The Housing Forum has responded to the Competition and Market Authority’s working paper on housebuilding and planning.
We are pleased to see the recognition that the number of new homes delivered has been below the level of assessed need and of the role that the planning system needs to play in increasing housing delivery.
The planning system is a key issue for our members from across the housing and construction sectors. We established a working group over the last year to look into ways to streamline and strengthen planning, which has produced two key publications: Streamlining planning to build more homes and Planning validation requirements: Moving to a planning statement approach instead of checklists, which have informed our response to the consultation.
A key concern is the under-resourcing of local authority planning departments. This is a critical issue meaning that there is simply insufficient resource to process planning applications in a timely manner. The proposed further cuts to local authority budgets over the coming years are likely to worsen, further depleting the delivery of much-needed new homes.
You can read our consultation response in full hereDate:
A Quality Home for All
The Housing Forum campaigns for a quality home for all. If you’d like to find out more about our mission, we’d love to talk to you.