You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Housing minister hits back at critics of planning reforms with ‘myth-busting’ speech
Housing minister Christopher Pincher has defended the government’s planning reforms denying suggestions that they could diminish local decision-making, remove environmental protections and fail to deliver on the government’s levelling-up agenda.
Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Housing’s (CIH) Virtual Housing Festival, Mr Pincher criticised “baseless” suggestions that the government’s radical planning shake-up would have a negative impact on certain aspects of the UK housing sector, labelling them “myths”.
A key feature of the new planning system includes a move towards a zonal planning system which categorises land in one of three ways: protected, renewal and growth. It also looks to scrap existing methods of developer contributions for affordable housing by replacing Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy payments with a new system based on a nationally fixed levy which looks at a predicted market value for a development once it is completed.
Mr Pincher hit back at the view that the planning overhaul would weaken local decision-making and instead argued that it would “ensure real consultation with local communities from the very beginning of the planning process”.
He also refuted the notion that the reforms, outlined in the government’s Planning White Paper, would sweep away environmental protections and undermine the UK green belt.
“We want to find a better way of assessing the impact on the environment, but we categorically are not weakening environmental protections,” he told delegates.
As part of this, he said that the changes would ensure that there were “tree-lined streets” in developments which would allow future developments to mirror some of the world’s best examples of integrating nature into urban design.
READ MORE
The third “myth” which Mr Pincher identified was that changes to the way local housing need is assessed would benefit London and the South East more, therefore clashing with the government’s levelling-up agenda promised in the 2019 general election campaign.
The reforms will provide an “overall increase in the number of homes being built across the whole country while also delivering more homes in the least affordable areas”, Mr Pincher said.
The minister’s speech comes amid growing unease from backbench Conservative MPs that the reforms will increase housing targets for MPs in shire counties. Planning experts have warned that the reforms will damage the government’s levelling-up agenda.
Analysis by planning consultants Lichfields also suggested that the proposed new standard method for calculating housing need would increase local numbers across the board but particularly in London and the South East.
Responding to Mr Pincher’s speech, Mark Henderson, chief executive of Home Group, criticised the new methodology for calculating housing need.
He suggested the nature of housing pressures in the North differ from London and the South East, and said: “I just don’t think it responds to the different housing crisis in the North of England.”
For access to all of the sessions and networking opportunities at the Housing 2020: Virtual Housing Festival click here.
