Housing plan doesn't go far enough, says planning chief
The Government’s proposed major overhaul to England’s planning policy is unlikely to solve the housing crisis, according to a planning expert.
Tony Bateman, managing director of Pegasus Group which offers planning services to developers, said that he didn’t believe the reforms went far enough to enable the Government to reach its target of 300,000 new houses being built in England each year.
Prime Minister Theresa May announced reforms to planning policy on Monday in an attempt to kick-start the housing market.
The proposed changes include a tightening of the "viability assessments" which can give developers exemption from affordable housing commitments.
It also calls for councils' local plans, which lay down planning policy, to be updated every five years, or earlier when a rapid increase in population is forecast.
But Mr Bateman said he did not think the plans went far enough to deliver the number of new houses needed in the UK.
He said: “Given the need to increase housing, I remain concerned that the policies as set out in the NPPF are unlikely to actually achieve this.
"The proposed NPPF is very similar to the current document, although in respect of Green Belt the polices are tighter, which makes one wonder how development that meets the needs of the South East will be able to be accommodated.”
He said the plan did include some positive changes, and welcomed the greater clarity regarding restrictions on development.
"The need to update local plans every five years is very important given the fact that such plans can go out of date very quickly, and the fact that the review should be earlier if local housing need is expected to increase in the near future is particularly helpful," said Mr Bateman.
“Overall there is no significant change to most of the document, but we will certainly be alerting clients to some of the smaller changes that could affect them."
The tighter rules on affordable housing requirements have been welcomed by housing charity shelter, which published a joint report with the Campaign to Protect Rural England about the rural housing shortage.
The report carried out studies in eight rural areas, including Shropshire, and said builders were circumventing their obligations to deliver affordable housing by claiming it would make developments unprofitable.
Shelter chief executive Polly Neate said: "We've been campaigning long and hard on viability assessments – a tool exploited by developers to wriggle out of building their fair share of affordable homes – so we're pleased the government is listening, and taking steps to close the loophole."
