The planning system is failing to meet the country’s housing demand, according to a new report from the National Audit Office.
In the report, Planning for new homes, the NAO said the system is “underperforming and cannot demonstrate that it is meeting housing demand effectively”.
Sir Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said: “For many years, the supply of new homes has failed to meet demand. From the flawed method for assessing the number of homes required to the failure to ensure developers contribute fairly for infrastructure, it is clear that the planning system is not working well.
“The government needs to take this much more seriously and ensure its new planning policies bring about the change that is needed.”
Local authority demands
The report said the standard method for assessing local authorities’ housing demand reduces the need for new homes in five out of nine regions. The NAO said this “could hamper local authorities’ plans to regenerate”.
The NAO said that just 44% of some 338 authorities had an up-to-date local plan detailing their strategy for housing delivery in December 2018, and said the government was not holding local authorities accountable. It said the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has only challenged 15 local authorities that do not have up-to-date plans.
It added that government infrastructure investment is not tied to local authorities’ infrastructure plans, creating further uncertainty.
Councillor Martin Tett, the Local Government Association spokesman, responded to the report, saying: “Planning is not a barrier to housebuilding. Council planning departments are doing an incredible job with extremely limited resources.”
Tett added that it is “vital” that councils have an oversight of local developments and said that the housing needs formula ignores the complexity of local housing markets.
He called on the government to give councils powers “to make sure developers build out approved homes in a timely fashion” and to increase planning department funding to enable local planning fees to cover the cost of processing applications.
Hugh Ellis, director of policy at the Town and Country Planning Association, said: “This is a critically important report on housing delivery which reinforces the need for a new model of housing supply and a properly resourced planning service. As the Raynsford Review points out, the existing planning system is simply too weak and too underfunded to deliver the quality places the nation needs.
“The grand experiment to deregulate planning, beginning in 2012, has failed and government should begin to look seriously at the alternatives set out in the Raynsford Review.”
Positive change
Ian Fletcher, director of real estate policy at the British Property Federation, said: “We have seen positive changes to national planning policy over the past year, but progress cannot be made without more resource at a local level.
“Planning has seen some of the most severe reductions in spending in recent local government cuts. If we want the quality homes and well-designed places the public needs, then this year’s Spending Review needs to deliver real increases in funding for local government and planning. Against the backdrop of Brexit, it is also more important than ever that government invests in growth at home.”
In response to the report, minister of state for housing Kit Malthouse MP said: “I recognise the challenges identified by the NAO, and the simple truth is over the last three decades governments of all stripes have built too few homes of all types.”
Malthouse said planning “plays a key role” in driving housing delivery. He added: “We’re conducting independent reviews on build-out rates and planning inquiries. And through multi-billion-pound funding, planning reforms and giving councils the freedom to borrow more to build homes, we’re helping to make the housing market work for everyone.”
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