‘Planning reform alone is not enough’: sector reacts to Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Rachael Williamson, interim director of policy, communications and external affairs at the Chartered Institute of Housing: “A strategic, joined-up approach to planning and infrastructure is essential to delivering the homes that communities need and ensuring that development keeps pace with demand — particularly for the thousands of people struggling to access affordable housing.

“However, planning reform alone is not enough. To make these new powers effective and meet the government’s ambition of 1.5 million new homes, the sector must be properly resourced and supported.

“We look forward to further announcements in the upcoming Spending Review and a long-term housing strategy that provides the certainty and investment needed to turn these commitments into reality. Everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home.”

Kate Henderson, chief executive at the National Housing Federation: “A focus on certainty and enabling local areas to work together to plan for the homes, jobs and infrastructure needed in communities will ensure every area benefits from growth. 

“Measures to reform compulsory purchase orders in the bill are also welcome, and will support the delivery of affordable housing and other local infrastructure such as GPs and schools.

“Alongside planning reform, to build the social and affordable homes the country needs, we hope to see the upcoming Spending Review include a significant boost in funding for social rented homes and equal access to building safety funding for social landlords. This must form part of a package of long-term measures to help the social housing sector rebuild its capacity after decades of cuts.

“Building social and affordable homes is also great value for money for the government, cutting the benefits bill and saving on homelessness prevention, temporary accommodation and the NHS.”

Dinny Shaw, head of planning at Places for People: “We hope that through debate, these measures can go further and make an even stronger contribution.

“The status quo still has too many people unable to access the homes they need. While we will continue to pursue new development opportunities as part of our commitment to support the government in accelerating their homebuilding programme, the sector needs sustained investment and the right skills to turn this ambition into reality. 

“Legislative reforms must be backed up by a strong commitment in the Spending Review in June. Today is a win for the sector, our customers and communities. This must continue.” 

Pete Gladwell, group managing director, public investment at L&G: “To drive national economic growth, boost productivity, achieve positive environmental impact, and deliver genuinely affordable housing, the barriers hindering the delivery of homes and clean energy infrastructure in Britain must be removed. 

“We welcome the introduction of the government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill to parliament today, which marks a significant and positive step in addressing these obstacles and paves the way for further long-term investment from companies like L&G, enabling the faster delivery of new homes and clean energy infrastructure.”

Adam Hug, housing and planning spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA): “This bill has included some of the LGA’s long-term asks, such as making it easier for councils to purchase vacant land for housebuilding, localising planning fees, and increasing planning capacity. 

“These will speed up the planning process and ease the building of new homes and necessary infrastructure we need across the country. However, there remain concerns around how it will ensure that councils – who know their areas best and what they need – remain at the heart of the planning process. 

“The democratic role of councillors in decision-making is the backbone of the English planning system, and this should not be diminished. Councils approve nine out of 10 planning applications that come before them.”

Richard Clewer, housing and planning spokesperson for the County Councils Network: “Alongside funding, the government must also ensure councils have the workforce capacity needed. This is especially pertinent for large rural areas where recruitment and retention of planners is more of a challenge.

“Councils share the government’s ambition to build more homes of all tenures, providing they are in suitable locations and making it easier for councils to compulsory purchase land for affordable housing will be a useful tool. However, we are concerned about efforts to dilute and bypass the role of councillors on planning committees, particularly in rural areas where significant developments could only constitute a few dozen homes.

“By only allowing councillors to debate and discuss only the proposals that the government defines as a large development, this will erode local people’s voice within the planning system. It will also take away the discretion that can be used by planning committees to resolve small applications that come down to very nuanced decisions.”

Andrew Carter, chief executive of Centre for Cities: “Britain has a shortage of roughly 4.3 million homes due to our unusually restrictive and unpredictable planning system. Delays, uncertainty and barriers to development in the planning system have increased housing costs and reduced productivity, particularly in cities.

“A new national scheme of delegation to modernise planning committees would be a major planning reform for England, and essential for the government to reach its target of building 1.5 million homes.

“To drive economic growth and improve affordability quickly, the government’s planning reform agenda needs to be as bold as possible. A challenge as big as the housing crisis demands a big reform.”

