Uncertain times

Since the coalition government came to power, it has announced that regional spatial strategies are to be scrapped, the housing and planning delivery grant will not be paid to local authorities, and a revised version of planning policy statement three has been published.

With the abolition of the RSS and regional house building targets comes the concern that local planning authorities will not allocate sufficient housing land, particularly where large-scale development has been politically difficult. This could mean, as The National Housing Federation has warned, that the changes will result in a slump in the number of social homes being built. In the absence of an alternative system, some councils may reject new social housing developments if they wish, which is bad news for developers and registered providers alike.

The planning inspectorate has issued guidance to its inspectors on how to deal with the changes in making decisions. Usefully the guidance makes the following points:

• The secretary of state has the power under section 79(6) of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 to revoke all or any part of a regional strategy so if a particular RSS does not accord with the principles set out by the coalition government, for example rolling back green belt boundaries, it is possible that the secretary of state could exercise this power.
• The starting point for determining any appeal or call-in remains section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 which means that the development plan for a particular area including the relevant RSS is determinative in considering any appeal.

Further disruption is predicted after the announcement that the housing and planning delivery grant, which was established in 2007 by the Labour government to reward local authorities for improved delivery of housing and other planning services, will not be paid to local authorities. Communities secretary Eric Pickles stated that the HPDG ‘has proved to be an ineffective and excessively complex incentive’. As local authorities had already been advised earlier in the year how much they would each receive by way of HPDG, it is possible that budgets will now be compromised with planning departments facing cut backs as a result.     

The new government has also been quick to publish a revised version of planning policy statement three. The amendments to PPS 3 may result in fewer houses being built on sites as density may be lower overall and the change of status of ‘gardens’ from brownfield land will reduce the numbers further. 

Taken together these changes will lead to a period of uncertainty in planning for housing developments. Large-scale developments proposed by regional strategies are unlikely to come forward and for providers of affordable housing this means the supply of affordable dwellings through planning agreements will be restricted. Smaller developments will be delivered at lower densities and infill sites on garden land will be harder to obtain planning permission for due to the changes in PPS 3. Added to this, planning applications may take longer to determine due to a reduction in resource at local planning authorities.

Katherine Evans is partner and head of planning and environment at TLT

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