The new Labour government has come to power, with manifesto promises aiming to boost growth through planning reform and the delivery of 1.5mn homes over the next five years.
In a speech on Monday, chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves confirmed that a new draft of the national planning policy framework (NPPF) will be published shortly for consultation.
There is little doubt that change is needed. The number of homes receiving planning consent in England over the past 12 months has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade, and only 12 new local plans were adopted in 2023.
But planning reform is fraught with challenges. The Conservatives first attempted changes to the system with revisions to the NPPF in 2018. This was followed by two housing white papers, proposed changes to the planning system blamed for a Conservative loss in the 2021Chesham and Amersham by-election, and repeated threats of Tory backbencher mutiny.
This policy turbulence has undoubtedly hampered planning in England. In 2010, it took an average of 1.2 years to advance from a regulation 19 plan to formal adoption of a local plan. By 2023, that had risen to a high of 3.9 years.
For effective reform, the new government needs to establish a clear direction of travel quickly, as we have seen over the past four years how disruptive protracted policy changes can be.
Local targets
To have any hope of reaching their 1.5mn home target, the current downward trends in local plan adoption, five-year housing land supply and planning consents have to be reversed as soon as possible.
Two areas in need of swift clarity stand out: local housing targets and green belt land.
The chancellor confirmed that mandatory housing targets would be reintroduced, meaning that local authorities will have to plan for the number of homes identified under the standard method for calculating housing need, rather than producing their own assessment.
This could have an immediate impact. Currently, 94 local authorities have an adopted local plan with an annual housing target lower than the need identified under the standard method, and 20 have emerging plans with lower draft annual targets.
A key question is the timing of the transition from the current system. Once published, the draft NPPF is expected to make clear any onward transition period for new local plans. But the minister could make this change effective immediately for the purposes of deciding planning applications, giving a clear signal to both developers and local planning authorities.
A further problem is that the standard method alone would not produce enough homes to meet Labour’s five-year ambitions. At a national level, the calculation totals around 290,000 homes per year.
More clarity is needed on whether Labour will revise the standard method itself to produce higher targets nationally, or identify high growth locations where local authorities would be expected to go beyond the current baseline.
