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Reforms to planning
The Government has announced here plans to speed up housing delivery and approval of infrastructure projects. Related DHCLG working papers were issued in December 2024. A Planning and Infrastructure Bill will be published “in the Spring”.
Accelerating housing delivery
The GLA published an Accelerating Housing Delivery Planning and Housing Practice Note, which provides additional guidance to support short term housing delivery and provide additional affordable homes. The lawyer Simon Ricketts has issued a critical assessment, as here, on its potential effectiveness.
Chief Planner’s newsletter to LPAs December 2024
Joanna Averley, the DHCLG Chief Planner, issued another newsletter on 19th December 2024 to local authorities requiring them to update their brownfield land register for 2024 by 31st December.
It seeks their views on a Development and Nature Recovery Working Paper, proposing developers pay into a ‘Nature Restoration Fund’. Also LPAs are asked to complete an online survey on a Green Infrastructure (GI) Framework. There is an explanation of the Government’s approach by the lawyer Nicola Gooch here.
An updated Criteria Document for improving planning performance for speed and quality of decision-making has been published with the assessment period halved from [more…]
Government Plan for Change
The Labour Government confirmed in July 2024 its five missions from its manifesto and its first six steps for change. A December 2024 Plan for Change sets “clear, measurable milestones” for each of the missions and the Prime Minister gave a speech to explain it. One milestone is building 1.5 million homes in England and fast-tracking planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects.
To support its aims, the Government has published a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to drive local planning and decision making. A comparison document of the December 2023 and [more…]
Local Government finance
A Government policy statement allocates £1.3bn of the £4bn announced in the Budget for local government services to the 2025-26 LG Finance Settlement. The rest will be targeted to places that need it most.
Integrated Transport Strategy
Just before she resigned as Minister, The Rt Hon Louise Haigh MP launched a process for preparing England’s first Integrated National Transport Strategy, which is to be published in 2025. There is a consultation to seek ideas for it running until 30th January 2025.
£3 billion housebuilding scheme
Three billion pounds in guarantees will be made available by Government to help builders apply for more accessible loans from banks and lenders. It is part of a new package confirmed by the Housing Minister and covers support to SME housebuilders for them to deliver over 20,000 new homes including specialised housing for older people.
Housing for an ageing population
The Government has published a report with recommendations on this subject, also described as “Later Living Homes (LLH)”.
Permitted development homes could be uninhabitable
Insurer Zurich UK has warned that office-to-residential conversions introduced in 2013 must be done properly or they will be uninhabitable for the future. Housing does not need to meet building regulations where there is a ‘material change of use’. The report details the serious problems found. 89,500 homes have been developed from commercial buildings and the lifting of a size cap on office-to-residential conversions in March led to applications increasing by 20% in England in a year.
Additional London Plan Guidance issued
The GLA has issued two more pieces of London Plan Guidance for Councils to apply in support of the implementation of London Plan Policies H15 and SI6 which are at the following links:-
Purpose-built Student Accommodation and Digital Connectivity Infrastructure
Chief Planner’s newsletter to LPAs November 2024
Joanna Averley, the DHCLG Chief Planner, has issued another newsletter to local authorities. It covers new regulations arising from the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 relating to Compulsory Purchase that allow ‘hope value’ to be removed from the assessment of compulsory purchase compensation. It announces interim planning guidance on how to consider the targets of the Environment Act 2021 for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) in planning decisions. Also, an interactive tool Local Authority Climate Service (LACS) is introduced to provide insights into the weather and climate hazards that may affect an area.
High streets to be revitalised with new legal powers
High Street Rental Auctions (HSRAs) have been announced by the Government. They will give businesses and community groups a ‘right to rent’ long-neglected town-centre commercial properties. HSRAs will allow local Councils to tackle persistently vacant properties by putting the leases up for auction after the powers come into force on 2nd December 2024.
A description of the process has been published by the legal firm Dentons.
Civic and community groups should ascertain how their local authority intends to apply the HSRA process.