A report by a committee of MPs said that the coalition government's plans to extend planning permission exemptions in England (in particular allowing people to build larger home extensions without planning permission) were based on an inadequate impact assessment. By failing to take account of the social and environmental effects, the plans also ignored two essential requirements of the sustainable development policy set out in the national policy planning framework.
Source: The Committee's Response to Government's Consultation on Permitted Development Rights for Homeowners, Seventh Report (Session 2012–13), HC 830, House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | BBC report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Dec
A think-tank report said that since the coalition government abolished regional spatial strategies in 2010, local authorities had used their planning powers to reduce housing targets. The largest reductions had been in the areas with the greatest housing shortage. Without significant changes to the planning system, the number of new houses would continue to fall. The report proposed: increasing the power and number of neighbourhood plans; directly channelling funds from the community infrastructure levy to households affected by new development; and converting more brownfield sites into housing.
Source: Alex Morton, Planning for Less: The impact of abolishing regional planning, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Dec
The Growth and Infrastructure Bill was published. The Bill included plans to:
Enable developers who proposed 'nationally significant' projects to be able to use a 'fast-track' planning process.
Allow developers to reopen agreements with local councils on developments involving a quota of affordable homes, in cases where the plans had been considered 'economically unrealistic'.
Source: Growth and Infrastructure Bill, Department for Communities and Local Government, TSO
Links: Bill | Explanatory notes | DCLG press release | HOC research brief | CBI press release | LGA press release | NHF press release | RTPI press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Oct
A report said that the number of planning permissions obtained for housing development in England and Wales had decreased by 34 per cent since the start of the recession in 2008-09. The number of unimplemented schemes had decreased by 31 per cent over the same period. The average time taken for a private development to be completed had increased over the previous five years, although the average time taken for social developments had remained broadly the same.
Source: Glenigan, An Analysis of Unimplemented Planning Permissions for Residential Dwellings, Local Government Association
Links: Report | LGA press release
Date: 2012-Sep
The coalition government announced a series of relaxations to planning rules designed to encourage housebuilding. Legislation would be introduced allowing developers to appeal against planning agreements with English local authorities, made under the previous Labour government, that required them to include a proportion of affordable homes in a development: if developers could prove that 'costly affordable housing requirements' made the project unviable, the requirements could be removed. Developers would also be able to evade planning rules in cases where local authorities had 'a track record of consistently poor performance in the speed or quality' of their decisions: developers would be allowed to opt for the Planning Inspectorate to take decisions instead. Other proposed changes included relaxing planning rules governing home improvements, such as conservatories, for a limited period. The government also published the Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill, under which it would underwrite funding for infrastructure schemes – including £10 billion to cover the debts of housing associations and private sector developers.
Source: Written Ministerial Statement 6 September 2012, columns 29-34WS, House of Commons Hansard, TSO | Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill, HM Treasury, TSO
Links: Hansard | DCLG press release | HMT press release | Bill | Explanatory notes | DPM press release | Conservative Party press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BCC press release | BPF press release | CBI press release | CIH press release | CLA press release | Countryside Alliance press release | FMB press release | Friends of the Earth press release | HBF press release | HCA press release | Labour Party press release | LGA press release | NHF press release | POS press release | RIBA press release | Shelter press release | TCPA press release | UKGBC press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Inside Housing report (1) | Inside Housing report (2) | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Sep
A think-tank report examined why the United Kingdom was unable to build enough homes, and why development was often mediocre. The problems were rooted in the 'deeply flawed' land planning system. As a short-term measure the report said that self-build schemes, new urban developments near existing cities, and Garden Cities supported by local people should be allowed outside the existing planning system. The government should also reduce brownfield requirements to help regenerate cities. In the long term, planning powers should be devolved to local people.
Source: Alex Morton, Why Aren't We Building Enough Attractive Homes? Myths, misunderstandings and solutions, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Sep
