As the government announces proposals to further relax planning laws, local authorities are finding out that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, is far from the friend many thought he was going to be, particularly in the Conservative heartlands. While the Localism agenda, launched shortly after the coalition government took power in 2010, sought to promote local involvement in development decisions, inertia on the part of many local authorities has left them red faced and running the risk of a centralised power determining their planning policies.
The ministerial statement Housing and Growth issued by Eric Pickles, looked at a number of ways in which the housebuilding sector could be kick started. In it he warned that local councils would be stripped of their planning powers if they show a record of poor-quality or slow decision-making.
The inspectorate will be able to override all agreements between councils and developers to reduce affordable homes, making a development more profitable and therefore more likely to be built.
The government has claimed the measures are necessary because housebuilding had fallen to its lowest peacetime rates since the 1920s. It also estimates that 75,000 new homes are stalled because of site viability, with developers unwilling to go ahead because councils in better economic times imposed conditions on transport links, shopping or affordable housing that were too onerous.
Many local authorities have been taking too long to produce new development plans taking account of the current climate and housing shortage and this is now coming back to bite them, as it is clear that planning is being seen as a continued obstacle to growth in the development sector. This is even extending to a more flexible approach being considered for development in the green belt - previously a sacred cow.
Developers are now more likely to win planning appeals, if local authorities have not got a proper strategy in place. This has led to the government deciding where schemes are placed and not the local authorities. Added to this the appointement of Nicholas Boles as planning minister, who is very pro-development and doesn't think planning works, and a much more emollient approach to development will be witnessed, including, crucially, the consideration of green belt land.
This will mean affluent surburbs will once again be fighting their corners to resist new housing and retain their open spaces, but their protest cries may now have less effect. This is due simply to many local authorities now recognising the need to look outside the main conurbations to deliver targets and good quality new homes.
Indeed, one Sunday newspaper has reported that developers have already bought swathes of green belt land in anticipation of planning permission being approved as councils come under growing pressure to release protected green belt countryside for development. Several well-known housebuilders have been quoted as having 'options' on or 'controlling interests' on sites mainly in the South of the country.
The city living brownfield bonanza is no more. City centre apartments simply don't stack up for developers and can't be relied on anymore to deliver the number and quality of new homes required. Instead developers, whose fingers were so badly burnt with city living, are looking to the lusher greenfield sites to realise new profits for their business, creating larger family homes.
For many residents in target greenfield sites these proposals are going to ring alarm bells. In the nineties and noughties there was a huge backlash to back garden grabbing as people pushed to conserve their suburban spaces. But if you don't allow infill homes to be created clearly something has got to give and this time, the authorities will have the full force of the government behind them.
A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) says that 750,000 homes are required by 2015 and even if every government policy and scheme succeeds, we will still have a shortfall of 310,000 by the end of that period.
JRF also states that thousands of new homes are also urgently needed to overcome the high prices caused by supply and demand that lock so many out of home ownership.
A more permissive planning policy is the only real way forward. And while it is good news for developers, it will also provide a much-needed boost to the economy.
This doesn't mean a free-for-all for developers, though. As long as local authorities have their houses in order, they can work together with developers to create sustainable new communites that enhance and provide places where people want to live.
About the author
Peter Leaver is planning and development director for Jones Lang LaSalle in the Midlands. He is due a long service award after 25 years with the company and with King Sturge before it merged with Jones Lang LaSalle. Peter is a big Baggies fan and follows all forms of sport (particularly team based), with the exception of triathlons. However, four children aged between three and eight have restricted him to being an avid observer (and organiser) of garden cricket.
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