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Planning overhaul to offer automatic permission for new homes in ‘growth areas’
A major overhaul of the planning system in England will see designated “growth” areas where new housing is granted permission automatically, the housing secretary has announced.
Robert Jenrick announced the overhaul in a column for the Sunday Telegraph, which also promised the reformed system would “place a higher regard on quality and design than ever before”.
Details of the planned reforms have not yet been unveiled by government, but it appears to trail the contents of the Planning White Paper which will begin a major overhaul of the planning system and was due to be published in July.
In his column, Mr Jenrick said the new system would see areas given one of three categorisations: growth, renewal or protection.
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In areas designated for growth, the development of homes, hospitals, schools, shops and offices will be allowed automatically, Mr Jenrick said.
In renewal areas, a ‘permission in principle’ approach will be adopted, requiring some checks on new development plans.
Mr Jenrick did not specify what limits would be placed on development in protected areas – which he listed “our green belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and rich heritage” – but said it would involve “protecting the places, views and landscapes we cherish most”.
It comes weeks after the government announced a major expansion of permitted development rights, which will allow the conversion of former commercial premises to homes without planning permission.
Permitted development, which has applied to offices since 2013, has been widely panned for resulting in low-quality housing by various reviews, including analysis commissioned by the government.
However, Mr Jenrick insisted that the reforms would result in higher-quality housing and wrote: “We are cutting red tape but not standards.”
“Our reformed system places a higher regard on quality and design than ever before, and draws inspiration from the idea of design codes and pattern books that built Bath, Belgravia and Bournville,” he wrote. However, the piece did not specify how these standards would be enforced.
It is not yet clear what the changes will mean for the development of affordable housing under Section 106 requirements, which often see builders required to include a percentage of affordable housing in their developments.
This mechanism accounted for 48.9% of the 57,185 affordable homes of all tenures built in England last year and 57.8% of the 6,338 social rented homes. It is not imposed for permitted developments.
James Jamieson, the chair of the Local Government Association, said the idea that planning was a barrier to housebuilding was “a myth”.
"Nine in 10 planning applications are approved by councils, while more than a million homes given planning permission in the past decade have not yet been built,” he said.
"Only last week, the government’s own independent report warned of the worse quality of homes not delivered through the planning system. We urge the government to heed these warnings and not further sideline the planning process.”
Mr Jenrick has been under extreme political pressure in recent months due to his decision to green light a major development east London, proposed by Conservative donor Richard Desmond, a day before new planning taxes were imposed.
