Housebuilders have been told to stop blaming the planning system for holding back the supply of new homes as new figures show councils are speeding through applications at their fastest rate in over a decade
Around 87% of major applications for residential planning permission were processed within 13 weeks or an agreed time limit in the year to last summer, compared with a low-point of just 47% five years earlier.
For minor applications the rate rose from 60% to 82% in the same period, while the total volume of both kinds rose by a third to 49,000.
