EDITOR’S COMMENT It’s not very often that anyone has anything too kind to say about the planning system, but it seems to be in for an extra special beating at the moment. There’s not a housebuilder around that has a good word to say about it, with pretty much all of the major developers saying the current system is hindering their ability to deliver much-needed homes.
And even the always polite and well-tempered Tim Roberts let loose at the government’s “consistent failure” to reform the planning system. Presenting a solid set of results this week, the Henry Boot chief executive said: “The government has consistently failed to carry out much-needed reform of what, I am afraid to say, is an increasingly dysfunctional and under-resourced planning system. The delays and uncertainties caused by planning not only affect housing and commercial property, but also investment and productivity in the UK.”
He admitted that the “dysfunctional” planning system did also play to its strengths a little, particularly with its land promotion business, but was still rightly annoyed that it had hampered its ability to get consents.
Henry Boot secured planning permissions on almost 1,000 fewer plots in 2023 than 2022, primarily caused, said Roberts, by difficulties in the planning system.
And it is not just homes that are being delayed because of the UK’s planning system, it is commercial development too. Research shared exclusively with EG by Arup and the Westminster Property Association this week, shows the dramatic impact planning woes are having on office space provision (p14).
Dramatic may well be an understatement, in fact. WPA chair Marcus Geddes, who is also managing director for workplace at Landsec, called it catastrophic. The research shows that some 4m sq ft of office space has been lost across Westminster since 2019.
“Westminster is a key economic engine of London and the UK and this study lays bare the huge impact planning policy can have on social and economic prosperity,” said Geddes. “The worst-case scenario, in which policy is weighted more heavily towards conservation, could see a catastrophic decline in employment space that would threaten the West End’s status as a leading global business district.”
While overall the office market may be going through a tough time at the moment, the need for good quality, environmentally sound space is increasing, and Westminster could be losing out of capturing business if it doesn’t adapt its planning policies.
Arup and the WPA’s research suggests that a fresh attitude to planning by the borough could unlock 14m sq ft of fresh office development and 87,000 new jobs by 2045.
Westminster is widely (although quietly) criticised by many developers as now being one of the hardest boroughs to work with – an accolade that previously has been awarded to Camden. According to the Arup/WPA research, Camden (and Southwark) have seen a boost in office space since 2019, with volumes up by 9%, compared with a 6% decline in Westminster.
The planning process is, of course, there to protect as much as it is to help deliver growth and the WPA and Arup are quick to point out that, for Westminster anyway, preserving heritage assets and making sure there are checks on growth, is “not without merit”.
But (and there is always a but, isn’t there?), something needs to be done to unstick the planning system to allow good growth to happen. Whether that’s the housebuilders being able to deliver homes in the right places with the right tenures, whether that’s for Henry Boot’s Tim Roberts to boost his plot permission numbers back up, or whether it is for the capital’s major commercial centre to ensure that it captures the economic gains that the right office space can bring in.
And surely, as we count down to the inevitable run-up to a general election, now is the time to come up with a proper, collaborative, well thought-out plan.
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