Standard method for calculating housing need among latest planning reforms

The Department for Communities and Local Government has launched a consultation on its latest proposals for reforms to the planning system, including the introduction of a standard method for calculating local authorities’ housing need.

The measures, intended to “increase the supply of new homes and increase local authority capacity to manage growth”, also include:

• how neighbourhood planning groups can have greater certainty on the level of housing need to plan for;
• a new ‘statement of common ground’ to improve how local authorities work together to meet housing and other needs across boundaries. “Although there is already a duty on councils to plan together on infrastructure and public services, including housing, evidence suggests that in some parts of the country this is not working effectively”;
• making the use of viability assessments simpler, quicker and more transparent;
• increased planning application fees in those areas where local planning authorities are delivering the homes their communities need.

The DCLG said: “Councils across England spend an estimated £3m in taxpayers’ money every year on employing expensive consultants to work out how many new homes are needed in their area. Long legal disputes over these figures when preparing local plans can also lead to unnecessary delays and add to the costs.

“The proposed changes will help boost housing supply and improve affordability. It will help ensure councils work to a consistent approach to plan for more homes in the right places. This is a crucial step in fixing the country’s broken housing market.”

The DCLG stressed that the proposed system did not set targets, but it was a starting point to ensure that it will be quicker for each local area to produce a realistic plan of its housing need and review it at least every five years.

“It will make it easier for local people to engage with the plan-making process, ensuring homes are well designed to meet the needs of all the community, and important local environmental areas are protected,” it insisted.

“In areas that struggle to meet their needs locally – for example due to strong protections for areas like the Green Belt – they will need to work with neighbouring councils to plan across a wider area.”

The consultation runs until 9 November 2017.

The DCLG has published a ‘Housing need consultation data table’ setting out the housing need for each local planning authority using the proposed method, how many homes every place in the country is currently planning for, and, where available, how many homes they believe they need.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said: “This new approach will cut the unnecessarily complex and lengthy debates that can delay house building. It will make sure we have a clear and realistic assessment of how many new homes are needed, and ensure local communities have a voice in deciding where they go.”