Councils, architects, social housing providers and charities are urging the government to reconsider measures that enable homes to be built outside the planning system.
Organisations ranging from the Royal Institute of British Architects to the Local Government Association, which represents councils, have written jointly to the housing minister calling for him to scrap a proposed widening of “permitted development rights”, which allow the construction of homes without planning permission.
They also want the government to hold an independent review of existing measures that allow homebuilders to bypass the planning process when converting offices or other commercial buildings to residential use.
