The government's commitment to delivering 1.5million homes in the next parliament is to be applauded. The government has moved quickly to make this possible and the revised NPPF is now out for consultation (closes on 24 September 2024). The key amendments include reversing a number of unhelpful and hindering changes made by the previous government, including reintroducing 5-year housing supply numbers and revising the method by which housing numbers are calculated, which means that the mandatory housing target will be 370,000 homes a year nationally. Possibly the most ambitious and controversial change is green belt reform. Under the revised NPPF, if local planning authorities cannot meet their identified housing need, they will need to review their green belt boundaries and propose alterations to meet the housing need in full unless "the review provides clear evidence that such alterations would fundamentally undermine the function of the Green Belt across the area of the plan as a whole".
This green belt reform goes hand in hand with the new grey belt definition which is "Previously Developed Land and any other parcels and/or areas of Green Belt that make a limited contribution to the five Green Belt purposes….". When reviewing green belt boundaries, local planning authorities should give first consideration to previously developed land in sustainable locations, then consider grey belt land in sustainable locations, which is not already previously developed land, and only as a last resort to fulfil their identified housing need consider other Green Belt locations. Housing, commercial and other developments in the Green Belt will no longer be regarded as inappropriate development where certain criteria are met including the requirement to provide 50% affordable housing. This is ambitious, unprecedented and has the potential to unlock large swathes of land for housing which is welcomed. The Labour government has confirmed that their commitment to protecting the Green Belt is still a key consideration.
The government has signalled a new Planning and Infrastructure bill in the Autumn. The aim of the bill is to accelerate the delivery of infrastructure to meet the delivery of 1.5 million homes. It is likely that the bill will include legislation to reform and modernise planning committees and to simplify the process of obtaining planning permission for significant infrastructure schemes, thereby reducing unnecessary delays amongst other things. A New Towns Taskforce has also been set up and given 12 months to recommend suitable locations to deliver 10,000 + homes and communities. In addition, local planning authorities have been promised an additional 300 planning officers. This focus on planning reform is encouraging, much needed and long overdue. However, solving the housing crisis will need more than just planning reform.
What else is needed?
Assistance to reduce costs
Viability of schemes remains a critical issue. It has never been so costly to be a developer. Delivery of affordable housing, which will be 50% in the grey belt under the revised NPPF, section 106 obligations, CIL requirements, water and nutrient neutrality issues if applicable, building safety requirements, cost of finance and so on. This is having a detrimental impact upon the sector, especially on SMEs on which the sector relies heavily and who have been struggling for some time now. This has been recognised by the housebuilding sector which has launched a campaign requesting the government to take immediate action to save the sector from collapse, and have proposed ten policy recommendations. It remains to be seen how the government responds to this sensible request.
We also need to see high construction costs settle and an increase in the construction workforce with the correct skills to build the needed housing and supporting infrastructure. The construction workforce has significantly depleted since Brexit. Resourcing and up skilling the workforce will therefore be critical if we are to see significant levels of building. This is something that we hope the government will address in the forthcoming budget.
Public/private partnership
More public/private partnerships will be needed to achieve this ambitious growth. It feels that the burden to solve the housing crisis still lies predominantly with developers, however more partnerships between government and the private sector will enable large scale housing communities with the necessary infrastructure to come forward.
Community support and engagement
Communities need to support the delivery of new housing and not frustrate the planning process. We all have experience of planning applications being recommended for approval by professional planning officers, only to then be refused by committees who appear to be swayed by local residents, leading to excessive costs and delays for developers dealing with an appeal. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is likely to introduce a national scheme of delegation, providing clarity on which planning applications should be dealt with by planning officers under delegated powers rather than at a planning committee. There also needs to be better training for planning committees in how to assess planning applications especially with the increasing and often complex policy requirements.
Most people recognise that the delivery of housing is critical to economic growth and while there is near universal support for the government's ambitions for this next parliament, there is also an acknowledgement that this will be challenging and will most likely take much longer than five years to deliver. The next budget will set the tone and give an indication as to how committed the government is to actually delivering 1.5 million homes. Ultimately, politics really does need to be taken out of the planning system and cross-party agreement on a long- term strategy to deliver much needed housing and infrastructure is needed now more than ever.
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First published by CoStar on 23 September 2024
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