Party conference season: What needs to change in the planning industry?

Due to begin on Sunday, directors from one of the largest property service groups in the UK have shared their thoughts on how policymakers can better the sector.

Since the last general election in December 2019 the housing industry has faced disaster. From a severe lack of affordable properties to major delays in delivering developments it’s safe to say some work needs to be done.

During this years party conference season – an event designed to elect or nominate political party leaders and set the party’s agendas – experts from Leaders Romans Group, one of the largest property service groups in the UK, have claimed a large focus needs to be on the private rented sector.

‘The private rented sector was once seen as a means of providing homes for those most in need, replacing the council housing that had been lost through Right to Buy in the 1980s,’ said Allision Thompson, national lettings managing director. ‘Now, increasingly so if the Renters Reform Bill goes ahead, landlords are being penalised and the sector is shrinking. The government must find a means of filling this void.’

In addition, Tim Foreman, managing director of land and new homes, said the government need to address serious delays and costs that have plagued the planning system over recent years.

He said: ‘We need a clearer more straight-forward planning policy to enable developers to obtain planning in a much less time consuming and expensive process. It would be helpful to have firm deadlines in place for local authorities’ planning decision-making and a clear and responsible set of guidelines and criteria for developers and planning consultants to provide a more direct route to planning consent.

‘New housing is already in short supply and with the recent turmoil in the marker and planning process it is only going to get far worse – some developers are reducing their development starts and choosing not to buy land due to the current mess.’

On a similar note, Ian Barnett, national land director, has said that a ‘sensible’ discussion on the green belt would not go amiss.

Ian said: ‘We must move away from images of ‘concreting all over the Green Belt’ and engender a better understanding. Just 8.7% of the UK – and is in stark contras to a public perception that 47.1% of land is developed upon. And the idea that housing developments are primarily ‘grey’ may been true of post-war development when the Green Belt was introduced but is not today. – many new communities are attractive, primarily ‘green’ spaces which significantly boost both the aesthetic and biodiverse qualities of the land.

‘As Keir Starmer pointed out, much of the green belt isn’t even green: contrary to a widely-held belief that the green belt is a bucolic ring of verdant countryside open to all, much of it is inaccessible and/or preserves and protects unattractive edge-of-settlement brownfield sites – those which have potential for sustainable development.

‘A review of the green belt is the only way in which housing numbers can be increased at scale but a review of the Green Belt does not necessary mean a reduction in the Green Belt, which is how it is often presented. It means that that areas worthy of protection are included and those which are not can potentially be repurposed – quite possibly in such a way that increases their aesthetic value.’

And finally, taking a blunt sales approach, Kevin Shaw, national sales managing director, stated the housing market could be freed up by reducing the cost of moving.

‘From a sales perspective, change needs to be focused around the cost of moving especially bearing in mind the reduced volume of transactions in the UK housing market,’ Kevin said. ‘Zoopla predicts around 1m transactions this year compared to nearly 1.5m in 2021.’

He added: ‘For house sales of £500k plus the current stamp duty thresholds are punitive and deter a lot of people from moving up market. This then prevents the freeing up smaller properties for either second-time buyers, first-time buyers, or investors.’

Image: Aditya Joshi

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