The Government has set ambitious housing targets, and it recently revealed how its new Planning and Infrastructure Bill will reform the planning process to unlock development and build the UK’s much needed new homes. Ginetta Vedrickas looks at the situation.
What is the Bill?
The Government has made its intentions clear, that it wants to see many more homes built right across the UK to meet the current housing shortage. Its target is to build 1.5 million new homes, but it pinpoints one of the main obstacles as a bureaucratic planning system. The Government believes that its Planning and Infrastructure Bill will help speed up planning decisions to boost housebuilding and other developments such as roads, railway lines and windfarms, and remove what it sees as “unnecessary blockers and challenges” to development.
Announcing the Bill, Angela Rayner, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, said, “We’re creating the biggest building boom in a generation, as a major step forward in getting Britain building again and unleashing economic growth in every corner of the country, by lifting the bureaucratic burden which has been holding back developments for too long.” Rayner hopes that the Bill will “unleash seismic reforms to help builders get shovels in the ground quicker to build more homes” as well as helping to build the vital infrastructure needed to improve transport links and make Britain a clean energy superpower. She continued, “It will help us to deliver the 1.5 million homes we have committed to, so we can tackle the housing crisis we have inherited head on, not only for people desperate to buy a home, but for the families and young children stuck in temporary accommodation and in need of a safe, secure roof over their heads. These reforms are at the heart of our plan for change, ensuring we are backing the builders, taking on the blockers, and delivering the homes and infrastructure this country so badly needs.”
The Bill was first introduced to parliament on 11 March. The process, before it becomes law, is a lengthy one involving consultation on finer details before it undergoes several more readings in Parliament, but it proposes various reforms, including those around compulsory purchase orders, strategic planning and development corporations. It aims to speed up projects that are in the public interest as, instead of the Secretary of State making decisions on developments, inspectors, councils or mayors will have powers to do so. Mayors or local authorities will be more involved in strategic planning and the Bill will introduce a national scheme of delegation to streamline planning decisions, determining which applications should be reviewed by officers and which should go to committee. The Government intends strengthening development corporations so that more large-scale developments, including the Government’s proposed new towns, can be built and establish a Nature Restoration Fund to fund larger environmental interventions.
New towns
The Government is currently reviewing over 100 sites for new towns with work to begin by 2029 according to the Town and Country Planning Association. Earlier in the year, the Government revealed that there have been 100 applications from English councils to build new towns, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer has committed to starting construction on up to 12 of these large-scale projects before the next election. The Government believes that building new towns where people want to live and work will boost economic growth and create clusters for growth and innovation right across the country and it says that it is “on track to create beautiful communities, provide affordable homes, and deliver much needed infrastructure, including schools and nurseries, GP surgeries, and bus routes”. As part of its “Plan for Change” commitment, one of the ways it hopes to achieve these targets is via the Infrastructure and Planning Bill as a Government statement announced: “By taking on the blockers, 20,000 homes, along with new schools and health facilities, will move forward following Government action, and we will now turn to unblock the remaining 700,000 homes across 350 sites.”
Reactions to the Bill
So far, reactions to the Bill have been positive but there are some concerns that reforming the planning system alone may not be enough as the UK’s housing shortage is severe. Independent, urban policy research unit and a UK-based charity, The Centre for Cities’ main goal is to understand how and why economic growth and change takes place in our cities. Chief executive Andrew Carter points out that currently Britain has a shortage of around 4.3 million homes thanks to what he calls “our unusually restrictive and unpredictable planning system”. Its report, The Housing Crisis, Britain’s 4 million Missing Homes found that, compared to other European countries, Britain has a backlog of millions of homes that are missing from the housing market. The charity believes that building these homes is key to solving the UK’s housing crisis, which it describes as “severe” especially in the most prosperous places in the South East. The report pointed out that, across England, the average house costs more than 10 times the average salary.
Carter believes that delays, uncertainty and barriers to development in the planning system have increased housing costs and reduced productivity, particularly in cities, and is hopeful that these reforms will help. “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.” In order to drive economic growth and improve affordability quickly, Carter believes that the Government’s planning reform must be ambitious, “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.”
Lenders’ reactions to the Bill
Graham Sellar, Head of Intermediaries, Mortgages at Santander UK, describes the Planning and Infrastructure Bill as “a long-awaited and welcome approach to how the Government aims to achieve its housebuilding and infrastructure targets” but he believes that it’s critical that ambition comes with action. “In addition to considering fundamental issues such as affordability constraints, which play a key role in preventing would-be homeowners getting a foot on to the housing ladder, it’s important the Government understands the broader needs of the population beyond just building more homes.” Santander’s recent research around new towns showed that while nearly three quarters, 73%, of prospective first time buyers would consider buying one, the attractiveness of moving to a new town would be significantly strengthened by availability of healthcare facilities (73%), and access to green space (70%). “The Government’s mission to ease the UK’s housing crisis must therefore deliver the infrastructure to build well-rounded and integrated communities to deliver the full potential of the Bill’s ambition.”
Developers’ reactions to the Bill
Recent research by UK-based specialist bank Shawbrook, which gives loans to housebuilders and developers, showed that 59% of developers were already confident that 1.5 million new homes could be delivered in five years, which the lender believes could rise further now that the Bill has provided more clarity. Shawbrook’s MD of Development Finance, Terry Woodley, explains, “The Planning and Infrastructure Bill should provide developers with a further injection of confidence for the year ahead. Key facets of the bill, like planning committees, development corporations and strategic planning elements should reduce red tape and streamline processes, which will play a crucial role in delivering the ambitious new homes target. However, while this is a positive move in the right direction, this doesn’t address the recruitment and training of additional planners, which will take time, or the skills shortage in the sector.”
Ginetta Vedrickas
GinettaVedrickashas always had a passion for property. With over ten years of experience working for a local authority housing department, she completed an MA in social policy and housing before training as a journalist at the then London College of Printing. Since then, she has writtenmainly onproperty for most British newspapers including The Independent, Observer, Mail on Sunday, The Times, London Evening Standard and was the editor of Metro’s property section.She’salso written for overseas titles such as AD’s The National and Ireland’s Business Post. Today she freelances for a range of magazines including Showhouse and First Time Buyer.
