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Three-quarters of councillors on planning committees say housing crisis is getting worse
Three-quarters of councillors on planning committees believe the housing crisis is getting worse, a study has found.
A survey of 416 planning committee members in England and Wales by consultants SEC Newgate found that 74% believed the housing crisis has worsened over the last year, both nationally and in their area, up from 67% the year before.
Launched this week at UKREiiF, the National Planning Barometer report revealed that two-thirds of councillors (66%) said the housing crisis in their area was “severe”, up from 56% in 2023. Just 1% of councillors said the housing crisis was easing.
Three in 10 councillors rated increasing the provision of affordable housing as their top priority, while 70% rated it among their top five priorities.
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Just under a quarter of councils (22%) felt that private rental and open market housing were needed, although this rose to 59% among London councils.
Meeting government housing targets was a lower priority. Just 7% of councillors said this was their primary focus, while 55% supported the government’s recent shift away from mandatory housing targets for councils.
A total of 80% of councillors admitted to voting against planning officer recommendations in the past 12 months, while 46% voted against three or more times.
An overwhelming 81% of councillors said that government proposals to publish league tables of local authorities’ planning performance would have no influence over their decisionmaking. Just 4% said the publication of league tables would encourage more approval of schemes at committee.
Claims of lack of viability by developers, as well as lack of funding for affordable housing, were viewed as the key obstacles to the delivery of affordable housing.
Lesser challenges to overall housing delivery included slow build-out by developers, community opposition and a lack of suitable sites.
Half of the councillors surveyed said that an increasing workload and resourcing issues were key barriers to determining planning applications.
The report called for the government to provide a return on councils that deliver their housing targets, better preparation of local plans and more funding for planning departments.
Perry Miller, head of advocacy local at SEC Newgate, said the country is “in the eye of a perfect storm and at risk of total housing failure without significant interventions”.
He said: “It’s all too easy to blame the planning system. That it’s broken is not in dispute, but it alone is not to blame for the failure to deliver homes.
“Public policy, government funding, market provision, community interest and discretionary decisionmaking at planning committees are all at play in the response to the social and economic need for homes.”
Mr Miller added: “The planning system is far too adversarial in its approach. Community consultation works so much better when residents are properly informed, while developers could bring the community on the journey earlier in the process, seeking genuine input into their evolving designs and listening to what residents actually want.”
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Local Government Association were approached for comment on the report.
Just last month, new planning powers for councils to hold rogue developers to account by issuing unlimited fines and making it harder to get permission for plans were introduced.
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