Back to School: Planning is facing a busy Autumn. In fact, it has already started.
Welcome to September!
The holiday season is officially over, the kids are back in school,* and planning professionals all around the country are looking at the months ahead with a sense of excitement and trepidation**.
Because, be in no doubt, it is going to be a busy Autumn.
- The much discussed NPPF Consultation closes on 24 September - which means we all have two weeks to finish working our consultation responses. There are 106 questions to get through, so it may take a little bit of time to address them all.
- The Budget is currently scheduled for 30 October, and early indications are that it could be significant. Not least because earlier this week (on 2 September), the Housing Minister stated it would contain plans to “give councils and housing associations the rent stability they need to borrow and invest in new and existing homes.” and we are also expecting to hear more about multi-year funding-settlements for Local Authorities at around the same time.
- The Planning & Infrastructure Bill and the English Devolution Bill are expected to be introduced into parliament at some point in the parliamentary year. It might be sooner than originally anticipated, given that the Great British Energy Bill had its second reading and the Water Special Measures Bill was introduced earlier this week; and
- There are still large parts of LURA to be brought into full effect. Whilst Labour has confirmed that the Infrastructure Levy will not be taken forward, there are still many proposals in the Act that could still be brought into full effect over the coming months. Including, but not limited to:
- The new 30 month Local Plan system;
- National Development Management Policies;
- Environmental Outcomes Reports; and
- A wide variety of tweaks to the development management system - including the introduction of commencement and completion notices, and the proposed ability for LPAs to refuse consents to developers who are building out unreasonably slowly.
- High Street Rental Auctions also appear to be likely to make an appearance - given they were also mentioned by a Junior Minister in Parliament earlier this week.
In fact, MHCLG*! has already made a start on tackling its planning related workload.
We are not even at the end of the first week of the new parliamentary term and already we have seen:
- Confirmation that the next statistical release of data on the grant of planning applications will be published on 24 September, and with the latest housing supply data following on 27 September.
- The publication of the outcome to the consultation on reforms to social housing allocation; and
- The launch of the New Homes Accelerator Programme together with an accompanying call for sites.
The social housing consultation response confirms that none of the proposals consulted on by the previous government*+ will be taken forward. It also restates Labour's commitment to increasing provision of social housing. Stating, at paragraph 6, that:
"The only real answer to addressing the unmet demand for social housing is to increase the supply of good quality affordable homes. That is what this government will do. We are committed, over the course of this Parliament, to building 1.5 million high-quality, well-designed and sustainable homes as well as delivering the biggest boost to affordable housing for a generation."
The New Homes Accelerator Programme is a lot more interesting. In essence, it is a government backed taskforce designed to identify stalled housing schemes and then remove or resolve the issues holding up the delivery of those houses.
In the government's own words, it is designed to:
- "identify and address specific thematic issues causing delays, such as coordination failures, regulatory obstacles, and local authority capacity constraints
- deploy expert teams to provide on-the-ground support to local authorities, offering planning and enabling assistance to expedite the development process
- utilise its resources to unblock and accelerate delivery on sites that are facing delays or not progressing as quickly as they could be
- inform future reforms to housing and planning policy, where policy barriers to rapid housing delivery are identified"
MHCLG are currently inviting Developers, landowners and LPAs to submit sites to the New Homes Accelerator Programme for consideration. More information on how to submit a site can be found here.
MHCLG are particularly interested in sites that meet the following criteria:
- The site must be a large-scale housing development with significant delays or obstacles preventing progression.
- We are particularly interested in developments with a capacity over 1,500 units and at all stages of the planning process, but information about smaller sites over 500 would also be welcome to help us boost our evidence base.
- Priority will be given to sites that are viable without requiring substantial additional government funding or infrastructure investment.
The online application form can be found here, and all submissions must be made by 31 Oct 2024.
In short, I hope you all had a good summer and are feeling ready for the months ahead. It looks as if they could be very interesting indeed.
*well, at least the one who is old enough to go….
** although, to be fair, that might just be me.
*! Sorry….. MoHoCoLoGo….
*+ about changing the allocation and eviction requirements for social housing
1.The site must be a large-scale housing development with significant delays or obstacles preventing progression.
2.We are particularly interested in developments with a capacity over 1,500 units and at all stages of the planning process, but information about smaller sites over 500 would also be welcome to help us boost our evidence base.
3. Priority will be given to sites that are viable without requiring substantial additional government funding or infrastructure investment.
Support may come in various forms, such as strategic advice, planning assistance, or facilitation with stakeholders, depending on the issues that sites are experiencing.
In keeping with published propriety on planning casework decisions, government support for developments which have yet to secure planning permission should not be taken as an indication of likely approval of applications should they come before MHCLG ministers in the future.”
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