Housing Minister pledges planning reform

The Housing Minster, Esther McVey, recently made a speech regarding the imposition of planning reform to the National Planning Policy Framework as a way of helping to achieve Britain’s housing goals.

In her speech, she stated: “We have made planning reform a priority, to speed up and simplify the process for everyone involved, to plan for the homes we need, to not just protect but enhance the environment.

“To fundamentally transform how we build and what we build, so that it is much more in tune with the local context and what people want. In doing so, we have worked to radically overhaul the NPPF to make it much simpler and easier to use…

“The revised NPPF also takes a long view in recognising the role that smart planning and good design plays to not just protect, but enhance, our environment and tackle climate change.

“As such, it asks local authorities to seek net gains for biodiversity when granting planning permissions… This means making the most of our country’s brownfield land which offers so much untapped potential…

“We have responded to a call for more support with over £22M from our Planning Delivery Fund to: improve design, drive digital innovation, implement enforcement and spatial planning initiatives.

“We have also provided the Royal Town Planning Institute with funding to grant bursaries for new planners, attracting the best and the brightest into the sector and creating a new generation of highly skilled, knowledgeable professionals to help build a Britain that is fit for the 21st Century…

“Planning application fees were also increased by 20 per cent last year, providing in the region of £50M of income revenue annually for local planning authorities, helping to fund new staff and new technology to meet long-term challenges…

“We will also consult on measures to speed up and simplify the planning process and ramp up supply, delivering on our ambition to reduce planning conditions by a third and freeing up developers so they can get on and build…

“We are also allowing offices, shops and barns to be converted to residential use, an approach that has created 46,000 new homes in the last three years…

“We are taking this literally to the next level by introducing rights to allow homes to be built above existing freestanding blocks of flats and commercial premises.”

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