Comment

The future of the planning system in England: Might the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee report really mean something?

Senior Consultant, Jack Boyce gives his views on yesterday’s Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee report about the proposed reforms to the planning system in England.

The report is well reasoned and considered (even though there are elements to be disagreed with) and could, perhaps unusually, prove to be an important step in what happens next.

As per the Queen's Speech, there is a Planning Bill on its way. However, we don’t really know what, if anything, has changed in the Government’s thinking since they published the White Paper in August 2020. We do know there were 44,000-odd (likely mostly anti-) consultation responses and, with the threat of a backbench revolt led by the likes of Theresa May, the MHCLG team might not know where to go next.

One of the challenges for the Government is that the White Paper felt more like a Green Paper. Details still need to be developed and important considerations added, like the non-residential development and levelling up. The next step requires more than just tinkering, and there are lots of (mainly angry) stakeholders to consider for this (generally populist) Government.

Written by a Cross Party Committee where all but one of the MPs are former councillors, the report could be a helpful resource for the Government to lean on to make changes. Whether they want to, is of course, up to them.

Please contact Jack Boyce for more information.

11 June 2021