Boris Johnson has announced the “most radical reforms to our planning system” since the Second World War.
The prime minister announced that, under “Project Speed”, developers will be permitted to switch shops to homes and offices without the bother of a planning application. Proposals to demolish vacant shops and build homes will not require planning approval either.
The government wants the proposals to be on the statute book by September.
Britain would “build, build, build, build back better, build back greener, build back faster,” Johnson said in the speech in Dudley.
He also took a swipe at the environment lobby for delaying development, stating: “The newt-counting delays in our system are a massive drag on the productivity and the prosperity of this country.”
