Thinktank urges switch to zoning process as part of planning reforms

A thinktank has concluded that ending the housing crisis requires replacing the discretionary planning system based on the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 with a new flexible zoning system.

In a report entitled 'The Housebuilding Crisis: The UK's 4 million missing homes', thinktank Centre for Cities criticised the UK's case-by-case planning system and noted that 600,000 homes would need to be built per annum over the next decade in order to catch up to the average European country.

Using newly available data collected by the United Nations, the think tank found that housebuilding rates in England and Wales dropped by a third after the introduction of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, from 1.9 per cent growth per year between 1856 and 1939 to 1.2 per cent between 1947 and 2019.

The result of the underperformance is that England needs 442,000 new homes a year to close its housing backlog with the average European country over 25 years, or 654,000 to close it in ten years, the report said.

It added that the Government's current housing target of 300,000 new homes a year "will not clear the housing backlog for at least half a century".

The report concluded that replacing the discretionary planning system with a rules-based, flexible zoning system is "key" to boosting homebuilding, as it would increase the certainty of the planning process and the supply of land for development.

Other countries, such as the United States, Japan, and much of Europe have 'zonal' planning systems.

Specifically, the report recommended that the reforms feature the following:

• A flexible zoning code designed by national and devolved governments for local governments to use in local plans, with a small number of different mixed-use zones corresponding to different types of neighbourhood.
• Rules stating that planning proposals which comply with a zone-based local plan and building regulations must be granted planning permission.
• Local Plans and Local Transport Plans – which are currently different documents – should be merged into the same document.
• Better organised and frontloaded public consultation in the creation of the local plan rather than individual proposals.
• Phasing of non-developed land into zoned areas, depending on local population growth, affordability, and vacancy rates.
• Zoning of land in walkable distances around train stations in the green belt for suburban living and with protected green space, "which would provide 1.8 to 2.1 million homes".
• Replacing negotiated 'developer contributions' towards local government with a flat levy on a development's value for infrastructure and new social housing.
• Maintaining opt outs and special designations where case-by-case decisions continue, such as conservation areas, listed buildings, national parks, and wildlife reserves to protect environmentally or architecturally precious land.
• Creating 'safety-valves' in the system that allow alternative pathways for development, such as the Street Votes, which the Government is set to implement as part of its Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill currently passing through Parliament.

Secondly, the report recommended increasing private-sector housebuilding, given the scale of the backlog.

The publication of the report comes as the Government is currently consulting on proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Critics of the proposals have suggested that the reforms will provide councils with more options to decline developments and avoid housing targets.

Adam Carey