Our current planning system is complex and slow. It is a barrier to building homes which are affordable, where families want to raise children and build their lives. It takes an average of seven years to make a housing plan for an area and five years to get permission to build, often followed by the slow delivery of homes and the roads, schools, hospitals and other community infrastructure needed to support them.
The government’s reforms since 2010 have started to address the underlying issues. The National Planning Policy Framework introduced in 2012 has greatly simplified the huge volumes of policy it replaced, we have localised the planning process, abolishing regional strategies and empowering local communities to plan for their areas through the introduction of neighbourhood planning, and our reforms to change-of-use rules have supported the delivery of over 50,000 new homes. Together, the changes we have made meant that last year we delivered over 241,000 homes, more new homes than at any point in the last 30 years, all while continuing to protect our environment, heritage and Green Belt.
However, a generational divide remains, where for many who are still trapped paying high rents and struggling to save for a deposit, home ownership seems like a dream which is increasingly out of reach. To recreate an ownership society in which more people have the security and dignity of a home of their own, we need a significantly simpler, faster and more predictable planning system. This is why I am today launching Planning for the Future which sets out proposals to facilitate a more diverse and competitive housing industry, in which smaller builders can thrive alongside the big players, where all pay a fair share of the costs of infrastructure and the affordable housing communities require and where planning permissions are more swiftly turned into homes. In summary, the proposals we are consulting on involve:
• A new role and form for local plans – plans will be based on three categories of land, that communities and developers will be able to engage with more easily because plans will be map-based and digitised, rather than running into hundreds of pages of documents;
• A new 30-month statutory timetable for development of Local Plans – the current process is inconsistent and takes seven years on average;
• As part of the local plan, the principle of development will be agreed upfront for growth sites – providing certainty and speeding up the process for getting on site;
• A new binding housing requirement – to ensure more homes can be built in the right places, while maintaining our commitment to enhance and protect the Green Belt;
• A new, uniform flat-rate Infrastructure Levy – consolidating existing developer contributions mechanisms to deliver the local infrastructure and affordable housing needed;
• Encouraging more beautiful development and places – including through ensuring development is in-keeping with the local aesthetic, preserves family homes and gardens, and a new fast-track to beauty to increase the standards of housing;
• Modern, innovative uses of high streets and town centres – to create great places that can adapt and thrive;
• Ensuring that new homes meet our climate change and environmental objectives – our ambition is that homes delivered under our new planning system do not require retrofitting.
We will be consulting on the proposals for 12 weeks. The full details of the consultation can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-for-the-future. I want to hear your views and those of your constituents – particularly those who do not normally respond to government consultations – on our proposals as we take them forward, and we will engage widely over the consultation period to make sure as many voices as possible are heard.
Alongside this, we are also today publishing:
• A consultation on short-term reforms to the current planning system, including a time limited exemption for small sites from affordable housing contributions specifically to assist SME builders during the post-COVID-19 economic recovery; changes to the assessment for local housing requirements; further details on First Homes; and increasing the threshold for Permission in Principle – available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-the-current-plan…;
• The response to our recent consultation on the design and delivery of First Homes to support more people into home ownership, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/first-homes;
• A consultation on proposals to improve the transparency of contractual arrangements used to control land – available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/transparency-and-competitio….
RT HON ROBERT JENRICK MP
ANNEX: Key Q&A on the Planning for the Future reforms
I know your constituents will be interested in how these changes will affect their communities. I have set out the following questions and answers to help you address some of the questions we think are likely to be most important to them:
1. How do these reforms balance control, especially local control, with speed and efficiency? Local authorities are at the heart of this new planning system because they will continue to determine what goes where. These measures also free local authority planners up so they spend less time on small planning permissions and more time working with local people to design and shape great places.
• As local plans are prepared, it is up to local authorities to decide how to use what land, where, and for which purposes to get more homes, hospitals and schools built. By adopting clear, map-based plans, local authorities set the direction for a place early on and avoid expensive and time-intensive planning permission debates. These reforms are different from the short-term measures we’ve taken to support the economy following COVID-19, like permitted development rights, because the planning permissions created through this process are based on the community and the local authority making decisions about their own neighbourhoods, villages, towns and cities.
• Local design codes mean that local authorities and communities are in control of local standards and aesthetics and we expect far more attention to be paid to the vernacular and heritage that forms local identity.
• We will also be investing in the digital tools local authorities need to bring planning into the 21st century, replacing stacks of paper with easy-to-use apps and software.
2. How do these reforms improve quality for communities, buyers and renters?
• Better and easier engagement by local people: At present, the planning process is complex to navigate. Our proposals involve a much more user-friendly system where local people can engage with the draft local plan early on, for example via apps showing possible maps and designs, and work with local authorities upfront to decide what development goes where.
• Better designed homes and enhancement of the environment: Local people, buyers and renters will benefit from a renewed focus on design – including through a local design code for the area – and improved quality and sustainability of development. We want homes to be more environmentally friendly, expect precious green spaces to be protected, and all new streets to be lined with trees.
3. How do these reforms deliver affordable housing? Delivering affordable housing and local infrastructure, like schools and roads, is a top priority for the Government and local communities alike.
• The existing developer contributions regime is discretionary, subject to negotiation and renegotiations based on developers’ viability assessment. This creates great uncertainty for communities and local authorities. The proposed reforms to create a new Infrastructure Levy will significantly aid the overall ambitions of a more streamlined and accessible planning system, with local communities and local authorities at the heart. We expect the new infrastructure levy to raise a larger amount than its predecessor and so to deliver more social infrastructure and community benefits.
4. How do these reforms protect the environment? Housing and the environment are two of the issues that most clearly define our commitment to future generations, and it is essential that we plan for the two together.
• These reforms go further than before in terms of protecting the Green Belt, committing to biodiversity net gain, and building modern homes fit for the Government’s net zero by 2050 target.
• The existing policy for protecting the Green Belt will remain and we will consider further options for the standard method for assessing local housing need to adjust for Green Belt as a land use constraint.
• Local plans will set out areas which are protected. This would include sites and areas which, as a result of their particular environmental and/or cultural characteristics, would justify more stringent development controls to ensure sustainability, such as Green Belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), Conservation Areas and Local Wildlife Sites. At a smaller scale it could include gardens in line with policy in the National Planning Policy Framework.
• Last year, we consulted on our proposals to move towards a Future Homes Standard, which was a first step towards net zero homes. Having considered the points raised by the Committee on Climate Change, we will review the roadmap to the Future Homes Standard to ensure that implementation takes place to the shortest possible timeline. Our ambition will be that no new home delivered under our new planning system will need to be retrofitted in future.
5. How do these reforms help small builders, micro-builders, self- and custom-builders, and other market entrants? We want more competition and innovation in house building. The complexity of the current system favours those larger firms with the resources to navigate it. We are changing that.
• Small builders will benefit from the new framework which means quicker decisions and far more predictability. A simple system with clear rules will enable small builders to compete against the volume housebuilders.
• The new, intuitive Infrastructure Levy means an end to long, difficult negotiations which leave both local authorities and SMEs frustrated.
• Local authorities will be expected to identify sites for self and custom build, and those developments will be exempt from the Infrastructure Levy. By encouraging a more diverse market, the country will build more homes with better design.