Government Admits Planning System is Broken amid Planning Reforms

Date: 06 December 2022

Government Admits Planning System is Broken amid Planning Reforms

Reforms in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill will remove Mandatory Housebuilding Targets and the requirement for local councils to have a 5-Year Land Supply.

In a letter to MPs on Monday 05 December 2022, communities secretary Michael Gove said the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill would be amended to abolish mandatory house-building targets.

He said new legislation aimed at boosting housing and infrastructure would make clear that the promise to build 300,000 homes every year by the mid-2020s was only a “starting point” and would be “advisory”.

“We have an urgent need in this country to build more homes so that everyone – whether they aspire to home ownership or not – can have a high-quality, affordable place to live. But our planning system is not working as it should,” Gove said in a statement.

“If we are to deliver the new homes this country needs, new development must have the support of local communities. That requires people to know it will be beautiful, accompanied by the right infrastructure, approved democratically, that it will enhance the environment and create proper neighbourhoods.”

Around 60 MPs signed an amendment to scrap mandatory housing targets and the requirement for councils to demonstrate a five-year supply of housing land.

Other changes to the bill include charging a higher infrastructure levy on greenfield development, taking action to prevent land banking, and ending the “duty to cooperate”, which sees rural and suburban areas required to help meet the housing need of neighbouring cities.

These are all considerations which have tripped up local planning authorities, led to legal and planning challenges, and have influenced the development of the current Local Plan for Hart.

Theresa Villiers MP, one of the proposers of the changes, said the reforms would “rebalance the planning system and give local communities a greater say over what is built in their neighbourhood”.

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill is still working its way through the House of Commons.