Former housing minister Nick Raynsford has called the English planning system a “chaotic patchwork” of responsibilities that is increasing inequality.
In his review of planning, Raynsford said the current system has been undermined by deregulation and threatens the health, wellbeing and civil rights of communities.
The Raynsford Review calls on the government to restrict permitted development, which allows the conversion of commercial property to housing, circumventing local authority planning approvals and contributions towards affordable housing and local infrastructure.
Raynsford said: “We ignore at our peril the anger and disaffection felt by so many communities at the failure of current planning policies and procedures to listen to their concerns and respond to their needs.
“Restoring public confidence in the planning system is one of our generation’s greatest challenges.”
He added: “Regional plans are the most problematic layer, given the current chaotic patchwork of plans with differing status, scope and governance.”
He said the best approach would be the restoration of comprehensive planning, and added this should ensure great places to live and work, as well as meeting the significant environmental challenges society faces.
The Raynsford Review recommends the Treasury should partially redistribute capital gains tax and stamp duty, to reinvest in the deprived areas. It asks that councils be given compulsory purchase powers to purchase land and a new framework repurposed for all planning decisions.
Hugh Ellis, interim chief executive of the TCPA, said: “Permitted development is toxic and leads to a type of inequality not seen in the UK for over a century.
“Under the arrangements – which have produced more than 100,000 housing units – vulnerable people are stripped of any right to light and space, with their children forced to play in active car parks, and no contribution to local services such as doctors’ surgeries or local schools.
“We have a choice. Do we want to build the slums of the future or create places that actually enhance people’s lives?”
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