Planning overhaul to speed up and simplify local plans
An overhaul of local plans has been confirmed by the government today.
- Councils expected to deliver homes almost three times faster under new reforms
- Extra cash injection to recruit more local planners with ambition of exceeding manifesto target of 300 planners by end of 2026
- Changes will help drive forward Plan for Change milestone to build 1.5 million homes and support mandatory housing targets
Decisions by councils on new development will be clearer, simpler, and prepared up to four years faster to help fix the housing crisis, thanks to further changes announced today.
An overhaul of local plans – which are frameworks to determine where houses and infrastructure should be built – has been confirmed by the government, with a clear expectation for them to be made within two-and-a-half-years as opposed to an average time of seven years.
New changes include introducing regular assessments to help councils stay on track towards meeting their targets, greater clarity about how plans should be prepared and updated, and using digital tools to increase transparency on available land for new development.
This is backed by an additional £4.5 million to fund salary bursaries for new planning roles in councils, with ambition to surpass the government’s manifesto commitment of 300 extra planners by the end of next year. Nearly 90 graduate planners have already started work through this programme.
Reforms support the government’s Plan for Change to build 1.5 million homes and reinforces the importance of local plans to achieve this, with fewer than a third of places currently having up-to-date plans in place which can lead to speculative, unplanned development.
Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook said:
“The plan-led approach is, and must remain, the cornerstone of our planning system and the government are determined to progress toward universal coverage of local plans.
“The steps we are taking today will ensure that local plans are simpler, faster to prepare and more accessible so that communities in every part of the country can more easily shape decisions about how to deliver the housing and wider development their areas need.
“Alongside further guidance and support to help local authorities realise the full potential of this government’s planning reforms, these changes will help deliver our ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million new homes in this Parliament.”
Today’s changes build on the growth-focused National Planning Policy Framework announced last December that told councils to play their part to meet local housing need, with new immediate mandatory housing targets and requirements to prioritise lower quality ‘grey belt’ land if unable to meet these targets.
Additional funding of £70,000 will be handed out to each of the 133 local authorities who came forward for support to help them carry out locally led green belt reviews. Further funding for councils at the later stages of plan-making will be announced in due course to help them prepare or update their local plans.
This is part of over £14 million in grant funding available to support councils in updating their local plans and reviewing their current green belt land, enabling them to hire more staff and consultants to carry out technical studies and site assessments. Planning guidance has been updated today to support local councils to identify land for development including grey belt.
This is alongside new guidance on Local Nature Recovery Strategies that is being prepared across England to agree priorities for nature recovery, as well as further guidance for making effective use of land to ensure suitable brownfield land is prioritised for development as much as possible.
The capacity and capability of local authorities will be boosted by increased planning fees with an extra £50 million income, making sure councils have the resources needed to rubberstamp the approval of new homes and infrastructure.
A new dedicated webpage for plan-making resources has been created to provide clearer guidance and practical tools to speed up plan making, underpinned by quality data, and further practical resources will be added over the coming year to help planners at all stages of creating or updating a local plan.
The government is changing the way the plan-making process works with the same focus on policy set out in the 2023 consultation and intends to confirm the necessary regulations and guidance later this year.
Further information
The Housing and Planning Minister’s written ministerial statement can be read in full here.
The government has published a new dedicated webpage for plan-making resources for councils on how to create or update a local plan. It can be found here.
Councils can also sign up to the expression of interest for the Local Government Association’s Pathways to Planning Initiative here.