How will Labour "get Britain building again"?

As part of the new government’s pledge to deliver 1.5 million homes over the next five years Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, has announced reforms which make “a significant step to getting Britain building again” with the publication of a new Draft National Planning Policy Framework.  

Amongst these are plans to increase planning application fees for those proposing house extensions by 105%, on top of a 25% rise just last year.  This will bring the statutory fee to £528 which is not far short of that for a new house (£578).  A date for the introduction of the legislation is yet to be set.  We welcome the encouragement of additional planning department resource, as delays at local councils can be frustrating at times, but this increase in fees could be prohibitive to some.  If you are considering extending it is probably better to get your application submitted sooner rather than later.

Other changes set out are an increase in the national housing target to 370,000 homes per annum with a revised calculation for housing need and imposed housing targets on local authorities.  The proposals for allowing some housing on ‘grey belt’ sites “in sustainable locations” and that “make a limited contribution to the five Green Belt purposes”, although this is subjective and with a number of exclusions and conditions, will also be of interest to developers.  The government's definition of the grey belt includes land on the edge of existing settlements or roads, as well as old petrol stations and car parks, but it will be up to individual councils to decide what will be designated as grey belt. As the grey belt will be a new category, there is no official data on how much of it exists.  The government also says that brownfield sites - old industrial or already built-on land - should be prioritised over the grey belt.

Whilst this may unlock the provision of some housing, including affordable housing, what impact this is likely to have on the contribution towards the housing target is yet to be seen, and undoubtably will lead to a number of test legal cases we expect.  

Should you need any planning advice contact our Chartered Town Planners who would be delighted to assist.