system in relation to housing, and drew together suggestions for change including: moving away from national targets towards a more localized incentives-based system of land-use planning; simplified contributions to infrastructure and affordable housing that include a narrowly defined section 106; and encouraging local housing trusts, community land trusts, self-build, and other local initiatives that could deliver more housing and empower local communities.
Source: Gemma Burgess, Sarah Monk and Christine Whitehead, How Can the Planning System Deliver More Housing?, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Mar
The government announced (following consultation and a research exercise) proposals to give local authorities new powers to help them manage the spread of houses in multiple occupation.
Source: Written Ministerial Statement 27 January 2010, columns 54-56WS, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Hansard | DCLG press release | Consultation responses | Research report | Consultation document | NLA press release | New Start report | Telegraph report | Local Government Chronicle report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Jan
