You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Housing secretary to announce planning reforms tomorrow
The chancellor has promised to overhaul the planning system to speed up the delivery of new homes, with proposed changes to be announced tomorrow.
Delivering his Budget speech, Rishi Sunak said that housing secretary Robert Jenrick would announce reforms on Thursday.
The Budget documents, published by the Treasury, suggested that land availability is “the most significant barrier to building more houses” and that local authorities that do not meet their housing needs would face “firm consequences”.
It added that the proposed reforms will bring the planning system “into the 21st century”.
Tomorrow’s announcement will be followed by a planning white paper in the spring, Mr Sunak said.
READ MORE
“These reforms will aim to create a simpler planning system and improve the capacity, capability and performance of local planning authorities (LPAs) to accelerate the development process,” the Budget document said.
It added that where councils are not building enough homes, a stricter approach to the release of land for development would be used, along with greater government intervention.
“The government will also explore long-term reforms to the planning system, rethinking planning from first principles, to ensure the system is providing more certainty to the public, LPAs and developers,” it said.
The last major reform of planning policy was in 2012, during the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government.
More on the Budget 2020
Inside Housing is bringing you up-to-date news, analysis and comment from the first post-Brexit Budget.
Here are the details of all our coverage so far:
Shared ownership Right to Buy likely to be applied to all rented homes funded under £12bn programme The government is looking at allowing tenants renting homes built through the new Affordable Homes Programme the right to shared ownership of their homes
Fire safety costs ‘could still hit development pipelines’ despite £1bn fund Concerns remain in sector despite cladding removal fund
Budget 2020: an improvement on recent years but questions remain Jules Birch gives his verdict on the first post-Brexit Budget
Housing figures react to ‘positive’ Budget announcements for sector Reaction from key sector figures to the measures unveiled
The housing bits of Sunak’s speech in full Read the key passages from the chancellor’s speech to the House of Commons
PWLB rates for social housing cut to pre-hike levels The cost for councils of borrowing to fund social housing will fall
Budget 2020: the key housing measures at a glance An at-a-glance guide to the key Budget announcements for the sector
Chancellor announces additional £12bn for Affordable Homes Programme Rishi Sunak announces the largest affordable grant programme in years
£650m fund to tackle rough sleeping The chancellor promises to fund 6,000 new places for rough sleepers to live
£1bn Building Safety Fund to remove ‘all forms’ of cladding The government pledges money to make all buildings safer
Housing secretary to announce planning reforms Ministers will set plans to reform the planning system on Thursday
Pre-Budget:
What should the housing sector look out for in today’s Budget? Peter Apps runs through the issues the sector should be looking out for
The housing sector is right to feel anxious about tomorrow’s Budget The government has indicated that its main focus with regard to housing policy is homeownership. The sector should be nervous about what this means for its spending priorities, writes John Perry
What the sector wants from the chancellor James Wilmore sifts through the submissions from the sector’s biggest players to find out what they want from the Budget later today
Conservative MPs urge chancellor to use Budget to build more social housing A group of 27 Conservative MPs and the mayor of the West Midlands have written to chancellor Rishi Sunak ahead of the Budget statement to urge him to allocate more money to building social housing.
How this Budget will signal the government’s direction of travel on housing With the first post-Brexit Budget due, Kate Henderson assesses the issues on which the sector has been lobbying
