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Government reveals panel members for planning permission review
The government has revealed the panel that will lead a review looking into why planning permissions are not being used.
The review was announced at the Autumn Budget and will be led by Sir Oliver Letwin, who will look at the gap between the number of planning permissions being granted against those built in areas of high demand.
As of July 2016, just over half of the 684,000 homes with planning permission had been completed.
The review will seek to identify the main causes of the gap and will make recommendations to increase the speed of build out.
The panel members are:
- Richard Ehrman – author, small commercial property developer and former journalist. Former special advisor to the secretary of state for employment and subsequently Northern Ireland, onetime chief leader writer of The Telegraph, and former deputy chair of Policy Exchange
- Lord Jitesh Gadhia – member of House of Lords and investment banker
- Lord John Hutton – Labour peer and former secretary of state
- Baroness Usha Prashar – crossbench peer with a career spanning public, not-for-profit and private sectors; currently deputy chair of the British Council and a non-executive director of Nationwide Building Society
- Christine Whitehead – emeritus professor of housing economics at London School of Economics
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The review will be conducted in two phases. Phase one is currently underway and will seek to identify the main reasons for planning permissions not being built out by reviewing large housing sites where planning permission has been granted. This will include information-gathering sessions with councils, developers, non-government organisations and others. Early findings will be published in an interim report.
Phase two will make recommendations on practical steps to increase the speed of build out, which will be published in the full report.
Sir Oliver said: “This government is serious about finding ways to increase the speed of build out as well as tackling the complicated issues surrounding it.
“That’s why we have set up this diverse panel to help me test my analysis and to make practical, non-partisan recommendations, as we look to increase housing supply that’s consistent with a stable UK housing market.
Housing secretary Sajid Javid said: “We are determined to build the homes this country needs, but currently there is still a significant gap between the number of planning permissions being granted and the number of homes built.
“This review is vital to helping us understand how we can build more homes quickly.”
