CLG committee hits out at failure of one in three councils to adopt Local Plans

The Communities & Local Government Committee has expressed “disappointment” that four years on from the publication of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) 17% of councils have not published Local Plans and 34% have not yet adopted Plans.

In a report, Department for Communities and Local Government’s consultation on national planning policy, the committee argued that communities “will not benefit fully from the NPPF unless their local authorities properly fulfil their responsibilities to publish and adopt Local Plans”.

It said the Department for Communities and Local Government should set out how it intended to intervene in local authorities which do not have Local Plans in place by early 2017, and how many local authorities it expected would require such intervention.

Clive Betts MP, chair of the CLG Committee, said: “Councils need to do more to identify suitable brownfield sites and to protect their communities against the threat of undesirable development by getting an adopted Local Plan in place. The NPPF is designed to work side by side with local plans. It’s simply not good enough that 34% of local authorities don’t have an adopted plan.

“The Government needs to act to put an end to dawdling local authorities and indicate whether they will take up the recommendation by the Minister’s own Local Plans Expert Group, and we call on him to reconsider the recommendation made by our predecessor committee that a statutory duty should be placed on local authorities to produce and maintain Local Plans”.

In the report the committee also welcomed the Government’s proposed housing delivery test, which is intended to provide clarity about whether housing delivery in a local area is meeting identified housing need.

However, the MPs argued that the proposed consequence of under-delivery – requiring local authorities to allocate more land for development – might not, by itself, mean that more houses would be built.

The committee called on the DCLG to review the proposals, and identify the powers local authorities ought to have in order to require or encourage developers to build out sites in their areas.

The report also urged ministers to provide greater clarity about the definition of ‘brownfield sites’ and about how a presumption in favour of development would operate alongside brownfield site registers and permission in principle arrangements.

The MPs added that there were a number of Government proposals that needed to be reconsidered and revised, including: the reduced discount period for affordable housing, including Starter Homes; and the definition of a commuter hub.

The CLG committee meanwhile called for a comprehensive review of the NPPF to be undertaken before the end of this Parliament

The MPs argued that there had “not been sufficient robust, objective and evidence-based monitoring, evaluation or review” of the NPPF since its publication in 2012.

The committee said an overall review of the operation of national planning policy should be conducted to pull together work in the area, including the Local Plans Expert Group report, the Housing and Planning Bill, and the technical consultation on the implementation planning changes.

Clive Betts said: “We welcome many of the proposals in the Government’s consultation. However, particularly at a time of significant change for the planning and housing sectors, it’s important that people are reassured that the National Planning Policy Framework works effectively and that it supports sustainable development in their communities. The Government needs to ensure there is confidence in the planning system by carrying out a comprehensive review of the NPPF by the end of this Parliament”.

Responding to the committee’s report, Cllr Peter Box, Housing and Planning spokesman at the Local Government Association, said: “Eighty four per cent of councils have already published a local plan which identifies land, including brownfield land, which is suitable for housing. Any automatic assumption that brownfield sites are suitable for residential use, without enabling councils to consider issues such as location and the capacity of supporting infrastructure, is therefore unnecessary.

“A huge amount of research and multiple consultations are needed to ensure local plans reflect local opinions and map out development in an area not just over the coming years but over decades. Councils have always said that the process of getting plans in place would take time and the most important thing is to get them right.”

Cllr Box added: “The planning system is not a barrier to housebuilding. Councils approve almost nine out of 10 planning applications but our recent analysis shows there are up to 475,000 homes with planning permission which are still waiting to be built. The drivers behind this are complex and beyond the influence of the planning system, such as access to finance, land affordability and the availability of skilled labour.

“Councils are desperate to clear this backlog and share the Government’s frustration when housing delivery does not meet forecasts set out in local plans. Instead of applying a delivery test on councils, town halls need more powers to encourage developers to build homes more quickly and tackle our growing construction skills shortage, which the industry says is one of the greatest barriers to building.”