A new approach to planning?
Earlier in the summer the country voted for a new government. After a 14-year term with the Conservatives, and with a landslide victory, the Labour party won and among their manifesto promises was to pledge 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament for future generations and help the economy to grow.
Government policy changes
The new Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, was quick to reinforce this commitment in one of her first speeches. She mentioned that this was an ambitious target but with a considerable backlog of sites already in the planning system she felt this would be achievable, and one of their main areas of focus will be affordable housing. She also committed to the return of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which the Conservatives changed last December. Ms Reeves confirmed the return of the original framework which will hopefully start to ease some of the pending decisions on outstanding applications. Labour will also be reinstating mandatory housing targets; therefore, local planning authorities will be expected to update their Local Plans.
Local authorities have been under resourced for many years which has been one of the contributing factors in delays both in considering planning applications and tackling some of the broader issues such as phosphates and nutrient neutrality. The new Labour government have announced they are committed to providing three hundred additional planning officers, which is a good start.
The commitment to direct intervention by ministers in planning decisions provides a strong signal to local authorities that the benefits of development will be important material considerations in the determination of development proposals. This will be a key short-term measure to drive development forward.
The focus on brownfield sites and the fast-tracking of planning permission for such developments is supported. Greenbelt release is always a politically contentious issue but one that is being considered. One idea to tackle this is through ‘Grey Belt Land’ which is land that is in the greenbelt catchment but has no real reason for being in there. For example, land which is on an industrial estate, near employment or in between already existing housing.
How this affects Somerset and Wiltshire
During the coming months and years, we hope that Labour’s revised policy updates and streamlining of the current process should enable currently blocked planning applications to be released and in turn assist our current antiquated planning system to become much more user friendly.
Some other benefits will be:
· Helping housing within local areas grow, but with a sensible and holistic approach
· Provide opportunities for more communities to access a place they can call home
Change can be a daunting prospect, but the Development Team at Cooper and Tanner are committed to providing the best possible advice and guidance to support people with any type of land, from an individual plot to a large parcel of strategic land and investigate if there is a development opportunity available. We can advise how you can maximise your land price the fastest way possible and improve your chances of having a successful outcome, contact Darren Woodyer at darren.woodyer@cooperandtanner.co.uk.