National Planning Policy Framework to be reformed so housing need figures acknowledge past oversupply: Gove

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is to be reformed to acknowledge those local authorities that have outperformed housing targets, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has said.

Michael Gove’s comments came in an evidence session earlier this week (21 November) before the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee.

Committee member Paul Holmes, MP for Eastleigh, had asked the minister whether the 300,000 new homes-a-year in England remained the Government target.

The Secretary of State responded saying that the figure was a “manifesto ambition” which was different to the way in which housing need was calculated overall.

The minister said there had been a live and “useful” debate about how the numbers [in relation to housing need] are generated, and how judgments are made in relation to household formation and population growth overall.

The Secretary of State said his own view was that, whatever figures were arrived at for housing need nationally and however it was broken down authority by authority, a greater proportion of housing needs should be met in urban areas and on brown field sites.

He added: “I know most governments say that but I think it is absolutely the right thing to do, not least…. because many of our cities are significantly less dense than their counterparts elsewhere, and that is bad for everything from transport to economic growth”.

Gove said he believed that in plan-making there did need to be a judgement about the likely level of new housing required. “But I also think in plan-making we should have a system whereby once a plan has been adopted, that a community can feel confident that you don’t get speculative development undermining their commitment to local democratic control.”

Mr Holmes said the 300,000-a-year target made local communities “blood drain from their face”, particularly in areas like his (Eastleigh) and many others where a local authority had built double what was required under assessed need. “People are quite rightly concerned by that even though they recognise that we need housing.”

Mr Holmes asked whether, if a local authority had over the last five or seven years built more than the assessed need that was required, whether a future formula under the Secretary of State’s stewardship would recognise that and “retrofit” or align some future formula to reducing the number of housing required locally if local authorities are building”.

Confirming this was what the Government proposed to do, the Secretary of State said the NPPF would be reformed to “acknowledge those authorities that have outperformed either expectations, requests or targets, and also to ensure that if there is a robust plan in place and a clear pipeline, that that local authority is not held to be in breach of the five-year land supply requirement”.

When asked how the building of social and affordable housing will be maintained, Gove outlined four key points:

• The need to look at obligations on developers to make sure they are proportionate
• The need to look at the move from reliance on section 106 to the infrastructure levy
• The role of Government itself through the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) to make sure there is affordable housing where it is required
• The need to explore why everything from rural exception sites to community land trusts have been under-used over time. “Is it the case that the incentives are right, is it the case that local authorities have the powers they need?”

Amid concerns over the Treasury seeking to recoup a current underspend in the Affordable Homes Programme, the Secretary of State shared that he had had “robust conversations” with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the Chancellor of the Exchequer on “maintaining our commitment to levelling up”.

In the wide-ranging evidence session, the Secretary of State also discussed social housing regulation, a review of Council tax, rough sleeping, payments for families hosting Ukrainian refugees and the need for personal evacuation plans for disabled people in high rise buildings.

Lottie Winson