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Government targets mean 165,000 homes could bypass Local Plans, warns LGA
Government housebuilding targets mean almost 165,000 homes could be built outside of sites agreed in councils’ local plans, the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned.
Under proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), councils will be given new housing targets calculated in Whitehall - first announced in last year’s Housing White Paper.
If those targets are not 75% met by 2020, developers will be allowed to build on sites not included in local plans, the National Planning Guidance submitted with the draft NPPF suggests.
The LGA estimates that more than half of the target homes – nearly 165,000 in 42% of local authority areas – could be built this way by the end of the decade.
It called on ministers to scrap the “undeliverable” housebuilding targets and proposals to penalise councils which fail to meet them in the new NPPF.
Instead, the association said “more positive tools” for councils to ensure sites with planning permission are built out more quickly are needed.
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Martin Tett, housing spokesperson for the LGA and leader of Buckinghamshire County Council, said: “It is completely unfair to impose targets on communities which can only be met by private developers, and then to penalise those local communities if those builders do not deliver.
“This risks leading to a housebuilding free-for-all which will bypass the needs of local communities and could damage trust in the planning system.
“The government needs to scrap these plans to avoid this alarming scenario playing out across the country.”
House builders will also be able to avoid other local plan policies through the proposed new rules, including on affordable housing provision.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has been approached for comment.
A consultation on the draft NPPF closed earlier this month, with MHCLG due to publish a revised version by the end of July.
Concerns about the revised definition of “affordable housing” to remove reference to social rent were raised by the LGA and the National Housing Federation in their consultation responses.
An spokesperson for MHCLG said: “Our proposed planning rules will ensure that we get the homes we need built in the right places and hold councils to account.
“Councils are responsible for setting out where to build the homes that are needed and we expect them to work with communities to achieve this.”
