Sector calls for planning reform everywhere – not just in new zones

Senior housing sector figures have cautiously welcomed Kwasi Kwarteng’s announcement of a streamlined planning process but called for reform across the whole country and not just in designated “investment zones”.

As part of his radical growth plan, the chancellor announced this morning the setting up of investment zones with liberalised planning rules and targeted tax-cuts to spur development, including new housing. The government is in discussions with 38 mayoral combined authorities and upper-tier councils which have expressed an interest in having a zone in their area.

Paul Smith, managing director of the Strategic Land Group, said there was ”no doubt the planning system can be streamlined and made more efficient without diluting the important protections it provides”

However he added: “There is no reason, however, why planning applications inside investment zones should be treated any differently to those outside them. We have a growth crisis, and a reformed planning system that focuses on what really matters is needed across the country.”  

According to Smith the key obstacle to building homes is insufficient land allocated for development.

Nicholas Harris, chief executive of Stonewater, said the zones were “a step in the right direction” as planning barriers have contributed to the housing crisis. He added: “I would be hopeful and would urge Kwarteng to expand this initiative to the whole country at the earliest opportunity so as to avoid a postcode lottery on personal taxation initiatives, and so we can build more homes for people that need them.”

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Colin Brown, head of planning and development at consultant Carter Jonas, questioned the impact of the measures if they only applied to some designated areas. “Another question that this policy raises relates to how much of the activity will be ‘displacement’ of existing economic activity rather than new development,” he said. “Will adjoining areas be deprived of investment at the expense of their neighbours, and how will they develop as a result?”

Bradley Tully, senior public affairs officer at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said the plans were “positive”. He also welcomed the chancellor’s pledge to increase the disposal of surplus land for development.

Kwarteng said that the government would also bring forward legislation to speed up the delivery of infrastructure by reducing “unnecessary burdens”.

He said the government would “unpick the complex patchwork of planning restrictions and European Union-derived laws which constrain our growth”.

He added: “We will streamline a whole host of assessments, of appraisals, of consultations, endless duplications and regulations.”

The prospect of new legislation has led some to speculate whether the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which is currently going through parliament, will be ditched. Stuart Tym, planning partner at law firm Shoosmiths, said: “The confirmation that a bill is set to be brought forward to ‘unpick’ the wider planning system may signal the end of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill and its planning proposals.

“The Chesham and Amersham by-election result may have made that approach to de-regulation unpalatable; which remains the political lens through which further reform must be viewed.