A neighbourhood planning and infrastructure bill has been announced by government to help it reach its target of delivering one million homes in England by 2020.
The bill was formally announced by the Queen during the state opening of parliament today.
Here are the key elements of the bill with some early industry reactions:
Neighbourhood planning
Strengthen neighbourhood planning by making local government duty to support groups more transparent and improving the process for reviewing and updating plans.
Analysis: Housebuilding plans are more than 10% higher in the first areas with a neighbourhood plan as opposed to the council’s Local Plan, according to government figures.
British Property Federation chief executive Melanie Leech said: “We are very pleased to see this included in the bill, as neighbourhood planning has proved to be an extremely effective tool for ensuring that development is brought about in a way that is supported by local communities and meets their needs.”
Planning
Limit local authority use of pre-commencement planning conditions to speed up housebuilding.
Analysis: Leech said: “While we welcome the change, we would like to see more detail on how this is going to be enforced and how already-stretched local authorities will cope. Conditions for development should be agreed as part of the pre-application process, and we would hope that the planning process is not made over-complicated to compensate.”
Compulsory purchase
New framework for agreeing compensation, based on the principle that compensation should be based on the market value of the land in the absence of the scheme underlying the compulsory purchase.
Analysis: RICS head of UK policy Jeremy Blackburn said: “The current system is slow and cumbersome and does much to delay the delivery of much-needed new homes and infrastructure. A new framework that defines compensation across all schemes would be a seismic shift.”
National Infrastructure Commission
Establish the commission as a statutory body to provide government with expert, independent advice on infrastructure issues and unlock the economic potential of the UK to ensure growth is distributed across the country.
Analysis: Leech said: “To see a firm commitment to driving the infrastructure agenda forward by making the NIC a statutory body is extremely welcome. We would be interested to see the Treasury’s response to its consultation on structure and governance of the NIC earlier this year, as there are a number of questions that need answering, particularly around who will be on the commission and how it will continue to be independent once statutory.”
Land Registry
Privatise the Land Registry, supporting the delivery of a digitally-based land registration service.
Analysis: Richard Close, head of lease advisory at Daniel Watney, said: “The Land Registry is a respected institution largely because of its impartiality – a sell-off may put this under threat. It will only be through public ownership that the Land Registry can continue to take a strategic view on things which might not at first seem commercially appealing, like integrating blockchain technology and distributed ledgers to boost trust. Private owners are less likely to adopt a ‘one step back, two steps forward’ policy when shareholders have to be appeased.”
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