Gavin Lane, deputy president at the Country Land and Business Association: “We urgently need more affordable housing, but pushing landowners into selling land isn’t the answer. Compulsory purchase drags landowners through years of stress, disruption and compensation battles, harming individuals and communities alike.

“Instead of pushing landowners to bear the burden, why not work with them? Most want to see progress and could deliver development faster, cheaper and with more care. Hitting landowners isn’t the solution – fixing the planning system is.”

Patrick Hickey, director of development management consultancy Make NW: “The purpose of these reforms is clear and well-founded. Unlike previous governments, which only delivered tweaks to the planning system, these changes are comprehensive and have the potential to be transformative. 

“Alongside the Planning Reform Paper, this bill signals a commitment to make planning a more effective tool for delivering growth and development. 

“Removing hope value from land means local councils, Homes England and other acquiring authorities will be able to purchase land more cheaply, enabling them to deliver more affordable and social housing. 

“More national guidance for CPOs will also help to speed up the process. CPOs in town and city centres can be complex and sometimes involve hundreds of property owners and take years. By removing inconsistencies and reducing subjective decision-making, these updates aim to minimise investment risks and create a more stable, predictable planning framework. 

“In the North, these reforms will be particularly beneficial as they are designed to address regional disparities and ensure the North benefits from increased housing supply by taking a more strategic approach to housing growth.

“If the government wants to boost economic activity in the North by delivering high-quality new developments, it is vital that they consider the provision of some form of additional discretionary grant, available to both the public and private sectors to aid and unlock unviable sites in the North of England.”

Matthew Evans, counsel in the planning team at law firm Forsters: “For too long the planning system has functioned inefficiently to the real detriment of new homes delivery and economic growth. 

“The government’s creative thinking about how to free up planning officer time to determine more applications by moving to a system where delegated decisions are made by default is a move in the right direction and aligns with its emphasis on a plan-led system. Other steps to speed up the decision-making process, including reducing the number and scope of statutory consultees, are positive. 

“These reforms should reduce uncertainty in the system and enable schemes to progress to delivery more quickly. Larger-than-local planning is much-needed to remove the political heat at a local level and unlock land for employment and logistics, as well as new homes.

“Insular, boundary-led thinking has restricted the delivery of vital infrastructure, and regional spatial strategies should remedy this. Resourcing, as always, is a significant challenge and local authorities will need hundreds more planners to really turn up the dial on decision-making.”

Justin Young, chief executive at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors: “These reforms will be crucial to tackle the bureaucracy that is standing in the way of new homes, buildings and critical infrastructure.

“Investing in our built and natural environment now will help us realise the homes and places that we need for the future.”

Paul Rickard, managing director at Pocket Living: “The potential game-changer is the focus on strategic planning and an expansion of development corporations, so long as there is explicit provision for local and SME developers and supply chain. 

“These two measures will not only help to deliver new housing at scale but will ensure that they are built in the most appropriate locations supported by associated infrastructure. Within the context of greater regional planning, there must be a greater appreciation of the role for SME developers within these new spatial development strategies and associated updated local plans, and how SMEs can help to deliver the New Towns agenda in partnership with development corporations.”

Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation: “Planning at the ‘larger-than-local’ level should mean that housing targets are allocated more sensibly, and that there’s better planning for employment uses.

“As part of that there should be a standard method for planning for jobs so that needs are assessed consistently around the country. However, it is vital that all of this is adequately resourced in the forthcoming Spending Review if it is to deliver transformational change in the planning system.

“Greater delegation of planning decisions to planning officers and the better functioning of planning committees will, when combined with wider local government reform, help to improve decision-making and better deploy resource in the system by freeing up committees to deal with larger, more complex developments.

“We also support measures to help developers meet their environmental obligations – but want to understand how this will work in practice. We should always aim to mitigate negative environmental impacts within the development site but recognise this isn’t always possible.

“The recent changes to compulsory purchase orders in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act haven’t really been tested yet, so we need to proceed cautiously with further changes and make sure we do it in a way which fairly balances needs of communities with rights of landowners and stimulates rather than inhibits development.

“We’re especially pleased about the proposed measures to reduce the friction costs in the development approval process by making the various statutory consultees more focused on supporting, rather than preventing, growth.”