Industry welcomes planning shake-up but tells government to ensure councils are adequately resourced

Built environment leaders have warmly welcomed new legislation aiming to speed up planning decisions but called for more funding for councils.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which will be introduced to Parliament this afternoon, will curtail the role of council planning committees and allow more schemes to be decided by planning officers.

The legislation will also set out controls over the size of planning committees, mandate training for committee members and empower councils to set their own planning fees to invest in the “over-stretched” system.

Justin Young, chief executive of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said the reforms will be “crucial to tackle the bureaucracy that is standing in the way of new homes, buildings, and critical infrastructure”.

“Investing in our built and natural environment now, will help us realise the homes and places that we need for the future,” he added.

RICS senior land and resource specialist Tony Mulhall said proposals to retain judicial reviews while limiting the scope for “vexatious” delays was a “proportionate response”.

“This together with an overall reduction in bureaucracy will prove crucial for getting more building projects off the ground,” he said.

A spokesperson for Sadiq Khan said the Mayor of London “shares the Government’s ambitions for growth and determination to turbocharge the delivery of desperately needed affordable housing and sustainable infrastructure in London and across the UK.

“For 14 years, London was held back by the previous government, which didn’t recognise that enabling more growth in London is vital for the nation’s prosperity. The mayor is now keen to work with ministers to ensure this Bill allows him to deliver the infrastructure and affordable homes the capital badly needs.”

RIBA president, Muyiwa Oki described the bill as a “welcome shot in the arm for the construction industry” but warned council planning authorities would need enough funding for the reforms to succeed.

“To ensure the much needed high quality housing and infrastructure, urgent action is required. However, to deliver the seismic changes proposed, local planning departments will need to be adequately resourced and supported with the right people, skills and design expertise they need,” he said.

Chartered Institute of Housing interim director of policy, communications and external affairs Rachel Williamson also welcomed the reforms but said the sector “must be properly resourced and supported”.

“We look forward to further announcements in the upcoming Spending Review and a long-term housing strategy that provides the certainty and investment needed to turn these commitments into reality,” she said.

And while the County Councils Network (CCN) praised the “long overdue” reintroduction of strategic planning to boost housebuilding but warned the changes would require “a lot more” local authority resourcing.

“It is imperative that county and unitary councils have the funding to assemble strategic planning teams and deliver evidence bases to make these new plans as effective as they could be,” said CCN housing and planning spokesperson Richard Clewer.

“This should be considered in the upcoming Spending Review, where the funding a local authority receives could dictate how comprehensive its strategic plan is. Alongside funding, the government must also ensure councils have the workforce capacity needed. 

“This is especially pertinent for large rural areas where recruitment and retention of planners is more of a challenge.”

Clewer also criticised the government’s plans to reduce the role of council planning committees in making decisions on schemes.

“We are concerned about efforts to dilute and bypass the role of councillors on planning committees, particularly in rural areas where significant developments could only constitute a few dozen homes,” he said.

“By only allowing councillors to debate and discuss only the proposals that the government defines as a large development, this will erode local people’s voice within the planning system.  

“It will also take away the discretion that can be used by planning committees to resolve small applications that come down to very nuanced decisions.”

However, Matthew Evans, counsel at law firm Forsters, described the move as “creative thinking” and said more delegated decisions made by planning officers “is a move in the right direction”.

Evans said the reforms, which also include cutting the role of statutory consultees, “should reduce uncertainty in the system and enable schemes to progress to delivery more quickly”, adding that “insular boundary led thinking” had restricted the delivery of vital infrastructure.

And Pete Gladwell, group managing director of public investment at Legal & General also praised the Bill, calling it a “significant and positive step” in tackling delays in the planning system.

“To drive national economic growth, boost productivity, achieve positive environmental impact, and deliver genuinely affordable housing, the barriers hindering the delivery of homes and clean energy infrastructure in Britain must be removed,” he said.